Someone has taken the time to carve out each and every Generation 2 Pokémon into pumpkin jack-o-lanterns for Halloween 2019. Although recent news of the removal of Pokémon's national dex could mean some of the Gen 2 Pokémon featured above no longer exist in the upcoming Pokémon Sword & Shield, such news hasn't stopped these dedicated carvers from immortalizing the titular pocket monsters in pumpkin form.
Pokémon is an important franchise to hundreds of thousands of people and one of the most easily-recognized brands in the world, even though Sword & Shield will be the first time the Pokémon series has come to consoles. Recently, a rare Pikachu Illustrator card sold for nearly $200,000 at an auction, and since Ash Ketchum finally won a Pokémon league a few months ago (after 22 years of not being recognized) players have been excited to see what future games in the franchise have in store.
Some players, however, prefer looking backwards, as evidenced by the dozens and dozens of carved depictions to Gen 2's pocket monster lineup. Posted to Twitter by the artists themselves, this gourd-filled tribute is not even the first Pokémon-related pumpkin project executed in such a fashion. As reported by blogTO last year, the Toronto-based team of Pokémon pumpkin designers spent multiple days leading up to Halloween 2018 carving video game creatures into vegetables in order to create a replica of all the original Gen 1 Pokémon as well.
According to one of last year's Pokémon pumpkin patch creators, Adrian Kieda, it took six days to carve all of the first generation Pokémon into jack-o-lanterns. Later, he noted although the project started as kind of a joke, it was something he always wanted to do. Given the complexity and detail in many of the images featured on the 151 various pumpkins, clearly both last year's project and this one comes from a place of love and dedication to both the Pokémon franchise and creating in general.
While Halloween 2019 may now be over, signifying the beginning of "how early is too early to put my Christmas tree up?" season, many are wondering whether next year's celebrations will see more illuminated pocket monsters. The history of Pokémon is currently divided into eight generations, meaning this project could theoretically continue for at least another six years. With the total number of Pokémon currently sitting at 807, there's still plenty more carving to do, especially since it's not currently known how many more creatures Pokémon Sword & Shield will add to the list.