Pokemon Fan Art Depicts Convergent Poison-Type Psyduck and Golduck

A Pokémon fan has designed unique converging forms for Psyduck and Golduck, making the Pokemon line a Poison type. Besides changing the spelling, this Pokémon design puts a twist on Psyduck's usual themes of confusion and headache.

Convergent Pokemon evolutions are one of the more unique creations to come to the series in the last several years. Taking inspiration from the real-life phenomenon of the same name, the series introduced Pokémon that look similar to existing Pokémon, but have no direct connection to them. For example, Wiglett bears a strong resemblance to Diglett, but one is an aquatic eel, while the other is based on a terrestrial mole. Not all Pokémon have received convergent evolutions, so fans have often taken it upon themselves to come up with some.

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Pokemon Fan creates convergent forms for Diglett and Dugtrio

A Pokemon fan makes convergent forms for Diglett and Dugtrio, showing what it would be like if the Gen 1 monster had new variants.

Psyduck Fanart Introduces Pokemon's Poison-Type Convergent Line

A Pokémon the fan named veredien29 shared his idea for a convergent Psyduck line, which switches Pokemon from a single-type Water-type to a Water/Poison-type Pokemon called Sighduck. Besides using a homonym of Psyduck for its name, Sighduck looks like a depressed version of a Shiny Psyduck, with a blue color scheme with dark highlights on its body and around its eyes. The traditional three strands of hair on Psyduck's head have grown longer and hang down over the face, giving the Pokémon a totally gloomy look. They fit the redesign choices, as the artist says they wanted to create a Psyduck convergent evolution that is based on sadness and dark emotions rather than Psyduck's usual confusion and latent psychic abilities.

According to the artist, Sighduck evolves into Count at level 32 and becomes a Dark/Poison type Pokemon, but only if it has low friendship with its trainer. Greve has a more original look and deviates significantly from the standard Golduck. The upright Pokemon evolution has long locks that hang down from the top of its head to the base of its back. Greve's coloring darkens, with a more purple hue, red eyes, and more pronounced feathers on the tail and wings. Part of Greve's design takes inspiration from real-life oil spills and their impact on wild birds, as its feathers and body have become stained and appear to hang.

Fans in the comments have been enthusiastic about the fans Pokémon ideas. One commenter suggested giving the Sighduck line the ability Despair, which would work similarly to Intimidate, but based on the Pokemon's special attack, which the original artist loved the idea of. Others pointed out the clever choice of Greve's naming and appearance, as it is a pun on both “grief” and dipper, a type of diving freshwater bird.

Despite stagnation, Psyduck's appreciation continues

Long time fans of Pokémon will probably remember that it has been a long time since Psyduck has received any significant changes in the standard games. Psyduck and its evolution Golduck has been around since the series launched, and has not received any unique evolutions, forms, or convergent evolutions in all the years since.

Despite the lack of updates in the games, Psyduck remains a popular part of the franchise and serves as something of a mascot character in many projects. Psyduck has been featured in major Pokémon project outside of games, which features heavily in the film Pokemon: Detective Pikachuas well as the Netflix series Pokemon Concierge. It probably gained a lot of its popularity from its appearances in the original Pokémon anime, where it provided a lot of comic relief and sometimes saved the day with its psychic powers. The scriptwriters are also responsible for Pokemon: Detective Pikachu wanted Psyduck in the movie because they were fans, and Junichi Masuda, one of the original developers behind it Pokémon series, singles out Psyduck as his favorite.

There's no telling if Psyduck will ever get an official update in the games with something like a Mega Evolution, but its popularity seems likely to continue.