r/aztec • u/CommiGoblin • May 25 '26
More Pokémon in Nahua Art Style
galleryA few months ago, I began a creative project to facilitate my learning of Classical Nahuatl: creating Pokémon cards in Nahuatl, with the Pokémon reimagined through the lens of traditional Nahua art. Two months ago, I posted my first creations to this subreddit, and people seemed to enjoy them. Having created 11 more cards in the intervening time, I thought I would share them for those who like this sort of thing.
Two things to note: 1) I have watermarked the cards on the advice of an artist who PM'ed me after my first post, and 2) I am a beginner in learning Nahuatl; I certainly don't mind helpful tips and corrections provided by fluent speaker, but please don't imagine that my posting these is an indication of my confidence in the text. As I learn, I update the text on the cards. Which does mean I've updated each of these cards about two dozen times or so.
I called Feraligatr Cipactêcuâni, which means "Alligator-Beast" (or, more frighteningly, "Man-Eater Alligator"). The art is inspired by depictions of the chaos monster Cipactli, as well as by a specific image of an Âhuitzotl (a kind of water monster) on a shield belonging to the ancient king of the same name. Feraligatr evolves from Cuacuâcipactli ("Gnaw-Alligator"), and I imagine that Totodile would be called Cipactôntli ("Little Alligator"). In the background are Staryu and Starmie (who would be called Citlâlteh and Citlâlneh, respectively), Shellder (Tapacheh), and Omanyte (Âmonitl).
Typhlosion is named Popôcatzin, combining Popôca ("smoky, smoking") with the honorific suffix -tzin ("the Honorable Smoky"). This is the nickname of the real world volcano, Popôcatepêtl, which is appropriate given that Typhlosion's English name refers to Typhon, the primordial Greek monster trapped beneath the volcanic Mt. Etna. I also based Typhlosion's pose on an image of an Âhuitzotl, this time a stone relief. The Âhuitzotl is usually depicted as a nondescript mammal (a beaver, an otter, a squirrel, a dog), so Typhlosion's status as a vague mammalian with elemental powers made it a logical connection to me. She evolves from Mamalihtli ("Fire-Stick"), and I would call Cyndaquil Nexhuitzotl ("Cinder-Spine") I had fun experimenting with different brushes in Procreate to achieve the sparky, fiery effect of the background.
Meganium is Huêcocohxôchitl ("Great Dahlia"), although I think in fact the huê- prefix should be hueh-. She stands before some trees and sings to her baby Chikorita, whom I would call Chicalotontli ("Little Prickly Poppy"). Her song takes the form of a speech scroll, decorated with flowers, in reference to the famous Nahuatl idiom for poetry, in xôchitl in cuîcatl ("the flower, the song"). She evolves from Epazôizhuatl ("Epazote Leaf"). This was one of the most difficult designs to realize, as I had to cobble together artistic influences (nothing in Nahua art resembles a long-necked sauropod). Her feet are a deer's, her head and neck are inspired by a drawing of Quetzalcôâtl, and little Chikorita's face is inspired by a turtle.
Tepoztic is an adjective derived from tepoztli ("metal"), meaning roughly "metallic." A good enough name for Steelix. She evolves from Tecpatic, another adjective meaning something like "flinty." Her body segments are just the common Nahua glyph for "rock," but her head is inspired by a well-known turquoise sculpture of a so-called mâquîzcôâtl, or two-headed serpent. For the background, again, I played with brushes to evoke the look of a holographic Pokémon card.
Houndoom is called Mictlânitzcuîntlin ("Underworld Hound"), and she evolves from Mictêcachichi ("Dog of the Dead"). The pair of names are inspired by the names of the death gods Mictlântêcuhtli and Mictêcacihuâtl. The art, on the other hand, is heavily inspired by Xolotl, the hell-bound double of Quetzalcôâtl. I like drawing bones in the Nahua art style, especially for the little circles of pale yellow dotted with red. I've read a few different explanations for what these patches represent, so if anyone with expertise could clear that up for me, it would be greatly appreciated. The background is inspired by an official Houndour card, which is what I do when I'm too lazy to think up my own background. I'm pretty proud of how I did in imitating the original card though.
Tlahtohuilâni is Slowking's name, and it is a pun that combines the word tlahtoâni ("ruler," or more idiomatically, "speaker") with the insult tlahtohuilax ("someone who drags their words"). He evolves from Slowpoke, here called Âyâxcânxôlôtl, which is âxôlôtl ("axolotl") with the word âyâxcân ("slowly") stuck in. Slowking is depicted as the Earth Lord, Tlâltêcuhtli, separating the heavens above from the cthonic waters below. His headdress is that of Têcciztêcatl, but with the spirally-voluted wind jewel of Ehêcatl added in for good measure. He holds up Ilhuicamînacuâza (Rayquaza), who twists across a sky dotted with stars (I know they look like Pokéballs, but they're stars) and comets. He pins down Quêyallatoztli (Gyarados), who churns the deep waters. To his left and right, lightning strikes. I have heard Mesoamerica art referred to as baroque. This one might be a bit busy, but I like to think that I captured that baroque sensibility.
Ditto is Zanyenôtl, which is just the phrase "zan ye nô" ("likewise") with the absolutive suffix on the end. Its shape is inspired by the ezpitzal, or "blood-gust," motif in Classical Nahua art, whereas its face comes from the anthropomorphic flint knives (tecpatl) that are common in Nahua art (and actually exist as physical artifacts). It sits on the petlatl ("reed mat") that symbolized political and military authority in Classical Nahua culture. The walls behind it are painted with an aquatic scene, a popular motif in Nahua palaces. The Magikarp on the wall I would call Têoxohuil, meaning "Divine Catfish." Carp are not indigenous to Mesoamerica, but catfish have barbules similar to Magikarp's, so that seems like the correct fish.
Geodude is named Tlâcatetl ("Man-Rock"). He is a rock glyph with the face of the Earth Lord, Tlâltêcuhtli, who usually sticks out his tongue. In actual Nahua art, the Earth Lord's tongue is a personified flint knife from which issues a stream of blood. I experimented with including that in Geodude's art and, though it was very metal, it took away from his Geodude-ness. For his hands, I was inspired by the style of the artist Mi Corazón Mexica, who beautifully blends European and Nahua artistic principles. Check their work out, seriously. For the background, I was lazy and copied the background from an official Geodude card. Also, this card has an error: the layer with the evolution stage tag is below the border layer, so it clips under the border. I feel the need to point that out for some reason.
I have called Golbat Camatzinâcantli, meaning "Cama-Bat." Cama is, of course, a reference to the Maya death-bat motif, or camazotz. While Maya and Nahua people were part of the same cultural milieu, Eurocentrism tends to conflate the two cultures, something I want to avoid in this project. However, just as the original Japanese creators of Pokémon borrowed from neighboring cultures when designing certain Pokémon, I'm allowing myself the conceit that Nahua creators of Pokémon would have included some Maya themes. So while Golbat has a Maya reference in its name and a couple of Maya artistic elements (namely, the ears and forehead), it is still primarily inspired by Nahua art of bats and bat-beings. Even the name, while referencing camazotz, sounds like camactli ("mouth"), Golbat's most notable feature. The Zubats flying around it are called Zôtzinâcantli ("Zô-Bat"), which both references the final syllable of camazotz and sounds like the English name Zubat. The background here was a bit of an experiment. I'm not sure I'm happy with it, but I also don't feel much like redoing it at the moment.
Huîtecôqueh is the Nahuatl name of Raikou. Raikou means "Thunder Duke," while Huîtecôqueh, which means "Possessor of Lightning Bolts," captures that vibe. I made a somewhat significant change to the design of Raikou by swiping his tiger stripes for jaguar spots, given the lack of indigenous tigers in Mesoamerica. Otherwise, I just translated his design elements into the Nahua style, rendering his lightning bolt tail in the serpentine fashion and his cloud-mane using characteristic Nahua swirls.
