>>31254549Originally pokémon were supposed to be a lot more like wild animals. Trainers were supposed to fight pokémon themselves, and the several Gen 1 trainer sprites wielding whips was a leftover of this concept.
Also, in my case, since the gameboy was so tiny I could never make out that Tamers had a ponytail, so, due to them being hunched over, my eyes just saw the lollipop and the ponytail as a single object, so I always thought they were carrying a log or stump on their back.
