#412 - Burmy
Bug
I remember when Burmy and its evolutions were first revealed---well, Burmy was thought to be a Baby Pineco by some---but it looked at first as if they were the new three-stage early Bug Pokemon of Sinnoh. In reality, Burmy is a pretty interesting "gimmick" Pokemon with some clever ideas overshadowed by the fact that it absolutely sucks otherwise and is extremely frustrating to obtain in Sinnoh due to being locked behind the annoying Honey Tree mechanic, though thankfully it isn't as rare as Munchlax in that regard. I dare you to find a single person who used this line in the adventure---I bet you it's impossible---and it was one of the last Pokemon I obtained from Sinnoh through the GTS since I didn't wanna even mess with Honey in the first place. It's also rather frustrating to use because it's somewhat like a cocoon Pokemon---completely lacking in moves, especially in Diamond and Pearl where it didn't even get Bug Bite like it does now---but unlike Metapod, Kakuna, and Silcoon/Cascoon you're stuck with it till Level 20, and by the time it evolves it's already outclassed. There's basically no niche for it whatsoever, though if you wanna be iconoclastic and give the line a shot, it's made into a normal encounter in XY and thus more readily available for use.
Generation IV isn't as gimmicky as Generation III, but there are still a handful of gimmicky Pokemon and Burmy is one of the most gimmicky Pokemon to have ever gimmicked with two gimmicky traits. First, there's its Cloak Change gimmick. You see, like Pineco, Burmy is a bagworm, though in this case we actually get to see the worm instead of it being completely obscured, and like a bagworm it creates a protective case out of various materials. Normally, Burmy encases itself in leaves---Plant Cloak---though it has two other Cloaks as well, the Sandy Cloak where it covers itself in dirt and sand and the Trash Cloak where it covers itself in Owens Corning insulation. Depending on where Burmy last battled, it will switch to a different Cloak. If it battles in the grass (or any non-specific area), it stays as the Plant Cloak. If it battles in a cave, on the beach, or fought a Pokemon in a Honey Tree, it switches to the Sandy Cloak. And if it battles within a building, it changes to the Trash Cloak. This only occurs if it physically enters the battle, so if you wish to keep it in one Cloak while still levelling it up, the Exp. Share is your friend. Now, nothing changes about Burmy based on its Cloak other than its physical appearance but it does factor into its second gimmick, gender-based evolution. If you have a male Burmy, then what Cloak it's in is meaningless, but for female Burmy the current Cloak changes what Type it ends up as post-evolution: Bug/Grass, Bug/Ground, or Bug/Steel.
The Plant Cloak Burmy is the only one to appear in the show, though we also got to see what it looked like without a Cloak---"Naked Burmy", if you will. One of the neat features about Diamond and Pearl were the "Tag Trainers", five NPC characters who'd briefly join you at various points in the adventure and fight alongside you, an element first seen in Emerald when you teamed up with Steven to take down Team Magma. Of these, the only plot-required one was Cheryl who you teamed up with in Eterna Forest, and in the show she journeyed with Ash and co. for a couple of episodes in order to discover the honey "Amber Castle". In order to do this, Cheryl needed to obtain a male Burmy and evolve it, and she managed to catch a Burmy easily enough. However, Burmy was a lot like Paras from the "Problem with Paras", an extremely weak Pokemon who proved to be quite difficult to train. Leave it to Team Rocket though, who managed to get it to evolve after kidnapping it. You know, if you think about it, Team Rocket is ultimately responsible for solving every COTD's problem more or less.
#413 - Wormadam
Bug/Grass (Plant Cloak)
Bug/Ground (Sandy Cloak)
Bug/Steel (Trash Cloak)
At Level 20, female Burmy will evolve into the beautiful and independent Wormadam. But it's not that simple---there are three variants of Wormadam, and the one you obtain depends on the Cloak Burmy was wearing upon evolving. There's the Bug/Grass Plant Cloak, the Bug/Ground Sandy Cloak, and the Bug/Steel Trash Cloak. Each one shares the same Ability, Anticipation, but have their own stat distributions---though they all focus mainly of defense---and learnset, for example while they all share Confusion they exclusively learn Razor Leaf, Rock Blast, and Mirror Shot respectively. Unlike Burmy, Wormadam is stuck in the Cloak for the rest of its life so before evolving Burmy, think carefully about which one you want. But in all seriousness, neither one of them are all that good. Plant Cloak, for example, has a very poor Type and none of the utility that Parasect does. Trash Cloak is completely outclassed by Forretress, mechanically and thematically. And while Sandy Cloak has the honor of being the only fully-evolved Bug/Ground Pokemon due to Nincada losing that Type upon evolution, it really has nothing going for it either. You might be able to get a bit of use out of it in the adventure, if you're patient enough to get a Burmy in the first place, but I'll be honest and say there's no point in these Pokemon other than getting the full-set to display in a "Living PokeDex".
Wormadam as you'll notice doesn't look that different from Burmy, besides the addition of a more full-bodied feminine figure (nobody finds this hot, hopefully), and that's because in certain species of bagworms such as the evergreen bagworm, the female never leaves the cocoon and basically becomes a living shell---it has no eyes, legs, wings, nor can it eat, it only exists for the male to mate with it. Afterwards it dies with thousands of eggs still within it, which soon hatch and rip out from her body. Biologically, Wormadam is a pretty neat Pokemon but otherwise it's pretty bland, and probably has very few fans, if any. While the female gets sort of the raw deal here all things considered---basically becoming a lifeless baby-making machine---Game Freak makes it up when it comes to our next Bug-type Pokemon, where it's the male who gets fucked over. Yay for gender equality, I guess?
In the show, Cheryl had a set of all three Wormadam. They did nothing of use though other than cheer for Burmy, and were basically used to showcase how she had failed to find a male Burmy. Later in Diamond and Pearl Dawn's rival Ursula used a Sandy Cloak Wormadam in the Appeals Round of a Pokemon Contest, using a combination of Confusion, Rock Blast, and Sandstorm to create a giant statue of itself to impress the judges, putting Ursula through to the Battle Round.
#414 - Mothim
Bug/Flying
At Level 20, male Burmy evolve into Mothim. Mothim has nothing unique about it whatsoever, it lacks a gimmick and is basically yet another Bug/Flying Pokemon. To be fair, though, Mothim could've been a pretty decent Pokemon for the adventure as both its Attack and Special Attack are pretty high, and it has a rather great and varied learnset that borrows the best elements of previous early-game Bug Pokemon, though unfortunately its middling Speed and its frailty hold it back. It also lacks focus, meaning old standards such as Butterfree and Venomoth outclass it for the most part. All in all, this makes Mothim an extremely dull and forgettable Pokemon, arguably I'd say he's Sinnoh's absolute lowest low. Possibly one of the lowest lows in the entire series, with nothing unique about him whatsoever. When even Masquerain is more notable than you are, you know you're in trouble.
Mothim is a male moth, as in "moth him"---a Moth Man, if you will. While the female bagworm basically stays within the casing and never fully develops, the male on the other hand metamorphoses into more or less a regular moth, though its only role is to live for a bit and impregnate the female and then die. By Generation IV everyone was tired of moth Pokemon, they still are probably, and poor Mothim really has nothing to set him apart from previous moth Pokemon, though I will say I found his Generation IV sprite to actually be rather aesthetically pleasing and I like its autumn color-scheme, but other than that this Pokemon is legitimately pretty terrible, and usually I'm into the more off-kilter ones. I'd still choose Mothim over Wormadam though.
Cheryl's male Burmy eventually evolved into Mothin after a Team Rocket attack, and due to its love of honey it was able to lead the gang to the legendary Amber Castle, defending them from both Team Rocket and the violent bee Pokemon who attempted to block their progress. And now you can forget this line exists as we move onto our next Bug-type Pokemon line...
