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Fakemon

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Fakemon, also called Fakémon, are fan-designed fictional creatures based on the Pokémon franchise of monster-taming games.

An illustration of a green and brown parrot-like creature with leaves sprouting from its head.
Example of a Fakemon, titled Parroot

While many such designs have been created purely as fan art, others are made specifically as hoaxes to fool fans into believing they will appear in future series titles.

History

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Etymology

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The word Fakemon is a portmanteau of the words fake and Pokémon.[1] In Japanese, they are known as Oripoké (オリポケ, from "original Pokémon").[2]

Origin

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According to GameRant, Fakemon have existed "for almost as long as Pokémon itself", but began to proliferate with the advent of fan-made video games[3] as well as the advent of the internet.

Founded in 1998, "Mewthree and Frogglet's Pokémon Factory" (later called Pokémon Factory) became the first website to formalize the creation of Fakemon.[4] A public forum, it required members to post their creation to other members, who would provide critique until its revisions deemed it "presentable for review by Pokémon Factory staff." The intent of the website was to create "an outlet for fan innovations in pokémon [sic] ."[5]

 
Image generated by the Text-to-Pokémon Stable Diffusion model with the prompt: Yoda

The popularity of the creatures has led to the creation of various online Fakemon image generators. For example, in 2022, Lambda Labs researcher Justin Pinkney created Text-to-Pokémon, which utilizes Stable Diffusion to create creatures based on a user's written prompt.[6][7][8] The model was trained on "BLIP captioned Pokémon images with two NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPUs on the Lambda GPU Cloud for around 15,000 steps."[8]

As of 2022, Fakemon are popular on websites such as DeviantArt, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit,[9][10] as well as YouTube.[10] Some Fakemon designers are professional artists in the video game industry.[11] Fakemon design has been described as "a way for fans to express their individuality while honoring the franchise they love."[12]

Design

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Fakemon are designed by fans of the Pokémon franchise using design principles from the Pokémon video games and anime, such as color, level of detail, anatomy, and relatability.[13][14][11] Fakemon designers have employed the use of Microsoft Paint and Photoshop to mimic the pixel art of the Pokémon video games.[9] Fans design Fakemon based on real-world concepts such as culture, architecture, animals, plants,[10] and mythology.[15]

Fakemon are often created to accompany fan-made Pokémon regions or games.[1][16] For example, the fan game Pokémon Uranium has over 150 Fakemon featured in it.[17]

Controversy

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Fakemon designs have occasionally been so similar to the visual language of Pokémon that they have been confused for real leaks.[14][18]

For example, a set of three fake fire, water, and grass starter Pokémon were created by Leopoldo Spagna as a hoax in 2018, prior to the announcement of Pokémon Sword and Shield. Spagna's designs were featured on multiple websites as a legitimate rumor, leading fans to create fan art and memes of the supposed Pokémon.[18] While he later apologized for the hoax, PokéNinja, a Twitch streamer, backed a special tier of the Kickstarter for Temtem, a game resembling Pokémon, putting forth one of the fake Pokémon, Platypet, as a monster design. Platypet was first included within the game when it released early access through Steam on January 21, 2020.[18][19] In the game's universe, Platypet stars in a cartoon about toxic-elemental Temtem creatures.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b Vu, Mai (2022-04-17). "Pokémon: Why Fakemon Are So Popular". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 2022-12-14. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ "『ポケモン剣盾』公式サイトがバグった!? ネットでは謎のポケモン予測祭り". KAI-YOU.net. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  3. ^ Galekovic, Filip (2022-06-05). "Artist is Designing Starter Pokemon for Every US State". Game Rant. Archived from the original on 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  4. ^ "Pokémon: The Unique Experience of Fan-Made Games". the-artifice.com. 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  5. ^ "The Pokémon Factory: It Starts With An Idea". pokefactory.pokemology.com. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  6. ^ Silberling, Amanda (2022-09-28). "Make your very own AI-generated Pokémon-like creature". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  7. ^ "Turn Anything into Pokémon with This New AI Program". Nerdist. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  8. ^ a b Foley, Joseph (2022-09-27). "This spot-on AI Pokémon generator has me hooked". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  9. ^ a b Shotwell, Alyssa (2023-04-12). "Artist Creates Alarmingly Accurate Starter Pokémon for Each State". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on 2023-06-06. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  10. ^ a b c Grosso, Robert (2022-10-14). "Exploring the World of Fakemon". TechRaptor. Archived from the original on 2022-11-30. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  11. ^ a b Michael, Cale (2022-11-17). "Can an official Pokémon not look like a Pokémon? Expert artist analysis details how it can happen". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  12. ^ Caballero, David (2021-08-25). "10 Fakemon That Look Like Real Pokémon". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  13. ^ Gray, Kate (2022-11-17). "Random: Fakemon Artist Details The Recipe For What Pokémon Should Look Like". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  14. ^ a b Valentine, Rebekah (2023-01-02). "'Fakemon' Designer Explains What Makes a Pokémon a Pokémon". IGN. Archived from the original on 2023-10-30. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  15. ^ De Pacina, Michelle (2021-12-14). "Tikbalang, parols and carabao: Digital artist creates Filipino-inspired Pokémon that look as official as the real thing". NextShark. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2023-10-25 – via Yahoo News.
  16. ^ Warren, Martyn (2022-05-16). "Pokémon: 10 Interesting Fakemon Projects". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  17. ^ Van Boom, Daniel (August 11, 2016). "Fan-made Pokemon Uranium launches after 9 years of development". CNET. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d Hernandez, Patricia (2020-01-31). "The Pokémon hoax that found its way into Temtem". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  19. ^ Gerblick, Jordan (2019-12-06). "TemTem is a Pokemon-like MMO coming to Steam next month". gamesradar. Retrieved 2023-11-09.


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