I live in a pretty isolated area and we don’t often see Pokemon, much less crossbreeds, around but I recently came across Watt’s handbook on crossbreeds and the pictures are beautiful! Are hybrids more common as products of human intervention, or do they appear often in the wild as well? All the people living in my city have purebred (wild-caught or not) Pokemon; I’ve really only seen pictures of crossbreeds!

I’m afraid that the crossbreeds you’re referring to are purely hypothetical, anonymous. The truth of the matter is that all pokémon end up as one species or the other when two pokémon of different species mate. Additionally, traits of the species that isn’t presented are usually too subtle to be noticeable and typically don’t affect the pokémon in question. For example, if you have a pikachu mother and a clefairy father, the hatchling would be undeniably a pikachu—one that would look nearly indistinguishable from any other pikachu. If any of its clefairy heritage presented, it might do so in the form of slightly paler fur, pinker cheeks, or fur that tended to curl if allowed to grow out. It wouldn’t present itself as something as drastic as star-shaped cheeks or a clefairy body type.

Still, this isn’t to say the concept of hybrid pokémon isn’t fascinating. The idea of merging two pokémon together to get something new and different, with the abilities of both (or more) sources has captured the imaginations of human beings ever since we first encountered pokémon. And now with social media, it’s possible to share those ideas and what-ifs with a wider audience, which means the concept has, in my opinion at least, gotten far more creative than it has ever been.

Also, I quite agree that the art is quite lovely.