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#610-612: Axew, Fraxure & Haxorus
I have shown that my personal tastes in Pokemon lean more towards the weird, but I have an intense amount of appreciation for the cool dragons. And Haxorus is as cool as they come! But he's the third stage of a three-stage evolutionary line, and... well, I've never really been as enamoured with its pre-evolved stage, unlike how I was with the awkward, stern Bagon and the adorably goofy Gible. Axew is a little green baby dinosaur, and its face and eyes are cute enough, and I do like that dark green horn, but the weird little light-green scarf-life bit seems out of place. The more I look at that scarf the more I think it's weird. I bet I'll like it better if it's in the same dark green shade as his head-crest? It's otherwise a neat little baby dinosaur-thing. Axew's whole deal is that its two sideways-pointing tusks are supposed to be like an axe, but in practice they don't really look threatening or practical at all. Hell, the first time I saw Axew I thought he was chomping down on a baguette. Axew's... okay, but I've never really liked him. He has an insane amount of presence in the Unova anime, being the main pokemon of Iris. I haven't watched Best Wishes, though. Maye I'll like Axew more if I did so? Eh.
Fraxure is a grown-up Axew, with its upper body being covered in a harder green armour, and it's gained a lot of red on the tip of its tusks, claws and tail... but those goddamn tusks still look silly as ever, especially considering that thanks to the art, they don't really look attached to Fraxure's beak in an organic way, and looks more like a pair of hovering blades that just end up hovering approximately around Fraxure's upper jaw. I've never really liked Fraxure either, although the mouth-blades at least look somewhat threatening this time around. Fraxure's dex entries are essentially the same with Axew's, just being territorial little dinosaur-dragons that mark their territory with the tusks. The rather disconnected design ends up feeling a wee bit too cluttered, and I'm not a particularly big fan on how the green chunk just awkwardly cuts off halfway down the body. It's not a bad design, but not one that I would really care about if it didn't turn into...
3/6 for Axew and Fraxure. 
HAXORUS! It's honestly a bit weird since both Axew and Fraxure are distinctly mainly green, whereas Haxorus is an insane beaked theropodal dinosaur-dragon plated almost entirely in golden scales, but Haxorus's most striking part are her two gigantic face-blades, which finally end up looking like the blades of an axe. Axew and Fraxure have never quite impressed me or endeared themselves to me, but Haxorus? By god, this thing looks badass, and the way those plates on her neck just overlaps is pretty neat. Haxorus is just a big angry territorial dragon, and those face-blades can instantly cut through steel, which is pretty damn cool. Part of me is slightly sad that Haxorus doesn't actually gain the Steel typing, though, and wonder if maybe this was supposed to be a Metal Coat style of evolution. The pokedex kept emphasizing how Haxorus's blades are as sharp as steel, and how its armour plates are stronger than steel...
Oh, and Shiny Haxorus just swaps the gold for black, which just looks badass. As much as I express disdain at how many dragons appear in the later generations and ends up making the Dragon type feel not as special... if the tradeoff is that we get badass monsters like Haxorus, I'll gladly be happy about it. Haxorus is an amazing design... shame that its two younger stages are so bland. Thankfully, Haxorus ends up being one of the straight-up coolest dragons in the Pokemon world.
5/6.#613-614: Cubchoo & Beartric
- Types: Ice [both]
- Japanese names: Kumashun, Tsunbea
- Categories: Chill [Cubchoo], Freezing [Beartric]
Oh, hey, it's "Just A Polar Bear". Cubchoo and Beartric are the second Ice-types in this region after the Vanillite line, and are encountered in an icy mountain range. And they're... I'm not a huge fan of Cubchoo. It's a baby polar bear, and baby polar bears are kinda cute even if they're not my thing, but Cubchoo is just that... with a snot dripping down from its nose. As familiar as I am with Asian culture, I will never quite understand Japan's perception of dripping snot as endearing. Clean that up, jeez! Cubchoo's snot is apparently a permanent fixture, and it's always frozen -- if it's sick, the snot drip gets watery and its ice-type moves get weaker. Apparently it's always sniffing the mucus up to retain the raw material in that mucus? I don't like Cubchoo. I don't like its weird colour palette that just cuts off randomly at the neck, I don't like that its design is just a simple bear with frozen snot, and I especially don't like...
Beartric, who is the most generic looking bear monster ever. Like, even compared to some of the worst offenders like "just a bird" Unfezant or Fearow, the only thing that really makes Beartric stand apart from a real-life bear is that disgusting beard made up of icicles. And since Cubchoo's thing is made out of snot, Beartric's is... made up of... saliva? I don't think I would mind Beartric as much if they actually took this concept and made something out of it. Wouldn't it be cool if Beartric actually had a proper Viking or Santa Claus beard out of those icicles? Instead he just looks like he dribbles a lot and those saliva dribbles just froze over. The dex notes that he apparently uses its frosty breath to augment his claws and fangs, but couldn't we have seen this in the official art in some fashion? Add that to the very bland and boring body and the weird triangular shape it has, and I've always thought that Cubchoo and Beartric felt like two of the more forgettable designs from the Unova dex.
1/6.#615: Cryogonal
- Type: Ice
- Japanese name: Furijio
- Category: Crystallizing
Cryogonal is one of those pokemon that looks a lot better when animated, because there's when you see the ice chain beard deal. It's honestly a pretty cool concept for a creature that's biologically comprised entirely of ice, feeling like it came straight out of some old sci-fi stories. It's not a creature that I have much of a personal investment of, but it's actually a pretty neat concept!
4/6.#616-617: Shelmet & Accelgor
- Types: Bug [both]
- Japanese names: Chobomaki, Agiruda
- Categories: Snail [Shelmet], Shell Out [Accelgor]
Holy shit, this is like, halfway through the pokedex down from Karrablast. Why are these two related lines not placed next to each other, or reasonably close together? The Unova Pokedex really likes to do this, like randomly splitting up their legendary trios for no real reason. Shelmet is the snail that Karrablast hunts, and like Karrablast, it's such a weird and unconventional design for a snail. It's this weird pink-and-green blob with kissy mouths, stuck inside a weird steel helmet that makes it look more like a bivalve. Honestly, other than the ingrained mentality that snails are soft creatures that hide in hard shells, as well as that spiral on the back, it's hard-pressed for me to call Shelmet a Bug-type at all.
It's apparently a bug that shoots out poisonous spit, which isn't anything new... but the pokedex gives us the additional fun info that it can close its knight helmet, and then shoot the poisonous spit through the eye slits while still remaining protected, which is pretty awesome. It's pure Bug-type, which I kinda thought was weird... shouldn't it be Bug/Steel, since it has that metallic helmet? I guess they don't want people to abuse Shelmet's superior typing, though, by putting an Eviolite onto him and ignore the whole evolution gimmick. As someone interested in taxonomy, just like the crustacean-based Dwebble earlier in the Unova Pokedex, Shelmet is classified as a 'Bug' type despite being a mollusk. Both mollusks and crustaceans are consistently defaulted into "water" type by the Pokemon world, although I suppose Shelmet is really our first land-bound mollusk Pokemon? Eh.
It's really weird that the later generation dexes and their official depictions don't actually play up anything about Karrablast being Shelmet's predator, but rather just note that when the two come together, they are bathed in "strange energy" that trigger their evolution. I feel that it's really silly -- even if they want to play down the fact that they try to murder each other, why not make Karrablast "steal" Shelmet's shell, or if we're going for a friendlier route, for Karrablast to help Shelmet shed that big, cumbersome shell?
Because, well, Shelmet evolves into Accelgor after shedding its shell, becoming one of the fastest pokemon ever, and also a ninja to contrast with Excavalier's jousting knight deal. And... I really want to like Accelgor, I really do. There's a lot of things going on here, from the awesome way that the dark space in its face doubles as the ninja-mask-bandana thing as well as the inner part of its kissy-face mouth. The pink and green main body makes a very pleasant colour scheme, and the weird membrane wrappings are a believably organic way to put clothing-like features into a Pokemon. But there's, again, very little to inform us that this is supposed to really be a snail, and I think the first reaction I have when I saw Accelgor is "what the fuck is this supposed to be?" The only remaining hint of Accelgor's snail origin is its curved ponytail. It's a great concept, but no one can probably quite get what Shelmet and especially Accelgor are supposed to represent without having someone explain it to me. It's still all right at the end of the day, especially paired with Karrablast and Escavalier, but I feel this is the weaker line of the two.
3/6.#618: Stunfisk
- Types: Ground/Electric
- Japanese names: Maggyo
- Categories: Trap
People harp on Stunfisk as much as they do on the ice creams, the trash bags and the gears... and what the hell, people? Stunfisk is adorable! Stunfisk is dumb-looking, yes, but that's the whole point of its design. It's meant to be the Slowpoke or the Lotad of this generation, and it's based on an actual fish -- the flounder, who is actually flat and have had both its eyes migrate to one side of its body so it can peek out from the sea floor. It's one of the world's ugliest yet most fascinating fishes, with the way its face metamorphoses throughout its life cycle, turning it into a weird walking carpet that hides in the gravel of the ocean floor to ambush smaller fish. Just like Eelektross, they mix the whole flounder aspect with another electric-generating animal, this time the electric ray (Torpediniformes order), which plays into the whole "flat fish" deal that Stunfisk has going on. And I can get behind that! Not sure why he has a beak, though. Stunfisk apparently lives in the mud near seashores, waiting for fools to step on it before it delivers a jolt of electricity.
Like Eelektross, though, despite being a combination of two interesting fishies, Stunfisk isn't Water-type, but rather Ground/Electric. It quite boggles me because even if the rationalization is that it's a mud-dwelling monster and not like real-life flounders, even the likes of Quagsire and Swampert have water-typings. I dunno... the Water typing really feels like an afterthought in the design of the fifth generation thanks to its lack of surfing areas, and considering that they admittedly forgot to include generic fish pokemon in the game which led to the lazy execution of Basculin... yeah. Stunfisk's pretty hilarious in the few times that I've seen him in the movies, just blasting fools with electrical blasts while having that satisfied herpaderp face on. It's a perfect-looking dumb Pokemon, and it looks just so satisfied in all its animations. I genuinely don't understand how people can hate this funny-looking flatfish. Of course it looks kinda dumb. It's meant to be. I've grown to love it. One of the more hilarious and more charming entries, to be honest.
5/6.#619-620: Mienfoo & Mienshao
- Types: Fighting [both]
- Japanese names: Kojofu, Kojondo
- Categories: Martial Arts [both]
I keep forgetting Mienfoo and Mienshao are part of the fifth generation instead of the sixth, mostly because they never really left any sort of impression on me. They are pure-Fighting weasels, with a vague Chinese kung-fu motif given to them. And they're honestly actually quite well-designed, Mienshao in particular, being very organic looking while still having the silhouette of a martial artist dressed in traditional garb. It's not particularly my thing -- Fighting types tend to be uninteresting to me unless they're paired with another type, but Mienshao and Mienfoo are one of the few that lines that are just... pleasant. Mienfoo's not particularly super-exciting design wise, but its combination of pink and yellow is very pleasant looking.
Mienshao definitely plays up the elegant aspect, being a very nice shade of gray and purple, with extended sleeves over their real arms to whip people with. There's not really that much about the evolutionary line beyond that, but they're definitely not a family I associate with the fifth generation, even though Marshall of the Elite Four uses one... but as far as Mienshao and Mienfoo go, I'll always associate them more with Lysandre of the sixth generation's Team Flare. I dunno why Lysandre's speedy little Mienshao always gave me more trouble than any specimen I've encountered in the fifth generation ever did. There's not much to talk about Mienfoo and Mienshao, but they're elegantly designed and clearly have more thought put into them compared to something like Beartric up above. Pretty, neat, now that I think about them a bit more.
3/6.#621: Druddigon
- Types: Dragon
- Japanese name: Kurimugan
- Categories: Cave
Dragons in the Pokemon world either range from super-crazy reality warping abominations, a bunch of ultra-awesome designs, and then a bunch of unexpected inspirations for dragons like Kingdra and Altaria. And when I first saw Druddigon, I went "aw, this sucks! It's not cool like my Garchomps and my Haxoruses and my Hydreigons! But I guess we've never actually had a traditional, roaring lizard-monster that dragons tend to be typecasted as back in the old days where they're just powerful beasts for knights to slay and Tolkien and D&D didn't turn them into actually intelligent ancient creatures. And in that aspect, Druddigon kinda functions quite well as the archetypal evil, brutish dragon ogre thing. This thing lives in caves dug by rock-type pokemon, sunbathes to power itself up like a lizard, and is just a strong predator. I used to absolutely rant about this thing due to how crudely it's designed -- and that criticism still stands. But nowadays, I think I'm a bit more chill. It's still over-designed, don't get me wrong. The wings are ugly and seem more like spiky tumours than actual wings -- although I guess that's why it can't fly -- and its head still looks ridiculous, like it was lifted and pasted on from another creature... but it's... eh, it's there. "Eh" is mostly how I feel about Druddigon nowadays.
It's a pure Dragon-type, and pure Dragon-types only exist in pre-evolutions prior to the fifth generation... but even in Unova, Druddigon is going to be completely classed out by the far cooler Haxorus, Hydreigon and the legendaries. Poor Druddigon. There's some things that make Druddigon neat and unique, like its long gorilla arms, but this creature really looked like it needed some more time through the editing process, really. We've never really had a proper classic dinosaur-dragon before, I don't think. It fills a niche, and it looks a bit better and more impressive outside of Generation V, but I kinda felt like they could've done something to make Druddigon more memorable.
3/6.#622-623: Golett & Golurk
- Types: Ground/Ghost [both]
- Japanese names: Gobitto, Gorugu
- Categories: Automaton [Golem in Japanese]
Ooh, ooh, these two are cool as well! Golett and Golurk are the final entries for ghost-types in Unova, and so far we've got a haunted soul-burning chandelier, a sarcophagus shadow monster that evolved from the souls of dead humans, and a group of royal jellyfishes that drag people down to their deaths. And it's genuinely surprising to learn that Golett and Golurk are actually ghost-type the first time. Like the Regi trio from the third generation, Golett and Golurk are based on the legendary Hebrew golems, but these are far less just animated rocks and ice, but are truer to the fact, making them feel more mundane than the regis but at the same time giving them a neat air of mystery. Golett is a pretty cute little golem, with bindings around its round little body, and cute little arms and legs. The slight bent left eye actually gives Golett a fair bit of charm that Klink tries and fails to get. Golett, like many other pokemon such as Claydol and Sigilyph, are the remnants of yet another ancient, mysterious civilization, being clay automatons powered by a mysterious energy that modern science cannot identify yet. Golett's cute, just this waddling spherical clay golem carrying a msyterious purpose, and I've always loved how you can see into his glowing core from the holes that his arms stick out from.
Golett evolves into Golurk, who just looks straight-up awesome. It's not just a haunted clay golem, but it also looks like something out of an 80's giant robot show. From its giant, spiked shoulders, to the giant fingers, to the gigantic barrel chest... add those fun genie gauntlets to his arms and legs. It's a cool giant robot, and our first proper humanoid robot... and it's a golem! How cool is that? I really love Golurk's design. From the tiny head on top of that giant superman body, ending in chiseled yet short legs... Golurk's dex entries notes that removing the seal on its chest makes its energy run out of control, apparently causing it to destroy towns. Love that there's already a crack of energy running diagonally across his chest, and that this is also a reference to the legend of the Golem of Prague.
Best of all? It's only hinted at in the games through its Black entry, which tells us that it "flies across the sky at Mach speeds", and Golurk does indeed learn fly. I've always thought that Golurk just flies around like Superman, for no real good reason... then I watched the Zekrom-Reshiram movie, and easily, without contest, the best part of the movie was when the Golurk there suddenly retracts its hands and legs, and then uses them as jet boosters to fly around and WHAT THE FUCK THAT'S SO COOL! This creature is so cool. A haunted clay golem with a mysterious energy, created by an ancient civilization, with rocket boosters hidden in it? So many fifth generation pokemon get so much fun gimmicks thrown into them, and some are just "yep here's a bunch of monkeys with types sticky-taped onto their heads". Golurk's awesome. Clearly the ancient civilization collapsed under the weight of inventing the pinnacle of awesomeness that is Golurk.
6/6.#624-625: Pawniard & Bisharp
- Types: Dark/Steel [both]
- Japanese names: Komatana, Kirikizan
- Categories: Sharp Blade [Pawniard], Sword Blade [Bisharp]
Chess Pokemon! I'm honestly a bit disappointed that all we got was a pawn and a bishop, and that we don't actually run the gamut of the entire chess board the way that Digimon's chess monsters do... but I suppose we could be saving potential knight/rook/king/queen evolutions for later down the line, huh? Regardless, I was actually unprepared that they decided to make Pawniard a Steel/Dark Pokemon. How weirdly creative is that? Chess tends to bring to mind organized gameplay and noble knights and all. Pawniard? Pawniard just looks like a weird little hoodlum with that glorious mouthless face, a horned helm, and blades everywhere. Blades for arms! Blades on his face! Blades jutting out of his chest! Spiky tiny toes! The black-silver-red paint scheme really works well for Pawniard too. Pawniards apparently act like literal pawns, obeying the orders of their Bisharp commanders heedless of damage done to themselves.
Pawniard then evolves into Bisharp, who still manages to look cool despite his design looking like he just got rejected from auditioning as the newest Ultraman. Bisharp's sadly marred a bit by those hideously thick thighs, but everything else from the waist up looks neat. From Bisharp's neat crescent face-blade, to the shoulder things, to the blades jutting out from the sides of their lower arms... Bisharp's one of those designs that looks just objectively cool, and he's got a rather mean-looking expression on his eye that still tells us that this is a dark-type, even if it doesn't quite communicate this quite as well as Pawniard did. It's got some personality, mind you, being a leader that commands Pawniards to lock down a prey with sheer numbers, before it swings in and deliver the finishing blow.
Also, I didn't actually notice the pawn -- sorry, I mean pun -- behind Bisharp's name and how it's really supposed to be pronounced until way, way too late. Overall, though, one of the cooler entries in the game.
5/6.#626: Bouffalant
- Types: Normal
- Japanese names: Baffuron
- Categories: Bash Buffalo
Ugh. I hate this thing. Like everyone else out there, I kinda thought that this was going to be an evolution to Tauros. And thank god it isn't, by the way. They're both bulls, they're both the same shade of brown... but thank god Tauros doesn't evolve into this. Tauros is a boring bull whose only real feature of note is having three tails, but at least he's not as stupid as this godawful monstrosity of a design. I'm not someone who really likes to hate on things -- even with designs I don't particularly agree like Druddigon above, I try to see something positive about it. But Bouffalant? How I hate this thing. A bison pokemon is appropriate for an American region, of course, but then they decided to randomly slap a humongously ridiculous afro on Bouffalant, then make the horns look like they're not connected to Bouffalant's proper head, and slap random rings on it. I'm not even going to try to point out the racism because unlike Jynx, this is most likely unintentional... but god damn this thing is dumb. Oh and by the way, this thing is actually pretty fucking strong, which means I actually can't ignore it and tell it to piss off like the monkeys since this thing can legitimately fuck my party up. So yeah. Fuck this thing. I believe I've gone on record on saying Bouffalant is my most hated Pokemon, and if I'm allowed to completely erase one Pokemon from existence it's this dumb afro bull. Give me just-a-cow any day, please. Give me fifteen more variations of elemental monkeys and a generation full of over-cluttered personifications-of-godlike-powers nonsense legendaries. This one is just pretty nasty.
0/6.#627-628: Rufflet & Braviary
- Types: Normal/Flying [both]
- Japanese names: Washibon, Woguru
- Categories: Eaglet [Rufflet], Valiant [Braviary]
Okay, after all that rambling, we've finally reached the final lap with the Pokemon found on Unova's Victory Road, and our final pair of version exclusives. First up are these eagles exclusive to White, perhaps the most 'Murican Pokemon of them all. Based on the USA's mascot animal, the Bald Eagle, and bearing the colours of the flag and a head feather reminiscent of native Americans, you can't get more American than these unless the next generation introduces, like, an evolution of Braviary that carries a cheeseburger and an American flag. Rufflet's actually really cute, with that inquisitive look and the fuzzy down that many baby birds have. It's a scrappy little clucker, apparently, who likes to challenge other enemies to try and get stronger. And good luck, because this thing evolves at level 54! Lots of the later Unova Pokemon evolve at ridiculously high levels compared to anything that came before and after it.
Rufflet then evolves into Braviary, an eagle with American colours. Hear the screech of freedom! I do love how the feathers splay out on his face, and I am definitely a big fan of the ridiculously long legs that Braviary has, matching the real-life animal. They're brave warrior birds that like to show off their scars, which is pretty neat. It's a bit weird, though, that Braviary and Rufflet are a species that is 100% male. I guess it's because the line's supposed to be a counterpart to the 100% female Vullaby and Mandibuzz, but breeding them always produces Vullaby eggs all the time, so the population of the freedom bird can only be sustained by Dittos, apparently.
Overall, not my thing. I'm not American so the patriotism thing does nothing to me, and most other early-route birds already look like eagles of sort, but it's a very competently done design, and a neat addition to the dex.
3/6.#629-630: Vullaby & Mandibuzz
- Types: Dark/Flying [both]
- Japanese names: Baruchai, Barujina
- Categories: Diapered [Vullaby], Bone Vulture [Mandibuzz]
Eagles and vultures are very iconic birds that we've never gotten made into pokemon, although you could argue that the likes of Pidgeot and Fearow kind of already take on the roles of the eagles and vultures of the pokemon world. Of course, while Braviary and Rufflet are neat representations of eagles, Vullaby and Mandibuzz are far more creative in their execution. Vullaby is known as the 'diapered Pokemon', and is a weird-looking funky baby bird with a sassy expression... until you look at the diaper and realize that... oh. It's a skull. This fat baby bird uses the top half of a human skull as a diaper, using the eye holes as to have its legs poke out, and the nostril hole makes a funny little heart symbol. That's fucking morbid is what it is. Naturally, Vullaby is Dark/Flying. And that skull looks like a pretty human-shaped skull too. I mean, they could be using Machoke skulls or something, but still. Vullaby is apparently a bit too weak to fly, so they guard themselves with the bones collected by their parents, while they relentlessly bully weaker pokemon while waddling along in their silly little bone diapers.
But worst (or best) of all is the detail that apparently Mandibuzz's favourite prey is Cubone, who cries a lot due to his lost mommy. Mandibuzz, you... you absolute heartless jackass, you! You murder the little orphan, then use their bones to decorate your nest and make diapers for your babies? By god, this is actually a lot darker than all the ghost pokemon stories we've covered throughout the entirety of these reviews. Mandibuzz is more 'not my thing' compared to Braviary, but she gets an extra ball for creativity and flavour.
3/6.#631: Heatmor
- Type: Fire
- Japanese name: Kuitaran
- Category: Anteater
4/6.#632: Durant
- Types: Bug/Steel
- Japanese name: Aianto
- Category: Iron Ant
4/6.#633-635: Deino, Zweilous & Hydreigon
- Types: Dark/Dragon [all three]
- Japanese names: Monozu, Jiheddo, Sazandora
- Categories: Irate [Deino], Hostile [Zweilous], Brutal [Hydreigon]
Deino evolves into Zweilous. It's just a two-headed Deino, with two weird tail-wings that stick to the side, and a body structure with more splayed-out legs. I also kinda like it that Zweilous's two heads have extra ponytails. Zweilous actually feels like a proper dark type, with both heads constantly being in conflict, and that they just lead a life of laying waste to one area before moving to the next. There's really not that much to go on for Zweilous, except he's gained some pink markings under his belly. Apparently, originally Deino, Zweilous and Hydreigon were designed as tank-cyborg dragons (the pink markings are remnants of the tank treads from the design), which would have been equally cool... but then we'd miss out on these dudes. So.
Their final evolution, Hydreigon, drops the blindness deal and has Zweilous's hairstyle splay backwards like some sort of insane flower. And I would be a bit pissed that they dropped the blind-dragon design choices from the first two stages, except Hydreigon is so goddamn cool. The three headed image of the hydra is absolutely classic, and I absolutely love how apparently in fightin for dominange, one head wins out and gets more developed snake curves and fangs, while the 'hand' heads look like they've regressed. The six wings look hauntingly beautiful and just so different from the normal bat-like wings Pokemon gets, and I really like how its lower legs and tail look like they've been ripped off, highlighting Hydreigon's brutal, fighty status.
Hydreigon is a brutal motherfucker that attacks everything in its path, and apparently the dex notes that the two hand-heads don't even have any brains left after evolution. Overall, there's not much more to Hydreigon other than being a rampaging hydra dragon, but it does that so well, looks so goddamn awesome with the striking black-blue-purple colour scheme, and honestly still retains a bit more personality with its design that makes it look unique. Really wished that they did something about the blindness gimmick, though -- kinda felt wasted on that part.
5/6 as a set; Hydreigon alone is an easy 6/6.#636-637: Larvesta & Volcarona
- Types: Bug/Fire [both]
- Japanese names: Merauba, Urugamosu
- Categories: Torch [Larvesta], Sun [Volcarona]
The final non-legendary pokemon in the Unova dex is encountered in a way that is honestly felt like it's meant to be one. Volcarona only appears after the endgame of the original Black/White games at the end of Relic Castle, with said dungeon being a very plot-relevant location housing the mascot dragon, located in the very mysterious desert populated by Yamask and Sigilyph, and Volcarona resides in the final chamber of a labyrinth. Volcarona even looks intimidating and cool enough to be our very first Bug-type legendary... but alas, we instead get the stupid horse musketeers instead. Ah well. Volcarona's one of the most powerful Bug-type Pokemon regardless, and this is honestly one of the best generations for bugs, with multiple very strong entries in the categories of design and usability! And obviously, I love Volcarona. I love her design, I love how she's encountered... and I really love her often-ignored little baby Larvesta as well.
Larvesta is a fat little slug-like caterpillar with six stubby limbs and a mass of white hair covering its front half. I don't think it's based on a specific caterpillar (the wiki states the atlas moth, but Larvesta doesn't look like that at all) but more on the generic tropes of having hair and looking like a slug. It has these red horns growing out of its neck like some sort of image of the sun, and apparently the anime shows that Larvesta can shoot flames out of these horns to kind of fly. Hell, Larvesta's dex entries really make it feel like it's written for a legendary, doesn't it? A pokemon borne from the sun, who in ancient times are said to actually build nests in the sun, whose body is engulfed in flames like a phoenix upon evolving? These are also our first Bug/Fire Pokemon, and I am genuinely pleased that they didn't go cave in for the obvious pun of a firefly.
Yeah. It then evolves into the majestically named Mothra Volcarona, this gloriously fat bastard of a moth with a very pleasing set of flame-coloured wings, and an appropriately alien face. With those red fat antennae forming some kind of crest around its face, and the eyes with X pupils, Volcarona instantly grabbed me as a design. It looked legendary, it was encountered at the end of a dungeon at a very high level, and I was soul-crushed to learn that, no, this majestic creature is in fact just a normal pokemon.
Listen to its pokedex entries! "When volcanic ash darkened the atmosphere, it is said that Volcarona's fire provided a replacement for the sun." "A sea of fire engulfs the surroundings of their battles." "It was feared by the ancient people, who referred to it as the Rage of the Sun". Hell, it's even got a signature move, Fiery Dance, which is the sort of rather-overpowered move that deals damage while buffing yourself. Volcarona is majestic, and even taking my bug bias out of the equation, Volcarona's backstory is badass enough and she's frankly far more regal-looking than a good half of the ridiculous gauntlet of uninspired legendaries that we'll review next week. Oh well. Volcarona's really cool.
6/6._________________________________
That's a long article! Next week we'll be talking about the Unovan legendaries, and as you can probably already tell... not impressed. There's a slightly bit less legendaries in the Unovan dex compared to Sinnoh, but there's just a lot of them that just are just not my thing.
(Also, while re-editing this article, good lord, past me really screwed up the html on this page.)
- Types: Bug/Fire [both]
- Japanese names: Merauba, Urugamosu
- Categories: Torch [Larvesta], Sun [Volcarona]
Larvesta is a fat little slug-like caterpillar with six stubby limbs and a mass of white hair covering its front half. I don't think it's based on a specific caterpillar (the wiki states the atlas moth, but Larvesta doesn't look like that at all) but more on the generic tropes of having hair and looking like a slug. It has these red horns growing out of its neck like some sort of image of the sun, and apparently the anime shows that Larvesta can shoot flames out of these horns to kind of fly. Hell, Larvesta's dex entries really make it feel like it's written for a legendary, doesn't it? A pokemon borne from the sun, who in ancient times are said to actually build nests in the sun, whose body is engulfed in flames like a phoenix upon evolving? These are also our first Bug/Fire Pokemon, and I am genuinely pleased that they didn't go cave in for the obvious pun of a firefly.
Yeah. It then evolves into the majestically named
Listen to its pokedex entries! "When volcanic ash darkened the atmosphere, it is said that Volcarona's fire provided a replacement for the sun." "A sea of fire engulfs the surroundings of their battles." "It was feared by the ancient people, who referred to it as the Rage of the Sun". Hell, it's even got a signature move, Fiery Dance, which is the sort of rather-overpowered move that deals damage while buffing yourself. Volcarona is majestic, and even taking my bug bias out of the equation, Volcarona's backstory is badass enough and she's frankly far more regal-looking than a good half of the ridiculous gauntlet of uninspired legendaries that we'll review next week. Oh well. Volcarona's really cool.
Fun fact-HEATMOR of all mons got a signature move in Gen 7(Fire Lash).Found out while watching a Nuzlocke of Black and searched up the learnset for Heatmor(Said Heatmor also ended up indirectly killing the locke. Person playing attempted to save it from death during the E4 and in the process got their Reuniclus killed. This led to them losing to Marshall)
ReplyDeleteThat's actually insane, but also kind of heartwarming for poor old Heatmor! Especially considering that (and I double-checked) there's not even a way to encounter Heatmor anywhere in Sun, Moon or the Ultra games!
DeleteNuzlockes are extremely fun, by the way, although the difficulty really ranges depending on the individual generation and 'house rules' being implemented. Also, I tend to not use Pokemon caught prior to the Elite Four for the simple fact that they tend to not rack up the EV's as other Pokemon that you capture earlier in the playthrough. Not sure why you would want to bring a Heatmor into the BW Elite Four, though -- there's no real situation where a pure-Fire type is particularly useful against any of the four.
Literally NO way? Figured if it got a signature it was just a rare encounter somewhere and that was why I hadn’t seen it. Dang, now I want to check through and see if any other random mons got signature moves.
DeleteIt was a Duotype Nuzlocke(Fire and Psychic) with no items in battle in set mode. Heatmor ended up on the team because it was the only option for the slot, and better one mon than none. The team was also packing an Eviolite Larvesta since the dude didn’t want to overlevel.It would have been rough no matter what but the team still had a chance methinks(other members were Sheer Force Darmanitan, Chandelure, the aforementioned Reuniclus, and an overperforming Beheeyem) Even without a 2nd Psychic type he was still able to bring down Marshall to one mon. No healing items would’ve made it hard to get out without losing 1 mon, but it’s also worth noting Caitlin and Grimsley had already been taken down. Shauntal would have been a problem, but the team had good coverage and would have a decent level advantage(all lvl 52 to match Ghetsis) No matter what it would’ve been hard, but the team had enough potential to maaaaaybe get there. Anyways, went way more indepth into that than necessary, apologies.
TL;DR Heatmor ended up on the team because no other options.
As far as Bulbapedia tells me, the only way to encounter Heatmor in Generation VII is to transfer them from an earlier generation. Very weird, since most of the time anyone got a signature move they tended to be available in the same game. Except I think Mewtwo? Who got Psystrike in Generation V, where he wasn't available? But, y'know, it's Mewtwo. So.
DeleteAh, a type Nuzlocke! No wonder they took a Heatmor to the Elite Four.