#kurstraw

Pangshi, Kurstraw, and Konya

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(Note: English names are from the fan translations of the leaks. The actual Japanese names are Norowara and Kyonpan.)

My take on Kurstraw and Pangshi from the Gold/Silver Spaceworld leaks! They’re by far my fav designs from that batch and it’s really a shame they never made the final cut, as they have some really unique concepts that have never been used since (a ushi-no-toki-mairi/voodoo doll and a jiangshi, respectively). The move “curse” was even supposed to be Kurstraw’s lv 100 signature!

I wanted to give the sprites official art, but also redesign them to iron out some of the more “beta-ish” elements. In Kurstraw’s case, I wanted to give it a more unique design that hints towards its evolution; in Pangshi’s, I wanted to make the jiangshi theme less literal by integrating the black-and-white mandarin robes into its black-and-white panda markings, as well as making the lower body more interesting.

I also wanted to play around with one of their most interesting aspects, that being that Kurstraw evolves at level 1. Whether or not that was a coding error is unknown, but considering there’s kind of a “staking a vampire” theme in the original it’s really too neat an idea to pass up. Plus I like the idea of a Pokemon that evolves immediately but becomes weaker, so you have to pick between pressing the B-button 100x and dropping the friendship stat or ending up with a very friendly but mostly useless ‘mon.

Dex Entries

Kurstraw Cursed Doll Pokemon Evolves at level 1

Type: Ghost Height: 1′ 3″ (.4 m) Weight: .4 lbs (.1 kg) Gender: Genderless Ability: Cursed Body Held Item: Spell tag Friendship: Starts at 100; drops down each level it is not evolved

It tries to evolve as soon as a trainer obtains it. Its rage and frustration towards its trainer increases the longer the evolution is blocked, which greatly increases its cursing abilities.

The more frustrated it becomes with its trainer, the more powerful its curses become. Because of this, many trainers who keep Kurstraw for more than seven days fall ill.

This Pokemon is mostly immobile. It channels powerful curses through its nail in order to attack opponents. On rare occasions, Kurstraw have been seen using their supernatural abilities to throw the nail as an attack.

While the creation of this Pokémon is illegal, they can easily be found on the black market. The burlap patterns vary, but the inside is always straw.

It’s mostly immobile, so it can’t dodge attacks during battle. However, its soft body makes it hard to harm it. Trainers sometimes use them as punching bags for their other Pokemon.

The tag around its neck keeps it from evolving. Written on the other side is the name of the Pokemon’s soul that possesses it.

It’s rumored that this Pokemon’s attacks are more powerful when performed between 1 and 3 AM.

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Pangshi

Hopping Pokemon

Type: Ghost Height: 1′ 3″ (.4 m) Weight: .4 lbs (.1 kg) Gender: Genderless Ability: Perish Body Friendship: 100

This Pokémon hops around mindlessly during the night. When it spots prey, it leaps forward and drains their life force with its sharp fangs.

It’s said that this Pokémon will only obey the trainers that remove their spell tags. It tends to stand on the heads of people it likes.

A Pangshi’s slow, stiff movements makes it unideal for battle. Because of this, many trainers prefer to not evolve them.

Spinda that meet Pangshi seem to think they’re one of them. They will try to balance on one foot in order to be sociable.

Its large eyes are sensitive towards light, so it prefers to hide during the day and hunt at night. 

Its favorite prey is fighting-types. It subsists entirely by draining the life force of other creatures.

Poketober 2022

Day 6 - Redesign

Kurstraw? Stromen? Pangshi? Phandarin?

I’ll always take any opportunity to revisit Gold version’s spaceworld 98 beta

BetaPokemon #64-65 - Kurstraw, Pangshi

Type: Ghost