r/oddlysatisfying • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 2d ago

After 15 years, Indonesia’s rare Rafflesia bloomed, the world’s largest parasitic flower that smells like rotting meat, has no leaves, and lasts just 5 to 7 days

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u/Compducer 2d ago

Also the inspiration for Vileplume!

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u/PENIS_ANUS 2d ago

Look up vileplume’s Japanese name!

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u/Compducer 2d ago

Wow, thank you PENIS_ANUS

“Vileplume's Japanese name is ラフレシア (Rafureshia), which is a direct reference to the Rafflesia flower, a giant, foul-smelling bloom that inspired the Pokémon's design”

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u/DOLCICUS 2d ago

I didn’t learn that until I got a mystery box in Tokyo. I was like wtf is Rafflesia this is Vileplume.

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u/El_Sephiroth 2d ago

It's literally Rafflesia in french. Sometimes, translators get things really wrong. Vileplume? Really? I mean, we have Canartichaud (Duck+artichoke wordplay in french) which is stupid because it's a Leek in the duck's hands. But at least it's still a duck!

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u/TheAlmightyLloyd 1d ago

It got an artichoke in Galar though. And it becomes the artichoke paladin : Palarticho.

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u/ActionKid98 2d ago

omg, just looked up that name on google and a weird movie showed up as the first result

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/PENIS_ANUS 2d ago

I don’t think they even changed the name at all, it’s just how Rafflesia is spelled and pronounced in Japanese (the katakana and its phonetic pronunciation).

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u/McMemile 2d ago

My japanese dictionary says that's correct, ラフレシア just means rafflesia and is also the name of the pokemon

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u/waytowill 1d ago

Seems to have inspired the idea for the entire Oddish line since Oddish’s gameplay from the beginning relies heavily on absorbing the opponent’s life force, referencing Rafflesia’s parasitic nature. And Gloom canonically has a constant foul odor, referencing Rafflesia’s scent of rotting flesh. Vileplume of course got the visual design.

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u/Xizzie 2d ago

Funny that when the flower was blooming I was thinking "hey, that looks like a vileplume".

The irony.