Fan-Made Regional Variant Concept: Glameow

[Venheart]

Hello, everyone. Recently, I've been working on just some fan-made Pokemon concepts, purely on a gameplay and design level (as I am not an artist, sadly). I'd like to share a few on here once in a while and see what people think!

What I'm here to talk to you all about today is a concept for a regional variant of Glameow, one that I also think would be perfect for the Galar Region. It could certainly be for any future region, however, but I do think there are certain themes that would resonate well with the UK. With that being said, here's the concept:

Regional Glameow/Galarian Glameow
Type: Dark/Fairy
Ability: Disappear*
Stats...
HP - 49
Attack - 85
Defense - 72
Sp Attack - 72
Sp Defense - 57
Speed - 115

Total - 450

Notable Moves:
Night Slash
Crunch
Dazzling Gleam
Shadow Sneak
Phantom Force
Fire Fang
Thunder Fang
Ice Fang
Playful Swipe*

Design Concept: This form of Glameow is unique in that they do not ever evolve into a Purugly. You can think of this like a reverse Obstagoon. Normal Linoones don't evolve, but Galarian ones do. Normal Glameows evolve, but this form doesn't. As a result, this form has much higher stats than the Normal-Type Glamweow (Almost the same total points as Purugly has).

Visually, this form of Glameow is striped with pink and black, has evil-looking eyes, and has a massive, sharp-toothed grin, based on the traditional Cheshire Cat. This is why this Glameow form would be perfect for Galar.

The unique ability Disappear will cause Glameow to become invisible anytime they hit an opponent super-effectively. When invisible, Glameow will always dodge single-target moves used against them. Also when invisible, Glameow will wait to take the last action in battle per turn, and will reappear when using their own move. Essentially, it makes super-effective attacks similar to moves like Dig and Fly, where the whole point is to try and cheese the opponent and avoid damage. Notice that I mentioned Glameow will always dodge single-target moves. Moves like Earthquake, Petal Blizzard, Dazzling Gleam, Heat Wave, etc. will be able to hit Glameow through their invisibility, as will moves like Swift and Smart Strike that cannot miss.

The move Playful Swipe would be a physical Fairy-Type move available to cat Pokemon like Persian, Delcatty, Meowstic, etc. as well as possibly a few others. Here are its parameters:
Playful Swipe - Fairy/Physical
Power: 70 / Accuracy: 100
Effect: Damage is calculated using the user's Speed stat instead of their Attack stat

Despite this form of Glameow's underwhelming stats in almost every area, the ability Disappear gives you a lot of room to play around with many Pokemon that don't carry AoE moves outside of Doubles, and Playful Swipe gives you a powerful attack against Fairy-weak enemies, as well as a very solid neutral attack thanks to the base 115 Speed. Despite this, there are a fair amount of counters with moves like Earthquake and Dazzling Gleam specifically that can shut down this Glameow's antics, both of which are somewhat common as coverage options thanks to their availability as TMs. The fact that you need to hit your opponent super-effectively to trigger the effect also gives some amount of restriction, even if this Glameow would have some nice coverage with the elemental fangs.

So what do you think of the design? Where do you think this Glameow form would fall competitively?

 

[bobandbill]

First I heard (I think, anyway) of a Pokemon variant or somesuch that can't evolve, after Phione. That's a neat idea in itself.

I'm no expert with competitive atm, so I can't comment too much about its Ability and how broken it might be. It's a unique idea - would it also apply to single-target Status attacks? I do wonder if, given the access to the Fang attacks and a decent Speed stat if it might be too effective... And it probably gives another reason to Galarian Weezing to be used thanks to its Ability, haha.

Playful Swipe is a cute and fitting move too for cat Pokemon in general!

I'll also point out that there's a event ongoing in the SwSh forum section where we're designing alternate forms of Pokemon for Galar - first one is the Shroomish/Breloom line. https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/424931 I highlight this because as you have a solid basis for a Pokemon's variant and competitive for it already, we could see about maybe making it the second entry in the series. :>

 

[NikolaP]

I really like the idea. Well done! A Cheshire Glameow sure seems cool, and the move and ability sound interesting.

You did well in restraining yourself with the the Disappear ability, but I think giving Glameow's moves low priority when invisible is still too much. If it fought a slower opponent weak to some move it knows, it would become almost invulnerable for two whole turns (the one when it attacks first and the next one when it attacks last). Since it's already very fast, this would come up often and doesn't seem well balanced.

Consider this alternate effect for Disappear:

Disappear will cause Glameow to become invisible if it hits an opponent super-effectively. When invisible, Glameow will dodge all single-target moves used against it. Glameow will reappear next time they take action.

My idea is to go from this-and-next-turn invisibility to just this-turn invisibility: Glameow attacks, usually first, and disappears for the rest of the turn, reappearing on the next move. The "takes action" part is meant to mean it reappears in situations when its turn comes in battle, but it can't use moves, like recharging from Hyper Beam or if it's paralyzed and can't move.

I've been inspired to make a few sketches of the design idea. I'll put them up when they're done.

 

[mgriffin]

That's a very interesting ability. Off the top of my head I'd want to abuse it via Substitute, if you're naturally faster and have an SE move then you get to attack → sub → attack being invisible the whole time.

 

[NikolaP]

Sketch done! ....But not exactly of Glameow. Hear me out.

I love Glameow, I really do, and I'm not too keen on Purugly. I presume this is also the case with you, as you basically kicked it away.

However... I tried and couldn't for the life of me fit a Cheshire Cat grin on Glameow's face. There's just not enough room. Then I studied Purugly's face and found it not only had plenty of room for a fearsome toothy grin, but the design I came up with looks awesome! Yes, on a Purugly, of all things!

I present the face of Cheshire Purugly:



I only drew the left half of the face in detail, you can see I mirrored it. Not only are the grin and evil eyes you described there, we also have a gaping jaws pattern on the forehead (see the fangs!) and two kinds of mustachios (a traditional swirly one for the Dark typing and a Salvador Dali for the Fairy typing). I further though its tail would no longer be used like a corset but as a furry neck collar, with the long, swirly midsection of the tail spiraling around the whole body (alluding to the spirally unwinding of Disney's Cheshire Cat's striped body).

As one function of regional formes is to breathe new life into less popular Pokémon, and I love Pokémon when I say my Glameow had an Everstone given the moment she was caught, this could turn into Purugly's big break.

However, the idea is yours. What do you think?

 

[NikolaP]

I worked out how to fit the grin so here's a Cheshire Glameow too:



I came up it with it this morning, inspiration postponed my breakfast.

I went with the spiral motif in this draft. It has only a single stripe that spirals around the body and ends at the top of the head. Of course, it's not definitive.

I know it's rough, but I can't do more at the moment. Like it?

 

[NikolaP]

Here is a full body draft, in profile, to further illustrate the idea of Cheshire Purugly whose face we've already seen:



I think this one has great potential. I was undecided about just how fat it would be, so you can see two parallel outlines of the back and the belly (one just as fat as an ordinary Purugly and one a bit thinner). You can also see the body-encircling tail and the two-pronged fur coat collar at its tip. Above you can see the tail not wrapped around the body, but still hugging the neck with the collar that used to be a corset. It evokes a sort of Victorian villain look when taken together with the twirly whiskers.

An idea is that there is some pattern on the body that changes in the middle section between the two coils of the tail, like spots/skulls/spots (think of Dr Facilier's shadow and the background wallpaper, here: https://i.redd.it/8eulothfoj231.jpg). The tail is supposed to be constantly twirling around, giving an impression of winding and unwinding, and the space between the coils would then move along the body. The tail is too tightly wrapped in this drawing for this to be convincing, but you get the idea.

 

[NikolaP]

In a private message, Venheart mentioned this variant Pokémon concept:

"I actually have a really cool idea for a Gothitelle redesign idea too, if you're interested in maybe sketching that out at any time.

The big difference design-wise for Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle is that none of them have eyes or bows. Instead of bows, all three generate white butterflies made of pure psychic energy--Gothia has one large one that sits on her face, Gothorita has one on her face, one one her body, and two in her hair, and Gothitelle has one on her face and many across her body. Their gimmick would be that they become aware of their surroundings based on what their psychic butterflies touch, so whenever they send out their butterflies to feel the environment, Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle permanently remember what that part of the world looks like telepathically."

Inspiration struck and I did sketch it. The design I have to show here doesn't strictly follow the given description, but I'm quite satisfied with the draft for Butterflies Gothita:



(The extra butterflies that are not the 3 immediately on Gothita are for illustration purposes.)

Original Gothita has 3 bows on its body. These were turned into similarly shaped telepathically controlled butterfly wings that this Gothita uses as its senses. For now, they are imagined white and glowing, but may get eye spots in the future, or the spots may glow into existence when Gothita is looking through them. They see for Gothita because it is blind. Its eyes are grey and empty. An option is that they remain perpetually closed.

The butterflies flutter around Gothita however it likes. It often lands them on its head and is particularly fond of holding one in front of itself in both hands. They arrange in formations above Gothita to launch attacks with. Sometimes, it loses a butterfly, and becomes horribly disoriented and confused until it can find it.

The colour scheme is undetermined for now; I'm leaning towards the line being dressed in white this time.

My main inspiration here, the concept I'm aiming for, are Victorian novel sickly girls being inspiring and beautiful and barely alive. Further down the evolutionary line we could also see British university professors in traditional gowns.

No types were mentioned by Venheart. I can say they must be part Psychic, and I'm undecided between Ghost and Fairy for the second type. Fairy does fit, but I think that would make them too similar to Gardevoir, and I always like unusual types when they make sense. I'll suggest a sickly, weak-bodied but mentally powerful Psychic/Ghost Pokémon whose mind is in its butteflies.

 

[NikolaP]

Inspiration struck after a long day and I now present drafts of the rest of the Butterflies Gothita line.

First, Gothorita:

We see its hair is now parted, braided and kept in the air by its butterflies. One butterfly is in its arms - that's the one it's looking through. Others are arranged on its joints, helping it move its weak, thin limbs. Eyes are beginning to open on the butterflies' wings (we can see them squinting). A general idea of ambulatory eerieness was intended for this design. White is the main colour here.

Moving on to Gothitelle:





Excuse the lighting, I can't get the pictures better at the moment.

The Victorian sickly girl motif is mixed with butterfly eye spots (many options shown in picture 3), domino masks and wedding dresses.

The blind eyes are kept closed while a large main butterfly sits between them most of the time, wings spread like a mask with expressive spots, acting as its true main eyes. It has 6 more sets on 6 more butterflies: 2 smaller ones moving the arms and 4 resting on the main body when not fluttering around it or in formation for attacks (the small circles in image 4 show their usual positions). The hair is let down, not elaborately styled. The face and the dress, now less firm, are imagined white. The butterflies can land on and posses objects and other living things.