If you’ve played Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll be familiar with Kammy. While the game shows a lot of reverence for the Marvel canon with some deep cuts from the back catalogue, Kammy is an original character. It’s a blue space alpaca, and for reasons I will attempt to explain below, I think Kammy is a Pokemon. More to the point, that makes Kammy the only alpaca Pokemon, and that’s… kinda weird, right?
First off, why do I think Kammy is a Pokemon? Mostly it’s the vibe. A Pokemon is not an animal - it’s something more intelligent and advanced than that. Not quite the level of Rocket, who is an anthropomorphic creature and clearly well beyond a Pokemon. I suppose Rocket’s similar to Team Rocket’s Meowth, but then that in and of itself is a very atypical Pokemon. Groot, meanwhile, seems like a Pokemon in that he just says his own name, but he’s clearly well ahead of the likes of Bulbasaur in the intelligence stakes. Stupid Bulbasaur. The point is, a Pokemon is a more advanced animal, but not anthropomorphic, with the right vibe. Kammy definitely has that vibe.
Some of this vibe comes from Kammy’s behaviour - while it doesn’t excitedly say its own name over and over again, it feels as if it has a higher level of intelligence than it’s perhaps given credit for, and also displays a Pokemon-like affinity with humans. Where pets are loveable, wanting mostly to please their owners or coax them into offering food, Kammy seems on a plane above this, a Pokemon plane, where they want to work with the Guardians despite not really knowing what’s going on. James’ Victreebel is the closest example of what I mean.
This intelligence also comes through in Kammy’s interactions, and the fact that - intentionally or not - Kammy is at times both a huge help and a huge hindrance to the Guardians. While that would be true of any animal, combined with Kammy’s other traits, like the fact you have to direct it through the ship by singing ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, which feels like something Misty would’ve done for her Psyduck way back when.
However, Most of this vibe comes from the look, and Kammy babe, u got the look. U got the touch. U got the power. Kammy has blue fur and orange ruffles throughout, including an orange… fringe, I guess you’d call it. The weird colours on animals that have clearly established colours is a very Pokemon thing - it’s why all Pokemon frogs are blue (besides Politoed). A blue and orange alpaca with long floppy hair just /feels/ like a Pokemon. Given its cosmic nature and loud colour scheme, I’m thinking it might be a Poison/Psychic dual type.
A large bulk of this theory comes from the fact that my first thought when I saw Kammy was Girafarig, a Pokemon that’s part giraffe and part… something else related to ‘arig’, I guess. Girafarig is one of the strangest Pokemon out there, and while it has my respect, I don’t particularly like it and have never ran it.
Girafarig provides us with a giraffe Pokemon, even if its back half has a tail like a mini Chomp Chain. There are Pokemon for everything these days, from ice cream to keys to a bag of trash, so it’s no surprise there’s a giraffe one. What is surprising, especially given the animal’s relative popularity, is that there are no alpaca or llama Pokemon.
Maybe when we get a South American Pokemon region we’ll see them - although Gen 9 should be set in Africa. We’ve written before at TheGamer about a lack of turkey Pokemon, but I hate turkeys and support Game Freak’s boycott of my ugly feathered foes. With alpacas though, I don’t quite get it. They’re popular, come loaded with personality, have their patented spit technique, and offer a lot of fun design directions - directions Kammy’s designers have used expertly.
There’s also the fact that Kammy lives in the Forbidden Zone. Why are they in there? Because they’ve escaped from the Pokemon dimension of course! I mean, probably not. I don’t really think Kammy is actually a Pokemon, but you have to admit, I had you believing for a second, right? What do you mean, ‘no’? Screw you, pal.
What’s great about Kammy, even though they’re definitely not a Pokemon, is that they’re a reminder of how great each and every Pokemon is. I’m sure once we get an alpaca Pokemon for real, it’ll be even better.