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RTTP: The Pokemon. All 721 of them, and counting.

jnWake

Member
It doesn't bother me that much to be honest but I think it'd be cool if for Gen VII Gamefreak dared to retcon some of the things that make no sense in the franchise, Kangaskhan being the first haha. Finally add the baby as a Pokémon and create some interesting gimmick for it to evolve and I'd be happy. If something could be done about Cubone I'd be happy too but that one seems like a lost cause haha.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Yeah I love Mega Kanga, and the hype she got from her announcement is welldeserved and even hilariously overpowering.

I don't think they're bothered by the gliding. I think they'd rather have a neutral not-flying stance with the Pokémon standing on the ground doing cool stuff. I liked the gliding animations but I can see why people dislike some of them. Xatu in particular.

EDIT: Tangrowth is cool. Tangela is lame but the evolution really nails the concept to me. I don't think I've ever used it though...

Ah then that I agree. They deserve a neutral ground stance.

Yea, I know of those famous "Gliding Totem Poles" of the great American mid west that exist. Xatu was specifically designed to rest on the ground (like a totem pole). His back is boring and all of his interesting details are on his body, which you can't see because the angle the camera sits at while Xatu glides.

Skarmory isn't a stealth fighter, and that's not how Skarmory flies. In all other appearences, Skarmory flies by moving his wings very quickly, like an insect. He does glide occasionally, but not to maintain flight, that would be impossible.

By totem pole I meant not moving at all :p Even in other media it stated that it barely moves at all and instead watches.

And I always thought Skarmory was meant to evoke a stealth fighter when flying. The whole V shape thing and all that.
 

Macka

Member
Kangaskhan and Mega Kanga are great designs, but holy hell is it ridiculously OP. It just makes things less interesting when so many teams use her as their mega.
 

Razmos

Member
I used the random internet battle feature in Pokemon X only once.

The reason was because I entered into a battle with a person using a Mega Kangaskhan. It literally wiped out all 6 of my pokemon with no effort at all.

I never battled online after that, where using the pokemon you like is frowned upon and it's all about whatever is the current overpowered flavour dominating the metagame.
 

Azuran

Banned
I used the random internet battle feature in Pokemon X only once.

The reason was because I entered into a battle with a person using a Mega Kangaskhan. It literally wiped out all 6 of my pokemon with no effort at all.

I never battled online after that, where using the pokemon you like is frowned upon and it's all about whatever is the current overpowered flavour dominating the metagame.

To be fair, Mega Evolutions weren't balanced with singles gameplay in mind. Game Freak only balances for Doubles where Mega Kangaskhan while still OP, it's not as broken.
 

Macka

Member
Wow Mega Kangaskhan is basically just kangaskhan with the baby out the pouch? That's uncreative as fuck.
The baby Mega Evolves, not the parent.

I like it - it's fun. What were they going to add to a Pokemon like Kangaskhan? Making it look more powerful would be kinda against the point imo. It was always the 'parent pokemon', so this makes sense as the next step of its design.
 
I used the random internet battle feature in Pokemon X only once.

The reason was because I entered into a battle with a person using a Mega Kangaskhan. It literally wiped out all 6 of my pokemon with no effort at all.

I never battled online after that, where using the pokemon you like is frowned upon and it's all about whatever is the current overpowered flavour dominating the metagame.

Yes yes yesss! So much this! Its annoying you see the same teams over and over,same corny movesets and if you even try to use Pokemon u like you're done for. Thats why i liked gen VI before we all got accustomed to fairy type and megas.

Funny story i had a carbink on my team(love that lil guy) he had toxic,dazzling beam,stealh rocks and stone edge? Cant remember last move. But anyway i was on poke jungle and we were all battling each other. I lead with carbink won three battles in a row because people were forgetting what type carbink was,what was weak and strong against fairy lol it was awesome. Online is at its best when a game first comes out, especially when gamefreak shakes it up
 

Weebos

Banned
Mega Kangaskhan one of the few megas that takes a bad pokemon and turns it into a metagame defining monster.

I believe there were Mega Kangas on every team in the Masters division top 8 this year.
 
Breloom is kind of like a boxing kangaroo, although, like Kangaskhan, is also more dino like in appearance.

Kanga is an awesomely designed Pokemon. I tend to like the Pokemon that take the idea of a monster and mix it with a modern animal and it makes a cool design that reminds you Pokemon are supposed to be monsters

It's absurdly strong. I don't know what happened to it but during early XY metagame it was banned because everyone had it on their team, it was that strong.

It's still uber these days. A Swords Dance that does damage, goes through taunt and can break substitutes. Jeepers.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
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#116 - Horsea
Water

One of the many quirks of the franchise that has always bothered fans is the over-abundance of Water-type Pokemon, and our next three families sort of illustrates how they tended to be a bit too common, even though it makes sense from a biological standpoint. As we round out the last third of the Kanto PokeDex, what should be a space filled with some of the more unique, odder, and end-game Pokemon is interrupted by a group of Water-type Pokemon who could be called somewhat plain, or unneeded, perhaps better saved for a later game since there were plenty of Water-type Pokemon introduced already. Horsea is yet another Pokemon who is basically unavailable till the last segment of the game, once the player obtains the Super Rod or decides to check out the Seafoam Islands, and thus most folks probably won't bother with the line till it comes time to complete the PokeDex following the completion of the main adventure. If Game Freak were going to introduce so many Water-type Pokemon, at the very least maybe they should've distributed them a bit better so they all didn't end up feeling like filler to extend the collection quest? Well, it's hard to really blame a single Water-type Pokemon for this issue, and Horsea isn't too bad---Gen II helped it by making it a bit more interesting, but in Generation I the line really had nothing unique to help it stand out among all the other Water-type Pokemon, so using one was all up to personal preference.

It's interesting how people tend to feel the need to try and connect some of the weirder animals to more recognizable animals when it comes to common names in biology, and how this can change depending on the culture---most westerners view seahorses as resembling, well, sea horses, whereas in Japan, they're compared to dragons, specifically their name in Japan translates to "illegitimate child of a dragon". That's why Horsea is known as the "Dragon Pokemon", in case you're wondering. Thankfully, this probably didn't confuse too many kids, because seahorses are likened to dragons as well in the West---sort of. There exists a similar animal known as the "seadragon", which actually isn't a seahorse, just related to them, but most folks usually consider them just a different type of seahorse, and by Generation II this creature itself came to influence a new member of the Horsea line, so in the end it all worked out rather nicely. Anyway, Horsea downplays its dragon elements for the most part, and is pretty much simply a seahorse, although it can shoot out ink from its mouth like a squid which I don't believe any real seahorse is actually capable of.

Something I literally just noticed about Horsea that really weirds me out is that it only has one fin---did you ever notice this? Because of the way it's usually seen from the side, I just assumed the other fin was hiding behind its back, and I've never used one so I haven't had a chance to notice how its backsprite looks but, yeah, the dude just has a single fin. In my mind, I always picture it with two, and it seems the original Sugimori Art actually did have two fins as well, however every in-game appearance has only given it one fin, as has the show. I don't feel too bad for not noticing this, because it seems the PokeDex writer didn't either---the PokeDex has said Horsea had "fins" all the way up to Soul Silver. It seems they finally realized the issue, though, because Alpha Sapphire's entry edits the original Sapphire entry to say "fin" rather than "fins". Although, then again, seahorses have three fins---the single one on their back, like Horsea, but also pectoral fins, which are smaller and behind their eyes, and I imagine that's what those little spikes on Horsea's head are meant to be, so perhaps the Dex was also referencing those instead? Actually, looking things over, that does make sense---everytime the Dex specifically says "dorsal fin" or the fin on its back, it specifies only one, except for the Sapphire entry which was fixed, otherwise "fins" in general is kept plural. Anyway, though Horsea is said to be capable of swimming quite quickly, actual seahorses are quite slow, and in fact the slowest moving fish in the world is a seahorse, the dwarf seahorse which has a top speed of five feet per hour.

Horsea is saved from complete obscurity thanks to biology, because while it may be a pretty average pure-Water type Fish Pokemon, it's based off a pretty interesting creature that makes for a great Pokemon right out of the box. The neatest thing about seahorses in real-life is the fact that the males are the ones who raise the eggs, the females depositing them into a pouch on the male's stomach who then fertilizes and incubates them, which is still somewhat of a mystery to scientists who don't quite understand what benefit occurs by having the male be the one to raise the eggs. This element actually is not mentioned in the games concerning Horsea, although it is mentioned in its evolution's PokeDex entries, as well as being brought up in Horsea's first anime appearance, but it never really went anywhere despite the inclusion of Breeding in Generation II---I think it would've been pretty neat if perhaps when breeding a Horsea, the male would be the one who influenced the species of the Pokemon Egg. I mean, it wouldn't really change anything---except perhaps the way Horsea inherits moves would be different as it wouldn't have any true Egg Moves since it's the males who pass them down and thus there'd be no way to get Egg Moves the Horsea line cannot normally learn, but it would've been a cute gimmick to see regardless. One day I'd like to see a Pokemon species with a unique Breeding element like that.

Misty owned a Horsea in the show, but having a main character specialize in Water-type Pokemon came with a glaring flaw---many of them are incapable of functioning on land, and thus had limited appearances. In the games having Water-type Pokemon float around is perfectly okay, but it'd definitely stick out in the show and couldn't be explained away as easily as being due to graphical and gameplay limitations, so Misty's Horsea basically did nothing of interest for the entire show and was dumped off at Cerulean Gym likely because the writers realized this was a flaw. Out of all the Water-type, purely aquatic Pokemon, I feel like you probably could've actually had Horsea hop around on its tail and not look too weird, but ultimately it was cut from the main party. It's no surprise Misty's most popular Pokemon were the ones capable of land movement, and since Misty all Water-type Pokemon who joined the main cast were always amphibious Pokemon who didn't have to worry about land movement. And that was pretty much the only Horsea of note, too.

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#117 - Seadra
Water

Seadra is the evolution of Horsea at Level 32. Seadra was once a pretty uninteresting fully-evolved Water-type Pokemon who was outclassed by the more diverse Water-type Pokemon introduced in Generation 1 such as Slowbro and Cloyster, but now he's become a pretty uninteresting, middle-form Water-type Pokemon who is outclassed by the more diverse Water-type Pokemon.

Even though there's nothing really interesting about Seadra, and it's been pretty much outclassed by its evolution introduced in Gen II, its actually a rather neat design, and a Pokemon I kind of wish I got around to using because it seems like it might be fun to take on for a spin in the main adventure. One of the biggest differences between Seadra and Horsea is that the former now has two dorsal fins, like I used to think Horsea had as well, which are tipped with poison. It actually wasn't till Generation II that they were mentioned to be poisonous, Generation I just says they're sharp and can cause numbness, but even in Generation II this didn't factor into Seadra at all, since all it could learn in terms of Poison-type attacks was the near-universal Toxic via TM. Finally Generation III actually gave Seadra the ability to poison its foes through the use of Poison Point, but it's learned like one other Poison-type move in its entire existence, and only through Chain Breeding. So its poisonous abilities are quite underplayed. I couldn't find a straight answer if any real-life seahorses were poisonous, I saw sources claim certain varieties were without further explanation, and Wikipedia doesn't say anything about poisonous ones as far as I could see, so it seems, like the line's ability to shoot ink, this ability was likely lifted from other sea creatures, possibly the poisonous spines of the lionfish.

Compared to Horsea, Seadra looks a lot more fantastical, with a more ferocious appearance befitting the "Dragon" species. According to Generation II, researchers discovered a gene in Seadra that's not present in the DNA of Horsea, which I assume is a reference to its burgeoning Dragon-type nature that becomes more prominent upon evolution, and a hint to players who transferred their Seadra up from Red and Blue that there's something different about Seadra this time around. Did anyone here play Gold and Silver unaware of the new evolutions? All the kids I knew were talking about the new Pokemon thanks to magazines like the infamous Pojo (god, I miss that magazine), and everyone knew about every single new evolution introduced in Generation II---hell, that was the big thing about Gold and Silver, and actually overshadowed discussion about the brand new Pokemon in my circle. So, well, let's finish up with Seadra and move onto that new Generation II evolution, shall we?

Seadra was one of the unfortunate Pokemon who got knocked the fuck out by Ash's Kingler's one-man murder spree in the Indigo League. The writers forgot to give a bunch of Generation I Pokemon a decent focus episode in Kanto, not that I blame them since they had a limited amount of episodes and 150 Pokemon to work with, so some of the extra ones ended up being given to the Orange Islands Gym Leaders so they could have some "spotlight". It's weird when you remember "Orange Islands Gym Leader" was a thing. At least it's not the Deco---sorry, I can't even say that name. I just want to forget "that" ever happened and erase it from my memory.

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#230 - Kingdra
Water/Dragon

Kingdra is the evolution of Seadra when it holds the Dragon Scale and is traded, and was the only Dragon-type introduced in Generation II, which was pretty disappointing. It's the first Dragon-type Pokemon we've covered so far, but I'll talk more about the Type when we get to the actual Generation 1 Dragon family. I understand Game Freak wanting to keep Dragon Pokemon rare at this point, but I wish they would've at least given us one Dragon Pokemon in Generation II who wasn't the evolution of an older one. Kingdra at first was quite unremarkable, as while he receives a decent statistical boost compared to Seadra, rather than try and focus on certain stats, he goes for balance, which didn't quite work out for him, and he also had a rather poor moveset---being part Dragon, as well as part Water neutralizing his Ice weakness one his one great attribute, but he's gotten a lot better overtime when he actually started to get some good moves, and his Ability Swift Swim works great too. Nowadays he's rated rather highly, but it's unknown how he'll fare in a future full of Mega Evolutions and Fairy Pokemon.

Seadra evolves into Kingdra with the Dragon Scale, but it also has to be traded---I said it with Rhyperior, but I hate this shit, the Dragon Scale has no use otherwise (a small boost to Dragon-type attacks, but only in Gen II) and having to trade just compiles the obnoxiousness of it. There's an interesting story behind the idea of a dragon scale in eastern mythology as it's said despite being very beautiful and majestic creatures, every dragon has a "reversed" scale that if touched will cause them to go completely nuts, highlighting the fact that even dragons aren't perfect. How does this connect to Pokemon? The move Outrage, which Kingdra couldn't obtain till Diamond and Pearl via Move Tutor and as of Gen V through Breeding, is actually named for this scale, called "Gekirin" in Japan. Just thought I'd share---this really doesn't connect to Kingdra, though, as the Dragon Scale doesn't seem to be representative of the reverse scale, and instead just awakens the Dragon-DNA dormant in Seadra I guess. As far as Dragon-type Pokemon go, Kingdra doesn't look that much like how most people really picture dragons, but it works considering seahorses are seen as relatives to dragons in Japan, and Kingdra shares a few physical features of the weedy seadragon, like the seaweed shaped dorsal fin, but it actually doesn't have too many traits specific to the seadragon, like having a curly tail which seadragons lack, one of the main differences between them and seahorses.

In Japan, there's a mythological being known as Ryuujin, "dragon god", who was popularized in the story of Urashima Taro and is said to dwell beneath the ocean and can control its tides, who Kingdra may have been based on, due to the fact it's also said to dwell at the bottom of the ocean and is said to cause whirlpools to form simply by yawning. I won't focus much on Ryuujin right now, though, as there's actually another Pokemon introduced in Generation II who also shares similarities with Ryuujin, and fits the role of "dragon god" far more than a relatively unimportant Pokemon like Kingdra does. I imagine the abilities Kingdra is said to be capable of are mere legends, whereas the capabilities of this other "dragon god" Pokemon seem much more plausible considering its power and role as a Legendary Pokemon. Perhaps like how Japanese people relate seahorses to dragons, Kingdra's status as a "dragon" isn't exactly true, but rather simply how he's seen by the world due to resembling the legendary creatures. When he was introduced in Generation II, the only Dragon-type move he could naturally learn was the relatively benign Twister, perhaps supporting the notion he was never intended to be seen as a full-on Dragon, but rather an honorary one.

I said above that I actually like the looks of Seadra, but when it comes to Kingdra I actually think it looks kind of dumb. It's one of those designs I understand where they're going with it though, so I don't dislike it because it confuses me, it's just the weedy seadragon is a pretty awkward creature, and Kingdra perhaps should've been made to look a bit cooler and more fierce than the creature it was based on. My least favorite part of its design is the face, I dislike how they added a separation between the snout and the neck which makes it look like it has a weird mouth going on. Maybe that was the point, making the back edges of the face look like a mustache that Eastern dragons are often depicted with, but when it's viewed from an upward angle and you notice it, it bugs me. Kingdra actually looks pretty good when you look at it from above, like its Generation III sprites, but everywhere else like in the Sugimori Art it looks rather awkward. You ever notice how they basically throw everything away about Seadra's design? Kingdra has Horsea's red eyes, Horsea's single dorsal fin, Horsea's less-curled tail, Horsea's round head, and Horsea's smooth chest---basically nothing that Seadra added is kept, and in Generation III this includes dropping Poison Point. I wonder if originally Horsea was intended to evolve straight to Kingdra in Generation I, but they decided to only have one Dragon-type family in Generation I, so saved Kingdra for next time and added in a simpler evolution for Horsea in the form of Seadra. Game Freak really needs to release an art-book one day with concept art to answer some of these questions, like their own "Hyrule Historia".

Kingdra, a majestic Dragon-type Pokemon, made its debut in the show under the command of some fisherman in the Whirl Cup Tournament (what is with this line and filler arcs?) where it lost to an unevolved Starter Pokemon. Thankfully, it made up for its poor showing later on under the ownership of Gym Leader Clair, and got a much more worthy battle against Snorlax. I actually like the Whirl Cup fight because it had one of the silliest defeats of any Pokemon, its mouth getting shut closed causing its body to swell up like a balloon as it tried to fire off a Water-type attack, and then deflating around the stadium like a balloon with its air spilling out. Straight outta Tom and Jerry.
 

jnWake

Member
It's funny how Dragons were so rare in Gens 1 and 2 and then in Gen 3 they added like 4-5 new dragons (too lazy to find the real number) and never stopped. Wonder why they did that haha.
 
Mega Kangaskhan is one of my favorite megas, it's simple makes a a lot of sense fun to use and is just a really good idea well executed

it also one of the best point for megas existing, taking a pokemon that was never used and making them really good
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
It's funny how Dragons were so rare in Gens 1 and 2 and then in Gen 3 they added like 4-5 new dragons (too lazy to find the real number) and never stopped. Wonder why they did that haha.

Gen 1: 3
Gen 2: 1
Gen 3: 9
Gen 4: 6
Gen 5: 10
Gen 6: 9

Not counting alternate forms, Arceus, or Mega Evolutions.
 

Seil

Member
Gen 1: 3
Gen 2: 1
Gen 3: 9
Gen 4: 6
Gen 5: 10
Gen 6: 9

Not counting alternate forms, Arceus, or Mega Evolutions.

Also, looking at it from view of lines/families rather than individual Pokemon:

Gen 1: 1
Gen 2: 1(Though it's actually an addition to a Gen 1 line in the form of Kingdra)
Gen 3: 6(5 if you count Latios and Latias together, 3 if you ignore legendaries)
Gen 4: 4(1 if you ignore legendaries)
Gen 5: 6(3 if you ignore legendaries)
Gen 6: 5(4 if you ignore legendaries)

Gen 6 has the largest number of dragon families and individual dragon types when legendaries are excluded.
 

Toxi

Banned
I like Kingdra. Its unique typing (at least until Palkia came along) helped make an otherwise uninteresting line of Pokemon stand out more. I just wish it didn't require a fucking trade to evolve. I hate trade+item evolutions so goddamn much. So many cool Pokemon that almost nobody ever used in-game because they had to go through such a hassle just to get them.
 

brinstar

Member
I find Kingdra to be pretty boring but I can't hate on it cause it helped me get a 100-win streak in the Battle Tower back in Pokemon Sapphire.
 

woopWOOP

Member
Tangela always reminds me of HxH's Kortopi, especially the '98 anime version. Probably have an old one named as such too, ha.

The child/mother teamwork mega form of Kangaskhan is hella cute, but it makes me wish they went and made earlier forms for that line already. Cubone might be considered to be the baby forms, but a Kangeshkan with baby hatching out of an egg is super weird man.

Kingdra always looked kind of bland to me and at first it really surprised me he was part dragon and actually pretty dang tough. I found out the hard way when my friend wrecked my team with one.
 

Seil

Member
I prefer Seadra's design to Kingdra's, but I really liked Kingdra in the past. It seems as time goes on, though, I like Kingdra less and less. Though purely from a design standpoint.
 

Rutger

Banned
Kangaskhan is cool, and so is its Mega. Making it so the child is the one that Mega Evolves is an interesting idea.

It becoming so powerful was surprising, it's not the end of the world in doubles, but I can see it being hell for anyone that still plays singles. No Pokemon stays at the top forever though, so I should hurry up and train one and have some fun before Z potentially shakes things up. :3

I have nothing to really say about the Horsea line.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
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#118 - Goldeen
Water

Many Pokemon fans have complained about the overabundance of Water-type Pokemon and in particular, it seems Pokemon based on regular fish tend to be the least liked animal Pokemon, and many of them are considered uninteresting and quite forgettable. Goldeen was the original plain-fish Pokemon, a pure-Water type that had basically nothing going for it and most people likely never even bother with. It's quite common, being available using the Good Rod basically anywhere in Generation I where there's water, including Cerulean Gym, but like the name of the fishing rod you can get it with suggests, it's just "good", but that's it. It's one Pokemon I think probably no one actually used out of their own free will except as possibly an HM Slave, since its one claim-to-fame was the ability to learn Waterfall naturally even before it became an HM.

Goldeen is the goldfish Pokemon, a Pokemon based on a fish widely considered to be small, weak, and dumb, and thus the Pokemon version probably wasn't going to be that impressive either. Goldfish actually aren't as dumb as they're often portrayed because their memory span isn't a few seconds like commonly believed, but actually around three-months, which is good for a fish, and they've been observed to be rather keen observers, capable of distinguishing their owners from strangers and reacting accordingly. Goldeen doesn't seem to be particularly intelligent, but this is not a fish you want to put in your aquarium---in fact they hate captivity, and will use their horn to burst right out of the glass to try and escape. We've had a lot of Pokemon with horns in Generation I, Game Freak seemed to love adding them to Pokemon to spice them up, and Goldeen is no exception, since there's really no reason to give a goldfish a horn other than simply making it feel more like a monster.

The common view of goldfish has them as being entirely orange, but there are actually many varieties of goldfish that come in a lot of different colors, with Goldeen being specifically based on the tosakin, curly fantail goldfish, and it's known as Tosakinto in Japan. The tosakin is a goldfish that was bred in Japan, and is known for its beautiful, fan-like tail that flows behind it like a dress. Thus, Game Freak exaggerated this element a bit, giving Goldeen an elaborate tail that resembles a ball-dress, and an effeminate appearance to tie it all together and suit its nickname "Water Queen". I remember the sprite they went with in Red and Blue really messed this up, as the way Goldeen was positioned it looked like it had legs and was some ugly fishman instead---that probably didn't help its popularity. The actual tosakin is an extremely poor swimmer due to the shape of its tail, but Goldeen is said to be a very strong swimmer capable of moving upstream with little issue. I guess Goldeen already looked pretty weak, they had to at least give it some positive elements in the PokeDex to make it seem strong.

Here's a fun bit of trivia to impress your friends. For those of you who have played Diamond and Pearl, did you ever wonder why the P.I., Private Investigator, Trainer Class battled using Goldeen of all Pokemon? It's actually an example of the censorship of gambling elements that picked up steam in Generation IV, as in Japan they're actually known as "Gamblers", thus the coin-flip and hanging near Veilstone City which has the Game Corner. Why the Goldeen? Apart from spamming the luck-based Horn Drill, it's believed to be a reference to the popular "goldfish scooping" game popular at summer festivals in Japan, and thus fitting for a man who loves to test his luck. I hate that thanks to Europe we'll probably never see the Game Corner ever again. Thanks, Europe!

Everyone knows Goldeen from Smash Brothers, the weakest and most useless Pokemon to appear from the PokeBall who can only splash around, although there's an urban legend that on occasion it'll actually use Horn Drill and instantly K.O. someone, although this is definitely false. There's actually a Generation I Pokemon far better known for being a weak, useless fish who can only splash around, but like a lot of Pokemon elements in Smash Brothers it was probably inspired by the anime, in which Misty's Goldeen infamously made its debut by showing how useless it was in a land battle. I hate Misty's Goldeen. Remember how they dumped Horsea because it was basically useless? You'd think they would do that with Goldeen, who had zero personality or purpose, but it stuck around all the way till Misty left, and I don't remember it doing a single thing the entire duration. Literally every Pokemon owned by the main cast has been more interesting than it.

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#119 - Seaking
Water

Seaking is the evolution of Goldeen (get it?) at Level 33. Seaking used to be a completely unremarkable Pokemon, but in Gen V finally got a chance to stand out in one of the weirdest ways---Lightning Rod. Before Generation V, Seaking with Lightning Rod would've been a sick joke, as it would mean every Electric-type attack, including those used by allies, would strike it with 100% accuracy utterly decimating the poor Pokemon. But in Generation V, Lightning Rod now gave its user an immunity to Electric-type attacks, meaning Seaking is only weak to Grass-type attacks, and if they're hit by an Electric-type attack, would raise their Special Attack. If Seaking had better stats, and a far better movepool, he would've been an absolute monster, rather though it just made him kind of good and gave him his own little niche to set him apart from the rest of his Gen 1 Water friends who are stopped by a powerful Electric-type Pokemon. I guess this might be a good time to say it...FUCK YEAH, SEAKING!

I want to punch Seaking in the face. Seriously. I'm not even joking, Seaking's face pisses me off. I have nothing against making Pokemon realistic and similar to their real-world counterpart, I think it can work depending on the animal, but the one part of a Pokemon I think should be exaggerated are their eyes. Eyes are really important to a Pokemon's design, and I think pretty much every Pokemon excluding a few exceptions should probably have eyes that are expressive and "human", so to speak, giving them an element of sentience putting them apart from regular animals. Imagine if they gave Charizard creepy lizard eyes like the type Ridley has? Yet whoever designed Seaking decided to give it the biggest fish eyes known to man, and it just makes the whole design ridiculously boring and uninteresting. Especially compared to Goldeen, who has an air of cuteness to her, Seaking looks lobotomized and incapable of following any orders you give to it. I actually think this might be my least favorite Generation I Pokemon, and also makes me realize how much I actually like Goldeen's design in comparison.

Anyway, Seaking is based on another Japanese breed of goldfish, the Azuma Nishiki variety. This fish is actually pretty cool looking, and I honestly think it looks more lively and intelligent than Seaking---it's funny they gave Seaking such big eyes, because the Azuma Nishiki is known for a growth that may eventually cover the eyes rendering the poor fish blind. But go look up this fish for yourself, it's really cool looking and you can see how much Seaking is basically a direct rendition of it. Seaking's Japanese name, Azumao, could be interpreted as "King of the Azuma", or could even be taken as "King of the East", since the "azuma" refers to Eastern Japan. Zenshin! Keiretsu! Tempa Kyouran! Look! The East is burning red! Anyway, the PokeDex mentions how Seaking become more colorful during the fall, but I imagine the default appearance is meant to be the colorful fall look. Another Pokemon I wish Game Freak perhaps added some visual variety to spice things up, but in Generation V they'd create a Pokemon who does use the idea of changing appearances based on the season.

One theory I have is that at one point in time, Goldeen and Seaking weren't evolutionary relatives, but rather meant to be counterparts to one another explaining why they look pretty different from one another as far as Generation I Pokemon go, and why even in the original one is likened to a queen, while the other is likened to a king. There's nothing to support this beyond superficial elements, but you'll notice both of their PokeDex entries talk about breeding, making me wonder if Game Freak possibly planned minor breeding in Generation I, with the two of them serving as two of the main Pokemon capable of it, but couldn't fit that into the game due to space issues, so they turned these two into evolutionary relatives so they wouldn't have two single-stage fish Pokemon just sitting near the end of the PokeDex. I imagine their breeding element might be a reference to the story of the tosakin, in which they were nearly wiped out by an earthquake and only saved due to a dedicated hobbyist trading a bottle of vodka for the only surviving ones he could find at a restaurant and breeding them. Awhile later in Tokyo other hobbyists also took the time to help repopulate the species, and they're now considered a Natural Treasure of the Kochi Prefecture. Yeah, so here's some Pokemon where the story behind their real-world counterpart is more interesting than they are.

There was an episode of the show about fishing for Seaking.
 

Toxi

Banned
Anyway, Seaking is based on another Japanese breed of goldfish, the Azuma Nishiki variety. This fish is actually pretty cool looking, and I honestly think it looks more lively and intelligent than Seaking---it's funny they gave Seaking such big eyes, because the Azuma Nishiki is known for a growth that may eventually cover the eyes rendering the poor fish blind. But go look up this fish for yourself, it's really cool looking and you can see how much Seaking is basically a direct rendition of it. Seaking's Japanese name, Azumao, could be interpreted as "King of the Azuma", or could even be taken as "King of the East", since the "azuma" refers to Eastern Japan. Zenshin! Keiretsu! Tempa Kyouran! Look! The East is burning red! Anyway, the PokeDex mentions how Seaking become more colorful during the fall, but I imagine the default appearance is meant to be the colorful fall look. Another Pokemon I wish Game Freak perhaps added some visual variety to spice things up, but in Generation V they'd create a Pokemon who does use the idea of changing appearances based on the season.
Oh wow, these guys are adorable. I'd love Seaking a lot more if it looked as pudgy and squishy as its inspiration.

img57378930.jpg


There was an episode of the show about fishing for Seaking.
LOL

You can tell how interesting Seaking is when this is its anime writeup.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
I never even saw that episode about Seaking either.

Most Pokemon I can remember actually their debut except a few BW Pokemon since I skipped out at the end of that season, but I had to check for Seaking.

Now I remember he actually got to fight like once when Juan used him in Sootopolis.
 

Weebos

Banned
Goldeen is maybe the most unmemorable Pokemon ever. The only time I ever used one was for Waterfall in Silver, but still never leveled it.
I agree, it's a boring filler line. Even when I tried to use them I found them totally unremarkable.

Lightning Rod seems interesting for in-game use, but I doubt we will see Seaking in competitive play without a Mega.
 

jnWake

Member
Yeah Seaking is pretty lame. If it weren't for some ultra lame Gen II Pokémon (what the hell Qwilfish) he'd be the most forgettable Pokémon to me. Goldeen isn't that exciting either but at least it has a neat air of royalty to make it somewhat interesting.
 

Bladenic

Member
I've always wanted to use Kingdra but trade evolution or Horsea being available only late into the games prevented that. I'll never forget the G/S Kingdra sprite where I thought it was sticking its tongue out.
 
I'm already tired of these filler water types and we've still got numerous gens with more of them to come.
As a counterpoint, Seaking's giant fish eyes are one of the few things that make the design memorable to me, that and its oddly fang like maw.
And coming to think of it Goldeen may be one of my least liked pokemon.
 

Razmos

Member
At least it makes me laugh when I summon Goldeen in smash expecting the pokeball to help turn the tide of battle, only for it splash around on the floor going "gold, gold goldeen!"
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
I always wanted to use Kangaskhan but since she doesn't evolve and is too rare just to be a reserve Pokémon, I never got the chance to use her.

As for Horsea I was close to using it on my Crystal team but I decided against that and went for Poliwag instead.

Goldeen....erm....geez this is hard....I don't care for Goldeen at all.

Heck I don't care for any fish like Pokémon, I can't deal with them just floating in the air whenever I see them in the game.

The only 3 Fish like Pokémon that I have used are Magikarp, Remoraid and Feebas.

It annoys me more in Smash for not being Magikarp.

I dunno, Magikarp at least has the potential to be useful, Goldeen however doesn't.

Though I do think that it would be cool if they made Magikarp a Pokéball Pokémon but just flops around and can get hit by the player but if he gets hit to many times he will evolve into a Gyarados and just wreck everybody.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Goldeen is such a joke that I whenever I fight it, I am okay in sending out Pokémon that are weak to water as most of the time they aren't packing water moves so I don't fear them at all.

Though Juan's Seaking nearly wiped my team out due to it's Horn Drill. ¬_¬;
 

Macka

Member
For as much as people criticise them for not being memorable, Finneon and Lumineon are far, FAR better looking than Goldeen and Seaking.
 

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
For as much as people criticise them for not being memorable, Finneon and Lumineon are far, FAR better looking than Goldeen and Seaking.

If it's all the same I'd just rather not have any stupid ass fish on my team. Unless it turns into something rad like a Milotic. Then it can stay.
 
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