Pokemon Fan Charts Ancestry of Otter Pokemon

gamerant.com:

Though there certainly are many reasons for the popularity of the Pokemon franchise at large, it's the pocket monsters themselves that are the obvious stars of the show. With over two decades' worth of lore and backstory explaining certain species in great detail, there are still blanks that fans enjoy filling in, and artist Alex Fantastico, in particular, has much to share in this regard.

Namely, Fantastico has taken it upon themselves to create in-depth Pokemon evolutionary charts that track creatures' lineages in substantial detail. So far, they had created a number of unique charts featuring Pokemon's dogs, foxes, and other assorted creatures, but their latest endeavor is dedicated to otter and otter-adjacent Pokemon, specifically.

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Much as was the case with Fantastico's fox Pokemon ancestry chart, here to the artist needed to come up with a few intermediary evolutions for the existing species of otter Pokemon. According to Fantastico's interpretation of otter Pokemon ancestry, it all began with a creature by the name of Ottermatic. This ancient proto-otter would eventually form a symbiosis with fan-favorite Cloyster, which would then lead to all manner of other creatures, including the Pokemon franchise's contemporary otters, such as Samurott and Floatzel.

As was the case with Fantastico's dog Pokemon ancestry chart, here too they bring together species that might not seem immediately related in any way, shape, or form. This is where the Slowpoke evolutionary line comes in, which Fantastico imagines might've split off from the baseline otter evolution in ancient times. Since Fantastico needs to figure out how to best combine various different Pokemon otters