Pardon? I'm suddenly "not allowed" (oh wait wut?) to post simply because you don't agree with an opinion that just happens to contradict yours? The majority of the replies to this thread, and the poll, don't exactly paint the picture that it's the most super-special-awesome thing liek evar...(and even the "meh" responses can be effectively translated as "ingame it's good; it's annoying as hell in the anime".
Which, by the way, I never outlined; Empoleon has awesome typing, resisting a type combination only one Pokemon (that Pokemon being Shedinja) resisted previously; Normal/Water. A lot of offensive stall sets that rely on two attacks will attempt to cover the bases by using Ghost/Fighting or Normal/Water for widespread neutral coverage. Empoleon is a big fat middle finger to that. Its movepool isn't the best (SubPetaya and the off Swords Dance set are rather predictable, but a 4x Steel resist makes it a hilarious switch-in to Scizor, especially if it's Choiced, fufufu~), but its typing is truly what makes it a standout Pokemon.
However, as a standalone species, Piplup is worthless. It only becomes useful once it gains its secondary type, and until then, I'm stuck thinking of the anime's Piplup, and how much of a spotlight stealer it is. >_>