Let’s talk about Pokemon, shall we? With Gen 9 now out for over seven months, it’s much easier to look over the entire roster of pocket monsters that we now have and determine which are the best of the best. Naturally, every trainer and fan will have their favorites for various reasons. Some will be because of their appearance, like Charizard, Greninja, Mewtwo, Arceus, etc. Others will be because they work within a trainer’s strategies in battle. Others might just want a cute team or to get their favorites of one type in a squad. Everyone has a favorite, and for many, their favorite is Blaziken.
Blaziken is the final evolution of the Gen 3 starter Torchic. It’s considered one of the best Pokemon by many due to its striking image and how it’s been used in both the games and the anime. Within the anime, the Pokemon has been a partner to many key trainers and was a fierce rival to Ash Ketchum, among others. Not to mention, when Gen 6 started in the anime, they used the fiery fighting bird Pokemon to showcase the power of Mega Evolution.
Given all that and the love the Pokemon still has today, it might surprise you to learn that the artists for the creature didn’t want you to like it at all!
That shocking reveal came from Ken Sugimori, one of the gaming franchise’s principal artists. He revealed that when they made the Pokemon, they wanted to make it “hard to look at” for a reason that made sense to them:
“I think people from our generation have certainly experienced buying painted chicks. So [Torchic is] orange, and just like a real painted chick, it starts out cute and then grows into something fierce and hard to look at,” Sugimori revealed according to Did You Know Gaming?. “We wanted to recreate that experience which led to Torchic, Combusken, and Blaziken. We wanted the people raising them to feel that sense of disappointment.”
That is certainly a unique take on creating a Pokemon. Typically, the looks of the Pokemon are meant to showcase their type or its “place” in the world. Meanwhile, The legendary Pokemon are meant to look as epic or unique as possible depending on their “rank” in the power structure.
Needless to say, their trying to make Blaziken not popular backfired on them big time! Many can’t get enough of it, and this story only enforces how you can’t predict what a person will like or not like.
