Blue Pokemon-like creature Tentaquil with yellow spiral on belly, sitting against a mint background

Tentaquil

2010fan artclassic

Published October 17, 2026

Tentaquil is a fan-fictional Pokemon drawn as a lumpy blue frog with a yellow spiral belly, posted to a 4chan /vp/ fan-art thread on July 22, 2010, where its spread via threadjacking produced ROM hacks of Pokemon Fire Red and Pokemon Emerald that cast the creature as the player's starter2. By late 2010, dedicated Twitter accounts and a Facebook fan page had formalized the invented moveset, and 'its a tentaquil' had become a stock bait reply on the board1.

pokemon 4chan memes fan art memes trolling memes character design memes

Overview

The drawing's design draws from Politoed's froggy outline, set onto a bright blue body featuring yellow brow ridges and the swirl pattern seen on Poliwhirl's belly. The name mashes Tentacool/Tentacruel with Cyndaquil although the character shares no visual DNA with those species. Fan threads invented a full moveset, listing a bug/psychic type with the Immunity ability and a signature 'puke blood' attack, replayed in bait posts to goad sincere debate2.

Beyond the character sheet, Tentaquil mostly worked as a thread derailer. Users posted the sprite into unrelated art discussions, or deflected any question about canon status with a flat 'its a tentaquil' reply when pressed1. The crude face also became a cut-out for existing macro templates, including Haters Gonna Hate overlays that put the blue frog in place of cartoon celebrities.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /vp/
Date
2010

On July 22, 2010, an anonymous poster hijacked a Pokemon fan-art thread on 4chan's /vp/ board with a crude blue-frog illustration titled Tentaquil. The image spread across the thread within hours, with other anons producing follow-up drawings and running the character as a shared project2. The original artist never surfaced, so both the first drawing and the follow-up bait campaign are attributed to anonymous /vp/ posters rather than any named creator.

How It Spread

Within days of the first post, two ROM hacks had surfaced: a modification of Nintendo's Pokemon: Fire Red that made Tentaquil the player's starter, and a Pokemon: Emerald hack that applied the same substitution2. The illustration landed the same week that genuine 5th-generation Black and White sprites were leaking, so posters began pasting Tentaquil alongside the real leaks to bait anons who could not tell parody from authentic sprite work.

Tentaquil then migrated off /vp/. Threadjacking spilled onto other 4chan boards, and a Facebook fan group tried to formalize the invented moveset as a bug/psychic creature with the Immunity ability. Dedicated Twitter accounts also appeared in the same window. Urban Dictionary logged the self-referential catchphrase 'its a tentaquil' as the stock reply from anons when challenged on the character's canon status1.

Timeline

2010-07-22

An anonymous poster hijacks a /vp/ Pokemon fan-art thread with the first Tentaquil drawing.

2010-07

A fan-made ROM hack of Pokemon: Fire Red is released featuring Tentaquil as the player's starter.

2010-07

Posters pass Tentaquil off as a leaked 5th-generation Pokemon alongside real Black and White sprite leaks.

2010

A Pokemon: Emerald ROM hack appears repeating the Tentaquil-as-starter substitution.

2010

A Facebook fan group and Twitter accounts codify Tentaquil's invented bug/psychic moveset.

How to Use This Meme

Threads typically run Tentaquil either as a sincere-looking leak post or as a deliberate derail. Common posts include a Pokedex-style stat block listing bug/psychic typing, the Immunity ability, and 'puke blood' as the signature attack, with the artwork pasted into unrelated Pokemon discussion to see who takes the character seriously2.

Frequently Asked Questions