My favorite gen 1 Pokemon is easily Dragonite.
I have always been drawn to mythological creatures, especially dragons and collected posters and figurines of dragons. I love to see them represented in movies and books and could even find the constellation of Draco in the sky at an early age. It was later that I discovered I was born under the year of the Dragon according to the Chinese calendar.
A typing based on the magical creatures from myths that inspired me was something I would never be able to resist. It remains my favorite Pokemon typing. Dragons are proud, beautiful, captivating, powerful, sacred, intuitive creatures that offer magic, wisdom can find find riches. They are literally royalty-- the symbol for kingdoms, emperors and goddesses. And Dragonite's line is where it all began. This was the first and only one of its kind.
It was rarely depicted on the television show, and on the few occasion it was it was always shrouded in mystery and a subject of awe like The Mystery of the Lighthouse episode, or the banned Safari zone episode. It was not something for mere mortals, so obtaining one made me feel special, more so than catching come legendaries at times.
To add to its elusiveness there was only one way to obtain Dragonite legitimately. It was late game and only found in one area, the safari zone. Its encounter rate was not high, you had to fish for it and get a bite, you had a limited amount of time to catch it in before the safari game ended, if you found it the catch rate would be low and because it was a safari hunt you had to use bad pokeballs to capture a pseudo legendary Pokemon, and you could not battle it obviously to weaken it. With all of these factors working against you it was very likely to break out of the safari ball. Then it could flee from you. I remember my batteries dying on my gameboy color once in the middle of a long dratini encounter while I was on a road trip. Even if you did catch it-- you still had work to do. It evolved later than any Pokemon in the game. It was a slow process that required patience and meant that you really had to be sure that this was a Pokemon you wanted. Raising a Dragonite was like a test of your character. To see if you really deserved the holy grail. And all of that time really helps strengthen the bond between a boy/girl and their Dragonite.
If you held fast then what a Pokemon you were rewarded with! It is built like the mountain. It had the highest attack in the game at that time, a hyperbeam coming from it was not only devastating but required no recharge if it ohko. The mechanics of wrap meant it could block an opponent from moving altogether by keeping them under wrap for 2-5 turns. Its movepool stretched from here to Timbuktu. It could paralyze you with t-wave, pop out a blizzard for 110 damage 90% accuracy and maybe freeze you solid. It could be a surprisingly effective special attacker, getting its claws on all the main elemental moves. It was just monstrous. When you sent it into battle you were releasing the kraken.
To this day it is my favorite dragon pokemon. It is still a very good pokemon and holds so much nostalgia for me. I'm a grown woman in my 20s, but every time I take a look at this Pokemon's design I just squeal. It is the sweetest-looking Pokemon I have ever seen. He's a good guy, the gentle giant who rescues humans who are lost at sea and it shows in his design. The entire Dratini line all have these precious-looking, big, sad jewel-like eyes and round snouts that I cannot take my eyes of off. Each stage holds a different personality and appeal to their design Dratini is cute, shy and vulnerable, Dragonair is beautiful, elegant and mysterious and Dragonite is loving, fun and silly. I think they make up a wonderful line of Pokemon.
