These odd Pokémon can be very divisive in the community and I was curious to see opinions on them from you guys. What do you think of Pokémon based on inanimate objects? Love em? Hate em? Don't really care either way? What are some that stand out for you as good design or just fun to use in general?
I think people think too much about the fact that they're based off inanimate object. I mean what makes Chandelure and lesser than Gengar? The fact that it's a chandelier? Come on. It shouldn't matter what they're based off of if the design is alright. I for one love objectmons. They're just really unique in my opinion. I obviously have to point out here that Litwick is my favorite Pokémon. So duh, I think it has a fantastic design. Magnemite and the Honedge line get honorable mentions as well. ...Wait is Magnemite even considered an objectmon?
I personally love most of the objectmons actually, especially the ghost type ones, seeing as they're possessed items like a poltergeist. Chandelure, Cofagrigus, Polteageist, Palossand, and Aegislash are all cool as hecc.
I put "I like some of them" on the poll, but that's not entirely one-to-one with how I really feel about inanimate object Pokémon. I see them as no different from Pokémon based on animals, mythology, or pop culture. They can be done well or they can be done horribly, and it all depends on the execution of the concept. Chandelure is a really popular example and the first that popped into my head, so I'll use that to say that this is what inanimate object Pokémon SHOULD look like. The basic idea was for a chandelier poltergeist, and it was on Game Freak to make it unique and interesting. Sure enough, they did. Chandelure looks really unique on top of being stylized in such a way that makes it look different from the original concept, and its color scheme definitely helps. What should an object Pokémon NOT look like? Well, you could probably take many of the commonly hated Pokémon from Gen 1 or 5, but the Grimer family stands out as the biggest example to me. I get the idea of a radioactive toxic waste monster thing, and I may expand on this idea myself with artwork, but the execution here was pretty terrible. Grimer does absolutely nothing to stand out with this concept, quite the opposite; I could easily see a new player mistaking a Muk for an angry Grimer, and that discludes how they might think Ditto is a part of the family somewhere. Let's take those two things and apply them to animalistic Pokémon. Scyther is simply a big, monstrous praying mantis, possibly with some inspiration from some pop culture monster, but they took the idea and twisted it into something very unique that really has an awesome look to it. Lumineon is based on an animal called a butterflyfish with actual butterfly wings, which is a concept I personally feel had more potential than Scyther's, but they did nothing interesting with it. They made it just a fish with wings and nothing else. See the similarities? I do at least kind of see where the hate for object-based Pokémon comes from, though, and that's because I think it might be a little bit riskier to go with an object-based design if you don't make it unique enough. Some of the more hated Gen 1 Pokémon include Geodude, Grimer, and Voltorb, but I personally think that there are some Pokémon like Zubat and Persian that suffer the same pitfalls. I think it sticks out more like a sore thumb if you see something like Voltorb than something like Persian though because it looks more natural to see this generic cat than it is to see a Poké Ball but made into a Pokémon. I think Zubat and Geodude specifically are fine, but in order to explain why, I'd have to go on another side tangent that would detract from the point of this post. Do I think the hate for object Pokémon is deserved? Kind of. Like I said, you're kind of dealing with risky business if you don't know what you're doing with a concept for an object Pokémon. I don't really think it's fair to say that most or all object Pokémon are bad though. I think there are some fantastic object Pokémon that fully explore their concepts, but unfortunately, some of them end up being stuck behind a weird stigma that all object Pokémon suck.
I love inanimate object Pokémon, because I feel it takes more creativity to bring for example a tea pot or Hawaiian lei to life than a dog or cat. The ghost type inanimate objects are especially great examples of this, as many of them are haunted or possessed items. Even something as simple as slapping a face on an ice cream cone or a trash bag gives personality to an otherwise boring or lifeless object.
Inanimate object Pokémon(IOP) can have a lot of potentials in them. Think of the creativity GameFreak can do to make them interesting. But then looking at what we have now, I see why some players(Not just genwunners) think it horrible/bad. It is because there no creativity in them(Yes, I am talking about Garbodor and Klinklang family) but there are still some very interesting IOPs. And personally, I like IOPs. All IOPs as they are not easy to make even Garbodor has some creativity in its backstory. Inanimate object Pokemons can have interesting backstories/lore and a bunch of interesting theories about them(Like how the cloning of mew creates a bunch of dittos which turns into Inanimate object Pokemons under some conditions: harsh sunlight, sewage pipe, landfill, etc.)
I love food themed stuff, so I don't mind things like Swirlix and Alcremie. But I think any object themed mon can be cool! Trubbish is pretty nice and I don't hate Klefki. I do not like the Klink line, though - I just think more creativity could be put into it.
I tend to like object based Pokémon. They can be a way to create a new and unique design. I don’t think it’s always a success, but that’s just the way Pokémon breaks down in the end. Everyone has at least one mon that is “the ugliest most unoriginal design” and it doesn’t matter if it’s one of the many dragons, or a cup of tea or an ice cream cone. Looking at it from a wildlife perspective, ghost types make the most sense, as they are literally possessing a regular thing, but I love the Vanillite and magnemite lines about as much as I do the Honedge and Litwik lines. In the end, I always gravitate to cute designs, and there are a lot of object mon that fall into this surprisingly.
I like Pokémon whose designs are based off of inanimate objects. Some of the designs can be really creative and cool. If we can have Pokémon based off of plants, which don't typically move around in our world, why not have Pokémon based off of things like keys and lights? It makes for some really awesome ghost type Pokémon.
I love the general idea of them and I like most object-based Pokémon. Honestly, I feel like they're much more creative than animal-based ones. It takes a lot more to try and make a creature based off of an inanimate object than it does to make a creature based off of a creature. I don't really get the hate for them, either, since they mostly have pretty good designs as well. Certainly better than a lot of the birds, fish and small mammals that are basically just slightly stylized versions of real animals without much going for them.
I hate all of the inanimate object Pokémon, the Pokémon that are too similar to real life creatures, and anything that looks like Game Freak just put googly eyes on it. I'm waiting for Broomalion to come up and sweep away these ridiculous Pokémon. I think there should be at least two to three hundred less Pokémon, and I would start with these ones.
I always liked them, they were quite interesting to me, personally. Now I've been studying Japanese myths and yokai recently and discovered a yokai called Tsukumogami. Thinking on the 'Objectmons', I've found myself wondering if they were inspired by Tsukumogami! Tsukumogami are everyday *objects* that *became self aware or alive* after being around/left alone for 100s of years. It fits so well, especially when you point out some of the other Pokémon are also based on Japanese myths and yokai.