If you’ve been on Twitter over this past weekend, you might’ve come across a couple of questionable-looking 3D models, or renders, of Pokemon.
Like this Tangela, for example:
Haven’t seen any? Don’t worry. If you’ve missed out, we’re here to fill you in.
What happened?
Artists have been Tweeting out their terribly, hastily modelled 3D Pokemon under the Japanese hashtag #ポケモン5分モデリング , which basically means “5 Minute Pokemon Renders”.
Originating from Japan, the hashtag was originally used by (CG) artists to poke fun at one particular Twitter user, who was under the assumption that it takes only 5 minutes to create a 3D Pokemon model from start to finish. Here’s the Tweet that’s being made fun of in question, as quoted by a translator:
Though it may not entirely be accurate, if you’re curious, here’s a rough translation of what the original tweet says:
“Gamefreak’s incompetency makes me disappointed. Can’t you finish creating the graphics for one Pokemon in 5 minutes? 5 minutes x 800 species of Pokemon makes up about 60 hours of work. Something like this, they can’t even do! Pokemon is over.”
Yikes. Regardless, the hashtag has since become a challenge for artists to render models of their favourite Pokemon in 5 minutes.
As expected, some turned out hilarious – especially when they’re put next to the Pokemon’s original artwork:
Here’s my personal favourite: someone 3D-rendered the word “Gyarados” in Japanese, instead of attempting to render the actual Pokemon.
Not all of these 5-minute renders were almost-comedically bad, though. Some were cute, in a simple way.
Even as deformed blobs with barely any details, it’s amazing how people are still able to recognise and correctly identify Pokemon by name. That’s genius, especially since there are about 800 Pokemon in existence now. Hats off to Pokemon’s designers, animators and modellers, really!
Sheryl Lim, Writer (Lifestyle)
A sleepless cryptid with a sweet tooth, who spends most of her free time on the internet. Sheryl loves binge-watching shows on Netflix, Persona 5's Joker, arcades, and all her emotional support K-Pop boys.
