Pokemon of the Week #23: Ledyba

#165: Ledyba, the Five-Star Pokemon

So this week, we're going to be talking about Ledyba, a Pokemon that I really love the design of. It's very simple, a cartoon ladybird (ladybug to my American friends out there) with boxing gloves instead of claws. And it just looks so happy! It evolves into Ledian, who's a more humanoid-looking ladybird boxer.

Ledyba's a bit of a Pokemon that struggles to really make it into the spotlight. Ledyba debuted in Generation II, and as much as I love the Generation II games, they don't really do a lot of the Gen-II Pokemon justice, as Ledyba ends up having to share the "early bug" role with Caterpie and Weedle, who already had their time to shine in the previous generation, and arguably just looks so much mroe appealing with their more distinct metamorphosis-inspired evolution as opposed to Ledyba. Add that to the fact that Butterfree and Beedrill and even Ledyba's fellow Generation II early-route-bug Ariados all do fancy stuff (okay, maybe not Beedrill) and poor Ledyba just ends up being kind of forgotten. I mean, stat-wise, Ledian actually beats out Butterfree and Beedrill until the sixth generation when Nintendo buffed those two, but so much of Ledyba and Ledian's stat total get lumped in Special Defense. Add that to the fact that Ledyba's physical attack stat is absoluetly abysmal in a generation where all he got was physical-type moves, and the poor boxing ladybird ends up kind of just feeling like a 'lore' addition, so to speak. Just something to spice up the region as a brand-new Pokemon...

Except not many trainers in Generation II actually use Ledyba and Ledian. Even the Bugsy, bug-type gym leader there uses Scyther and two coccoons!

And it's honestly kind of strange why Ledyba and Ledian get such shit movepools. The later generations try to make the whole 'boxing bug' thing work a little better by giving Ledyba access to Comet Punch and Mach Punch, and some non-physical STAB moves with Air Slash and Bug Buzz, but honestly it doesn't quite let Ledyba be anything beyond a blip in the radar. And it's a bit weird considering how much stuff from a ladybird they could adapt into Ledyba and Ledian. Pest controllers that eat nasty aphids? The ability to secrete icky poisonous goop to deter predators? No? Well, at least Ledyba looks happy as all hell. 

That's  not very fair, I suppose. The Pokedex lore does adapt the ladybugs' hibernation tactics (i.e. everyone huddle together!) in the Generation II dex entries, which notes how individual Ledybas are timid, but they are active in a group. The Generation III dex entries talk about their ability to communicate by secreting aromatic fluuids, and every other subsequent entries just ends up being variations of either the Gen II or Gen III entries. 

I suppose I gotta talk a bit about Ledyba in the games themselves. Ledyba ends up being kind of a counterpart to Spinarak in the original Gold/Silver games, with Spinarak exclusive to Gold and Ledyba exclusive to Silver, and to highlight the time difference gimmick, Ledyba only ever appears in the mornings, while Spinarak only ever appears in the night. Oh, and in Crystal Ledyba is one of the possible encounters when you headbutt trees. Ledybas are post-game encounters in Generation III's Emerald Safari Zone, as well as FireRed/LeafGreen (with Ledyba being more common in one game, and Spinarak more common in the other). But then Ledyba just ends up sitting on the bench throughout Generations IV and V, although he definitely returned in Generation IV's SoulSilver. XY had Ledyba show up in Route 4, a route already filled with other Pokemon, and Sun/Moon had Ledyba show up in Route 1 during the day, something that I'm actually surprised to find out, since I never met a wild Ledyba and I thought Ledians were the only available wild Pokemon from the line in that game.

I suppose Ledyba's a more common sight for all of you still playing Pokemon Go? He's kind of crap there, too. 

Not much else to say about Ledyba. I like his design, he's so happy! But it's a shame that subsequent generations never really showed Ledyba much love beyond some hand-wave-y "yeah I'll give you some moves and not fix your sucky stats". Honestly so much of the first three generations need an overhaul in stats to make them at least half-decent instead of completely worthless. Still, it's not all about stats, though, and Ledyba's one of those dudes that whenever I see in-game or in the odd anime episode I smile because Ledyba's just such a happy little bug.