Episode 21 script

This script is being published here for y'all to get an early look at, as well as for my proofreaders to look over. Episode 22's script is finished except for the (much shorter) intro and outro, so that'll be posted here soon as well.

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Hey folks, Dr Lava here. Well, last time I talked about Generation 5's scrapped special event centered around the Lock Capsule, and this time I'll be reporting on scrapped monster designs that ended up going unused in Pokemon Black and White. In total, I'll be covering 18 unused monster designs -- about half of them in today's episode, and the other half next time in episode 22. In order to uncover all these lost designs, I commissioned translations of a series of Japanese interviews in which lead Pokemon designer Ken Sugimori details the origins of every monster that was introduced in Generation 5. These interviews come from several 2011 issues of Nintendo Dream magazine, and before I embarked on this project, none of them had ever been fully translated into English. As a part of these origin stories, Sugimori provides page-after-page of information on Black and White's development, including early designs for lots of monsters that did make it into Black and White, as well as details on a few monsters that were scrapped entirely. Presently, I've only managed to locate and translate interviews covering 104 of the 156 Pokemon added in Generation 5 -- the remaining issues of Nintendo Dream I'm still trying to track down from whatever rock they're hiding under somewhere in Japan. You can read these interview translations in full on my website, but in this episode I'll just be covering the highlights, as well as reporting on some beta designs that were revealed outside those historic interviews. A few monsters do have official concept art, but for most of them, all we have are Ken Sugimori's descriptions -- so the majority of the artwork you'll be seeing will be artists' interpretations of the revelations contained in this series of 2011 interviews. Once I've located and translated the origin stories of the remaining 52 Unovadex Pokemon, I'll come back later this year and produce a third betamon episode covering those revelations as well. But for now, let's go ahead dive into an analysis of the information at hand, and take a look at 8 monster designs that never made their way into Pokemon Black and White version.

In Nintendo Dream volume 205, Sugimori reveals that Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon were initially a family of tank dragons. Sugimori doesn't say this explicitly, but it seems likely that the family's original typing was half Dragon and half Steel, a typing that as of this video's publication has only ever been exhibited by one Pokemon: Generation 4's Dialga. But Sugimori tell us that Game Freak wasn't satisfied with the Hydreigon line, so the tank dragon designs were put on ice. But then later in development, orders came down from the games' planners requesting a powerful three-stage dragon family, so the Hydreigon family was resurrected and revised. Sugimori explains that while developing Hydreigon, the designers drew inspiration from Yamata no Orochi, a mythical 8-headed and 8-tailed Japanese dragon, and that during the revision process, there was a point where Hydreigon also possessed 8 heads. But the design team was displeased with how it turned out, so they revised Hydreigon again and ultimately decided on the design that we know today, whose silhouette still retains the apperance of an 8-headed dragon. Interestingly, Sugimori points out that the purple tread-marks on the bellies of the dragons' final designs are leftovers from the days when the family still exhibited their early tank motif.

In volume 204's interview, Sugimori tells us that the original concept for the Litwick family was a flame that evolved into a candle, then into a lamp. But ultimately, the idea that a flame would evolve into a candle just wasn't working for them, so the design team threw out the family's initial flame stage, and they added a chandelier at the end of the evolutionary line in order to maintain the family's three-stage concept. Presumably, artwork for this lost Flame Pokemon is still collecting dust in one of the vaults at Game Freak headquarters, but given the developer's track record, it seems unlikely that we'll ever get a chance to see it -- or any of these lost Pokemon designs for that matter.

In volume 201, Sugimori only briefly touches on the Deerling family, explaining that even though their final designs were shaped around the concept of seasons, Sawsbuck was originally created before seasons even existed. As far as I can tell, early concept art depicting that early Sawsbuck design was never exhibited in the West, but it was once displayed for exactly 4 seconds at a school festival in Tokyo, Japan in late 2010. More specifically, it was shown on a TV screen at Meiji University along with some location and character artwork for Black and White, some of which has been exhibited elsewhere, like at the 2011 Pokemon TCG World Championships in San Diego, California, as well as in several volumes of Nintendo Dream magazine. Unfortunately, the video resolution isn't good enough to decipher the Japanese writing, but by analyzing the sketches we can get an idea what Beta Sawsbuck might have been like. First, we can see the date of the sketch, meaning the original Sawsbuck concept is at least as old as January 19, 2009, almost two years before Black and White first released in Japan. We can also make out seeds that gradually grow into leaves, and ultimately into saplings, which act as Beta Sawsbuck's horns. And the sketch also shows us that the fur on Beta Sawsbuck's torso is actually a root system, which appears to grow larger as the Pokemon grows older. So presumably, these features, as well as the creature's size, would have matured over the course of 2 or 3 stages, resulting in a deer family that probably would have looked something like this. But at some point later in development, Game Freak decided to implement the concept of seasons into Generation 5, and as a result, we ended up with the Sawsbuck family that we know today.

In volume 204's interview, Sugimori reveals that Stunfisk's design was originally blue and based on a deep-sea goosefish. A goosefish is a type of angler that can live at depths over 3000 feet, camouflaging themselves in the mud and the sand on the ocean's floor, and growing up to 5 feet in length. Stunfisk designer Mana Ibe's initial concept was to create the world's flattest Pokemon, so a bottom-dweller like a goosefish would have made perfect sense. But during the games' balancing phase, Stunfisk ended up getting revised into a brown flounder, and his Water and Electric typing was changed into Ground and Electric.

In late June 2010, the very first pre-release trailer for Pokemon Black and White aired on a Japanese TV show for children called Oha Suta, which in English means "Good Morning." The Oha Suta trailer gave fans their first sneak peak at several Unovadex Pokemon, including Excadrill. But unlike all the other Pokemon in the trailer, Excadrill's beta sprite bears some notable differences compared to the sprite that appeared in the game's release version. Specifically, Beta Excadrill's body is purple instead of brown, his belly pattern is hot pink rather than red, and the belly pattern is also mirrored left-to-right. But some misinformation regarding the Oha Suta trailer has proliferated over the years, with claims that low resolution or discoloration of the video file itself are the cause of Beta Excadrill's apparent differences in color. However, after analyzing several recordings of the trailer, as well as photos published at the time of its release, I can say with certainty that Beta Excadrill's appearance was not distorted by quality issues, and that he did in fact exhibit notable differences compared to the final design that made its way into Black and White's release versions.

In volume 205, while describing the design origins of Heatmor and Durant, Sugimori reveals a monster idea his team has long-wanted to make into a Pokemon, but to this day still hasn't gotten the chance to make into a canonical monster. While Stunfisk was originally meant as the flattest Pokemon, apparently Sugimori's team has long wanted to create an ant that could serve as the world's smallest Pokemon. While that's certainly an interesting concept, it's pretty clear why that concept still hasn't become a reality. It just doesn't make intuitive sense for something as small as an ant to engage in battle against even an average-sized Pokemon like Pikachu, let alone winning in such a battle. And if that indeed is the issue that's been stopping them all these years, the design team's idea for the world's smallest Pokemon will mostly likely remain as nothing more than just an idea.

Okay, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss episode 22 featuring even more unused monster designs. In addition to the Sugimori interviews I've been talking about in this episode, there are lots more interview translations and cut content articles that you can check out on my website, lavacutcontent.com. I'd like to give a big thanks to my Patreon supporters -- this video wouldn't have been possible without their support, which helped pay for translators and original artwork by Nick Kron and Helix Chamber's Rachel Briggs. So if you wanna see more high-quality, research-heavy content, I ask that you please consider signing up to support my channel for a few bucks a month -- it helps to make sure that I can continue producing more interview translations as well as videos just like this one. If this episode contained any factual errors, I'll leave corrections and clarifications in this video's description, as well as a list of all my sources. Okay that wraps things up for this episode -- thanks for watchin folks, see ya next time.