TigerWolf Co. Productions

My “as close as I can get to Pokemon” style is back! ... and just as confused as before.

Ah, the official Pokemon style. It changes with every generation, has confusing shading techniques in some gens, and I just kinda had to go with “the best I could manage” again XP (pretty proud of Bob’s tail flame though! That was tricky to do).

Moving on from my artist woes, it’s Becky and Bob Botsford and their secret identities of Wordgirl and Captain Huggyface! Been on a Wordgirl kick recently and since it came directly after a Pokemon kick, well, my brain inevitably crossed the two over. My brain also decided that it was enough of a masochist to want to take another crack at Pokemon style(ish), so here we are! I think the lineart has improved for the most part for human characters; I definitely felt more confident making Becky/Wordgirl! I actually based her off Shauna from XY... Not sure what urged me to do so, but I guess it worked so I ain’t complaining, haha.

Posing was actually tricky. I was originally going to put Becky in a bit more of a cutesy pose, but actually decided against it. She’s Becky Botsford, mild mannered ten year old. I figured, why not make the contrast between her and the Wordgirl pose all the more apparent? Ya know, put all her energy into the bold super-identity! So that I did, though I will say hands pointing at the screen is not a fav of mine to do at the moment, lol

As for Bob, I honestly didn’t really think of many difference there’d be between him and a regular Monferno, but I did add a couple of extra hair tufts to the back of his head. They’re there to represent the front hair tufts he has in the show :3 And of course he’s gotta be eating something, so I looked around and found a berry that would work for him. Not that he’d discriminate against most other berries, but I wanted one that made sense in some way, so a Shuca berry it was! They halve the damage from a super-effective ground-type attack, and have a “spicy-sweet-smooth” flavor chart and with Monferno being a fire type, I figured that spicy part worked out.

Speaking of, it actually took a moment of my time to brainstorm through what Pokemon to make Bob. It had to be a monkey, but what kind? First, there was the point of what type to make him, so I watched a few Wordgirl episodes and happened across a fight between him and Leslie and basically slapped my forehead because a doi- Fighting type for his ability to do Karate! So with that narrowed down, I tried to go through my memories for what monkey Pokemon were fighting types. Passiman came first, but they’re a bit too big for Bob to be. The Mankey line doesn’t quite fit in with his body type or nature, so I had to forgo that too. Then I remembered the fire-fighting starter monkey that made an obvious fit: Monferno! Which also works out because of course a ten year old would have a starter Pokemon as a main partner, and Monferno also shares the blue and red that Captain Huggyface’s uniform has.

Becky/Wordgirl wasn’t too hard to redesign outside of doing it in (the as close as I can get to) Pokemon style. The hardest part of Becky was the skirt thanks to shading, but I think I managed something decent. Second place actually goes to her book bag though. That main button was harder to nail down than I thought it’d be... As for the charms, I thought they could be a cute nod to two main things about her- the secret identity and her love of unicorns, which I figured would translate into a love of Ponyta/Rapidash in the Pokemon universe. Especially the Galarian forms, haha.

On the Wordgirl side, there was a bit more I decided to add. Most of it was dedicated to making her uniform feel a little bit more Pokemon-y, so I added some extra details to the boots and gloves then added pouches to her belt. The goggles were technically a part of that too, but also just because I like the idea of her one day adding them to her uniform (maybe one too many times of getting random goop in her eyes would make her consider it lol). I definitely like the results- I think it makes her look a bit like she’s wearing some sort of space hero outfit :D

As for what exactly this AU would entail, I’d like to think it wouldn’t change much from the main show. Becky lives in a city somewhere in Unova, living her daily life as a regular trainer that goes to a quaint little school with her partner Pokemon, Bob the Monferno (that’s totally normal to have as a starter in Unova; please ignore the part where she should have a Unovian starter). But in her secret double life, she takes on the odd supervillains in her city as Wordgirl, alien superheroine with a perfect vocabulary! But I do imagine Captain Huggyface would get to do more with his moveset of Ember, Close Combat, Mach Punch, and Focus Energy, (Becky unfortunately slacks a little on Pokemon training) as well as an appetite that rivals a Snorlax.

*Ahem* that aside, I like to call this style "Close enough to Pokemon". Consider it what happens when I attempt to recreate the style of those official Pokemon pictures (except the official ones have been getting progressively simpler in shading over the years and also some even have different styles now because other employees do things so Torracat's is cel shaded) which results in my style seeping in here and there. It's an experience to produce. Not as much of an experience as Sonic Adventure style mimicking, but still- an experience.

As for the premise of the AU, it's mostly the same as the main version of Monster Bash- Wes is an escaped lab subject, heavily traumatized by the experience and left struggling with the repercussions of it, as well as a hard to control monster side that emerges when he gets stressed. Said monster side, in the AU, was an attempt to artificially mimic the powers of the Dusk form Lycanroc as it is a fusion of both Midday and Midnight. While the fusion was successful, Wes has been unable to learn neither Counter nor Accelrock (though it's unclear if the trauma is what's holding him back, so far). Actually, the only moves he knows as of yet are Roar and Bite... but his size (it's about the size seen above in comparison to his human form) and strength typically help to make up for any currently lacking skills in the moveset department. As for Bone, Wes' partner (who in the normal story, is an ordinary cat)- he's a Torracat in the AU. A slightly older Pokemon, Bone's been around the block and in more than a few fights. A particularly nasty one left him with the scars over his left eye, and the aftermath of said fight was how Wes found Bone. After helping him out, the two became friends and have been inseparable since. He helps Wes out where he can, be it by being a more rounded battler, a listening ear, or even just a comforting presence when things get rough. As for the white stripes, it's a rather amusing tale if you ask either of them; one that involves laundry, a lot of chaos, and maybe a bit too much bleach near a Pokemon than what's typically considered safe. It's what earned him the nickname of "Bone" though, and the two get a snicker out of having to tell people that Bone isn't a rare "shiny" form of any sort.

They currently live in Alola, on a less populated off-land island with Wes' adopted father who is a wood carver that makes lovely little hand-carved wooden figures and toys to sell on the mainland as souvenirs. Wes visits often, but when antsy, will hop between Ula'Ula and Poni Islands to search for a bit more adventure. A few rumors have spread about a trainer having a rare Pokemon due to Wes' alternate form, but when people suspect him he tends to use Bone as a sort of shield against any suspicions ("See, it's my Torracat! He's not actually rare, but people tend to think he is because of his stripes! you uh buy that, right-").