>>49515912Pokemon takes not only inspiration from real animals but also myths and legends, professions and human ideas and their own brand of fantasy creatures like Blissey. These are all retooled to fit the setting of Pokemon. It's been that way since Gen I when they made a mime and a bodybuilder Pokemon as well as more fantastical designs like Blissey and Chancey.
Personally I don't mind them. It's fantasy first and foremost and as long as they don't stray into the real of the womons of Digimon it can work. Every bipedal Pokemon is distinct from a human being in the show, there's none that I would consider anywhere to the level of some of the Digimon designs. In a more realistic front people used to think Great Apes like Chimpanzees were people. Take for example the account of Hanno the Navigator who may have encountered chimpanzees in his travels but he clearly describes them as if they were human. The dzil-elizaliza of the Kwele people are said to be gorillas with the souls of humans that dance and play the drums. The Bulu people tell stories of Gorillas and Chimpanzees talking to people and sharing their wisdom. We, of course, know better but there's still that connection we have with our Great Ape cousins and who we share physical traits in common. Even in popular imagination cryptids like big foot are portrayed as looking like tall, human-like creature.
I tend to think of this whole bipedal or humanoid nonsense as these creatures are humanoid in the sense that chimpanzees are, not in the sense of a humanoid like an elf or even beast races like the Argnonians of The Elder Scrolls.
A Pokemon doesn't represent a person, it represents a Pokemon that takes on their own context in universe. People get too hung up over it because they start to think of the Pokemon being more than what they actually are. I just tend to see it from that angle, and frankly, if Pokemon doesn't care about the whole "humanoid" nonsense I don't think anyone should either.
