The Pokemon franchise has been around for much of many gamers’ lives, and even for people who haven’t played the games, collected the cards, or watched the anime, the most iconic monsters are pretty easy to recognizable. Pikachu is the most ubiquitous mascot on real-world merchandise and branding, although in-game there are over 800 other creatures. And Pokemon are often inspired by real animals, making them more familiar to even people new to the games.
Pokemon isn’t a series that honors real-world holidays as closely as some games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and New Horizons, though the Pokemon world has in-universe celebrations like the Kanto Aura Guardian Festival and the Mareep Festival in Johto. That hasn’t stopped the games from including references to real-world holidays in designs. This winter holiday season, it’s interesting to explore some of the Pokemon inspired by or reminiscent of the popular Christmas holiday.
Delibird has been around since Gen 2, and is known for its signature move Present, which deals variable amounts of damage to Delibird’s opponent or heals them for a big chunk of HP. Interestingly, in Gen 3 and later, Present can deal double damage to Kangaskhan, the kangaroo-like Pokemon that carries its child in its pouch. This seems to be an Easter egg joke, as if Delibird is presenting both Kangaskhan and its child with a gift. Delibird has multiple bird inspirations, but its red and white coloring, sack of gifts, and habit of living in icier regions reminds one of the legendary Santa Claus.
These dual-type Grass/Ice Pokemon originated in Generation 4, and Snover can be caught on Routes 216 and 217 in Sinnoh. Snover looks a lot like a snow-covered fir tree, which is perfect for a Christmas-themed article, as many homes at this time of year stock an evergreen tree (sometimes made of plastic). Its evolution Abomasnow has the ability to be pretty powerful, although it has the unfortunate aspect of having a 4x weakness to the fairly common Fire type. Abomasnow also has characteristics of evergreen trees like Snover does, but its name, claws, and purple eyes point to another inspiration being the yeti. In Western culture, yeti are often referred to as “abominable snowmen,” and the connection to “Abomasnow” is apparent.
Many people choose to decorate their Christmas trees with a metal angel or star atop the tree. Stars also hold significance in the Christmas Story, which is relevant in 2020 with the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in late December reminding some people of that same star. Staryu and Starmie are both star-shaped, and while their Water type makes seastars a more probable source of inspiration than heavenly bodies, the gemstones in their centers are reminiscent of Christmas glitter. The round red gem in the middle of Staryu looks a lot like a spherical ornament that someone might hang on a Christmas tree, especially if they’re using the traditional holiday colors of red and green.
Many people who celebrate Christmas associate it with snow and wintertime, even if they don’t live in a part of the world where those two events line up. Songs like White Christmas and Let It Snow talk about how important snow is to the idyllic Christmas image, as well as movies like A Christmas Story where a character infamously froze his tongue to an icy pole. The Ice-type Cryogonal is clearly snowflake-shaped. It can even go one step further with the Christmas aesthetic when one looks at the chain of glowing icy spheres in its mouth area, which could look like Christmas lights or ornaments. Its Pokedex entries say that Cryogonal traps prey with these chains, however, so their meaning isn’t as decorative as they may look.
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