Pokemon is one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world. Having captured millions of players for over a quarter of a century, the Pokemon franchise continues to release new titles that prove its popularity all over again. The latest mainline game in the series, Pokemon Legends: Arceus broke sales records on its launch day, as it offered a unique experience compared to prior titles by transporting players into a more open-world Pokemon experience, than the series has ever seen before.
With Pokemon designs going anywhere from extremely cool to cute, many players not only relish the times they’re transported into the Pokemon world through the games, but also wish that the creatures existed in the real world too. Fans have been creating realistic impressions of what the flying lizard Charizard or hulking plant Venasaur would look like in the real world for years, using software such as Blender. One Pokemon fan though, instead of creating their own 3D model, decided for the much simpler course of finding a real-life animal that looked very much like a Pokemon.
Using Photoshop, a Reddit user managed to turn a long crested eagle into the Pokemon known as Talonflame. Long crested eagles are an African bird of prey, and unlike the Photoshop depiction, they typically have brown feathers that make a dark, shaggy crest atop their heads. Talonflame on the other hand is a fire-flying type Pokemon that is mostly red in color, though it does share a similar kind of crest atop its head to that of the long crested eagle.
Introduced in Gen 6, Talonflame quickly became a fan favorite Pokemon due to its design, and the fact that it broke from the normal-flying type that so many other flying Pokemon had. Due to the Redditors’ Photoshop work, Talonflame looks as at home in the real world as it would in the Kalos region of Pokemon X and Y. The comments under the Reddit post were quick to praise the fan’s work, with one user stating “of all the realistic Pokemon made using Photoshop, this is definitely the best one I’ve seen!”
Sadly, despite the realistic depiction of the Talonflame, it will take a lot of mad science and genetic engineering before a fire bird is available as a family pet. For those looking to get their Talonflame fix though, they can find the Pokemon currently in the franchise’s MOBA spinoff, Pokemon Unite where Talonflame can deal vast amounts of damage with its boosted moves.
