Pokemon Fan Designs New Form for Lugia

11.04.2024 - 12:15 / gamerant.com / Dane Enerio

A talented Pokemon fan has come up with an alternate design for Lugia. The large Psychic/Flying type creature is among the Japanese media franchise's strongest monsters.

Lugia made its series debut in 1999's Pokemon Silver for the Nintendo Game Boy Color, with the character appearing on the RPG's box art as a mascot. Despite its large size and imposing draconian features, Lugia is known to be gentle, and according to established lore, the Pokemon isolates itself deep within the oceans to avoid causing harm. One Pokemon fan has created a new design for Lugia that many believe would fit well even in the franchise's latest games.

Artist PhatmonMonstraros shared their alternate Lugia via a recent post on the Pokemon subreddit. Their original design reworked many of Lugia's features, such as the Legendary Pokemon's head, arms, spikes, and wings, but it still retained the character's recognizable blue and white color scheme. One community member claimed that PhatmonMonstraros' Lugia could pass as an Ancient Paradox Pokemon from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which are the series' latest mainline game releases. Ancient Paradox Pokemon resemble the ancient relatives of modern Pokemon, while Future Paradox Pokemon look like their futuristic versions.

The current generation titles initially did not feature Lugia, but the Legendary Pokemon was added to them via the Indigo Disk expansion that was released in December 2023. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players can find Lugia near the North Province (Area One) Watchtower in Paldea after completing a few quests and obtaining the Lugia Treat from Snacksworth.

Like PhatmonMonstraros, other artists have created alternate designs for Lugia. Another Reddit user named cheesecake_ghost provided a glimpse of what a realistic version of Lugia would look like. The watercolor painting, which was heavily inspired by Lugia art that was used in the Pokemon trading card game, received praise from community members for its terrifying depiction of the iconic Legendary Pokemon.

Fans have speculated that new Pokemon games set in Generation 2's Johto region could already be in the works. Meanwhile, Game Freak's next planned entry in the series, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, was officially announced during a February Nintendo Direct. This upcoming Switch title slated to launch in 2025 will take place in the Kalos region, which was the setting of Pokemon's sixth generation Pokemon X and Y games. The Kalos region is based on France, with the area being particularly similar to the northern half of Metropolitan France.

Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokemon spans games, television, films, manga, merchandise, music, and more.