Nidoran ♂ Family
Continuing the double feature is the male Nidoran’s family!
Of the Nidorans, the male has always been my favorite of the two. If you’ve been following my review series, this is the least bit surprising. This Nidoran has bigger spikes, a sharper facial structure, and those staple grumpy eyes. Altogether, it creates that rough-and-tough feel that I fall for so easily.
Just like the female, the male Nidoran integrates rodent-like characteristics. It’s much easier to make out the rabbit traits on this Nidoran, but he still has that fantasy monster twist just like his counterpart. Out of Nidoran’s overall design, his oversized ears are one of my favorite parts. The purplish-pink fur also strikes my attention.
However, I’m curious as to why the male lacks whiskers. There’s no mention of it in any of his Pokédex entries. It seemed like a big part of the female’s design, so I don’t see why it’d be absent here. Let me go into Photoshop again real quick…
…Huh. I can’t say that really added anything. If anything, they’re just extraneous to the rest of the design. Weird.
For the most part, male and female Nidoran are identical; the male is also Poison-type, and his move pool is roughly the same. The biggest difference is that this Nidoran is much more offense-heavy to match his aggressive personality.
Interestingly, I found that he exclusively can be bred a couple Psychic moves: Confusion and Amnesia, of all things. I wonder why that is? What’s so different about the male’s biology that he can utilize attacks his typing is weak to?
I digress; there are subtle but distinguishable differences with the male Nidoran that ranks it as my favorite of the two.
Thumbs Up!
There’s a small Easter Egg with the Nidorans (and Nidorina/Nidorino) that I haven’t mentioned until now: their shiny forms mimic their counterpart’s colors! I find that downright adorable!
Just like the other Nidoran family members, Nidorino is a great example of how a character can have subtle yet distinct dimorphism among close relatives.
All of the reasons I love Nidorina’s design also apply to Nidorino. His ears have such a unique and appealing shape. The “fat deposits” as I called them make a return and fit nicely on his design. And when it comes to the spikes, they’re placed in an orderly fashion down Nidorino’s spine. I don’t know why, but I find that highly appealing.
Perplexingly, Nidorino’s body has multiple color variations. This isn’t like Shiny forms or Pokémon purposefully designed to come in different colors. For no explained reason, Nidorino clearly ranges from the purple illustrated above to bright, flamboyant pink.
This “error” would make sense in the older episodes of the Anime, as cel animation (where colors had to be hand-painted) was still a process used in the 90’s. However, the hot pink still shows up in the show as well as in games today.
Why has this persisted for so many years without any acknowledgement or explanation? Granted, it’s a minor inconsistency, but still puzzling that the coloring artists have been getting different memos throughout the years.
No matter the shade of purple or pink, I think Nidorino’s design is great.
Two Thumbs Up!
A snarling, fierce dinosaur monster with sharp horns and incredible destructive strength? Sounds like a winner in my book! I just can’t get enough of rugged reptilian creature designs, and Nidoking stands as one of my all-time favorites.
Although I’ve only watched a few of them, I’m a huge fan of monster flicks like Godzilla. Nidoking feels like he’d easily fit in such a film, wouldn’t he?
HEY WAIT A MINUTE!
Nidoking is likely a huge nod to classic Kaiju, with Baragon and (although a stretch) Destroyah sharing eerily similar features with Nidoking. I love that!
There’s a lot of detail on Nidoking, but it’s presented so that it’s not overwhelming to the eyes. Like I mentioned in my previous article, his hide is implied through general shapes, instead of every last scale being painstakingly drawn out. Note that it’s not inherently wrong to have a character with every corner of its body textured, I just feel it’s worth noting how effective the simplification is on Nidoking.
The segmented tail previously seen on Arbok shows up again, and it’s excellent for Nidoking. It balances his compisition with simple shapes contrasting against all those densely-packed spikes on his back.
And speaking of spikes, they’ve been greatly shortened from Nidoking’s early concept art. Originally, his Red and Blue illustration featured numerous spines that could fan out.
I love the wilder look the earlier art conveyed. At the same time, I respect the value in toning down the quantity and length of the spikes. If there’s one thing I wish could have remained in Nidoking’s design, it’d be the shoulders. They were originally drawn like proper shoulder pads instead of perfect circles. To me, it feels more natural for Nidoking’s anatomy. What a shame that they were changed.
Looking at Nidoking’s belly, I now realize why Nidoqueen’s “bikini” didn’t feel right to me. It’s hard for me to describe it in words without first illustrating what the two would look like if their belly patterns took cues from each other:
I’m not entirely satisfied with the editing job I did to Nidoqueen, but I prefer her “breast plates” being fused as a seamless shape just like Nidoking’s.
I feel my point is better made with my edited Nidoking. Doesn’t he seem a little off? It’s like an awkward priority has been placed on his pectorals, and his lower abdomen now looks like a diaper. This is why I find Nidoking’s actual abdomen patterns so eye-catching. They emphasize typical masculine icons without sticking out like a sore thumb.
Like many Pokémon from this generation, there isn’t a whole lot I can write about Nidoking outside of visual aspects. His Pokédex entries are rather generic, stating he’s a powerful beast capable of snapping tough materials as if they were toothpicks. It’s the usual lore heard a thousand times over for any Godzilla-like monster. There isn’t anything extraordinary about his typing, either; Nidoking is Poison-type because of his poisonous quills, and part Ground-type to emphasize his city-leveling destructive prowess.
I love Nidoking to pieces, even with his bare-bones lore. He’s an outstanding tribute to traditional kaiju beasts.
Highest Praise!
