And the second generation might've been a little bit... lacking, for the simple fact that even the creators acknowledged that a lot of the Generation II Pokemon were meant to be included in the Generation I games and were left on the cutting room floor. Honestly, the second generation was far more intent on introducing features to the game that would reshape the entire game for generations to come. It was the first generation to debut genders for nearly every Pokemon as well as the concept of breeding, and egg-hatching. It was the first generation to introduce the concept of friendship, and Pokemon that evolve when you max out their friendship. It was the first generation to introduce the day/night cycle, and the idea that a Pokemon's activity and evolution might be influenced by it. It also introduced held items, and sometimes Pokemon may evolve and fuse with these held items. It's a pretty revolutionary generation, and honestly up until the sixth generation introduced mega evolutions, I don't think any other generation added as many features as the second generation did.
Still, while back then I've always considered a huge majority of the second generation to be pretty blah, my feelings have mellowed out somewhat. It might just be nostalgia talking (because the second generation had like one of the longer stretches of the manga, or at least it felt like it) and while it'll never beat out generations I and III in my hearts, I've learned to really like it.
Still, back then it was a huge, huge event. What's that? The original 150 isn't the be-all-and-end-all of the amount of Pokemon? Of course the idea of the sequel has been implanted in our minds pretty well, with the likes of Togepi appearing very early on in the anime, Ho-oh (although unnamed and miscoloured) appeared all the way in the very first episode, and the likes of Marill, Snubbull, Donphan, Slowking and Lugia premiering in movies with little fanfare and leading us to go "whoa whoa whoa a new cool thing!" There's definitely something magical in seeing a Pokemon in a piece of media for the first time, something that's lost when nowadays people do data-dumps and hack through all the game files within 24 hours of a game's release.
I'm going to talk about how many of the second-generation Pokemon feel like they're grossly under-represented in their own generation, but the starters definitely aren't. They do feel absolutely underwhelming compared to every other starter that came before or after that, which is pretty unfair. All three of the Johto starters are purely single-types, and they don't benefit from all the fancy mega evolutions or Z-moves or whatever the hell that the more popular and iconic Kanto starters or subsequent generations got.
Still, from a design standpoint they're pretty neat, and from a design standpoint I honestly found out that I actually prefer Chikorita the best out of the Johto starters -- and that's surprising, considering that my default starter for Johto games has always been Cyndaquil. We'll talk about my fire rat baby down the line, but I've never realized how much I appreciated Chikorita. It's the grass-type starter of the region, and it's just a cute little baby dinosaur-thing crossed with a big pepper. It kind of communicates its grass type in the same way that Bulbasaur does -- an animal with plant parts, with Chikorita's case it being a huge leaf on the top of its head. Chikorita has cute eyes and a ring of little nubs that, if you watch the anime, are actually where Chikorita's vine whips extend out from, a neat little detail.
Judging by its original Gold/Silver sprite, Chikorita was originally intended to be yellow, forming a more natural progression into Bayleef and Meganium, but between Gold/Silver and the updated release of Crystal, Chikorita's main body is revised to be light green, which is a shame, because once more we're left with a middle stage with a colour disconnect similar to Charmander and Squirtle.
Chikorita evolves into Bayleef, being far more recognizably a sauropodal dinosaur, our first proper sauropod in the game. Again, it's a neat design, carrying all the themes from Chikorita -- the nubs evolved into these weird curled-up leaves, and the head-leaves got a neat little twisted stem and a little chunk bitten out of it. Bayleef's lore tended to talk about the sweet scent that it emits out of its neck, either waking people up or putting people to sleep. Again, Bayleef isn't the most intricate of Pokemon, but I've always enjoyed its simplicity.
Still, back then it was a huge, huge event. What's that? The original 150 isn't the be-all-and-end-all of the amount of Pokemon? Of course the idea of the sequel has been implanted in our minds pretty well, with the likes of Togepi appearing very early on in the anime, Ho-oh (although unnamed and miscoloured) appeared all the way in the very first episode, and the likes of Marill, Snubbull, Donphan, Slowking and Lugia premiering in movies with little fanfare and leading us to go "whoa whoa whoa a new cool thing!" There's definitely something magical in seeing a Pokemon in a piece of media for the first time, something that's lost when nowadays people do data-dumps and hack through all the game files within 24 hours of a game's release.
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________________________________________________________#152-154: Chikorita, Bayleef & Meganium
- Types: Grass [all three]
- Japanese names: Chikorita, Beirifu, Meganiumu
- Categories: Leaf [Chikorita/Bayleef], Herb [Meganium]
I'm going to talk about how many of the second-generation Pokemon feel like they're grossly under-represented in their own generation, but the starters definitely aren't. They do feel absolutely underwhelming compared to every other starter that came before or after that, which is pretty unfair. All three of the Johto starters are purely single-types, and they don't benefit from all the fancy mega evolutions or Z-moves or whatever the hell that the more popular and iconic Kanto starters or subsequent generations got.
Still, from a design standpoint they're pretty neat, and from a design standpoint I honestly found out that I actually prefer Chikorita the best out of the Johto starters -- and that's surprising, considering that my default starter for Johto games has always been Cyndaquil. We'll talk about my fire rat baby down the line, but I've never realized how much I appreciated Chikorita. It's the grass-type starter of the region, and it's just a cute little baby dinosaur-thing crossed with a big pepper. It kind of communicates its grass type in the same way that Bulbasaur does -- an animal with plant parts, with Chikorita's case it being a huge leaf on the top of its head. Chikorita has cute eyes and a ring of little nubs that, if you watch the anime, are actually where Chikorita's vine whips extend out from, a neat little detail.
Judging by its original Gold/Silver sprite, Chikorita was originally intended to be yellow, forming a more natural progression into Bayleef and Meganium, but between Gold/Silver and the updated release of Crystal, Chikorita's main body is revised to be light green, which is a shame, because once more we're left with a middle stage with a colour disconnect similar to Charmander and Squirtle.
Chikorita evolves into Bayleef, being far more recognizably a sauropodal dinosaur, our first proper sauropod in the game. Again, it's a neat design, carrying all the themes from Chikorita -- the nubs evolved into these weird curled-up leaves, and the head-leaves got a neat little twisted stem and a little chunk bitten out of it. Bayleef's lore tended to talk about the sweet scent that it emits out of its neck, either waking people up or putting people to sleep. Again, Bayleef isn't the most intricate of Pokemon, but I've always enjoyed its simplicity.
Bayleef's final stage is Meganium, a mighty green-colorued sauropod with a flower for a neck-piece, and antennas instead of leaf on its forehead. The entire Chikorita line has a running theme of healing with plants and aromatherapy, and Meganium is the most powerful among the three as far as this little gimmick goes. Hell, apparently its mere breath can revive dead plants and flowers, and its fragrance calms emotions, both to heal its allies and to blunt its opponent's fighting spirits, according to the pokedex. And you know what? I kinda like Meganium simply for how different she looks compared to all the other starters. Nearly all the other fully-evolved forms of the starter pokemon throughout two decades have been badass monsters, but Meganium plays off the soothing, rejuvenating and calming aspect of the Grass-types, being the 'medic' among the legions of badass blade dinosaurs, fire breathing dragons, penguin swordsmen and tiger wrestlers. It's an evolutionary line that is simply pretty great from a design standpoint, and maintains its cuteness and gentleness in its final stage. It's just a shame that in-game Meganium doesn't actually live up to its healer potential, but I do like this dinosaur quite a fair bit.
4/6.#155-157: Cyndaquil, Quilava & Typhlosion
- Types: Fire [all three]
- Japanese names: Hinoarashi, Magumarashi, Bakufun
- Categories: Fire Mouse [Cyndaquil], Volcano [Quilava/Typhlosion]
I've always picked Cyndaquil when I play through Johto games, even throughout my playthrough of HeartGold. And honestly, the only reason I do so is simply because Cyndaquil is so fucking adorable. It's this cute little bipedal echidna-thing with aspects taken from other rodents and mammals, with permanently closed eyes that makes it look just so d'awww adorable. And while older sprites don't show it, that flame tail actually retracts when Cyndaquil isn't doing anything, and flares up like a porcupine's tail when it fights -- it's a dynamic 'transformation' of sorts that Cyndaquil does in battle, shown very well in the anime and manga... and I fell in love with that concept, to be honest. And I just love Cyndaquil! It's a little timid baby rodent, and if we're going by the cutest starter ever, I honestly can't think of any that beat out Cyndaquil in that department.
Unfortunately, the 3D games starting from the sixth generation depict Cyndaquil, Quilava and Typhlosion without their flames active as their 'default' state, which is just absolutely criminal. Criminal, I say! I don't mind if the line shuts off their fiery organs when they're in Pokemon-Amie or Refresh or in your party, but they really should've had the flames on throughout the battle as opposed to be just during attacking animations. I feel like it takes a lot away from Typhlosion and Quilava in particular. Hell, if the likes of Xerneas can stay with her horns all rainbow-coloured throughout the battle, so can Cyndaquil's line.
6/6 for Cyndaquil.
Cyndaquil's second stage is Quilava, where it ends up losing a fair bit of its charm as a Cyndaquil. It loses the snout, and its adorable closed baby eyes are replaced with generic triangle anime eyes. Its porcupine-esque butt-tail also gets replaced with a fiery mohawk and a peacock-esque tail. Quilava isn't a bad design, but it does feel like a generic ferret-on-fire as opposed to the more adorable and ambiguous creature that is Cyndaquil. At least when the anime depicts Quilava, it really likes to have it curl into a whirling, spinning wheel of fire, which is a great mental image. I don't dislike Quilava, having gone through Johto many times with it, but I've always felt Quilava to be a pretty bland middle stage.
Quilava then evolves into the mighty Typhlosion, who as a kid I've always thought to be some sort of weird skinny bear with a snout. Typhlosion is, of course, based upon the honey badger, and I'm not super-keen on rodents in general to really read up too much about it. Typhlosion is neat and intimidating, though, being a screeching, roaring giant rodent creature with a mane of flames. (Which, again, the 3D games stole away from its default appearance, which makes me really sad). Typhlosion's lore notes the many creative things it does with fire -- rubbing its fur together to cause huge explosions, or creating heat hazes to hide itself. Still, looking back and trying to be as objective as possible, I do feel that the Cyndaquil line, minus the sheer cuteness of its base form, may be one of the least interesting starter lines both conceptually, design-wise and lore-wise. I still love it a lot for what it is, though... a screeching, raging fiery badger monster with a name that combines typhoon and explosion.
4/6 for both of the evolutions. #158-160: Totodile, Croconaw & Feraligatr
- Types: Water [all three]
- Japanese names: Waninoko, Arigeitsu, Odairu
- Categories: Big Jaw [all three]
A serious contender for Chikorita in the 'cutest base starter form' is Totodile. Hell, even its name is cute! Totodile is a little happy, chompy bipedal crocodile, and I've always loved the way they designed Totodile's eyes. I'm not sure what the yellow bits on his chest are supposed to be other than to break up the colour scheme, but at the same time Totodile just looks so energetic and adorable, and its interpretations in manga and anime formats have always endeared Totodile to me. Totodile is also a Pokemon that the pokedex warns even trainers about, with large, powerful jaws coupled with the mentality on chomping down on any moving object it sees, with nine out of ten pokedex entries noting that even its own trainer needs to be careful with it. And it just looks so dang adorable! For the longest time, too, the Totodile line was our only crocodilian Pokemon up until the fifth generation. As someone who 'mains' a Cyndaquil in Johto games, I've also always found Totodile with his bandit-esque eyes to be a neat starter for my antagonistic rival (and hoo boy 'Silver' is antagonistic as all hell) to use from a design standpoint.
5/6 for Totodile.
It's a shame that this adorableness is kind of lost when Totodile evolves into Croconaw, and the design goes for more pudgy and chunky, with Totodile's weird yellow markings extending to become something akin to a Flintstones-style caveman's shirt. Croconaw ends up having a neat identity compared to the cuter Totodile and the far more menacing Feraligatr, particularly with the shape of its face and the unique curves of its lower jaw. the pokedex entries note that Croconaw is able to regrow fangs that break off, a highly exaggerated version of how crocodiles can regrow lost teeth.
Croconaw's final evolution is Feraligatr, one of the most obvious casualties of the 10-character limit of the old Game Boy games (another one is Victreebel) and it's a pretty cool-looking crocodile man. The spikes grow spikes, it gets a particularly more hunch-backed pose (especially in its original sprites and its original art) to coincide with its whole caveman/neanderthal look. It's a far larger and feral version of Totodile, which is probably what you signed up for if you picked a Totodile. I do love its pokedex entries, which describe how deceptively slow it is on land, but it is absolutely fast and savage in the water or when it decides to fight, with neat descriptions paralleling real-life crocodiles and alligators "shaking its head and savagely tearing its victims up". I've always found the weird yellow V-shape on its crotch to be weird, and really wished it has just been a simple yellow belly in the style of Rhydon or Snorlax, but it's a small complaint. A very solid line overall, even if I like Totodile's evolutions significantly less compared to Chikorita's and Cyndaquil's.
3/5 for Totodile's evolved stages.#161-162: Sentret & Furret
- Types: Normal [both]
- Japanese names: Otachi, Ootachi
- Categories: Scout [Sentret], Long Body [Furret]
Sentret and Furret are going to be one of the 'themes' that will be repeated in every generation, and in their case, Sentret and Furret fill the same role as Rattata and Raticate in the first game. A Normal-type pokemon based on some sort of rodent (or rodent-esque mammal) that appears early on, isn't particularly powerful, and helps set the tone of Pokemon games in general. Of course, Generation II games actually still have Rattata pulling his chops, and poor Sentret has to share the role of early-route-rodent with Rattata, although at least Sentret gets to do the day shift and Rattata does the night shift. And Sentret is... pretty okay. He's a combination of meerkats (behaviour-wise), flying squirrels (his hand design) and features of many other generic animals. Some people call Sentret based on the mythological Tanuki based on its tail and... I say why not? Sentret's a neat little generic rodent, and it looks cute enough to hang around. Ultimately the whole standing sentry with its tail thing doesn't make it super interesting (considering that some real-life animals kind of do a similar thing, sans giant tail). It's just... cute, and I suppose that is pretty neat. Sentret won't rank pretty high up if I ever rate the Johto Pokemon from top to bottom, but I don't mind it.
Furret, on the other hand, loses a lot of the charm it has as a Sentret. Look at Sentret's cute bunny ears, and that :< face and that huge fleshy tail and its unique tail-stand appearance. Furret is just... a cutely drawn ferret creature, and while there's the joke that its whole body is essentially a tail, it turns the otherwise cute and unique-looking Sentret into a pretty bleh design. Furret isn't horrible, of course, but I've honestly not remembered a whole deal about Furret in game, anime or manga beyond filling out the background. Hell, not even the pokedex really thinks up of anything super-interesting to talk about it, and it's not even because Furret's an early-route rodent because they do for the likes of Raticate, Linoone and Bibarel. So yeah. I dunno. I kinda like Sentret, but Furret really just is kind of elicits a huge, huge m'eeeeh from me. Furret objectively isn't terrible, but it's just so hard to really say anything positive about it. It's cute, I guess?
3/6.#163-164: Hoothoot & Noctowl
- Types: Normal/Flying [both]
- Japanese names: Hoho, Yorunozuku
- Categories: Owl [both]
Following up the 'early-game-rodent' is the 'early-game-bird', a Normal/Flying little bird that evolves into a larger bird of prey, to take on the role that Pidgey (and to a lesser extent Spearow) used to take. And boy, I really like Hoothoot. It's a bit of an underrated Pokemon due to how relatively useless Noctowl is in-game, but I do have a soft spot for these guys design-wise. I mean, owls are cool animals to adapt already, but Hoothoot isn't just a happy spherical owl baby. It's a clock. With eyebrows (itself likely based on the horned owl) that resemble clock hands, and its swaying to-and-fro on its single leg (Hoothoot actually has two, but it only perches with one and hides the second leg in its body -- a fact that boggled me a lot while watching the anime as a kid) mimics a grandfather clock pendulum. And while the clock-hand-eyebrows don't move, Hoothoot will hoot at the same time every day, mimicking those bastard birds that make noise early in the morning while also mimicking an alarm clock.
Other dex entries note how Hoothoot is sometimes heralded as a symbol of wisdom, how they have internal organs in sync with the earth's rotation and how they were originally bred for alarm clocks, which are neat little additions to this Pokemon's lore... a stark contrast to silly old "builds a lair" Furret. Oh, and naturally, Hoothoot pops up only at night, while Pidgeys pull day duty.
Hoothoot evolves into Noctowl, which is a wee bit less charming than Hoothoot, but definitely looks badass. It does lose a bit of the uniqueness that Hoothoot has, but it does work really well as a predatory badass owl, from the massive horns to the stern glare, and its large role in the anime (a shiny one to boot!) doesn't hurt. I kind of wish they expanded more on the 'clock' theme, or that they made Noctowl a little bit more unique compared to all the other Normal/Flying types out there... it does carry some characteristics of real-life owls (180 head rotation, night vision) and the awesomely metal title of "Emperor of Dark Nights", but beyond that he's honestly pretty boring. As a kid I've thought that Noctowl was partially Psychic-type for a long time for the sheer amount of psychic-type moves it is shown to use both in the anime and games, and I remembered being disappointed when I actually caught one in-game. Still, Noctowl's a pretty solid flavour entry into the Pokemon world, even if in-game he isn't particularly any good.
4/6.#165-166: Ledyba & Ledian
- Types: Bug/Flying [both]
- Japanese names: Rediba, Redian
- Categories: Five Star [both]
I'm... I'm just not a big fan of these dudes. They are ostensibly the counterparts to the Caterpie and Weedle lines as easily-evolving Bug-types caught early on, another repeating trope throughout generations, but Ledyba and Ledian are honestly a pretty bland pair. They're cute enough as Bug/Flying types, but they're ultimately just cartoon ladybugs with punching gloves. But Ledyba itself is honestly pretty boring. It's just a happy bug, it huddles itself in swarms (real-life ladybugs do it in winter times) and it communicates with scent. Ledyba's cute enough, but I honestly can't bring myself to talk all that much about it.
Ledian is slightly more anthropomorphized, with clear little humanoid feet and more humanoid head, and it's a neat evolution from Ledyba. And it's... well, it's still a Bug/Flying type, and I honestly thought these two are a huge, huge missed opportunity to be a Bug/Fighting type. There's also the general missed opportunity of turning the ladybug Pokemon into truly voracious predators -- ladybugs are predators, after all -- but that's more of thanks to my own bug geekery more than anything. There is a neat little gimmick according to the Pokedex where Ledian apparently being empowered by stars in the night, and it sprinkles dust that brings luck... but it's honestly still pretty bland. I guess the most interesting thing about Ledyba and Ledian is that they seem to be the finalized form of an early sketch of Weedle's evolution, when Weedle was meant to evolve into a beetle pokemon with four arms that ended with punching gloves. Why couldn't Ledyba and Ledian actually have a larval and pupal stage too, by the way? Not that every Pokemon needs to replicate their real-life counterparts, but at least it's something.
3/6.#167-168: Spinarak & Ariados
- Types: Bug/Poison [both]
- Japanese names: Itomaru, Ariadosu
- Categories: String Spit [Spinarak], Long Leg [Ariados]
Spinarak and Ariados act as counterparts to Ledyba and Ledian. See, Ledyba is exclusive to Pokemon Gold, and only shows up in the day. Spinarak is exclusive to Pokemon Silver, and shows up in the night. Spinarak and Ariados are, naturally, Bug/Poison. And as a recovering arachnophobe, Spinarak is a pretty cute little spider, with cute little fangs and horn (as if the 'spider bite' theme needed to be enforced even more) and... six legs. Spiders, to all of you who flunked third grade science class aren't insects, but arachnids, who are supposed to have eight legs. Of course, this is the Pokemon world and we have ponies on fire and anglerfish that emit electricity and two-headed kiwi-ostriches, so the number of a bug's legs really isn't something anyone should be that pedantic about. And Spinarak is honestly everything Ledyba isn't. A cute little bug that still looks a lot like the arcahnid it's supposed to represent, instead of just slapping googly eyes on an insect and calling it a day. Spinarak even has a fake face on its abdomen, which is pretty cool, and perhaps a reference to some spiders with coincidental markings on their abdomen, like the Theridion grallator, otherwise known as the happy-face spider. And yes, it is exactly what you think it is. In the anime, Spinarak's abdomen face can even emote!
And the game designers actually bothered to do something with Spinarak and Ariados' concept as spiders, giving them the unique move Spider Web, preventing the enemy from escaping or switching out. Until the fifth and seventh generation introduced more spider Pokemon (Joltik and Dewpider respectively), the Spider Web move was unique to Spinarak and Ariados.
Ariados is a pretty cool spider, too, with its creepy jointed legs, its striking red-and-black body and its yellow-and-purple legs. Its pair of rear legs are also held high, jutting up from its abdomen, while two eye spots adorn its abdomen and its butt-spinneret-stinger thing... which makes Ariados' abdomen resemble a face of its own... which, of course, is a reference to another wacky spider, Myrmarachne formicaria, otherwise known as the ant-mimic spider. And yes, the ant-mimic spider actually does make its body mimic an ant in order to infiltrate ant colonies. Ariados doesn't do that (Durant isn't conceived of until like nearly a decade later) but it is a mean-looking spider, and it makes use of both rear and front ends to shoot web. While Spinarak's dex entries note that it spins a web to trap its prey, Ariados is based on spiders that wander around and attack prey... and yeah, in real life, different species of spider hunt in different ways. The fourth generation Pokedex gives a pretty chilling and cool entry for Ariados: "it attaches silk to its prey and sets it free. Later, it tracks the silk to the prey and its friends." What a pretty cool-sounding method!
I used to be an arachnophobe, but even back when my phobia was at its height, I always respected the sheer adaptability and variations of spiders out there. And both Spinarak and Ariados, as useless as they are in the game (I'm sorry, but it's true) are still pretty cool both visually and conceptually.
4/6.#169: Crobat
- Types: Poison/Flying
- Japanese names: Kurobatto
- Categories: Bat
There's just something cool about how Crobat is often depicted in the anime, with its two pairs of wings flapping quickly up and down, and while I mourn the loss of iconic vampire fangs, Crobat's angry expression has endeared itself to me. Plus it's even purple! There are so much cool images of Crobats out there, too, which makes me happy.
And Crobat's whole deal is that with two pairs of wings, it's fast as all hell, something reflected in the games itself. It's not the absolute fastest, that honour still belongs to our big goofy electric ball Electrode even in the second generation, but Crobat is blindingly fast and hits pretty hard, and apparently its two pairs of wings allows it to go through the night silently, and apparently it uses the wings alternatingly if it's tired. It's also got a pair of piddly legs... which apparently are vestigial, because many pokedex entries note that Crobat has to use its wings to crawl on the ground, wyvern-style or something.
My love for Crobat is pretty personal, though -- I've never minded the design and liked him when I first saw him in the second generation, but I always thought he was kind of a chump, the way that Golbat was, so I never bothered using him. Until it was the time when I quit Pokemon and came back around the time that fifth generation was about to end. I played Platinum, and one of my strongest-hitting Pokemon in that game was a Crobat, which I leveled up all the way from a level 7 Zubat... and my Crobat kicked all sorts of ass. Since then Crobat has been a staple in many teams of mine, and the way you evolve Crobat is pretty cool, too. See, the second generation was the first to introduce a 'friendship' evolution, so you have to shower your pokemon with love and care before it will evolve... and considering Zubat ends up having the memetic loser status attached to it, often derided as that 'annoying bat fuck that swarms you in caves', having one that gets showered with so much care that it evolves into a kickass quadruple-winged poison bat is just the ultimate underdog-wins story. That's the mental image I have when I used a Crobat to murder Cynthia's meta-defining pseudo-legendary uber-competitive Garchomp (of an equal level, no less), and everyone loves a good underdog.
6/6.#170-171: Chinchou & Lanturn
- Types: Water/Electric [both]
- Japanese names: Chonchi, Rantan
- Categories: Angler [Chinchou], Light [Lanturn]
Okay, time to calm down from my Crobat fanboying and talk about Chinchou and Lanturn. I've always loved deep-sea fishes, and coolest among them are the anglerfish, these grotesque underwater fat fishes with gigantic maws filled with needle-like fangs and a lure that they use to fool little fishes to float into their mouth. And I absolutely adored that they decided on turning the anglerfish into something as fucking adorable as Chinchou. Look at him! He's got those adorable plus-sign eyes, he's got two lures that come out of its tail, his body is a little sphere, and his fins are like little waddling feet and hands. Hell, the fact that Chinchou is a fish with fins that resemble feet is a likely reference to the frogfish (family Antennariidae) or the batfish (family Ogcocephalidae), both anglerfish subtypes who hunt with lures, but also have specialized fins that allow it to waddle-walk throughout the seafloor. And they made it adorable like Chinchou, and this is a cutefying done right. Take notes, Ledyba. Chinchou is so obviously based on those sub-types of the anglerfish if you know what you're looking for, but if you don't it's still a unique creature in and of itself.
Hell, it's also Water/Electric type, which calls to mind multiple other fishes that can generate electrical charges (like electric eels and electric rays), making Chinchou's "lamp-lure" a literal electrical lamp. it's established to use the lights to communicate and to shock prey, because it lives underwater... and I so appreciate it when Chinchou actually are found only when you dive deep underwater in the Generation III games. As a result of that, Chinchou, in my head, is always associated more closely with the Generation III games. It's such a precious design, with weird eyes and a weird concept that all ends up in a cute-but-weird package.
5/6 for Chinchou.
It's a shame, that, like Sentret up above, Chinchou ends up kind of feeling absolutely generic when it evolves into Lanturn. Lanturn isn't a bad design, it just feels really uncreative. It's just... an anglerfish, the most generic kind with a forehead lure, with a cartoon fish face slapped onto it. After the sheer bizarreness and cuteness that is Chinchou, Lanturn ends up feeling pretty generic. It's still an electric anglerfish which is a neat concept, and I appreciate that even with that cute face the pokedex notes that it's still a predator, but I'm honestly kind of disappointed with what we got with Lanturn. Hell, even his name is boring. "Lantern" with a vowel substitution? It doesn't even get to keep Chinchou's cool looking eyes!
So yeah. I've never thought that much about it, but Lanturn does end up disappointing me, and I feel I probably would've loved this evolution line a lot more if the final form was less 'generic fish with a lamp on its head' and actually focuses more on the anglerfish's gonk design or expounded on Chinchou's weirdness. I dunno. I think I'm being somewhat too harsh on Lanturn, but... eh. Lanturn's not terrible. I just really wished it kept Chinchou's weird eyes.
3/6 for Lanturn.
3/6 for Lanturn.#172: Pichu
- Type: Electric
- Japanese name: Pichu
- Category: Tiny Mouse
In addition to breeding (which I talked about above and also when we were discussing Ditto) we get the revelation of 'baby' Pokemon, which are... well, 'baby' stages that you never find in the wild, only when you breed a Pikachu and hatch this mysterious pre-evolved form from an egg. It's a neat concept that doesn't actually justify the large amount of attention it gets throughout the second through fourth generation, which added way too many babies. See, the thing about babies is that after you bred one to fill in that slot in your Pokedex, you kind of just never care about it that much. It's infinitely weaker than its evolved form, and all it serves is to sell more real-life plushies and dolls... and honestly, aren't the likes Pikachu and Jigglypuff already adorable enough? Pichu is the baby version of Pikachu and... and... shit, I really want to talk some smack about baby Pokemon, but we have the misfortune of starting off with Pichu, which is actually quite cute. Pichu will unfortunately start off another trend of repeating themes over generations, and that is of the 'pika-clone'. Electric-types that are designed to resemble Pikachu with sub-par stats and electric cheek-sacs. Pichu is neat enough and its status as a 'pika-clone' is justified by being an actual pre-evolution, but the others... well, we'll get there when we get there. Pichu's existence is unnecessary, but it's cute enough, design-wise. Lore wise... it's a Pikachu that isn't adept at controlling its electricity, and is able to shock itself, something that its appearance in the Smash Bros game actually used as a gimmick. Overall, though, I tend to be apathetic on babies. They're cute, but I won't shed a tear if they get removed from the game.
3/6.#173: Cleffa
- Type: Fairy [Normal prior to Generation VI]
- Japanese name: Pi
- Category: Star-Shape
I like Cleffa a lot more than Clefairy and Clefable. Formerly Normal-type and now pure Fairy-type, Cleffa is of course the baby form of Clefairy. It's essentially just Clefairy with simplified arms, legs and ears, and a far, far more adorable face that it should've had in the first place. I don't have that much emotion on Cleffa, mostly because I remain pretty indifferent towards Clefairy, but individually she's a cute pink-blob. Like Clefairy, there's this whole oooo-mystery on whether they are aliens or not, with Cleffas showing up when there's a meteor shower (and also it's shaped like a star), and they apparently disappear with sunrise... but eh. Cleffa's cute, and I can't fault her for that. I kinda wish that they did babies for Pokemon that actually looked like they needed babies, like the likes of Kangaskhan. But Clefairy babies never being spotted in wild at least works well as part of its whole 'actually aliens' story. Cleffa at least genuinely looks adorable.
3/6.
3/6.#174: Igglybuff
- Type: Normal/Fairy [Normal prior to Generation VI]
- Japanese name: Pupurin
- Category: Balloon
2/6.#175-176: Togepi & Togetic
- Types: Fairy [Togepi; Normal prior to Generation VI], Fairy/Flying [Togetic; Normal/Flying prior to Generation VI]
- Japanese names: Togepi, Togechikku
- Categories: Spike Ball [Togepi], Happiness [Togetic]
I've always loved Togepi. Togepi was our 'hook' into egg-hatching and breeding, where it hatches from a 'free' egg that was a plot device that was passed around throughout the opening experience of the Johto games. Togepi actually heralded the discovery of Pokemon eggs and breeding in general in-universe when you hatched it into a Togepi. Togepi was, of course, given immense amounts of screentime in the anime, being Misty's "baby" Pokemon. While I was slightly pissed off that the writers turned Misty into full-blown mama chicken mode instead of the spunky tomboy she used to be, I can't deny that Togepi is at least cute. Add that to the whole point that this adorable little baby actually packs a punch with its iconic "Metronome" move, where by wagging its finger it can unleash any move at random -- sometimes lucking into moves exclusive to legendaries... Sure, Metronome came with Clefairy but I've always associated it more with Togepi thanks to the anime and the games. Lore-wise... Togepi's an innocent baby that brings joy. That's about it. The Adventures manga characterized Togepi as an absolute PUNK due to being raised by the protagonist of the Johto arc, Gold, who is a delinquent... and the punk Togepi is just hilarious.
Togepi, design-wise, is pretty simple. It wears the remnants of the iconic red-and-blue-triangle egg as a sort of a diaper, with its spiky head popping out and having little stub arms and legs. I'm not sure if its my own dormant parental instincts manifesting or whatever, but I've always tried to make the weak Togepi work as a member of my party in both the second generation and fourth generation games when you get a Togepi egg... and in my Platinum playthrough, alongside my Crobat, Togepi was one of my core party members (although it helps that Generation IV gave Togepi a final evolution). Togepi was also retconned into Fairy-type from Normal-type, making it a fair bit more exciting.
Oh, and there's the whole thing about Togepi being found as a mysterious egg way back in the first season of the anime, then hatching into this wacky shit no one has ever seen before... yeah, Togepi will always feel magically mysterious when in theory there's nothing super-interesting about him that no other Pokemon couldn't do. Togepi evolves into Togetic, again by the friendship mechanic, and it's... a weird chicken-pixie with the egg shell patterns merging with its body? Togetic is a weird design, and I've always liked its design even before the whole Fairy-typing came about. It looks like a pixie or a fairy that incorporates the aspects of Togepi that's important -- spike heads, the egg-shell markings, the simple limbs, while having the wings and higher stats to show off the true 'power' of the being you've raised from an egg. Of course Togetic isn't actually super-powerful, which is a bit of a shame, and in retrospect they could've done so much more interesting stuff with Togetic... but I dunno. I still kinda like the line as a whole.
5/6.
Togepi, design-wise, is pretty simple. It wears the remnants of the iconic red-and-blue-triangle egg as a sort of a diaper, with its spiky head popping out and having little stub arms and legs. I'm not sure if its my own dormant parental instincts manifesting or whatever, but I've always tried to make the weak Togepi work as a member of my party in both the second generation and fourth generation games when you get a Togepi egg... and in my Platinum playthrough, alongside my Crobat, Togepi was one of my core party members (although it helps that Generation IV gave Togepi a final evolution). Togepi was also retconned into Fairy-type from Normal-type, making it a fair bit more exciting.
Oh, and there's the whole thing about Togepi being found as a mysterious egg way back in the first season of the anime, then hatching into this wacky shit no one has ever seen before... yeah, Togepi will always feel magically mysterious when in theory there's nothing super-interesting about him that no other Pokemon couldn't do. Togepi evolves into Togetic, again by the friendship mechanic, and it's... a weird chicken-pixie with the egg shell patterns merging with its body? Togetic is a weird design, and I've always liked its design even before the whole Fairy-typing came about. It looks like a pixie or a fairy that incorporates the aspects of Togepi that's important -- spike heads, the egg-shell markings, the simple limbs, while having the wings and higher stats to show off the true 'power' of the being you've raised from an egg. Of course Togetic isn't actually super-powerful, which is a bit of a shame, and in retrospect they could've done so much more interesting stuff with Togetic... but I dunno. I still kinda like the line as a whole.
5/6.#177-178: Natu & Xatu
- Types: Psychic/Flying [both]
- Japanese names: Neiti, Neitio
- Categories: Tiny Bird [Natu], Mystic [Xatu]
Ah, Natu and Xatu. these were a pair that I never actually met when playing through the Generation II games, being rare encounters on a specific area of the Ruins of Alph, and barely being used by trainers in the games. It's not until the third generation's Safari Zone that I ended up being super familiarized with them. Natu and Xatu are our first Psychic/Flying Pokemon, and is a very ambiguous little tiny bird. I like it -- it's some sort of mangled combination of an exotic culture. Some people say that Natu's Aztec or Mayan or whatever, but I do like it. Its eerily almost-human eyes give it a strange, dreamy quality, and add that to Natu's colourful colour scheme makes Natu an instantly striking design. Natu doesn't actually have much in lieu of lore beyond being a psychic bird, but it apparently can't fly and just hops around on those tiny feet, which is adorable. I mean, look at those painted wings! They definitely can't support Natu's weight.
Natu evolves into Xatu, which seems to be based on... native American totem poles? The Silver Pokedex straight-up identifies Xatu as coming from South America. I confess I don't actually know enough about that particular culture to say so with any definiteness, but it does look pretty exotic. I'm a bit too tired today to research which combination of culture soup Xatu is based on, but it does end up looking pretty neat. I've always loved how Xatu's folded wings looks like an intricate part of the totem design, as well as those fake-eye-markings on Xatu's chest. Xatu's head thankfully still keeps the intensely-dreamily-staring aesthetic that Natu has, and this time around Xatu's staring because it can see into the past and the future at the same time, with the right eye seeing into the future and the left eye viewing the past. It's also a bird that meditates a lot, not moving when it begins to meditate until an entire day has passed. Xatu is definitely one of the more under-appreciated Pokemon in the second generation. It's never going to be my favourite, but it's a decent design, in my opinion.
3/6.#179-181: Mareep, Flaaffy & Ampharos
- Types: Electric [all three]
- Japanese names: Meripu, Mokoko, Denryu
- Categories: Wool [Mareep/Flaaffy], Light [Ampharos]
A lot of people love the purely-Electric Mareep, Flaaffy and Ampharos, and it's not hard to see why. They're electric sheep, which is an unexpectedly clever joke to 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep', a classic science novel. So Mareep is, well, literally an electric sheep. And Mareep's name is a clever anagram of ampere, while at the same time being a neat pun on "Mary had a little lamb". The sheer perfectness and multi-layered puns on Mareep's English name has always charmed me. Mareep herself could really have been relegated to one of those boring "cartoon animal with an elemental power" designs and it would've been fine, but they at least do something cool with the evolution line. Mareep's whole justification for being an electric type is the sheer amount of static electricity produced by its wool, and I always loved the little glowing bulb on Mareep's tail. Plus, the yellow-black parts of its ears and tail has always made it look neat.
The simple Mareep evolves into Flaaffy, where it has gone bipedal, lost a good chunk of its wool and... has its skin become pink for some reason? It's still hard to complain about Flaaffy for the simple reason that it's so gosh-darned adorable, but again, there's the whole 'Wartortle' syndrome of my personal pet peeve of the middle stage evolution looking weirdly not-in-sync with how the evolution goes visually. While initially seeming like a reference to wool-shearing, Flaaffy's wool-less patches is apparently due to it storing too much electricity, but the remaining wool's quality has increased so much that it can generate and store even more electricity than it can as a Mareep. Definitely a neat little detail of how this electric bipedal sheep works.
And then Flaaffy evolves into Ampharos, and unlike, say, Dratini's evolution line, at least the evolution from a sheep to this bipedal giraffe-dinosaur creature can be seen as Mareep loses wool and becomes taller and more humanoid as it becomes Flaaffy. It's not perfect, but at least I can see what they were going with it. Ampharos regains the yellow-black electrical colour scheme that Mareep has, essentially becoming a completely wool-less sheep, ending up looking like a cool bipedal dragon or dinosaur with flippers for arms and red orbs on its tail and head. Ampharos is actually meant to resemble a lighthouse, especially from the bright gem on its head and its markings... and lighthouse is what 'pharos' means in Greek.
And Ampharos is actually used in place of actual electrical lights in lighthouses of the Pokemon world, with a major plot point in the Johto games being that you need to get medicine for the sick Ampharos on Olivine City's lighthouse before the gym leader Jasmine would deign to fight you. A static-wool sheep that gradually loses its wool evolves into an upright vaguely-draconic monster that is supposed to represent a lighthouse isn't something that I would ever think up of, and I'm genuinely surprised by how well this evolutionary line ended up working.
I keep using the word 'draconic', because Ampharos' Japanese name is Denryu, which is written in katakana, as all Pokemon names are. 'Denryu' can correspond to two particular kanji combinations, one meaning 'electric current' and the other meaning 'electric dragon'... which, of course, might inspire Ampharos's appearance, and definnitely the pun inspires Ampharos's subsequent mega-evolution, which is part-dragon. Not bad for what used to just be a random sheep.
4/6.#182: Bellossom
- Type: Grass
- Japanese names: Kireihana
- Categories: Flower
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Bellossom. She's not the worst design out there, a hula dancing plant creature with flowers for 'hair' and leaves for a skirt. It's not my thing, but it's not the most horrible thing out there... but even then it's not the most creative, either design-wise or lore-wise (which essentially amounts to 'happy dancer'). The kicker is that Bellossom evolves from motherfucking Gloom, something that I've known for nearly two decades but my brain still has some trouble working around. See, Oddish to Gloom to Vileplume always had a neat sense of progression, with the dark purple bulb with a grass or a flower on top growing larger and larger. Bellossom really has nothing in common with the Oddish line, which is a weird creepy-cute smelly corpse flower evolutionary line. Bellossom also ends up turning into a pure Grass-type, and honestly I really think that if I could retcon one thing in the Pokemon universe, I'd make Bellossom a standalone Pokemon. It just doesn't work on so many levels, both visually and thematically, for this to evolve from Gloom. Bellossom's earliest artwork portrayed its main body with a dark purple/black colour, which at least ties its 'main' body visually to Gloom and Oddish... but the games and the anime consistently depicts Bellossom with green skin, so... I dunno.
It's one of our first 'branching evolutions' that we get in the second generation. Gloom evolves into Bellossom if you give the brand new Sun Stone to Gloom... but let's be honest here. Vileplume is just straight-up cooler from a concept standpoint, from a visual standpoint and from its typing. And to add insult to injury, even Nintendo forgot about Bellossom, the hula dancing Pokemon, when they made an entire region based on Hawaii in the seventh generation. Hell, I think Bellossom only shows up for a brief cameo in the Ultra games in the hotel. Shows how much Nintendo gives a shit about this Pokemon, I guess. I suppose I could stand to be less harsh on Bellossom, because she's otherwise a pretty pleasant hula flower lady, but tied to the Gloom line she just feels genuinely out of place.
2/6.
It's one of our first 'branching evolutions' that we get in the second generation. Gloom evolves into Bellossom if you give the brand new Sun Stone to Gloom... but let's be honest here. Vileplume is just straight-up cooler from a concept standpoint, from a visual standpoint and from its typing. And to add insult to injury, even Nintendo forgot about Bellossom, the hula dancing Pokemon, when they made an entire region based on Hawaii in the seventh generation. Hell, I think Bellossom only shows up for a brief cameo in the Ultra games in the hotel. Shows how much Nintendo gives a shit about this Pokemon, I guess. I suppose I could stand to be less harsh on Bellossom, because she's otherwise a pretty pleasant hula flower lady, but tied to the Gloom line she just feels genuinely out of place.
2/6.#183-184: Marill & Azumarill
- Types: Water/Fairy [both; Water prior to Generation VI]
- Japanese names: Mariru, Mariruri
- Categories: Aqua Mouse [Marill], Aqua Rabbit [Azumarill]
Oh hey, Marill! I loved this chubby little bastard. Marill enjoyed a brief stint of being called "Pikablu" back when screenshots of his first anime debut was leaked in the primitive internet, with all sorts of hilarious rumours on how to get this absolutely-more-secret-than-Mew Pokemon. Turns out Marill is just an average old Water-type. The sixth generation retconned Marill and Azumarill into Water/Fairy, which... I guess makes some sense, I suppose. Marill's cute in the same way that Pikachu is cute, but feels fresh. From its wacky zig-zag tail to its big ball tail, I've always found Marill to be quite pleasant aesthetically. I always loved how its tail is filled with oil to prevent Marill from drowning, and its flexible tail allows it to wrap it around trees to prevent being washed away by strong currents. If Pikachu's a rat, it stands to reason that Marill is, and the rakali are rats adapted for living near water. It's a lot less cute than Marill is, though.
I don't usually mention shinies, but shiny Marill is such a pleasing shade of neon green (and so many green shinies are straight-up puke-worthy), and shiny Azumarill is an even more pleasing shade of bright yellow, and the two are some of the prettiest shinies I've ever seen.
Marill evolves into the mighty Azurmarill! And mighty indeed. Trust me -- I won't bore you with the details, but back in the sixth generation I bred out a belly-drumming monster of an Azumarill to use in wi-fi battles. And even before having a powerhouse of an Azumarill in my wi-fi team, I've always enjoyed its cute little white-polkadot print on its body, and its rabbit-like ears. It's essentially the same evolutionary pattern that Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff has, but Azumarill ends up looking still as cute as Marill. I'm not sure where to put my finger on, considering I significantly prefer Jigglypuff to Wigglytuff, but I do like both Marill and Azumarill. Apparently the bubbly pattern allows it to camouflage itself underwater, and its bunny ears are superb sensors for underwater items? I just kind of like these two from a design standpoint, and turning them into part-Fairies makes some degree of sense (Marill is a cute blob like Jigglypuff and Clefairy, after all). It's cool.
5/6.
I don't usually mention shinies, but shiny Marill is such a pleasing shade of neon green (and so many green shinies are straight-up puke-worthy), and shiny Azumarill is an even more pleasing shade of bright yellow, and the two are some of the prettiest shinies I've ever seen.
5/6.#185: Sudowoodo
- Type: Rock
- Japanese names: Usokki
- Category: Imitation
Sudowoodo gets a lot of flak from people for being 'useless' and, yeah, like many generation II Pokemon that never got an evolution, it isn't good competitively. But come on... Sudowoodo's hilarious! Never mind that its name is just straight up pseudo-wood, a pun I never got until I am well into my twenties. Because, you see, Sudowoodo is literally pseudo-wood. It looks like a tree, but it's not a tree. It's a pure-Rock-type, and therein lies the joke... and I like it.
You see, Sudowoodo ends up aping Snorlax's role in the Generation II games, blocking a crossroads between multiple towns, shaking around as a dancing tree that you can't budge. And, y'know, the visuals of a dancing tree is hilarious enough. But once you get a watering can (Squirt-Bottle in Generation II; Wailmer Pail in the remakes) the fake tree gets angry that it's sprayed with water (rocks are weak to water) and attacks.
And, well, the idea of a Rock-based monster that imitates a tree is honestly pretty hilarious. I mean, lots of insects imitate plant parts, lots of insects imitate rocks... so yeah, in this world where rock creatures exist, one of them apparently imitates a tree. Some people note that Sudowoodo might even be based on petrified wood, which is wood that's fossilized and essentially became stone... which... okay, why not? I guess it's a way to deter Water-types from attacking it (water-types are weak to grass-types) which is a pretty neat little fantastical version of species mimicry? And looking up the typing chart, all of a grass pokemon's weaknesses are resisted or netural to a rock type, meaning that, well, just like the young me who tried to order my Quilava to flame wheel the Sudowoodo on instinct... it doesn't work.
And while Sudowoodo acts like a fake tree, the games actually play this up a lot. In the sixth generation, if you ever encounter a horde of Trevenants, you have a chance to have a Sudowoodo hanging out amongst them, pretending to hang out with the cool ghost-trees, something that cracks me up so much the first time I saw it. And in the seventh generation's Ultra games, you actually get to see trees resembling Sudowoodo... that are actually trees. So yeah. Sudowoodo's a joke, but it's honestly a pretty funny joke. And honestly, design-wise Sudowoodo's pretty neat, too. It has these cool weird green bulbs that kind of helps it in its mimicry, but at the same time doesn't actually look like authentic leaves. And it has this permanently dopey expression on its face, which endears good old Sudowoodo to me even more.
5/6.
You see, Sudowoodo ends up aping Snorlax's role in the Generation II games, blocking a crossroads between multiple towns, shaking around as a dancing tree that you can't budge. And, y'know, the visuals of a dancing tree is hilarious enough. But once you get a watering can (Squirt-Bottle in Generation II; Wailmer Pail in the remakes) the fake tree gets angry that it's sprayed with water (rocks are weak to water) and attacks.
And, well, the idea of a Rock-based monster that imitates a tree is honestly pretty hilarious. I mean, lots of insects imitate plant parts, lots of insects imitate rocks... so yeah, in this world where rock creatures exist, one of them apparently imitates a tree. Some people note that Sudowoodo might even be based on petrified wood, which is wood that's fossilized and essentially became stone... which... okay, why not? I guess it's a way to deter Water-types from attacking it (water-types are weak to grass-types) which is a pretty neat little fantastical version of species mimicry? And looking up the typing chart, all of a grass pokemon's weaknesses are resisted or netural to a rock type, meaning that, well, just like the young me who tried to order my Quilava to flame wheel the Sudowoodo on instinct... it doesn't work.
And while Sudowoodo acts like a fake tree, the games actually play this up a lot. In the sixth generation, if you ever encounter a horde of Trevenants, you have a chance to have a Sudowoodo hanging out amongst them, pretending to hang out with the cool ghost-trees, something that cracks me up so much the first time I saw it. And in the seventh generation's Ultra games, you actually get to see trees resembling Sudowoodo... that are actually trees. So yeah. Sudowoodo's a joke, but it's honestly a pretty funny joke. And honestly, design-wise Sudowoodo's pretty neat, too. It has these cool weird green bulbs that kind of helps it in its mimicry, but at the same time doesn't actually look like authentic leaves. And it has this permanently dopey expression on its face, which endears good old Sudowoodo to me even more.
5/6.
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