Most often, the reality of how beloved characters would appear is significantly more disturbing than the fantasy we’re used to. I’m specifically thinking of the live-action SUPER MARIO BROTHERS Saturday Morning show that starred Cap’n Lou Albano and some other guy. That was the discomforting reality of what a sewer-dwelling Italian-American plumber would look like… a world from the cute, cuddly and clean Mario from the video games. I think about that when I see this image to the right - - an artist’s more scientifically-accurate impression of those Pocket Monsters so many innocent children are found of. See, monsters that can fit in your pocket would most likely be warped, deformed and mutated, with many extra appendages. I’m surprised there’s no Pikachu to be found here, but the bio-mechanoid Pokeball has to be the most unnerving. (Thanks to Geeklogie)
A University of British Columbia biologist has been thinking along those lines. He’s created a collectible card game called Phylo, which is designed to make learning about the animal kingdom more fun than remembering little memory-jogging phrases about how King Philip Came Over For Grasshopper Soup (or however else you remember the order of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,Genus and Species). As you can see, it’s modeled off of POKEMON (except for the real monsters that could fit in your pocket) and, if you lunatics in the Anime Vice community want to contribute, head on over to its official website. (Thank to Kotaku)
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Pre-order the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover now on Amazon.com.
