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#442: Spiritomb
- Types: Ghost/Dark
- Japanese name: Mikaruge
- Category: Forbidden [Sealed in Japanese]
If you've been keeping score, then you'll probably easily note that one of my favourite types so far are Ghost-types. Between ghosts, bugs and weird water-types, my personal interests do veer towards the stranger creatures in the pokedex. And the fourth generation brought us some really, really weird ghosts, like the balloon... and Spiritomb. The first time I saw Spiritomb, I didn't really take to him. Yeah, it's just a scary angry face in a swirling mass of mist. We've seen that back in 1995. And honestly? Up until I really saw Spiritomb in the 3D games (where the face is still rendered in 2D, making Spiritomb have such an interesting looking silhouette), his design never impressed me. It's just a swirling cloud with ambiguous glowing orbs coming out of a cursed stone. The concept is neat, but the visual execution felt lacking. The asymmetry of Spiritomb's eyes, how one of them has a swirly pupil and the other doesn't, is pretty striking, but there's nothing that really makes Spiritomb stand out among crazy-looking ghosts like Sableye, Gengar, Dusclops and Banette. That is, until you read the pokedex entries.
Spiritomb is a Dark/Ghost type, sharing Sableye's place as a creature without weakness up until the sixth generation, and, as the original dex entries note, Spiritomb is "a pokemon that was formed by 108 spirits", and that "it was bound to a fissure in an Odd Keystone as punishment for misdeeds 500 years ago". So yeah, it's not merely a sealed spirit in a cursed keystone, it's also a literal legion of evil ghosts. The number 108 is highly important in oriental and Buddhist culture, too, being a recurring theme for spiritual renewal, most importantly as the 108 temptations that man must overcome to achieve Nirvana. Water Margin, a piece of classic literature from China, actually has 108 demons be unleashed from their tomb within a sealed rock, and be reincarnated into 108 freedom-fighting heroes for atonement. And being an Asian myself, this little nod to chunks of oriental culture definitely makes me appreciate Spiritomb more... but even then you don't have to really know that to appreciate what Spiritomb is. A mass of evil spirits that take the form of a flat, stylized ghost face that materialize out of cracks in a stone with a rune in it. Are the spirits just... ghosts of humans? Ghost-type pokemon? What, exactly? No one will know, but you can catch one of these swirling amalgamations of screaming souls in a ball, nickname them "Cuddles" and have him dance around with a top hat for the entertainment of the masses.
The way to obtain Spiritomb in the original fourth-generation games was ridiculously convoluted, especially since it's not even a legendary pokemon. You need to first obtain the Odd Keystone, then place it on top of the Hallowed Tower (Sinnoh's mausoleum), and then in the vein of some absolutely bizarre 'glitch' deal going on, you have to go to the fourth generation's local-wireless-multiplayer Underground feature and speak to 32 other players, which would cause the Odd Keystone to unleash its Spiritomb which you can then challenge. Fucking weird, man. It never gets this convoluted to get a Spiritomb in later games, with the fifth generation having Spiritomb be the reward of a long trading quest chain, and the sixth having it appear as a one-off pokemon in Sea Mauville. Spiritomb is also memorable for being one of the pokemon used by Cynthia, Sinnoh's champion and arguably the hardest boss fight in the history of this franchise. Yeah, I do like this weird son of a bitch.
6/6.
Spiritomb is a Dark/Ghost type, sharing Sableye's place as a creature without weakness up until the sixth generation, and, as the original dex entries note, Spiritomb is "a pokemon that was formed by 108 spirits", and that "it was bound to a fissure in an Odd Keystone as punishment for misdeeds 500 years ago". So yeah, it's not merely a sealed spirit in a cursed keystone, it's also a literal legion of evil ghosts. The number 108 is highly important in oriental and Buddhist culture, too, being a recurring theme for spiritual renewal, most importantly as the 108 temptations that man must overcome to achieve Nirvana. Water Margin, a piece of classic literature from China, actually has 108 demons be unleashed from their tomb within a sealed rock, and be reincarnated into 108 freedom-fighting heroes for atonement. And being an Asian myself, this little nod to chunks of oriental culture definitely makes me appreciate Spiritomb more... but even then you don't have to really know that to appreciate what Spiritomb is. A mass of evil spirits that take the form of a flat, stylized ghost face that materialize out of cracks in a stone with a rune in it. Are the spirits just... ghosts of humans? Ghost-type pokemon? What, exactly? No one will know, but you can catch one of these swirling amalgamations of screaming souls in a ball, nickname them "Cuddles" and have him dance around with a top hat for the entertainment of the masses.
The way to obtain Spiritomb in the original fourth-generation games was ridiculously convoluted, especially since it's not even a legendary pokemon. You need to first obtain the Odd Keystone, then place it on top of the Hallowed Tower (Sinnoh's mausoleum), and then in the vein of some absolutely bizarre 'glitch' deal going on, you have to go to the fourth generation's local-wireless-multiplayer Underground feature and speak to 32 other players, which would cause the Odd Keystone to unleash its Spiritomb which you can then challenge. Fucking weird, man. It never gets this convoluted to get a Spiritomb in later games, with the fifth generation having Spiritomb be the reward of a long trading quest chain, and the sixth having it appear as a one-off pokemon in Sea Mauville. Spiritomb is also memorable for being one of the pokemon used by Cynthia, Sinnoh's champion and arguably the hardest boss fight in the history of this franchise. Yeah, I do like this weird son of a bitch.
6/6.#443-445: Gible, Gabite & Garchomp
- Types: Dragon/Ground [all three]
- Japanese name: Fukamaru, Gabaito, Gaburiasu
- Category: Land Shark [Gible], Cave [Gabite], Mach [Garchomp]
Buckling the trend, the fourth generation's pseudo-legendary came in the middle of the pokedex as opposed to the end, clustered alongside the actual legendaries. But boy oh boy, do the fandom love this particular pseudo-legendary. And how can anyone blame them? Garchomp is one of the hands-down most badass designs to ever be created from this franchise. The first stage of this Ground/Dragon evolutionary line, Gible, is cute enough, but I've never particularly taken a liking to it. It's neat, it's like a baby shark-dinosaur with the proportions of Pac-Man, but I've always thought that the hammerhead-shark-esque lumps on the side of its head was rather unnecessary. Gible's neat enough, and I really liked how this thing looks like it could still fuck you up if you get on its bad side. And the simple idea of a shark-dinosaur-dragon that tunnels through rock and sand is pretty neat.
Where the line is going is apparent when Gible evolves into Gabite, who's a sleek design. Hell, if not for Garchomp, I'm honestly quite sure that there's a lot of people, myself included, that would be fine if Gabite was just the pseudo-legendary of the region and the final phase of an evolutionary line. It's a shark-dinosaur that swims through the sand, and just look at its design! Its face is mean, its arms end in a single large claw with shark-fins jutting out like blades, and it's got huge fins on its back. The red on its belly and the little extra spikes on its knee, plus the hammerhead-shark detailing on its head all work to make Gabite look complex and not cluttered, and this creature just looks pretty badass. Hell, it apparently digs up gems while digging through bedrocks, and ends up hoarding them, just like a classical dragon. I'm not sure if Gamefreak had the landshark or D&D's Bulette in mind when designing these, but Gabite and Garchomp honestly have enough of their own identity other than borrowing the whole "large reptile burrows in and out of sand" trope that's already common in sci-fi thanks to Dune.
Garchomp's dex entries note how he moves like a jet, sort of yet another pokemon that, like Rayquaza, Salamence, Latias and Latios, is yet another dragon pokemon with jet elements worked in, although Garchomp's at least feels far more organic what with all the wings and turbines working into the hammerhead shark motif. Garchomp apparently can actually fly (or glide) at supersonic speeds despite being Ground/Dragon, shown prominently in the anime. I've always loved my own mental image of Garchomp just swimming through sand so much better than it just awkwardly gliding, but honestly? Garchomp's cool. He can fly and be a sand-burrowing predator of doom. Pretty awesome, and honestly might be one of my personal favourite pseudo-legendary pokemon.
6/6.#446: Munchlax
- Type: Normal
- Japanese name: Gonbe
- Category: Big Eater
Snorlax gets a baby (via Full Incense) called Munchlax, which was relatively heavily featured in the pre-Generation-IV material, getting cameos in movies, anime episodes and even spin-off games. It's... it's okay? It plays up the glutton aspect of Snorlax while downplaying its tendency to sleep, but I honestly never took to Munchlax. As a standalone design it's pretty cute and delightfully gonk-y, but other than the colour scheme I really have trouble telling that this is supposed to be a Snorlax baby. I dunno. I guess it's the huge rabbit ears attached to the weird wide face that throw me off? I don't dislike it, and its appearance in media have endeared it to me, but I'm hard-pressed to say that I actually like it. It's got a neat gimmick where it apparently likes to hide items in its fur, which I find hilarious. I guess it just really throws me off because Munchlax looks a fair bit more complex than its evolution.
3/6.#447-448: Riolu & Lucario
- Type: Fighting [Riolu], Fighting/Steel [Lucario]
- Japanese name: Rioru, Rukario
- Category: Emanation [Riolu], Aura [Lucario]
It's kind of a tradition before this for one of the legendary pokemon to debut in a movie before the actual generation appeared. For the third generation, we have Manaphy... and Lucario. And then it's revealed that Lucario isn't actually a legendary, it's just... a pokemon. A decently-powerful one, but it's just hyped up to be marketed as the 'cool' face of the show. And it's... it's very marketable, for sure. It's a fox-man, it has a unique ability to sense the 'Aura' of people, it shoots hadokens out of its palms, and its got an angsty backstory of being separated by his master who wanted to protect him. And to be fair, the movie is actually one of the better entries in the pokemon movie franchise. But Lucario himself honestly never really appealed to me. As I have alluded before, I actually had a long hiatus between Generation III and prior to VI, but I actually did see the announcement to the Lucario movie, and remembered that I was entirely unimpressed by this humanoid fox pokemon that they announced was going to star in it, leading me to ignore anything else related to Generation IV's announcement and dropping out of the franchise.
And to this day, I'm not quite sure why I dislike him, other than the design... and let's be honest, I've seen worse. I guess it's the fact that Lucario's so imperfect on a design that is supposed to be super-duper-likable instead of deliberately chunky? I dunno. I don't hate Lucario. The concept of what's essentially every anime protagonist moulded into a fox-man form isn't a bad concept, but I honestly really feel that Lucario doesn't deserve the amount of praise and love from both the fandom and the franchise itself. I dunno. I just always found Lucario's design to be rather weird. Why does it have those black... things jutting out like weird dreadlocks? They look tackily glued onto the back of Lucario's head. They're supposed to be some aura-radar organs, but the design feels so poorly done. Why do his metal claws point outwards like that -- it's like completely useless unless it's giving a backslap, right? (And anyway, in the anime, anytime Lucario uses Metal Claw he just materializes Wolverine-esque energy claws) And why does it have gigantic flared upper legs? I dunno. I really think a bit more streamlining of its design, and giving it more practical-looking arms, would make Lucario far more appealing.
But let's acknowledge Riolu first... what little I can say about it, anyway. Riolu's a pure-Fighting type, and it's... it's neat. It's clearly designed as a smaller Lucario first and foremost, and I honestly forget it exists 90% of the time. It's everything that Lucario is, but smaller, with all the metal spikes retracted, and the yellow fur nonexistent. Riolu's cute enough, I guess, and even as a kid it can sense auras. Which is honestly a concept that's never been really delved into in any sort of depth, but that's fine. I do like that with the special/physical split in the fourth generation we get a concept that allows Fighting-types to pull a Goku and unleash special moves in trademark-friendly hadokens.
And then it evolves into Lucario, a Fighting/Steel type because its steel nubs grow into impractical-looking spikes, and its dex entries also only detail about its aura-sensing abilities. Still, it's that aura-sensing abilities that make him so popular thanks to the movie, although I've always preferred the XY season of the anime's interpretation of a Lucario with a split personality -- noble canine companion normally, but hulks out into a raging rabid beast when it mega evolves. I dunno. I really hope I'm not sounding like an "oh it's mainstream so it sucks" wet towel, because I really, really tried to like Lucario. I forced myself to use one in-game, but I never just got quite to liking it. I guess some pairings are just not meant to be?
A lot of people seem to think that Lucario is based on Anubis, but other than being a Jackal-man, Lucario has absolutely nothing to do with the afterlife or Egyptian mythology, and Anubis has nothing to do with auras and hadokens. I dunno. The first time I saw Lucario he's mostly inoffensive, but the more I look at the design the more cluttered he looks. The puffy shorts, the weirdly bent tail, the way those aura organs look, the weirdness of the positioning of the spikes. And then I take a look at Mega Lucario, which streamlines Lucario's design into a far, far more pleasant and organic looking design.
Overall, Lucario's neat, and I will acknowledge its massive popularity and fandom. He's neat, and I don't hate him, but there are way, way more pokemon I prefer compared to him, and especially looking at how much neater the design could be when I view Mega Lucario... yeah. I'll give him a rating 3, the number of neutrality.
And then it evolves into Lucario, a Fighting/Steel type because its steel nubs grow into impractical-looking spikes, and its dex entries also only detail about its aura-sensing abilities. Still, it's that aura-sensing abilities that make him so popular thanks to the movie, although I've always preferred the XY season of the anime's interpretation of a Lucario with a split personality -- noble canine companion normally, but hulks out into a raging rabid beast when it mega evolves. I dunno. I really hope I'm not sounding like an "oh it's mainstream so it sucks" wet towel, because I really, really tried to like Lucario. I forced myself to use one in-game, but I never just got quite to liking it. I guess some pairings are just not meant to be?
A lot of people seem to think that Lucario is based on Anubis, but other than being a Jackal-man, Lucario has absolutely nothing to do with the afterlife or Egyptian mythology, and Anubis has nothing to do with auras and hadokens. I dunno. The first time I saw Lucario he's mostly inoffensive, but the more I look at the design the more cluttered he looks. The puffy shorts, the weirdly bent tail, the way those aura organs look, the weirdness of the positioning of the spikes. And then I take a look at Mega Lucario, which streamlines Lucario's design into a far, far more pleasant and organic looking design.
Overall, Lucario's neat, and I will acknowledge its massive popularity and fandom. He's neat, and I don't hate him, but there are way, way more pokemon I prefer compared to him, and especially looking at how much neater the design could be when I view Mega Lucario... yeah. I'll give him a rating 3, the number of neutrality.
3/6.#449-450: Hippopotas & Hippowdon
- Type: Ground [both]
- Japanese name: Hipopotasu, Kabarudon
- Category: Hippo [Hippopotas], Heavyweight [Hippowdon]
These pair of Ground-types are... okay. They are hippopotamuses, but they live in the sand instead of the water. Oh, and the males and females are coloured dramatically differently, with the dark brown and light brown being swapped between males and females. For Hippowdons, males are mainly brown and females are manly black. Hippopotas is one of those designs that I immediately disliked. It's weird, with those weird eyes that jut out and a big fat awkward-looking giant spherical foot-like mouth. I've grown numb to it over the years, but that initial "buh-WHA?" feeling still lingers. That's not particularly fair to Hippopotas, though... he's kinda cute, especially in the 3D games, and I do like the details about how it travels through sand. It sweats sand! It covers its nose-holes while swimming in sand! It has a personal portable sandstorm to ward off germs!
But Hippowdon? Hippowdon's far, far more awesome and makes me forgive the awkwardness of Hippopotas. Hippowdon is the big, gaping, scary chompy hippo, and communicates 'desert hippo' so much better than Hippopotas. It constantly spews sand out of the holes on its back, and I'm also a big fan of its weird sand-shoe legs. Hippowdon just captures what makes a real-life hippopotamus so scary and destructive, while also making it evident that this is a monster that lives in the desert and spews sand, and I've always liked that. Hippowdon sadly doesn't really get a lot of attention in-lore and is just a random desert creature, but I've always liked Hippowdon. I mostly really think that it's just the artwork that shows Hippowdon bursting out of the sand, and I always felt like the 3D games lost so much by just having just Hippowdon's body stand there like a boring hippo as opposed to being surrounded by a bed of constantly-pouring-out sand. That's not Hippowdon's fault, though! They're still funny sand hippos!
4/6.#451-452: Skorupi & Drapion
- Types: Poison/Bug [Skorupi], Poison/Dark [Drapion]
- Japanese name: Sukorupi, Dorapion
- Category: Scorpion [Skorupi], Ogre Scorpion [Drapion]
Any time people ask me "man, what other cool animals haven't had a pokemon made after it?" The first instinct for me is to answer "scorpions!" before remembering Drapion (and Gligar) exists. I'm not sure why... maybe it's because they're all so wackily proportioned, and so far away from the general silhouette of a scorpion? That's not a bad thing, though. We have two scorpion pokemon lines, and neither are an obvious transplant of the real-life animal, and that's fine by me.
Skorupi is a Poison/Bug pokemon, and that's definitely fair for scorpions. It's designed where the segments on a scorpion's body are represented as these huge geometric chunks and... not gonna lie, I kinda wish that Skorupi's tail has been streamlined a bit, and that its arms are less spheres-glued-to-its-head and had actual joints, but it's honestly just me being nitpicking. I like how Skorupi switches around the general configuration of a scorpion -- pincer arms and stinger tail -- and gave the pokemon stinger arms and a pincer tail. Always found that to be hilarious. Skorupi's face is also neat, with elongated vertical eyes and appropriately buggy pedipalps. The dex entries describe Skorupi as an ambush hunter, hiding underground before springing up and poisoning their prey. There's always a disconnect where the pokedex notes that Skorupi lives in arid areas, but in Sinnoh, Kalos and Alola, the line is always found in marshes and forests.
Skorupi then evolves into Drapion, and becomes less of a traditional scorpion than Skorupi is, looking instead like some sort of... shit, I don't even know what it's supposed to represent. Drapion also drops the bug type, becoming a Poison/Dark type, which always ends up confusing me because I see a giant scorpion monster and I go 'bug' instinctively. To add to the bizarreness, Drapion's part of the 'Water 3' egg group, even though it's a scorpion. But I suppose it's appropriate that since Drapion has evolved into what the pokedex notes as an 'Ogre Scorpion', it's less of a bug, but more of a monster that usde to be a bug? I really want to like Drapion, but it does feel ridiculously chunky, with the alternating dark purple/light purple working against it. I'm also not a big fan of how the white pedipalp thing end up as... as some weird sideways tongues that stick out of the side of its mouth. But I do like Drapion's insane-looking centaur look, with an elongated neck that ends in a giant chompy mouth, two long arms that end in pincers extending out of his head, and the pincer tail. I've never been really sold on its design until I saw it animated and drawn in the manga, and apparently the entire head-and-arm organ can rotate independently and I found that particularly badass. Drapion is less of a scorpion and more of some weird alien bug monster, and I do like that. His dex entries just describe what an assholish, brutal Dark-type he is, ripping people apart with his claws or with poison. Drapion isn't my favourite creature, but I can respect what they're going for here.
5/6.#453-454: Croagunk & Toxicroak
- Type: Poison/Fighting [both]
- Japanese name: Guregguru, Dokuroggu
- Category: Toxic Mouth [both]
Like Drapion, the Croagunk line is very commonly found on the marshy areas of the Sinnoh region, and I originally dismissed them as "derpy frogs". They're not a bad design, but I always found the weird bandages on its belly to be strange. That is, until I find out that Croagunk and Toxicroak are actually Poison/Fighting. And boy, combine that to Croagunk's prominent role in the anime as a butt-punching pervert-stopping buddy with the funkiest creepy smile ever, and it quickly hopped into a special place into my heart. He quite literally punches Brock right in the asshole with a poison-covered fist any time he tries to pick up a woman. Croagunk is based on the poison dart frog, explaining its bright, blue-and-orange colours (although I'm sad that Croagunk doesn't actually look as pretty as its inspiration), and it's also a fighting frog, too. It honestly ends up being one of the more instantly-rememberable faces from the fourth generation for me. Its design just exudes personality, from that weird, weird set of yellow eyes and that grin.
Croagunk's cheeks can inflate, apparently storing its poison, and like real frogs, Croagunk can also use those sacs to make loud ribbiting noises. The anime does wonders for Croagunk, essentially turning it from what's otherwise an okay-but-forgettable design into one of the most memorable creatures in the Sinnoh pokedex. And add that to Croagunk's unexpected entry into Pokken Tournament, where Croagunk's entire fighting style is based around being a troll, and it's just a riot to have this little frog man with a shit-eating grin just waltzing around the arena fighting fighting masters like Lucario, Blaziken and Scizor.
Thankfully, unlike Psyduck, Croagunk retains its skeevy expression when it evolves into Toxicroak. Toxicroak is perhaps less popular than Croagunk due to being slightly overdesigned, and, well... it's a fair criticism. I like Toxicroak, but a combination of the black lines running down its sides, the 'red middle finger' on both arms and legs, the X-23 claws, the lipstick and the giant neck-sac all end up making me feel that there could be one or two details shuffled aside or gotten rid of entirely. Toxicroak's pretty neat, and though I don't really prefer it over its pre-evolved self, it oozes personality. Honestly, sometimes I forget that Toxicroak is Poison/Fighting instead of Poison/Dark, due to how much of a jackass it looks like.
Toxicroak's arm-blades (and the prominent horn on its head and feet-spurs) are a reference to the Hairy Frog (Trichobatrachus robustus, a.k.a. the Wolverine frog) that evolve actual bone claws that they can deploy out, like the goddamn Wolverine. The bones then break when they embed into the enemy, and then the Wolverine frog just hops away, probably muttering something about how they're best at what they do. Neat! Like real life poisonous frogs, Toxicroak's poison is so fatal that a mere stab can kill a human. Both the anime and manga had a field day with Toxicroak, generally portraying them as the 'mascot' baddie for Team Galactic grunts and admins. Definitely a big fan of this creature.
5/6.#455: Carnivine
- Type: Grass
- Japanese name: Masukippa
- Category: Bug Catcher
Considering how much I gushed over Victreebel back in my first-generation review, I honestly ended up being somewhat disappointed by Carnivine. A venus flytrap that is more goofy than creepy? Those huge leaf-fangs reduced to a cheesy, kooky grin and not a threatening alien monster like Victreebel? And it's non-evolving and completely useless in battle? I've warmed up towards Carnivine over the years, though. It's not fair to judge a pokemon design based on how skillful they are, and I honestly appreciate Carnivine a fair bit more. It apparently replaces James' Victreebel in the anime, chomping down on James' head and continuing a long-running tradition of James being abused by Grass pokemon, and it's not just a plant, because as its every appearance shows us, Carnivine inexplicably floats over the ground like some sort of crazy jellyfish monster. Who also happens to have the head of a venus flytrap, and two leaf-blade arms. It actually has Levitate as an ability, which I found hilarious. The dex gives us an explanation for Levitate -- apparently Carnivine climbs up larger trees and just hangs down, meaning that it's untouchable because it's on top of a tree. Still, the idea of some sort of plant jellyfish that hovers in the air is pretty neat.
Carnivine's got a fun face, too. Look at that face. He's just happy to be alive and wants to give you a hug and maybe chomp down on your face. I suppose the designers were trying to avoid the done-to-death Deku Baba/Piranha Plant adaptation of the venus flytrap, and went from 'chunky and scary' to 'spindly and funny'? I've grown to appreciate Carnivine a lot for its unorthodox design, and while I wouldn't be opposed for a Deku Baba head-on-a-stalk pokemon to appear somewhere down the line, I wouldn't want it to be on the expense of Carnivine. It's not my absolute favourite pokemon, but I don't mind it.
5/6.#456-457: Finneon & Lumineon
- Type: Water [both]
- Japanese name: Keikouo, Neoranto
- Category: Wing Fish [Finneon], Neon [Lumineon]
Finneon and Lumineon are often cited to be the 'boring fish' of Sinnoh, and... I can't blame them. They're both pure Water-types, and unlike the likes of Chinchou, Qwilfish, Carvanha or Huntail, they aren't even based on a particularly interesting real-life inspiration. Finneon fills the role of 'tropical saltwater fish' that these games tend to have the technically-based-on-freshwater-fish Goldeen and Magikarp fill, but honestly, I do agree that they could've gone far more interesting than just mashing a butterflyfish and a neon tetra together and calling it a day. I do like the visual pun of having Finneon's tail actually resemble butterfly wings, and like a real neon tetra, Finneon's dark blue/light blue/pink colour scheme is very aesthetically pleasant... but other than the whole 'sometimes it lights up' bit, there's really not much to Finneon.
I really kinda wish that Finneon's "colourful fish" bit continues as it evolves, but Lumineon drastically drops a lot of Finneon's pink, becoming almost entirely shades of blue except for a little spot on its weird tail. Lumineon's biology is sort of based on that of a frogfish, where it "crawls along the seafloor with the two fins on its chest", and it uses its tail-light to lure its favourite prey (Starmies, apparently?). The description of a seafloor-dwelling fish is neat, but the design ends up looking so boring. You know what an interesting frogfish design looks like? Chinchou. It's honestly not a bad design, and a neat fish... but while I never really minded pokemon that exist just to flesh out the biodiversity of the setting, Lumineon ends up being just so dang boring that I don't fault people that dislike it... or more likely, completely forget about it.
2/6.#458: Mantyke
- Types: Water/Flying
- Japanese name: Tamanta
- Category: Kite
Mantyke is Mantine's baby! It's okay as a little tail-less baby manta. Having Mantyke be one of the more common Water/Flying encounters to offset the uglier Wingull is neat. I've also always loved how it has a little smiley face on its back. Again, like most newly-added babies, you need to have Mantine hold a Wave Incense to breed Mantykes, and you all know how I feel about incense breeding. Like Arbok, apparently the patterns on Mantyke's back vary by region, but we never actually see this implemented at all. The most interesting thing about Mantyke, however, is how it evolves into Mantine -- you need to have a Remoraid in your party for Mantyke to evolve into Mantine, which I thought is hilarious. Remoraid is thankfully not consumed as Mantyke evolves, but I've always thought that it's very, very unfortunate that the fourth generation is actually the generation where Mantine's sprites get rid of the little finless Remoraid on its wings. Why, Gamefreak? Mantyke's otherwise pretty decent. Not much to say about him.
3/6.
3/6.#459-460: Snover & Abomasnow
- Types: Grass/Ice [both]
- Japanese name: Yukikaburi, Yukino'o
- Category: Frost Tree [both]
I actually like these dudes! The fourth generation is the first to actually give us a devoted snow mountain area. Sure, we've got an ice cave in both the second and third generations, but it's not until Sinnoh that we actually have a proper snow-blanketed mountain covered in blizzards that you have to trudge through. And one of the new ice pokemon is, naturally, one based on the Yeti, one of the world's most infamous cryptids. Except a normal yeti would be boring, so instead they decided to give us Snover and Abomansow, yetis who also happen to be walking evergreen trees. Yeah, these Grass/Ice types are actually some of the coolest concepts. Execution wise I really wished they look more cool and less awkward, but I suppose abominable snowmen are supposed to be abominable and not traditionally cool. (And besides, they're not as bad as Pokemon's other yeti, the appropriately-named Crabominable).
Snover's body looks more like a walking pinecone (or, as Bulbapedia informs me, the winter daikon radish, a staple winter food in Japan) with huge arms that end in like plant spikes, and I've always liked the mix of greens, whites and browns. Snover looks like he walked off the set of a Studio Ghibli picture, and while I'm not a big fan of his weird hat, Snover does look like the sort of strange, inquisitive creature that lives up in the mountains. Snover also apparently really likes to grow berries, and "gather around human footsteps", which is a hilarious reversal of how us humans obsess about Bigfoot footprints. Of course these creatures will be as curious about us as we are of them! Snover's also one of the fourth-generation pokemon with a difference between males and females, although nowhere as drastic as the hippos -- the central band on its belly just swaps between brown and white. Maybe after all of this is over, I'll do a brief entry about male and female form differences? A lot of them end up being hilariously dumb and banal and forces the poor dudes at Gamefreak to have to make extra sprites over the years, though, so.
Abomasnow is the final form of Snover, and he's a lurching giant yeti snowman monster with a fun looking mustache, two powerful-looking arms, and a spiky tail. It definitely looks more like a yeti than a walking tree, and while I wished they incorporated more tree aspects to its design, I do like Abomasnow decently. I wouldn't super-love it until the sixth generation, where Abomasnow can mega evolve... but we'll get there when we get there. The pokemon world's abominable snowman (the Diamond dex straight-up calls it that) is a pretty neat creature, and Abomasnow being mysterious to the human culture in general is thanks to the blizzards that accompany it.... quite literally. Abomasnow has a version of Groudon and Kyogre's weather-creating abilities, but he creates the 'Hail' weather condition instead, and its ability is hilariously named Snow Warning. I like Abomasnow. He's weird and cute.
4/6.#461: Weavile
- Type: Dark/Ice
- Japanese name: Manyura
- Category: Sharp Claw
Oh my god, have we reached this point? We actually have! Yeah, from here on out, up until we hit the legendaries, we're over with all Sinnoh-exclusive pokemon, and it's just evolution after evolution after evolution given to older pokemon. I'm not sure why the likes of Ambipom, Mismagius and Honchkrow are placed earlier in the pokedex, but here is just one huge, huge lump of many evolutions. And it's going to be... variable in quality, to be honest. Our first contender here is Weavile, Sneasel's evolution (you must level it up at night holding a Razor Claw) and... it's essentially a bigger Sneasel! It loses some of Sneasel's asymmetry, which I thought was a huge loss, but the crown on her head and the three-pointed claws all end up making Weavile just look pretty neat, if slightly cluttered. I think that Weavile could've stood to lose a couple of the extraneous details like the neck brace or the weird lines above her forehead-gem, but Weavile's honestly pretty damn cool regardless. She's also playable in Pokken, and they turned her into a fast-hitting monster. I really like Weavile for the simple reason that it keeps everything cool about Sneasel, while still looking pretty unique. Weaviles are apparently pack hunters that communicate with claw marks on trees and boulders... and its seventh-generation dex entries note that it preys on Alolan Vulpix and Sandshrew, with explicit detail on how Weaviles will knock Sandshrews on their back while another pack member "deals the finishing blow". Dark! Weavile's pretty cool.
4/6.#462: Magnezone
- Type: Electric/Steel
- Japanese name: Jibakoiru
- Category: Magnet Area
I must be honest, I never quite got into Magnezone until my playthrough of Pokemon Sun where against all odds a Magnemite ended up being one of my main fighters in that game. And I've never really appreciated Magnezone's coolness until that moment -- I've always been bothered by its weird central red eye. But Magnezone's honestly pretty neat! It loses the cool "three Magnemites magnetized together" deal that Magneton has, but only because one of the Magnemites has evolves into a huge central UFO-like body, while the two smaller Magnemites end up like vestigial heads that form its shoulders. It's still got the screws and the huge magnets that are distinctive on Magnemite and Magneton, but adds the weird little UFO antennae atop the central head. The red/blue bits on the tip of the magnets are apparently lights that Magnezone can switch on and off, and the end result is a surprisingly cool addition to the evolution line despite altering a fair bit from Magneton.
The way that Magneton evolves to Magnezone is also pretty ingenuous, where you must bring Magneton to the unique magnetic fields of Mt. Coronet (or Mt. Tengam, in the original Japanese translation) where it will trigger something in Magneton to evolve it. I've always found this to be such a cooler explanation for never-before-seen evolved forms compared to the more convoluted ways that some generation four evolutions have. Magnezone's UFO tendencies are played up in its seventh-generation dex entries, where it apparently receives signals from space, and also surprisingly protective of its area. I really love Magnezone, especially its 3D models where the magnets rotate, the screws retract and extend, and the lights blink on and off. Such a fun weird magnet UFO buddy.
6/6.#463: Lickilicky
- Type: Normal
- Japanese name: Beroberuto
- Category: Licking
I'm not Lickitung's biggest fan, but at least I could see what they're going with it. Generation IV gave Lickitung an evolution if you evolve it while learning... Rollout? What and why? Lickilicky is still a Normal-type, but the tongue, instead of being predominant, ends up honestly looking shorter. And while Lickilicky still retains Lickitung's general body shape and that cool one-thumbed arm, everything else about it feels weird. it's got a giant bib marking on its chest, a weird upside-down Wi-Fi symbol in garish yellow, and a spit-lick. I've never really quite got what the idea behind Lickilicky's aesthetic is, and it honestly loses the positive points that made Lickitung neat (and I don't even particularly like Lickitung!) like the strange newt/salamander-esque aesthetic, and the fact that the tongue is shorter and Lickilicky's design calls more attention to its fat stomach... yeah, they changed a tongue-dinosaur-newt into a fat lizard baby, and I'm not a big fan of this one. I don't hate Lickilicky as strongly as some other pokemon, but it's certainly one that I can rant about if given the opportunity.
Ah, but Lickilicky isn't the only bad evolution that the fourth generation introduces, because believe me... next week we'll dissect a metric ton of them.
1/6.
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