PokéCritics Inc.

Started by Snowdrop August 26th, 2013 3:43 PM
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Snowdrop

Back and ready to babble!

Female
Penguin Jail
Seen May 22nd, 2017
Posted May 2nd, 2017
628 posts
10.8 Years
Here's whatcha do in this thread: someone will name a Pokemon and the next poster will give a thorough critique of it. You can include details about its design and creativity, its battling potential, and whatever else you want to add about it. You can include what you would do to improve it in any way, what that Pokemon means to you, and whatever else you think is important. Posts cannot contain short blurbs, it has to be in-depth. Not a wall, but it should definitely have some substance.

EDIT: If you REALLY don't want to do the Pokemon listed by the last poster, you don't necessarily have to. You can take your pick. It's just preferred if you do.

Let's begin with: Charizard
Male
In a Rabbit
Seen July 13th, 2022
Posted June 9th, 2022
824 posts
9.8 Years
I think Charizard's design did a great job of capturing what pokemon evolution can be: the small lizards we see in real life growing up to become a ferocious dragon. As Charmander grows into something we only seen in fiction, we immerse ourselves deeper into the fictional world of pokemon.

Speaking of dragons, I have no criticisms towards it not being a dragon-type. Both fire and flying are very fitting for it, and given that RBY only had one dragon-type evolutionary line, it's easy to believe that Gamefreak originally wanted dragons to be something of great rarity. Not something you start off with on Day 1.

"Stealth Rocks." The reason why I do not believe that this is a flaw of Charizard that needs to be fixed is the same reason why I don't believe why Butterfree, Delibird, or Volcarona needs to have it fixed. They naturally fit these types, so just leave it at that. We don't need to plaster Magic Guard, Regenerator, or whatever as a way of dealing with it.

What if Charizard had a modification to Blaze ability, where instead of activating a 1.5x boost to fire type moves at 33% health or lower, its special attacking power for all types of moves would increase? Think of this as a built-in Flail or Reversal, with a fancy formula making sure it wasn't overpowered. If you were to switch into Stealth Rocks twice with odd HP, and survive at 1 HP, you could turn your weakness into an anti-meta strength.

(I previewed my post to make sure no one else ninja'd me, but then had a heart-jump when I realized someone did. But then I realized that it was my own post's preview. Quite a fail.)

Would anyone like to critique Blastoise?

Magykx

It's too cold for you here.

Male
Outer Space
Seen January 6th, 2022
Posted September 3rd, 2014
193 posts
10.2 Years
I love this idea for a thread and am excited to read the critiques.

I would contribute with my own, but I'm not as knowledgeable from a battling standpoint to give a sufficient review compared to some members, so I'll remain in the shadows of the thread haha. :)

Snowdrop

Back and ready to babble!

Female
Penguin Jail
Seen May 22nd, 2017
Posted May 2nd, 2017
628 posts
10.8 Years
Thank you :3

Oh, you don't have to critique on battles. I, too, have no idea how most Pokemon stand out of the metagame. So what you lack in knowledge about battling you would make up for with another analysis with your post. Lots of freedom in the thread!

I like that idea for Charizard's ability because, quite frankly, the only use I've ever gotten out of Blaze/Torrent/Overgrow was in Mystery Dungeon and it was rare. They usually go from half HP to death :P

I'll go on about Blastoise, mainly on design.

Man, Gen 1 is so unmistakable. A good chunk of their Pokemon bear a very close resemblance to the actual base animal, without too many qualities being changed. And Blastoise is a good example of this.

One thing I really like about his design: he, like Venasaur, has triangular cat ears which, though a minor detail, I think he would look really weird without. Could you imagine a Blastoise without his ears? Looks weird to me O_o I like that they made him bipedal, but I can see him being just as iconic if he were on all fours and had some sort of artillery tank-like thing coming straight out of his shell, although that might make him seem more digimon-esque. The cannons themselves are a good add-on, I don't know many other Pokemon that have an artificial weapon attached to them :D His jaw structure and underbite, small eyes, and bulky, thick makeup let him appear brutish. He looks like he could be in an avalanche and pull out okay, and that's what I like about the 3 first starters: they look really tough. Basically, Blastoise has a simplistic design that works in his advantage to make a memorable, great-looking Pokemon.

In battle, though, he's weaker than he looks. He got taken out quickly despite his good physical defense! D: The stat should be higher if you ask me.

Next Pokemon: Continue Blastoise or Honedge.

Nolafus

Aspiring something

Age 27
Male
Lost in thought... again
Seen March 3rd, 2018
Posted March 11th, 2017
5,722 posts
10.9 Years
I'll go to Honedge.

I can't say whether or not I'm a fan of the design. I think it's creative, but it might be a little too far out there for me. I'm not too big a fan of inanimate objects coming to life and becoming pokemon thing, but all bias aside, here's what I think.

The design is very unique and a hard one to pull off. Despite the difficulty of design, I thought the pokemon as a whole was polished, and had a lot of time put into it. I could tell that the designers over at Gamefreak had a tough time putting all the pieces together, but came out with a pokemon that really came together. The design of the sheath gives an interesting texture and leaves the mind to wonder what lies underneath. Once the sheath is removed, the floating blade with one eye really gives off an almost creepy feel. This feel, really makes it obvious that it's part ghost, while the blade itself, really sells the steel typing. That's all I have for the design, but I'll move on to my strength, battling.

It all depends whether the stats are there or not, but I could see this pokemon being a common addition to steel, monotype teams. Since one of steel's biggest rivals is fighting, adding a complete immunity to your team would greatly help counter this weakness. Since the overall design of the pokemon is a sword, I believe Honedge stands a good chance of learning leaf blade. This grass type move would go a long way to counter ground types, another weakness. Along with the possibility that Honedge could have Levitate as a special ability. It all depends on where the stats are placed, of course, but I could see this pokemon being adopted my steel teams everywhere.

Next pokemon: Eelektross
PairPC sister

CliCliW

I have a Ph.D in Horribleness.

Age 29
Female
Ireland
Seen August 15th, 2015
Posted August 15th, 2015
435 posts
10.4 Years
As I've never used Eelektross in game, I can't say much about it's movepool. I'm drawing pictures and some small bits of info from Bulbapedia if that's ok?

Tactically, I think it can be a bit overpowered, not having a single weakness (IIRC?) due to its levitate ability. That is quite a handy Pokemon to have on your team though if you want an Electric type to train up.

If you have the patience to wait until almost level 40 for your Tynamo to become and Eelektrik, I think Eelektross could be worth the wait. The thunder stone evolution gives users the freedom to evolve the Pokemon whenever they see fit, but they may have to wait until high levels for Eelektrik to learn a desired move unless it's a TM move. For example, Eelektrik's final move is Thrash, learned at a whopping level 74! Imo, that's a bit ridiculous really...

Design wise, I have to admit that Eelektross is fine. Not amazing, just fine. I like how it changed from a tiny tadpole thing to a massive Electric eel inspired creature, but I'm not too gone on the arms really. Though I'd prefer it to be a lot more fearsome, like Charizard or Gengar.

I think that's it?....

Let's go with.....

Wigglytuff

Magykx

It's too cold for you here.

Male
Outer Space
Seen January 6th, 2022
Posted September 3rd, 2014
193 posts
10.2 Years


Though I never used it in game, I can compliment its design.

Wigglytuff is one of the few Pokemon that's transition from Jigglypuff is very smooth and easy to the eyes. Plus, being one of the most natural looking Pokemon, I like that it isn't jumbled or messy like some are... *cough* Jinx *cough*

One of the main reasons I never used it in the games was, during gen 1, I was very young and bias towards normal types being "weak" in general, so I stuck to the more fierce types, fire and flying... Which, thinking back on it now, I knew absolutely nothing about competitive battle, haha.

Tactically, it is many overshadowed by fellow Kanto region-ers, Clefable and Chansey, I think Wigglytuff could hold its own if used correctly. Learning Wish / Heal Bell, Stealth Rock and Seismic Toss can be very useful competitively would be my suggested moveset.

In the long run I would suggest Blissey though, since I mean lbr Blissey Wall > you.

Next up, one of my all time favorites, Arcanine please!

Shamol

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Age 31
Male
Texas
Seen November 7th, 2021
Posted November 28th, 2016
185 posts
9.8 Years
I think it would be a good idea to establish a set of criteria which the pokecritics would use to evaluate every pokemon. I tentatively suggest the following:

- Naming
- Design
- Performance in game
- Performance in competitive battling
- Appearance in Anime
- Appearance in Manga

Let's keep the criteria a bit loose so people can manipulate them in their own critique-savvy ways. Also, not everyone has to talk about all the criteria. I know very little about pokemon anime and manga (only followed the anime through the first few seasons), so won't comment on those points. Also, no good on competitive battling either.

So my critique of Arcanine!

Naming. Arcane+Canine- makes perfect sense.

Design. I think the key to a good pokemon design is to retain a degree of resemblance with a known motif, while introducing interesting innovations. If the balance between originality and innovativeness is lost, the pokemon either looks desperate or over-designed.

According to Bulbapedia, the design of Arcanine is based on the mythical Shisa, which is a cross between a lion and a dog. Arcanine's feature appears to maintain the core motif, but innovates in terms of reduced scariness. While the Shisa looks like a terrifying beast, Arcanine has an aura of majestic beauty about it. The pokedex entries reinforce this idea.

One of the first things about Arcanine's design that I noticed is how natural it's evolution from growlithe is.

Performance in game While Arcanine is probably one of the best fire-types out there, one of the biggest inconvenience in terms of in-game performance is the difficulty to acquire it. At least in some games (e.g. second generation) the fire stone is very difficult to acquire. Plus, I think evolution through leveling up+happiness would make more sense, given the "loyal dog" idea growlithe is based on.

Another criticism I have concerns its type. Due to the lack of a dual-type, it's movepool mostly consists of fire-type attacks. This made life especially harder in the games where TM's used to be one-time-usable. This is why I valued the fire starters more than Arcanine, in spite of the latter having greater stats.

I think these two criticisms are pretty serious. But once you actually get an Arcanine and fit a average-to-good movepool on him, for the most part it's pretty reliable.

Next up: Lucario!
"Perseverence in science needs to be tempered by flexibility."

-Haig Kazazian, in Mobile DNA: Finding Treasures in Junk

destinedjagold

You can contact me in PC's discord server...

Age 32
Male
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted March 24th, 2023
8,579 posts
16 Years
Lucario

- Naming
I don't really know how the heck his name came into existence. I miss the old Pokémon days wherein the names were just too easy to guess what words were mixed together. Lucario however, is in the era wherein new Pokémon names are a mix of easy, moderate or whattheheck word combination names. I quick check for his name origin in Bulbapedia made me even more confused.
Regardless, his name sounds really cool and epic. :3

- Design
When I first saw Lucario, I was instantly in love with its design. It was clear and obvious that he was a fighting type, and he was the very first fighting type I ever liked, considering the fact that I hate fighting types because of their boring design. Lucario however, is cool. In fact, he's so cool that I will never understand why my younger brother is obsessed with him when he first came out. o.0 That obsession died down now though, for only a little bit.

- Appearance in Movie/Animé
My bros and I first thought of him as a legendary, because, well, he could talk telekinetically(?) like the previous legendaries, except for others, but you get the idea. Him being legendary added too many good points for him, but when we found out that he's not a legendary PKMN, we were a bit disappointed, but not too much. Riolu is cute. <3
Anyway, Lucario was really cool in the movie, and even cooler in the anime.

Next in line: Girafarig

Amore

Seen 8 Hours Ago
Posted 4 Days Ago
5,237 posts
13.7 Years
Girafarig


Naming
"Giraf" because of the patterns more than anything. "arig" makes the name a palindrome, good as Girafarig has two heads.

Design

Pretty damn unique tbh, not a personal fan of the pokémon (never felt any reason to use it) but its interesting to look at nonetheless. I quite like the colouring (good contrast without being garish) and the fact that its back head resembles that thing on a spring that messes up races on Mariokart Wii xD

Performance in game

Never used it, but looking at its base stats (80/90/85 offensive stats) and its varied movepool (psychic moves, both special and physical, dark, ghost, electric, grass, normal, ground) suggests it would be quite good. And I've always found Lucian's Girafarig to be the underestimated dark horse of his team.

Performance in competitive battling

Just going to quote smogon on this:

"Girafarig is one of the more diverse and adaptive Pokemon in NU—indeed, with its two heads, it only makes sense that Girafarig has multiple options. As a versatile Pokemon, Girafarig is naturally doomed as a jack-of-all-trades, and faces severe competition in a metagame infested with pure Psychic-types and Normal-types. Special Girafarig is usually inferior to Gardevoir, while physical Girafarig is sorely outclassed by anything from Miltank to Stantler. However, Sap Sipper and the Normal typing gives Girafarig two great immunities and an edge over Misdreavus and opposing Psychic-types. On top of that, the threat of a Calm Mind sweep and Baton Pass poses a multidimensional threat to the opponent. While this niche may not be enough, Girafarig is an underrated Pokemon that can be a nuisance to an unprepared team."

So basically, everything that I think will make it good in-game dooms it in competitive battling to the lower tiers. Rather like Poliwrath.

Appearance in Anime
Well Lyra's Girafarig did naff all except not break a door with Double Hit (not surprised, she was even more annoying than most female sidekicks).

Appearance in Manga
Appears four times but does very little - a little bit of training Gold, a little bit of carrying a Team Rocket member around, a little bit of carrying books for Lucian. Just...very little, as happens in the manga - it's more about storyline than introducing every single pokémon, unlike the anime (although most have been shown in it).

Next up, a personal favourite of mine: Blaziken

SmashBrony

Epic Adventurer

Age 33
Male
Ponyville
Seen February 14th, 2015
Posted February 9th, 2015
1,278 posts
14.9 Years
BLAZIKEN
Naming:
"Blaze" + "Ken" from Street Fighter. I'm not sure if this is true, but it makes sense, right?

Design:
Personally, I fell in love with blaziken at first sight...
It's DEEP red coloration, the fur (feathers?) that covers it's feet, the eagle-like face...
& I thought it was interesting how they took the feet of a bird of prey & made them look like arms... & it's hair added flare to it's apperance.

In-game performance:
Blaziken is a good choice in game...
While having 4 weaknesses that all tends to be common, with just it's Fire & Fighting attacks can trump 7 types & use coverage attacks to beat more types.
It has high attacking stats (120 Attack & 110 Sp.A) & it's average base 80 speed is more tolerable in-game than competitve & in the 5th gen games, it can learn Flame Charge to get faster while dealing some damage. By in-game standrads, it's 80/70/70 defenses aren't great, but not awful either. (pretty much average, I'd say...)

Competitive performance:
It was OU during the 3rd gen & was a fearsome sweeper, despite it's weaknesses
in typing & having a lower speed than other sweepers.
But then the 4th gen started & because of it's 80 speed, Blaziken couldn't perform as well as
it's 4th gen sibling, Infernape. It was UU for this time.
Thankfully, the 5th gen came & though the Dream World it was given a gift from heaven in it's
new Speed Boost ability. & it also gained Hi Jump Kick as well.
With these new toys, it performed so well that it became the first ever fully-evolved starter
to be banned to UBER.

I hope I did good... & should I edit this post to inculde Mega Blaziken?
& next, I'd like to see: Meloetta or the anime/manga appearences of Blaziken
Will anypony volunteer to make me
a Super Smash Bros. themed pony character
to use for my avatar & sigature?
For more info, PM me please!

gimmepie

Age 27
Male
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 15 Hours Ago
Name: Meloetta (Melody + Pirouette) - The name roles off the tongue nicely and considering the story of and inspiation for this particular pokemon it makes sense.

Design: Both of its formes are pleasant to look at and are just complex enough, not overdesigned but also not dull. I must say though that the Pirouette forme looks far better than the aria.

In-Game Performance: In game Meloetta is more than sufficient to do some serious damage against most opponents. It has 600 base stats, which is pretty common amongst legendaries, and two-possible daul-types both which can be quite useful.

Competitive Performance: It's versatility can be useful as it can be either a powerful physical sweeper or a mixed sweeper/wall specially.

Aria Forme: In this forme it is protected from the ghost-moves that are super-effective against most psychic-types and takes less damage from fighting-types than most pure normal pokemon. Unfortunately it suffers a little from girafarig syndrome in which it is simply outclassed by other special walls and sweepers. It can also be out-speeded by a lot of pokemon having a decent speed stat of 90 that keeps it reasonable, but doesn't make it good.

Pirouette Forme: This forme is more useful as a sweeper having a good attack stat and matching speed. But it becomes vulnerable to sweepers like Alakazam, Lucario and even the Aria forme who can make use of nasty psychic type attacks. It's average defences complete with a typing that is worse defensively make choosing between the two if you wish to use meloetta difficult. The Aria forme is better defensively by far, but Pirouette is a great physical sweeper.

Quite frankly though there are alternatives to both either way, the only advantages that Meloetta really have on these are its generally higher stats and diversity which can be outdone by better stat placements on pokemon that are almost as diverse.

Edit: Next person can do Politoad.
RPWLA&MVGGaming Journal

Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
Politoed:

It gets props on its actually clever name, still spelling out toad (toed) but making light of the fact that it's grown arms, limbs, and actually digits.

Politoed gets good marks on design, because it actually resembles a toad or an amphibian, to a degree, much more so than an anthropomorphic swirl with legs and white gloves. I also think it has a good color palette, with a soft green that matches well with it being an amphibious Pokemon.

Battle wise, we all know that Politoed's DW ability is Drizzle, and that it's the crux of rain teams that can be a huge pain to deal with, competitively speaking. Powers up all water attacks, negates other weather conditions, and allows Pokemon with Swift Swim as their ability to basically sweep through the opposing team. There's a reason Drizzle + Swift Swim was banned on the same team by Smogon. In game wise, though, I don't think it's anything special, unless you can RNG a DW Politoed with the necessary IV's and EV train it properly.

Next: STUNFISK BUM BUM BUM >:3

Snowdrop

Back and ready to babble!

Female
Penguin Jail
Seen May 22nd, 2017
Posted May 2nd, 2017
628 posts
10.8 Years
STUNFISK

All ye hail and bow down to the Lord of all Pokemon! Behold, stats that even gods can only dream of!

109 base HP! Amazing!
66 base Attack! Stunning!
84 base Defense! Unbelievable!
81 base Special Attack! Sweet baby Jesus!
99 base Special Defense! Astonishing!
32 base Speed! Bewildering!

Clearly the mighty Stunfisk is a force that cannot be stopped. His strength could squish Arceus into the shape of a raisin and flatten Mewtwo like a soggy pancake! Not only is the Lord of all Pokemon a pillar of strength, but he is the epitome of beauty. Perfect facial features. A flawless complexion. Plump lips and a voluptuous figure. Truly, his looks are to be marveled. How could any soul resist being whisked away by this angelic face?

So all ye gather round and get on your knees in worship to Stunfisk or suffer his exquisite wrath! WRAAAAATTHHHHH!


EDIT: Alright, my pickies, I'll choose the next to be rated...
Vaporeon

SmashBrony

Epic Adventurer

Age 33
Male
Ponyville
Seen February 14th, 2015
Posted February 9th, 2015
1,278 posts
14.9 Years


Vaporeon

Design:
I question the frill around it's neck, but other than that, the design is pure genius!
It look like what merfox should!

In-game performace:
Vaporeon is a great choice, being able to give & take hits, especially after using Acid Armor.
In the 5th gen games, it can also use Work Up to hit harder.
Better yet, it can Baton Pass it's stat boosts, along with Wish &/or Substitute!
But it is on the slow side...

Competetive performance:
1st gen:
Vaporeon is a good pokemon, but there are better Water-type choices in 1st gen OU...

2nd gen:
For a while, it was inferior to Suicune, but though NYPC (I'm not sure what or who it is...) it
gained Growth, which gave it an offensive edge over Suicune.
It then became a fearsome special tank that any team should watch out for in 2nd gen OU.

3rd gen:
Vaporeon is valuable in 3rd gen OU, being able to support it's team with Wish
& can Baton Pass Acid Armor & the bulkiest Substitutes in 3rd gen OU.
It can hit hard, so Taunt doesn't ruin it completely.
& with Water Absorb, it became one of the best switch-ins to opposing Water-types.

4th gen:
There were changes in the 4th gen OU, but Vaporeon could still do what it did in 3rd gen OU.

5th gen:
New treats appeared & older ones got up-grades, but so did Vaporeon.
It got Scald, which is not only a strong Water-type attack, but it also made physical
treats afaid to come in because of the 30% burn chance.
Wish mechanics changes in the 5th gen, restoring HP equal to the user's HP &
Vaporeon has a VERY good base 130 HP, allowing it to restore the majority of it's
allies HP. It also became able to Baton Pass Work Up, along with Acid Armor, Wish
&/or Substitute, so while it has a rough time in 5th gen OU, it can still shine if used right.


the next person can do:
Gardevoir
Will anypony volunteer to make me
a Super Smash Bros. themed pony character
to use for my avatar & sigature?
For more info, PM me please!

Magykx

It's too cold for you here.

Male
Outer Space
Seen January 6th, 2022
Posted September 3rd, 2014
193 posts
10.2 Years

Gardevoir

I have always loved Gardevoir. It is my favorite Hoenn native besides Jirachi.
In terms of design, Gardevoir is flawless in my opinion. The colors work great together and she is very sleek with the flowing dress-esque bottom half. Very peaceful to look at.

In game, I always use Gardevoir if given the chance. I actually cannot think of a time in the R/S/E games that she wasn't on my team. Her movepool is good, I really don't see any problems. I always ended up with either a Calm Mind / Psychic / Energy Ball / Shadow Ball or Hypnosis / Dream Eater / Psychic / Thunderbolt moveset -- always worked for me!

I can't say much for Gallade since I didn't feel a branch evolution was necessary, but that's a whole other story. I can say that I just love the Raltz, Kirlia, Gardevoir trilogy though. Forever favorites. ♥

Next, Dusclops!
Age 32
Male
Anywhere I want to live. Wonderful, isn't it?
Seen May 19th, 2014
Posted February 25th, 2014
211 posts
9.7 Years
Dusclops

Name (Dusk + Cyclops) -The name fits its design pretty well. Dusk is described as the darkest stage of twilight, and ghosts are generally associated with the night. Cyclops, of course, are the one-eyed giants mentioned in The Odyssey and in Greek myths.

Design - I don't like it but at the same time I don't hate it. A mummified cyclops would pretty much sum up its design. It goes well with its pre-evo, which is a tiny ghost with a skull mask (?), and mummies are the bodies of ancient Pharaohs wrapped in cloth. It also makes sense that it evolves when wearing the Reaper Cloth before you Link Trade it. I was never a fan of Ghost types, but I admit I like the concept in general.

Battlewise, the only thing going for it are its defenses. Every other stat is ridiculously low. Since it can still evolve, an Eviolite is definitely recommended to make up for its low HP. If used right, Dusclops can still have a place in your team, but it would need support.

Next person can do my favorite Grass type: Exeggutor!!!
"The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself."
-St. Augustine

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take the time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive." -The Ninth Doctor

I'm a Catholic Whovian who loves to watch anime and read manga, discovering my faith while still trying to to enjoy the things I love. Feel free to PM me for questions or just to chat!

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Feel free to add me to trade and/or battle! Could really use some friends in BW2!

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gimmepie

Age 27
Male
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 15 Hours Ago
Name: Exeggutor - A play on the the word executioner to include the word "egg" I believe. Either way the name isn't bad, not the best but it seems to suit the pokemon and it is certainly not as bad as "Talonflame".

Design: Well... despite how ugly it is there is actually nothing wrong with the design and oddly enough, its ugliness actually makes it feel oddly endearing to me.

Battle: I'm lazy so I'll just do the competitive side rather than covering in-game also, besides you can use pretty much anything effectively in-game.

Whilst it is easily out competed by the likes of powerful grass types like Sceptile and Breloom and psychic-typed sweepers like Alakazam Exeggutor is somewhat underrated. It has a fantastic Special Attack stat and access to powerful moves like Psychic, Energy Ball, Psyshock, Leaf Storm and Solarbeam that compliment it. Further more by placing it on a drought team to make use of its Chlorophyll ability it can become an excellent wall breaker. To top it all off Exeggutor has a whopping total of six resistances, all to common types.

Unfortunately Exeggutor is slow and has poor defences even though it can dual-screen and it will quickly fall to super-effective sweepers that the opponent may employ. This is a matter made worse by its terrible speed forcing you to switch out immediately should a sweeper like Gengar or Infernape appear. On top of these defensive flaws Exeggutors six resistances also comes at the cost of seven weaknesses including common offensive types like Fire and Flying. The final nail in this pokemon's coffin is its move pool. Despite having a great Special Attack Exeggutor learns mainly physical moves and whilst it can learn some very good attacks like those I listed before its move pool lacks the diversity of other powerful grass and psychic types.

So competitively it is generally safer to steer away from Exeggutor, although in game it should be perfectly usable.

The next person can do Darmanitan.
RPWLA&MVGGaming Journal
Male
In a Rabbit
Seen July 13th, 2022
Posted June 9th, 2022
824 posts
9.8 Years


The Name: Darmanitan. My guess is Darma Doll + Orangutan. Just checked bulbapedia, and I got it right, aside from a typo. It does a good job of reflecting its concept.

The Design: Conceptually, I think combining a dharma doll with a primate is a decent idea. It's pre-evolution tucks in its limbs when its asleep to rock back and forth, which I think showed off the dharma-doll part of it pretty well. I like it when they combine inanimate objects with animals to make pokemon, with other examples being things like Jigglypuff and Sharpedo.

It's final evolution doesn't really display the dharma doll aspect of it unless it activates Zen Mode.

In-Game Performance: Darumaka is available pretty early in story mode. Darmanitan's stats and movepool makes it worth keeping throughout the duration of the game.

Competitive Performance: Darmanitan is one of the best fire types in the UU tier, and may become the best if Victini gets its tier changed. It's been commented how Gen V UU is similar to Gen IV's OU. Darmanitan has a decent 95 speed, sky-high attack, decent movepool, and a really good ability. For those who don't know, there's a glitch that allows you to negate Life Orb recoil when combined with Sheer Force. Lack of moves which take advantage of Sheer Force, and the lack of good setup moves, is Darmanitan's only limitations.

I think an ability to change formes is a cool idea. It really disappoints me, however, that Zen Mode--what I believe should have been made the focus of Darmanitan--was made incredibly unusable. Foremost, it's too difficult to activate; Darmanitan is too fragile to reliably activate this ability. Secondly, what good is it to suddenly become defensive if you're only allowed to activate it while at low HP?

I wish activating Zen Mode would automatically replenish your HP to maximum, and that you'd remain in Zen Mode for the duration of the battle. I think it might be worth at least attempting then. Really, we have sooo many physical fire types (Infernape, Entei, Arcanine), and it's a shame what made Darmanitan unique wasn't it's unique ability, but that it just outclasses half of them.

The Anime: I watched the episode where a couple of Darumaka's were stealing food to feed a Zen-Mode Darmanitan. It was on low health and... I'm not going to give a synopsis, but it disappointed me that Zen Mode was made to seem as though it was a weakness in this episode. I saw some other Darmanitan cameos, but no other episodes which starred him.

Next up... Mamoswine.

gimmepie

Age 27
Male
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 15 Hours Ago
Mamoswine

Name: Mammoth + Swine. Nothing particular interesting, although it is a peculiar combination of influences.

Design: It will never be my favourite design but I don't dislike it either. I will say though, that the mammoth and swine characteristics in this pokemon are both implemented perfectly in this pokemon, I don't think it could be done better.

In-Game: - Mammoswine is a powerhouse, and anything with decent stats is workable in-game, so if you're prepared to deal with its poor special defence and large number of weaknesses in exchange for its power go for it.

Competitive: To quote Smogon "Mamoswine is is the quintessential anti-metagame pokemon". It has fantastic attack which can be combined nicely with items such as the Life Orb as well as a fairly hard-hitting priority move in Ice Shard allowing it to take down common sweepers such as Thundurus-T, Salamence and Garchomp with ease. Furthermore a combination of powerful STAB Earthquake and Icicle Crash makes it very difficult to switch into Mamoswine as it hits a lot of types very hard and 2KHO most pokemon with ease. Access to the crippling stealth rock and the ability Thick Fat that negates the effectiveness of dangerous fire-typed moves and remedies the problem of powerful special ice attacks like Blizzard and Ice Beam hitting neutrally on the specially weak Mamoswine.

Having said this, Mamoswine is chock full of weaknesses and is outsped by sweepers who can take advantage of its low SDefence when not hitting with priority. Fire, Water, Grass, Steel and Fighting all hit Mamoswine hard specially which leaves it to be quickly dispatched by the likes of Politoed, Lucario, Sceptile and Infernape. If used with the right timing Mamoswine will quite probably wreck your opponents team, but its many weaknesses leave a lot to be desired if you're forced to, or unknowingly, switch into a super-effective special move.

The next person can do Chandelure.
RPWLA&MVGGaming Journal

Magykx

It's too cold for you here.

Male
Outer Space
Seen January 6th, 2022
Posted September 3rd, 2014
193 posts
10.2 Years


Chandelure
Name: Being a combination of chandelier and lure or allure, I believe is a fitting name since its PokeDex entry refers to burning your spirit and putting it's foes into a trance (Ahh, Pokemon and it's disturbing dex entries...).

"It absorbs a spirit, which it then burns. By waving the flames on its arms, it puts its foes into a hypnotic trance."

Design: Although it isn't the most original design, it is good for what it represents... a chandelier. I would like to point out that the regular color scheme is much more appealing than its shiny (orange flame) counterpart, in my opinion. I personally like the way the extending "limbs" I guess you would say are very rounded and flow very well. Also the lines on what would seem to be the mouth, they kind of remind me of stitches a la Jack Skellington.

In-Game: I used Chandelure in my first play through of White all the way through the Elite 4 simply because I thought it looked cool, but it held up in battle well to me... I used a Flamethrower / Calm Mind / Energy Ball / Shadow Ball moveset. I'm not sure how it holds up competitively, but I would assume well.

Next... Ludicolo!
Route 49
Seen February 7th, 2016
Posted June 21st, 2015
612 posts
10.5 Years
Ludicolo #272

Name: Comes from either Ludic or Ludicrous and colocynth. Quite complicated words huh?

Design: Quite an unusual design comparing a lot of different features, such as being a duck, platypus, or kappa, a Mexican dancer, and a giant colocynth or pineapple. Somehow they managed to join these features together to create this cool Pokemon.

In Game: A great typing and solid abilities in rain makes Ludicolo a popular choice. Only three weaknesses, two of which are generally poor offensively is another useful feat. Don't worry about Grass or Dragon-types resisting the STAB combo, as Ludicolo packs the fearsome Ice Beam/Blizzard to take down these threats. With the choice to either go physical, special or even defensive makes this dancing duck unpredictable.

Competitive Use: Ludicolo is a great choice competitively, and because of its typing, great abilities and large movepool it is one of the rare Pokemon to be successful in every tier. However it has a fairly low BST, and it is quite easy to stop once rain is out of play, nevertheless it is one cool Pokemon to use.

Next Pokemon: Nidoking
Boilurn, the Scald Pokemon and the evolved form of Hottle. It can burn the holder by the lightest of touches when it boils. It can boil 3 gallons of water in one minute.

Shizzable

The Derpiest One Of All

Male
In your closet.
Seen March 14th, 2015
Posted February 12th, 2014
216 posts
9.8 Years

Nidoking

Name Origin: Nidoking comes from needle (because of all those spikes, probably) and the very fitting king.

Design: It looks awesome with all the spikes, and not too complicated. There aren't enough colors, but the purple, green and white, go together nicely.

In Game: Nidoking was always one of my favorite Pokemon to use in LeafGreen. You can find Nidoran early in the game, so I was always tempted to catch one. It leans the whole spectrum of move that are useful in single player like earthquake and flamethrower, as well as some HMs like Surf (?) and Strength.

Competitive Use: While its (admittedly cool) Poison/Ground typing doesn't do it any favors, Nidoking is a specially offensive juggernaut. Sheer Force combined with tons of powerful coverage moves make it a top threat. I slapped Stealth Rocks on mine, and it became a great offensive lead.

Next Pokemon: Aggron
Ermahgerd! I evolved!
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