my never ending search to acquire more and more obscure pieces of Pokemon media has lead me to understand some wild shit in gen 1 and 2. like anytime you think “oh that’s weird, why is [thing] like that” it’s probably either some obscure shit or something got changed in beta
for example, you know those weird-ass pokedex entries for Kadabra that are like “lol a kid turned into one of these once. no we’re not explaining anything”
well there’s this book in Japan called Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia released in 1996 that was never translated. It’s notable for basically being the Forbidden Adult Pokedex™ that we all want, as it has much longer ‘dex entries for each Pokemon along with more scientific data. While large portions have been retconned over the years, it offers some massive insight into what was going through the dev’s minds when writing this shit, and is 100% canon (for the time period it was written in).
anyway, while it was never translated, DidYouKnowGaming?, being the hero we all need, purchased a copy and had the same translator who translated the games themselves translate the book. Part 1 of the video is below, and I highly recommend you check it out if you like obscure vintage Pokemon shit.
Anyway, the point is that this is what it says about Kadabra:
FUCKING KAFKA. IN MY POKEMON. IT’S MORE LIKELY THAN YOU MIGHT THINK
So basically the ‘dex entries are referencing an in-universe book plot that’s a reference to The Metamorphosis, except due to a lack of space they fucking cut out the part about it being a book, which seems kind of important, but hey what do I know
(Side note: the ‘dex entries saying stuff like “it is rumored that” and “a theory exists” don’t quite line up with it being a book plot, so it’s possible this was retconned, or the book was based off an in-universe event. but this at least tells us why these weird-ass entries exist in the first place and that’s enough for me)
anyway the most important part of this is that the Abra line is confirmed to not be based on foxes, possums, or cats, but cockroaches. thank you for coming to my TED talk
It’s sad that was totally lost and I’d they were ever bug type it was dropped, but that must be why they have exoskeletons! And their heads may look mammalian but so does scyther’s!
William Ivey Long explains his design process for the play School for Lies (2011) Here, he’s showing how he designed Hamish’s costume using “found objects just to get the silhouette going”. I highly recommend watching the whole video on YouTube, it’s only 6 minutes long but gives a glimpse into how costumes are created.
So fascinating! Costume designers are amazing. What a great find!
