Between Ground and Steel

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Did you know, these days was really hard to find believable source about stuff solely from the internet? That's why it took a very long time to recollecting data from various reliable source such as magazines issues; re-watching the animated series; tracking information in the official websites; replaying the games; researching for author's editorial & statements, & many other source that I can't mention one by one, untill finally I can make some conclusions from analyzing all the data I found.

This time, I will focusing on the character of Steven & Cynthia from Pokemon. I think it's very interesting to searching out more about the concept behind both character, mainly because they have an important role in the games: Champion. There are following questions , as well as the most possible answers & it may contain theories that came to my mind about them.

1.) Steven is a rock collectors, which is stated as his main interest & hobby. But why did he chose Steel-type, or at least why his creator made him so?

We will use our logic here. Compared with other characters who have a quite clear background about their choice of Pokemon types, Steven is one of the characters that need to be dug deep enough to find out about. From what I know, rock collecting hobby can be DANGEROUS & EXPENSIVE, depending on how serious the people in this. More valuable the stones you're looking for, more difficult the terrain that may contain them. Sure it takes a lot of money to buy quality equipment & enough physical strength to surpass it. And from what I found, Steven and his father, Mr.Stone has seriously get into this hobby. And perhaps, this also influenced by the workfield of their predecessor (miners family).

Digging & examining cave wall to get the stones is often done with equipment made of metal, so most probably this is the origin of 'Steel-type master' idea. But, it would be too risky if the stones excavated by massive steel Pokemon like Steven's in the game. That is why in the anime, Steven brought an Aron to minimize these risks. Like an artefacts for archeologist or paleontologist with fossils/bones, he dug out the stones with "small excavation equipment" slowly, and then clean the remaining dirt with brush.

2.) Okay, so Steven is a Steel-type Master. But, why there are only three Steel -type Pokemon on his team? And why must Armaldo, Cradily and Claydol from that many?

For the Champion level, I have to admit thus three Pokemon was a good choice although not the best to fill Steven's team slot. But I wouldn't talk about game technic here. Instead, I will talk about what possible relation with the story and the character concept.

Claydol-> ground/psychic Pokemon. Rocks are generally found among the heaps of soil & cave walls. Claydol is said to be a creatures (artifacts?) derived from the ancient times. This is interesting because its makes Steven has 2 Psychic Pokemon on his team, & although it have nothing to do with Metagross, most Psychic-type Pokemon intimately associated with the ancient period, legends &/or fairy tales.

*Claydol character model is derived from Jomon period's artifacts, a Shakkou/Dogu (spaceman). Jomon is a prehistory period where the ancestors are using some ground-stone tools, & its reside in Kyushu perfecture, the basic model of Hoenn Region).

Armaldo->Bug/Rock. It was clear that this Pokemon revived from an ancient fossil of prehistoric creature. Same thing goes with Cradily.

Cradily->Grass/Rock. Steven collects stones, & fossils can be classified as a rare rocks. Both revived through a machine developed by the Devon Corp. (officially), his own family company. So it makes sense if thus Pokemon there on his team. And well...both of them are found inside an ancient ruins-at least, in Emerald.

Remember, a character didn't created or formed offhandedly. And I'm sure, the choice of each Pokemon for each character are not taken arbitrarily as well. Therefore, I draw the conclusion that thus 3 'random' Pokemon on his team was there to give a tiny clues about Steven's interest in something ancient, beside a symbol of his interest of rocks. For an addition, he had a little interest on local legend as he shown in the bonus storyline in HGSS. Perhaps it can take him to the Pokemon mythology, as both are closely related. Because if it's viewed from the hobby & Pokemon on his team, Steven is an Amateur Geologist who tend toward Geoarcheology.

It could be, the creator still didn't found any Steel-type Pokemon that matched Steven's concept of character in the time the game have been planned. Is that true? The answer can only be obtained if one day, they remake Pokemon Emerald: whether Steven would get a new lineup replace those '3 random' of his team later, or will it remain the same? (for the record, ranging from Pokemon R/S/E the official battle formations was the 1st, while the 2nd battle (post national Pokedex/after beating E4 for the first time) are only included as an additional challenge for players).

3.) Cynthia had a wide variety of Pokemon in the game, most are the strongest types & uncommon. But, amongst all potential Pokemon, why only Garchomp & Gastrodon chose to make appearance in the anime?

We already know pretty much about Cynthia's character from the games and anime. And here's one thing that quite often being fussed by fans.

Garchomp -> Ground/Dragon. A tall, slender dragon with a physique that looks more like human woman when compared with other dragon in Pokemon series which tend to be muscular, 'wide-bodied' & stocky. Weird, isn't it? I think
if there are people who thought that Garchomp was designed deliberately as Cynthia's main partner, they're not so wrong. A female duo of horrendous-look female dragon Pokemon & first female Champion make both had a concepts that could be considered as 'very intimidating' & 'cool'.

Gastrodon->Ground/Water. Okay, here's the weirdest part. Cynthia uses two types of ground in her team, especially dual type that have been owned separately by Milotic (Water) & Garchomp (ground).

At glance, Cynthia's choice of Pokemon seems to be random-but of course this also has been thought by the creator. Both in games and anime, Cynthia often shown as full consideration in making decisions (i.e asking an opinion from player about the swimsuit she will wear, or when she confused on choosing foods), so the team was formed through a very tough consideration to represent more of her character. Milotic & Roserade represent the feminine side of Cynthia; Spiritomb represent her mysterious side; Lucario related to the famous fairy tales of the "Tree of Beginning" among the children in Pokemon World & Cynthia have interest in a such things, so it's natural that he's on her team.

In the anime, she used Gastrodon twice, in Celestic Historical Center & battle against Aaron. Why she didn't use other Pokemon?

From here, I can draw the conclusion that Cynthia was intended to have the philosophy of the ground (land/earth), contrary to Cyrus-her total opposite, which majority of his pokemon are Dark/Flying. Cynthia's field was archeology, which includes excavation, anthropological research, reasearching tablets, inscriptions, orbs & many other. Thus all can be found after removing the dirt (ground/earth/soil) that covered them.

Sounds like I just exaggerating all the things, aren't I? Not really, this is reasonable because preparation of a game concept & design does take a long time-especially considering Pokemon is "a big game concealed as a small game". In fact, the concept of Pokemon games often revealed to have been made long before the time of its release or even before actually processed into a real game. For example are D/P, several elements have been made even before the Pokemon R/S/E release. Then, did characters like Steven & Cynthia also been planned even before being published for the first time? Could be.

Based on appearance, I think no need to mention that Steven & Cynthia are matched for each other. Even Aggron, Steven's signature Pokemon seems fit to juxtaposed with Garchomp. Compared to other trainer like Wallace, Cynthia is arguably more ideal partner for Steven in a tag battle, because their Pokemon are tolerant to each other. Cynthia's Pokemon has low defense, which makes it compatible with Steven's high defense Pokemon. Conversely, the Pokemon of Steven are very slow when compared with Cynthia's speedy pokemon. They are equal.

That's just in the battle. Now, whether they will fit if they are actually paired as a couple?

Most likely, yes. Cynthia temporarily lived in a small village with very few population & swim to ancient site only if there's nobody on the beach. Steven, although still working with his father, chose to stay in Mossdeep City- far away from Rustboro. For what? Cynthia likes the beach & Mossdeep is an island with a fairly quiet beach compared to Slateport or Undella, & close enough to several ancient sites. Their profession are quite related too.
Steven seemed to had well-build body, a serious, bold & very mature guy (quite fatherlike...look what have he done with Max in AG022) while Cynthia is more playful, laid back, somewhat cute-though actually she's a caring woman & a motherly figure. They were both understand & loves Pokemon with similar ideals. Both seemed to enjoy travelling. One unanswered, biggest question is why Steven should go down from Champion position? If the creator have planned to make Steven held Champion position only for a short time, why they intend to do so? Quite intriguing.

The only problem of this couple is....They're haven't meet... Well, not yet.

To be honest, I absolutely agree if ever Steven & Cynthia really intended to be a couple. This will be very useful in many way, especially for the sake of children's education. For example, one of its functions is to stop the madness of those insane fans which randomly paired Steven or Cynthia with snot-nosed little kids & misled by calling both of them 'pedostalker' which actually, absolutely wrong!

Okay, that's conclude this lengthy article. What I explain here just a small portion of my result of research. I sort them out & chose the part which is relevant to the characters I drew in this fan art. So if there's another chance, I'll tell the rest in my other works.

(NB: I do not use any of Pokemon manga adaptation as a reference, because this media tends to be very deviate, mislead & have too much improvisation that makes the original concept goes blurred.)

This image created on 26th July 2011.

Disclaimer (c) Pokemon. Satoshi Tajiri & Ken Sugimori, NINTENDO / GameFreaks.