So, I have a massive migraine today....quite fitting for our next Pokemon...
054 - Psyduck
Water
You know, despite being the most common Type, apart from Squirtle I've yet to cover a Water-type Pokemon---so here's our first regular Water-type Pokemon, Psyduck. Even though Psyduck appears earlier in the Dex than the other Water-type Pokemon, the player won't be able to actually capture one in Red and Blue for themselves until they gain the Super Rod or learn to Surf. Even though Psyduck wasn't version exclusive originally, in the Gen III remakes he was made a Version Exclusive Pokemon found only in Fire Red opposite the Slowpoke family.
Psyduck, of course, is a Duck Pokemon. According to a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, ducks are inherently the funniest and silliest animals, and Psyduck fits that role quite well. It's another Pokemon whose oddball appearance has gained it many fans who find its awkwardness cute and endearing, me included. Psyduck takes some liberties being a duck and I've seen folks claim it's inspired by the platypus as well, but personally I never got that impression. I think it was simply meant to be a "monster duck", and I think if it was meant to be a platypus they would've included the beaver-tail which is the platypus' "charm point". But I gotta say, it's time we got a true Platypus Pokemon for sure!
Despite being a Water-type Pokemon, Psyduck's main gimmick is its strange psychic powers caused when its constant headaches intensify. Psyduck is said to temporarily black-out during these episodes---a form of self-hypnosis the PokeDex claims as it gives off brain waves normally seen only in sleeping individuals---and has no idea of what it is capable of. On the other hand, the Red and Blue PokeDex (which if you recall, would be the second canon PokeDex entry), calls Psyduck a wily Pokemon and implies it perhaps merely tricks the opponent into thinking it's confused, but this entry, and its appearance in Leaf Green, are the only entries that imply this. You know, I have no clue why Game Freak gave such an ability to a Duck Pokemon of all things. I can't find anything to connect ducks with headaches, and it doesn't seem to be a Japanese pun or idiom either. Game Freak for some reason just wanted to have a psychic duck I guess?
Psyduck is another Pokemon who became very popular thanks to the show, where it belonged to Misty and was arguably her "mascot Pokemon" for much of the show's run. Psyduck was accidentally caught by Misty despite no one wanting anything to do with the Pokemon, and after that became a regular annoyance for her as its popped out of its PokeBall whenever it pleased, a gimmick that future mascot Pokemon would also inherit. Despite being unable to swim and normally useless, there were numerous times where its headache ended up saving the day. In fact, Misty even defeated Ash in an official tournament by baiting him into attacking Psyduck's head, something he really should've known by that point! Psyduck was always a lovable Pokemon, but by the Johto Season its goofiness and headache gimmick had grown a bit old, and he began to appear less and less as Misty's other Pokemon took the spotlight. Still, many fans remember Psyduck quite fondly, and Misty and it's love-hate relationship is one of the highlights of the show.
Outside of Misty's Psyduck, we've seen a few other ones---there was a Battle Frontier episode dedicated to one (once more, it was another early Battle Frontier filler which basically cheaply homaged a classic character), and then an episode in Sinnoh inspired by the Psyduck roadblock seen in Diamond and Pearl. Team Rocket once also managed to rope a wild Psyduck into their schemes, using it to somehow hypnotize a bunch of Pokemon via a microphone.
055 - Golduck
Water
Golduck is the evolved form of Psyduck, and despite being the evolution of a popular mascot Pokemon who never evolved in the show, he thankfully didn't suffer the same fate as Raichu and Persian when it comes to being overshadowed. If anything, Golduck seems to be just as popular as Psyduck, perhaps even more so in recent years as its become quite useful as a member of Rain-based teams.
Compared to Psyduck, Golduck is a much more streamlined "monster duck", and its main ability is its shockingly fast swimming speeds. In the show, Misty's Psyduck was unable to swim, and judging by their appearance it's probable to assume regular Psyduck probably aren't much better in that regard, but Golduck looks built for speed with its more athletic build. In fact, it's claimed to have the fastest swimming speed among all Pokemon! Of course, that's debatable---Sharpedo can apparently swim at 75mph, but I'll give Golduck the benefit of the doubt here and assume it's referring to competitive swimming. Golduck is ever said to help competitive swimmers practice.
Golduck has a small gem on its forehead like Persian which appears to be the source of its psychic powers, and I imagine this might be another case of various Pokemon during Red and Green's development borrowing elements from one another. Golduck's gem is said to glow when it swims, perhaps meaning its psychic powers are the reason it's able to swim at such inhuman speed, or possibly Golduck charges its powers up by swimming. Unlike Psyduck, Golduck is implied to have mastery over its Psychic powers, although despite this it isn't actually a Psychich-type Pokemon---perhaps Game Freak felt there were too many and left it off Golduck? It's likely that Psyduck's intense headaches were probably caused by this gem growing inside of its head.
Some fans say that Golduck is based off the Japanese water monster kappa, but this isn't necessarily correct---the only element of the kappa Golduck shares are its webbed feet, beak, and humanoid appearance, but otherwise it lacks many common characteristics of the Kappa, noticeably its "plate", and unlike the kappa which are normally quite mischievous towards humans, Golduck has a good relationship with them and is even said to rescue folks. Actually, Golduck is specifically said in the Red and Blue Pokedex to be mistaken for the kappa, so Game Freak likely designed it to sort of resemble the kappa, but not actually intended to serve as the Pokemon World's version. This raises a lot of questions...did the legend of the kappa begin in the Pokemon World due to people seeing Golduck? Does the kappa actually exist in the Pokemon World, as it isn't stranger than many existing Pokemon. And finally, how does this tie into a more authentic kappa-based Pokemon being introduced in Generation III? We may never know---by the way, in our world, it's believed the kappa legends were inspired by sighting of the Japanese giant salamander.
One last oddity about Golduck---its name. I think a lot of people wondered if there was any relationship between it and Golbat due to their names, which are the same between the Japanese version and the English version, and color schemes, but it seems to have been a coincidence. As I said before, Golbat is likely meant to be "ghoul bat", although I'm not sure if Golduck is meant to be "ghoul bat", although that could work if you consider the kappa it's mistaken for as a "ghoul". Another popular theory is it's "Gold Duck", and this relates to how in Japan, the Marsh Badge given out by the Psychic-trainer Sabrina is known as the "Gold Badge" and thus "Gold" is referencing Golduck's psychic powers. But I'm not really satisfied by this explanation either, since I feel like the badges were probably one of the last parts of the game really settled upon, and Golduck was probably created before the "Gold Badge" was named as such. I have my own theory that at one point, Golduck really was a gold duck, and has a similar color-scheme to Psyduck, but at some point its color was changed to blue, but the name stuck. It's another mystery we may never know!
Golduck hasn't appeared as much in the show, but still has some memorable appearances. Most people probably remember the episode where a random Golduck popped up who everybody assumed was actually Misty's Psyduck having evolved, but just wanted to impress cute girls. Nice. Once more, it was another Pokemon who appeared in the "Katie Battle" I've brought up a couple times, and for good reason---that was a really good episode. I wonder if Misty's Psyduck, if she appears again, will ever be allowed to evolve and become a serious fighter now that it doesn't have to keep up its mascot role anymore since it's not part of the main cast?
