Pokémon Nicknames: Yamper and Boltund

Pokémon Nicknames: Yamper and Boltund

‘ello Galar region! It has been months since I last posted on this blog … way back in August in fact! Well, the new game — Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield – has been out for a couple of weeks now, so you may be in need of Denny’s nicknaming suggestions.

Credit goes to the artist.

One of the first Pokémon you encounter in the Galar Region is little “Yamper” (in Japanese: ワンパチ “Wanpachi”).  Yamper is the Generation VIII “Puppy Pokémon” and is an Electric type. (Source: Bulbapedia)

The way I see it, Yamper is based on the “Welsh Corgi” dog breed. These dogs have distinctive short legs, and despite that, the breed is often used as a herding dog. (Perhaps to herd the numerous Wooloo in Galar?) Corgis are sometimes bred with other dogs, but they retain their short legs, and their friendly temperament. These are those cute little “yapper” dogs. The little dogs that are always excited when you meet them, and jump up on you, as they always want to play.

Yamper evolves into “Boltund” (in Japanese: パルスワン  “Parusuwan”) at level 25 where it remains an  Electric-type. Ahem … Boltund reminds me a little too much of the dog in the Disney movie “Bolt”.

Here are some nicknames that I have used:

You could just go with “Yapper” or “LittleYapper”. (Note that nicknames still have a 12-character limit in Galar.) I also used the name “Yakety-Yak” as in the Coasters song – “Yakety Yak – Don’t Talk Back.”

My favorite name for Yamper/Boltund is “Incorrigible” – as in an endearing person, who always does things their way — and does not give up!!!

“HappyCamper” fits, because camping, playing and cooking curry are an important part of building friendship with your Pokémon in the Galar Region. I had previously used “HappyCamper” for Pokémon’s other puppy —  Rockruff.

“Corgi Girl” – for female Yamper. Alternatively “Georgy Girl” , “Georgie” , “Georgy Gyrl”  after the great hit song from 1967 by England’s The Seekers — “Hey There – Georgy Girl”. It is an upbeat tune with good vibes, man.

Of course I grew up in the 1960s, so that is my cultural reference. You kids might name your little yapper “Baha Baha” or the like, after that terrible song about “letting the dogs out”. Oy.

“Pembroke” – From the Pembroke Welsh Corgi dog breed. Pembroke is also the name of one of the colleges at the University of Cambridge.

“House Bolton” as a GOT reference. Those dogs in that show were too mean though. (Not like my incorrigible little Yamper.)

“Striker” – as in a lightning strike of course. “Dart Leader” is a related lightning term, and is good for a herding dog. “Step Leader” as well. “ReturnStroke” is another lightning term, and is especially appropriate as one of Yamper’s abilities is “Ball Fetch”. This is an ability new to the Galar region.

Now who’s a GOOD BOY?  What is your name for your little yapper? Please comment!

This is NOT Galar Denny.

 

Pokémon Nicknames: Stunky and Skuntank

 

Stunky (in Japanese: スカンプー  “Skunpuu”) is a POISON and DARK dual-type introduced in Generation IV (Sinnoh Region). Stunky evolves into Skuntank (in Japanese: スカタンク “Skutank”) at level 34, where it is still a dual Poison and Dark type. Stunky and Stuntank are in the “Skunk Pokémon” category. (Reference: Bulbapedia.)

Skunk nicknames?… You have to think for a moment about “what kind of things stink?” then go from there.

“Pew-Research” is after the Pew Research Center. A well documented source of information.

If you want to name a skunk, then a good name is “Pepé” or “Le Pew” as in “Pepé Le Pew” the famous French skunk from the old Looney Tunes cartoons. I remember watching a number of these shorts when I was eight years old. The storyline was always the same. Pepé would arrive in a town, and at the same time a female black cat would encounter some type of accident involving white paint. The paint would drip or get rubbed down her back, so that the cat would look like a skunk. Then Pepé would see the lady “skunk” … rush over to her and start hugging and kissing her. The cat would resist the unwanted kisses, and then she would get a wiff of Pepé’s skunk-stink cloud. Then she would really, really struggle to get away. Pepé would continue kissing her, and telling her that he wanted to “take her away to the Casbah” with his French accent.  That’s how my generation learned our stereotypes — from Mel Blanc in Warner Bros. cartoons.  When I was eight years old, we didn’t see Pepé as a predator. We just thought it was funny that the cat smelled stinky-stink and wanted to get away. I don’t think they could make these cartoons today, as sexual harassment is not funny. The poor kitty. Hashtag Me Too.

Why the hell did he always want to take her away to the Casbah? I don’t think it would smell any better there.

I used “PooPooPeDoop” as a variant of the old “Betty Boop” phrase. Great in black and white. She sings a song with the “Boop Oop A Doop” line. This has been switched up and covered by many campy singers.

My eight-year old cartoon-watching friends and I always thought that she was signing about poop. That’s the thing about kids. Unlike sophisticated adults, little kids think that fart and poop jokes are hilariously funny. “PooPooPeeDo” is also the name of a kitty litter disposal system. “PullMyFinger” may result in a funny name. I have heard the term “Stinkfinger” — but I had to look what it meant. In The Urban Dictionary, “Stinkfinger” is defined as “The (usually) surreptitious action of savoring the pheromone laden evidence of digital exploration of the magical female orifice.” Ahem … well that led me to think of “Badfinger” — an early 1970s rock group.

What else might stink? I’m not laughing at “Vagisil“. It is an important product, and it is used in the world’s greatest real estate. The cream has inspired a number of funny memes however.

Some ladies like a black and white stripped hair color scheme. Not sure why it is popular — doesn’t it look like a skunk stripe? So maybe a name like “Stripes” or “Lucky Stripe” would fit? A good name for a female Stunky might be “Alexandra”. If you are a fan of “Archie” comics, you may know that Josie (of Josie and The PussyCats”) had a rival named Alexandra Cabot – who had one of those black and white skunk-striped hairdos. She was always stinking up the place for Josie.

My favorite nickname for Stunky is “Lil’Stinker”. If it evolves into Skuntank, then it could be “A-Big-Stink” as in the phrase: “they made a big stink about it”, meaning excessive complaining over something trivial. Unexpectedly smelling something stinky is not trivial however. “P.U.” … as in “StinkyCheese“. “Limburger” might be a good stink name.

When I was eight years old, my classmates and rarely used the word “fart”. It was always “stinker”. We would say “someone let a stinker” when someone passed gas. I never really thought about it too deeply, but a stinker had to be LET … as in it was allowed. The self and the stinker are perhaps one. The stinker has to be contained, and one chooses to “let” it loose. One has to have some understanding of the stinker coexisting, and building inside oneself. Eventually, the stinker surpasses the self, you come to accept the stinker – you let the stinker. Kind of Zen-Like when I think about it that way.

Skuntank could be re-worded to “Stun-Tank” because the little critter will certainly stun anything that gets shot by its stream of smelly spray. On that note I thought “FunkySpunk” would be a good name for Skuntank, after the Sex-and-the-City episode.

Yeah, I would think this was funny when I was eight. This Sinnoh Region skunk can learn “Flamethrower, so it should also be able to light the fart, then burn up the gas. Maybe it could use lighted farts as a special attack? One question: Why would the other Poison-types faint though? Back then you could not poison a poison type.

What do you call your little stinker? Please comment.

Pokémon Nicknames: Combee and Vespiquen

Pokémon Nicknames: Combee and Vespiquen

Combee (in Japanese: ミツハニー “Mitsuhoney”) is a dual-type Bug and Flying Pokémon introduced in the Sinnoh region – Generation IV. (Source: Bulbapedia). Combee is known as the “Tiny Bee Pokémon”.

Dawn told me she was going to “slather some honey” on my Sinnoh Region tree.

Only female Combee are able to evolve into the “Beehive Pokémon” Vespiquen (in Japanese: ビークイン “Beequen”) starting at level 21. It remains a Bug and Flying type. Male Combee do not evolve, or change into any known form.

Male Combee are just useless male drones I suppose. You could still level it up to 100, and give it some cool moves, but they are overall a weak Pokémon.  I like to name the male Combee “Buzz” related names, for example “Buzz Aldrin” or “A Good Buzz“.  I thought that “Son-of-a-Buzz” or “Sons of Buzz” was cool, the later reminding me of the TV show “Sons of Anarchy”. Consider “BuzzBuzzBuzz“,  just because. “DrumBassBone” after Jazz trios that utilize just a snare drum, stand-up bass, and trombone.

Male bees are termed “Drones”, so there are many “drone” variations to play with. “Drone Strike” after the popularity of using flying drones as weapons.

Did you see how the drone recognized the specific dummy by using its facial recognition programming, then only whacked the exact target? What could possibly go wrong? … and I digress. The Pokémon censor will not let you use the word “kill”, so you would have to make a variant, such as “Kilbot Drone“. What a “Buzzkill“. Ha, just use number ones in place of lowercase L. “GameOfDrones” just makes the 12 character limit.

Perhaps use something along the lines of “Bees-Whack” as a play on “Beeswax”. Mind your own beeswax. There are three of them, so names based on threes might be good. “Strike 3” from baseball. No, not “Three-Way” — I would not even want to think about that situation. How about “KingstonTrio” after the Kingston Trio perhaps.

“Aunt Bee” is a straightforward name for Vespiquen, that is if you are old enough to remember the old Andy Griffith Show. If you have seen the “Miraculous Ladybug” show, I suggest “Chloe” after the cartoon character.

The sound of the word “Vespiquen” resonates like “lesbian” so it may be fun to arrange various lesbian names, like “LezBeeQueen“. Which begs the question … “are lesbians fun”?  Well, it depends … do you mean the good kind of lesbians, or the sophomore sociology major type lesbians … and yes, I see that I have digressed once again …

“LezBeeFriend” just makes the 12 character limit. You could also annotate your little Combee trio of “LezBees” with the female symbols. You have to wonder what a “three way” of girl honeybees would look like.

Ha. For Baby-Boomers only: Remember: “The Honey Bees” episode from Gilligan’s Island?

I remember trading the Pokémon with a friend, so that when he received it, the screen would have said “Denny send over LezBeeFriend”. Ha. At least I remember that it was funny. A warning should be made however. It is one thing to make suggestive Pokemon names and share them with your friends. Do not send out such named Pokemon on the WonderTrade. It could be sent to a kid. Kids should not be exposed to such things. There are no kids allowed in the Over21 lounge for my 1962 Las Vegas stand-up comedy act.

Ahem … Queen bees are also known for controlling useless males with their pheromones. Vespiquen’s signature move is “Attack Order“. She calls out her Combee drones to pummel her opponent. The move has a high critical hit rate.

          “Yes, my Queen … I will obey …”

“Bee” advised for more names … You could probably use some of my previously suggested names for Beedrill linked here.

     Beedrill and Vespiquen make a “bee-utiful” couple.

“That might be a queen, but they ain’t no bee.”

What is the name of your honey gatherer? Please comment!

Pokémon Nicknames: Binacle and Barbaracle

Pokémon Nicknames:

Binacle (in Japanese: カメテテ “Kametete”) is a dual-type Rock and Water Pokémon native to the Kalos Region (Generation 6). Binacle is “bi” because it is two barnacles. It is a double headed Pokémon that evolves into Barbaracle at level 39. Barbaracle (in Japanese: ガメノデス “Gamenodes”) remains a Rock and Water dual- type at level 39.  (reference: Bulbapedia) However, the evolved form becomes more “single headed” but still “multi-handed”.

I always like to use the names of famous duos when naming them. “Laurel+Hardy”, “Burt-N-Ernie” or “Bruce+Dick”, etc for males. How about a movie reference like “TheTwoJakes“?

My favorite male Binacle name is “Ford-Dole’76“, after the losers of the 1976 U.S. presidential election.

Since Binacle is either male or female, you will have to choose famous team-ups of the same gender. For females, my favorite is “Patty/Selma” after the characters from The Simpsons.

The name “Salt-N-Peppa” always go together. Maybe the term “Honor+Offer” after my old Las Vegas lounge act. Binacle is also a “Bi” so you can have fun with binary computer code names, like “Zero and One“.

Be creative! You have 12 letters starting in the Kalos Region, thus you have room for combined names. You will have to add a “+” symbol as a substitute for “and” because Pokémon text does not have the “&” symbol. You can also use a “/” symbol to divide the names, especially if the names are nearly identical or opposites.

It might be a hoot to name Binacle “Laurel/Yanni” after the viral internet debate all the rage in early 2018. Some people heard “Laurel”, while others heard “Yanni” on the sound clip.

It was weird how people heard the exact same physical sound, yet interpreted it differently. Kind of like how women often hear things differently than reasonable people … huh heh  … um … er … but I digress …

If you let or make your Binacle Pokémon evolve, then the duo-names no longer fit. Barbaracle has only the one head, which is still shaped like a hand. It has four other hands, the top two of which have eyes, plus two feet which are also barnacle-hand shaped. It is hard to bridge that difference in appearance to a duo name, so you might change it at the Name Rater’s place.

“BarnacleBoy” was a character from from the SpongeBob show, but I don’t care for that name. Maybe “Big Barney” after the sandwich.

The name “High Five” might work, as the Pokémon has five hand appendages. I might suggest “HandyManny” after the kids cartoon program, or “HandJive” after the Johnny Otis 1950s rock and roll song. “All Hands” or “Roman Hands” may fit for an active hands Pokémon, as many women have had to put up with a date who becomes a little too forward with the hands. Perhaps “Tag Team” if you get the wrestling reference. How about “Mr. Shiva” for the multi-armed Hindu Deity? I named one “YeahYeahYeah” because love me do, I wanna hold your hand, she loves you. I finally settled on “Talk-2D-Hand” for my hyper-trained Barbaracle with outstanding stats.

What is the name of your barnacle duo? Do you have a handy nickname? Please comment.

Note: I apologize for the lack of cosplay models for this post. I tried a web search for “sexy barnacles” but all I found were pictures of clams.