Final Submission
Design Thematics include:
Pangolin + Conch Shell, Thalassocus (Aquatic Sloth) ~ Bear/Teddy Bear, the Magic Conch from Spongebob that has a pull string, Jigsaw Puzzle
So I, did the Whale Submarine guy before I realized the ability was Multiscale, and suddenly all the scale designs made sense.. (Also sorry I didn't know shinies were voted on later!) At first I wanted to go with a Korean Turtle Ship design; they're armored (Defensive) and cited to be surprisingly fast due to being powered by both oars & sails (Speed!!) which was a perfect fit for the theme. However, Naviathan from CAP 20 is already a Dragony-Boat design; + I had a hard time getting the mon to look more Fairy and less Dragon.
I tried morphing the ship's figurehead into different animals, a turtle, into a platypus kind of guy, and it just looked really weird. So I focused on the shell... the turtle ship has very distinct hexagonal plates that I was using as "scales", I then thought of a Pangolin + Conch... like.. a turtle is a dude in a shell... so.. a different dude, in a different shell... I wanted to draw the conch in a way that the shell looked layered & scaley, & incorporated Thalassocus elements to better sell the idea of an aquatic Pangolin ??
My first rendition was unfortunately very ugly, and I went back to redesign with a more "Fairy" image in mind.. I rounded the Pangolin/Sloth's face to look cuter and it ended up turning into a Seal -> more like a Bear now... but Bears swim too so- I continued. The design already had Toy elements from the Conch pull-string; and I decided to further that, turning the shell into a layered jigsaw puzzle. Teddy Bear + Puzzle + Pull Toy, is where the Fairy themes come in; I didn't want to play too much into a Plush Bear image because Bewear already occupies that role.
It ended up a little busy, a little weird, and I'm not sure what vibe it really expresses;;
I could have gone for more Blue colors; but Cubchoo/Beartic are already Blue Bears, and I wanted the Puzzle pieces to look more like traditional conch colors you might pick up at the beach. I decided to go with red which ended up making the shell resemble a Life Preserver too. I looked at it again and the Cubchoo line is mostly white!! And the black makes it clash with Pangoro, I really liked the blue anyway so I turned it back!! And made the puzzle pieces orange, which I think life preservers are orange sometimes? So it might still fit + conch shells often naturally have orange stripes so I think I'm happy with these colors now.
The Puzzle Shell armor is supposed to grant the animal defensive bulk (Multiscale), and the ring on the tail to give it burst of Speed when pulled. I can see the design pairing well with Play Rough & Encore/Taunt from the required moves.. (just my personal opinion!! I understand everything is voted on in polls)
Supporting Material