Design and Characteristics
Lickitung was one of many different designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by Ken Sugimori for the first generation of Pocket Monsters games Red and Green, which were localized outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue. Originally called "Beroringa" in Japanese, Nintendo decided to give the various Pokémon species "clever and descriptive names" related to their appearance or features when translating the game for western audiences as a means to make the characters more relatable to American children. Lickitung's English name comes from a combination of "lick" and "tongue".
Lickitung, known as the Licking Pokémon, has soft, pink skin with semicircular yellow markings on its belly, fully circular markings on its knees, and a thick, powerful tail. It has small, beady eyes, and its hands have thumb-claws and circular yellow markings on the underside. The most famous feature Lickitung possesses is a long prehensile tongue, which it uses to manipulate objects and possibly to consume them. The tongue is very likely connected to its huge tail, as when it is extended, the tail quivers. Licks from its 6' 6" long tongue can paralyze foes. Its saliva is gooey and sticks to everything. They also like to lick unfamiliar things they come across, but get put-off by some sour substances. Lickitung also uses its tongue to lick its body clean.
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Famous quotes containing the word design:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)