Pikachu and . . . thumbs. Yes, thumbs.

[BlindTyldak]

I don't watch the anime, because I got into Pokemon WAY too late and I know I've missed oh, about a decade of storyline. And unfortunately the video rental places here don't carry episodes of the series. So, I thought I would rely upon the encyclopedic and infallible eyes and memories of the anime fandom to answer one simple question . . .

. . . is Pikachu ever depicted as having thumbs? I know he can hold large objects, and pick things up, but what are his hand/paw limitations?

I know, talk about holy-crap-picky-question. But I'm thinking about making a short one-shot fan comic and unfortunately this comes into play quite a bit. XD

 

[Sweet Veil]

Yes.

Do you see his thumbs?

 

[hurristat]

Yes.

Do you see his thumbs?

Of course you use the ketchup picture XD

I don't think they're thumbs in the way that we think of thumbs, but Pikachu definitely has a fifth appendage on his hand/paw/thing.

 

[BlindTyldak]

Yep, I can see the thumbs there, thank you!

 

[Eitarou]

You don't need thumbs to hold a ketchup bottle (probably)

But yes, he does have thumbs..

 

[Kutomba]

I guess Pikachu's thumb appears and disappears randomly... Creepy

 

[BlindTyldak]

I guess Pikachu's thumb appears and disappears randomly... Creepy

*laughs* Actually, stuff like this is very common in animation. If you watch a lot of older cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, the characters often switch numbers of fingers depending on the situation called for. It's just easier to draw only what is needed to keep the proportion and form consistent drawing to drawing, without being obvious. This is why I wondered if he had a miraculously appearing thumb, because even though you don't see it in most pictures, it would not have surprised me if he had one when he "needed" it.

 

[J J M]

Huh, seeing it up close, those are some small hands. You can barely see the "fingers" on those chubby arms...

 

[Metabee]

Huh, seeing it up close, those are some small hands. You can barely see the "fingers" on those chubby arms...

Sure, he has fingers and thumbs, but do this stubby little appendages actually work? Seems to me like he'd have to clamp everything in between his hands, like in the ketchup bottle picture.

 

[Yankees4life]

I'm not gettin this thread, but Pika can hold stuff because he's the ICON, he is POKEMON to some and to most of the writers