Judge This Pokémon! Cradily

Cretacerus

Cradily's design is arguably one that requires a bit of context in order to be fully appreciated. While it might appear rather strange and outlandish at first, the evolutionary line is actually based directly on one of the most significant and recognizable lead fossils from the dinosaur era, making it more than deserving of its place among the game's fossil roster: the prehistoric sea lilies are close relatives of the sea stars anchored to the ground with their backs, and occasionally so abundant in our fossil record that they seem to make up the entire rock they're embedded in. When hiking in the northern Alps here in Germany, for example, you might routinely stumble upon hundreds of meters of limestone consisting almost entirely of their fossilized remains.

And just like the creature it's based on, the semi-sessile Cradily has quickly fallen victim to being labelled as a plant, as evidenced by its unique and rather interesting Rock / Grass typing. At least, though, the games tried keep this resemblance mostly superficial: it's no coincidence that Cradily's pool of Grass-type moves consists almost entirely of draining and absorbing techniques, and its Pokédex entries even depict it as an outright predator that actively hunts down and devours prey with its tentacles. Going by its natural inspiration, we can even assume that the supposedly plant-like Cradily is in fact more closely related to us vertebrates than its arthropod counterpart Armaldo, proving once again how a book shouldn't be judged solely by its cover.

Upon evolution, the Cradily line does take more artistic liberty with its design, as is common among fossil Pokémon. The mostly radial symmetrical Lileep now adapts a clearly bilateral morphology and develops a more distinct head and face, which greatly enhances the personality of the design, making it more appealing for the player while still retaining vital design elements such as the neck segments and tentacles. Like many Pokémon in its generation, Cradily is also decorated with several colored markings on its head and body in an effort to make it look more interesting. In this case, however, they complement the design surprisingly well by creating the iconic false face whose dopey expression is a great part of Cradily's charm. Unfortunately, the overall color scheme remains a bit dull and desaturated compared to the vivid and striking coloration that many sea lilies and especially sea anemones display, which always strikes me as a somewhat missed opportunity on Game Freak's side. In the end, however, I'll have to say that the design is still really well implemented and definitely does the bizarre prehistoric creature justice.