Pokemon Fan Turns Squirtle and Its Evolutions Into Digimon

A Pokemon fan has created concept art for Squirtle and its evolutions that imagines them as Digimon. Many Pokemon fans have highlighted similarities between Pokemon and Digimon since their inception, and this fan art brings both worlds together.

Pokemon and Digimon originally blew up in popularity around the same time, but Pokemon has maintained its success consistently in the same time frame. While the Pokemon anime has received 26 seasons, Digimon has only achieved nine in nearly as many years. Beyond the shows, Pokemon regularly introduces new generations with each main series installment. While Digimon has been expanded upon through dozens of games, the franchise hasn’t successfully reached as many gamers as Pokemon. One fan of both intellectual properties has decided to imagine Pokemon as Digimon, starting with the Squirtle evolution lineup.

Reddit user TheBringerDesigns recently shared four images of their concept of the Water-type Pokemon Squirtle and its evolutions as Digimon. The first fan art focuses on Squirtle, and it sees the smallest design changes of the four, with the Pokemon looking more jagged and having bigger claws. Wartortle swaps its wing appendages for a winged cap, and maintains its swirly tail, but is now strapped with belts and has spiked bracers. Blastoise stands taller than it normally does, with bigger cannons, six-pack abs, two metallic limbs, and a skull cap. Finally, Mega Blastoise resembles a combination of Blastoise and Digimon‘s Magnamon, but with what appears to be a powerful railgun strapped to one arm.

This Is How Squirtle and Its Evolutions May Look as Digimon

This evolution line follows a similar trajectory to the Digimon series, featuring Squirtle as a Rookie, Wartortle as a Champion, Blastoise as an Ultimate, and Mega Blastoise as a Mega Digimon. As Squirtle lacks a baby form unlike Clefairy, Pikachu, and Magmar, there is no Fresh or In-Training predecessor. This concept could be expanded upon further by implementing Armor, DNA, Matrix, Biomerge, or many other types of Digivolution. Unlike Pokemon, the Digimon series has also delved into Fusions, which some fans have taken inspiration from to create their own unique Pokemon that fuse two designs together. TheBringerDesigns has confirmed that they intend to give Bulbasaur and Charmander the same treatment as Squirtle.

Considering Pokemon and Digimon have been expanded parallel to each other over the years, it’s unlikely that the two will ever come together as they do in this fan art. Game Freak continues to add new features with each iteration of Pokemon, but the series still remains clearly distinct compared to Digimon and vice versa.