Onix
Name: Onix is based on, well, “onyx” which ranks pretty highly on my list of favorite words. I’ll never not look at this rock snake and not instantly think “Onix” but it is a somewhat unfitting name when you think about it.
Onyx is not just one of my favorite words, it’s also one of my favorite stones. It’s an absolutely gorgeous smooth black stone.
Smooth and black – two things Onix is not.
Onyx also has white in it, but, again, unless you’re mixing the white and black to make gray, Onix doesn’t have white in it either.
I just think they asked themselves what a cool-sounding rock name was, took one of the best options, changed the spelling, and bam they had a name.
In Japan, it’s called Iwark, which sounds extremely goofy to me, but it does have a more fitting meaning. “Iwa” means “rock” and the rest may come from “bulwark” which is a defensive wall, or “Snake”………How do you get “rk” from “snake”? I dunno.
Design: I’ve always really loved Onix’s design. It’s simple, just a snake made of rocks, but it’s so unique and cool-looking. I’d love to have one in real life. It’s intimidating while also being it’s own brand of cute. I don’t know what function the spike on its head has, but it adds enough to the design to make it stand out more.
Sprite-wise, for a change, I don’t really have much to say about any of the sprites. They’re all fine. Yellow is the only one I want to call out because not only does it have a “You want a piece of me, bro!?” pose, but it’s also a weird green color for some reason, even when the back sprite is gray like R/G/B.
Shiny:
They basically took the Yellow look for Onix and made it the shiny version for Gen II. Gen III onwards….it’s urine yellow.
Yet another shiny that literally pisses all over the original design. Who kept approving these awful shinies?
Dex Entries and Backstory: Onix is the tallest Rock Type Pokemon to date at 26 feet tall/long. It’s also the heaviest and tallest unevolved Pokemon.
To make me eat some crow on my notes from the Name section, the Dex entries note that, as it ages, Onix becomes smoother and it darkens to a black color, giving it an appearance similar to black diamonds….and not….ya know….onyx. Fine, I’ll accept that. But also, I have never ever seen one of these black and smooth Onix before ever. So I still stand by my opinion that the name seems unfitting.
Despite their large size, Onix can travel through the ground at speeds upwards of 50 MPH, and their tunnels are used by Diglett as homes. As it digs, it absorbs/eats minerals around it, strengthening its rocky body.
Onix have a magnet in their brains that allow them to find their way underground without getting lost.
An Onix can rotate any part of its body 360 degrees, and it can separate its segments and either reattach or regrow more segments later. Which just begs the question as to why that Onix in “Master the Onixpected” got so ornery with a Sandslash between its segments if it could just detach the segment and be fine.
Onix that live for over 100 years are ready to evolve into Steelix since their bodies will have become sufficiently hard enough by that point. Or you could trade it while holding a Metal Coat. Who knows?
Onix’s design is said to be based on a pun from earthworms or rock pythons – something I never got before but is pretty damn clever if true. The massive size of Onix could be based on the Mongolian death worm, whose name immediately makes me think of the Alaskan bull worm from Spongebob, but also isn’t actually a real thing. It’s considered a cryptid that allegedly lives in the Gobi desert.
Fun fact: the rumor of Mongolian death worms inspired the Graboids from Tremors.
Since Onix can learn Dragon Breath, it’s also possible it could be based on limbless and wingless serpentine dragons
Steelix
Name: Steelix is both less and more lazy because they just took “steel” and stapled it onto “Onix.” Or, if you take the Wiki’s word for it, they smushed “steel” and “helix” together. I honestly don’t buy the helix idea, but sure.
In Japan, it’s known as Haganeil, which is less awkward and weird than Iwark, but still pretty clunky. It’s a combination of “hagane” for “steel” and “nail” or “tail.”
Design: I definitely favor Onix over Steelix in terms of design. Steelix looks much more imposing than Onix, but it also has an uglier face. Not to say it’s not a fitting face, but I miss my ol’ Onix’s face.
Sprite-wise, I once again have little to say beyond Emerald looks like it’s barking at me
and B/W/B2/W2 look like they’re doing a belly dance.
Mega Steelix
Very mixed feelings on Mega Steelix over here. I like the metal plates that float around it and the black and blue hexagons, but the crystals jutting out of it ruin the look to me. Like I feel like it should be part Fairy type with that look. Also, it’s like Steelix headbutted a snowplow with that chin.
Shiny: Look who else got pissed on.
Gen II and III are a bit more orange and brown than the rest of the series, but it’s still a very urine shiny.
Gen II and III could still be urine just with someone who either drinks too much orange soda or needs to get their kidneys looked at.
And oh look even Mega Steelix got to swim in the warm part of the pool.
But it’s okay because the blue parts are green now….no wait, that’s kinda worse.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Steelix’s body has become harder than diamonds after being compressed deep underground and being exposed to intense temperatures for prolonged periods of time. Steelix adopted a Steel typing after consuming so much iron from the soil.
Steelix live even deeper underground than Onix, with some Steelix being recorded at reaching a depth of six-tenths of a mile underground. I found this note funny because the Dex entries also state that it digs toward the Earth’s core, but how can you say that when it’s never even reached one mile underground and the Earth’s core is 1,802 miles underground?
To help it navigate underground, it has gained night vision.
Design-wise, Steelix has the same design origins as Onix, but Steelix’s Bulbapedia page adds that it may also be based on the bergstutz or stollworm, the Swiss version of the tatzelwurm, which looks hilariously like this.
Frickin’. Lol.
I feel like I can’t say Steelix is based on that thing in good conscience.
Mega Steelix may have been inspired by the process of turning graphite into diamonds with compression. The blue patterns on its sides are said to represent Liesegang rings, which are the rings you find in some sedimentary rocks. I’m gonna call shenanigans there too because they just don’t look at all similar. They look like rings you find inside of a cut tree. They don’t look like blue hexagons.
The crystals may also be in reference to the famous Crystal Onix from the episode “The Crystal Onix” which is kinda cool if true. I did love that Crystal Onix.
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And that was the Rock Snake line! While I do love Onix, I never got all that into Steelix, but it’s still a fine Pokemon line. If its origin story is correct, I do find it to be a fantastic play on words. I kinda figured they might have just made a snake design out of rocks during a particularly boring day and got the idea that way, but if it is based on either rock pythons or earthworms, that’s just awesome.
Next time, the Hypnosis Line!
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