SPECIAL: MY INCOMPLETE POKEMON FAN-REGION CONCEPT

First off: after all these years, I've changed the logo. The old one jokingly reflected the "gross and ugly" image people not only have of Trubbish but of me and my website and the things I like in general, but I think that might have given a cynical, even mean impression to casual visitors. I don't like the things I like because I agree that they're gross; I like the things I like because they're what I think is cute!

Anyway, I probably don't need to tell any of you reading this that "fan regions" are a pretty big thing in the Pokemon community, and something I'm practically obligated to have thought about myself. I've got enough of my own fiction to worry about that I've never gone so far as to finalize any artwork or even names for any Pokemon I've come up with, but I sure have tinkered many, many times with a text list of dream concepts, and since mentioning at all that this is a thing I've ever done, a fair number of people have asked to see more of it. Some of you have even seen a much older version of it on my Patreon or Tumblr, but I mess around in it so much that it might have already changed by the time you even read this! Assuming that you actually do, that is...obviously not everyone is interested in seeing an essay-length, self-indulgent, mostly-text outline of strictly hypothetical video game content, which is why I've already uploaded the Eternatus review, and I'm giving you an out to skip ahead to it already:


ESCAPE HERE!!!!!



...............But for those who obsessively follow these reviews (lovingly or hatefully alike) and would love to know (or tear apart?) what someone this opinionated about Pokemon would pour into their own region, here's an essay-length, self-indulgent, mostly-text outline of strictly hypothetical video game content!

THE ?????? REGION

See? I couldn't even be bothered to name the region itself. I think there are a lot of fascinating countries and cultures that would deserve the spotlight of a Pokemon game...but I've never been to any of them, and I'm not about to be that nerd making up a fantasy version of Madagascar or South Korea from an apartment in Oregon. So, there's the answer right there; I just oughta write what I know. There's already an artist out there who puts effort into fully illustrating a Pacific Northwest region of their own, but I'm not here to "compete" with anybody!

So, what would an Oregon Pokemon Region mean to me, exactly? What really strikes me out here is how vast and ancient so much of it feels compared to the rest of the United States. Even if you visit the city of Portland, you're never too far from forest so deep and dark that every once in a while, someone goes for a hike and never walks back out again. Perpetually snow-capped mountains protect jungles of cold, moss-caked pines from the hot dust of neighboring desert canyons, there are lava tubes inhabited by unique troglobitic species, there are bogs that support floating carpets of carnivorous plants and there's a rocky coast you could, hypothetically, keep following offshore for hundreds of miles down into the Pacific ocean's abyssal trenches.

But as wild as parts of this state may feel, it's still just a shadow of what it was before a significant chunk of it was logged, mined, dammed and dynamited. Much of its wildlife has still never recovered - and never will in our lifetimes - from the surge of "modern progress" and the pollution that came with it, and that's before we even get into the horrible things people did to other people in the area's recent history. I would not, however, expect a Pokemon game to confront things like this in any realistic or hard-hitting way, so for authenticity's sake, this region has no darker content than we've had from any of the last few canon generations. What it does have is a central city under the control of a suspiciously powerful tech corporation, tied to a suspiciously powerful research institute headed by its very own local Pokemon professor, whom I like to think would charge the player character with much more intensive "field work" than just filling out pokedex entries, which brings us to one of the region's major gameplay concepts:



Well before Sword and Shield, a concept for my hypothetical region was that every environment would have a "deep zone" that went on for as long as you could survive. Galar sort of does this with its "wild area," but only mashes together a bunch of randomly generated environments and weather phenomenon in one big, open plain. My "Deep Zones" would each be just single biome, so you would have the usual pre-mapped forests, caves and seasides to explore, sure, but each would feature some entryway to the deep forest, the deep caves, the deep ocean. A series of distinct "wild areas" with their own themes and even sub-zones to explore.

THE POKEMON

This is obviously the important part, but it's also the trickiest, because I don't want a Pokemon region to just be packed with the kinds of things I personally like. Mortasheen already does that, and despite being my own work, I'd never be able to get into it quite like I can get into Pokemon precisely because Mortasheen is saturated with only the kinds of creatures I myself find cool. Pokemon's whole appeal is that its designs can cater to almost every kind of taste out there, which makes my own favorites feel all the more special!



Previously, it was the seventh generation that had the highest number of Pokemon I'd really consider "me." They REALLY packed Alola full of biology references and freaky monsters, so I feel like my own region is "permitted" to have around this many Pokemon that I'd personally want, while the rest need to appeal to a wider range of contrasting interests. Thus, I've tried to outnumber the really "me" concepts with what I think other people might find more appealing, and I don't know how successful I am at that, but I've even tried to concoct a few that I'd have likely given a 1/5 review just to cover more bases. Having come up with them myself, they still kind of feel like my "babies," so if you figure out which ones they are...don't tell them!!!

I'll be loosely organizing new Pokemon species by the kind of environment they're first discovered in; then I'll talk new forms for old species. Descriptions here will be redundant with the illustrations I've thrown in for some of them, because I originally wasn't going to sketch out any of them at all, and it's important to remember that all sketched designs are still just ballpark estimates of how I might want those Pokemon to look; just kind of a rough guideline or example of the overall idea.

STARTERS

"Carpenter pterosaur" grass starter - begins with a saw for a beak. Final stage is a grass/steel Quetzalcoatlus with a chainsaw-like head and burly humanoid stance with long arms, wings somewhat vestigial and a body pattern like it's wearing overalls.

Sample dex (for final evo) - "It habitually builds wooden dwellings for other Pokemon in need, sometimes maintaining a hidden village deep in the forest."/"It uses its steel saw to cut apart dying or fallen trees. Legend holds that it taught humans the art of carpentry."
"Charred Cow Sheriff" fire starter - a cute calf with a craggy, black, horned helmet of charcoal and dark stripes on its body, like grill marks. Final evolution is fire/ground and like an upright minotaur completely covered in charcoal armor plating, smooth and natural looking like Rhydon's armor, though its legs also look a lot like cowboy boots with spurs, and a glowing red crack in its chest armor could evoke a star-shaped badge.

"It wishes to protect others, but it abhors violence. Its selfless nature easily turns enemies into friends."/"It will pummel an adversary within an inch of its life to defend those it cares about, but it will never allow even an enemy to perish."
"Water shrew burglar" water starter - a beady eyed, long-nosed shrew with webbed feet and a striped body. Its final stage is water/dark, lankier with a furry black "mask" and a furry pouch on its back evocative of a money sack.

"It often stakes out a spot along riverbanks, and will attempt to rob passing boats. Secretly, it leaves some of its treasures with hungry people and pokemon."/"It likes to steal from the wealthy and give to the less fortunate, but what it considers wealth is sometimes only useless trinkets."

*As part of that effort towards "authenticity" I give in immediately to the trend of starters evolving into humanoid character archetypes, but I turned them into things I thought would be fun anyway.

EARLY WILD POKEMON:

Spooked Opossum - Opossums "playing dead" are already a common Fakemon concept and you'll find some truly amazing designs for them on google, so rather than step on those toes I've tried to think of something different and subtler. This fuzzy opossum would have a darkly colored and smug looking first stage, but its final stage would look perpetually shocked with wide eyes, spiky fur and a stark white upper half as though the color is "draining" from it. Its signature ability would still evoke the way a startled opossum passes out and appears dead; its HP total would be unreadable to the opponent.
Raptorial Hummingbird - following the trend of past early-game birds, this normal/flying line evolves from a cute, realistic hummingbird into a giant-sized, amazingly menacing looking version. Signature move is a flying-type draining attack that restores more health if the target was a grass type.

"A ruthless hunter of flower Pokemon, leaving them completely drained of energy."/"Feared by grass types, it carries Pokemon like [orchid] back to its nest for its young."
Just a Chicken - every region has at least a couple Pokemon lines that lift the real animal almost directly, and I would want mine to do that for a chicken. Just a little yellow normal type chick that evolves into either a hen or a fighting-type rooster, no gimmicks necessary.
Angelic/Wilting Orchid - two stage grass/flying line, final form is a white orchid flower gently drifting in the air. Has an alternate grass/ghost final stage that sulks on the ground, grey and sorrowful but still cute. It'd evolve into this form only if the hummingbird's drain attack was the last thing to ever faint it.

THE RIVER

Aquatic exploration hasn't gotten that much attention since the third generation, but an enormous river would be a core feature of this region, with mechanics for customizing a small personal jet ski, or perhaps just riding your water types around like the good old days. The river would wind all the way through the region, with various different sections and randomly generated "islands" (it's a BIG river) or embankments to explore with all manner of aquatic and amphibious Pokemon from past generations. A side branch would shift to saltwater and open up to the seashore, where you could investigate tidepools for Pokemon such as Binacle, Pyukumuku, Staryu and Wimpod. Brand new Pokemon would be as follows:

Migratory salmon - water/fighting salmon resembling a sockeye during spawning season, but with huge muscular biceps instead of pectoral fins. Inhabits rapids and falls.

"Every year, it migrates upstream to meet with others of its kind. It uses its powerful arms to climb waterfalls."/"While the rest of the school climbs, the strongest males are stationed to ward off predators. They are known for intense wrestling matches with Ursaring."


River dog - my main attempt at what some of the fandom refers to as furbait and a given in every Pokemon region; a water/fairy borzoi that dances on the surface of water.
Electric Light Flamingo - ground/electric, a "neon light" lawn flamingo that evolves into a luminous Flamingo-patterned stork. Only encountered when you bump into one of a few large, floating bogs in a swampier stretch.

"It sometimes makes a nuisance of itself when it mistakes an artificial light for a rival."/"It is a popular mascot of night clubs, but it can become infatuated with electric signs in its image."
Bog Sloth - grass/fairy, giant bipedal sloth covered in shaggy green moss, algae and lichen with a few colorful flowers, also spawns from the floating bogs. Mostly learns defensive and healing moves but has an alternate, more offensive grass/dark form with browner foliage. Would giving this form facial tentacle-roots ala "Man Thing" be too much? Would that even be that different from Abomasnow's face, actually?
Caddisfly - a cute bug/water caddisfly larva is exceedingly common as the early-game bug type, but only evolves when you're in fresh water. Its casing is made up of smooth pebbles but with one shining bottlecap. Second stage is a pupa that adds on to the same case with some gold pieces and crystals. Final evolution (at a very high level) is bug/dragon, a formidable but elegant flying insect whose long, thick abdomen is coated entirely in glittering gold, jewels, pearls and rare Pokeballs...though if you looked carefully, you would still find its now rusted bottlecap.

First stage: "It sifts the river bottom for stones and debris it can use in its protective shell. If it finds something shiny, it will cherish it forever."/"It may be weak, but if someone tries to take its favorite treasure, it will bite fearlessly and never let go."

Second stage: "Its collected treasures weigh it down, triggering a deep hibernation as it stockpiles energy for its final evolution."/"The more satisfied it feels with its collection of valuables, the sooner it will undergo its final transformation."

Final stage: "Its treasure gleams blindingly as it takes flight in bright sun, advertising its territory to others of its kind. A bright and shiny gift can easily win over this Pokemon's loyalty."/"It can knock out an adversary by showering them in heavy jewels and coins from high above, but it may spend the rest of the day carefully retrieving them."

POLLUTED INLET

Connected to the seashore, this area saps the HP of any Pokemon in your party that don't naturally resist poison damage or have poison-immune abilities.


Globster - poison/water or poison/ghost - this is based on the cryptozoology phenomenon of a "globster," a mass of unidentifiable flesh washing up on a beach. I've seen globsters in a few Japanese games by now, so a Pokemon version doesn't feel impossible, but I tried to come up with designs for it that might be cute enough, or at least no "grosser" than Garbodor or Weezing?

If taken to the deep ocean, the Globster could be transformed into one of two or three possible water types, which resemble odd but otherwise healthy chimeras of various sea creatures. I'd want the Globster to be equally viable as a Pokemon on its own, so these would all have the same stat total, just in different distribution. The Globster is a defensive tank, while its "repaired" forms would be more offense-oriented.

Globster dex: "It sometimes appears mysteriously on the seashore. It is believed to have once been a water type living undiscovered in the deep ocean, but its scrambled genetic code suggests it has undergone an abnormal transformation."/"It may spend days lying still on the beach. Its terrible smell attracts tidal scavengers like Wingull or Krabby, but they are knocked out by the fumes and scooped into its mouth."

Fishing lure leech - dark type - resembles an old fishing jig, actually a googly-eyed leech with barbed hooks. It could possibly be found in color patterns styled loosely after magikarp, goldeen, carvanha, barboach, feebas, finneon, basculin, bruxish, wishiwashi, arrokuda and any other first-stage fish that may come into existence since the time of this writing...though maybe the shiny form would just have the pattern of a chipped and worn Pokeball. Maybe it would evolve from a "worm on a hook" Pokemon? Not sure if it should evolve further and take on the patterns of appropriate final-stage fish where applicable. Signature move, Siphon Hook, works like leech seed but does a chunk of extra damage if the opponent switches out.

"It imitates the movements of various water types and allows itself to be swallowed by larger Pokemon, only to drain their energy from within."/"Found lurking in submerged trash, it is rumored that exposure to pollution gave life to discarded fishing tackle. Others have argued that it must be a natural life form whose appearance inspired human invention long ago."

Mutating Fish - I thought this one was too similar to Dracovish to keep, but some of you disagreed. Maybe its final stage just wouldn't have the legs, but walk on a skeletal fish tail resembling a clawed hand? Maybe it would keep going into a serpentine spine with many ribs as legs? My ideal typing for it would be a three stage line that goes from water, to water/ghost, then finally poison/ghost as it has "become more polluted." Maybe this is already too much ghost and poison in the gen though.
Vacuum shark - water/electric, a red and black hammerhead shark stylized like a vacuum cleaner. Signature draining move is more powerful against poison types, then poisons self, which is fine because it would have Poison Heal.

"It used to subsist on the harsh chemicals spewed from deep sea vents, but man made pollutants brought it closer to shore."/"It can safely consume any substance, even oil spills and toxic sludge, expelling purified water from its gills as it feeds."

OCEAN DEEP ZONE: SEA TRENCH

A final upgrade to your player's boat equips it with a high-tech detachable diving suit; perhaps only Pokemon in the water, ghost, and amorphous egg groups can come with you? Others can but only with a special item attached? The Globster can be reconstituted into its other forms by exposure to glowing hydrothermal vents. Rare Wailord skeletons would be full of Pokemon like Wimpod and Binacle, sunken ships could be explorable "buildings" often guarded by a Dhelmise.

Deep Sea dragon - psychic/dragon type resembling a tiny, luminous blue fish swimming inside an old upturned diving helmet as if it's a fishbowl, found in the sunken ships. Evolved form is an impressive black dragon lined with glowing blue lights like a viperfish, but the comically small diving helmet conceals its face completely. As much as I do want a deep sea pokemon with big scary anglerfish teeth, that also kind of feels "too easy" and too obvious. I like the philosophy Ken Sugimori himself has mentioned about balancing the "cool" aspects of a Pokemon with something "uncool."
Hidden Cephalopod - dark type, a sponge-encrusted wooden chest, crate or barrel from the sunken ships. Disproportionately large squid tentacles pop out when it attacks, and sometimes it may flip over and walk around on them, revealing a pattern on the back of the object resembling a face.
Hydrothermal Jellymaid - water/fire - this generation's equivalent to Gardevoir or Hatterene would come from deep sea vents, a three stage line whose final form is a slender pink or purple mermaid with a brightly glowing red, orange and yellow jellyfish on top of her head, broad petal-like tentacles evoking hair.

"A beautiful but formidable Pokemon that nests in boiling undersea vents. Its millions of luminous stinging cells inject a fluid hotter than magma."/"It can sometimes be seen frolicking on newly formed volcanic islands, but when the lava cools down, it returns to the deep sea."

CITY DEEP ZONE: GHOST TOWN

The city has a deep zone too, empty streets that somehow go on forever thanks to the strange powers of resident ghost and psychic types like Sandygast, Drifloon, Shuppet, Mimikyu, Hypno, Gothitelle, Beheeyem and Alakazam. Abandoned homes can be investigated. Find random Pokemon-flavored scary stories on scraps of paper?

Flea-bitten Dog - normal/bug, a shaggy moppy dog swarming with black specks. Evolved form is a sleepier looking pile of hair (almost like an otoroshi) with a thicker swarm. Signature move is basically a bug-type leech seed.

"Its body is swarming with incredibly tiny bug Pokemon. It appears to regard them as friends./"Its symbiotic bug types protect it from predators, but drain it of energy, making it sluggish."
Object Possessor - normal/ghost - a simple little scrap of cloth with two spooky eyes; a ghost that seeks a better object to possess. This is basically a non-electrical Rotom. Its different forms can be encountered as special battles in the empty houses and cannot be captured with a Pokeball; instead they must be defeated for the first possessor on your team to claim their object as its own body. Thanks Mechaniac Z in the comments for suggesting the cloth should still be present in each form.

Clock form: normal/psychic - a floating, broken cuckoo clock. The "cuckoo" pops out larger than is physically possible and could look like the original ghost has formed into a bird shape or plush bird?

Quilt Form: normal/fairy - a colorful quilt with a pincushion for a head; the original cloth may be sewn into it somewhere, or half of it is stitched onto the pincushion head retaining one of its original eyes.

Painting Form: normal/ghost - an abstract painting in an old wood frame. The dali-esque painted figure reaches out with colorful angular arms. Cloth could be partially draped over it like a tarp, original eyeholes lining up with the painting's eyes?

Chair form: normal/fighting - a plush armchair with multiple metal springs bursting out, which it uses to ensnare enemies. Cloth sewn into the seat cushion or draped over the back.

Overcoat form: normal/dark - a coat tattered almost into a bat-like flying shape. Has a hat that works like an "upper jaw" against its collar and a necktie tongue. Cloth ghost could be tailored into the hat or hang out of one of the pockets like a handkerchief?

Base form dex - "A curious spirit possessing an old rag as a body. It desires a more powerful vessel, and will bravely fight others of its kind over desirable objects."/"If it possesses the same object for too long, it may permanently fuse with it. It has been rumored that this created many other Pokemon that were once inanimate material."
Ghost doctor - ghost - a humanshape with a lady doctor motif, only found in an abandoned pokecenter.

CITY LANDFILL

Mountains of scrap and pools of sludge characterize a randomly generated (but not infinite) dungeon you can access from a few points in the city."

Rusty Silverfish - an orange, splotchy, pure bug type silverfish. Evolved form is so large it wears an entire junky car as a shell, with the headlights as its eyes. Signature move, "rust breath," does bug type damage but acts "super effective" against steel Pokemon, with a chance to paralyze them. "Junk armor" ability gives it the type strengths of a steel Pokemon without the added weaknesses.

Plastic Waste - poison/steel - first stage is just a collection of plastic trash. In the second stage the plastic has recycled into a crooked cartoon "dollhouse" with a colorful jigsaw puzzle or duplo block texture, emitting a purple wisp of smoke from its bent chimney. Final stage looks more like a factory, a collection of low slabs with multiple smokestacks and pipes. Poison/steel would have a 4x weakness to ground moves, but its "Oil Drill" ability absorbs them as health. Signature move creates poison type weather/terrain?

First stage dex: "It absorbs synthetic chemicals and polymers to survive. An enormous colony is rumored to live adrift at sea."/"An experiment to create a natural bioplastic has been blamed for this Pokemon's emergence. It is inedible to almost all other creatures."

Second stage dex: "It knows it is a product of humans and seeks them out, but its noxious breath can sicken a whole town. Once it is discovered, it is often placed in permanent PC containment."/"It attempts to blend in with man-made architecture. It does not know why humans are unhappy to see it."

Final stage dex: "It has come to consider industrial facilities its family. Following the smell of their emissions, it settles nearby and evolves in their likeness."/"It strips the soil and poisons the air, belching gas that reeks of burning plastic. If it seems to have fallen unwell, a koffing may have formed within its body."

FOREST

Hiker monkey - fairy type, a monkey wearing a dried mushroom cap as a hat and carrying a gnarled walking stick. Its evolution adds a beard and overgrown hair, twigs caught in its fur throughout.

"It likes to explore the forest on long treks, and meticulously cleans any trash or graffiti it finds."

Parasitic wasp - bug/dark wasp with a devilish Maleficent-like look. Its signature move, "Ominous Sting," does damage and changes the opponent's item to "Ominous Toxin," which inflicts a small amount of damage each turn. If the afflicted Pokemon wasn't holding anything, it keeps this item after the battle.

Chrysalis Pokemon (metapod, kakuna, etc.) will attempt to evolve into the wasp if they level up enough times while holding the Ominous Toxin.

"It evolves mysteriously from other bug types. It remains the same Pokemon on the inside, but its former friends may drive it away in fear."/"A forest can suffer when leaf-eating bug types boom in population, but [this species] keeps them in check by altering their evolution."
Grungy/goth fly - bug/poison, drooling dumpy fly with sad expression, body patterned like patchy clothes. Version counterpart to the wasp and works exactly the same, but its move is the "Peculiar Drool" and its item the "Peculiar Toxin."

"Its poisonous drool can change the DNA of other bug types, affecting their evolution. It is a lonely, unpopular Pokemon that sulks in filthy places."/"It feasts on decomposing trash, and will even drink the poison from sleeping Trubbish or Grimer. It can spit a powerful acid that breaks down almost anything."

BURNED FOREST

Marked by blackened tree stumps and drifting particles of ash, only Pokemon resistant to poison and fire will resist a steady HP drain. The most common wild Pokemon are Vullaby and Koffing line.

Firefighter Termite - bug/ground with fireproof - a cute, red humanoid bug (what I picture reminds me of Pawniard) with a firehose-like nozzle on its helmet-shaped head.

"It builds nests in charred trees, cultivating edible plants that grow best from ash."/"Colonies spray sand from their heads to douse forest fires, then claim the charred land as their territory."
Soot Coyote - fire/dark - a two stage black coyote with cloudlike soot tail that gradiates to glowing heat at the tip. Entire body flares up with heat when it attacks.

"It scavenges meat that has been charred completely to ash. It attempts to spark wildfires during the dry season."/"It burns down trees to procure its prey. It seems destructive, but its ashes are a rich fertilizer that invigorates the forest."

FOREST DEEP ZONE: TEMPERATE RAINFOREST

Fantastically massive trees; you can't see their tops or bottoms through the mist and must ride a certain pokemon to traverse the area. You can get off at small mountainsides or investigate cave-like hollow trees, some of which may turn out to be huge Beedrill colonies.

Forest strider moose - rock type - an enormous stony moose with legs like tree trunks, very long white fur covering its back and most of its face. Comes in size variations up to Celesteela-like proportions. You can actually only traverse the forest deep zone by riding on one of these that you rent, during which you may rarely be attacked by rivals of its species.

Lightning bobcat - electric - sometimes found in the hollow trees, a bobcat cub whose ears and cheek tufts form an exaggerated "X" which grows more extreme and more like four electrical bolts as it evolves. Predominantly white, like actual lightning, and will only evolve if it levels up in the deep forest.

Prevo dex: "It generates electricity within its fur, channeling it through the four tufts on its head."/"It is a popular household pet, but away from its forest home it can never evolve. Some owners prefer it this way, but some believe it to be cruel."

"If a tree appears scarred white by lightning, it may really be the den of this fearsome Pokemon."/"It nests in the tallest trees that it can find, and attracts lightning to recharge its energy."

FOREST FLOOR

If you lose a battle while riding the moose, you wake up on the floor of the forest, a randomly generated but otherwise fairly small dungeon that exits straight back to the surface. Searching rotten logs would allow you to find all known mushroom-themed Pokemon.

Moldy Banana Slug - grass/ground resembling a rotten banana with multicolored mold splotches, eyes peering from its partially "peeled" end. Evolution a bit bigger and more elongated, peel now forming four "petals" surrounding its hidden face. This is the region's own original spore-wielding fungus Pokemon. Previously I envisioned it like an octopus-shaped banana peel, but I think I like the more slug shaped version better. It could possibly evolve from one of those configurations into the other, I guess.

Prevo dex: "Its body is filled with mold spores. It rapidly decomposes organic material on which it feeds."/"Its waste product is said to be the finest fertilizer. It sleeps during the day, hanging from tree branches on a thread of sticky slime."

Evolved dex: "Usually a peaceful scavenger, it may attack living prey if it is hungry enough. Its slime is packed with toxic mold."/"If attacked, its enemy is weakened by a cloud of spores, and may become food for this Pokemon. Its adhesive slime is inescapable."
Flower Jackalope - grass/psychic two stage line, version counterpart to the slug. A fat, sleepy, floppy-eared rabbit with a pair of "antlers" that are actually pale blue, branching plants with delicate white flowers.

"A grass type that lives in total darkness. Having lost its chlorophyll, it steals most of its energy from trees."/"It long ago lost its ability to feed on sunlight, and prefers to live in the dark. Its pale flowers glow to warn predators of its bitter taste."

SNOWY CLIFFS

Accessible only from the forest via riding the tree moose, and serves mainly as an entrance to the caves.

Common Cold Creature - two stage poison type with levitate; a comical, floating jellyfish-like creature evocative of a human nose from the front. This is the regional entry in the tradition of two-stage pure poison lines like ekans, grimer, koffing, gulpin and trubbish. May also appear in other parts of the region during rain.

Prevo: "It weakens small prey with a powerful cold virus before draining their energy with its tentacles."/"It cultivates infectious germs in its membranous body. Its colorful bumps are a warning to its predators."

"It spends most of its time drifting unseen in the upper atmosphere. Its ice cold breath can make even the healthiest individual fall ill within minutes."/"It descends from the sky to forage in cold, wet weather. Its sneeze can blow a hole through a brick wall."
Skiing Mountain goat - ice/steel, first stage's head and legs are poking comically out of a big, rolling snowball. Evolves into an impressive looking bipedal goat with with long ski-like hind hooves, absurdly fast.

Prevo: "It rolls down mountainsides liesurely, then feasts on the pine needles, twigs and mosses collected in its snowball."/"It takes all day to climb back up its mountain. In the morning, it rolls back down again to gather food."

"The herd's social order is determined each year by a grand race to the bottom of their mountain home. They return to the peak with their incredible jumping skills."/"The adults of the herd watch over [prevo]. They will collect and retrieve any that have difficulty returning home."
"Christmas Sweater" Alpaca - electric - an absurdly tall alpaca whose fluffy coat displays a (procedurally generated?) tacky sweater pattern. The various colorful shapes in this pattern (trees, snowflakes, etc.) glow brightly in succession and there may be rings of multicolored tiny bulbs as well. When angered or hit, it pulls its entire head inside its wool, like a turtle, showing only its bright blue eyes.

"Its coat converts solar energy into electricity throughout the day, keeping its fur toasty and warm through the night."/"It has an ornery temper towards strangers, and can spit a shower of sparks from its mouth. If it gets to know someone, it loves to snuggle close and protect them from the cold."
Electric Lemmings - electric/psychic, tiny round Pikachu-like lemmings that only live in a swarm of at least a couple dozen, sort of like a crowd of Pikmin.

"Their thoughts are unified by an electromagnetic field. They can be rightfully considered a single colonial Pokemon with many expendable bodies."/"They like to live in the wool of [alpaca], keeping it clean in exchange for warmth and electricity. They share a unified mind."

MOUNTAIN DEEP ZONE: LAVA TUBES

Like real caves in the Pacific Northwest, caves in this region are perfectly smooth, straight tunnels, though they do branch off. They tend to be lined with ice at first, but become partially water-filled as you go deeper, rocky walls yielding all known Pokemon fossils. The deepest areas of all are illuminated by strange plants and sometimes inhabited by living, wild versions of fossil dinosaur Pokemon.

Fossil Strata Beast - rock/ground, bipedal kaiju-like monster thickly armored in a wide array of petrified seashells, many of them serving as spikes or horns.

"It can bury itself in rock and hibernate for centuries. Mistaking it for a fossil deposit can quickly turn dangerous."/"It blends in with the fossils encrusting cave walls. It is usually docile, but it becomes enraged if disturbed during its rest."
Neolithic spearhead - steel/fighting, a large, chipped stone spearhead with a stick-figure body, its eyes are just two holes bored through it like a mask. Exclusive to the deep zone tunnels.

"It can spring into the air to spear prey with stunning accuracy. It once constructed stone cities above ground, but fled into the Earth for unknown reasons."/"These Pokemon once painted cave walls with images of themselves hunting Mamoswine. The sound of them honing their edges echoes eerily for many miles."
"Amber Monster" - rock/grass - a transparent, golden mass of amber shaped almost like one of the substitute dolls, or a chunky chameleon with a flypaper-like tongue and a large mayfly-like insect asleep inside. Slow and defensive, but at 50% HP its amber body breaks, releasing a fast bug/flying attacker, its head still encased in a chunk of sap like a bubble helmet.

Rock form dex:"It preys on bug Pokemon, but only to nourish the bug slumbering within it. It refuses to allow this creature to be extracted for study."/"It absorbs nourishment from organic matter to produce more sap, which hardens into a resin as strong as diamond. It is defensive of the bug type that hibernates inside."

Bug form dex:"This bug type is tens of millions of years old, but it will die if it is ever fully exposed to modern atmospheric conditions."/"The resin enclosing its head is a living thing, and will soon grow enough mass to protect it completely. Until then, it tries to keep them both out of harm's way."
Pseudolegendary Cave fish - dragon/fairy, a cute little pink catfish with closed eyelids. Second stage is a longer fish with little salamander legs and only faint spots where its eyes were. Final stage is a beautiful milotic-like blind olm. Maybe with flippers making it a little plesiosaur-like?

FROZEN POKEMON

Instead of new fossils, the icy cave areas yield frozen tissue samples to reconstitute.

Ancient dolphin - ice/dark, begins as a furry white dolphin with four paws instead of flippers. Evolved form is a sleek, black furred dolphin with clawed dog-like legs.
"Doduotryma" - ice/fighting, the other frozen fossil; a bulky flightless "terror bird" with upturned knifelike beak. First stage has two heads and second stage has three, so it's said to be an ancient relative of Doduo.

MICROPOKEMON

Tiny-scale life does exist in the Pokemon world, but must be enlarged at the city's science laboratory. Each one has a variation in color, ability, and stat spread depending on where it was found.

Flea - bug type, spiny impish flea with clawed hands. Create from an item called "pest sample" sometimes carried by the flea-infested dog. It's not very strong, but its signature "parasitize" move removes it from battle to steadily damage the target pokemon, acting like toxic poison that ignores all type immunities, curative effects or abilities. If the host faints or you have no Pokemon left, the flea returns to your team.
Bacterium - grass/fairy type, a furry pink ball with huge eyes and many wiggly feelers ending in pom-poms. Still tiny, like Joltik, but it multiplies into one more bacterium each turn. If it survives to do so for enough turns, it transforms into a much stronger giant humanoid made up of colorful puffs. Created from the "germ sample" recovered from the sneeze monster (never mind that a common cold is a virus; it's Pokemon).
Tardigrade - water type, literally made of water shaped a little like a teddy bear. At 50% HP it crystallizes into a water/steel type, maxes its defenses and goes to sleep, but it has a signature water-type draining move and steel-type recoil move that can both be used while sleeping. Created from "dew sample" carried by the swamp sloth.

SPACE ARK

A slumbering Pokemon so vast it can be entered and explored, functioning as a deep zone. It exists to seek out dying worlds and collect genetic samples of every living species, which it carries to new worlds it can terraform. Biotechnological pods yield "gene samples" you can reconstitute into some of the legendaries and any of the ultrabeasts.

Unknown Lifeform - dark/psychic - inspired by the Hara no Mushi; a spiny, bony white arthropod with a multi-petaled mouth. There's a limited number of them inside the Ark. Signature move, Psi-drain, steals a little HP from the next Pokemon in line on the enemy team.

"A parasitic organism of unknown origin. As it feeds on brain waves, its prey experiences strange visions of an alien landscape."

LEGENDARIES

Space Ark Replicant - dragon/psychic, resembles a beautiful starship evocative of both a boat and a sperm whale with a circuitry-like surface. You've basically been trusted by the "mother" to help raise its successor.
Planet Eater - dragon/steel. A swarm of these menacing ray-like creatures follow the Space Ark wherever it goes and are rumored to destroy "suffering" worlds after the Ark has done its work. They would spare yours after seeing you take care of one of their own.
Alien Phantom - ghost - said to be the spirit of the civilization that created the Ark. Looks a lot like a cute metallic "owl" with a flat face, huge eyes, no mouth, arms instead of wings (a straight up Mothman would be too on-the-nose). Will only appear if you clear the ark of the alien parasites.
Pseudo-human - normal type, a genetic experiment more closely imitating a normal proportioned human than any Pokemon we've seen, though its "clothes" are still obviously part of its body and its eyes are more alien.

REGIONAL FORMS

Tied to specific environments. Not only can you find them wild, but there may be rare locales in the Deep Zones that can change an imported Pokemon to a matching regional form.

River Lapras - water/fairy, "elderly" looking, more elongated dark grey lapras with two-humped, worn looking shell, can fade to near-invisibility rippling like a mirage.

"Locals are certain that the rivers are home to an unusually ancient Lapras with curious powers, but its existence has never been proven."
Forest Onyx - grass/rock with mossy patches. Evolution is a new species mostly retaining Onyx's head and face but lengthier, draped with green moss, and a broken sapling stump grows from of its head instead of the usual horn. Some boulders have graffiti, trail markers or carvings.
Forest Lucario - fighting/grass - lumberjack themed, much burlier and thicker-bodied Lucario. It has "flannel" where original Lucario was tan, and large hatchet-like blades protrude from the backs of its hands.
Deep Forest Pidgey - flying/dragon pidgey line, much darker in color with yellow eyes. First stage already as large as the original Pigeot, while Deep Forest Pigeot is exceptionally massive.
Mountain Jigglypuff - ice/fairy with "carrot nose" and snowman pebble smile. Remains perfectly spherical (but much larger) when it evolves into Wigglytuff, with much longer ears that it seems to flap like wings as it floats.
Forest Floor Paras - starts out a normal but much paler paras, then a largely white and yellow Parasect. Evolves further into a pure grass type with a large collection of mushrooms sprouting from a bug-shaped fungus mass.
Sea Trench Anorith - water/bug, predominantly red and black Anorith that evolves into an elongated, more anomalocaris-like Armaldo (arms are still on its face). Encountered alive and wild in the deep sea's Wailord skeletons instead of as a fossil.
Sea Trench Lileep - water/grass wild Lileep with longer tentacles. Cradily has a more hooked and pointed beak-like mouth and the color schemes of the two stages are switched. Found near hydrothermal vents.
Lava Tube Zubat - dark type, evolves into big bear-sized zubat-like Pokemon with a leaf nose, clawed arms and legs but no wings (or very very tiny ones on its back).
Polluted Magmar - poison/dark, mix of pink and neon green coloration with drippy rather than flame-like pattern, green vapor pouring from head instead of flames. Instead of magmortar, it evolves into a lankier magmar-like creature with a longer beak. Swims in toxic waste.
Landfill Bounsweet - grass/dark "spoiled" bounsweet line with dreary colors, dark spots and pieces missing from leaves. "Crown" in the final stage has been replaced by an Applin's eyestalks.

GIMMICK FORM: ENIGMA POKEMON

My region originally featured giant kaiju-size "mutant" Pokemon, but Gigantamax Pokemon kind of beat me to the "kaiju size" part. Mutants differed however in the fact that they were exclusive to unevolved first-stage Pokemon, and I still like that, so they can just be scaled down a bit. Still all FAIRLY big though. I feel like calling something a "mutant" isn't really Pokemon's style, nor is the term "monster," so what I eventually settled on was calling these Enigma Forms and treating them more like "cryptids."

This might be a terrible idea, but what I came up with mechanically was that an Enigma Form is created by merging the base Pokemon with an "enigma gene" sampled from various wild Pokemon. This gene customizes their secondary typing but also adds four additional pre-determined moves from the gene donor, giving the Pokemon eight moves in all. To balance this out, it could be that an Enigma can only use its eight moves once each before it reverts to its normal, weaker form, or that once it has selected four different moves in the same battle the other four are locked.

Every Enigma form would have a color element that changes depending on its added secondary typing, but all their shinies would be monochrome. Each would also be encountered first as a sidequest.

Enigma Bulbasaur - lies down and appears contentedly asleep while the now huge, toothy-jawed plant on its back does all the fighting, and varies in color by type. Its scenario has a well-meaning plant lover growing and protecting it in an old greenhouse, before it begins sending long vines or roots out to damage neighboring homes.

"The plant on its back demands so much energy, the Bulbasaur spends most of its life sleeping. Still the plant's hunger never seems to be satisfied."
Enigma Charmander - a big Charizard-sized Charmander, still cute but a bit more rugged and spiky with a more lizard-like stance. Tail or tails end in Charizard-like heads? One Charizard and two Charmeleons? Eyes vary in color with type. Has refused to let anyone extinguish a raging forest fire it calls home.

"Its three tails may sometimes bully it into going where they please, but they will not allow it to be mistreated by others."
Enigma Squirtle - Squirtle is the same size, but the back of its shell keeps going into a huge, segmented sea-monster shape. Squirtle's base skin color varies. Angered by illegal fishing, it attacks boats indiscriminately.

"Even when it rampages, it displays a calm and friendly demeanor. Perhaps its enormous shell acts of its own accord."
Enigma Caterpie - a gigantic monster Caterpie, basically the stature of a Gyarados with more fearsome eyespots, jaws and scythe-like legs. Morphed color is its eyespots. Its boss scenario has it tearing up the city in search of its butterfree parent.

"It is no longer capable of evolving into a Metapod, growing only larger and hungrier with age. In a single meal, it can strip a tree of all foliage."
Enigma Psyduck - a massive fat psyduck lying on its belly. The small black hairs on Psyduck's head have grown into what resembles an Unown in the shape of a large "TV antennae," which constantly rotates and unleashes beams from its eye to attack. Psyduck's fur varies with its gene type. Its scenario has it occupying a radio tower, scrambling electronic signals and hypnotizing locals throughout the region. Regular Unown also populate the area.

"It is rumored that the growth on its head is a form of Unown. It appears to feed on Psyduck's excess psychic energy, curing it of its headache."
Enigma Spinarak - base color varies and its giant cartoon skull-like abdomen always faces the opponent. The go-to Pokemon of the villain team, but the scenario features their very angry "mother," which has trapped several of the team grunts in her cave. (Rescuing them could be a point at which they give you some inside info)

"Its brain has moved to its abdomen and increased in size. However, it still feeds from its two small fangs."
Enigma Porygon - completely scrambled, convincingly looks like your game is screwing up displaying its model. No consistent color indicator. Encountered when a smaller, rival tech company accuses the Professor of a cyber attack on their servers.

"Seemingly capable of warping reality, some say it can bring a trainer fabulous wealth, but others have said that those who abuse its power are erased as though they never existed."
Enigma Dratini - a bright white Dratini that flies with the long, angelic wings on its head. Forehead gem varyies in color. Encountered when it subjects the city to freak weather patterns.

"It is capable of flying at breakneck speed, and is overjoyed to soar through the upper atmosphere. It is unaware of the destructive hurricanes it generates in its wake."
Enigma Phantump - same head as Phantump with color coded eyes, but it now has a long, shadowy body rooted to the ground and outrageously long, thin arms with large and bony hands. Encountered through rumors of an old tree in the forest that can curse anyone you desire.

"It wishes to play with human children, but it becomes bitter when they return home. It can inflict terrible nightmares that never cease."
Enigma Goomy - giant goomy with a gaping mouth and long antennae. Two tiny, glowing pinprick eyes shine from the darkness in the back of its throat. Encountered in a small sewer dungeon below the city, where it is rumored that an abandoned pet grew to gigantic sizes.

"It never stops eating. Enigma energy does not appear to come from the Goomy, but an unknown lifeform possessing its body."

COUNTERPART GIMMICK: "NEO" POKEMON

Having "mutant cryptid" Pokemon really skews this in even more of a "bogleech.com" direction, but there's a counterbalance! To combat the toxic, wild Enigmas, the local Professor's company engineers "Neo" Pokemon from their enigma gene research, the only Pokemon that can endure the Enigma Pokemon's Miasma. All of these Forms would be humanoid, so basically "anthro forms" of normally non-anthropomorphic Pokemon. This is where I've dumped a lot of concepts that I think "even out" how many bugs and parasites I packed into the region.

A possible gameplay twist to Neo Pokemon is that they each have a fifth "finishing move," like a Z-move, but it always faints the user. Other properties of these Pokemon could be determined by exclusive weapon-like held items (which they would visibly hold and use in battle?)

N-Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon - all have fighting added to their original type and look like tokusatsu heroes.
N-Starmie - water/psychic, its original body now rests like a broad hat atop a crystalline humanoid form.
N-Crobat - flying/dark, a crobat-style "vampire count." Scalp and ears are black like dracula hair. Has an ability like Mimikyu's disguise, but just resembles a normal Zubat until it absorbs a damaging move and reveals itself. Finishing move becomes an entire Zubat swarm.
N-Beautifly - bug/electric, a thin and spindly insect person with a butterfly wing "cape." Finishing move becomes a giant beautifly formed of crackling energy.
N-Mimikyu - ghost/normal, now disguises itself as a human instead of a pikachu, the disguise body taller and more scarecrow-shaped with a broad hat.
N-Entei, Raikou and Suicune - self explanatory crowd pleasers. However, their elements and color schemes have been shifted around; Suicune is electrical, Entei is watery and Raikou is fire type. They come across as more Western-style muscular superheroes than the Eevee trio.
[This gen's rock moose] - rock/psychic - kinda sasquatch-like with long flowing hair. Finishing move summons a horde of recognizable woodland creature Pokemon.
[The plastic building pokemon] - steel/fairy - now shaped like a chunky toy robot. Modified to subsist on clean energy sources, it's become a beloved champion to humans. Finishing move transforms into a starship?

STORY STUFF

There may be some ecclectic themes going on, but I do tie them together. The ark pokemon (see legendaries) came to the world when it was at the peak of environmental disaster, but the world was so poisoned that the Ark became weak, went into a deep sleep and never completed its task to archive the planet's surviving species. This is a good thing, because whenever the Ark finishes "backing up" a planet's biota, the World Eater Pokemon consume that world in order to "end its suffering." Ever since it crash landed, the Ark's own alien biochemicals have even kept the land poisoned, resulting in strange mutations such as the Mystery Genes.

The villain in this region is its own Pokemon Professor, whose parents were lost during the rampage of a certain artificially-created Pokemon decades prior. Ever since, she's convinced that humans are not only a detriment to the world but that their greatest flaw is not being Pokemon, a plot point I did think of before Detective Pikachu did anything similar, honest. Through experimentation with the region's alien pollutants, she's sought a means for humans to evolve into Pokemon themselves, and the "neo" Pokemon are really just the early prototypes. The "villain team" are working for the same cause, of course, but they pose as a rival force using Enigma Pokemon to attack the institute, and possibly have a mad science sort of motif.

"DLC" OR SEQUEL AREA: ROCKY DESERT

Tyrantisterror was the first to point out that I somehow neglected to add new reptiles for this entire region. At this point I'm concerned my dex is too large, but it's looking like Galar's DLC additions expand its new species to slightly more than I've currently got. If this game had an expansion, I'd want it to to add a desert canyon deep zone beyond the mountains, probably a place you can find ancient ruins to recover some of the "artifact" Pokemon like the Regis and other legendaries. Plus:

Succulent Turtle - grass/ground - a soft shelled turtle that buries itself in sand. Its "shell" is a beautiful translucent succulent. What if the succulent's design was randomly generated from a number of possible shapes, colors and flower blooms? What if you could water the turtle every day to make the plant part of it scale up larger and larger, then finally bloom with another randomly generated flower?
Cactus Armor Snake - grass/electric - a horned yellow viper sticking out of a hulking teal cactus it controls like a humanoid body.

"It slowly merged with a spiny grass type Pokemon to protect it from predators like Braviary. Electrical pulses move the surrounding plant material like muscle."/"As it evolved into a grass type, the Pokemon it hunted evolved fire typing. It must strike quickly and paralyze its prey to avoid being burned."
Horned Lizard - fire - a thorny devil lizard with a thin, prickly body. When it attacks, it expands like a blowfish and spews fire from the corners of its eyes as it deflates.

"It was once preyed upon by an electric type Pokemon. When its natural predator evolved into a grass type, it adapted the ability to spray fire from its tear ducts."/"It inflates its thorny body to avoid being swallowed by predators. As it deflates, it expels a flammable gas from its eyes."

OTHER SPECULATIVE IDEAS

These are all just "ideas." I mean, this entire region is just an idea, but I don't imagine that all of the following would fit into the same game...
Regional Color Schemes - I thought it would be cool if many (...or all?) of the returning wild Pokemon in this region had exclusive color schemes, complete with their own shinies. They wouldn't be "regional forms" since there would be no other changes, but many would lean more toward the colors of real animals, like a "leopard frog" Poliwrath or "Coral Snake" Ekans. This would be particularly true of Deep Zones, making it fun to collect Pokemon in the abyss and ghost town even if you've seen their species before. The Landfill area in this case would also finally feature Voltorb in the colors of other Pokeball types.
Trainer Import - a feature I honestly thought the series would have implemented by now, where if you already have complete save data from a previous game, you can simply start this one as the same character whose family just moved to the new region. You would still kind of have to start over from square one, like Ash does in the anime, because gym badges would actually function as your legal "authorization" to use higher level Pokemon within that region. Option to "reset" one of your past non-legendary Pokemon to level one in addition to picking your new starter?
Highly Expanded Pokedex - we've spent over twenty years reading and re-reading that Psyduck has a Headache. We get it, guys. But what does Psyduck eat in the wild? Where does it prefer to nest? What preys upon it? What strategies might it use to thwart predators besides its telekinetic outbursts? Do Psyducks have any symbiotic relationships with other Pokemon? Many pokedex entries offer facts like these, but there's few Pokemon we know everything about. I'd love to have a Pokedex whose entries keep growing with subsequent encounters of the same Pokemon, especially if they could really pull off expanding the written lore for over a thousand monsters. Considering the fact that I've written an entire review article on just about that many, I'm going to say even one devoted enough person could do it. I could do it. I could do it in one week if you paid me enough, just saying, fellas. JUST SAYING.

For the completionists, it wouldn't have to be so arduous to collect all that data in-game; you could also download chunks of it from computers around the region, find old books and notes, add information you hear from NPC characters, and even send some of your dex entries to other players over wi-fi.
The "Secret Weapon" mechanic. - Megas, Gigantamaxes, whatever the heck else they add might seem hectic if they're not left in their own regions, but I also hate the idea of any pokemon design being restricted to any particular game, so what if they're all just folded together as a single "secret weapon" system? Your trainer gets a gizmo that can house a single crystal thingamadoodle and that could be either something that enables mega evolution, something that enables dynamaxing, the enigmas or neos, and whatever. Maybe even using any mythical or legendary Pokemon should count for the secret weapon slot? Alola allowed both a Z-move and Mega on the same team, but maybe Z-moves occupy a secondary slot? Which also brought me to the next idea:
Synergy Gem - It's supposed to only be a bad idea to use multiple Pokemon who share weaknesses, but I've always preferred "thematic" teams myself. Instead of a Z-crystal, you could instead choose a gem for your secondary slot that reduces the weaknesses and resistances of a given Pokemon type; just not its offensive strengths. The effect could be stronger the more Pokemon you have of that type, such that if your entire team shares a type, the damage they receive won't be affected (positively or negatively) by that type at all. Bad for steel Pokemon, very good news for ice Pokemon.
Quest Based Gameplay - every Pokemon game has its share of cute little sidequests, but you know what? I've owned Yo-Kai Watch 3 since it came out in America, and I've never come close to completing it because it has hundreds of optional things to do. Yo-Kai Watch 3's sidequest content DWARFS the main storyline, and the quests range from simple item-fetching chores to entire story scenarios with their own unique characters, puzzles and bosses, some of which demand the signature characteristics of a particular monster. If Pokemon were to take a page from the Yo-Kai Watch series, you would get to actually use fire-types to rescue people from frozen caverns, help ghost-types scare the pants off intruders in their haunted house, or just mow somebody's lawn with a Rotom. If Level-5 can do it to the tune of some two hundred gameplay hours, I don't see what's holding Gamefreak back from so much more content.
Level-X - because I just REALLY want weaker or un-evolved Pokemon to be more competitive, I've always had this idea of a "secret" level beyond 100. It would likely require a tremendous amount of experience, and maybe you shouldn't be allowed to use more than one "Level-X" Pokemon on a team, but it would evenly boost the Pokemon's base stats to a total of at least 520, around where a fully-evolved starter sits in overall strength. Pokemon already above that total wouldn't gain more than five extra points from Level-X, so we needn't worry about horribly broken Level-X Garchomps or Arceuses running around, nor would it be compatible with Eviolite, but with enough time and effort, it could give a lot of people's personal favorites more of a fighting chance.

THE POKEMON "MAYBE PILE"

I've actually messed around with my text file for this region for years now. Here's some I'm not quite sure of, usually because they would skew the selection much too much towards "my" sort of creatures, while others have been cut to keep the Pokedex no larger than the 60-80 individual species of recent generations:

Whack-a-mole Pipa Frog - Would be too redundant with both Dugtrio and Dragapult? Plus another of those animals I specifically like and have loaded up the region with anyway. It's also still possible that Seismitoad is supposed to be one of these already? Well, it'd be a river or bog dweller and maybe a water/electric type, each baby flashing different colors and the whole thing seeming like an actual "arcade machine."

Hazmat Dodo - poison/ghost, a flightless green or yellow bird with a gas mask face, only found on a single rock protruding from the polluted inlet. This one felt to me like a signature Pokemon of the region, but I wound up liking the Globster more, and the two together just felt "too Mortasheen." I'm still not even sure about having the globster and the dead fish in the same region.

"It lost the ability to fly through centuries of isolation, and became trapped as its environment grew toxic."/"It fears falling ill and secludes itself on small islands, unaware that its species already suffered an extinction."
Buttercup Earthworm - bug/dragon - Another forest floor Pokemon, a cute little worm sticking out of the dirt with a head like a cartoon flower. On evolution or perhaps just at 50% HP the tiny worm is revealed to have a giant monster worm body that rises from the ground, head almost shark-like with the "flower" on the end.

"It grows hungrier and more dangerous as it matures, but it is gentle towards grass-type Pokemon."/"Its flower-like appearance lures Pokemon such as [hummingbird line]. It devours all those that it finds harming plant life."
X-ray glasses - electric/psychic - a pair of floating, swirly glasses with legs for hooks, colored a bright glowing blue, white and black like an X-ray photo. Caught by examining an eye chart in a hospital at the abandoned town. This concept felt too much like I was injecting my webcomic into the setting, and eventually evolved into a Mortasheen monster, Spexecutor.
Rotten teeth - ghost/rock - a collection of big, cracked teeth walking on their roots with round, black eye sockets, Exeggcute-style but evocative of fanged skulls. This would have been a counterpart to the glasses caught by by examining the hospital's dental chart. Shiny would have one gold tooth.
Heart Ghost - ghost/dark - the last Hospital Pokemon, actually a cute Chansey-like creature but the cylindrical outgrowths on it would evoke a human heart. When it turns around, it has a meaner face on its opposite, darker blue side. Again too Mortasheen, too Awful Hospital.
Anemone/clownfish duo - electric/psychic - A gloomy looking anemone with a happy clownfish living in its tentacles. When they evolve, the more serpentine giant clownfish wears the anemone on its head. Part of a tidepooling area I took out to streamline the pokedex.
Octopus tree - grass - as tall as the moose, sometimes an actual tree springs to life and turns out to be this Pokemon. Could also just evolve from a surprisingly tiny grass type resembling a drifting leaf or a helicopter seed? Long roots like tentacles, a knothole mouth and cute eyes in its canopy make it resemble a cartoony cephalopod. Autumn red by default, shiny form is green. Also has an alternate grass/fire form in burned areas of the deep forest, with angrier eyes and an ashy grey-black canopy, glowing from within and bursting entirely into flame when it attacks.
Bad Egg - a concept that any pokemon egg hatched in the garbage dump would become a ghost/poison rotten egg pokemon. I still like the idea, but again, I've got too much of my trash monster stuff going on here already. Plus, it would probably suck if kid players didn't know this was going to happen with a rare and coveted egg.
Steel Trap Plant - a rusty bear trap growing like a carnivorous plant, with metal leaves. Scrapped because I had too many object and trash Pokemon, and they've now made Galarian Stunfisk anyway.
Deer Skull - ghost - uses hand-like horns to dangle from branches in the burned forest, cursing passersby. Didn't feel like this one was really Pokemon's style, like almost "too cool" even for a ghost type?
Ballroom Sundew - grass/psychic, three stage sundew. Final stage is a humanoid flower with a petal ballroom mask, sprouting up from the center of a large "dress" of dewy sundew leaves. Another inhabitant of floating bogs. The sundew rosette would be stated as its true body, and the flower a lure. I had an idea that the flower also rotates and sings, like the little porcelain ballerina in a music box, but I already had the Borzoi dog and the angel orchid.
Briar Patch - grass/dark, a loose, looping tangle of vines with red thorns and multiple cute, pink thistle-like flower heads. Steadily grows larger with more vines and more flowers as it battles, maybe even only acquires dark typing (and a powerful ability change) at the end of its growth?
Pollution Trio Regional Evolutions - Muk, Weezing and Garbodor evolutions, perhaps too redundant now with their existing regional and gigantamax forms. Following similar logic to Galarian Weezing, the Muk is poison/fairy, evolves in the inlet and actually cleans surrounding water; this is due to its symbiosis with a beneficial algae that also tints it a beautiful teal color. In contrast, "burned forest" Weezing is now the Poison/Dark type; a three-head Weezing is an obvious route for evolution, but this makes it resemble a large Co2 molecule, the center "carbon" head could even be black and the two "oxygen" heads red. Finally, "landfill Garbodor" fits inside a trash can it uses as a shell, but it would be poison/fighting with the steelworker ability. I also imagined it flipping over to walk on its arms, an idea I shifted over to the deep-sea treasure chest.
Third evolution for Gloom - grass/ghost, resembles gloom with slightly more open eyes, a dumpy body, and a carrion flower that looks more like Hydnora. Could evolve this way on the forest floor or in the dump.
Non-chlorophyllic grass type - a different grass/ghost, grass/psychic or grass/fairy from the forest floor, possibly based on Monotropa uniflora. I also thought maybe the Bellsprout line could have a pale colorless regional line that evolves into this.
Nerd tick - see my review of Blipbug!
Liquid nitrogen velvet worm - bug/ice, goofy looking (think wiggler from Mario) but sprays a freezing liquid from its antennae to incapacitate prey. Was one too many things that were cool by my standards, even if I imagined it as having a silly appearance, and was also scrapped for dex length.
Cursed TV Doppelganger - another I scrapped because the gen was getting too horror-centric, but this would be a ghost type you could catch from a busted television, probably in the Haunted Hospital. It would take the form of your lead Pokemon, like ditto, but with a static, flickering effect added, and retain that form when captured. It would copy and keep your Pokemon's moves, but would retain its own species name and stats, possibly copying the base Pokemon's primary typing but adding secondary ghost typing. Maybe it also has a movelist of its own and even a signature attack, but maybe it can only access those via the move relearner? It might also be fun if the television is still present; like it drops into the battlefield, projects the Pokemon and keeps sitting there.
Leaf Bat - another I was on the fence about in terms of "too much spooky theme." A maple leaf shaped even more like a bat than the real thing, with eyes and a little tattered mouth. Evolved into a bigger, more menacing autumn leaf.
Oil Spill Octopus - a solid black blob of oil shaped like an octopus, with Chinchou-like eyes. A pure poison type that becomes fire type if it uses a fire move. Scrapped to reduce the amount of poison stuff.
Birthday Cake - one of my oldest ideas for the ghost town location was to have a weird, gelatinous fire/ice monster resembling a lit birthday cake, which you would find in a burned-down house. This was scrapped because of Alcremie.
Whale Fall - a ghost/water type Wailord skeleton animated by the one-eyed bone worms encrusting it like moss. Also featuring a deep sea Wimpod in its ribcage and a few pale Binacle. Just didn't feel like a believable Pokemon at the time.
Deep Sea Swallower - water/fairy, actually a very cute and innocent little wishiwashi-sized fish, but when it attacks, its stretches open to enormous size with a gaping mouth. Signature move "engulf" removes the enemy Pokemon from battle (forcing a switch) for 2-5 turns, cannot be used if there are no other Pokemon left. No, this is not a reference to the post-credits scene of "Finding Nemo;" it's an exaggeration of a real fish!
Toxic Dhelmise - a regional Dhelmise encrusting a skeleton of the salmon Pokemon instead of an anchor. Considered as a replacement for my skeleton fish Pokemon.
Enigma Magikarp - a Magikarp with long human legs, the other replacement for my fish.

More scrapped Regional Forms:
-Toxic waste or oil slick fire/poison slugma, metal drum for a shell when it evolves.
-Sea Trench Tentacruel, red and purple with an umbrella-like tentacle web, water/fire like the mermaid.
-Sea Trench Chinchou, Lanturn now has eyes inside a transparent bubble.
-White, eyeless bug/ice Joltik line from the caves.
-Rusted steel/ghost klink line with creepy face corroded through its biggest gear.
-White "lab rat" Rattata line, psychic type.
-Upside-down "spilled" Vanillite line, ground type, made of mud.
-Luvdisc that evolves into "broken heart" Luvdisc with colossal attack stat.
-"Alien medical pod" Cofagrigus in the Space Ark.
-"Energy sword" honedge line also from Space Ark.
...And that's it! Despite only being a list of ideas, I spent an absurd amount of time "fine tuning" this post over several weeks until it felt "nearly just right," though it still doesn't feel quite "perfect." There's still a sense of bias towards concepts I'd enjoy more than most people do, not to mention a sense that maybe my ideas would still be too radically different from a believable Pokemon game. What do you think? What's missing? What's too much?? These ideas toy with basically everything I've learned from doing these reviews, and how I think the minds of Gamefreak really tick, but I could still be pretty far off!

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