If you’re a fan of Pokémon Red & Blue, then there’s a chance that you’ll have been affected by one of the most harrowing stories from the games throughout your entire life. I am, of course, talking about poor old Cubone, the Pokémon who wears the skull of its dead mother for protection. I remember feeling really sad about this as a kid, and indeed when you head to Cubone’s entry on PokemonDB it reminds you that ‘its cries echo inside the skull and come out as a sad melody.’
I mean, that’s the kind of stuff that haunts you forever, not just while walking around Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. There’s another sentence that stuck with me over the years, however, something that appears in the official Pokédex Entry in Pokémon Red & Blue. ‘Because it never removes its skull helmet, no one has ever seen this Pokémon’s real face.’
Well, that might have been true in Kanto, but here in the real world, Cubone’s real face was seemingly staring us in the face the entire time. Delving into the Pokémon Reddit often brings out weird and wonderful facts, and Scott from Dexerto discovered that there are various products that have come out over the years that show this little ‘mon’s real face without its skull. Hey, that must mean that at some point, Cubone got happy enough to take the skull off, which is a thought that should give us all hope in the darkest times of our lives.
With its skull off, Cubone looks a little like a cross between a Charmander and a Riolu, something I can say now that Riolu has been released into the world since the arrival of Pokémon Diamond but couldn’t have made conected back in the days of Rad & Blue, and it’s possible the final design for Riolu could have come from Cubone’s hidden face.
As you can see from the picture taken from Reddit posted by Collector55 above, there’s a Pokémon card of Cubone yawning with its skull halfway up its had and a colouring book page from Pokémon Picture Diary: Let’s Go With Pikachu! by Keiko Fukuyama which shows Cubone playing a Pokémon flute with its harrowing helmet completely removed.
There’s also a plush toy that released back in 2016 and 2018 which shows Cubone without its skull, or rather once owners have unstitched the skull on its head. But it looks a little odd without the ears sticking into the top of its mask.
You know what, that image of Cubone playing the flute is so serene that it’s finally quelled the sadness in my heart since reading those words on Pokémon Yellow all those years ago. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to keep that image in my head from now on, if only to help me sleep at night and finally stop worrying about this poor motherless Pokémon. You play that flute, little ‘mon, you play that flute!
