An adorable piece of Pokemon fan art shows what would happen if someone fused the Grass Type Pokemon Bayleef with the Water/Ground type Pokemon Wooper. This cute combination was met with a positive reception from other Pokemon fans online.
Pokemon fusion has been a concept in the fanbase for some time. Anyone searching through a gallery of Pokemon fan art will likely come across more than a few examples of fans combining their favorite pocket monsters, and there are even multiple fan-made games that will do it for them. Of course, Nintendo and Game Freak have never introduced any form of fusion into the Pokemon canon. The logistics of fusing two Pokemon also raises a few potentially uncomfortable questions. Still, the lack of official recognition never stopped fans from imagining their own hybrid Pokemon.
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Digital artist Ryan Cortez, known online as rcortezdraws, is one such fan and recently shared his vision of a Wooper and Bayleef fusion. The design keeps the same basic body shape as Wooper but borrows the yellow and green coloring and numerous other elements from Bayleef. This includes Bayleef's iconic leaf and its eyes, mouth, and nose. Additionally, Cortez replaces Wooper's coral-like "ears" with curled leaves like those surrounding Bayleef's neck, and the Pokemon fusion adds Bayleef's white toes to Wooper's tiny feet. Finally, the hybrid's tail combines elements from both Pokemon, while the pattern on Wooper's chest changes from white to green.
Wooper and Bayleef certainly make for an interesting combination. Both debuted as part of the second generation of Pokemon games, which were released in Japan in 1999 and the US in 2000. However, the two have relatively little in common beyond that, having different Types and wildly different body shapes. They aren't even at the same stage of evolution, with Bayleef being the evolved form of Chikorita. However, the non-obvious nature of the paring is arguably a big part of what makes it stand out.
The artist also gave the cute Pokemon fusion a bit of individual personality, and it almost seems to be grinning to the camera. This gives it a slightly mischievous look, which may be at least part of the reason why one commenter compared it to a nymph. Speaking of Reddit comments, while Cortez didn't name his creation, other fans on the Pokemon subreddit came up with a few suggestions. "Booper" was the most popular idea, with someone else suggesting "Wooperita," which combines Whooper's name with that of Bayleef's predecessor.
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