>>51452829If a japanese person looks at Hitmonchan they are gonna think: "hey thats a boxer" not "hey thats Ebihara". Someone who looks at Obstagoon is gonna think "hey thats Kiss/Gene Simmons"
Show me what is it about Hitmonlee that screams Sawamura other than the fact that it's a kickboxer. Show me what is it about Kadabra that screams Yuri Geller besides the spoon bending. Did Geller used to wear brown armor and sport and giant moustache? The references are on the name, they simply named their pokemon after famous people who perform the skill their pokemon do. The design process of Obstagoon was merely going of the fact that a badger's face markings kind of sorta maybe look like a glam rock face so they saw a chance to give it exact Kiss clothing, mannerisms and makeup from top to bottom. It's nothing more than a living reference.
And again the former are references that make sense within the context of the world. It's a game about combat, you battle in gyms, there's a fighting dojo and characters like Bruno. It's a game where ESP is real(psychic type is called esper in japan) with characters like Sabrina, there's the psychic trainer class of dudes in lab coats levitating pokeballs with their mind, there's paranormal occurrences like the ghosts of lavender, hell Mewtwo's plot depicts it's destructive psychic powers...
And all of this are things that can be organically applied to battles, being a band member has nothing to do with anything so they had to devise a contrived way to make it fit which was to turn a fucking pose into a move.
>>51452914They are pertinent references not random shit, kaiju media and ultraman in particular is one of the greatest influences pokemon is built upon.
