The Pokémon franchise has inspired countless fans to create their own incredible designs over the years, but this trend does also have a downside. The amount of fan art that has been produced for Pokémon is truly immeasurable, which is a testament to the global popularity of the brand. Naturally, fan-works are an inevitable product of any successful franchise, but in the case of the ever-expanding world of Pokémon, they can unfortunately pose a conundrum for the developers.

The creation of what are commonly known as Fakemon to look like real Pokémon. However, while these fan-made designs may be born of iration, their creation can also have unintended consequences.

Fakemon Limit The Possibilities For Official Pokémon Designs

Pokémon’s Official Designers Understandably Want To Avoid Similarities

As the number of unique Fakemon designs rise, they also limit the concepts that can be explored by Game Freak when deg official Pokémon. It could be disastrous if a Pokémon resembled a fan-made design too closely; for copyright reasons, Pokémon must remain unique and distinct, as they are from any other franchise’s own fictional species. However, the more concepts are explored by fans, the more carefully Game Freak must tread. In this way, Fakemon can limit the avenues that the games themselves can explore.

The question of copyright infringement is complicated by the fact that Fakemon are themselves derivatives of the Pokémon concept. However, considering the inevitable complexities of directly confronting the issue, it is understandable why Game Freak would prefer to simply avoid it entirely.

As a result of this, fans who create Fakemon, which can themselves be striking and incredible, inadvertently create a reason for Game Freak to avoid using any similar design. Of course, it is likely that Game Freak avoids looking at Fakemon to avoid any influence on their own designs whenever possible. But on the other hand, a prominent case of a Fakemon’s potential impact was revealed as part of the October Teraleak: specifically, the franchise came close to having a ninth evolution for Eevee, a Flying-type, but it was scrapped after similarities to fan-made designs were noted.

Fan-Made Pokémon Will Only Increase Over Time

Creations Like Fakemon Are A Strong Part Of The Fan Community

Eeveelutions are a popular concept for fans to present their own take on, given the clear elemental theme of the evolutionary family. With only 8 of 18 standard Types being represented by one of the Evolution Pokémon’s evolved forms, that leaves ten different base concepts for people to explore (or nine if counting Eevee itself as the Normal-type representative). As a result, there are plenty of fake but incredible Eeveelution designs that can be found online. By extension, this makes the Pokémon and Fakemon involved a perfect example of the copyright issue, as demonstrated by the potential Flying-type Eeveelution.

But of course, this trend is far from limited to Eeveelutions. With artistic fans around the world being inspired by things like their own cultures and favorite animals, it is easy to see how the number of Fakemon can quickly increase. As a result, there is an ever-increasing likelihood that any given concept that Game Freak decides to base a Pokémon on will already have one or more Fakemon designs in the same vein. Again, assuming that Game Freak’s designers purposely isolate themselves from Fakemon, there is a low chance of actual crossover, but it is still possible.

The Pokémon Franchise Cannot Be As Creative As Its Fans

Fans Can Collectively Come Up With More Ideas Than The Games’ Developers

The developers of the Pokémon franchise are outnumbered by their fans, and have been for many years now. With so many of there people creating Fakemon, it is little wonder that these designs likewise far outnumber those of official Pokémon. It is extremely unlikely that any two people will conceive the same design, but hundreds of thousands of artists can still output more than Pokémon itself will ever be able to. It is worth noting that this is not just limited to Fakemon, either; entire fan-made Pokémon regions have also rightfully attracted plenty of praise for their scope.

Of course, there are already countless Fakemon that bear a resemblance to actual Pokémon, both intentionally and by sheer coincidence. Beyond a certain point, similarities to other designs created in the general same style will always emerge. But it is worth noting that the number of potential Pokémon designs is effectively infinite; even if one prospective Pokémon is found to resemble a Fakemon a little too closely for comfort, there is nothing to prevent the designers from simply reworking it into something more distinct later on.

Creating pieces of fan art like Fakemon is an amazing way for a person to express their love of the Pokémon franchise and engage with its community. The many incredible designs that are produced this way understandably spark the imagination of others, with them often being of equal quality to official material. Of course, it cannot be denied that some of these same designs may leave Game Freak unwilling to introduce a similar Pokémon in the long run. But in the end, nobody can be blamed for such a situation, as it is ultimately simply a consequence of ideas coinciding.