Damien and Pandora

Art of a human character called Damien and his companion, a Mew called Pandora.

There could be a lot said about Damien's backstory, but essentially he is a person who hates Pokemon, pretty much to the point where if it were up to him, he'd rather they all drop dead. Somewhat of a shame, because there are obvious close ties to him and Pokemon, such as his odd ability to understand what they are saying. It's apparently some mental trait that is very rarely seen.

As for Pandora, she eventually sees Damien and senses something different about him. Learning of his anti-Pokemon attitude, she is determined to change his view on the magical critters. This becomes MUCH harder when Damien learns of one of his other special traits: Pokemon "Possession." This means he can temporarily summon his spirit into the body of practically any Pokemon (wild or trainer-owned) and manipulate their actions and movements, and the actual Pokemon is powerless to resist. Now, Pandora REALLY has to convince Damien that Pokemon are not all bad so that he doesn't use this ability to cause harm to all the Pokemon.

As you can imagine, Pandora (or just "Pan") takes a lot of nonsense from Damien... she is shown a lot of hate, and she can even get hurt sometimes. And of course, she seems to be the most common victim of his Possession. I wouldn't be surprised if Pan get nightmares about Damien. For the most part Damien obviously does not care about how Pan is a legendary and rare Pokemon, nor does he seem to be swayed by her opinions much of the time. Yet she continues to try to change his mind, and keeps looking for the right way to do so. She knows what's at risk, and she's not about to give up the fight. Eventually there isn't as much animosity from Damien about Pan's company, but his attitudes toward Pokemon are still negative.

Damien's character is one that had been developing in my mind or the past three years, and it is certainly darker than your typical Pokemon fare. Darker than "Project Darwin," I'm not certain. But a guy that would prefer to take out an attacking Beedrill with the business end of his baseball bat is something I can't even imagine Nintendo advocating. The strangest form of Pokemon fandom you could get, right here.

I like Pandora's looks, but not as much as Damien's. I don't make too many human art as most folks know, but I think I did okay. Attempting this character in the style of Sugimori was not working (it never seems to), so I threw that out and went for something more ideal for his character: angry, looks like he doesn't care, and a little bit of creepiness thrown in.

It's an odd idea, and it's hard to tell how it would pan out in the long run. Damien's fate is still in a blur.

Pokemon © Nintendo, the Pokemon Company, etc.
Art © 2008 M-Ltd.