Cubone
Name: Cubone’s name is very cute and fitting. I honestly didn’t know what the “Cu” part stood for until now. Apparently, it’s for “Cub” which….eh? Okay. I mean, it is a child, but it’s also a dinosaur, and I don’t tend to think of baby dinos as cubs.
In Japan, it’s known as Karakara, which is the onomatopoeia for light clattering, like a bone makes against another.
Fun Fact….Or not so fun: In the beta of Red and Green, Cubone was going to be named Orphon, like orphan.
Design: Cubone is adorable, and I love it, but I always feel awkward calling it adorable because……it wears the skull of its mothers on its head. That’s just….uncomfortable. But it’s also confusing for a couple factors. We’ll talk more about that later.
I never saw this angle of Cubone before from a Japanese trading card, and it looks really cute under the skull too.
Sprite-wise, R/G looks off, like its skull helmet is askew or something.
Crystal’s kinda cool, throwing and catching its bone.
D/P/P I have no idea what the heck it’s doing.
B/W/B2/W2 is kinda fun the way it’s playing with the bone.
Everything else is fine.
Shiny:
Oh wonderful. Another baby poop green shiny. Next.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Cubone just might have the most well-known and saddest backstory of any Pokemon, in Gen I anyway. The skull it wears on its head is that of its mother, who died shortly after it was born. Cubone very frequently cries as it mourns the loss of its mother. The sound of its crying will resonate within the skull creating a mournful sound. There are stain marks on the skull from its tears. On the nights of full moons, they tend to get even sadder and cry louder because it sees the likeness of its mother in the moon.
As a result of its grief, Cubone tend to avoid social situations and prefer to be alone. Only when it has finally worked through its feelings of grief over its mother’s death will it finally evolve into Marowak.
This is all horribly tragic and sad, but….ya know….it also makes no sense. Cubone are born with the skull mask on. And, what, do all Cubone/Marowak mothers just die at childbirth? I guess it wouldn’t be unheard of, but then what’s Alolan Marowak’s deal with revenge if its mother died naturally? Unless Mandibuzz kill all Cubone/Marowak mothers. But then you have the old “Team Rocket killed Cubone’s mother.” It is a very memorable backstory, but when applied to every single Cubone it falls apart a bit.
Some other notes about Cubone;
– It never takes off its signature skull mask, so no one has ever seen the full face of a Cubone.
– Mandibuzz are Cubone’s natural enemies. When they hear the mournful cries of Cubone, they attack…..Fuck Mandibuzz.
– Each tear Cubone sheds supposedly makes it stronger….for some reason.
– Legends Z-A says Cubone mothers die shortly after giving birth, which makes more sense, to a degree, like I said, but is also just terribly tragic.
– Oh and let’s not forget Pikachu’s Vacation Dex entry where Dexter says it cares only for itself….
– A Pokemon Journeys Dex entry is the only one that mentions that it also carries around a bone….but nothing explains where THAT bone came from. Is it also its mother’s bone?
– Cubone was created on the thought of how sad it would be if a Pokemon died. Again, fun. I also enjoyed my adventures in Lavender Town. Bundles of joy.
In terms of design, Cubone is based on bipedal dinosaurs. The bone aspect is said to come from primitive cultures that would repurpose bones for weapons and body decorations. The Bonemerang aspect is said to be inspired by how boomerangs were used as a weapon for hunting in Australia. Interestingly, I did find that an ancient boomerang made from mammoth tusks was found in Oblazowa Cave in Poland. It’s the oldest boomerang in the world.
Tusks are teeth not bone, so maybe that doesn’t fully count as a bonemerang, but it’s cool nonetheless.
Marowak
Name: A combination of “marrow” like bone marrow, and “whack” Marowak has a pretty cool name. Extremely snappy, fitting, and memorable – even a little fun.
In Japan, it’s called Garagara, “heavy clattering” to complement Cubone’s Karakara.
Fun Fact: In the beta of Red and Green, it was going to be called Guardia, which….I don’t think works nearly as well.
Design: Honestly. I’ve never liked Marowak as much as Cubone. Absolutely no hate to Marowak, but Cubone is just much cuter. I wouldn’t even say Marowak is all that more intimidating, either. It’s more like Cubone’s skull helmet fused to its face and that’s about it.
Speaking of which…
Sprite-wise….Look at R/G/B.
That basically is just literally what I was just saying. It’s Cubone with a full-face skull helmet. It’s actually super cute in this version, but don’t get used to it.
Also, the back sprite for Gen I has spikes along its back, which is weird.
Gold is pretty damn intimidating.
Is Silver going to do a tap dance routine?
Crystal has an awesome animation on the bone.
Emerald goes BAMBAM BAM!
Everything else is pretty cool, but not worth mentioning individually.
Alolan Marowak
I’ve been pretty harsh on some of the Alolan and other alt versions of classic Pokemon, but, goddamn, Alolan Marowak has impressed me since the instant I first saw it. The type change to Fire and Ghost, the dark purple/eggplant color palette, the blue-green flames on the bone, the badass ‘scar’ on the skull – it’s by far my favorite Alolan version I’ve seen so far. It’s incredible.
Shiny:
Shiny Marowak is a very nice lime green color. Even the Gen II version isn’t a blech green color. It’s more like a pea green.
Shiny Alolan Marowak……Is still purple, but now it’s a brighter green like candy grape purple. It’s cool.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Marowak has now grown past the grief of its mother’s passing, and it’s much more violent than its pre-evo. FireRed notes “Its temperament turned ferocious when it began using bones.” But…Cubone uses bones too.
Marowak seeks out vengeance against Mandibuzz for targeting Cubone. It will throw its bone to take it down. Ultra Sun notes that this might be because it’s trying to avenge its parent, so maybe there’s some retconning going on here……Actually, I just thought of something, where is any Cubone’s father?
The skull it wore as Cubone has now fused into its head.
It will hit boulders in 50 different Morse Code-esque manners to send messages to others.
It also collects bones from a mysterious secret Marowak graveyard.
The mothers of Alolan Marowak have become vengeful spirits protecting their children. The spirit takes the form of flames that cling to its bone. These flames pass on to their opponents in battle, and water cannot stop the flames from burning. The mental and physical anguish from the burns will never fade. (Yeesh.)
According to Ultra Sun, the rich green landscapes of Alola with tons of Grass Pokemon were difficult for original Marowak so they evolved to have a new form that was strong against them. Alolan Marowak needs fire to survive as a trade off, though.
While regular Marowak seems to have moved on from mourning, Alolan Marowak frequently engages in mourning practices. It will bury its deceased companions in mounds of dirt that line the roads. Additionally, it performs fire dances with its bone to further mourn its mother and its fallen allies.
Marowak’s design origins are the same as Cubone’s, so let’s talk about Alolan Marowak. Obviously fire dancers had a heavy influence on Alolan Marowak, with its bone representing the fire staff or fire knife usually used by the Samoan performers.
The Wiki also notes that the Polynesian concept of mana was also used. Mana is a spiritual energy in all beings and objects. In certain cases, mana can be imbued into an object for the sake of protection or seeking vengeance.
It’s also possible they’re based on nightmarchers – mythological Hawaiian spirits who march on old battlegrounds and burial sites at night while carrying torches. If you see one or act in defiance of them, you will die violently. But if you lie face down on the ground, showing fear and respect to the nightmarchers, you’ll be spared. Fire is also associated with nightmarchers. In addition to the signature torches they carry, if you look upon the sacred body parts of a king or chief, you’ll be killed via bolts of intense light and heat that incinerates a human instantly.
They sound incredibly cool and also have a kickass name. Why am I just hearing about these now?
It’s also unclear what the new marking on its skull is supposed to signify besides that it looks like flames.
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And that was the Bone line! This has always been a cute and cool Ground Type line, and now they’ve added a sick Fire/Ghost Type to the mix to make it even cooler. However, Cubone and Marowak’s whole lore is just dripping in tragedy and mourning. Not matter how cool it may be, there’s always a bittersweet aspect of this Pokemon line.
Next time, the Hitmon line!….and Tyrogue, who ruins the naming scheme.
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