Welcome to the third installment of the weekly RPGamer series, "Who Dat Pokémon?" Everyone seemed to like last week's suggestion of "Lobstrata." Thanks. I enjoyed Ocelot's suggestion of "Reclurock" as well. Unfortunately I can't use these names for my own critters, due to the annoying five-character name limit in Japanese Pokémon titles. Lobstrata would take six katakana symbols to write out, for example (ro-bu-su-to-ra-ta).

This week we have the first wild pair of version-exclusive Pokémon to be found in Pokémon Black/White, Monmen and Churine!

(pictures taken from Bulbapedia)

Monmen and Churine (pronounced choo-ree-nay) are grass-type Pokémon that pop up in the forest just past the second gym in Unova. Monmen is exclusive to Black while Churine is found only in White. There's an NPC who's willing to trade for the opposite version, however. Monmen's name comes from the alternate pronunciation for the kanji for cotton (and also fur, oddly enough), men. It's possible that the mon part of its name is adapted from a different alternate pronunciation for fur, which would explain its wooly appearance in both of its evolutions. Churine is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for tulip (churippu) and root (ne), and appropriately looks like a tulip bulb.

Now it's time for the guessing to begin! Here's what our panel of staffers think they should be called:

Be sure to let us know on the message board which names you like best, and tune in next week!

Your man in Japan,

Gaijin Monogatari