>>36599945You're also forgetting that Pinnister takes a lot from it's real life counterpart, the male sea lion.
While Primarina is definitely based on the slimmer and much smaller female, the male sea lion has a huge upper body, tiny ears, and a mane, which are traits that can be seen on Pinnister.
I remember thinking the red sea sponge hair was a bit bull shit, until I remembered that male sea lions actually do have manes irl, hence the "lion" in it's name, which D.I. incorporated onto Pinni, that was previously disguised as a jester hat for Gigglio.