What is Malamar based on?

This post is part of a three-part series covering Kalos' invertebrate Pokémon, spawned from the hype of the Pokémon Legends ZA announcement. I've chosen to start with Malamar, a mon I'm quite fond of. Malamar is not a lot of people’s first choice for a favorite Pokemon, but it's a really unique design with a lot of interesting parallels to real life cephalopod, which is primarily what I'll be discussing here

Malamar, as well as its pre-evolution Inkay were designed by Hitoshi Ariga, also responsible for mons like Aegislash, Vikavolt, Necrozma, and some of my favorites; Minior and the Galarian fossils (and a bunch of other phenomenal art).

 

Ariga himself stated that the upside-down design of Malamar was influenced by the way cephalopods were drawn upside-down in encyclopedias and picture books (see below) - https://twitter.com/ariga_megamix/status/921753659381202944

Interestingly there are some real world correlations. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), inverts its webbed arms when startled, changing its shape to appear bigger and more intimidating. This intimidating appearance is further bolstered by its cirri, which look like sharp hooks (but are really just soft and fleshy). The arms also cover most of the body’s photophores, potentially allowing it to disappear into the gloom. This behavior has been called the “pumpkin” or “pineapple” posture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XECG0XgqhU

Malamar hypnotizes foes with the lights on its chest, and has them do its bidding; these hypnotic capabilities are quite similar to the "passing cloud" display, which is often said to "hypnotize" prey. Hypnosis is not really the correct term, this pattern most likely simply draws the attention of the prey for long enough to allow the cuttlefish to strike. Admittedly though, calling it hypnosis is much flashier, something I can certainly get behind. This behavior has been documented in the Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbDzVzBsbGM

Slightly shifting away from actual cephalopod behavior, Malamar is a perfect villain! Malamar does a lot of goofy stuff; it attempts to try and take over the world in at least two epsiodes of the anime -
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/XY019
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/XY054

They build machines that can devastate the climate and time travel into the future. This is a far leap from the tool use in modern cephalopods (https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01914-9), but a fun one. Also adore its evil villain cry -https://youtube.com/watch?v=pJFNaYDGWAg

Love this mon, can’t wait to see more of it next year!

Part Two (Barbaracle) - https://invertposting.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-is-barbaracle-based-on.html
Part Three (Vivillon) - https://invertposting.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-is-vivillon-based-on.html

Images from -
https://www.deviantart.com/hitoshiariga/art/Pokemon-Card-Game-BW-Concept-Art-385148228
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/321903
Cephalopod Behavior