Pokemon Fan Designs Kalos Form And New Evolution For Cacturne

gamerant.com:

Inspired by the reveal of the next core-series Pokemon game, which will take players back to the Kalos region, one fan artist has redesigned the Cacnea family as regional variants that are exclusive to the France-themed region, while also creating a new third evolutionary stage for the species. Many creative members of the Pokemon community have been busy creating their own custom Mega Pokemon and Kalos regional variants since the reveal of Pokemon Legends: Z-A last month, with the confirmed return of mega evolution sparking a wave of creative inspiration among fans.

While little is known about Pokemon Legends: Z-A just yet, what is confirmed is that it will be taking players back to the Kalos region introduced with the Gen 6 games. Though the Gen 6 games themselves presented something of a controversial step forward for the franchise due to the transition to 3D Pokemon models and a departure from the previous games' iconic art style, the overwhelmingly positive reception of Pokemon Legends: Z-A's reveal suggests that Pokemon X and Y made for fond memories among many fans. Alongside the introduction of Mega Evolution, which itself kick-started the trend of battle «gimmicks» in Pokemon games, the Gen 6 games marked a big step forward for the franchise and introduced many new Pokemon as well.

Motivated by the reveal of a new game set in the Pokemon world's Kalos region, a talented Pokemon fan known online as Kelpo911 has shared a number of new designs featuring regional forms for Cacnea and Cacturne. The artist has also designed a new regional evolution for Cacturne named Cacturreaux, whose design was inspired by the French executioner from real-world history, Charles-Henri Sanson. The designer also gave this Pokemon the Sand Rush ability in an attempt to improve on Cacnea's speed stat, one of its biggest weaknesses. These designs don't appear to sport alternate types like most official regional variants do, with the custom Cacturreaux evolution also sporting the same