It's criminal that GF didn't program in the other 4 halves so we could get the actual, genuine Pokémon. -Volt would've been awesome, an electric raptor? And who wouldn't want -Vish, which is an actual dolphin(esque) Pokémon?Let's also take into account WHO is giving you the fossils. The scientist, Cara Liss (a pun on "careless", already a hint if her just combining two fossils together haphazardly wasn't already a red flag), if I recall, mentions how the revived Pokemon must have walked around ancient Galar a long time ago... even though she knows you just combined two fossils together.
Also she has one red show and one yellow shoe, this lady is not to be trusted as a reliable source... or ethical scientist.
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SPOILERS! Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon
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My guess is that the other 4 halves will appear in Ultra Sword and Ultra Shield (or whatever name is given to the sequels), requiring you to collaborate between both games in order to get the real fossils and not the horrifying abominations we were given.
I mean, we all thought we'd eventually get the Original Dragon, but it's been three generations and we haven't even gotten a hint at it coming back. So I don't hold out any hope for the other fossil halves.
Yeah I think making the other halves available would just undermine the gimmick.
Also, limiting the tops and bottoms was a deliberate choice to keep the number of possible combos down. If they included the other halves to make it possible to revive the original species, they’d then have to either:
-design and include the remaining 8 mix-n-match mons that you could make with the new combination options, or
-come up with an explanation for why something as impossible as Dracovish can exist but a hypothetical Vishodrake can’t.
Also, limiting the tops and bottoms was a deliberate choice to keep the number of possible combos down. If they included the other halves to make it possible to revive the original species, they’d then have to either:
-design and include the remaining 8 mix-n-match mons that you could make with the new combination options, or
-come up with an explanation for why something as impossible as Dracovish can exist but a hypothetical Vishodrake can’t.
Oh, well that's an easy thing to remedy: just get rid of the abominations they made, apologize & admit they made a mistake for making them, make it so you find the whole fossils (instead of halves) in SwSh2 which resurrects the actual fossil Pokemon, and maybe later gens revisit the "mixed up fossil" concept but this time put actual thought and good design into it.
Yet she's the only one who has been able to revive a fossil without getting any of the stone mixed in :o
Send her to Kanto so we can get a Water/Flying Kabutops with wings?
I mentioned this theory on the SwSh datamine thread but I'll repost it here:
All fossil Pokemon are part Rock-type is probably due to the Pokemon missing a percentage of its genetic material. It's enough to revive the Pokemon and plenty of it is probably regrown via the reviving process, but there's still probably some key genes that are missing. That's where the Rock-type comes in, the reviving process used the inorganic matter the fossil was buried in to "fill in" blank spots to stabilize the Pokemon, otherwise it would come out as a pile of goo.
So why are the Galar fossils not part Rock-type? Because the missing percentage is probably 10-33%. However, since Cara Liss is using two fossils combined together, each one probably having over 50% each, there was enough genetic material combine that the inorganic binder was not needed in this case unlike with past fossils.
Sure, but it's lower body will be replaced by Aerodacyl's body.
BTW found this image on Twitter from this DeviantArt account, JWNuts (who draws a whole batch of cool looking fakemons):
EDIT: Another fun image, by Twitter account vergolophus, I found for the "Fish Fossil":
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I am really curious what the "arcto" part of his equation is even supposed to be. It's probably the vaguest of the fossils. Like if the other egenerations of fossils were working the same way,we'd still be able to figure out nautilus, archeyopterix, protoceratops, etc.
but this is a big flippered body labeled as the "dino fossil" and i've not seen any fan consensus on what this is supposed to be.
but this is a big flippered body labeled as the "dino fossil" and i've not seen any fan consensus on what this is supposed to be.
Actually it's the dinosaur legs that's the "Dino Fossil", the flipper legs is the "Fish Fossil". Not to mention the raptor is called the "Bird Fossil" and the dunkleosteus is called the "Drake Fossil". Not only does it feel some of these names are mixed up, it also broke previous Fossil naming conventions where the Fossils were named after the notable part of the Fossil Pokemon. I mention this because, out of all the fossils, this is probably where that naming convention could have helped as it'll clearly identify which are the bottom halves and which are the top: Dino could be "Leg Fossil", Fish could be "Flipper Fossil", Bird could be "Fang Fossil", and Drake could be "Beak Fossil".
But back on point, it is a major question what the Dino and Fish Fossils were. As shown above, the Fish Fossil could have either been a plesiosaur (long necked marine dino), an ichthyosaur (a fish-looking marine dino), mosasaur (a marine dino version of a t-rex), a seal (such as the acrophoca), or maybe even a whale (like the livyatan, a carnivorous sperm whale). Originally with the Dino I thought it was a back of a T-Rex, however the above art has convinced me that it could also be a number of the quadruped dinos. Stegosaurus seems the most likely due to the plates, though then again it's missing the stegosaurus' tail spikes (also the plates could have just been added as artistic license).
You sure? Because that's not what Serebii is saying.
Dragon Legs: Fossilized Drake
Ice Legs: Fossilized Dino
Electric Head: Fossilized Bird
Water Head: Fossilized Fish
I'm also not convinced that the Fossilized Drake is supposed to be a stegosaurus. Sure, it seems to have plates, but they're arranged in pairs instead of being staggered, and it's missing the iconic thagomizer. There are other stegosaurian dinosaurs that have paired plates, but they all seem to have a thagomizer, as far as I can tell.
I just put together 3 of the fossils today, and yeah bird is the theoretical raptor, drake is the theoretical stegasaur, fish is the dunkelosteus while dino is the ice fish thing
fair enough on the drake...makes me wonder if the "raptor" isn't a raptor, too. Like that's the one we all jump too, with the "bird" just reflecting modern trends, but the signature move is "beak" and it apparently still eats vegetation. I know these are horifying abominations with Cara Liss going out of her way to justify these things, but specifying vegetation over something else, like "it loves to eat meat [because it has a raptor brain and incsiors] but its digestion was made for greens [because it has an herbivore body]" feels like we're supposed to take it at face value. Dracozolt in particular even has lightning "wings" on the arms.
But I suppose it's all possibly just artistic license. Tyrunt & Tyrantrum are clearly supposed to invoke the T-Rex (the name in most regions, the kingly design) but skew a little closer to the Carnosaur iirc.
Oh, my mistake. In that case I think they messed up the sprites because, according to Serebii, these are the associated sprites which I was basing my thoughts on:
And looking at it now, I think even I got confused on my original post. GAH! I HATE THESE FOSSILS!
I honestly don't know why people hate those fossils so much
"Oh but they're abomination"
Yeah. They're MEANT to be abomination. That's the point. Maybe in the future they'd have a full fossil pokemon it'd be great, but with what I have so far I am pretty happy.
They're trying to do something unique and different and it might not sit well with everyone but I like stuff that are experimental like this.
P/s: Also people were fine with Kyurem fusing with Reshiram or Zekrom idk
"Oh but they're abomination"
Yeah. They're MEANT to be abomination. That's the point. Maybe in the future they'd have a full fossil pokemon it'd be great, but with what I have so far I am pretty happy.
They're trying to do something unique and different and it might not sit well with everyone but I like stuff that are experimental like this.
P/s: Also people were fine with Kyurem fusing with Reshiram or Zekrom idk
I like the news fossils (except that I can't manage to have the last fossil DAMN DIGGING DUO !)
Good concept, poorly executed and bad designs.
"But they're supposed to be badly designed!"
Bad designs are still bad designs, doesn't matter if it was done on purpose (if anything that makes it worse as it makes it feels like the artists went halfway through with the idea before throwing their hands in the air saying "good enough").
Also, if they were going to do this, I'd rather they used more interesting dinosaurs/prehistoric animals, notably ones which already had a Pokemon counterpart. Also, now who knows if we'll ever get an actual raptor Pokemon (or dunkleosteus, though I think more people care about the raptor) since that's what the Fossilized Bird is, GF could consider it done and scratched it off.
Also I find the Pokedex entries insisting these things existed in prehistoric times insulting. I'm fine with the ones explaining how the odd combination of parts result "work" together (or rather, don't), but even if we go with the theory the Pokedex is written by the kid we're controlling, are we supposed to believe they took Cara Liss had her word? I want to give the character I'm controlling a bit more credit than outright believing a woman with two different colored shoes telling them that the abomination they created by bashing two completely different fossils together actually walked the Pokemon world millions of years ago.
Thought and design were put into those. They didn't just chop off Reshiram/Zekrom's head and put Kyurem's head on its body, Fused Kyurem looks like a Kyurem that's halfway transforming into a Reshiram/Zekrom, with some asymmetrical design to show the incomplete fusion.
Same with Necrozma. Granted its fusion had some wonky design aspects though that's because, instead of fusing into one being, Necrozma is using its own body parts as armor to contain Solagleo/Lunala. They had to figures out how each part of Necrozma, notably the hands and body/head, would "fit" onto Solgaleo/Lunala even if they're just hanging off it. And you know what, people still even gave the Necrozma fusions flack for that.
BTW, if you like the new fossils, anything I say shouldn't change that. Obviously taste is subjective, these are mine (and I assume many other's) hangup with these fossil designs. All I'm saying is that, now that we have these, let's not do these again. GF had their fun (I'd argue they could have put more thought into their fun...), but this is really those "one time thing" sort of deals. Heck, I don't even know how they're going to justify the creation of these fossil Pokemon in the future unless all fossil restoring Pokemon scientists are unethical from now on or you have to be sneaky/tricky in some way. Maybe like with Dynamax these fossils should stay in Galar, next games after Sword & Shield to have them would be their remakes in 2030. I like that plan.
I think they were well-executed enough. They merge in unexpected ways; the combination results in weird ability, stat and movesets; there's a clear gimmick behind all of them; and they're successfully monstrous abominations that make me feel like I've sinned more than any christian minister ever has.
When you impute laziness and thoughtlessness to the designs and the artists behind them, you’re making objective claims. The necessary implication is that people who do like the designs, or who just don’t mind them, are incapable of understanding or appreciating true artistic skill and effort.
You’re twisting their words. I agree that “but it’s bad on purpose” is a poor defence of something that’s genuinely bad, but that’s not what’s being said here.
“they’re supposed to look like abominations (awkward, bizarre and impractical as living creatures)” =/= “they’re supposed to look badly designed”
I agree about the Pokédex entries though, although I’m not sure what they should have done instead. After all, the very concept of a Pokédex entry doesn’t really make sense for a Pokémon that you’ve just created.
... better keep an eye on that tricky little ghostly candle. Maybe keep a spray bottle of water handy.
I never implied it was bad, I just said they're supposed to look bizzare.
If I were to design a genetic freak I wouldn't make it look like an almighty mechanical dragon, I would make it just like what Dracovish looks like, a head stuck on a tail and call it a Pokemon.
Beside, the Dex entry is mostly from tales and as far as I know no one lived in Ancient Galar and stay alive to this day to tell exactly what kind of creature lived in its ancient time.
Yes, I was making objective claims. I do believe these are bad designs. I disagree with everyone who thinks these are good designs.
That said, I do not think anyone who disagrees with me are incapable of "understanding or appreciating true artistic skill and effort". Never said that. Just said for these fossil Pokemon they're design is bad.
The reason I said "BTW, if you like the new fossils, anything I say shouldn't change that" was to dissolve such extreme interpretation.
Once again, true. Doesn't change that I think they're badly designed. And when I say that the defense I'm told to it is, even if worded differently, breaks down to "but they're supposed to be that way".
I always took the more unbelievable/mystical dex entries either to be an exaggeration to how impressive the Pokemon is in a certain aspect (like Golem surviving a dynamite blast or Magcargo's inner core being hotter then the sun; both highly probably not true but it gets the image across that Golem's shell is very strong and Magcargo's core is very hot) or is folklore/superstition gathered from books or the nearby people. While certainly a scientific committee really should have checked the dex descriptions after the player's journey to give more accurate information or specify whether something is a legend, there is a place for both.
But for the Galar fossil Pokemon is a different case because, for the ones which mention why it went extinct are flat out lies. Not an exaggeration, not folklore, this mad scientist lady spouted out a made-up story that the player for some reason took at face value and recorded. And there's no hint of sarcasm or that whoever it writing the dex entry is in on the joke, it's presented as a factual dex entry for something that is obviously not true.
If I were to design a vehemently disgusting character and I made it look like Tom Cruise, it would be a bad design. Or if I were to design a dwarf character and I make them as tall as a basketball player, it's a bad design. If I were to create a cosmic horror creature and make them looks like Pichu, it's a bad design (well it could be a good subversive one). None of these people are bad looking, but they're bad designs, because they miscommunicate their physical traits.
The physical traits that are being communicated are "weird, unatural, unsettling" and in that sense the designs achieved those pointers. You're saying a Frankenstein monster looks badly designed because it looks like what a frankenstein monster would look like.
You really want me to go through each Galar Fossil and explain my problem with each one, don't you?
Well, first let me state for the hundredth time that I get it. I get they're supposed to be mixed up fossils. The head isn't supposed to match the body. But my problem is that, (1) they went too far in the wacky direction and (2) the selection of which prehistoric animals could have been more interesting (triceratops head, sauropod's head, pterodactyl's body, actual stegosaurus body, etc.). These feel like the first draft/proof-of-concept designs. But more on that later, let me give what you all want:
Dracovish: Probably the most "iconic" of the design and even basis for the whole idea based on the story of the Elasmosaurus. The Elasmosaurus is a plesiosaur but was originally reconstructed with its head on its tail until a closer observation had them realize the mistake. But the thing is that's an understandable mistake (for early amateur paleontologists) as they were basing the design off lizards which had short necks and long tails (and with its feet being flippers they didn't quite known how the feet were suppose to face). However Dracovish is a super exaggeration of this it just comes out looking ridiculous. It's body is a large dinosaurs who's feet would clearly show where the head is supposed to go and that long row of bones behind it is the tail. Reviving Dracovish as it is should instantly kill it because there shouldn't be a windpipe or digestive track going down the tail and the stomach side is opened up so should be spilling its guts out.
Dracozolt: One of the better looking of the batch, but still it's guts should be spilling out as the head's small body isn't covering the giant gash. And have the others haven't been quite outlandish and more tame as this one I probably would have been more okay with what they did (at least in how they put the Pokemon together).
Arctovish: I think the best looking one and it's "mistake" is both a logical one and could technically have the creature still living. The head is just upside down, but otherwise the size of the neck fits exactly onto the body.
Arctozolt: My problem with this one is where did the rest of the "Zolt" body go? We see with Dracozolt it has a chest with long arms which have electric "wings" attach to them, but here they are gone. Surely it didn't just vanish so must be mashed inside of the "Arcto" body.
Now, going back to what I was saying that these look like the first draft/proof-of-concept designs. Something about their appearance bothered me and it wasn't until I looked at the older fossil Pokemon did I understand what I found amiss. The Galar fossils are very simple looking. Just compare them to the past fossil Pokemon which designs were more complex and many having extra details. Even ones which look simple like Aerodactyl and Cradily had extra bits of detail which you couldn't create with simple shapes. But the Galar fossils individual parts look like they lack that extra refinement and many can be constructed with simple shapes. They are relying on the mismatched body parts to distract from the simpler designs. Even the artist above who drew the "complete" version of each Pokemon had to add extra details in order to make them look like previous fossil Pokemon. And that's very disappointing as fossil Pokemon generally have neat designs to interpret what a Pokemon version of this ancient animal looks like.