While the sixth generation Pokémon games are still six months away, one fan's creative videos have taken the spotlight.
Aly el Din, or as he's known on YouTube as "alypken," has taken to the video-sharing website as an outlet to display his craft - videos he's devoted time in creating. For several years, el Din has uploaded video revolving the Pokémon franchise, but as "Pokémon X and Y" nears, he has since created two videos, which have captured the Internet's attention.
The two videos in question are "Sylveon Vs Umbreon short animation," which has garnered just over 98,000 views since it was uploaded on March 11, and "Mewtwo's form transformation animation," which has attracted over 710,000 views since its April 16 upload date. The videos have since been linked on other sites such as Cheezburger.com.
While he doesn't remember what exactly led him to create the videos, el Din admits he simply loves animation and the franchise.
"I love animation and Pokémon so much, and I've always wanted to take a lead part in the creation of Pokémon," said el Din, who further credited the spinoff series "Pokémon Chronicles" as to why he first considered creating videos.
"I still like the Idea that Ash didn't take a main role in any of the ('Pokémon Chronicles') episodes," he added. "It made me feel that Pokémon isn't just Ash and Pikachu. It's big world with lots of trainers with different stories, so I thought about making fan animations based on the same idea, stories that happen in the Pokémon world that are not related to Ash, although that's not exactly what I did later."
Another inspiration to creating the Pokémon videos was the manga series, which often contrasted the television series but were closer to the games. For that reason, El Din decided to make animations based on the manga, but noted how the television series started to get "silly."
"I don't think many of the older fans still watch it," el Din stated. "The show lost many things including being the logical representation of the games. In the past you get to see how Pokémon use the attack in a way that you can accept it, now for example rock slide just came out of nowhere from the sky instead of throwing it, and you see Pokémon using water gun from their hands instead of their mouth, and create trash bags and rocks out of nowhere as if the Pokémon is using magic. All these things made me think about making a fan series that would satisfy fans that are not interested anymore in the current TV series."
And with Adobe Flash, Creative Suite 6, After Effects, Premier, and Photoshop, el Din went to work and created various videos, but it was the Sylveon vs. Umbreon clip that caught the online community's attention.
With fans still speculating on what Sylveon will bring in "Pokémon X and Y," el Din created a video of the latest Eevee evolution battling against the second generation Eevee evolution. Along with other responsibilities in the real world, creating the video took three to four weeks.
Sylveon vs. Umbreon:
Then the big news came regarding Mewtwo. The Genetic Pokémon has been confirmed to have a new form for "Pokémon X and Y," a move which has brought mixed reviews to fans.
El Din decided to create a video based on the movie trailer "Extreme Speed Genesect: Mewtwo Awakens," where Mewtwo's new form is set to make its official animation debut. Three to four days later, the video "Mewtwo's form transformation animation" was uploaded on YouTube and is now on route to reach one million views by the by the end of April.
Mewtwo's Form Transformation Animation:
As for the decision for Mewtwo to have a new form, el Din expressed disappointment.
"First, I don't like how many Pokémon now are able to change their form for no reason. I mean it was cool when Deoxys was the only Pokémon able to do that, but now it's just boring and pointless. I know some will say that their stats change, etc., but they are not fighting machines, why would they transform just to battle?"
His second reason is the belief the franchise is turning everything "cute," noting the change of Mewtwo's eyes and the fact the Japanese trailer used a female voice for the Genetic Pokémon.
"They changed the most important part of Mewtwo, his eyes," said el Din. "Mewtwo's eyes were very unique, they hold so many feels, and they made him looks like someone who is lonely, who had suffered before. It was just amazing, now, in its original form it looks like a lifeless doll that is staring the whole time."
El Din believes such changes could alienate older and male fans, even going as far to say those supporting the new form doesn't know anything about Mewtwo, namely the version seen in the first movie.
"I don't hate it. I just hate the fact that its Mewtwo [yet] it doesn't feel like Mewtwo," el Din added. "Giving it a new form now after all these years doesn't actually make any sense, and it wouldn't make sense at all in the movie if its the same old Mewtwo. It already said in the new trailer that it was always able to do this, so why it didn't when it was fighting Mew and trying to prove that its way better than Mew?"
As for the upcoming Pokémon games, "I'm very excited for these games, that's exactly how I thought a 3D Pokémon game would look like, but I never expected the Nintendo 3DS to handle it in such a perfect way, and I believe it will be better than all the previous games."
El Din does express concern about the new Pokémon in "X and Y." He noted the change in style the franchise is taking as of the fifth generation and how they no longer bare the "more realistic look" as seen in the first generation. El Din, for example, compared first-generation Pokémon Vulpix to fifth generation's Zorua and new sixth generation starter Fennekin, all based on foxes, but believes Vulpix "looks out of place between them."
What does el Din think about the videos' responses?
"I love when I see people enjoying my videos and asking me to do more, they really push me to do more, even when someone dislike the video or put a negative comment, they support me, I just love them."
What's next for el Din?
He's working on a video series based on the HeartGold and SoulSilver (HGSS) series.
"Also I will continue doing other Pokémon related videos and also other franchises, but I'm planning to upload some of my own animations too that are not Pokémon related. I know that most of my fans are there just for Pokémon, but I would like to show them what else I can do."
For more and the latest on "Pokémon X and Y," click here.
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