Mega Porygon 2 (or 3) would be both fun and infuriating.
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RTTP: The Pokemon. All 721 of them, and counting.
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While that sounds awesome, what would you call it? Porygon 3? Porygon EXE? Then again 'Z' isn't the most original name anyway so.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
#123 - Scyther
Bug/Flying
Okay, now we're getting to the cool single-stage Pokemon of Generation I that fill out the rest of the Dex beginning with Scyther, the coolest Bug Pokemon introduced in Generation 1, and arguably (not counting his evolution) the coolest Bug-type Pokemon introduced ever. This was the reason you bought Pokemon Red to grab this bad-ass, but don't expect Scyther to just fall into your hands, you either had to get lucky in the Safari Zone, or score big in the Game Corner. You know, in my mind Scyther was top-tier during Generation I, but looking back it seems he was just pretty average, his biggest strength being his overwhelming speed and attack, but he lacked a lot of versatility due to having a rather shallow movepool. Maybe if Game Freak had remembered to program some decent Bug-type moves for him, he would've been the best counter to Psychic-types, but ultimately he never really lived up to how cool he looked, although he enjoyed popularity thanks to his powerful TCG Jungle card. Nowadays though...two words, Stealth Rock. Ouch. I'd love to see Scyther get a Mega Evolution, even though he already has a normal evolution, he's unique as he and his evolution share the same base stat total, and he actually has the highest stat total of any unevolved Pokemon at 500, so I think a Mega Evolution could work for him. On a lighter note, I always wanted a cute Scyther Baby too.
Scyther is known as the mantis Pokemon, but like Kangaskhan he only shares a slight similarity to his base animal, looking much more like a weird dinosaur hybrid. I always pictured him being like a raptor, probably because he looked as cool as the ones in Jurassic Park and just as intimidating as them, and I think his unorthodox appearance helped him stand out from the rest of the Bug-type Pokemon in Generation 1 who really were basically just giant bugs. On the other hand, praying mantis are really cool animals, and I do hope we get a more traditional praying mantis one of these days that embodies more of their natural traits, such as perhaps one that works off the idea of the "femme fatale" mantis known for eating their mates. Scyther is Bug/Flying, even though I always thought he looked like a Grass-type (Bug-type Pokemon being "Grass" in the TCG helped push this misunderstanding) as a kid, and sometimes I'll briefly forget he's not Bug/Grass. His Flying-type is actually sort of "implied", as the PokeDex actually says he rarely depends on his wings since he really has no reason to fly thanks to his blinding speed, and most of the Flying-type attacks he does learn are the ones that are more "wind elemental" and focus on slashing attacks. He does learn Roost (Feather Rest in Japan) though, which doesn't really feel like it fits him thematically, although it can be useful by removing his Flying-type which probably benefits him though due to removing a few of his weaknesses. Despite not being a Pokemon known for flying often, most of his appearances in the show tend to show him flying quite often, and in XY, he's one of those Pokemon who is always in a flying pose and can take part in Sky Battles, even though he seems like one of the Flying Pokemon who probably should've sat them out. But there's just so many issues with Sky Battles why even bother getting into that right here, let's just say Game Freak needs to majorly overhaul it or just drop it, and leave it at that.
The one motif Scyther seems to embody the most is actually a ninja, due to his ninja like speed, agility, and deadliness. His design always made me think of a traditional ninja outfit somewhat, and I imagine his scythes are meant to represent the kusarigama "chain sickle", that ninja are often shown using in popular fiction. Furthermore, excluding Pikachu in Yellow, Scyther was the only Pokemon capable of learning Double Team in Generation I, which is actually a ninja technique. Yeah, "Double Team" doesn't really scream ninja, but it's another example of why when wanting to learn about Pokemon more sometimes you'll have to go to the source and examine the Japanese names, where Double Team is known as Kage Bushin, "Shadow Divide/Clone", and I shouldn't have to tell you that that's one of the most ninja moves that ever ninja'd, and no, Naruto did not invent it. Naruto also did not invent the idea of frogs and ninjas being related to one another either, although it did bring the idea to mainstream culture perhaps. So, yeah, if you ever wondered why Scyther was so cool he's part-ninja.
Of course, such a cool Pokemon was given to Tracey Sketchit, and not only that, they made his Scyther a geriatric old-man who was on the verge of death. Actually, I don't think we've seen it in like years so it probably did die. Honestly, if I was owned by Tracey Sketchit of all people, I'd pray for death everyday. What was the point of that character exactly? Anyway, Scyther's first appearance was in "Showdown in Dark City", an episode inspired by the Akira Kurosawa classic "Yojimbo", where he was given the very odd weakness of being enraged by the color red, and paired up with another Red Version Exclusive, as opposed to his actual Version Counterpart Pinsir. That stuff confused me as a kid because I used to think the whole red deal was part of Scyther's personality even though it's only mentioned in this episode, and nowhere else. I'm not sure there's any part in Yojimbo that ties into this either, so I guess the writers just decided on a weird weakness for this episode. If you think about it, a lot of Kanto episodes tend to ignore the elements the Pokemon are actually known for in favor of just using them for the plot, which I guess might be a positive depending on how you look at things as it meant they could be pretty creative when they wanted to be.
#212 - Scizor
Bug/Steel
Scizor is the evolved form of Scyther when he's traded with the Metal Coat, although Scizor is quite different from the other Cross-Generation Evolutions. Perhaps because Scyther was already seen as an extremely cool and stylish Pokemon, Game Freak didn't want to totally replace him, so Scizor is almost like a "branch evolution", somewhat, in that he and Scyther share the same base stat total, with Scizor switching Flying for Steel, as well as taking Scyther's speed and redistributing it to his Attack and Defense. While this was the plan originally, and Scyther and Scizor were somewhat on equal standing at first, Scizor has easily outclassed Scyther thanks to having a far better Type (and not fearing the Stealth Rock), and a lot of additional tricks to his advantage that means most people likely won't be picking Scyther over his evolution at this point, unless they're extremely dedicated to the purity of Generation I. And then Scizor went further beyond with a Mega Evolution in Gen VI.
It's a complaint lodged at the Generation IV evolutions quite often, but I think it's fair to say that Scizor might be a bit "overdone" compared to Scyther, and personally I've always liked the latter slightly more, although I certainly do like Scizor. The issue for me is that Scyther was already really cool on his own, and Scizor just seems like an attempt to make him even more cooler by making him metallic and a stylish red, but he loses some of the simplistic charm that Scyther had, such as the claws just not being as cool as Scyther's scythes. I feel like Game Freak developed Steelix first, realized it was a waste to only have one classic Pokemon evolve through the Metal Coat, and quickly whipped up a new evolution for Scyther that would use it, and thus Scizor was born. Onix's evolution to Steelix was basically hinted at in its PokeDex, but Scyther becoming a metallic bug on the other hand just came out of nowhere and it's never explained why he suddenly became covered in metal other than "the Metal Coat did it!". But, then again, I think Scizor at least can claim to be an interesting type, and is a pretty unique Pokemon, which is more than I could say for Bellossom, Slowking, and Politoed who weren't necessarily needed and didn't bring too much to the table compared to their evolutionary relatives. So, yeah, Scizor may be a pretty drastic evolution that seems to have been given to Scyther simply because he was popular, and it wasn't actually needed or requested (everyone seemed perfectly fine with Scyther when I was a kid), but he's admittedly cool regardless.
I don't really get what Scizor is meant to be, although I actually think he looks a bit more bug-like than Scyther does. I know there are various praying mantises that are red, but I haven't found any that have the crab claws that Scizor does, and the addition of the eyes on Scizor's claws also felt a little off to me. Scizor already looks like a pretty intimidating Pokemon at 5'11, larger than many Pokemon such as Charizard, and the extra bit to scare foes feels a bit redundant, and an element that would suit a smaller, weaker Pokemon who'd have a reason to try and scare off foes. He's pretty weird, and not in a way that's as cool as Scyther's mantis-meets-ninja-meets-dinosaur look, but then again few Pokemon have met that flawless formula to win over every 10-year old boy the world over. Oh, here's another weird thing---Scizor was known as the "Scissors Pokemon" in Generation II, but since has been changed to the "Pincer Pokemon", which I guess is more accurate, but it seems weird they felt the need to change that, but left Blastoise as the Shellfish Pokemon for six Generations.
Thankfully since Scizor isn't a Flying-type Pokemon, Game Freak didn't give him a ridiculous always-flying animation in Generation VI for Sky Battles, and for that we should be thankful. And it's a good thing they didn't because Scizor is said to basically never use its wings, instead they're merely used to regulate its body temperature implying that perhaps it has somewhat of a mechanical nature to it and needs to "let off steam", so to speak, due to using a lot of energy when fighting. Of course, this is another element most folks seem to miss as I recall Scizor being depicted as a quick and agile flyer a couple times in the show, and I recall in Smash Bros. Melee he also flew around the screen targeting players. Eh, maybe he's just falling with style?
The writers seem to love Scizor, I remember it was a go-to Pokemon the writers used a lot whenever they needed a powerful Pokemon to appear---Bulbapedia's list of appearances seems pretty small though looking it over, but I swear it seemed when I watched the show during the Hoenn and Diamond and Pearl days like one popped up every other episode. Its first appearance in Johto, "Wired For Battle", had a hype-as-fuck battle though, and I also enjoyed the one Battle Frontier episode where it disguised itself as a cloaked figure known as the "Red Lightning" and upon utterly defeating its opponents---scribbled on their face like Jigglypuff. Well, they can't all be winners.
#M212 - Mega Scizor
Bug/Steel
When Mega Pokemon were revealed in XY, all the Mega Evolutions we saw were evolutions of Pokemon who had always been at the top of their line---Lucario, the Starters, Gengar, etc. No Pokemon such as Magnezone, or Blissey, who had been introduced as a Cross-Generation evolution got a Mega, until Mega Scizor was revealed, the first Mega you could say who went---"beyond the beyond". If you think about it, perhaps Mega Scizor is how Scizor should've been at first, having an actual stat gain over Scyther rather than being its "equal", although of course Scizor really never had an issue making a name for itself, and perhaps a Mega Evolution wasn't really needed, but I think it's quite fitting a Pokemon who I feel was only added to try and make a cool Pokemon cooler, got a new form that tried to make it cooler as well.
Did Game Freak succeed? I honestly don't know. I certainly think Mega Scizor looks good, I like the return to the old ninja-motif with the head shuriken, and I think its legs looks a bit better and more insectoid than the rather weak and bendy ones Scizor was given, but like Scyther to Scizor, I think the evolution brought with it a bit of a loss in terms of the "simplistic charm", although personally I think there's a bigger gap between Scyther and Scizor than there is between Scizor and Mega Scizor. So, overall, I'm fine with it, but I'd really love to see Scyther get its own Mega Evolution to compete with Scizor on equal terms once more. Scyther doesn't even seem to evolve naturally, so I don't think him having a Mega Evolution would be too out of place and "break the lore".
Mega Scizor cameo'd in the Diancie Movie under the command of Wikstrom, the Steel Elite Four member from XY. In the games, Wikstrom just uses a regular Scizor, which was pretty disappointing---the fact Mega Evolutions did so little in the game, even though they could've easily give each member a Mega Evolution for a possible rematch, was one of my biggest issues with their implementation, and something I hope "Z" fixes. If you're gonna make super-powered Pokemon, I want to actually fight them during the main adventure as a challenge! Don't limit them to the multiplayer, show us how powerful they can be by making us face them as part of the story!
I wish if Scizor had continued being green (like a nice metallic forest/kelly green) and I wish if Mega Scizor had kept the rounded pincers. Overall this line is a fav of mine and I do feel that Scyther was one of those cool Pokemon that just never got what was needed to shine at the time of its inception.
Professor Beef
Banned
Shiny Scizor is green. Unfortunately, it's that gross shade of green that most shiny variants tend to have.
You know, I have nothing bad to say about Scyther, Scizor, and Mega Scizor. They look absurdly badass and are absurdly badass and that's okay. Scyther's probably my favorite of the bunch, but that's because those sword arms are so goddamn cool (And Kabutops also was goddamn cool with sword arms).
Amusingly, Scyther is the one Pokemon that has always been banned in Smogon's Little Cup. Its 500 base stat total is ludicrous for an unevolved Pokemon and nothing, not even fellow banned Pokemon like Sneasel, come close. If any Pokemon could really use a baby form outside of Kangaskhan, it's Scyther.
Amusingly, Scyther is the one Pokemon that has always been banned in Smogon's Little Cup. Its 500 base stat total is ludicrous for an unevolved Pokemon and nothing, not even fellow banned Pokemon like Sneasel, come close. If any Pokemon could really use a baby form outside of Kangaskhan, it's Scyther.
SenorArdilla
Member
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
#124 - Jynx
Ice/Psychic
Did I say cool single-stage Pokemon? I meant to say, controversial Pokemon I really don't wanna talk about and risk alienating fans who feel differently about this Pokemon, but, well, I said I'm covering all the Pokemon, and I can't leave this one out. But before we get to the controversy, lets talk facts. Jynx is another Pokemon it seems Game Freak didn't have a good feeling about in the first place, and put it as another Pokemon only available as in-game trade in Red and Blue, and in Yellow she was completely dropped. Her Trade is kind of odd, it's right at the beginning in Cerulean City, however the Pokemon requested for her cannot be obtained without the Super Rod, which you won't get all the way to Fuchsia, and by that point you have no reason to return to Cerulean City to make the trade, as you probably forgot about it or, if you actually looked up what you were trading for, wish you could forget about Jynx. I honestly think even more than Mr. Mime this was a Pokemon that really put off a lot of players due to how weird it was, and that's not even considering the racial element which most kids likely didn't pick up on. Most people considered Jynx to be the counterpart to Mr. Mime, the "Ms. Mime", so to speak, but they became less connected as time went on and Mr. Mime got a new counterpart line in Generation IV. Jynx actually seems to be connected to our next two Pokemon families, all three of them being single-stage Pokemon whose Typing mimics the main elements of Kanto's Legendary Bird trio, and got Baby Pokemon in Gen II together, but that was also broken in Generation IV as they got new evolutions, while Jynx did not. So, now Jynx is a Pokemon with no real counterpart, and I imagine that's probably because if Game Freak could erase one from Pokemon from existence, it'd be her. Thankfully for her, she's at least a decent Pokemon, with a unique Type combination of Ice/Psychic, and in Gen V I believe actually enjoyed some competitive spotlight due to being a counter to Kyogre thanks to her Hidden Ability, Dry Skin.
I don't get why Jynx is an Ice-type Pokemon, and it's one of the reasons I don't quite believe it when people try and claim she's meant to be a "Japanese Ice Witch". While she does learn Ice-type moves, nothing in her PokeDex indicates an affinity for Ice, and she doesn't look like an Ice-type at all---did Game Freak just want another Ice-type Pokemon last minute and gave it to this weird Pokemon just because it was an interesting Type Combination? I've heard a lot of reasons for her Ice-typing, but none I'm quite satisfied with. One reason is that she's meant to invoke the "fat lady" opera singers, and her connection to the vikings who lived in colder regions is why she's part-Ice, and while she did always remind me of one of those, I don't see it. I will say if Jynx ever does get an evolution, or Mega Evolution, I imagine Game Freak might go in that direction more to help "cover-up" her more controversial elements. Another claim, the most popular one, is that she's inspired by Yokai, either the Yuki-onna or the Yama-uba. The Yuki-onna, "snow woman", is one of the more popular Yokai who people seem quite familiar with, but I honestly don't see anything in common with her and Jynx despite being "mysterious woman", and having control over the snow, which as I said before is only implied by Jynx's type, and plays no part in her lore. Furthermore, the Yuki-onna is known for having pale skin and blue lips, the completely opposite of Jynx, and in Generation IV we actually got a full-on Yuki-onna Pokemon that only demonstrates how different Jynx is from her claimed origin. The Yama-uba is a similar creature, taking the appearance of an old woman who lives in the mountains, and is known for having golden white hair, a tattered kimono, and apparently lures its victims in through dancing, that last part which Jynx shares, but I still think it's a pretty loose connection and a lot of the claims I see about the Yama-uba's powers, such as it having control of ice and specifically a red kimono, I can't find a good source on and only appear on Bulbapedia and the Wikipedia page, and I have a feeling similar authors added both parts.
I'm just gonna say it right here, but the level that people have gone to try and justify Jynx's appearance by digging through Japanese culture are nerd apologists at their finest, as there's no good reason Jynx should look this similar to stereotypical portrayals of black people from the early 1900s. Yes, I'm aware of ganguro fashion, and how it was inspired by traditional Noh theater and what have you, but there's a clear difference between the style of ganguro, which seems innocent enough, and the way Jynx is drawn with pitch-black skin, bleached blond hair, and huge red lips which was clearly meant to invoke classic black-face. I'd be willing to give Game Freak the benefit of the doubt more if this isn't a clearly problematic issue in Japanese media that's reoccurring, being seen in Dragon Ball, Mega Man, and even Yokai Watch, which has a creature named Dorobockun who shouldn't exist in the year 2015, and I'm eagerly awaiting to see how the localization handles him if they release Yokai Watch 2 outside of Japan---he's literally a black-faced thief with an afro, and it couldn't be any clearer what Level 5 was going for. And just ask FreeMufasa about his experiences in Japan as a black man. To be fair, I don't think Game Freak fully understood the nature of black-face caricature, and what it actually means to blacks who have to put up with it, I don't think a lot of Japanese due to living in a rather homogeneous environment, although I have to wonder when Jynx looks like that, is known for wriggling its hips seductively, and the fact it's described as speaking with a language that sounds human, but no one understands what is actually being said. Maybe I'm the racist here, but surely it seems like Game Freak definitely had a certain view in mind when designing this Pokemon.
A cultural critic, Carole Boston Weatherford, brought this to attention when Pokemon first hit it big in the states, and she's been demonized by the Pokemon Community as being the "true racist", "culturally insensitive", "needs to do her research", and that always seemed really unfair. Of course she's not gonna liken Jynx to a Japanese subculture, or a traditional Japanese demon, she's going to compare it to black-face, which it resembles and is a racial stereotype that I think it's fair to say was not a positive for her growing up, so I can't blame her for being offended, because I think she totally hit the nail on the head that a lot of fans are still afraid to admit to this day that she was right in her assumption. Why the massive defense for Jynx anyway? I never saw anyone actually like the Pokemon until the controversy, and then people bent over backwards to defend it, and I've heard people even say that getting rid of the black skin "ruined her". I mean, I get how you could possibly see it as censorship and art bending over backwards to not offend, but Jynx has no cultural or artistic importance, she's one character in a massive multi-media franchise, and as Pokemon began to spread across the world, a character like her obviously could not exist in her current state---just be happy that all she got was a color change and wasn't completely removed from the franchise. Sorry to pontificate, but this is a subject that's always really bothered me and I've felt for too long Pokemon fans have been on the wrong side of the debate for the wrong reasons. One Pokemon changed skin color so it wouldn't offend a decent part of the population, can we just accept that?
Jynx has a pretty interesting history with the show, which is where the controversy mainly affected her since it was the most well-known part arguably during the initial craze. Her first episode, Holiday Hi-Jynx, aired normally (well, not quite, due to weird scheduling issues caused by the Seizure Incident, this episode and Snow Way Out were thrown chronologically out of order in the dub), but was later banned from television, and now it's basically been removed entirely from the DVD re-releases and Netflix, although some online services Cartoon Network run apparently still provide it. This episode was weird as fuck---Santa Claus, talking Lapras---so you're not missing much. In 2012, Japan actually aired a special version of this on their Pokemon Smash! sunday show, where Jyxn was recolored purple, but this version isn't available elsewhere, even though it technically "fixes" the issue. It would be quite costly and difficult to edit the earlier episodes of the show to fix Jynx's color for the dub, so the Orange Island episodes "The Mandarin Island Miss Match", and "Stage Fright", have also been removed from digital distribution currently, and a late Johto episode focusing on Jynx was banned and never aired dubbed whatsoever. Small cameos of Jynx in an Orange Island and Advanced episode were also removed, and Jynx basically disappeared from the show...
Finally, near the end of Hoenn, a mini-arc featuring Jynx aired in Japan which used her new purple coloring introduced in the games, and all seemed well---till it was time to air these episodes in English, and the dub actually skipped them! They ended up airing two months later, out of order, and the popular theory was they were skipped due to airing during "sweeps week", which also happened to be Black History Month, and that combination was risky to take a chance on an episode focused on a former controversial Pokemon. It seems the controversy around Purple Jynx ultimately died down, though, as a Battle Frontier episode focused around it aired without issue dubbed a bit later, and I don't believe there's a problem with episodes featuring Purple Jynx. It seems the animators aren't really in a rush to use Jynx much, though, as I don't think we've seen one since, and there's really been no reason to use one either if they don't have to. That is until Jynx gets her Mega one of these days...
#238 - Smoochum
Ice/Psychic
Smoochum is the pre-evolution of Jynx introduced in Generation II. Most of the other Baby Pokemon we've seen in Generation II, Pichu and his ilk, were weak with very few moves of their own, and given to already small and cute Pokemon, whereas Smoochum represents a different breed of Gen II Baby Pokemon, the final three we'll encounter all being given to rather "powerful" Pokemon, and having a decent set of moves to call their own, plus evolve normally through Level Up, so they're almost normal first-stage Pokemon. I gotta wonder if Smoochum was originally planned, or added in to help take some of the heat off Jynx, being introduced alongside the time where Jynx was being recolored wherever she could, and sort of being pushed out of the spotlight. Smoochum was sort of a P.R. move by Game Freak to help salvage Jynx I feel like, and I think it sort of works...but then again, why even bring more attention to Jynx with a Baby when they could've just let it rot as an obscure Pokemon?
First off, Smoochum's design is leagues better than Jynx, not even taking in account it greatly diminishes the resemblance to an antiquated stereotype, and is actually quite cute. If Jynx looked closer to Smoochum originally, I actually would've believed that she was a completely innocent reference to the ganguro-style of Japanese fashion, as Smoochum actually resembles a Japanese girl decked out in make-up---in truth, I still thought the original G/S design was slightly sketchy, but later Generations fixed this by making her skin a lighter shade of purple, or even pink as it looks in some appearances such as the sprites, and I think it was for the best. The less she looks like Jynx, the better in my opinion, and I'm sure Game Freak agrees. Anyway, I said so much about Jynx that there's not a lot I really wanna say about Smoochum, but I'll add I think the focus on it kissing everything it sees, and even taking care of its hair to make sure it looks pretty, is super adorable. You'll notice, though, that there's still nothing Ice-type about it in its lore, which still bugs me.
The show never had an issue with Smoochum as far as I know, and it's never been censored nor banned in any of its appearances, which have all been rather small. I don't believe we ever saw Smoochum with its evolved form until "Three Jynx and a Baby", the first episode with Purple Jynx that aired without incident. Unlike Jynx, who disappeared after that, we've seen Smoochum a few more times since then, so it seems neither the original or the dub has any issue with the Pokemon.
One of the common rationalizations for Jynx's appearance I've heard was that she was not originally supposed to have black skin, but rather most of her face was in shadow except her eyes and lips (Similar to Tangela and Shellder). It's an interesting theory, but at the same time the distinction is meaningless when Jynx still looked like a blackface caricature and stuff like the anime portrayed the black area as her skin anyway. Thankfully Gamefreak seems to have recognized the problem with Jynx's newer purple skin.
I've always been fond of Jynx; she's a very useful Pokemon in Red thanks to her Ice/Psychic typing and sleep inducing move, and I love her crazy Pokemon Stadium fainting animation with everything but her hair disappearing. I think it's a pity she didn't receive an evolution in Gen 4, since her frail stats post-Special split have made her much less useful past gen 1... And maybe a new evolution would redeem Jynx for the many people who aren't fans of the Pokemon.
I've always been fond of Jynx; she's a very useful Pokemon in Red thanks to her Ice/Psychic typing and sleep inducing move, and I love her crazy Pokemon Stadium fainting animation with everything but her hair disappearing. I think it's a pity she didn't receive an evolution in Gen 4, since her frail stats post-Special split have made her much less useful past gen 1... And maybe a new evolution would redeem Jynx for the many people who aren't fans of the Pokemon.
He was beautiful the way he was
unknownstranger
Member
Jynx was my highest level Pokemon when I beat Red in Silver. Had a great move set with Lovely Kiss, Psychic, Ice Punch, and Blizzard.
Benzychenz
Member
Absolutely adore Scyther, Scizor is badass (though not quite as good as Scyther), but Mega Scizor is tragic. Ruins a great design by overloading it with spikes and shit. Possibly the single worst mega evo.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I dunno, I like Mega Scizor, but then again I love mecha.
Dark Orchid
Member
Scizor honestly feels like they had some other design in progress and then just gave it to Scyther because it looked kinda similar. I mean it's a great design and all, but I just don't feel like it lives up to Scyther. It might be like Hitmontop, who probably started off as that weird, angry, Clefairy-looking top Pokemon with 6 feet in a hexagonal shape and then was redesigned into its current form when they realized Tyrogue could potentially not evolve.
Growing up, before gen 2 came out, I had no idea who Scizor was supposed to evolve from. The Beckett magazine I was reading at the time just directly translated its name as "Hassamu" or something, so not understanding much I thought "oh, 'mu' must be pronounced 'mew'" and assumed that Mewtwo was going to evolve into a steel type. Then I guess common sense kicked in that they probably wouldn't make Mewtwo have this awesome new type at even higher stats so then I was thinking it would evolve from Kingler. I mean really, Scyther only has 3 common traits with Scizor (three head spikes, wings, humanoid shape) compared to Kingler's 2 (large claws, red-orange color), so I wasn't thinking that far outside the box. A crab becoming a metal-plated crab-man wasn't exactly too far fetched for a seven year old.
As for Jynx, her design is probably one of, if not the one that the localization team pushed to change when the games came to America, but Game Freak (or TCPI, I can't remember which, it's been a while) refused. It's really a shame she had to look like a walking propaganda poster, because the Ice/Psychic typing is, no pun intended, really cool. Her speed and special attack stats make her a perfect glass cannon and with that typing she gets STAB Ice Beam and Psychic to go along with that role. She was also really good in the Ubers tier for a while because of Dry Skin, which could wall the then-out-of-control Kyogre in the rain.
Also, if her design wasn't intended to be what it looks like, then when it came time for the show to feature her they REALLY ruined any cases that could be made in their defense. Not exactly a great idea to have your blackface-wearing character introduced as being Santa's helper of all things. I mean, if this really was an accident (which is doubtful), that kind of bumbling would be legendary.
Growing up, before gen 2 came out, I had no idea who Scizor was supposed to evolve from. The Beckett magazine I was reading at the time just directly translated its name as "Hassamu" or something, so not understanding much I thought "oh, 'mu' must be pronounced 'mew'" and assumed that Mewtwo was going to evolve into a steel type. Then I guess common sense kicked in that they probably wouldn't make Mewtwo have this awesome new type at even higher stats so then I was thinking it would evolve from Kingler. I mean really, Scyther only has 3 common traits with Scizor (three head spikes, wings, humanoid shape) compared to Kingler's 2 (large claws, red-orange color), so I wasn't thinking that far outside the box. A crab becoming a metal-plated crab-man wasn't exactly too far fetched for a seven year old.
As for Jynx, her design is probably one of, if not the one that the localization team pushed to change when the games came to America, but Game Freak (or TCPI, I can't remember which, it's been a while) refused. It's really a shame she had to look like a walking propaganda poster, because the Ice/Psychic typing is, no pun intended, really cool. Her speed and special attack stats make her a perfect glass cannon and with that typing she gets STAB Ice Beam and Psychic to go along with that role. She was also really good in the Ubers tier for a while because of Dry Skin, which could wall the then-out-of-control Kyogre in the rain.
Also, if her design wasn't intended to be what it looks like, then when it came time for the show to feature her they REALLY ruined any cases that could be made in their defense. Not exactly a great idea to have your blackface-wearing character introduced as being Santa's helper of all things. I mean, if this really was an accident (which is doubtful), that kind of bumbling would be legendary.
Always had a soft spot for Jynx despite never using her, and I agree that changing her skin colour was definitely for the better.
I think if she ever gets a mega evolution I'd finally use her. I can already imagine her mega evolution as some kind of viking lady with ganguro makeup, which would be an interesting cultural mashup
I think if she ever gets a mega evolution I'd finally use her. I can already imagine her mega evolution as some kind of viking lady with ganguro makeup, which would be an interesting cultural mashup
unknownstranger
Member
A little early but I've always wanted to love Pinsir. I really like his design but he's always been held back by his typing and move pool. I've always thought he should be part fighting. He's always gotten good fighting type moves but without STAB they're really meh. His Bug type move pool was really lacking until gen 4 when he got X-Scissor. Him not learning Megahorn always held him back. I'm not sure if he can get it now and I have no idea how good his Mega form is, but he's always been overshadowed by Scyther.
The Silver
Member
Mega Scizor is redeemed by those claws, those things are fucking hardcore.
I wouldn't say Scizor has the worst looking Mega Evolution when the likes of Blastoise, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Heracross, Garchomp, Glalie, Sharpedo and both Mewtwo's exist, but it's definitely up there. I really feel like his mega should have incorporated design elements from both Scizor and Scyther, since they're kinda unique in that it's a very unnatural evolution and they both share the same stat total.
balladofwindfishes
Member
It's like they knew Mr Mime and Jynx were lame so they stuck an awesome, well designed Pokemon in between them.
Captain Smirk
Member
Scyther was so badass, never bothered to evolve it. Jynx though I couldn't give a care.
woopWOOP
Member
Oh man I forgot Scizor had a megaman evolution. I think Scizor's design is pretty cool, though I'd prefer if they stuck with the blade arms instead of making them pincers.
Jynx was always the viking opera lady to me so the Ice typing made sense.... or maybe i thought she was viking related because of the ice typing. I've strangely always liked those big cartoony lips certain Japanese characters have (like the early Zora enemies from Zelda), but those eyes always weirded me out and the animations in stadium were pretty nuts. Luckily Smoochum is just plain cute.
Jynx was always the viking opera lady to me so the Ice typing made sense.... or maybe i thought she was viking related because of the ice typing. I've strangely always liked those big cartoony lips certain Japanese characters have (like the early Zora enemies from Zelda), but those eyes always weirded me out and the animations in stadium were pretty nuts. Luckily Smoochum is just plain cute.
Scyther was my favorite pokemon for a long time(gen III offered some stiff competition, though), and bug was my favorite "element" up until fairy was introduced in gen VI(although I desperately want more "weird" fairy pokemon). I've incorporated Scyther into most of my single player runs over the years, and I've used Scizor exactly once. I like Scizor, but Scyther has an underdog factor and is still quite capable and versatile on its own.
I'd rather GF reflect their unique relationship by giving Scyther its own mega, honestly. I feel like a NFE pokemon should be given a mega at some point, and I'd rather it be Scyther than Pikachu. My only problem with mega Scyther is that baseline Scizor almost feels more in the spirit of a mega evolution more than a traditional one already.
That said, a fighting/bug or dark/bug mega scyther with an unique/interesting ability could be cool.
I'd rather GF reflect their unique relationship by giving Scyther its own mega, honestly. I feel like a NFE pokemon should be given a mega at some point, and I'd rather it be Scyther than Pikachu. My only problem with mega Scyther is that baseline Scizor almost feels more in the spirit of a mega evolution more than a traditional one already.
That said, a fighting/bug or dark/bug mega scyther with an unique/interesting ability could be cool.
Benzychenz
Member
I think Eevee makes the most sense here. The evolution Pokemon that can evolve in many different ways should be able to mega evolve, wouldn't you think?
balladofwindfishes
Member
Man, Stealth Rock really was a terrible move to add to the game. It just makes Flying types extremely vulnerable for no good reason.
A flying type has to go above and beyond the average Pokemon to stand a chance of being relevant because of stupid Stealth Rock.
A flying type has to go above and beyond the average Pokemon to stand a chance of being relevant because of stupid Stealth Rock.
Randomly Nameless
Member
I love Smoochum and I think it's adorable, but Jynx is... yeeesh...
I also love Scyther and Scizor, but M-Scizor just feels kind of unnecessary, both in terms of design and gameplay. M-Scizor is tacked on, an extra. There's nothing really wrong with its design or stats, it just didn't need to be.
I also love Scyther and Scizor, but M-Scizor just feels kind of unnecessary, both in terms of design and gameplay. M-Scizor is tacked on, an extra. There's nothing really wrong with its design or stats, it just didn't need to be.
I'm actually surprised they have yet to nerf Stealth Rock. It is less seen in the official VGC format, but in singles it's still quite common yet it can remove 50% of the maximum HP from various Pokémon like Charizard, Volcarona, Articuno just by them switching in, and 25% of Pokémon just 2x weak to it. It's ridiculously overpowered.
I was honestly expecting a nerf at the start of this generation.
They should change it to 1/8 instead of 1/4
Maybe Game Freak just doesn't care about single battles. They probably crated Stealth Rock just to troll people because why not?
While the focus has shifted to Doubles, they do care about Singles
balladofwindfishes
Member
SR was probably created as an entry hazard that affected Flying types, as no other hazard does. Except they made it do disproportionately high damage and also take into account weakness and resistances, which Spikes does not do (besides Flying Immunity).
No Pokemon should ever take 50% of its HP just by switching. That's ridiculous.
Look at Scyther, a Pokemon that would probably be alright. But nope, SR has to be there and make his life miserable.
No Pokemon should ever take 50% of its HP just by switching. That's ridiculous.
Look at Scyther, a Pokemon that would probably be alright. But nope, SR has to be there and make his life miserable.
Then I guess they just want to keep trolling Delibird.
I wonder why they chose Rock specifically instead of a type that would actually help some Pokemon out. Alternatively if they added in a few copies of it that were different types and made it so that there could only be one up at once it would probably balance out a bit better.
Pinsir is NU, Mega Pinsir is BL. It's wicked strong and after STAB and the Aerialate boost it's Quick Attack is almost as strong as Extremespeed. It's pretty outclassed by Salamence in formats that allow them to coexist though.
Scyther is awesome. I loved its old sprite, looked so feral and strong.
And while I'm pretty meh on Mega Scisor, I do like its claws.
Probably one of the all-time best sprites in the series.
RIP Scyther
As for Scizor, I eat Scizors for breakfast all day every day.
Delibird having two abilities that do the same thing is hilarious, and on concept
Delibird needs a normal evolution along with Dunsparce where they both become awesomely powerful to get revenge at all the people who just laughed at them for years. Dunsparce's evo should be fairy/poison though.
I love Scyther and I love Scizor both are great Pokémon and I can't wait to use Scyther in my Crystal team.
I also used Scizor in my Heart Gold team and he surprised me to how strong he was, I was expecting him to be strong but weak but nope he was strong and could carry his own.
Jynx however I don't care for it and I will never use it.
There are some Pokémon abilities that Game Freak really need to go back and change them.
I mean why does Stunfisk has limber? He's part ground and in gen 6 electric type can't be paralysed.
I also used Scizor in my Heart Gold team and he surprised me to how strong he was, I was expecting him to be strong but weak but nope he was strong and could carry his own.
Jynx however I don't care for it and I will never use it.
Delibird having two abilities that do the same thing is hilarious, and on concept
There are some Pokémon abilities that Game Freak really need to go back and change them.
I mean why does Stunfisk has limber? He's part ground and in gen 6 electric type can't be paralysed.