1, 5, and 6 for your cat team :]
1. What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?
ah yes, the cat crew, the feline friends, the kitty kollective
The original premise behind these three was actually Vex; in a similar vein to Faux, she was also a TTRPG character! But long story short, after that fell apart, I liked her character and design too much to just leave her out to dry, and so I've been working (very slowly) on my own little story with her and the rest of the cats! Ion and Poppy's creation happened much later, with the latter's technically before the former's, but the intent was to give Vex a group to be in!
5. How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?
Out of universe, Vex's name was chosen just cause it sounded neat, but Ion and Poppy's were chosen in relation to her's: I thought it could be neat of their names could form an acronym as a team name (part of this may have been because I couldn't think of a team name whoops) like Team ACT and Team AWD (their actual name is Team MAD in Japan) from the canon games! After a bit of trial and error, we ended up with Team VIP! And as a bonus, all of the individual members' names are cohesive with their types <3
I can't quite explain the situation with their names in-universe without spoilers, but what I will say is this: Vex, Ion, and Poppy are not technically their actual names! :]
6. What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do?
A little different for each member! Ion has a reason for looking the way he does, but in contrast, Vex and Poppy's designs are more rooted in aesthetic. For all three Pokemon, I tried to give them a little bit of uniqueness and deviation in their appearances without detracting too far from their original designs, with varying success.
Handling Purrloin was more of an additive process; it doesn't have too much going on, so adding stuff like some bangs, accessories, as well as a unique eye/ear pattern helped make a decently recognizable character I think?
Floragato was more or less changing what already existed; its most identifiable traits are arguably its poncho and yoyo, so changing the first was sort of a gamble? I thought the end result came out decent, but I'm curious to know what others think!
Zeraora's base design already has a LOT going on, so I decided to go with more of a reductive approach, which was also a bit of a risk. Fortunately, it works well narratively with Ion, so he's got some features and colors stripped back - he gets a tail as compensation though!
(Their updated designs here)
