Chopper has gone through an interesting design evolution

Key things

• Chopper from 'One Piece' has evolved drastically in design with human and human fruit powers.
• The initial concept art for Chopper was much more mature and less cute, with suggestions of a smoking reindeer doctor.
• The redesign of the Chopper after the jump resulted in a significant shift, with many fans seeing it as a design deevolution.

Being such an old franchise, characters from One piece have changed and evolved over the years. From concept art to modern character, design has to change drastically. What could be iconic and memorable One piece The Straw Hat's design would most likely look extremely different today looking back at their first run in the series.

No other character One piece quite exemplifies this concept, as does Straw Hat crew doctor Tony Tony Chopper. While Franky may be a close second, Chopper has had one of the weirdest developments of all One piecegoing from a weird initial concept to a cute mascot. However, Chopper's development may have gone a little too far, taking the character too far in the direction of a “cute” mascot.

Human-Human Fruit Effects Chopper's Apperence in one piece

Easy design changes

Chopper in One piece is a strange creature. Functionally, Chopper is a reindeer who consumed human-devil fruit, giving him the ability to transform into a human-reindeer hybrid. Although it may sound like a strange amalgamation of creatures, in the end, Chopper is mostly a cute and cuddly little reindeer that walks on two legs. Despite this, with Chopper's mastery of the human-human fruit, his form is much more amorphous than many other characters, meaning he can manipulate his appearance and body through proper training.

I realized that I wanted to become human back then because I only wanted friends. Now I just want to be a monster that can help Luffy. – Chopper

Chopper's human-human fruit powers v One piece allowed the character to change in size and shape over the years, from pre- to post-time skip. In his initial introduction to the series, Chopper was much rounder, with a smaller head in proportion to his body. While many thought this design, dubbed the Chubby Chopper, was adorable, I also found it a bit more grounded and not very cute.

Chopper turned from a chubby reindeer into a cute stuffed animal

Design De-Evolution

As Chopper progressed through One Piece's pre-time skip, while his design didn't change drastically, he started to thin out a bit. His head got a bit bigger and his body was much thinner than when he was first introduced during the Drum Island Arc. While many loved the chubby Chopper, for most it was Chopper in top form.

However, post-time skip One piece took Chopper in a whole new direction and used the Human-Human Fruit trick to rework Chopper's design from the ground up. Now Chopper has lost his more realistic reindeer-like features and looks more like a stuffed animal. His head is extremely large for his body, his eyes are massive and his body is tiny in comparison. Of course, even though the design change was permanent, many fans didn't like the new Chopper and saw it as a de-evolution of the design, not an evolution.

The initial concept art of Chopper was amazing

Doctor smoking reindeer

Interestingly, even before Chopper was introduced to the Straw Hat Crew, the character went through some amazing designs in Oda's original concept. Originally, Chopper was meant to look much more mature and reindeer-like without the cuteness. In these designs, Chopper was greyish, with large shadows under his eyes and covered in stripes. While it would be interesting to see this concept brought into the series, imagining this reindeer instead of Chopper is a difficult task.

I want to be a person people can count on! – Chopper

After this concept art One Piece's Tony Tony Chopper took another interesting turn. In later initial designs, Chopper was shown to be slightly less grizzled and friendlier, though still much more humanoid reindeer than the modern Chopper. This Chopper is shown in full Doctor style, although he is also smoking a cigarette. Seeing Chopper smoke is a funny enough concept in itself, but imagining the cute straw hat constantly with a cigarette like Sanji is a hilarious inversion of his cute self.

Since its original design, the Chopper has changed drastically from what it is in the modern world One piece. Out of all the other characters, Chopper looks the most different from concept to paper, showing how flexible the Reindeer Doctor's design can be. Hopefully, Chopper's design will remain the same throughout the final saga One piecejust so it doesn't turn into something worse.