Pokemon Fan Art Imagines Flying-Type Diglett Regional Variants

A Pokemon fan has created Diglett regional variants, turning the Pokemon into something closer to eggs than underground moles. The clever designs have found popularity with the Pokemon fandom, particularly for taking inspiration from real-world creatures.

Pokemon is arguably an endless font of creativity for fans, with players all over the world regularly producing art, stories, and even fan games based in the Pokemon universe. Regional variants for Pokemon like this fan’s creation are a popular subject, as they are rooted in existing designs, but give artists enough freedom to still be creative.

Pokemon Fan Shares Avian Diglett and Dugtrio

Prolific Pokemon fan artist Matratzfratz has shared their idea for what an Avian Diglett and its evolution, Dugtrio, could look like. As the name implies, Avian Diglett is a Flying-type, and has shifted from its regular appearance to one looking like a nest containing a single egg. The artist has shared an amusing Pokedex entry for the Pokemon, noting that the Diglett sometimes just show up in Pokemon daycares, or when a Buneary is around, giving nods to the Pokemon daycare eggs and Easter egg-hunting traditions. However, things get particularly interesting with its evolution, Dugtrio, which has a design twist based in actual zoology.

The Avian Dugtrio, which is written with a question mark given the presence of four creatures, looks like a trio of Diglett with an oversized egg-like Ditto behind them. While Ditto is popular right now because of Pokemon Pokopia, this particular Ditto has a sinister reason for being there. The design is based upon real-world brood parasites, like the Cuckoo, which leave their own eggs in the nests of other kinds of birds to be raised by them. It’s not a totally peaceful existence, though, as brood parasites drive out the chicks that actually belong to the host nest. With that in mind, the anxious expression on one of the Diglett making up the evolution makes sense, with the “mysterious fourth sibling” apparently looking at all of its “siblings” as eggs to be smashed.

While the artist hasn’t illustrated any further forms for this creation, they have shared some additional ideas. The Mega evolution of this particular Pokemon, they say, would be the fourth odd sibling all on its own, except it would now be “well-fed,” either implying that it’s eaten all the food that was intended for its siblings or perhaps even ate them itself. Pokemon fans seem to be delighted by the creativity of the design and the thought that went into it, even if it is based upon a morbid real-world phenomenon.

While turning Diglett into an egg fits the design of the Pokemon well, the original series went in a different direction when creatively redesigning the Pokemon and its evolutionary tree. The regional form, Alolan Dugtrio, gains long blonde hair and takes inspiration from the volcanic activity common to the region. Meanwhile, Wiglett and Wugtrio, the convergent species, look extremely similar to Diglett and Dugtrio, but are based upon creatures like garden eels. It’d be interesting to see what other real-world species could be combined with Diglett and Dugtrio to make more regional variants and convergent species.