A Pokemon fan has created a regional variant for Ekans accompanied by a new evolution. Pokemon is one of the most famous franchises in entertainment, with over 1,000 Pokemon to catch. But for younger fans especially, it might be hard to imagine that the franchise started with only 150 Pokemon.
One such Pokemon that belongs to the original 150 is Ekans, the Poison-type that evolves into Arbok starting at level 22. Ekans is a veteran Pokemon with appearances in almost every generation of the Pokemon games. The only exceptions are Gen 7, where the Pokemon is not in Sun and Moon's Dex, Gen 8, where Ekans is only in the Diamond and Pearl remakes, and Gen 9. Ekans also has several appearances in the anime. The most notable is Jessie's Ekans, who debuted in the second episode and accompanied Team Rocket on their journey in the Pokemon anime.
Ekans is one of the more recognizable Poison-type Pokemon, and user El-psy-congroo-01 shared on Reddit a fan art that elevates the Pokemon's status even further. Originally Ekans is a purple snake that when evolved into Arbok keeps the same aesthetic. In the El-psy-congroo-01 fan art, however, Ekans transforms into a Water/Poison-type with a design inspired by a sea krait. Sea kraits are a poisonous sea snake with a striped patterned body and a paddle-shaped tail for swimming.
The new Ekans evolution created by El-psy-congroo-01 follows a completely different concept from Arbok. Named Ekanstaerg, the Pokemon is partly inspired by the Horned Serpent, a creature that appears in many Indigenous mythologies. Like Ekans, Arkbok is a pure Poison-type, while Ekanstaerg is an imposing-looking Water/Psychic Pokemon. Interestingly, according to the Pokedex entry created for Ekanstaerg, the Pokemon do not get along with Milotic or Gyarados. Pokemon has received a lot of fan art of creative regional variants, with new designs and inspirations that would not look out of place in the games themselves, with this work being the latest example.
The fan art of El-psy-congroo-01 offers a nice twist on Ekans. With its official base form accused by some fans of being a Pokemon with a very simple design, the fan art gives Ekans a good combination of types, creative inspiration, and an equally interesting evolution. With almost 30 years of existence, the Pokemon franchise maintains its vitality and entertains fans for numerous reasons. One of them is its own community, which gets inspired every day to produce fan art and other Pokemon-based works.