Random venting about Poochyena and Mightyena's designs

I don't know where else I'm supposed to share these opinions, so I guess I'm basically just gonna make a random thread specifically to ramble about my personal grievences about Poochyena and Mightyena's designs. So, without further ado...

Welcome to a random hyena nerd's salty ramblings about fictional pocket monsters!

As the heading suggests, I technically don't have any grievences with Poochyena and Mightyena's designs when based solely on just looking cool. They're both, in my opinion, very strong designs that look cool and awesome. However, my main issue with these two Pokemon come with the "yena" part of the name, as in, y'know, hYENA. Obviously, as a neurodivergent teenager who is currently hyperfixated on hyenas, I really care about how hyenas and hyena adjacent things are portrayed in media. What really bothers me about these supposed hyenas is that they don't look like hyenas. In fact, if you showed someone (such as my grandparents) who doesn't know anything about Pokemon and asked them what animal they thought inspired this Pokemon, I bet they'd answer with things like "wolf", "fox", and "coyote", and that hyenas would be the last animal on their mind. The closest hyena that Mightyena in particular resembles is the striped hyena. Here's a comparison between a real life striped hyena and a Mightyena so you can see what I mean Striped hyena image found here on Wikipedia Commons Mightyena image found on Mightyena's page of the Pokemon Database As you can see, on a surface level examination, Mightyena and the real-life striped hyena hold some similarities, such as the tail shape, fur texture, and general canine-like face shape, but besides those basic similarities, the two clearly don't look enough alike for you to immediately think "Oh, those are supposed to be kind of similar animals!" Mightyena doesn't have those trademark stripes, for one, which while I get that Pokemon designs by definition don't usually have similar markings to their real-life counterparts, you'd think if the Pokemon Mightyena truly was inspired by a striped hyena, THEY COULD'VE PUT AT LEAST A COUPLE STRIPES AS A HOMAGE. Secondly, oen fo the key things that set striped hyenas apart, physically, from any other canine-esque animal, is the unique "hump" on their spine. While you can't see that in the original image, due to how that yeen is posed, you can see it much more clearly on the image below (found here on Wikipedia). Just looking at that striking silouhette that hump-shape on their neck makes, you'd probably agree with me that that specific shape is among one of the key things that makes the striped hyena so distinct and striking, and that specific body type would be perfect for incorporating into a Pokemon supposedly isnpired by a spotted hyena. So, now that that ramble is over, you're most likely wondering: "Hey, Indi, why do you care so much about this?" Well, hyenas as an animal are a species that get the short end of the stick time and time again, mostly based on false, grossly incorrect portrayals in movies like the Lion King. They're animals deemed to be vicious and stupid, stereotyped as dirty, lazy scavengers, though in actuality they're actually very shy towards animals, are shown to be incredibly intelligent and particularly good at group strategizing, and are also really skilled hunters who get most of their food VIA HUNTING. Naturally, it's somewhat infuriating to me, a particularily devoted hyena fan, that the one somewhat hyena like creature I can find in one of the largest media properties of all time is just so... lacklustre when it comes to clearly being inspired by a hyena. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, I'm gonna go to bed now. Goodnight!

when I read this I realized why Mightyena's design bothers me, even though I generally like the Pokemon I can almost envision a Mightyena with the fur on its back raised into more of a hump. Even just some stripes on its legs would help define it a little bit Agree that when I see Mightyena, I unfortunately think Wolf, not Hyena. I would love to see a fan redesign of it with some of these more realistic adjustments! I think it could be done without even changing the feel of the Pokemon at all

I agree with this! Ive always thought poochyena and mightyena didn't really seem like hyenas at all although bulbapedia says mightyena may be based on a brown hyena, which from the pics on wikipedia at least seems to have vaguely similar markings to poochyena/mightyena.. idk much about hyenas really though XD do you have any thoughts on the pfq exclusives smokackle and hycano? :o

BEAUTIFUL YEENS! ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS!!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH OH MY GOD :D They're the perfect example of a hyena inspired Pokemon that's both unique and clearly resembles what inspired it, and the concept is really creative.