The next part of my coverage of Generation VII Pokemon! This was originally split into two parts, parts #35 and #36, but I ended up compressing two articles into one because neither are particularly that long.
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#769-770: Sandygast & Palossand
- Types: Ghost/Ground [both]
- Japanese names: Sunaba, Shirodesuna
- Categories: Sand Heap [Sandygast], Sand Castle [Palossand]
We jump from an evolutionary line that I instantly love on sight to one that I went from "eh, that's neat" to "huh, this is actually fucking awesome". See, during the initial reveal season, for whatever reason I kind of totally missed the fact that Sandygast and Palossand are Ground/Ghost types. I took a look at Sandygast, went, 'huh, a sand pile. Cool.' I'm not as opposed to inanimate object Pokemon as most people, but I felt that while a living mass of sand is cool enough, they really could've done so much more. And, well, they did! See, Sandygast isn't just a pile of sand with a hollow mouth that goes through the crude sandcastle and a little shovel on its head. It's a haunted mass of sand. And suddenly the beady eyes and the hollow mouth (how cool is it that the mouth goes through Sandygast's entire body?) looks so much more sinister.
Sandygast is explicitly stated to be born from a sand mound playfully built by a child, but somehow is possessed by the grudges of the dead. And apparently anyone who puts a hand into Sandygast's mouth gets possessed by this sandy ghost, "and so it adds to the accumulation of its sand-mound body". So does it reduce its thralls into sand? That's horrifying! Although the actual games merely show that whoever is enthralled by Sandygast (a little boy in the Ultra games!) is just compiled to pile sand with shovel to make Sandygast bigger. So it's a ghost that possesses others, but it's not that evil. Ultra Moon makes Sandygast an outright Tsukumogami by giving the warning of "if you build sand mounds when you're playing, destroy them before you go home or they will get possessed and become Sandygast". It's horrifying, but Sandygast's look is just so adorable. I mean, look at that shovel on its head! I'm sure that's the tipping point that makes Sandygast go from just a boring pile of sand with a face into an adorable little bugger.
Sandygast eventually grows massive, into a proper sandcastle (thanks to its thralls building it, according to the Sun Pokedex), Palossand (hee hee, pile of sand) with actual towers and windows and shit. its shovel is now a rotating antennae on its top, and I really love the cute little beady eyes on its windows. Palossand in the games is gloriously dynamic, undulating its tower-arms and flattening upon defeat. Some of the official artwork does show Palossand swirling around as a mass, living quicksand (apparently each grain of sand is infused with Palossand's 'soul') to trap its prey. The Moon dex notes that "buried beneath the castle are masses of dried-up bones" from its prey, where multiple dex entries make excruciating detail about how Palossand sucks their vitality away while they're still alive. Pikachu, nooo!
It's such a gloriously weird and wacky and fresh take on a ghost pokemon. Sandstorm monsters and possessed objects are common tropes in fiction, but a sandcastle ghost is the sort of weird wackiness that feels genuinely unique. Instead of a boring Sand X ability like the rest of the Ground-types out there, Sandygast and Palossand even have their own personal unique ability, owing to their state as the only sand-based Pokemon -- Water Compaction, which compacts its sand and makes its Defense stats higher when hit with a Water-type move.
Also, Shiny Palossand and Sandygast are black, which, in addition to being pretty fucking awesome looking for a ghost castle, is also a reference to black sand, a phenomenon found in multiple beaches in Hawaii owing to the volcanic activity in the islands -- hell, even an area in Alola is explicitly a black sand beach! Good luck finding a black Sandygast there, though -- Shiny's still Shiny and that's still insanely rare. Overall, definitely one of the more creative and fun designs in the seventh generation.
6/6.#771: Pyukumuku
- Type: Water
- Japanese name: Namakobushi
- Category: Sea Cucumber
Dotting the beaches of Alola isn't just cowardly isopods and haunted sandcastles, but also Pyukumuku, a Pokemon based upon sea cucumbers (class Holothuroidea), one of those weird aquatic creatures that is overdue to become a Pokemon. While commonly found in oceans all over the world, they're a delicacy in Chinese culture, who view them as a sort of ailment. Pyukumuku is a pure Water-type, and he's a pretty cure-looking sea cucumber. A black body with beady pink eyes, cute little pink spines, and a weird star-shaped mouth? Look at that expression! That's exactly the expression of what something called "Pyukumuku" would have. It's a cute little non-evolving bugger, and one whose entire deal is being ultra-defensive and super obnoxious in the way that the likes of Shuckle are. See, Pyukumuku's entire moveset is filled with countering and status effect moves, and it has immensely high defensive stats. This is all based on the Cuvierian tubules that some sea cucumbers have -- these sea cucumbers, as a self-defense mechanism, unleash part of their respiratory system out of their anus, which harden upon contact with seawater, to entangle their predators while the sea cucumber crawls away. These adorable string-like organs might suffocate the unfortunate predator. It's represented by its signature ability, Innards Out, where it's essentially like Drifloon's Aftermath ability, but one that makes it clear that, yes, Pyukumuku's spitting out his organs at you as one last defiant "fuck you" as he falls.
Pyukumuku's weird 'mouth' (or rather, probably its anus) is a star-shaped flat thing, but when it attacks, it shoots out a gigantic white-shaped arm to punch enemies in the face. Or give you a peace sign if you play with it in Pokemon Refresh, or to drag itself along. While it's shaped like an arm, apparently the dex makes sure that, yes, just like real-life sea cucumbers, Pyukumuku does eject its real internal organs out as a defense mechanism. Pyukumuku dot the beaches all over Alola, and apparently they will keep returning to the same spot over and over again (and sometimes starve, because, y'know, a beach is not the ocean), causing hotel beach staff to pay gullible little trainers to toss them back into the ocean. See, while the Alolan people love Pyukumuku because they are adorable and their slime makes for great sunscreen, silly tourists end up stepping on them and get attacked, which is why people keep throwing them back to the sea. Overall, while there's not that much about Pyukumuku, I do find it insanely charming especially after a couple of tours through Alola and meeting this adorable little squishies on the beaches. Not one that I particularly cared about when I started the seventh generation, but definitely one that I ended up liking.
4/6.#772-773: Type: Null & Silvally
- Types: Normal [both; Silvally can change types similar to Arceus]
- Japanese names: Taipu: Nuru, Shiruvadi
- Categories: Synthetic [both, Man-Made in Japanese]
Oh, hey, this dude! Apparently it's classified as a Legendary Pokemon now? Personally, I don't really consider it one. It is certainly unique, and there's only a finite amount of Type: Nulls as far as the lore goes, so I guess it's sort of kind of like Mewtwo... but I dunno. Type: Null and Silvally don't really feel like proper legendaries to me per se. They do have a relatively decent role in the seventh generation story, as the signature Pokemon of our rival, edgy anime boy (and I do mean that in a good way) Gladion, who stole one of the Type: Nulls created by Aether Foundation to do battle by himself.
Type: Null is clearly based upon the mythological chimaera, clearly being a weird Frankenstein of various Pokemon types. From the weird mohawk to the fin-like tail to the green cllaws and the mammalian body, Type: Null's most striking feature is its strange, rust-coloured mask, something that's created to suppress its rage. See, Type: Null was originally called "Type: Full", created for the sole purpose of murdering Ultra Beasts (more on those later on) but it was uncontrollable and thus the masks were created to suppress them, and they were put on ice permanently until Gladion (and later you, the player) frees the remaining Type: Nulls. It's kind of a fanmade Pokemon's glorious creation of an edgy fan character, and Type: Null does have that cheesy charm for playing it straight enough without going overblown. It even plays on a different sci-fi trope, the trope of Frankensteined abominations, as opposed to Mewtwo's genetic body horror. Unfortunately, despite its name, Type: Null is actually Normal-type and not entirely type-less. Boo. That's some really missed opportunity for a proper, neat gimmick.
Type: Null evolves by breaking apart its face mask into Silvally, and the evolution feels kind of underwhelming. I mean, yeah, its permanent and Silvally's gotten this cat-god face, and his stats gets a little better... but I felt that the change feels rather underwhelming, like it's a mere alternate form or something. Does this need to be an evolution? I suppose it kinda does, from a story point of view, since the transformation is permanent, but still. Silvally and Type: Null are both implied to be created in the image of Arceus, with notes all over the games noting that they went to Sinnoh to research Arceus, and Silvally's ability is even called "RKS System", and depending on the memory item it's holding, Silvally will change its type -- similar to Arceus and his plates. Silvally does a far better job looking like something that can conceivably be any type due to its weird, hodgepodge design. Silvally assumes its final form via a friendship evolution, and it's even noted in the Moon Pokedex that Silvally's name was given by Gladion. It's a pretty cute face, for a monster chimeram I guess.
Overall, I do find Type: Null and Silvally pretty neat, actually, and where I'd go on a normal "it's so cluttered" rant here, I do feel that it's intended and it's part of this evolutionary line's charm. Type: Null and Silvally are certainly not my favourite Pokemon in the seventh generation, not by a long shot, and their Legendary tag sort of rubs me the wrong way... but at the same time, I dunno. It's a Pokemon created mostly for a specific role in the story, and one that in my opinion had his story sort of overshadowed by everything else that's going on in the seventh-generation games. Still, that's not Silvally's fault, and it's honestly a neat design for a weird Frankenstein gryphon. Just not my thing is all -- a lot of people seem to like these two more than I do, but while they're certainly not forgettable, I can't muster much emotion about them.
3/6, could be 4/6.#774: Minior
Minior is... neat? I can't really think of that much to say about Minior, though. It's a Rock/Flying Pokemon, and it does add in a pretty neat interpretation of the Flying type. Sure, Minior isn't a bird or a flying bug, but he's based on a meteorite, and that's why it's flying. It's interesting since these sort of floating Pokemon tend to just have the Levitate ability slapped on to them instead of the Flying-type... but they don't really do all that much with Minior. It's just a flying rock with eyes, with the gimmick of its "Shields Down" ability. See, on their default state, all Miniors look the same. Reduce their health below a certain percentage (lots of abilities this generation work like that, huh?) and the outer layer cracks open to reveal Minior's "core" form, and there are seven possible candy flavours that you can find, corresponding to the colours of the rainbow -- the only problem is, you won't know what Minior flavour you're getting until you crack him open. It's one of those alternate-forms completionist deal and while a lot of thought is put into many of the seventh-generation designs, I feel that Minior is one of those that's just got a bunch of cosmetic variants for no real reason. It's at least cute, and apparently it'll flat-out die if its core stays exposed and the dude's not placed into a Pokeball? Minior's cute enough, especially the core form's swirly eyes, but it's ultimately just kind of... there. It's just a floating rock meteor, and there's not much to it. It hangs out with fellow space-themed pokemon like Beldum and Clefairy atop Mt. Lanakila, but while there's nothing really wrong with Minior, it's a Pokemon I constantly have to remind myself it exists, because, shit, they really could've done something far more interesting with this dude.
2/6.#775: Komala
- Type: Normal
- Japanese name: Nekkoara
- Category: Drowsing
3/6.#776: Turtonator
Oh, hey, it's this ugly dude! I admit I took one look at Turtonator, nodded that they finally made a Mata Mata turtle (Chelus fimbriata) into a Pokemon, noted to myself how it's as ugly as its real-life counterpart, and then moved on. You see, somehow I missed the fact that it's a Fire/Dragon Pokemon. Yep, a Pokemon based on a snapping turtle with a vaguely Kappa-esque face ends up being given a "volcanic landmine" theme, and instead of being pure-Fire or Fire/Rock or something along those lines, they decided that Turtonator is a dragon. And honestly? I ended up liking Turtonator a fair bit more due to this ridiculousness. You'd think that the Fire/Dragon type combination would be more obvious, but so far the only ones to have it are Reshiram and Mega Charizard X. The former being a legendary pokemon that honestly doesn't quite look as fiery as she could be, and the latter being more of a fan wink-wink-nod. And then there's this silly turtle.
The thing is, once I got over how ugly its face looks, Turtonator's actually a pretty awesome tortoise man. See, its shell is filled with gigantic, mean-looking lava spikes, and it fights with its shell facing towards the enemy, one of the few Pokemon alongside Mawile and Mega Sceptile to do so, because Turtonator wants its enemies to run headlong onto its spiky shell. Its spiky, explosive shell. See, the -onator part of his name is short for detonator, and Turtonator's shell is filled with explosive chemicals that will erupt -- exemplified in its signature move, Shell Trap, which deals a fuckton of Fire-type damage to anyone who strikes it while the move is active. However, its stomach, the 'exhaust' of its explosion system, is apparently its weak point, a reference to the myth that turtles and tortoises are helpless if you put them on their back. Ultra Moon notes that Turtonator is especially afraid of the rain, which sets off its volatile chemicals, and Moon notes that its dung, in particular, is an explosive substance "put to various uses." Turtle Shit Grenades, anyone?
The thing, though, is that Nintendo didn't just slap together an obscure reptile with the land-mine theme, because the Mata-Mata Turtle does actually lie in the water, pretending to be a chunk of bark, unmoving until a fish swims close to its mouth, upon which it will use its open mouth to create a pressure difference to essentially suck the prey in. Turtonator is explosive, sure, but the ambush predator aspect is still around... as is his ugly mug, the distinctive nose and the jagged, flattened shell edges. Overall, I've grown to really like Turtonator over the couple of years since his release, and he's definitely one of the cooler ones among these frankly mostly-underwhelming stretch we're in.
4/6.#777: Togedemaru
- Types: Electric/Steel
- Japanese name: Togedemaru
- Category: Roly-Poly
This generation's resident Pika-clone is based on a hedgehog, with the twist that its spines aren't shaped like a proper hedgehog, but look more like flap-out panels in a children's book. Togedemaru is easily the least impressive of the Pikachu clones, being pretty silly and round, being Electric/Steel without looking particularly steely, and with a very bland design overall. He's somewhat better in the 3D games and in the anime, thanks to more dynamic spine-plate things, but at the same time, it's insanely underwhelming. I like Togedemaru a little bit more than Dedenne and maybe Plusle and Minun, but that's because it's at least somewhat different enough due to its spiky gimmick and weird-ass shape, but that doesn't mean that I like it either. Its dex entries are pretty generic, and I can't really say much about him. I won't judge you if you think Togedemaru is cute, but I certainly think that if they're going to put so little effort into Pikachu clones, just stick with Alolan Raichu and Hat Pikachu and Pikachu Libre instead. They at least manage to look charming. Togedemaru's just a big blob of awkward.
2/6.#778: Mimikyu
- Types: Ghost/Fairy
- Japanese name: Mimikkyu
- Category: Disguise
And I spoke too soon, because, see, Togedemaru's not the only Pikachu clone in this region. Mimikyu is exactly a Pikachu clone, but done right. See, unlike Togedemaru, Dedenne and the rest of the bland, uninteresting electric rodents, Mimikyu's a screechy, dark, unholy mass of a ghostly fairy -- easily two of the creepier types out there -- who has gathered and crafted a hilariously shitty costume of Pikachu because it envies the electric rodent's popularity (in a meta moment, the dex notes that there's a lot of Pikachu merchandise due a popularity boom 10 years ago) and yearns for friends. Unfortunately, its disguise is charmingly bad, with the creepy Pikachu face drawn in with crayons, and combined with the pale yellow cloth used, the silly wooden zig-zag "tail" and the bent ears, Mimikyu ends up looking charmingly creepy instead of being cute.
See, Mimikyu is a Ghost/Fairy, and it's a Pokemon designed with such an interesting and hilarious backstory. Sure, it's meant to appeal to the widest crowd ever, similar to the likes of Absol, but shit, look at that design! Can't you look at those two real beady eyes on the 'body' of the Pikachu and not love this thing? And all the horror stories about Mimikyu's real form is amazingly told, too. See, in the attack animations all we see are shadowy claws and the odd set of glowing eyes (particularly creepy in the anime, where they gave Mimikyu a screeching, unholy voice), but the Sun dex notes that a scholar that attempts to peek under the rag was "overwhelmed by terror and died from the shock". Ultra Moon tells us that an accidental gust of wind revealed Mimikyu's true form to a trainer, who "died painfully" after he went home that night. Yep, we're getting some eldritch, man-are-not-meant-to-comprehend horror going on with this adorable little buddy. Naturally, I caught one at the earliest possible opportunity, knowing that I needed to have one of these fuckers in my party. Mine's called Boo.
Of course, with the sole exception of the hilariously psychotic Mimikyu from the anime (and psychotic, twitching Sadako Mimikyu is the primary reason I watch the Sun/Moon anime), Mimikyu just wants to make buddies, as shown here in an official music video made by Nintendo, released a couple of days just after Mimikyu's release to the world. See, Mimikyu's bad costume was made so that it can find friends. And also hide its true, horrifying form. How adorable and simultaneously horrifying is that? Mimikyu's ability is called "Disguise", where the first chunk of damage Mimikyu takes is nullified. The enemy presumably hits Mimikyu's fake Pikachu head, causing the head to flop down like a broken neck, a form that the Pokedex hilariously identifies as the "busted form". Adorably, the Sun Pokedex notes how Mimikyu's unharmed, but very sad that its disguise is ruined, with the Ultra Sun Pokedex noting that "it has a hard time getting it right, so it's crying inside", and that Mimikyu will stay up all night trying to fix his damaged costume. Awww!
And I do love that while the Pokedex insists up and down that Mimikyu's just misunderstood, the two actual biggest media portrayals of Mimikyu portray it in an antagonistic light. The games has a Mimikyu set up one of the hands-down best parts of the Sun/Moon story in the abandoned mart trial, where you end up entering a weird stalker shrine to Pikachu on a mysterious back room (which disappears in subsequent visits), and a Pikachu shows up and transforms into an angry Mimikyu. And there's the aforementioned anime, which pulls off all the horror tropes they can conceivably sneak into a Saturday morning cartoon meant for pre-teens, turning Mimikyu into a hideous angry rival who's pissed off at Pikachu's popularity.... although that's just apparently the quirk of Jessie's Mimikyu, with other wild Mimikyus being mostly just in the "lonely misunderstood loner fairy-ghosts" corner.
I also absolutely love Mimikyu's gamut of moves. In addition to the expected Ghost, Fairy and Dark attacks, Mimikyu is able to naturally learn Wood Hammer. Which means it whacks you with that fake Pikachu tail branch. Among its TM learn lists, Mimikyu's able to learn Electric-type moves, showing off that, yes, it can totally try to pass off as Pikachu. Mimikyu's also one of the few non-legendary Pokemon who speaks in the main series games. Of course, the dialogue is insanely disturbing, with the Totem Mimikyu going "see mee!", and another one, a random one in a Pokemon Center, saying "me curse you." It's such a creepy yet lovable backstory, a simple design that re-uses some parts of the Shuppet/Banette backstory while giving a whole new spin on the concept, and is done with so much effort and care in both its game, anime, promotional and manga appearances that Mimikyu ends up easily becoming one of the seventh generation's most beloved Pokemon and... and yes, Mimikyu, it's a happy ending for you because you've found so much buddies worldwide. Overall, easily one of my favourites from this generation.
6/6.#779: Bruxish
- Types: Water/Psychic
- Japanese name: Hagigishiri
- Category: Gnash Teeth
I do love myself marine Pokemon, but poor Bruxish just has to come after the huge high that was Mimikyu. Poor Bruxish. See, Bruxish is based on a triggerfish, one of the many families of reef-dwelling tropical fishes. Specifically, considering the setting of Alola being based on Hawaii, Bruxish is likely based upon the Reef Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus), the state fish of Hawaii. Or, as it's called in Hawaii, "Humuhumukunukuapua'a", an objectively superior name. And Bruxish's colour scheme is gloriously neon, a mixture of pinks, purples, yellows and bright blues. But then they staple the weird-looking lipsticked and fanged mouth on it, and they turned the trigger into this weird "psychic organ" flower. And yeah, I get it, Bruxish is a Water/Psychic type that needs some justification of it being psychic beyond "it's purple", but at the same time... there's so little effort that feels like it went into this thing.
Where does bruxism play into this thing? Apparently its psychic power is to echo the sound of its grating teeth throughout the sea, which just honestly feels bland. Bruxish's role as a Psychic-type and having sharp teeth apparently makes it the natural predator of the Poison-type Mareanie, though. Bruxish's powerful jaws and teeth are a stylistic adaptation of the real-life triggerfish's powerful jaw muscles, able to crack through the shells of bivalves (the Moon pokedex notes that Bruxish also prey on Shellder). But honestly? As much as I appreciate the level of attention given to marine zoology here, Bruxish has always been utterly underwhelming. It's not forgettable, at least, but dang is it annoying to look at. They really could've made Bruxish a lot less uglier, honestly. It's not the worst Pokemon in the seventh generation, I don't think, but it's pretty bleh.
2/6.#780: Drampa
Drampa has to be right up there in the "oh yeah, this thing exists" category. It's just so forgettable to me. It's the version-exclusive counterpart to the far cooler Turtonator up above, but honestly? This Normal/Dragon is genuinely so bland that I can't really think of anything to say. It's a weird old swan-dragon based on oriental dragons. It's also old. But very powerful, and gets pissed if you bully kids. And... and that's about it, really. Like everyone else in the seventh generation, Drampa has his own signature ability, Berserk, that ups his attack if his HP is reduced... honestly pretty generic stuff. I do love the Ultra Sun's dex noting that Drampa will "find the bully's house and burn it to the ground", making Drampa some sort of weird playground geriatric dragon version of the Punisher. But the concept of training a weird dragon-swan with old man features just doesn't appeal to me in a generation with a wrestler tiger, a ghost archer owl, a samurai isopod, a ghost-fairy cosplayer, algae ghosts possessing an anchor and a bodybuilding mosquito alien. I think it's its weird, blank-faced face is what puts me off? I dunno. On a bad day I'd give Drampa a 1/5 rating, but I don't think I dislike it that much.
2/6.#781: Dhelmise
- Types: Ghost/Grass
- Japanese name: Dadarin
- Categories: Sea Creeper [Seaweed in Japanese]
Oh, this one's very cool. Dhelmise's honestly the only Pokemon I'd consider triple-typed. See, Dhelmise is nominally a Ghost/Grass Pokemon, but its ability, "Steelworker", essentially gives it STAB damage for all its Steel-type attacks, without the defensive stats of the Steel-type. Why? Well, because, despite the main bulk of Dhelmise's body being an anchor and a ship's steering wheel lumped together to form some sort of wacky grinning face, Dhelmise isn't the anchor or the wheel. Dhelmise is the ghost of the seaweed that's around it, so while it gets the attack bonus for using the metal anchor, it isn't actually the anchor itself. Pretty sweet!
While at first glance I thought that Dhelmise was just going to be Aegislash Mk. II, the concept of Dhelmise being this green seaweed, that, thanks to it being a ghost (born of "the soul of adrift seaweed", according to the pokedex), possesses a rusty anchor that it swings around as its new body, apparently being able to knock out giant Wailords in a single blow, and then wrap itself around the Wailord to drain their vitality. It's such a glorious attempt at integrating both ghost ship tropes and pirate tropes (if you don't notice, the single compass-eye on the wheel gives the impression of Dhelmise only having one eye). Honestly, Dhelmise's just right up there in terms of wacky creativity, and I'm genuinely sad that Dhelmise is sorely under-represented in the Sun/Moon games, being an insanely rare encounter at a very specific spot, and only really mostly showing up as part of Elite Four Acerola's party.
Dhelmise has a signature move, Anchor Shot, which shoots out an anchor on a chain to damage the enemy and prevent their escape. That's so cool. And can I just really note that as much as they tried giving Dhelmise a 'face' with those compass eyes and the anchor 'mouth', Dhelmise's real body is emphasized to be the algae scum, making this perhaps one of the few pokemon without a true 'face', so to speak? Honestly, Dhelmise's such a cool concept, and while I might not have a personal emotional connection to it the way I do to Mimikyu or Decidueye, Dhelmise is easily still one of my favourites from this generation. Shame it's featured so little. But shit, possessed algae that drags around a gigantic anchor to bludgeon its enemies to death? Dhelmise's just pretty cool.
5/6.#782-784: Jangmo-o, Hakamo-o & Kommo-o
Which brings us to the final entry for today, the pseudo-legendary dragons of Alola, and also one of the few Pokemon to have punctuation marks in their names. Mo-o is a Hawaiian word that means lizard or dragon, hence the naming scheme. The pure-Dragon Jangmo-o is this weird lizard-dinosaur dragon, and the whole concept of the evolutionary line is that they have distinct scales that clang together and make huge noises, and is associated heavily with ancient Alolan warriors. It's... it's a neat backstory, sure, but it's something that we sort of already had with the likes of Aron and Whismur, and honestly, while Jangmo-o does look pretty neat and scrappy, I didn't take to it as much as I do a lot of other designs.
Jangmo-o evolves into Hakamo-o, a bipedal Fighting/Dragon dual-type whose scales have transformed into these scalloped golden armour plates that's probably meant to resemble some sort of ceremonial armour. It's... neat? I'm not the biggest fan of the rather cluttered design, although at least it's somewhat pleasant clutter. Hakamo-o and Jangmo-o's huge crest is probably why their faces look so odd -- those parts really could've used some extra details, in my opinion. I do like that Hakamo-o still has the tendency to leap into battle in loud cries, considering that it's named after the Haka war dance.
Hakamo-o then evolves into the final stage of this pseudo-evolutionary line, Kommo-o... and a lot of people hate this thing. I don't! It's far from being my favourite design, but I thought that it's actually a lot more interesting than I feared it would be when I saw Hakamo-o for the first time. I do like how the armour plates scallops down like a 'skirt' of sorts on its waist, and as a headress on its head. It's definitely not my thing, since I've never been the biggest fan of weird, cluttered dragon monsters, but Kommo-o at least looks relatively unique from the deluge of boring, over-detailed tacky dragons found in so many other Japanese video games. I genuinely don't have much to say about Kommo-o... it's neat that the jingling-warrior deal is brought into its final form, but at the same time there's really not that much to talk about here. It's got the signature move Clanging Scales, where Kommo-o will use its scales to create soundwaves to damage the opponent, but then lose Defense because presumably the scales are ruined because of this? It's kinda crap, which is why the Ultra games have Kommo-o a proper Z-move to make Clanging Scales worth something.
Honestly, I don't mind these three. They're okay designs, I think, and I don't think they're bad at all. And as our first Fighting/Dragon Pokemon, we definitely could've gone a lot, lot worse. I just feel that they're not "my thing" and the amount of clutter (pleasant clutter, but still clutter nonetheless) on Hakamo-o and Kommo-o really turns me off. Again, these are designs that look a fair bit better when animated in 3D, but at the same time, I just don't really care that much about these three and can't muster that much enthusiasm. They're cool dragons? You have to fight a Totem Kommo-o (that I one-shotted with a Ribombee)? That's about it. Again, I do respect the design, and I respect Kommo-o's fans, but I personally don't like it all that much.
2/5.I'm going to cut it a bit short here, but that's only because Type: Null and Wimpod got me to become a bit wordier than I intended to. Still, considering we only have a string of non-evolving dudes left before the legendaries, the finish line is in sight! Thank you for all of you who've supported this year-long juggernaut.
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