Never really used a Sudowoodo in game, but I love Bonsly is Super Smash Bros Brawl. I think they got rid of him in Smash 4 though which really annoys me as he was one of my favorite.

Found it weird that they paired Sudowoodo with Mr. Mime and not Snorlax. Both of them were introduced as obstacles preventing you from reaching the next part of the game. Would have much preferred the Munchlax/Bonsly evolution method to be through learning Block.
That would leave Mr. Mime in a weird place, though, it being the only one left from "basic row" in the Kanto dex that wasn't paired with anything. Seeing as they apparently cut Jynx out of the Elemental Punch Trio that gen by not evolving her with the other two, I guess pairing her with Mr. Mime by making Mime Jr. evolve at 30 would have worked. Gen 4 had a lot of odd choices.

So, Sudowoodo stands as the Pokemon that ruined Gen II for me and was to a decent degree the reason I at least used to call it my least favorite (I'd have to think on it now, though my lack of favor for it would likely come from less "petty" reasons nowadays). It pops up early enough on that catching it just didn't work out for whatever reason when I played Silver and younger me though "oh, well more will at least pop up like with Snorlax, no big deal." But nope, one chance early on and you're screwed. And nobody else around me had him to give me one, so thus I couldn't get a complete dex in Silver, which was super lame.

Also, for some reason a fillery episode of the anime with a golden Sudowoodo popped to mind when reading your thing, but I don't know. I'd guess Battle Frontier maybe since that's the only part post Gen I I've watched through since I picked up the DVDs to give a chance a bit back (also, on that matter, really glad we finally got a start to Johto on DVD in the US, so here's hoping they follow through and finish off that plus pre-Battle Frontier Gen III to bridge the gap...)

Dragonite, Gyarados, Arcanine, Gengar, Scyther, and Snorlax.That's how I roll.

Sudowoodo is fine in design and gimmick. Kind of lost these days when he no longer looks like a cut tree, as graphics improved and cut grows less and less important (thankfully).

You write an article praising XD and Colosseum and forget Sudowoodo is the signature Shadow Pokemon of one of the best designed characters in the entire series

Just notice that video makes the weird animation bug Fly had plainly obvious. Oh well.

Azuran said:

Let's not deprive the readers from one of Brock's greatest moments.

Click to expand...

Jesus Christ

Sudowoodo is just a really odd design that I'm not a fan of. People accuse Druddigon of looking like a poor children's drawing, but I find that complaint applies far more to Sudowoodo. I'd probably like it more if it wasn't the Johto counterpart to Snorlax, one of my favorite Pokemon.

Bonsly on the other hand I find adorable.

Sudowoodo is funny because it completely destroys logic with its role as an obstacle. There's not much noteworthy about the Pokemon other than that though.

Bonsly kinda cute but it bothers me that it has no arms. It was fun to throw Bonsly at people in Brawl though.

Bonsly is one of the few baby pokemon that I'm happy exists.

unknownstranger said:

Never really used a Sudowoodo in game, but I love Bonsly is Super Smash Bros Brawl. I think they got rid of him in Smash 4 though which really annoys me as he was one of my favorite.

Click to expand...

Lobbing Bonsly in the face of your opponet in Smash was one of the all time great bits of item usage, up there with a clean home run bat hit as far as I'm concerned.

Nocturnowl said:

Lobbing Bonsly in the face of your opponet in Smash was one of the all time great bits of item usage, up there with a clean home run bat hit as far as I'm concerned.

Click to expand...

Bonsly is alright, but Electrode is clearly the best Pokemon to throw at people in Smash.

How could I forget the 'Trode?
Still I may prefer Bonsly for the satisfying clunk.

Yeah I miss Bonsly in Smash

I like the idea of people pretending to be fooled by Sudowoodo's bad mimicry in order to make it feel better about itself.

My very first playthrough of Silver was through this rom my cousin downloadded with a very scrambled, incomplete translation. So when I came to the dancing bush I was stumped. Went back 'n forth between Goldenrod and New Bark like three times, looking for an item I might've missed. For the longest time everything behind that tree was but a faraway dream. I can't hate a monster with such a dopey smile though.

I love how Sudowoodo is part of the Trevenant horde. And in the anime the Sudowoodo and Bonsly are Trevenant's family/buddies.

I have used a Sudowoodo in my Crystal team, he's alright but you do have to work around his low speed.

Boss Doggie said:

I love how Sudowoodo is part of the Trevenant horde. And in the anime the Sudowoodo and Bonsly are Trevenant's family/buddies.

Click to expand...

I was hoping that Sudowoodo would evolve into Trevenant and I was kinda disappointed when I found out that he wasn't.

But then I saw Phantump and got over it.

However I am still pissed that Sylveon is the only cross gen 6 evolution.

Mr-Joker said:

I was hoping that Sudowoodo would evolve into Trevenant and I was kinda disappointed when I found out that he wasn't.

But then I saw Phantump and got over it.

However I am still pissed that Sylveon is the only cross gen 6 evolution.

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What? why? Sudowoodo isn't even a tree. Why it would evolve into a ghost tree?

Man anyone wish Miror B was in the PWT?
Hardest to fight cause the music was too good
I JUST WANTED TO DANCE TO IT!!!

Razmos said:

What? why? Sudowoodo isn't even a tree. Why it would evolve into a ghost tree?

Click to expand...

It was before I found out what Trevenant's typing was and at the time was getting nervous over how Sylveon was the only cross gen 6 evolution to be shown off.

JGCD said:

Man anyone wish Miror B was in the PWT?
Hardest to fight cause the music was too good
I JUST WANTED TO DANCE TO IT!!!

Click to expand...

I just want another Pokémon game set in Orre.

Macka said:

Bonsly is alright, but Electrode is clearly the best Pokemon to throw at people in Smash.

Click to expand...

Hold the phone, you can pick up Electrode?

Blasian Persuasion said:

Hold the phone, you can pick up Electrode?

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Lol wth? Where have you been!? Pick him right up when he's about to explode

Sudowoodo was the Pokemon that taught me that it was Ground that was immune to Electric, not Rock. I brought my Sudowoodo with me to face Red thinking he'd be immune to Pikachu's attack and then watched helplessly as he was fried alive with extreme prejudice.

Blasian Persuasion said:

Hold the phone, you can pick up Electrode?

Click to expand...

I didn't realize you could either until I was fighting my friend, he summoned Electrode, and I grabbed it, threw it back in his face and couldn't stop laughing as it sent him flying off the stage. It was amazing.

Shit, all the times I played, whenever an Electrode came on screen I got the fuck out the way. Same thing with the people I played too.

Blasian Persuasion said:

Hold the phone, you can pick up Electrode?

Click to expand...

He flashes a bit before he explodes. At that point you can grab him and throw him, but it's risky because the window is pretty small.

Likely a coincidence, but Sudowoodo always reminds me of the Woodoh enemy from Mother 1 EarthBound Beginnings.

Mr-Joker said:

-snip-

Click to expand...

OH MY GOD
I am so jealous of you all, especially you Mr-Joker. My childhood has been ruined in reverse T_T I want an elaborate role playing Pokemon story going back to Red/Blue. I thought I was over moping ( ) over having missed out, but nope.

Anyway, I guess I can post my Heart Gold team:



So those are Helios named for my mystery dungeon blue partner but otherwise the typical starter. Hercules which was traded in and thus was going to get the exp boost so I waited to put him on the team until around the third gym. Casanova I think I caught for his double kick to use against Whitney, I might have given him a crush on the Slowbro. Muscle the ingame trade, I was surprised to see her so I don't have anything more to say. Starlight, I kept the and raised the egg, a staple team member who I don't have anything else to say of. Donia, my darling Slowbro that I knew I had to have on my team even before getting the game because the Slowpoke sprite was so adorable, she was rescued from team Rockt at the slowpoke well and just started to follow. Donia was the perfect cave companion obliterating anything bothersome with her stab moves and according to my head canon I left her in the Burned Tower as a Slowpoke on my way to Olivine and picked her up on my return where she had evolved.

Then I also did a Soul Silver Nuzlock which I didn't complete but the survivors were:


Nymeria, Bullet and Zinnia all girls, and the males Arthur, Heavy and Tundra. My worst loss was an Arbok named Rezcaro which fell to Mortys Gengar. I also had a bunch of Pokemon from the early routes that were named after different types of cheese, too bad none of them made it.

And I really lucked out and encountered the Pokerus on both those play thorough.

I really should keep a Pokemon journal to keep tabs on all this stuff.

woopWOOP said:

I usually try and go the complete other way by figuring out which capturable monsters I've never used before and play through the game with those. This includes dumping the starter monster in a box. Sometimes the intended Pokemon just plain sucks and I switch to another (man, Smeargle's a pain to use in singleplayer...

Click to expand...

I love doing this. I have yet to beat the Elite 4 in ORAS but boy did I go overboard by having four different color coded teams! They are currently competing to see who can beat the Elite 4 first. I will probably do the same if I ever get my hands on a Kanto remake or the VC release depending on the exp shar.

Azuran said:

Let's not deprive the readers from one of Brock's greatest moments.

Click to expand...

I find the weirdest thing about this video is actually Sudowoodo's voice. For some reason I had something entirely different in my head for how Sudowoodo should sound. I imagined a voice more like Shy Guy from Mario.

I blame Stadium 2. Especially since he's clearly saying "Sudowoodo!" in Stadium 2.

I totally forgot to post this when Sylveon was discussed:


The fairy type announcement was great, haha

Sudowoodo is completely worthless. I thought it was cool it could learn the elemental punches though.

I remember catching Sudowoodo in Silver version thinking it must be badass if it had a sprite on the world like legendaries and snorlax.

I eventually came to realize that wasn't the case, but the initial excitement was fun. I remember getting excited over every new pokemon I saw in Johto, I told my mom to hang on one night because I found a Sunkern and went "oh my god what is it I want it!" Used a great ball on it. Hahaha

I'm glad I went in blind to generations 5 and 6 so I still got that experience.

Watch Da Birdie said:

In Johto, Brock violently attacked a Sudowoodo by licking it.

Click to expand...

Oh come on, Brock has done some questionable things in the anime, but there's no way this hap-

Azuran said:

Let's not deprive the readers from one of Brock's greatest moments.

Click to expand...

How is he not on some kind of list?

Anyway, Sudowoodo was one of those Pokémon that i've always liked but never really used, mainly because of how hard it was to catch him in Gold/Silver and how outclassed he was by other Rock-type Pokémon in the remake (I never tried to catch him in Emerald). Really wish they'd redistribute/change the stats for a lot of the older Pokémon to make them better as far as competitive battling goes or, in Ledian's case, usable in the main game.

StoneFox said:

I remember catching Sudowoodo in Silver version thinking it must be badass if it had a sprite on the world like legendaries and snorlax.

Click to expand...

Same thing here. Still, it's one of the more charming pokemon and the first time we got a pure rock type. I thought it would be awesome to finally avoid the x4 weakness to water and grass moves but nope.

unknownstranger said:

Never really used a Sudowoodo in game, but I love Bonsly is Super Smash Bros Brawl. I think they got rid of him in Smash 4 though which really annoys me as he was one of my favorite.

Click to expand...

Smash 4 got rid of every single Generation IV PokeBall Pokemon---no Munchlax, Weavile, Manaphy, or Bonsly.

Though they added Darkrai, Arceus, Palkia, and Abomasnow.

Boogiepop said:

Also, for some reason a fillery episode of the anime with a golden Sudowoodo popped to mind when reading your thing, but I don't know. I'd guess Battle Frontier maybe since that's the only part post Gen I I've watched through since I picked up the DVDs to give a chance a bit back (also, on that matter, really glad we finally got a start to Johto on DVD in the US, so here's hoping they follow through and finish off that plus pre-Battle Frontier Gen III to bridge the gap...)

Click to expand...

I remember that, Battle Frontier. Some dude turned his Sudowoodo gold and everyone wanted it. Funny episode, I remember one scene where Sudowoodo runs into this cowboy bar full of all these super bad looking dudes and everyone starts chasing him.

Boss Doggie said:

I love how Sudowoodo is part of the Trevenant horde. And in the anime the Sudowoodo and Bonsly are Trevenant's family/buddies.

Click to expand...

Calling it right now, "Mega Sudowoodo" is gonna have it transform into a fake Trevenant.

PBalfredo said:

Likely a coincidence, but Sudowoodo always reminds me of the Woodoh enemy from Mother 1 EarthBound Beginnings.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure folks who worked on Mother worked on Pokemon. People have noted the resemblance between Gigygas in Mother with Mewtwo, and N's Farewell basically being the Mother 3 Love Theme. And I think there's some enemy said to look like Drillbur too.

#187 - Hoppip
Grass/Flying

Apart from the Mareep family, Hoppip is the only other "common" three-stage line introduced in Generation II, and is the first Grass/Flying Pokemon. While Hoppip is easy enough to come across, and is pretty cute and was one of my favorite Pokemon from Generation II as a kid, it didn't seem that attractive to most players though due to its paltry stats, multiple weaknesses, only learning two attacks, Tackle and Mega Drain , and the fact it starts with Splash. Yeah, that's not a good sign. Though to be fair the line does have its strengths in the competitive scene, but for the in-game scenario where speed and power tend to be key, Hoppip might leave folks feeling a bit under the weather when they try and use one. Nowadays though it's picked up a bit more moves, so using one in the newer games might pay off, though I have yet to get around to trying one out for myself.

I really dislike talking about plant-based Pokemon because I have trouble with the terminology, but Hoppip is the "cottonweed" Pokemon. Cottonweed isn't a specific type of plant, but rather a general term used to refer to flowers with cotton-like fibers, but more specifically Hoppip seems to be based off the dandelion. Now, dandelions don't produce cotton as far as I know, so it seems they mixed in an element of those plants as well alongside the dandelion motif, taking advantage of the fact that white dandelion seeds resemble cotton. Or something, like I said I'm not too keen on plant related issues like that. But well, Game Freak also went ahead and gave the sheep Pokemon a cotton-based attack, so it seems any white, fluffy material is cotton in their book. Hoppip's leaves resemble those of the dandelion---the actual plant's name means "lion's tooth", and is called such because of the fact the leaves resemble teeth. Hoppip itself also kind of looks like a cat, but that's probably a coincidence since in Japan the dandelion doesn't have the cat connection like it does here---though I know there's a Yu-Gi-Oh monster at the very least who works off that pun---and none of its evolutions look cat-like.

Each of the Hoppip family is based off a specific part of the dandelion, and Hoppip represents the roots, with its body probably meant to be a visual representation of a bulb I guess. Though the root is usually, well, rooted, the family is also themed around the aerial method of seed dispersal that dandelions utilize, so Hoppip floats around on the wind with its wing-like leaves. Sometimes the leaves are simply gliders, but at other times, such as in XY, they seem to basically be helicopter propellers! I think the intent was Hoppip passively gliding, though, as the PokeDex says Hoppip can't really control where it's going when a strong wind comes in, whereas the propeller wings would suggest it has greater control and thus work against that claim. Though it's based off the idea of seed dispersal, Hoppip doesn't really seem to actually have a purpose to flying around, it just does because for the most part it doesn't have much of a choice. But it's kind of cute in the same was as Sudowoodo due to its clumsiness and dealing with the cards life gave it in an optimistic manner.

Hoppip's first focus episode, "Foul Weather Friends", was actually more of an episode about an Oddish who wanted to be like Hoppip (which works since they're rather similar), and thus went around dressed in pink-face. That is not okay. The only other notable thing about Hoppip in the show was that Team Rocket actually owned one for about a minute---it was sold to them by the Magikarp Man disguised as a rare Hoenn Pokemon, but once they figured out the scam, it floated away to never be seen again. Kind of unfortunate because James using one would've been pretty neat, and he's been shown to have a natural affinity towards Grass-type Pokemon after all.


#188 - Skiploom
Grass/Flying

Like Mareep, the Hoppip family evolves quickly alongside the Starters, with Hoppip evolving at Level 18 into Skiploom. There's nothing specific to say about this middle-form, other than like Flaaffy it's my favorite member of its line, and I greatly prefer it looks-wise to its evolution. But do you know what bugs me? At Level 18, Skiploom's pretty low-leveled, so why couldn't Game Freak have distributed it around Johto to give players who skipped Hoppip earlier to reconsider using the line by having a slightly stronger member show off their positive points better? Instead you can't catch one till Kanto. Doing this review the poor distribution of Generation II Pokemon was worse than I remembered, I knew they did stuff like shove the Dark Pokemon into Kanto, but now I really see how you're basically far more likely to find a Generation I Pokemon over a Generation II one. I recently played XY, and despite having a ton of Pokemon, the XY Pokemon are actually promoted pretty well in their debut game---I always ran into the New Pokemon in every route, often within the first two encounters, so it seems Game Freak improved on this front over the years.

The Hoppip family is another line like Mareep who go through rapid color-changes which kind of bugs me, though I can see how it thematically fits them though since they represent a different part of the flower. I wish at the least they could've stuck with one body-color, like the pink color of Hoppip seems like it would've worked well enough for all three, as you can see by looking at Skiploom and Jumpluff's shiny colorations. While Hoppip was based on the root of a dandelion, Skiploom is based off the flower, and as you'd expect is far prettier and more vibrant looking overall. Also, now it kind of looks like a dog with its floppy ears. Skiploom loves the sun, and is said to fly high in the air in order to get closer to its warmth---the warmer it is, the more its petals open up, and thus the higher it can likely fly due to having more volume for air to hit and push its body skyward. However when it's cold, or when it rains, the poor thing seems to stay closer to the ground and seeks shelter under trees till it blows over.

Though the PokeDex doesn't specify about its flying capabilities, it seems Skiploom has more control over its flight than Hoppip does (despite being only 2.2 lbs.), and looking at its flower I always thought it spun it around like a helicopter. While XY did this (since it's I guess pretty easy to do in 3D), I think everywhere else it seems to simply fly kind of like Kirby does, using its petals to catch air and I think occasionally flapping its ears to gain height. I wonder if Game Freak really thinks these things through or do they just sort of draw up the basic design, have a few notes, and then let the various canons do what they want with the Pokemon as they see fit?

In Johto, it seems every town Ash and co. visited happened to be celebrating some inane, specific festival the day they get there---and in Skiploom's focus episode, it just so happened to be a Tournament specifically for Grass-type Pokemon. Bulbasaur fans, you might want to sit down for this, but the COTD's Skiploom handed Bulbasaur's ass to him with a Solar Beam. Technically, Skiploom "cheated" too---in this episode Leech Seed was shown to work against Grass-type Pokemon. I know in XY they've specifically fixed this, as whenever Leech Seed has been used on a Grass-type Pokemon, it still binds them, however it doesn't actually absorb their energy which is a neat touch, but honestly breaking minor game rules like that doesn't bother me too much.


#189 - Jumpluff
Grass/Flying

At Level 27, Skiploom evolves into Jumpluff---thus getting a fully-evolved Grass Pokemon in Gold and Silver is only a hop, skip, and a jump away. Wait a second, was that the idea behind these names all along? Despite the Hoppip line not looking that impressive, Jumpluff can actually be quite valuable in the competitive scene if you know how to use one. Though it's not that aggressive offensively, it's quite fast, especially in the sun with Chlorophyll, and with its other Ability, Infiltrator, it can even bypass various barriers and hit the opponent with all sorts of status effects making their life miserable. It's even capable of sweeping with Swords Dance if you get lucky enough to set it up, but it seems to be a Pokemon where prediction, and a bit of luck, is key. In Generation V it seemed to be at its best, but Generation VI saw some reduction in its use, though I'm not sure why---the nerf to weather effects? Unable to keep up with Mega Pokemon? Whatever the reason, it's a Pokemon that might surprise you despite its less than impressive stats and cute appearance.

Jumpluff is another third-stage evolution in Johto that I'm actually kind of iffy about, and consider it a downgrade from what it evolved from. Unlike Ampharos, it isn't a total swerve in motif, but I simply like Skiploom's appearance far better than Jumpluff's. It's always struck me as a really fragile and weak looking Pokemon for a final evolution, and Skiploom honestly looks like at first glance it should be the final stage---I actually thought that Jumpluff was smaller and lighter than Skiploom, because the Sugimori art kind of gives that impression, but nope it's actually slightly bigger. Anyway, we had the root of a dandelion, the flower of a dandelion, and now we have the seed of the dandelion. Yeah, it's sort of weird the seed comes last, but I guess it's supposed to give a sort of "full-circle" element to the line. Jumpluff's "cotton spores" are dispersed around the world as it flies around, and become offspring---does this mean they become Hoppip? More Jumpluff, but "baby" ones? Or do they simply become regular dandelion flowers? It's said that the way dandelions reproduce through apomixis results in genetically identical offspring, so I guess all the Hoppips and such of the world are basically clones, more or less? Anyway, don't even think how this ties into it laying Eggs with other Pokemon...

Hoppip and Skiploom both had a cute animal motif to them which I think helped them feel a bit more interesting and cuter to look at, whereas Jumpluff is pretty much just a little round plant creature, kind of looking like an overweight Oddish. It also seems to have a Western cheerleader motif, as shown in the 3D games and the anime, as it's shown using its cotton spores like pom-poms, which is pretty cute and makes it a bit more interesting, though this doesn't really pop up in the main games where it instead kind of aimlessly floats around and such. It does learn a few moves, non-naturally, that seem to fit this motif such as Encore and Helping Hand, but it's one motif that seems to have been created by secondary-sources and never really part of its "canon" character. It's a cute gimmick, though, so I consider it part of the Pokemon even if Game Freak doesn't because that's how I've always pictured it myself.

Jumpluff never really got a major role in the show till XY---it had small appearances in Johto like fighting at Oak's laboratory, participating in a Pokemon cheerleading squad, and being used by Officer Jenny to dust for footprints in one episode, but otherwise XY saw its first "major" role under the ownership of the Grass Gym Leader Ramos. Jumpluff helped solve a weather crisis caused by angry Ice Pokemon through the use of Sunny Day, though it quickly lost in the Gym Battle with Ash and never actually got a real attack in---it just kept using Cotton Guard. Nice way to blow it, dude.

Using their leaves as helicopter propellers in XY is consistent with Stadium 2, so it's something they've intended them to do since they were created.

Jumpluff flies like Kirby, at least in Stadium 2. I've never seen what it looks like in XY.

Actually... speaking of Kirby and Jumpluff


hmm...


Also, is it me, or is Skiploom's HG/SS art kind of wonky looking? It looks kind of strange.

I don't care for this line at all. It's just there...

I can see how Jumpluff could be good. One I fought in the Black Tower used Leech Seed, Ingrain, Stun Spore, and Giga Drain which made it annoying to knock out.

I would never use one because I don't like how they look and they look fragile.

The only reason I remember Jumpluff at all was that it was the main Pokemon of one of initial Gen II PTCG decks.

Skiploom might be the ugliest second stage Pokemon in a three stage line. Hoppip is cute, but Skiploom is like a weird overweight Hoppip and I hate how the dandelion flower is just directly on top of the head like someone taped it on.

Thank God Jumpluff makes up for it by being so cute. Love the cheerleader motif, and the round body matches the round appendages for a very consistent appearance.

This is one of those lines where I like each evolution far less than the previous stage.

Hoppip is cute and looks great animated in 3D. Skiploom is...okay? And Jumpluff is kinda ugly tbh.

I always liked Hoppip best of all those forms. Floating tomato Pokemon!

Apparently Hoppip has better stats than Zigzagoon, which is surprising to me. It always seemed like such an incredibly weak Pokemon to me, getting knocked out in just a few hits most of the time. ...Maybe I should try using one again sometime.

#190 - Aipom
Normal

Generation II was originally, and still is to an extent, filled with weak single-stage Pokemon, and at its time of release Aipom was a great example of this trend. If you asked most folks what their least favorite Generation I Pokemon was, many folks will likely bring up one of the weak, "pointless" single-stage Pokemon like Tangela, Farfetch'd, Lickitung, or Mr. Mime, so why Game Freak thought it was a good idea to fill Generation II with this type of Pokemon, I'll never know. Aipom has since evolved, but at the time it debuted it was a pretty lame Pokemon with middling stats and a dull natural move set, though like many Normal-type Pokemon it had a lot of variety via TMs. But of course, with its low-stats, it's not worth wasting them on a Pokemon like it. Aipom was one of many Pokemon found through Headbutt Trees in Gold and Silver, and thus it was actually quite common as they appeared on multiple routes, though at the same time during an adventure, many players probably don't bother with gimmicky capture methods like that unless they're specifically looking for a Pokemon they want to use, so most folks likely skipped Aipom over. In Diamond and Pearl it once again was found via a gimmicky method, Honey Trees, which the player was even less likely to mess with during the adventure as you actually had to wait for Pokemon to spawn after applying the honey. Well, it's cute, right?

Like Sudowoodo, Aipom is an endearingly goofy Pokemon with a simple, but cute motif---it's a monkey with a prehensile tail that acts like an extra hand. As you'd expect, Aipom uses its tail for all sorts of things such as grabbing food, climbing through the tree-tops, balancing itself out, and attacking foes, so much so that its actual hands have atrophied as a result. The level of dexterity of Aipom's tail brings to mind that of the spider monkey, though it lacks the elongated limbs that those have, but it also seems to have traits of the squirrel monkey. Squirrel monkeys have long tails as well, but rather than using them for movement, they're used for balance. Like Aipom, squirrel monkeys have a small "mask" on their face which serves as the inspiration for their German name "Totenkopfaffen", "death's head monkey". So, like a lot of Pokemon, you could say Aipom has traits of both creatures---its wide-eyed grin also brings to mind those creepy cymbal-playing monkey dolls. Hmm...spiders, death's head, and possessed dolls, Aipom's kind of creepy all things considered.

In the Johto anime, Aipom was extremely minor, its most memorable appearance in my mind was in Movie 3 owned by that girl Ash fought in the beginning. However, at the end of Battle Frontier, Ash suddenly caught an Aipom outta nowhere, and speculations about its purpose immediately begun since it was captured in a series focused around Generation I and Generation III Pokemon. Most folks accurately predicted it'd be evolving into an all-new Generation IV Pokemon, and indeed Aipom hitched a ride to Sinnoh and became part of Ash's early Diamond and Pearl team. Aipom was a mix of Bayleaf and Primeape, a female Pokemon with a special "crush" on Ash, and a penchant for stealing hats and being all around mischievous. It popped up a few times in Battle Frontier before finally being caught after it was inspired by a Contest Battle, and throughout the show there were hints it enjoyed Contests, such as being used by Jessie in an unofficial Pokemon Contest, all of which ultimately led up to a much discussed and speculated trade between Ash and Dawn, his Contest-loving Aipom for her Battle-loving Buizel. It was neat to see a trade like that actually happen in the show, but I admit it was sort of sad to see Ash lose a Pokemon like that even though it still remained part of the main group. Soon after coming under the command of Dawn, Aipom would evolve.


#424 - Ambipom
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Evolving from Aipom when it learns the move Double Hit, Ambipom is one of five New Evolutions introduced in Diamond and Pearl which can be normally obtained before the post-game. The pre-National Dex Cross Generation evolutions of Gen IV feel much simpler compared to the likes of Magnezone, Rhyperior, Electivire, Magmortar, and Togekiss and that's probably because they all evolve from rather weak single-stage Pokemon who needed basic improvement. Ambipom sees a decent increase in Attack and Speed, though its other stats are still in need of improvement as it's quite fragile. Though it doesn't blow anyone away in terms of strength its Ability, Technician, increases the power of weaker moves meaning Ambipom can be quite fun to use during the main adventure, and is somewhat easy to obtain---well, you'll need to get Aipom first via Honey Trees, but you don't need any rare Item or trading to evolve it, simply get it to level 32 where it learns Double Hit and bam, you got yourself a fun and decent Pokemon. In the competitive scene, Ambipom had its niche, though it relied on a sense of surprise which was taken away with "Team Preview", and many other Pokemon are capable of filling its niche far better. I once battled alongside a Trainer who used an Ambipom (I used Medicham) in Platinum's Co-Op Battle Frontier, and it was actually pretty potent in that, so I have a lot of respect for the Pokemon despite its shortcomings.

Ambipom is a very simple expansion of a simple motif, instead of having one tail-hand, it has two! Bravo Game Freak! In all seriousness, I don't mind this, and I think a lot of fans were probably happy that Ambipom went with a simple motif, feeling a bit more like a classic evolution, as opposed to radically changing it up like some of the other Generation IV Cross Generation evolutions. It's pretty much what I though an Aipom evolution would be like, though, and it works. However, there's no getting around the fact that while expanding on the basic motif in a simplistic way was for the best, the rest of Ambipom is...well...mixed? This is another Generation IV evolution where I can't help but feel someone was specifically trying to make this Pokemon as purposefully awkward as they could with the twin-Alfalfa hair, the weird 'stache, the bowl-cut, and finally the udder-hands. What in the world where they thinking when they designed those? Did they not realize what they look like? But like Magmortar despite its horribly akward style, Ambipom actually grew on me pretty quickly, and looking at it now I find it kind of cute and pleasing, and have come to see it as a very natural evolution to Aipom. But this was seriously designed by someone on drugs, no doubt.

After Dawn obtained Aipom, it quickly evolved into an Ambipom. I always felt Ambipom was really wasted potential for all the build-up it got, as while it did serve Dawn pretty well for awhile in various Contests, it was quickly dumped and written off the show in one of the dumbest ways possible---by Ping Pong. Yes, Ping Pong. One episode had it suddenly gain an interest in Pokemon Ping Pong, so much so that it willingly chose to leave Dawn in favor of heading to Vermilion City to train at a Pokemon Ping Training Center. Diamond and Pearl was so good, but also had some really dumb decisions, this being one of the key ones. We've yet to see Ambipom again, except in one of the Endings of Best Wishes where it was shown alongside countless other Pokemon and nowhere near Ash or Dawn, so I don't know who is considered to be its "true" owner now since Dawn herself basically released it. I kind of hope one day it can return to Ash's side since we'll likely never see Dawn again in a major role for the foreseeable future, especially since it's in Kanto right now.

what the fuck is going on with ambipoms fingers

i feel unclean just looking at them

"Look at my udders!"

I liked to use Ambipom as a lead in Gen IV when team preview wasn't a thing. Not sure how good it is now.

Not75Drops said:

I liked to use Ambipom as a lead in Gen IV when team preview wasn't a thing. Not sure how good it is now.

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You should go ask Smogon how good Ambipom is. They love him!

Ambipom looks much better animated. It has grown on me over the years, but I still prefer Aipom.

I tend to forget the Hoppip line exists, how could I forget though? it has Skiploom and that thing looks like shit.
Jumpluff is kinda neat but underwhelming for a third form, makes me view the line more like your standard caterpillar bug line.

Aipom is kinda cute and of course was also another one of the many unfortunately near useless Johto additions, it's a shame that Ambipom just looks like kind of a mess to me, like it's close to being nice and simple but then just threw random shit all over the place like...
- The strange purple line nose/nostril
- why does it look like its got a bowl cut?
- The split hair strands look worse than the tuft of Aipom
- Ears shrank, randomly turned red
- THOSE HANDS

Close but no cigar Ambipom.

I ignored Aipom for years until Ash's Aipom. Something about the way it was depicted on the show completely changed it for me and it ended up becoming one of my favorite Pokemon.

Toxi said:

You should go ask Smogon how good Ambipom is. They love him!

Spoiler

Ambipom is probably the most hated Pokemon in Smogon history for the baffling tendency of people to use the monkey in formats it's completely outclassed in. It's currently "Rarely Used" tier despite being blacklisted from the Rarely Used viability thread because it's so bad in that format.

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Don't say that!