Let's Talk About Pokemon - Mankey and Primeape

056: Mankey

More often than not, these first instances of a Pokemon's type have inadvertently become the "mascots" of that type. I feel like this isn't so for Mankey. I've seen Machop and the Hitmons get quite a lot more recognition for being The Fighting Type. Mankey's just odd, and not in ways that has seen it get much of a fanbase. I don't feel strongly about it either, other than it's an interesting way to stylize a monkey, with it being just a head with monkey-esque limbs attached.

057: Primeape

Primeape doesn't really improve Mankey visually any. It's Mankey, but a little more pissed off, and has weird metal bands around its limbs. I get it's meant to have a broken shackle kind of look to emphasize how uncontrollably angry it is, but it just ends up looking odd since they're on every one of the species. Do they just appear on them?

These two just seem like non-sequitur Pokemon, if that makes sense? Like they found a random word generator and it came out with "mad pig monkey." And in that respect that sure is what it is, but it doesn't vibe with me any. Thing is I feel like I can't say it's not an effective design for what it is, because sure. One look at this thing and it definitely communicates barely pent-up aggression. A funny angry fuzzball monster that almost looks like it popped right out of Looney Tunes, or at least some Looney Tunes knockoff and this is their answer to Taz. Either way, for that I don't feel like I can give it an outright bad grade, because it's not like it's uncreative. Especially since I can't say there's any monster design quite like Mankey and Primeape out there. It's just a creative exercise that isn't for me, personally.

Personal Score: 5.5/10

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