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Aonyx — UPDATED Pokemon Trainer OC Tutorial.
Published: 2011-01-26 03:58:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 57453; Favourites: 934; Downloads: 449
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EDIT 5/24/12: Changed the tutorial a little! Less doodles, more text and advice. Hope it is a little clear and better to understand. Thank you all so much for all the favs and comments. I love hearing about all of your ideas! Hopefully I'll get around to fixing Part II (and III?) around one day!!A quick little tutorial I made for designing Pokemon OCs. I see some, uh, questionable ones out there.
So I figured I'd give it a go and see how the reaction is and if anyone wants a part II or III.And I'd like to say that these are general rules to follow and some guidelines to help. All rules have exceptions of course and plots and storylines really can help shape great charaters, even if they push the boundaries. Don't be afraid to experiment with more than the average trainer.
Hope it's okay and hope it gives you some ideas!
Pokemon (c) Nintendo.
Tutorial (c) Aonyx.
Edit: A-almost 50 favs! ;A; I'm so grateful! It was even added to a few groups! Thank you all so much!
Part Two:
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Comments: 192
Ah~ This is super helpful! I've been working on a Pokemon OC and this is helping me so much to be sure she is original and comfortable to work with. Thank you very much for making this.
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I'm glad it could be of some use to you! C: And thank you!
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You're welcome! It is very helpful, really. I'm going to reference it to be sure my trainer OCs are unique and most certainly not Mary-Sues or Gary-Stus. ^^
Once again, I thank you for making this. I love your art, too~
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Awwww, thank you so much! You're so kind!
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You're very much welcome! I speak merely all the truth~ No lies, ever.
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In my story I made my character gain a year per region he traveled so he's 14 after going through 4 out of the 5...I think they should have done this method with Ash, but he is still 10 which is somewhat a pain.
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I personally feel like a year per region is too quick. The game is obviously skewed and the TV show has show minimal progress with Ash's age, but there are a lot of episodes per season. There are side-towns and episodes where they spend days in one place, not to mention all of the traveling they don't show. 3-5 years is more appropriate per region in my opinion. Fourteen is quite young. We have to take in account time for Pokemon to recover and getting lost too. c:
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Actually it depends on which language you watched the series. Since I watched the Japanese version there is always that side recap episode per region and it reveals that 1 to 3 years have passed between each region. Through this passage of time Satoshi the protagonist would have been 11 to 14 by the time he reached the Kanto League, 12 to 15 by Johto, 13 to 16 at Hoenn, 14 to 17 at Battle Frontier plus Sinnoh, and then 15 to 18 by the time he reaches Isshu. Hence a year or two between regions sounds reasonable.
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no it doesn't.
no it's not.
that is god-modding
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I agree that it seems to quick its just that with the show, everything is done for one year(like the gym battles and Pokemon leagues), and the next, and son on so forth, well my opinion how the show does it so I try to follow it. If that is the case with the age thing wouldn't Ash be in his early to mid 20's? Ah well, I see your point bur I already started the fanfic...I'm a freaking genius ( I say sarcastically)
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Ahh, exactly! But if you follow the show's standards, I'm sure no one could really argue since it's technically canon. c:
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so i can't be 13 and explored 3 regions
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Not really. It would take at least a good 3-5 years per region, I would say. So maybe 1 completed region and starting on the second at best. It would also take children longer, since they don't walk/bike/swim as fast as 16+ year olds.
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This tutorial is absolutely brilliant, I recentley got back into pokemon and this was such a huge help for me while designing my new OC. Thank you very much for making this~
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I'm really really glad that you enjoyed it! :3
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It really came in handy for this: [link]
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Funny, I'm thinking of making an intentionally overpowered trainer. She has been molded into a super-trainer due to a strict upbringing by her father, a very wealthy and successful trainer that isn't willing to let his legacy fade. The result is a powerful trainer, but one that has some pretty serious issues.
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Sometimes it's okay to be OP. :3 As long as there's a story and it's not for a tournament or something.
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Ahaha, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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Holy insightfulness! Love it so much 
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I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hope it helped!
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Hmm.. thanks for the tutorial Aonyx. It sure helps me..
But still, i have a question.. Are we allowed to have a Pokemon that we bring to all the region like Ash's Pikachu ?
Example : I started with a Totodile in Johto and then I always bring it when I began going to Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. However, the rest of the team are different by their region.
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Oh, of course! I imagine that the only reason Ash gets rid of his Pokemon each season (besides Pikachu) is so the creators can show off some Pokemon better. I imagine that most trainers, if Pokemon was real, would keep a majority of the Pokemon they had throughout the regions. Maybe one or two would be replaced every now and again. Some like, you start off with a whole Johto team, then add two from Kanto, one from Hoenn, kinda like that.
Hope that helps! And thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
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I know this part suggests not to use legends but legends were never really hard for me(probably the horseshoe I keep up my ass) but would using 1 legendary still be ok?
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Well, in the context of the game, legendaries are very easy to come across. But, if you were to imagine the real world, most people would barely come across one in their lifetime. 
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Wow this is really going to help me! All my Pokemon OCs are unoriginal and boring BUT NOW I HAVE SOME HELP!
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I'm glad it helps! 
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hate to tell you this, but some of us limit ourselves to a select few Gens - most notable the first ones - because they're better; by either style, moves or whatever.
in my opinion, Gen 1 - Gen 3 (YRB - FRLG) are the best. mainly because i don't have a DS, but it's also because the earliest pokemon had more thought put into them. the new ones now-a-days are too "clique"-y. (for example, a friend of mine talked my ear off, bitching about the slew of humanoid pokemon) if pokemon are supposed to be "animals" why the hell do they have clothes? also; it's kinda hard to not have legendaries because they insist on coming out with like 7 every time a new game is published. >~<
on top of everything, some thought and originality would be nice. after Gen 3, everything was either recycled or an evolution / pre-evolution of the first Gens.
i'm not trying to make you feel bad and i'm not yelling at you, it's just when it's said that "a true fan makes use of them all" or "why use these old ones when the new ones are so much better" you have to take that person's thought process into consideration. in all honesty, to me it seems like the only good things to come out of the newer games are the moves and even most of those are kinda stupid.
and yes, i have made pokemon OCs; both trainers and pokemon.
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It's funny how one line got me this whole entire rant and not a single thing was brought up about any other part of this tutorial, not to mention the amount of assuming you did.
When I mentioned people who only use some, I clearly mentioned only Gen I and Gen II, yet many of these characters are 16+. It would seem foolish that they haven't encountered any Pokemon from other regions to utilize. Most people completely neglect Hoenn Pokemon (excluding Absol, Flygon and the Kirlia tree) entirely. It's quite annoying to see the same team (random Eeveelution, Charizard, Steelix, Raichu, etc. etc.) over and over again and makes for a horrible and cliche OC. The backstory is the exact same as Ash's (if there is one at all). And, frankly, it's annoying to hear all these so called "90s kids" get nostalgic about the "original 150" (even though there were 151 and Ho-oh/Togepi were in the first season of Pokemon.) It makes creators and owners seem cocky or unflexible if they put "I hate the new gens, 150 was enough for me!"
But, like I had mentioned in the tutorial, if you had taken it into consideration, that Pokemon OCs don't have to have visit every region so far. I find the mistake that either people's OCs have only visited Kanto (very unlikely, since Pokemon trainers want to general "catch them all" or "defeat them all") or have visited EVERY region, which seems highly implausible at such a young age. If you really opposed a generation so much, your OC could mention "I've never been to Unova, but I hear the Pokemon look weird over there."
And, while this is neither here nor there, you brought up the "humanoid" Pokemon. Yes, there was a decent amount added in the new gen. But even in RBY, you had Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Jinx, and Mr. Mime as blatant humanoid Pokemon with "clothes". In fact, nearly all Fighting-types greatly resemble humans, for obvious reasons, but the new regions give way to some different looking Fighting-types including Mienfoo, Mienshao and the legendary dog trio. And I'm not sure what you mean by "clique"-y, it seems like a term that has no real description behind it. Either way, I don't know why you even included that, since that had no revelence to my tutorial whatsoever.
"also; it's kinda hard to not have legendaries because they insist on coming out with like 7 every time a new game is published." There are a little under 50 legendaries. With the remaining 600, you can't find a suitable combination that you actually like? Highly unlikely.
Not to mention, rarely do trainers ever use legendaries. Most are only either close friends with legendaries (i.e. the kid and Celebi in Pokemon 4Ever) or use them to combat other legendaries into sumbittion (i.e. using the Regis to control Kyogre/Groudon). In fact, in the storylines, all we SEE is the exception to the rule. Every single person set in the Pokemon world, excluding three or four people per region, has never battled a legendary, nevermind caught one. It seems extremely overpowered for an OC to have legendaries and look unoriginal and uncreative.
As for Pokemon being "recycled" - of course they are. To make the game functional, you need to have similiar Pokemon in regions. Just like there are buzzards in the desert and seagulls at the shore, there are birds in real life everywhere across the world. Each country has their own set of myths and that lore could define what they fear or worship. However, instead of looking at only the negatives, there are some interesting and inventive Pokemon made in every generation.
And, lawl, I would like to know where I said "why use these old ones when the new ones are so much better"? Because that is the exact opposite of how I feel. I absolutely despise Sinnoh/Unova starters, nevermind getting to the whole generation. Pokemon like Empoleon and Torterra could have been made so much better. Torterra had some much potential with the amount of myths there are about "world turtles" and the design fell. Gothitelle, Woobat, Gigalith, Vanillite - all horrible designs. But its true that a true Pokemon fan doesn't just dismiss a whole generation as useless. In fact, Unova had some of the most interesting designs of all time. Seismitoad, which is neither pretty nor popular, is creative and useful. Golurk, a golem, which is fantastic in it's own right. Hydregion, the hydra... there are several really great designs out there. And it's important not to look at just your preferences when designing a character - you have to take the character's personality in order.
My Psychic trainer OC has Pokemon that I probably would have not used at first, but his Pokemon revolve around practability, not how KAWAII DESU they look or how OP they are. But I decided not to add any of the Unova Pokemon because not only did I not like them, they did not fit with the character. In fact, few of my OCs got Unova characters. It's not a crime to not use them, but it is annoying to see and possibly even roleplay with people who dismiss new Pokemon entirely. I never said "Use all generations of Pokemon or else your OC looks weak". I said "True Pokefans use a variety of generations", which is true. You can't call yourself a Pokemon fan and limit yourself to the Pokemon they had up until Crystal. Even though I really dislike so many of the new designs, I still accept that many people like the new designs and I'm not going to insult their tastes by saying how much a Pokemon looks like it sucks.
And, in case you haven't noticed, I do take a person's thought process into consideration. That's why there are so many loopholes to the guidelines in this tutorial. But what I don't understand is why you would bother to write a wall of text in a clearly informal tutorial on one line. It's obvious that the issue bothers you, but it has very little to no revelence about my work at all. You may not have been "trying to make me feel bad" or "yell at me", but your ideas of my opinions are completely wrong. I couldn't even finish Pokemon Black because it was not nearly as fun as I expected. I'm really hoping they remake RS because that was my favorite generation and I believe had the best storyline and some of the most creative designs. There was no reason to even bring these things up - this wasn't a stamp debating your position and I clearly remember never asking your opinion. I hope you don't do this to all the devations you view.
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When you count togepi and ho-oh total is 153. I know weird but yeah I did math some time ago mew is 151. I guess 150 they thought was catchy or something
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nope. togepi and ho-oh are johto dex. it's 151.
the original concept of pokemon was 190. that's why some showed up earlier in the animation than the games.
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wow.... lotsa text!
to start, i'm sorry about zeroing in on just one selection of your tutorial. about 90% of the "pokefanatics" i'm forced to deal with all think each new game is even more amazing than the last. i did read all of parts 1 and 2 and you've really hit the nail on the head. more often than not people make their OCs so repetitive it'd drive anyone with a fair imagination and more to rant wildly.
"And, lawl, I would like to know where I said "why use these old ones when the new ones are so much better"?" i wasn't implying you were the one saying it. i just said "when it's said".
"recycled": i can understand having multiple birds and stuff like that, but it's just some of the ideas seemed like they were hashed together by direct-to-dvd artists... like, Gen 1 had Aerodactyl, Kabuto/Kabutops and Ominite/Omistar (a good start, relatively simple) then G3 had Lileep/Craydily and Anorith/Armaldo and they all seemed really thought out in style and such... but then they put out (goes to look up names) Cranidos/Rampardos and Sheildon/Bastiodon and, yea they look like their inspirational counterparts, but where the previous ones looked like they were designed directly from the creatures they're based off of, the 4 from G4 look like they told some cartoonist "draw us 4 new pokemon based on a triceratops and a pachycephalosaurus." "a pachy-- what?" -hands over picture- "this thing." "oh. ok." "creative licence is yours" -thinks- "hmm... what are kids into nowadays? i know! i'll put spikes on a pizza box, a probe, a torpedo and this little one will have a ufo as a head, just to shake things up!" (i know, i'm griping again. T~T ) it's probably just me wanting less cartoony monsters to terrorize people with... -_-; [and this kinda ties into the irritation of them always making more evolutions and pre-evolutions in each new area.]
also, the last i watched anything pokemon was a couple years after Pokemon 3 came out... (that one with Entei... =/ )
"I couldn't even finish Pokemon Black because it was not nearly as fun as I expected." i couldn't help but laugh at this. ^^ i know B/W is supposed to have some new storyline and all, but how different is a game where the main focus is "Catch and raise everything whilst fighting off a mafia-like crime syndicate"
if my rating pissed you off at all, just hide it... (since we can't delete posts on here). i'm really sorry for sounding like an ass about all this, but it's something that really irritates me. plus having not been able to sleep for a couple days has gotten me kinda testy. -_-; again, sorry, and your tutorial really does point out decent points. just because the pokemon corporation has no imagination doesn't mean the fans shouldn't.
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Not all of the new pokemon look cartoony. Just a few, and some of the older ones do too.
Jynx? Mr. Mime? GRIMER? ELECTRODE? DIGLETT?
All generations have their fair share of dumb pokemon.
I keep seeing people that fail to see this.
And no, Nintendo/Game freak has plenty of imagination, the same amount they did back in 1995.
There are just a few bad designs, but there are much more good ones.
And I can't tell if I should rage or not.
I guess I shouldn't, but the Allgener balloon has received enough abuse, so even the slightest amount of hate towards generation V can cause it to burst.
But nobody likes Trubbish/Garbodor.
The only ones I dislike of Unova's pokemon are the afroementioned garbage pokemon, and Pignite.
Vanillish's line I am kinda ambivalent about, I don't really have an opinion on them.
*Sigh*
Sorry. I am just very frustrated these days, due to genwuners, and I can lose myself at times.
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Which Pokemon is the one with "spikes on a pizza box"?
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He was just giving an incredibly crappy example.
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