#610 - Axew
Dragon
Axew is the first Dragon-type Pokemon encountered in Unova and is often mistakenly thought to be a pseudo-Legendary line, though its final evolution doesn't quite make the cut as its BST is only 540. Still, like the majority of Dragon-type Pokemon catching an Axew is a surefire way to give your team an instant power boost and he can be found quite early on, though you'll have to search for him and do a bit of backtracking---after visiting the Twist Tunnel and obtaining Surf return to Route 6 and explore the river to come across the Mistralton Cave where Axew can be easily found. In Black 2 and White 2 you'll obtain Surf on Route 6, since Twist Tunnel is no longer accessible till after the Elite Four, making it even easier to catch an Axew quickly for your team. I used one myself in Black 2, though rather than catching him I bred him in White and sent him over to my copy, and there's really no downside to using one except of course having to wait a bit for him to evolve to catch up to the rest of the team, but even in this form he can hold his own with a decent attack. And if you're looking to use a Dragon-type the only other (non-Legendary) options are one that doesn't evolve and one that evolves extremely late, so Axew is the most viable choice for an in-game Dragon. In Gates of Infinity Axew was one of the Starter Pokemon alongside the Unova Starters and Pikachu, though he was dropped in Super Mystery Dungeon---it seemed kind of imbalanced to have a Dragon-type as a Starter though Type advantage isn't as big of a deal in the Mystery Dungeon series compared to the main series.
There's a certain Dragon Pokemon coming up in Generation VI that everyone says is the cutest Dragon-type but I'm just gonna say right here that they're totally wrong and Axew is actually by far the cutest, it's extremely adorable and as soon as I saw it in the show I fell in love. Like the majority of Dragon Pokemon we've had Axew doesn't seem to be based on any real creature, though Bulbapedia notes various dinosaurs had similar tusks to it though not quite as exaggerated looking and its crest resembles that of a hadrosaur, but rather basically a baby kaiju-type creature. Its most notable trait is of course its long tusks that stick horizontally out of its mouth which it uses mainly to crush berries, it seems that at this stage it's still a herbivore since besides the tusks it lacks visible teeth, and mark its territory. If a tusk happens to break it can grow one back harder and sturdier, and some perhaps may purposefully grind their tusks down to strengthen them for battle I imagine. It's a very nice design in my opinion though the little green rim around its neck is a bit distracting because it looks like it's wearing a scarf though it's meant to be part of its body.
Axew was revealed through leaked Best Wishes concept art alongside his owner Iris, if I recall the art called him "Namakusa" or something along those lines (his actual Japanese name ended up being Kibago), and in the series proper was a major mascot character almost comparable to Pikachu---it appeared in almost (maybe every?) episode of Best Wishes as far as I can remember, though unlike Pikachu it spent time in Iris' hair as a makeshift PokeBall so it wasn't always on screen. Iris was given the young Axew as a gift from the Dragon Village elder, hoping she could train it to become a powerful Haxorus, and while Axew did express interest in evolving the writers weren't too keen on throwing away such a marketable Pokemon---it never ended up evolving whatsoever though perhaps if Iris comes back for XY, which is looking less and less likely the further we get into it, maybe it will have finally accomplished such a task. It did see a few growth moments, such as mastering Dragon Rage, becoming Scraggy's "Big Brother", and even getting to fight Cynthia's Garchomp, for the majority of the show Axew was either comedy relief or in need of rescue, and a lot of people quickly grew tired of it especially when the already short Unova League was interrupted so the writers could give us a filler involving Axew ending up lost at the league. But for all his flaws I found Axew to be rather endearing, his original voice was especially nice and his dub voice, compared to Piplup's, wasn't too shabby either, and of all Best Wishes flaws I thought he worked well enough as a nice mascot Pokemon. Though how much you like Axew probably corresponds to how much you like Iris, and since a lot of people don't...but screw the haters, Iris in my opinion was the greatest companion in the history of the series.
#611 - Fraxure
Dragon
At Level 38 Axew evolves into Fraxure, which isn't quite bad compared to some of the recent high-level evolving Pokemon we've covered. None of its stats see too much of a large increase here except its Attack breaking 100, but as a pure-Dragon Type it's all around solid and doesn't have too many weaknesses to worry about.
Here's something I didn't know---Fraxure was supposedly the first Generation V Pokemon designed, and I say supposedly as while Bulbapedia sources this claim the link is broken as it just leads to Nintendo U.K.'s homepage and I've never heard this mentioned anywhere before today. Now the Axew line being one of the first Generation V Pokemon created doesn't surprise me too much, but the awkward middle form being the one created to start the line as opposed to Axew or Haxorus, who actually appeared in pre-release material, is quite a shock if true. As far as middle evolutions go Fraxure is a nice in-between its pre-evolution and evolution, as it has traits of both and doesn't randomly gain or lose any attributes, instead the line has a very nice flow like many of the classic Generation I Pokemon did. In this form Axew's tusks grow far larger and more dangerous, now resembling pick-axes possibly covered in what appears to be blood, though it has to be careful now with them as by this point they won't grow back if they're broken. The little "neck armor" Axew has now expands and covers Fraxure's head, likely protecting its head from the opponent's attacks when it battles for territory since it always has to get in close to fight them, and it resembles a chain-mail hood you'd see an old-school knight wearing. I don't think Fraxure is as cute as its pre-evolution or as cool as its evolution, but it gets the job done.
As Axew never evolved Fraxure ended up being one of those Pokemon who got far less spotlight compared to its smaller, more marketable pre-evolution only really appearing in dream-sequences (of Axew imagining itself evolving) and flashbacks to Iris' time at Dragon Village. One episode did give it a decent-sized role where it was revealed one was used by Iris when she attended Opelucid Academy as a child, though she ended up hurting it by having it battle even when tired causing her to get yelled at by Drayden and convincing her to abandon the school---though upon her return in Best Wishes she made sure to apologize to the same Fraxure for her immaturity.
#612 - Haxorus
Dragon
At Level 48 Fraxure evolves into Haxorus. As I said before Haxorus isn't actually a pseudo-Legendary despite resembling one, consider him basically the Flygon of Generation V perhaps, but he's not to be underestimated due to possessing a whoppingly high 147 Attack that can rip through basically any opponent with ease, and that's not even considering the fact he can boost this even higher with Dragon Dance or Swords Dance. At the time of his debut he was also the first fully-evolved pure-Dragon Type Pokemon (alongside another Gen V Dragon), excluding Dragon Arceus, meaning he doesn't have to worry about 4X Ice-type attacks bringing him down like the majority of Dragon-type Pokemon and though this means he also lacks an additional STAB option with that pure power he doesn't quite need it. I remember hearing people thinking this guy was gonna be an absolute monster when he was first revealed, but once he came into the game the hype died down a bit as while good, his average Speed and weak bulk don't do him any favors and the switch to Generation VI hasn't helped either with the introduction of Mega Dragon Pokemon and Fairy-types. I actually feel like he'll be the one who gets a Mega first over the actual Generation V pseudo-Legendary, and I imagine perhaps Mega Haxorus might live up to the reputation the original was supposed to.
Golden Axe, the Pokemon. Haxorus is one of those Pokemon that just oozes cool, I'm not usually one to fawn over the dragons and dinosaurs like a 90s kid but this guy's pretty sleek---blood-stained axe teeth, golden armor, and one of the raddest sounding names ever conceived by human ingenuity. Can you believe the same people were responsible for "Cofagrigus"? Most of the other Kaiju-style Pokemon look like they're inspired by real Kaiju and the closest Game Freak can go without being sued, but Haxorus looks like the kind of monster that Toho needs to rip off in the future and put in one of their Godzilla films. And you know it's not even that edgy either, the PokeDex mentions that outside of defending its territory it's a pretty kind Pokemon. An all around great design---but not the best Dragon-type Pokemon introduced in Generation V, though, he's coming later. Yeah, that's right, it's exactly who you're thinking of.
Haxorus in the show for the most part existed as a powerful Pokemon who was hyped up throughout the early parts of the show before it actually appeared, Axew dreaming of becoming one while Iris revealed fighting Drayden's Haxorus in a flashback with Excadrill though costing it its first lost and ruining their relationship till it was repaired in Best Wishes proper. Drayden's Haxorus finally appeared in person far later where it battled Iris and Excadrill once more, this time the two of them in better-sync putting up a great fight ultimately ending in a tie. And, considering it's Haxorus, that's probably the best result possible. Later Team Plasma's Colress took control of a trainer's Haxorus causing it to go on a rampage in a nearby town and when Iris' Dragonite attempted to stop it Colress took control of it as well, meaning Charizard had to step in. Meanwhile Crustle held its own against Haxorus but the fight never saw a conclusion as it was freed from Team Plasma's control before Crustle inevitably totally destroyed it like every other Pokemon it went up against with Shell Smash.