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[Dad]

Sun Stone should evolve Eevee into Espeon.

Moon Stone should evolve Eevee into Umbreon.

Shiny Stone should evolve Eevee into Sylveon.

Only one without an easy stone counterpart is Glaceon.


The Incense thing defeats the entire point of baby Pokemon existing. So dumb.

You could use Dawn Stone for Sylveon and Shiny Stone for Glaceon

 

[papertoonz]

best part about Hitmontop

but yeah the poke god have never given me a shiny ever i tryed to breed a shiny Bulbasaur last year but no luck

 

[SenorArdilla]

The only way to get Self-Destruct on Snorlax is to make a Munchlax because only Munchlax has it as an egg move. Which means that you have to breed with Destiny Knot/Full Incense and are at the mercy of RNG. Babies are horrible.

 

[StoneFox]

The only way to get Self-Destruct on Snorlax is to make a Munchlax because only Munchlax has it as an egg move. Which means that you have to breed with Destiny Knot/Full Incense and are at the mercy of RNG. Babies are terrible.

It's like trying to breed Volt Tackle onto a Pichu. One parent has to hold the Light Ball so you either have to decide between a Destiny Knot or Everstone. RNG hell.

 

[TriggerShy]

Yeah, I'm ready for the pitchforks...

I know I'm late, but please don't write stuff like this. This reads as a challenge, which implies that you expect people to disagree with you. It irritates me because people who say things like "Come at me fanboys!" or "*Puts up flame shield*" do so because they believe that they expressed an unpopular opinion. Which makes me believe they only said it to start a fight, and then when someone answers that challenge, those same people will brush any argument aside stating things like "it's just my opinion." This is very arrogant to me because it makes it seem like these people want to prove how smart and rational they are by nonchalantly making everyone who argues with them look like "rabid fans" or "lowest common denominator." But most of all, that statement devalues their own opinion as well as everyone's. Since you've even admitted you understand how people might find Cubone sad, I don't want you to appear that way. Sorry, I needed to get that out, you have so far given every Poke'mon a far shake despite personal basis, keep it up!


On topic, I think Sawk and Troh should have a "Tyrogue."

 

[Weebos]

I can picture Sawk and Throh's Tyrogue already.

He is just a little guy and the outfit is too big on him.

It's adorable.

 

[unknownstranger]

I had Pokémon White so I couldn't get Sawk, but I loved Throh. He's really tanky while also being decently strong and having some unique moves. Sawk also isn't as fast as he looks.

 

[Boss Doggie]

well they are onis

I don't think there are baby onis

 

[Nightbird]

aside form a shiny male Ralts, my only other shiny encounter was exactly like this...

and I'm now sobbing, you should know why I'm sobbing

;_;

(no I don't count the gyarados shiny encounter in Gen 2 as a real encounter for obvious reasons)

Holy Shit, looking at that picture alone made me almost cry.

 

[iirate]

I mostly remember using Hitmonchan when originally playing R/B(I guess I was drawn in by the elemental punches and was couldn't keep all of Lee's kicks straight), but Hitmonlee is my favorite of the three today, and has a really gorgeous design. I'd like to use one again at some point, but I don't think I've touched this line since Gen I.

 

[CassSept]

I wonder how people would react if Gen I featured Throh/Sawk and Gen V the hitmons. How people would react to non-organic elements of Hitmonchan.

That said, I really dislike how many expys Gen V had. Like how majority of Pokemon are another takes on Gen I Pokemon.



I've encountered two shinies and got one from breeding. At least the one from breeding was usable - Swinub last year in X.

The others were Pichu in Platinum in 2010 which just looks like Pikachu-colored Pichu everyone got from online distribution... and damn Unown in Gold

 

[Benzychenz]

Let me try and remember all my shinies...

Way back in gen 3 I got a Weedle (now Beedrill), Phanpy (now Donphan) and Girafarig.

In gen 5 I got a Swellow.

In gen 6 I got a Gulpin and a Skrelp.

And they're all in my PC in Y now.

Might be forgetting some but I can't be bothered booting up the game to have a look

 

[unknownstranger]

I wonder how people would react if Gen I featured Throh/Sawk and Gen V the hitmons. How people would react to non-organic elements of Hitmonchan.

That said, I really dislike how many expys Gen V had. Like how majority of Pokemon are another takes on Gen I Pokemon.



I've encountered two shinies and got one from breeding. At least the one from breeding was usable - Swinub last year in X.

The others were Pichu in Platinum in 2010 which just looks like Pikachu-colored Pichu everyone got from online distribution... and damn Unown in Gold

Yeah gen 5 was really bad with how many Pokemon mimic gen 1. Stupid how they included every single form of evolution identical to previous gens outside of Karrablast and Shelmet. The other thing I had an issue with was how late so many Pokemon evolve. Until gen 5 there was no gen that had more than 1 Pokemon evolve at 50 or later. In gen 5 there were 7. The world saves gen 5 from being lower on my list of favorite gens.

 

[Benzychenz]

Yeah gen 5 was really bad with how many Pokemon mimic gen 1. Stupid how they included every single form of evolution identical to previous gens outside of Karrablast and Shelmet. The other thing I had an issue with was how late so many Pokemon evolve. Until gen 5 there was no gen that had more than 1 Pokemon evolve at 50 or later. In gen 5 there were 7. The world saves gen 5 from being lower on my list of favorite gens.

Yeah, gen 5 has my favourite games after HGSS but it's easily got my least favourite set of new pokemon.

 

[PataHikari]

That said, I really dislike how many expys Gen V had. Like how majority of Pokemon are another takes on Gen I Pokemon.

This isn't the case at all.

Other then the archetypal Pokemon in which new ones appear in every generation, there aren't that many Pokemon that are revisiting of Gen1 concepts.

And even the ones that are are fresh and interesting takes on the concept.

The Gen 1 "Expies" in Gen V are brilliant, really. They showcase just how far Game Freak has come. Every single Gen V Pokemon is much better designed then Gen 1 Pokemon. And the "Expies" are the biggest highlights of this.

By "design" I don't mean the character art, that's subjective. I'm speaking of more objective measurements. Stats, move-pools, placement in the game, the levels they learn moves. By those measures the Gen V designs are perfect.

 

[Tiamant]

Gen V brought us the much needed bug boost and also gave us bugs that were actually GOOD for competitive play.

edit: holy shit, you guys hatin' on Marowak? It's awesome with thick club, use it always on my team (specially on doubles and triples) and it kills almost everything it touches. I remember when a lot of folks used Cabrink as dual screener because nothing could OHKO, ha! Bonemerang to your face! It can wreck fairies with Iron head, learns all elemental punches, no recoil double-edge, knock-off, brick-break and other utility moves. Sure, it's slow but it has great physical defense, so it's not likely it will die in one hit if you switch wisely.

 

[The Shadow Knight]

Gen V brought us the much needed bug boost and also gave us bugs that were actually GOOD for competitive play.

edit: holy shit, you guys hatin' on Marowak? It's awesome with thick club, use it always on my team (specially on doubles and triples) and it kills almost everything it touches. I remember when a lot of folks used Cabrink as dual screener because nothing could OHKO, ha! Bonemerang to your face! It can wreck fairies with Iron head, learns all elemental punches, no recoil double-edge, knock-off, brick-break and other utility moves. Sure, it's slow but it has great physical defense, so it's not likely it will die in one hit if you switch wisely.

Heracross was OU in gen 2 and 3, BL in gen 4 and UU for the last two gens. Forretress has been OU up until gen 5 but is now UU. Scizor has been top of the bill since it got Bullet Punch in Platinum.

I realize there aren't that many, but competitively viable bugs have been around for a lot longer than gen 5.

 

[woopWOOP]

Whenever I think Hitmonlee I think of his awesome cry in the N64 Smash Bros game. He was a cool summon.

I used Hitmonchan in one of my replays of Pokemon Leaf Green. Those elemental punches sounded cool, but were just so worthless before gen4 made them physical. With a special attack that's 1/3rd his regular attack, even super effective moves did 50% damage compared to just using Fight attacks for everything. Pretty lame.

 

[Nightbird]

Yeah gen 5 was really bad with how many Pokemon mimic gen 1. Stupid how they included every single form of evolution identical to previous gens outside of Karrablast and Shelmet.

And yet it feels less like Gen1 pandering than Gen 6.


If we could have a game with the world of Gen 5 with the Designs of Gen 6, that would be the perfect Pokemon game.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

They really should simplify evolutions at this point

Some are pretty convoluted and seemingly random. They also usually add an evolution that uses some gimmick of the version of that game, but then that either requires them to keep that gimmick forever or awkwardly throw another evolution method at the Pokemon later.

And incense for Pokemon breeding is stupid. They shouldn't be afraid to retcon Pokemon breeding.

 

[Boss Doggie]

It's not like they're averse to it even, see Feebas.

They should stick Nidoran to a single species for instance.

 

[bulletbill10]

While I'm sure tyke plays a role, I think the ty in tyrogue comes from tyro. It means a beginner or novice, which he is compared to his specialized evolutions.

 

[Mr-Joker]

If I recall correctly Tyrogue and Hitmontop, were originally planned to be in gen 1 but got cut.

Also Hitmontop 3D model in gen 6 sucks, why is he standing on his feet dancing away?

He just looks stupid and it totally put me off using him, ah well at least I will have mine from Colosseum.

Anyway I used a Hitmonlee nicknamed, Wamu on my Red team. He didn't get to shine much as by the time I got him he was facing types that resist fighting, but he got to shine towards end of the game.

Yeah gen 5 was really bad with how many Pokemon mimic gen 1. Stupid how they included every single form of evolution identical to previous gens outside of Karrablast and Shelmet. The other thing I had an issue with was how late so many Pokemon evolve. Until gen 5 there was no gen that had more than 1 Pokemon evolve at 50 or later. In gen 5 there were 7. The world saves gen 5 from being lower on my list of favorite gens.

The only problem that I have with gen 5 Pokémon is how late they evolve, which was clearly done due the experience formula being redesigned but they changed it again in gen 6.

And yet it feels less like Gen1 pandering than Gen 6.

Agreed, I think it's because that Gen 5 wasn't in your face about it and the gen 5 Pokémon offered something different.

Gen 6 however just straight up laid it on thick with the gen 1 pandering.

It was downright annoying as I wanted to see something new and not something that I have seen from 99.

Really hope that gen 7 will have very little of the gen 1 pandering.

 

[Boogiepop]

Huh, I always had the impression that Hitmonchan was noticably more popular, but I guess that's the ol' bias of one's own circles. And the rest of the people responding here definitely show Hitmonlee being more popular. Interesting. (And yeah, I'd +1 on Hitmontop being the best of the line).

As for Shinies, I actually didn't get a purely random one until the tail end of wrapping up playing White 2 after hundreds and hundreds of hours of playing games I could get shinies in. So the odds finally played out before they became more reasonible in Gen VI.

Outside of that and of course events and stuff like the Gyarados and Haxorus, I had previously chained out a Phanpy in Pearl, and then Y was a mild raining of shinies thanks to the increased odds. The one I'm remembering off the top of my head as appearing in the wild is an Ursaring, though I know I got some others from the friend safari and stuff, including a Metang. Oh, and of course some stuff from trades, though obviously I'm less certain of their legitimacy (and indeed, one didn't make it to Gen VI thanks to the hack check, so yeah.)

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I liked the Gen 1 pandering

Dual Greninja/Charizard starters was awesome.

Also I'm not really sure an entire chunk of the game being dedicated to Lucario was gen 1 pandering. X/Y kind of tried to pander to all generations, except the 2nd and 5th for some reason. With all the Kanto references, the Hoenn remake hints, and Lucario being the poster dog for mega evolution and a large part of the story.

 

[Spyware]

Also Hitmontop 3D model in gen 6 sucks, why is he standing on his feet dancing away?

He just looks stupid and it totally put me off using him, ah well at least I will have mine from Colosseum.

If you're actually wondering why, it's because he first and foremost is a capoeira fighter and his idle stance is the base stance of capoeira.
When he attacks he does it like this:

I think he's cute.

 

[clemenx]

I've only gotten shinies on horde encounters and they don't feel like real shinies to me =(

I've never gotten one solo and I've been playing since freaking Gen I

 

[Yrael]

My purely random encounter shinies were a Ratatta in Black 2, a Diggersby in X (I was actually just about to start chaining for a shiny Litleo - the shiny Diggersby broke my chain on the very first Pokemon), and a Feebas and a Spheal in Alpha Sapphire.

I particularly like the Spheal:

A friend of mine's first every shiny encounter was a Seel. He wasn't impressed:

(Yes, that is the shiny.)

 

[Mr-Joker]

If you're actually wondering why, it's because he first and foremost is a capoeira fighter and his idle stance is the base stance of capoeira.
When he attacks he does it like this:

I think he's cute.

He does look cute, I think that we are too used to him being on his head hence why he looks odd on his feet.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

#108 - Lickitung
Normal

Well, now we're starting to get to the pretty weird Pokemon of Generation 1. Lickitung is quite an obscure Pokemon---there was only one in Red and Blue, nicknamed "MARC", you could only get through a trade. Unlike Farfetch'd, who was available in exchange for a very common Pokemon, Lickitung required a Slowbro (Golduck in Fire Red, since Slowbro was made Leaf Green exclusive), quite rare and pretty powerful, and thus I imagine far less players traded for one until the very end of the adventure when they were trying to complete the PokeDex. Japanese Blue actually made it available in the Safari Zone, and Yellow added it to the Cerulean Cave, so unlike Farfetch'd eventually there was a way to obtain one in Generation I without having to trade for it, but still not till rather late in the adventure. Did anyone actually use this Pokemon during their adventure through Kanto? Anyway, as a pure Normal-type Pokemon who didn't originally evolve, and only has stats on par with Butterfree, Beedrill, and Onix, Lickitung doesn't look like it'd be that good, but surprisingly it was actually somewhat decent thanks to having high HP, only one weakness, and pretty powerful moves plus access to Sword Dance. I mean, it was far from the best Pokemon, but back in the day among the lower tiers it didn't do too bad for itself. Lickitung became a bit more common in future games, but has always been a pretty rare and forgettable member of the Pokemon roster.

No one quite knows what Lickitung is supposed to be, except apparently some strange lizard who is said to be like a chameleon due to its long, prehensile tongue. I actually think it's perhaps meant to be a giant salamander, which are sometimes colored a similar pink shade and their long, flat tail sort of resembles a giant tongue like Lickitung's. Furthermore, Lickitung has very small eyes and is said to mainly feel its way around and memorize the textures of objects through the use of its tongue, and I always figured it was nearly blind---the giant salamander has very poor eyesight as well, and makes up for that with special sensory cells covering its skin which act much like the hair within our ears, allowing it to detect vibrations in the air and navigate through sound rather than sight. I think you can see the similarities between the two, and how Game Freak borrowed some elements from the animal when creating Lickitung, but twisting it to be a bit more fantastical than many of the other animal-based Pokemon tend to be. There's a Pokemon introduced in Gen II who is definitely based on the giant salamander, and when we get to it you'll notice it shares some physical similarities to Lickitung, especially the shape of its head and eyes.

Lickitung is a very simplistic Pokemon whose motif you can surmise at a glance---it loves to lick things. In fact, it doesn't really seem to actually be a Pokemon all that interested in eating, rather it just likes to lick things for the sensation it seems. When it licks living things, however, they're said to experience a tingling sensation akin to paralysis...hey, that sounds just like the move Lick, doesn't it? Well, guess what---Lickitung doesn't learn Lick in Generation I. Lickitung, the Licking Pokemon, didn't originally learn Lick. I guess I can sort of understand this from a gameplay perspective, at that point Lick was strictly a Ghost-type move associated with them, and perhaps giving it to Lickitung would be a bit odd, but still---that's just not right, man, that's just not right. The PokeDex says its tongue is twice the size of its body, and going by the PokeDex it's specifically within 6'6" and 7'0" in length---it's so long that you might wonder how Lickitung keeps it stored, but the PokeDex has an answer somewhat, as apparently its tail is said to retract whenever it extends its tongue, so I guess the "tail" is actually some sort of tongue muscle instead, and is where the tongue is stored when not in use.

One element of Lickitung's design Game Freak seems to jump around with its Lickitung's "eyebrows", or rather the small highlights that are sometimes seen above its eyes. Without them, Lickitung looks rather daft and dull, probably fitting its personality, but whenever it's given the eyebrows, suddenly it looks far happier and brighter, or in some appearances they give it an odd mean look, like that time Uncle Leo had his drawn in after they were blown off. A good example of this is Generation III, where Lickitung had the eyebrows in Ruby and Sapphire, and looked quite happy, but they were gone in FRLG and Emerald, and suddenly he looked pretty stupid---RS was the last time I think the eyebrows were seen, and the new Sugimori Art released alongside Fire Red and Leaf Green "officially" removed them from the games it seems. In the show however, Lickitung always had them if I recall, although they jumped around, sometimes being weird white markings, sometimes thin lines, and at other times merely shadows---a recent appearance in XY went with the latter. Very weird, but I think I like it with the cute eyebrows making it look a bit more personable. Lickitung really feels like a filler Pokemon though, and his design I think is fair to say looks a bit more like something from a later Generation, with his pastel colors, cuter, more abstract look, and little markings on his body that don't really add or subtract anything. I actually like him myself, he's really cute and I wish he got more love, but I understand why quite a lot of fans don't care for him. And his evolution seems to cause even more disagreements...

Oh, but that Lickitung Mini-Game in Stadium was pretty tight! Everyone can agree on that, right?

In the show, Lickitung was a member of Team Rocket, but probably one of the lesser members---due to the issues caused by the hiatus after the seizure incident in Japan, the episodes got shuffled around, and Lickitung was actually first mentioned in the Farfetch'd episode, even though he wasn't actually caught till Princess vs. Princess by Jessie. The dub had the same problem if I recall, and in re-runs I don't believe they've ever fixed this issue. As a Team Rocket Pokemon, though, Lickitung had surprisingly few appearances---only 19, and it actually didn't appear after its capture till the Orange Islands, which is where most of its appearances were. And then it was traded away in Johto, never to return, and replaced by a certain Pokemon who'd go on to become Team Rocket's second mascot. Poor Lickitung, he really got the short end of the stick, although perhaps ending up with a normal trainer as opposed to the bumbling Team Rocket was a positive. Outside of Jessie's Lickitung, I struggle to think of another one having a role in the show.

#463 - Lickilicky
Normal

Lickilicky is the evolved form of Lickitung introduced in Generation IV, evolving when Lickitung Levels Up while knowing the move Rollout. You know, a lot of fans don't like the newer evolutions in Generation IV, but personally I like them far more overall than the ones introduced in Gen II. Now, visually, I think it's fair to say they have their issues, but in terms of gameplay I feel the majority of the Gen IV evolutions feel less pointless than the ones added in Generation II, such as Bellosom, Politoed, and Slowking, and my only issue with them is that Diamond and Pearl decided to lock them to the post-game, an issue which Platinum thankfully fixed. Lickitung was definitely a Pokemon who felt very incomplete, and I was very glad to see him get an evolution, the first time Game Freak had paid attention to him in years. Lickilicky's stats experience a major boost, and with an impressive and varied move set, he's quite powerful, although far from being top-tier, he has some nice tricks like Cloud Nine in Generation V, allowing him to put a stop to pesky weather, and being one of the strongest Explosion users thanks to getting STAB from it, only shared with Smeargle and Mega Glalie with Refrigerate.

Generation IV introduced a new method of evolution which I think is rather neat, Move-based Evolution. Basically, when a Pokemon Levels Up while knowing a certain move, they evolve. For the most part, this is basically a Level Up evolution in most cases, although of course you can get these Pokemon very early through other methods such as Breeding, the Move Relearner, etc. But from a "lore" standpoint, I love this implementation that sort of gives a backstory to why a Pokemon changes in the way it does, and it's far superior to the Evolution methods based around using rare, otherwise-pointless items. Lickitung evolves when knowing Rollout, fitting its new rotund appearance, although this actually causes a slight canon issue, because Lickitung has always been able to learn Rollout---but honestly, who cares? I don't. I wish Game Freak did more "canon-breaking" stuff like this, because why do you need to create a whole new method when a perfectly viable one already exists? Why can't Eevee suddenly evolve in Gen IV using the Leaf Stone? Why do the newer Baby Pokemon need to use Incenses? The strict adherence to canon that some fans expect I think is a big issue that's caused a lot of problems, and I don't think Game Freak should be bound to it at all. Perhaps they're changing their ways, though, because XY and ORAS shows they're not afraid to take some risks with the canon, although that's a whole 'nother can of worms...

Lickilicky is one of those Pokemon that's pretty divisive, you either love it, or you hate it and see it as representative of everything that's wrong with the newer Generations---I'm in the camp who adores it, but I can see why it bugs people. First off---the name. Pokemon's had some stinkers over the years, but Lickilicky probably takes the cake, no pun intended. To be fair, when judging Pokemon names, I have three general requirements: a name must look good written out, a name must sound good when said out loud, and finally a name must fit the creature---and I think the name is fun to say, so that's a pass, and it certainly fits the Pokemon, although to be honest I wish they wrote it as Lickylicky, the "i" shoved in there really bugs me, although I get they did that to connect it to Lickitung. So, really, I think the name is fine, if a bit childish, and I can't really blame the localization team for this---it's Japanese name is more or less the same deal, pronounced "Beroberuto" in Japanese, so the tongue-twisty nature is present originally. Visually, Lickilicky is a bit unique among the Gen IV evolutions, because the main complaint is that they take simple designs and make them needlessly complex, but Lickilicky goes the opposite route---it looks way more simplistic than its pre-evolution, and I've seen people comment that they actually thought it was meant to be Lickitung's Baby at first. I like the design---Lickitung was all about his tongue, and Lickilicky takes that along an expected path, now resembling an overweight gourmand bringing to mind the old Monty Python sketch. I especially like how they took the sort of random markings on Lickitung, and used them in a neat way, as it looks like Lickilicky is a dude in a suit complete with a bib, the yellow markings bringing to mind the layers of an undershirt. I think when it comes to Pokemon wearing "clothes", going this route and using more natural elements to give the impression of clothing is probably a better idea than actually shoving clothes onto them, although personally most clothed Pokemon don't really bother me. I think how you feel about Lickilicky is dependent on how you felt about Lickitung, it seems folks who didn't care for the original seem to dislike the evolution more so, they see a weird and off-putting design from Generation 1 becoming closer to the "norm", while those who never had a problem with Lickitung seem to enjoy the silliness Game Freak went with when designing the evolution.

There's not much to add about Lickilicky in terms of lore, like Lickitung he's a rather simplistic Pokemon with not a lot going on. The only real difference between the two is that Lickilicky's tongue is apparently slightly stronger, its paralysis effect more effective and lasting for far longer, and its saliva being extremely potent and capable of basically dissolving anything it gets on. If you think about it, does this perhaps imply Lickilicky might be a very carnivorous Pokemon who'll basically soften up his prey before gobbling them up? Seems like a friendly "lick" from him might be a sign he actually wants to devour you whole! One disappointment I have is that his evolution via Rollout, apart from visually, doesn't really connect to him in terms of lore, it seems like the PokeDex should have mentioned something about him rolling around to chase down foes, or something like that, you know, connect the move more. I think perhaps "Wring Out" would've been a better move to have him evolve with, being introduced in Generation IV, one of Lickilicky's "starting" moves, and fitting his more powerful tongue better.

I really love Lickilicky's anime debut in the Darkrai film, where the movie's semi-antagonist Baron Alberto is turned into a Lickilicky by Darkrai's powers, which is just adorable because Lickilicky is such a goofy Pokemon and seeing a vain, talking one is hilarious to me. The dub loses some of the joke, though, as in Japan he becomes "Aruberuto the Beroberuto", a suitably ridiculous tongue-twister of a name. Lickilicky's focus episode in the show was equally strange, one wearing a life preserver mistaken by the town as an alien creature---as well as a "Kappa", who really does seem to be a legendary creature in the Pokemon World like Golduck's PokeDex entry indicates. I love when I notice these little connections.

 

[TriggerShy]

Generation IV introduced some pretty cool evolution methods. I think Gamefreak should use them for more branch evolutions.

Quick question; why do we refer to generations by roman numerals? I don't mind, but it feels like it's been the norm for no reason.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I guess easier, and looks a bit nicer than writing them out?

I'm pretty sure most official sources use the roman numerals too, don't they?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I have no issue with Lickilicky. He's kind of cute and a much needed evolution.

I think these two are supposed to have some ice cream in their design as well, Lickitung's tail, for example. Lickilicky's entire body appears soft serve shaped, complete with a swirl on top.

 

[Azuran]

Hitmontop's my favorite of the line hands down, and I don't have a problem with its XY animation not being in perma-spin. I never felt like it should be in general and always figured, like many other sprites, that the art and sprites were just like "action shots" if you will.

Yeah and Hitmontop still spins during his attacks animations. It's just like Cyndaquil line where their fire only shows up when they attack. There's absolutely nothing wrong with his idle capoeira dance when he's based on that. The beauty of 3D models over sprites is that they're able to showcase Pokemon in more ways than one.

But then again people love nitpicking the smallest detail in Pokemon games. The fact that there's people that think Eelektross looks better in BW because it looks like he has little "feet" and is jumping like an idiot makes me weep sometimes.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

To be honest I never saw Hitmontop in Gen VI yet, so I wasn't sure if they actually modeled him spinning on his head---nice to see they went with that. Still I like in the older 3D games where he was always spinning.

I have no issue with Lickilicky. He's kind of cute and a much needed evolution.

I think these two are supposed to have some ice cream in their design as well, Lickitung's tail, for example. Lickilicky's entire body appears soft serve shaped, complete with a swirl on top.

Nice point, I never really thought about that. Wait a second---Pokemon based on ice cream...

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Well, I think the ice cream thing is a retcon. I agree Lickitung was probably a salamander originally (he's basically a pink Quagsire with a tongue), but they used Lickilicky to retcon him as ice cream once they went with the food route with licky's design.

Lickilicky isn't even the only Pokemon whose original design inspiration was retconned with an evolution in Gen IV.

Murkrow's old witch hat became a fedora now that he's more of a mobster Pokemon with Honchcrow. And I actually like Murkrow better as a mobster minion rather than a generic witch trope.

Swinub and Piloswine are pigs, but Gen IV transitioned them more as ice age creatures closer to mammoths with Mamoswine. While before they were basically just hairy pigs.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

#109 - Koffing
Poison

Koffing is yet another Poison-type Pokemon, and can be seen as the counterpart to Grimer, the two of them first appearing alongside one another in Pokemon Mansion---but most players, if they were planning on using a Poison-type Pokemon, probably already picked up one such as Golbat or Tentacruel by then. And if you're playing Yellow, forget about it---can't let you be using one of the signature Pokemon of Team Rocket!

Koffing's got such an endearing grin, is it any wonder it's proved quite popular? While it's never been exactly a "mascot Pokemon"---probably wouldn't look too good for Pokemon to push a poison gas creature to the forefront---it inspired two popular Pokemon sites. Smogon, the premiere competitive Pokemon site, is named after Koffing's German name, and one of my favorite sites, Dogasu's Backback, which is one of the few resources that really covers the Japanese-side of things outside of game announcements, is named after its Japanese name. It wasn't till Generation V that the games actually took note of its popularity, with Koffing getting an entire song dedicated to it in Roxie's Gym---unfortunately, the versions outside of Japan go with a generic song about "POKEMON!", which was pretty disappointing. Koffing's design is simplistic, resembling a living sea-mine mixed with smoke stacks, but works quite well, the skull-and-crossbones being a nice touch, although perhaps too obvious for a Poison-type---remember in Red and Blue when it was on his head? But on the other hand Koffing doesn't really take itself that seriously, so giving it an exaggerated element like that is fitting.

Did you know originally, Koffing and Weezing were going to be named "Ny" and "La" according to early promotional material? I think those would have made horrible names to be honest, but it makes me laugh that Nintendo actually considered doing that. I feel like that probably would've drawn some controversy too, naming two pollution Pokemon after major American cities---and then consider having a mocking Pokemon named "Ny" after the events of 9/11 and, yeah, Nintendo of America were smart to change those names. While Grimer represents "sea pollution", Koffing is believed to represent "air pollution", although he has a bit of a sea element too looking like an aquatic-mine, once was a coal-pit but now it's a water ride, just another way to illustrate how he's meant to represent the danger humans pose to the environment, and themselves. Since Pokemon was once intended to take place in our world, and Lt. Surge was obviously meant to be similar to the American soldiers who occupied Japan post-WWII, I wonder if perhaps Koffing actually are old mines brought to life by "radiation"? One of the TCG cards mentions that it was first found in a weapon's factory, perhaps supporting this, but as far as I know that's never mentioned in the actual games, so its canon is dubious. Like a mine, Koffing is quite explosive, the various poisonous chemicals swirling around his body being quite flammable---incidentally, it always seems to pop up in places that are inhabited by Fire-type Pokemon. Yet another Pokemon you gotta wonder why any Trainer would willingly train it considering the health risks involved just being near it, but it's just so damn cute! Why did they make all the pollution Pokemon have the cutest expressions?

Like Ekans, Koffing was Team Rocket's main Pokemon in the original series under the ownership of James---like Ekans though, Koffing really didn't have a lot going on, but that was okay, his face alone made him lovable. I don't know why this is, but every Pokemon Team Rocket has owned in the show basically became some of my favorites, or perhaps they were always ones that appealed to me and Team Rocket just has great taste? It seems the writers have an aversion to using former Team Rocket Pokemon, as we really never saw another Koffing play a big role until Best Wishes, when they were given a reason to use one again due to Roxie having one. It was kind of weird seeing Ash face a Koffing in a serious, legitimate battle for once...

#110 - Weezing
Poison

Weezing is the evolved form of Koffing via Level Up, and thus is basically the counterpart to Muk. In the older days, Muk was slightly better than Weezing (although both of them had to deal with the overabundance of powerful Psychic-type Pokemon), but I believed nowadays Weezing has an edge, thanks in part to Levitate, meaning it doesn't have to worry about Earthquake, and a surprisingly diverse moveset for a Poison-type Pokemon who tend to be a bit simplistic in their versatility. Muk's more of an offensive Pokemon, while Weezing is more defensive, from my understanding, and I wonder how well they'd work together on the same team? Like Muk, Weezing's never really got a good game to use him in, appearing too late in Kanto to be much use, and absent from XY where he'd be useful against all the Fairy-type Pokemon.

Weezing is one of my favorite visual gags in Pokemon, of the happiest creatures in the entire series evolving into a depressed, sad-sack that looks like it's patiently awaiting death to come for it and put it out of its misery. It's yet another Pokemon with multiple heads, but I kind of give Weezing a pass because he does it differently, one of the heads being much smaller and an "accessory", whereas the other Pokemon we've encountered with multiple heads had every head basically be equal to one another. The larger head can actually be changed, as when one inflates the other deflates, but it's always the one with the full skull-and-crossbone pattern, and usually it's the left-most head. The original Red and Green PokeDex indicated that Weezing is some mutant Koffing that was apparently born as a conjoined twin, and thus might not really be an evolution in the lore, rather just an alternative Koffing, yet at other times Weezing is said to be two Koffing who merged together after many years---none of this matters to you, though, because Koffing is just a regular Level Up evolution. Weezing's pretty dark, though, since it seems to be a reference to conjoined twins and birth-defects, which are believed to have a direct correlation with the increase in pollution. On a positive note, Weezing's fumes apparently can make very good perfume if distilled, but I imagine it's an acquired scent.

Weezing and Koffing also slightly resemble the stereotypical look of a "meteor", but I'm not sure if this is intentional, as they don't really share many traits and aren't implied to be extraterrestrial in origin. Meteorites aren't poisonous as far as I know, and they don't contain a significant amount of gas, but they do have a very strong sulphuric smell and there have been a few instances in which a meteorite crash was associated with strange, unexplainable sickness occurring in people living nearby, but this is relatively rare, and the major incident of this happening I read about was reported in 2007, long after Generation I, so it seems coincidental. Perhaps they could be a metaphor to represent how pollution has contributed to a major problem originating from space, global warming due to the disintegration of the Ozone Layer, but I don't think Game Freak was that forward thinking since I don't recall that being a major environmental concern when Pokemon was released in the late 90s. Plus that seems like a metaphorical stretch. You know, I'm surprised we haven't got a Poison/Fire Pokemon representing global warming yet...

Looking at Weezing's design, you'll note that it seemingly has a third head growing that serves as the connector between the two, and the Gen IV PokeDex actually mentions that there are reports of "triplets". I wonder if at some point in time, there was a planned Weezing evolution (Choking, come on, they have to use that pun!) for Generation IV to coincide with that PokeDex entry, but it was ultimately dropped but the 'Dex left in. I doubt we'll ever see a Weezing evolution now, but I do think a Mega Evolution is possible, and that's probably the best route to go, making Weezing a triple-headed monstrosity. Maybe let it learn Tri Attack to tie into the Mega as well? I'm not the biggest fan of Mega Evolutions, but I admit there's an appeal to them that basically every new main-series game could introduce more of them, even the remakes and third versions which typically just have new forms for Legendaries, and makes it fun to speculate which one of your favorite Game Freak will show some love to.

James' Weezing stuck by him all the way to the beginning of Hoenn, where it left alongside Arbok in order to protect some baby Koffing. Not gonna lie, that episode made me tear up, and I thought it was a nice and heartfelt goodbye perhaps undeserving of "villain" Pokemon, yet still very effective. Although as the show went on, Weezing actually took a backseat to Victreebel, who did most of the battling, and Weezing was more of a support Pokemon providing smokescreen coverage so that Team Rocket could make their escape. Outside of James', we've like literally only seen two other Weezing in the entire show---the one that Ash used back during that Pokemon Exam in Kanto, and a minor cameo by one in a recent XY episode. You just can't try and replace the original Weezing in our hearts I guess.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Both of these Pokemon have excellent anime cries.

The physical/special split was brutal to Weezing. Physical poison attacks were mostly stings or bites, while gas and sludge were made special. Sadly, Weezing is a gas and sludge Poison type, but a physical attacker, his attack stat being slightly higher than his special attack.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I remember switching Melee to Japanese and hearing Japanese Weezing, it's pretty hilarious since it's got a dual-audio thing going on with the little head saying the name extremely high-pitched.

 

[The Technomancer]

I've always been okay with Lickylicky. Tangrowth is the one that bugs me. Did anyone care about Tangela? And even if they did, was an evolution that's literally just a bigger one with arms really satisfying?

 

[Berordn]

Lickilicky was my favorite 4th Gen evolution until I met Togekiss so I can't hate on it too much. Lickitung did need one desperately.

so unlike Farfetch'd eventually there was a way to obtain one in Generation I without having to trade for it, but still not till rather late in the adventure.

Gonna be annoying and pedantic and say that you actually can catch wild Farfetch'd in Yellow around mid-game (though I'm not really sure why you'd want to).

 

[The Technomancer]

Gonna be annoying and pedantic and say that you actually can catch Farfetch'd in Yellow around mid-game (though I'm not really sure why you'd want to).

As a kid it was because it was the only Pokemon I knew that could learn False Swipe

That was in original R/B/Y right? I played Red so long ago I can't remember

 

[Toxi]

Koffing and Weezing are some of my favorite Pokemon. I love the little gas bags so much.

I would love a Poison/Steel Weezing mega evolution. It would be an amazing defensive type combination with Levitate (Only weak to Fire with immunities to Ground and Poison and resistance to Grass, Bug, Rock, Ice, Steel, Dragon, Normal, Fairy...), and a metal-plated version of Weezing would reinforce the already-present resemblance to naval mines.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I've always been okay with Lickylicky. Tangrowth is the one that bugs me. Did anyone care about Tangela? And even if they did, was an evolution that's literally just a bigger one with arms really satisfying?

The only Gen IV evolution I dislike is Rhyperior. He seems entirely pointless, Rhydon wasn't a bad Pokemon at all and Rhyperior looks terrible. It's fine for a Pokemon that didn't really need an evolution to get one if it's like Electivire or Dusknoir and it looks great. But Rhyperior is pretty ugly. He looks like he's wearing an old fashioned judge wig. And has weird arms, and a belt and a strange shaped body. And is off color to the rest of his line.

Tangela desperately needed something. Much like most of the other Gen IV evolutions, they basically just cleaned up some Pokemon that seemed incomplete. Pokemon like Piloswine, Murkrow, Misdreavous, Roselia and Tangela who didn't really seem like complete lines got cleaned up.

Spoiler

lol Magmortar

 

[PataHikari]

As a kid it was because it was the only Pokemon I knew that could learn False Swipe

That was in original R/B/Y right? I played Red so long ago I can't remember

Your memory is incorrect. False Swipe didn't exist as a move until Gen II.

Granted, Farfetch'd does learn it by level up and has since the move was intoduced.

 

[Mr-Joker]

One day I will use a Lickitung, one day.

Anyway I have used a Weezing, nicknamed Dogars, in my Ruby version he was actually pretty good and I was surprised by that.

Also I will forever hate the person who thought it would be good idea to change Roxie's Gym music in the western release, the localized version sucks so much.

 

[Azure J]

I'm pretty late but before Blaziken happened, Hitmonlee was my favorite fighting Pokemon. I seem to really love Pokemon that embody that "kick all of the things" motif

Yeah and Hitmontop still spins during his attacks animations. It's just like Cyndaquil line where their fire only shows up when they attack. There's absolutely nothing wrong with his idle capoeira dance when he's based on that. The beauty of 3D models over sprites is that they're able to showcase Pokemon in more ways than one.

But then again people love nitpicking the smallest detail in Pokemon games. The fact that there's people that think Eelektross looks better in BW because it looks like he has little "feet" and is jumping like an idiot makes me weep sometimes.

...I can't help but feel bad for being one of these guys. Eelektross was just portrayed as the right amount of slick and charmingly doofy looking (on top of being one of the most unique electric types ever) that I had to use one in B/W.

Gen VI's portrayal might be more authentic but holy hell is it unsettling. :lol

Also, Typhlosion (and the entire Cynda line) looks naked without the flames erupting from their back. D:

 

[Razmos]

I quite like Tangela/Tangrowth. it goes from a timid creature hiding in a nest of vines to a vine monster that uses them offensively.

It feels like a good evolution to me, even if the actual design is a bit underwhelming.

 

[Randomly Nameless]

I've always been okay with Lickylicky. Tangrowth is the one that bugs me. Did anyone care about Tangela? And even if they did, was an evolution that's literally just a bigger one with arms really satisfying?

I actually like Tangrowth. It looks so goofy in an endearing way. I tried to use it on my first run through Platinum but it's just so SLOW.

Its Speed ruins it, because the rest of its stats bar Sp. Def are great.

I'm pretty meh on Lickililly, Magmortar and Electivire and I hate Rhyperior. I wish Magmortar and and Electivire had their focuses swapped. Magmortar focuses on Sp. Atk and Electivire on Atk, but I feel the opposite would be much better. There's a lot more physical fire moves than physical electric moves and there's plenty of special for each. Just swap the tube hands and fists between the designs.

 

[Rutger]

What?! People hate on dancing Hitmontop?!

That's one of the best things to ever happen to the the series. D: