Pokémon Theory Arcanine Was Supposed To Be A Legendary

Pokémon Theory: Arcanine Was Supposed To Be A Legendary

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Pokémon’s Arcanine was supposed to be a Legendary, according to one popular theory, but evidence both supports and refutes fans’ speculation.

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Pokémon Theory Arcanine Was Supposed To Be A Legendary

The stripey tiger-dog Pokémon, Arcanine, is one of Gen 1’s most iconic designs, and one popular fan theory suggest that’s because Game Freak originally created it to be a Legendary – usually the series’ most unique creatures. Evidence both supports and refutes the Legendary Arcanine theory, leaving Pokémon fans to guess at the truth.

The theory’s origins begin with Arcanine’s all-too-confusing category name: “Legendary Pokémon.” These categories (the ones the Pokédex reads out when Ash comes across a new Pokémon in the anime) are already largely meaningless, being mostly unique despite their apparent use for categorizing Pokémon. Arcanine’s makes the system even stranger, since the real Legendary category is already occupied by actual Legendary Pokémon.

From a meta standpoint, Pokémon categories serve the purpose of hinting at a Pokémon’s design origins. For example, Mankey is the “Pig Monkey Pokémon,” which is a fairly clear indication its design was inspired by a combination of a real-world pig and monkey. This could mean Game Freak was trying to tell fans, “Hint-hint, Arcanine was once a Legendary,” especially given it bears a not-insignificant resemblance to Pokémon’s Gen 2 Legendary Beasts. But the Pokémon anime has a more compelling piece of evidence.

Why Pokémon Fans Think Game Freak Designed Arcanine To Be A Legendary

In the second-ever episode of the Pokémon anime, “Pokémon Emergency!,” Ash sees a set of stylized carvings of Legendary Pokémon on the wall. Along with the Legendary bird trio, there’s a dog-like carving that appears to depict Arcanine. Fans speculate this is because Pokémon’s creators originally meant for Arcanine to be a part of the same group as the trio, but ultimately decided it would be strange to have just one dog among some birds. Ho-oh’s appearance in the prior episode, however, indicates the anime team had a fairly solid lead on the video games’ production, so it would have already known which were the real Legendaries. In reality, either in- or out-of-universe confusion was more likely the cause.

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Rather than a nod to changed design decisions, Arcanine’s category appears to reference Chinese guardian lion statues, which were traditionally (i.e. “in legend”) said to ward off evil spirits. As such, early-game Pokédex entries describe it as lowercase-“legendary” in China. Perhaps Arcanine’s inclusion in the carvings was meant as a nod to that in-universe status, despite not being a true Legendary. Another explanation is a miscommunication between Game Freak – Arcanine’s creator – and the Pokémon anime production team. Since it’s described as a Legendary in-universe and has such a regal appearance, the animators may simply have mistaken it for one.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/pokemon-theory-arcanine-legendary-trio-design-origins-true/

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