Crochet Doodles: Magikarp GSC Sprite

Machbunny
A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece resembles a small, round, red fish, with large eyes, small lips, and tan-coloured fins. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.

Hey everyone, things continue to be surprisingly busy on my end, but I haven’t stopped trying to make some small side crochet projects! This one is based off of the menu sprites in Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

These menu sprites have been on my mind for as long as I can remember; there’s something about these creatures “not-quite” resembling the actual pokemon that compels me to recreate them, in some form. I used to get very excited when I would see them in the over world, because it would usually mean that you found a rare pokemon.

A collection of pokemon menu sprites, from the versions including red, blue, yellow, gold, silver, and crystal. Each sprite vaguely represents a pokemon, using a limited number of pixels to draw them.
A perfect blend of what I call “vaguely doofy”.

I haven’t stopped thinking about using crochet thread either, since it comes together pretty quickly and it looks adorable; if anything, it is a good exercise in simplistic accuracy.

Looking at the Magikarp menu sprite, this one is not my favourite out of the bunch, but it does lend its design well to the crochet thread scale. The body was made as a small, flattened sphere, with the eyes attached to either side. This kept it in a flattened state:

A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece currently only has the body and eyes put together. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.

Normally, I would try to use the magic ring to make the center of the eye; however, the size of the magic ring was too big to fit reasonably onto the body. Instead, I shifted back to my old habit of chaining and joining the end. I think I would like to play with different eye sizes before I can say that they can be consistently achieved without the magic ring.

What I like about the crochet thread is that it is surprisingly faster to go through the motions, compared to the usual yarn; there’s a lot less strain to deal with. Normally, a round of 42 single crochets would tire my wrist after a few hours, but I barely noticed anything after completing the plush. Of course, it might also just be that the plush is small and the relative thread-to-stitch ratio is akin to using thick yarn to match the dimensions of something made with thinner yarn. Either way, it is not too strenuous.

A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece currently only has the body, eyes, and lips put together. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it is being held.
A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece currently faces forward, and only has the body, eyes, and lips put together. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it is being held.

The size of each detail kept making me laugh; the lips were the size of a rice grain, the eyes ended up being about the size of a button, and the fins were like pieces of broken chips. All the details look like scrap pieces on their own, but when put together, it makes a tiny fish:

A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece resembles a small, round, red fish, with large eyes, small lips, and tan-coloured fins. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.
A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece is facing forwards and resembles a small, round, red fish, with large eyes, small lips, and tan-coloured fins. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.
A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece faces backward and resembles a small, round, red fish, with large eyes, small lips, and tan-coloured fins. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.
A small crocheted Magikarp, based off of the menu sprites from pokemon gold, silver, and crystal. The piece resembles a small, round, red fish, with large eyes, small lips, and tan-coloured fins. It is smaller than the person's three fingers, where it rests on top.

Thanks for reading!

I have a lot of ideas lined up for this year, and I’m waiting for the right moment to set them into motion; hopefully soon, I’ll be able to add more patterns that I have previously made, as well as begin to transcribe newer ones for an earlier release.