If you ever played Pokémon as a kid (or even as an adult!), you’re probably familiar with the Substitute move and the adorable plush “decoy” your pocket monster could use to sop up some damage. But as cute as that little substitute was, didn’t you always kind of wish that it looked a little bit more like a plush version of the pokémon you were using?
Maybe not, but that didn’t stop one Japanese Twitter artist from drawing 64 Pokémon as Substitutes!
In a tweet that has been retweeted over 23,000 times in the past week, Japanese Twitter user @_shigao_ shared the adorable illustration below. In addition to the cute drawings, the tweet bore the simple message “Is it okay…if I release the Substitutes…? (Feel free to use them as icons.)”
[tweet https://twitter.com/_shigao_/status/535421862927273984 align=center]You can get a blown-up version of each of the characters from this Dropbox. We haven’t downloaded all of them, but it looks like they come as PNG files of 178 x 178 pixels. That said, they can be resized to about 300% without the pixelation getting too bad.
▼Like this!
However, it looks like @_shigao_ does have some rules if you want to use the icons. First, it’s totally fine to use them for your SNS icon, to decorate them, to use a frame or filter on them, to add a header, or use it like a wallpaper.
▼Christmas hats somehow make everything 1.75 times cuter.
But there are a few things you’re not allowed to do. @_shigao_ doesn’t want anyone compiling and posting decorated images. We’re not sure why, but don’t do it! Second, don’t change the colors of the icons–if you want different colors (like a pink Pikachu, for example), you should contact @_shigao_. first Next, don’t rotate the icons–there are little dots for shadows at the bottom, and if you rotate the illustrations, it will just look wrong. Finally, you can feel free to redraw anything you want as a substitute, obviously, but the Twitter user asks that no one trace and use any of the icons.
▼Cute, but against the rules!
While it might seem a bit odd for someone to release something like this for free and then ask that people not do certain things with them, we assume it’s an attempt to maintain the quality of the icons. If a slew of icons with poorly executed changes suddenly appear on the Internet, it might make @_shigao_ look like a bad artist. So, find your favorite and have fun with it, but remember to respect the artist!
But if you do want an original piece, don’t despair, since it looks like the artist is still taking requests.
▼This was the result of one request from another Twitter user.
[tweet https://twitter.com/_shigao_/status/535654505237327872 align=center]In case you missed it before, here’s the Dropbox link. Now go download your favorite Substitute pokémon!
Sources: ITMedia, Dropbox, Twitter, Twifile
Images: Dropbox, Twitter