Gastly
Name: I thought Gastly was rather self-explanatory as a slight variation of “ghastly” but the Wiki also points out that “gas” is part of this name, fair enough, and also “ghost”………I don’t see where “Ghost” is in there, but okay.
In Japanese, it’s known as “Ghos” which, again, I thought was self-explanatory as a slight variation of “Ghost” but the Wiki also wants to note that “Gas” is a part of that………Okay.
I like Gastly perfectly fine, even if it lacks a bit of creativity. I think Ghos is even less creative, though.
Fun Fact: In France, it’s called Fantominus, which is awesome.
Other Fun Fact: In the beta version of Red and Blue, it was going to be called “Spirit”…….you guys really aren’t breaking out the creativity juice for poor Gastly, are you?
Design: Gastly has a very simple but extremely effective design. It’s a ball with a face and some ghostly purple gas behind it. The face is what really sells it with those huge eyes and fanged mouth. I’ve always found Gastly to be equal parts cute, creepy and mischievous.
Sprite-wise, R/G/B is a bit too “gassy” if you get my drift. It seems they hadn’t implemented the ball part of its design yet so it was literally just a ball of gas.
Yellow looks awesome since the gas is shaped like purple flames.
Crystal is kinda cool with how the ball kinda vanishes in the gas.
Emerald’s animation is also cool but kinda gives off vampire vibes.
Gens VI and VII look particularly menacing for some reason.
Legends: Arceus looks….weird… Why does the gas look like that? It’s like a background that was badly cropped.
Everything else is fine.
Shiny:
Gastly’s shiny is one of the best and one of my favorites. A combo of purple on the ball and light blue for the fire – it makes it come off more as a cool ghost than regular Gastly.
The shade of blue (more like indigo) used in the Gen II shiny is fine, but I much prefer the modern version.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Gastly’s usually invisible and frequently utilizes its Hypnosis power. Researchers believe it may be a multidimensional being. Its body is 95% gas, and the remaining 5% is rumored to be made up of the souls of those it has killed with its gas, which, holy shit. The gas may have originated from a graveyard and was possessed by the grievances of the dead, causing the creation of this Pokemon.
It will envelop enemies in its gas to put them to sleep, poison them to death or suffocate them…..The gas is so powerful it can topple an Indian elephant in two seconds (India exists in Pokemon?) and it will blow away in strong winds. In order to avoid the winds, Gastly will gather under the eaves of houses.
The gas of Gastly supposedly smells sweet.
Sun notes that if there’s a strange light flickering in an abandoned building, there’s a Gastly in there.
Design-wise, Gastly are based on hitodama and onibi, which are spirits in the same vein as will-o’-the-wisps, and poison gas. The legend of hitodama are theorized to be the result of people misconstruing lights in graveyards as spirits when it was actually phosphorus from the body reacting to rain, which is pretty interesting.
Onibi have similar origins, but they seem to be noted as being largely blue, which may be the inspiration for Shiny Gastly.
Gastly’s poison characteristics (despite not being able to use Poison moves in most games) are said to be inspired by fuyurei – spirits that spread diseases.
Haunter
Name: I always figured Haunter’s name was similarly as uncreative as Gastly, but the Wiki says the word “hunter” might also be an inspiration for it, which is slightly better I guess.
Its Japanese name…..
…..is Ghos….t. Yeah, they just…..put the T back on the end “ghost”……So Ghos evolves into Ghost……
Brilliant.
In the beta of R/B, it was going to be called Spectre, which is cool, but still just a normal word just spelled incorrectly.
Design: Haunter has always been my favorite of this trio. I just love how it looks, the way it has disembodied hands, and…I dunno, I always felt Haunter was the one most naturally fun of the three.
Sprite-wise, R/G is AHHHHHH!
Holy shit that is legitimately creepy as fuck.
R/B looks like a psychopath.
The hell is Crystal doing?
Emerald is really erratic, but I’m digging it for some reason?
B/W/B2/W2 want to play patty cake.
Everything else is fine.
Shiny:
Sadly, Haunter’s shiny isn’t as cool as Gastly’s. It’s still got blue, but just in its mouth and some glow around its hands you can barely notice. It looks like Haunter just ate a blue raspberry popsicle.
In Gen II, it looks pretty cool because it has a very harsh dark blue tone to it.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Haunter is another one of those Pokemon that Ash’s Pokedex had no information on when scanned for some reason.
Haunter can move through walls and is said to be from another dimension. It has a long tongue made of gas (?) which it uses to lick enemies. Licking them saps them of their lives, and the victim won’t stop shaking until they die. Jesus, Pokemon.
But to lighten the mood, Stadium says that if you suddenly trip for no reason, it may be a Haunter!
OoooOooooOOOOOoooOOOOooooooOOOOOoohhhhh! Spoopy!
Haunter loves to hide in the shadows, always on the lookout for things to kill. But sometimes it will just tap you on the shoulder and cause “endless shuddering.”
It has a fear of light, and the burgeoning popularity of brightly lit cities may be causing its extinction.
Design-wise, Haunter may be based on akaguchi/akashita – a beast made of clouds with clawed hands and a massive tongue.
The life-sapping abilities of the licking may be based on the Philippine creature, Dila, which can also move through walls and licks people to death.
It also says it may be based on an akaname, but outside of having a long tongue, I don’t quite get the connection as they lick the filth off bathtubs and bathrooms….
Gengar
Name: Gengar is supposedly derived from “doppleganger” which…..I….guess? It doesn’t copy people, though…..
In Japan, it’s known as Gangar….I dunno.
The kanji for “gen” (phantasm) may also be involved.
In the beta, it was going to be known as Phantom, which is keeping with the uncreative nature of its pre-evos.
Fun Fact: In France, it’s known as Ectoplasma, which is….still not all that creative, but it’s a much cooler word.
Design: Gengar is the epitome of a classic Pokemon design. It’s one of those that everyone seems to know even if they barely know anything about Pokemon.
Gengar’s design is my close second fave of the line. It’s very simple, but like its pre-evos, that face just sells it. It’s so menacing but playful at the same time.
It is weird how the coloring for Gengar keeps changing in the media, though. In the anime, it’s either a deep purple, a lighter purple or an almost-gray blue.
The games do the same thing. Each Gen or two has a new coloring to it.
Sprite-wise, Gen I looks fine. It’s the back sprite that gets me……it’s….weird and creepy. Why is it more of a side shot?
Gold and Silver are cool because they come off like giants coming towards me.
What is happening with Crystal? Just its feet are vanishing?
Emerald is pretty creepy.
D/P/P all seem like they’re trying a bit too hard to scare you by going “BOO!”
There’s something unsettling about HG/SS because it has its mouth open.
Everything else is fine.
Mega Gengar
*lip smack*
…..It’s….fine.
I remember seeing this when it first came out and just being very meh about it. It comes off enough as Gengar, except a little crazier……Yep….that’s what it is. I guess I like the spikes, but I’m unsure about the red coloring on the bottom, and I don’t much care for the thing/eye in the center of its forehead.
Gigantamax Gengar
It looks like the opening to a ride in a Halloween-themed county fair.
I don’t have much to add. It’s a big mouth tunnel…. It’s fine, but it’s far more ‘theme park attraction’ than ‘spooky ghost’.
Shiny:
Gengar’s shiny is very disappointing. It’s just gray. Maybe with the slightest tinge of blue, but it’s gray. Gray shinies are rare, but this isn’t even a fun silvery gray. It’s just a dull gray.
In Gen II, it had just a slightly different purple coloring. You barely notice.
Shiny Mega Gengar is pretty cool because it’s a rare white shiny. The gray eyes make it look kinda off, though.
Shiny Gigantamax Gengar is….lavender? It’s hard to tell. It comes off as muddy because they made the inner mouth and tongue black and dark gray. I do love the change to its eyes as black with glowing red pupils, though.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Gengar didn’t have a proper Pokedex entry in the anime until Advanced Generation. That’s very messed up.
When Gengar are nearby, the temperature lowers a bit, an indication that they may be trying to curse you. Sun tells the reader to give up if it’s approaching you as there is no chance of escape. Nice, Sun.
Gengar love scaring people, especially mimicking the shadows of people on full moons. They will laugh and smile when they successfully frighten someone. Like Gastly and Haunter, they also seem to sap the lives of people. Gengar specifically likes to target people who are lost in the woods.
However, as a…..wholesome (?) spin on this, the reason it takes lives is because it yearns for a travel companion since it used to be human once.
Gengar also visit children who are naughty, though I don’t know what it does to them.
For Mega Gengar, it can travel freely through dimensions and appear anywhere it wants. It’s also particularly vicious, seeing opponents as prey and trying to curse their own masters.
For Gigantamax Gengar, it’s said that walking into the gigantic mouth will lead to the afterlife. It coaxes you into walking in by making you think the voices of your loved ones are within it, which is pretty creepy.
Design-wise, Gengar’s smile and habit of vanishing might be based on the Cheshire cat, which I totally see. It may also be based on shadow people, which tracks. Its horns (by the way, am I the only one who thought the big horns were ears?), teeth and ability to float might imply oni influence….I don’t get the mention of the teeth. Don’t most oni have sharp teeth? Gengar’s teeth seem blunt.
Mega Gengar in particular may be based on oni since many of them have third eyes in the center of their foreheads like Mega Gengar does.
Fun Fact: Gengar is Ken Sugimori’s (The illustrator for a massive amount of Pokemon artwork) favorite Pokemon, and he finds Gengar the easiest to draw.
—————————————–
And that was the Gas line!
It was a gas!
Brain: “That joke would have killed in 1964.”
Shut up.
Honestly, though, it was pretty fun going through this line. I do love all three of these Pokemon – I have a Gengar plushie and a hat that has all three of them on it. They’re just the quintessential Ghost types of Pokemon. Who doesn’t love them?
Maybe Gengar’s gotten a bit overexposed over the years, but nowhere near as badly as Charizard and “My face is on friggin’ everything Pokemon-related” Pikachu.
They’re just fun ghosts. I love them.
Next time, the Rock Snake line!
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