APokemon Scarlet and Violetplayer claimed to have found the inspiration behind the design of the pseudo-legendary Pokemon Baxcalibur. They stated that Baxcalibur is inspired, at least in part, by a dinosaur that not many people have heard of. The player posted their take on social media, where the comments openly exchanged ideas and sparked some civil, detailed debates amongPokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers that wanted to chime in.
Known as the Ice Dragon Pokemon, Baxcalibur evolves from Arctibax starting at level 54. With a high physical attack stat and decent defenses, Baxcalibur can hold its own in a battle and is consideredan A-tier Pokemon in most competitive Pokemon battles. However, it is an Ice/Dragon dual-type Pokemon that has glaring weaknesses in the form of Fighting, Fairy, Steel, Dragon, and Rock attacks. On the other hand, it has protection from Fire attacks via its ability Thermal Exchange and can be a threat with its signature attack Glaive Rush and other moves such as Icicle Crash, Crunch, and Earthquake.
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A Reddit user by the name of EnderCreeper121 stated thatBaxcalibur takes inspiration from not just Godzillabut also from a theropod dinosaur called a Concavenator. According to EnderCreeper121, the Concavenator was discovered in a fossil site in Spain and had features such as a tall back sail and some quills or feathers on its arms. Furthermore, the Concavenator was estimated to have been around 5.8 meters long from head to tail, or around 19 feet, which is nearly three times that of Baxcalibur’s Pokedex measurement of 6 feet and 11 inches. EnderCreeper121 stated that, contrary to popular belief amongPokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers, Baxcalibur was not inspired by the Spinosaurus. They claimed that both Baxcalibur and the Concavenator lack a crocodile-like snout that the Spinosaurus does. Given that the Paldea region is inspired by Spain, this also led credence to the Concavenator theory.
The Reddit post received over 2.1k upvotes on the r/pokemon subreddit within 12 hours. Though players debated whether Baxcalibur had more traits from a Spinosaurus or a Concavenoator, the consensus within the comments was that Baxcalibur was inspired in part by Godzilla and at least one of the aforementioned dinosaurs. EnderCreeper121 even agreed that thePokemondesign team likely had more than one inspiration in mind when creatingthe pseudo-legendary PokemonofPokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Despite not cracking the top rankings of a recent survey of JapanesePokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers, that has not stopped players frommaking their own creative redesigns of Baxcaliburvia fan art. With pseudo-legendary Pokemon serving as a staple of the series, Baxcalibur joins the ranks of others such as Dragonite and Metagross. Only time will tell if it will remain as memorable.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetare available now for Nintendo Switch.
