#raionic commando

[malamiteltd]

Raichu Day

So for those who aren't aware, Raichu is one of, if not my favorite Pokemon of all time. Everyone had known Pikachu when the series was introduced to America, but when I saw a series of mini strategy guides that featured artwork of Ken Sugimori, I learned of its evolution, and comparing the art of the two, I liked Raichu more.

Naturally, over the years I had drawn the critter a number of times. In some instances, however, I decided to play with the name and present Raichu in different costumes. All with questionably punny names.

This was one of the first: the Legendary Warrior Raigar. Based on the game series "Rygar" from Tecmo.

And then there was Raiden, God of Thunder from Mortal Kombat. I learned later that the pronunciation was more like "Rayden" (and that very spelling was used for some home versions, maybe to differentiate from the Raiden shmup series?), but it was still an opportunity I didn't want to pass up.

Nathan "Rai" Spencer, the Raionic Commando. The design is a mix of old and new, taking some cues from both the NES game and the Rearmed remake. On that note, music was made in FamiTracker to coincide with the concept: a mixing of two Bionic Commando series' songs, intended to sound like a Pokemon enounter.

After a few years I ended up making something else punny via a newly acquired Android tablet. It's less of a costume and more of a fusion:

Raiolu.

Finally, this year I made a Raichu wear the outfit of one of my own characters. The character in question is known as Tetsuba Qailan; he's pretty cool, but I hadn't made much use of him for quite a while.

Plus he was in need of a few tweaks in design.

So I ended up with this:

Tetsuba Rai-lan, complete with his own Chou Kagaku (known to some as the "Black Butcher"). Hmm, one of these days I need to finalize the design of his bike Gekizou too.

But yeah, I don't know how many other outfits I'll end up giving Raichu over the years to come, but it's always kinda fun to think some up, even if things can end up a bit of a stretch.

I think the little guy is worth it.