Fan-made Pokémon are nothing new, however the group seldom rallies round one like they’ve Regitube (or Regifloat, relying on who you ask). The hypothetical water-type Legendary Big originated in a TikTok shitpost and has since turn out to be a legend throughout the Pokémon fandom, inspiring fan artwork, memes, and even modded in-game renders.
For consistency’s sake, we’ll name this legendary king Regitube. The pretend Pokémon’s origins began innocently sufficient. Again in August, The Tube Shack, a Canadian river tubing firm, posted a TikTok of one in every of its workers creating what can maybe finest be described as an enormous swimsuit of armor out of blue floating tubes. The video is foolish and cute, however followers rapidly identified that when you put the long-lasting dotted eyes of the Legendary Giants that debuted in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire on it, the cartoonish blue determine seems to be prefer it may very well be one as properly. The Tube Shack ran with the joke.
The video has over 3.6 million views on TikTok, nevertheless it’s begun spreading to different platforms as properly, the place fan artists and modders have taken discover. Now, Pokémon followers are collectively constructing out this huge man’s lore, typing, moveset, and even its stats.
Welcome to Exp. Share, Kotaku’s Pokémon column wherein we dive deep to discover notable characters, city legends, communities, and simply plain bizarre quirks from all through the Pokémon franchise.
With all this consideration comes fanart, and the Pokémon group works quick and nonetheless manages to come back out with some unimaginable work. There are some life like, modern-looking items, however among the finest artwork of Regitube is the stuff that harkens again to the collection’ roots. The Ruby and Sapphire-style sprite beneath makes me suppose again to browsing across the Hoenn area, probably discovering this huge man floating on the ocean someplace. I’ve by no means actually had a gentle water-type member for my group in Era III’s video games, so I’d catch Regitube and add him to my group, with out query.
Whereas Regitube can solely exist in our hearts and fan artwork, the Regis have turn out to be so outstanding in Pokémon memes, particularly on TikTok, that it makes excellent sense for one web inside joke to spawn one other one, full with stats and lore. And hey, not less than nobody’s prompt we nerf the floating king by giving him a rubbish means just like the one Regigigas is cursed with.