Are Sneasel/Weavile partially based on cats? Their English names suggest that they're based on weasels (which they are), but one of Sneasel's TCG cards has a move called "Nyan Roll", they learn Assist (Cat's Paw in Japanese), and I often see Pixiv artists drawing them alongside other cat-based Pokemon.
do they have to be based on cats at all if someone down the line decided they're cat-like enough regardless?
>>32156509
also that card is impressively useless
>>32156471
Yeah, it...seems so
>>32156537
Huh, interesting.I like it when they make Pokémon act like real animals.
>Sneasel appears to be based on the kamaitachi, weasel demons with sickles on their front legs. Its Ice typing may also be a nod to the kamaitachi's association with ice and snow. It also shares similar traits with cats and weasels, from unusually cruel behaviors to even superstition, from cat demons or black cats of Western witchcraft, to Japanese superstition of weasels, being known in their respective cultures for being sneaky and associated with "evil" and misfortune.
>Nyula may be a combination of 潜入 sennyū (sneaking in) and 鼬 yū (weasel, an alternate reading of itachi). Alternatively, it may be a combination of new and 野良 nora (stray, as in a stray cat, as strays are usually violent and tricky). Nyu itself may be a combination of ニャー nya (the sound a cat makes) and 鼬 yū.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sneasel_(Pok%C3%A9mon)#Origin
looks like its both a weasel and a cat to me.
>>32156471
>it's paws contain sharp claws
How? What do their paws look like?