Article: Conservation Theme behind Sun and Moon's Pokémon

All seven new Pokemon that are based on animals are linked. These animals are all endangered - or in the case of one of them, extinct.

Click here to view the article.

Cover image by Sylphiel.

Interesting, but I'm sure we'll get plenty of new Pokemon which aren't endangered or extinct too. I could probably buy it for the others, but I highly doubt Solgaleo and Lunaala were designed specifically under the ruling that they had to be based on endangered species.

After a good read of this article, it's shown that Game Freak is not only taking inspiration from Hawaii for the animal basis of some of the new Pokemon, but Australia as well (as shown with Lunala and Nekkoala) and I like how they're incorporating threatened and endangered animals from different parts of the world here, so it'll be interesting if we see more new Pokemon revealed that are based on these sorts of creatures and how we can connect them.

The idea of the villainous team being based on poachers and hunters that threaten animals seems like a good concept when you take all this into account, and the plot will be about people knowing not to treat Pokemon badly and have to ensure their species' survival.

I was wondering if maybe Zygarde is involved in this somehow? It seems to protect the ecosystem...so maybe that involves protecting endangered Pokemon?

Alternatively maybe these Pokemon already went extinct and Zygarde brought them back to life, although then again that sounds a bit wacky...

*30 minutes and 15 different endangered animal wiki pages later*

I never knew how many extinct dog breeds there were til just now... o:

It's cool that these are based on endangered species, and I hope that theme keeps up. It would be cool if there was an entire region of Pokemon based on them.

Though, the Iriomote cat just makes me think of Tokyo Mew Mew, and now I laugh when I see it Litten. I've gotta train one and name it Ichigo.

I too think probably not all the Pokemon will be extinct/endangered, but it would still be neat if that's the theme. Zygarde's appearance does it make more likely too.

A really interesting find with the Hawaiian Poi Dog! Still I've gotta wonder where the squirrel tail came from if Iwanko's based on that.

Well some of the dogs seems to have fluffy tails. But it isn't out of the ordinary to make them look more like a pokemon and not just completely based on the animal. I mean they did give Poppilo a clown nose.

I do think a good amount of the pokemon will be based on extinct or endangered pokemon. I don't think all of them will though.

Bay Alexison said:

I too think probably not all the Pokemon will be extinct/endangered, but it would still be neat if that's the theme. Zygarde's appearance does it make more likely too.

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Yeah that seems like it would be unlikely since we'll likely be getting ghostly and inanimate object Pokemon too. (which I want to see anyway so a whole new batch of Pokemon based solely on animals wouldn't appeal to me)

Besides Magearna is already bucking the endangered animal trend.

I do think that it could be a theme for the animal based Pokémon. As someone said that Zygarde's complete forme will be in the games brings intriguing questions about the Pokémon on the islands. Conservation was hinted at in XY too by Lysander.

Doesn't Kukui say a line about how there are lots of "rare" Pokémon in Alola? Maybe they're rare because they're endangered...

It would be neat if this theme was taken a step further and referenced in the plot, maybe even bringing Zygarde aboard somehow. Maybe Magearna being mechanical, perhaps a PokéBall brought to life, along with Rotom using a PokéDex as its host, can play a role, too. As in, perhaps there are so many endangered Pokémon in Alola that the scientists have taken to bringing life to inanimate objects in an attempt to put more Pokémon back into the ecosystem.

Rivvon said:

Doesn't Kukui say a line about how there are lots of "rare" Pokémon in Alola? Maybe they're rare because they're endangered...

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I remember the mention of Alola being home to lots of rare Pokemon... the fact they are based on endangered and threatened animals (which are rare themselves due to their low population) shows that Kukui's line make more sense now.

Rivvon said:

Doesn't Kukui say a line about how there are lots of "rare" Pokémon in Alola? Maybe they're rare because they're endangered...

It would be neat if this theme was taken a step further and referenced in the plot, maybe even bringing Zygarde aboard somehow. Maybe Magearna being mechanical, perhaps a PokéBall brought to life, along with Rotom using a PokéDex as its host, can play a role, too. As in, perhaps there are so many endangered Pokémon in Alola that the scientists have taken to bringing life to inanimate objects in an attempt to put more Pokémon back into the ecosystem.

Click to expand...

Yes he did. He speculated that perhaps the presence of rare pokemon was due to Alola being an island region though.

If they were to continue with the 'theme' what other endagered or extinct species of would you guys like to be a pokemon?

These are some of mine:

Endagered:



Extinct:


So obviously not all of these will be used in a single generation, but one thing I noticed, they have made a TON of pokemon already who are in some form of endangered species.

IcyIce said:

If they were to continue with the 'theme' what other endagered or extinct species of would you guys like to be a pokemon?


Extinct:

Spoiler:

Sabre-Tooth Tiger
Wooly Mammoth
Pyrenean Ibex
Dodo
Flying Fox
Imperial woodpecker or Ivory-billed woodpecker

.

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Those will be some pretty good fossil Pokemon!

The conservation theme is starting to make more sense not only because of the basis of the Alola Pokemon, but also because Zygarde's "secret power" revolves around environmental restoration. This with the possibility of cross-Generational connections is setting these games up to be intriguing for sure. I'm psyched to see what E3 will bring us in a few days.

WingsofBliss said:

The conservation theme is starting to make more sense not only because of the basis of the Alola Pokemon, but also because Zygarde's "secret power" revolves around environmental restoration. This with the possibility of cross-Generational connections is setting these games up to be intriguing for sure. I'm psyched to see what E3 will bring us in a few days.

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Hopefully that possiblity of cross-generational connections includes cross-generation evolutions beyond another eeveelution (well at this point a Dragon eeveelution would be acceptable enough).

Oh a Dark\Electric Tasmanian devil would be Fantabulous.
A rhino that is not rihorn line, another elephant, a dodo bird, an orangutan, and a Dumbo octopus. Please

IcyIce said:

If they were to continue with the 'theme' what other endagered or extinct species of would you guys like to be a pokemon?

These are some of mine:

Endagered:

Spoiler:

Tortoise - Would love to see another real turtle.
Wildabeast - I would love to see more pokemon similar the Zebstrika's line, but with this animal.
Real Rhinos - I know we have Rhihorn, but I would love to see a pokemon similar to Hippodon. With both Black and White being endangered, it would be a nice split evolution.
Tapir - I have always wanted to see a Tapir Pokemon ever since I learned of its existence.
River Dolphin.
Numbat
Parrot
Macaw
Elephant - But I hope it is an evolution of Donphan
Armadillo
Axolotl
Civets
Giant Salamanders
Komodo Dragons
Gharial
Markhor
Snow Leopard
Tasmanian devil
Takin
Narwhal
Tiger Shark

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There's the Sumatran Rhino, which is one of the most critically endangered subspecies of rhinos. It can be Ground/Grass to reflect its hairy appearance. An Asian Elephant would work too since it's much more endangered than its African cousin, which I believe Donphan is based off of.

Extinct:

Spoiler:

Sabre-Tooth Tiger
Wooly Mammoth
Pyrenean Ibex
Dodo
Flying Fox
Imperial woodpecker or Ivory-billed woodpecker

Click to expand...

What, no Stegosaurus, Raptor, nor Orthnomimus to complete the stock dinosaurs set?

Guys, consider this for the starters.

Cats are afraid of water, birds are eaten by cats, and fish are eaten by birds