Karatane, the Martial Bird

It seems like even when I am not actually drawing Pokemon, they inspire a lot of my work anyway.  It was probably a little more subtle with Kangolf and Lansaur the last two weeks, but this week I have a concept for something that was originally meant to be a fan Pokemon.  Since I don't have direct ties to Game Freak, I can find some other use for this monster, such as making it a Nightmare for Lucids to fight.  Therefore, meet Karatane.

 
The Flying-type in the Pokemon series is a little unusual.  Every single Flying-type Pokemon (other than Tornadus in the latest versions released so far: Black and White) is a dual-type Pokemon, meaning that it has a second type.  Even the generic bird Pokemon you find at the start of each game is classified as a "Normal-and-Flying-type".  As a result, Flying has been paired with fifteen out of the sixteen other types in this series.  The only exception at the time I am writing this: there has not been a "Fighting-and-Flying" Pokemon yet.

That was the basis for designing Karatane here: I wanted to make a creature that could pass as a Fighting/Flying Pokemon.  The series already has a fighting chicken (that cannot actually fly), so I went with a crane as the base creature here, mainly for the references to "crane-style" martial arts.

In video games, when people think of fighters, one of the first that usually comes to mind is Ryu from the Street Fighter series.  One of his most noteworthy features in that series is usually his headband.  I have seen games where it is depicted as white, but most of the time, I envision Ryu with the red headband and grayish-white gi he wore in Street Fighter II, the game in the series most people remember.  That is why I gave Karatane the red feathers that resemble the ends of a headband.  Red and white were rather prominent in the images of cranes I looked up, anyway.

Yes, I am aware that there is a martial arts term called the "crane kick", and yet Karatane has arms in place of his legs.  Why is that?  Part of the reason is that a lot of the best moves that Fighting Pokemon can learn are hand- or arm-based ones, such as Mach Punch or Superpower (which I imagine is a powerful throw).  Plus, if Karatane kept his legs, then it would probably just look like another bird with some red feathers jutting out.  The arms help distinguish it as a more unique creature, who can find prey that hides underneath rocks by smashing them or tossing them aside.