he other box art legendary I wanted made before taking my summer Pokemon break!
Nichiwadion's name also comes from Objiwe as the word nichiiwad more or less translates to "severe storm" or some kind of a serious natural disaster. This is to bring attention to how this benevolent Pokemon does have that "wrath of god" type energy to it where it can be awfully dangerous when it needs to be. The other part of its name is the scientific term for osprey which is Pandion haliaetus. While the thunderbird (which this is very obviously inspired by) is not based on any actual bird species because its like... a bird people believe actually existed and stuff the osprey is a bird of prey that almost exclusively hunts aquatic prey. Imo this made for a good counter for a lynx that spends most of its time submerged.

On the topic of that inspiration I am very much aware that Zapdos is also based on the thunderbird but quite a bit more loosely. I would like to think both Pokemon do share a common ancestor and just Zapdos took up a much less extreme niche (thus its much smaller and somewhat less powerful).

In terms of design it is a bit plain for a legendary but I did try to go harm with lots of bells and whistle (one reason it took like twice as long to finalize this fella vs. Madaagaminx). A less is more approach just ended up working the best since its bolt plumage and face like chest pattern is suppose to stand out rather than blend in. Sadly a small detail this pose misses out on is the bolt plumage does continue down the back and like make an X shape so someday I'll have to actually illustrate that.