Summary
- Pokemon fans are getting into the Halloween spirit by creating spooky redesigns of popular creatures, including mummy-themed Sableye and Pumpkin King Gengar.
- Reddit user BorderHydra has shared 19 Halloween-centric Pokemon regional variants, such as a hazmat Psyduck and a witch hat-clad Umbreon, receiving praise for their designs.
- Pokemon Go is also getting in on the Halloween action with a special event featuring increased spawn rates for Ghost, Dark, and Poison types, and the introduction of Pokemon Greavard and Houndstone.
An artistically skilled Pokemon fan is showing off their collection of spooky redesigns, with 19 popular creatures getting new looks in time for Halloween. Nintendo’s long-running Pokemon franchise has sparked the imaginations of gamers young and old since the late 1990s, and talented fans have shared their impressive takes on the ever-growing line-up of collectible monsters. Whether it's redesigning existing Pokemon or imagining new Eevee evolutions out of whole cloth, artists from around the world enjoy posting their creative fan art for their fellow trainers to see and enjoy.
Given the franchise revolves around monsters, it should come as little surprise that many Pokemon fan creations are themed around the upcoming Halloween holiday. There are the usual Pokemon-themed Halloween costumes and decorations, which have included dogs being dressed up like Houndoom and pumpkins carved to resemble Chandelure. Fans have also made spooky Halloween plushes of popular creatures like Bulbasaur, and the existing Ghost-type is prime material for custom redesigns like a mummy-themed Sableye or Pumpkin King Gengar.
One talented Reddit user by the handle of BorderHydra has taken this idea and ran with it by posting a series of Halloween-centric Pokemon regional variants on r/pokemon. They have created 19 in total, depicting a wide range of Pokemon from different generations in creepy alternate attire. Some examples of BorderHydra’s work include a hazmat Psyduck, a witch hat-clad Umbreon, a flaming Jack-o-lantern Gastly, a voodoo-themed Pancham that some users have compared to Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, and a plague doctor version of Doduo. The comments section is filled with praise for BorderHydra’s designs.
While fans like BorderHydra are showing off their homemade Pokemon Halloween designs, Nintendo is preparing its own round of October fun. Pokemon Go will start its two-week-long Halloween 2023 event later this week, with the first round of new content featuring increased spawn rates for Ghost, Dark, and Poison types alongside the introduction of Greavard and Houndstone. There will also be a pair of free Timed Research missions, that will task players with catching Ghost Pokemon to earn an encounter with the spooky Spiritomb.
The Pokemon franchise already has many creatures and aspects that fit the overall theme of Halloween, such as Gen 1’s infamous Lavender Town and the Ghost Pokemon that live in it, and fans enjoy making new variants themed after the annual celebration of all things supernatural. BorderHydra’s recently shared collection of Halloween-themed Pokemon is a fitting example of this, with 19 different designs that fit well during the month of October.