#095 - Onix
Rock/Ground
Onix is another Rock/Ground Pokemon introduced in Generation I, and has the honor of being the first "Boss Pokemon" the player encounters under the command of Brock. Onix certainly looks the part, being huge and imposing, but as they say, size doesn't matter. Onix may be one of the largest Pokemon, the largest in Generation I, but apart from his rock-hard defense that was only behind Cloyster, the rest of his stats are laughable---45 Attack are you kidding me?---and his high-defense doesn't help him much when he has so many common weaknesses. But if you picked Charmander, boy, you were in for a pretty tedious fight, and might've been tricked into thinking Onix is powerful. But by the time you actually encounter Onix in the wild, like in various RPGs where an early boss ends up being a random encounter later on during the adventure, you've likely wisened up and seen through its facade for the weakling it truly is. But hey, he's a giant rock snake, so maybe you still used him on looks alone?
As his species suggests, Onix is a "Rock Snake", although he never really looked that snake-like to me apart from the little "rock rattle tail". It's also believed he may have been influenced by various cave-dwelling, serpentine dragons found in mythology, "wyrms" as they're sometimes called, which is supported by the fact in later games he picked up Dragon Breath. I always figured Onix's "Rock Snake" classification was simply an in-universe name given to him because that was the closest animal the Pokemon World's scientists could decide upon to relate Onix to. I mentioned this in Golem's entry, but you ever notice how he and Onix sort of look like they could've been related due to having reptilian elements and a similar face---I mean, especially comparing Graveler's design to Golem. By the way, I've always really loved Onix's design---especially his face. The sharp eyes and the strong facial features give him a really imposing, unique quality that I think few Pokemon capture through design alone. Onix may be weak, but I feel if you showed him to anyone unfamiliar with Pokemon they'd likely figure he was meant to be a powerful character on looks alone.
There's not too much to say about Onix as he's a rather simple Pokemon who doesn't have any amazing powers, preferring to simply throw his weight around, but his main skill is his powerful digging capabilities---and of course he was unable to learn Dig naturally till later Generations. It seems like the folks who wrote the PokeDex entries were on an entirely different page from those who actually designed the gameplay system, doesn't it? Onix despite its size is capable of digging up to 50 miles-per-hour, and while his speed isn't amazing, at 70 it's at least decent which is more than I can for the rest of his stats. Onix's brain contains a magnet that allows him to easily navigate while tunneling through the earth, and I wonder if possibly his entire body has some sort of magnetic quality that keeps the rocks bound together and Onix's actual body is really just the head? The PokeDex does imply that he absorbs minerals as he digs, so it's perhaps possible.
It seems like Onix should've been the first Pokemon Game Freak decided upon to give a Baby to to explain how such a massive Pokemon hatches from such a tiny Egg, but nope, people needed to know where Pikachu came from instead. Onix has a life-cycle mentioned by the PokeDex in which as it grows older, it's body is said to become smoother and rounder, and also turn into a black diamond-like mineral. I really wish we had more "alternative" Pokemon in the games who borrowed these elements mentioned, especially as it seems easier to do now with models, but sadly all Onix look pretty much the same. You'll notice this sort of sets up his evolution in Generation II, but what he evolves into doesn't exactly look like the Onix mentioned here---imagine if Onix actually got a "natural" evolution though that went through with that design, and it was a Rock/Ground, black-colored Onix. That'd be pretty neat, and if they differentiated it enough from his actual evolution it could probably find itself a decent niche, but now I'm just rambling.
Of course the most famous Onix in the show is Brock's, who despite its size was a main member of the team throughout Kanto and Johto. In Advanced, it was even shown to be the first Pokemon Brock ever obtained as a gift from his otherwise dead-beat dad, which a psychologist could probably read a lot into. And like Brock's dad, Onix was pretty useless throughout most of the show---you'd think a Pokemon like him could've easily solved countless plots Ash and co. found themselves in, but very rarely did the gang think about using the giant rock snake they had on hand no matter the situation. Don't forget that Meowth defeated Onix by throwing a bucket of water onto him and scratching him. He got to fight a Tyranitar in the 4th Movie, but like always jobbed just to show how strong the bad guy was. Actually, the coolest Onix moment in the entire show belongs to Roark's, who defeated Pikachu by using Screech. Now you'll have a lot of folks nerd out because Screech doesn't cause damage in the games, but for once I think the show did right by doing its own thing---Onix is an absolutely enormous Pokemon whose roar is said to echo throughout the tunnels it digs, screaming at the top of its lungs as an attack makes perfect sense to me because it'd be like standing next to a giant loud-speaker at full blast. You know, if that was in Special, it'd be praised, but fans are sometimes ridiculous when it comes to making sure the show adheres to every little game rule even when it'd be better off ignoring them.
By the way, fans often say Onix is one of the few Pokemon who doesn't say its name, instead simply roaring, but if you listen closely you'll realize it's always been saying its Japanese name, Iwark, as its voice has never been dubbed over.
#208 - Steelix
Steel/Ground
So far, pretty much all the Cross-Generation Evolutions we've encountered have been somewhat pointless, making a strong Pokemon even more powerful or adding an additional member to a family who was already complete, but Steelix is one Cross-Generation Evolution who I think was actually needed---Onix was sick and tired of being everyone's whipping boy, and Steelix was just what the doctor ordered. Steelix is one of the premiere Steel-types introduced in Generation II, and evolves when Onix is traded while holding the Metal Coat. As a Steel/Ground Pokemon, Steelix loses some of its weaknesses as Onix, and has a ton of resistances---Gen VI had it loses Dark and Ghost, but gain Fairy---so it's quite a hard Pokemon to take down. In the Gold and Silver era, Steelix was on top, although it's fallen quite a bit. Not that Steelix really got any weaker, just that there were more and more Pokemon appearing who had high enough attack to properly deal with him I imagine. Steelix make a great in-game Pokemon, worth capturing an Onix for, and in recent games has actually begun to appear in the wild despite being a Cross-Generation Evolution, who usually don't. This makes sense a bit as I'll explain below.
Statistically Onix definitely needed an evolution, and Steelix delivers, buffering his Defense even further while also making sure to give him a bit more rounded stats elsewhere so he's not laughably weak---sure, his Speed significantly drops, but that's not really needed on a defensive Pokemon who can pretty much withstand basically everything the opponent can throw at him. On the other hand, I felt Onix aesthetically felt pretty complete, so perhaps Game Freak could've simply buffed up his stats between game without giving him an evolution. I mean, yeah, it'd "mess up canon", but would anyone really care? I for one would love if they gave old Pokemon statistical boosts like that to help them keep up with the new kids, and Gen VI at the very least actually did that to a minor extent for a few Pokemon, so hopefully they continue to do that in a way that helps Pokemon without feeling like a sudden change. With all that being said, Steelix is a great looking evolution, and certainly doesn't ruin Onix in any way, so I'm glad it exists. I actually have trouble deciding if I like Steelix more than Onix---I wanna say I do, but then Onix has all that nostalgia thanks to the show for me.
Remember how Onix is said to become rounder and more diamond-like the longer it lives? Well, Steelix is apparently what happens if Onix lives for over 100 years as its body becomes compressed deep within the ground becoming harder than diamonds---but not as hard as Ponyta's hooves, of course. I guess the Metal Coat is possibly a way for the player to force Onix to evolve into Steelix without waiting 100 years, and the wild Steelix you can encounter in later games are presumably Onix who have lived long enough to naturally evolve. Pretty neat, huh? You know, I think it would've been very neat and fitting for Onix to evolve when you traded it via the Time Capsule in Gold and Silver, but then again that'd present itself with a lot of problems so it's understandable Game Freak didn't go that route. The Metal Coat's a pretty good evolutionary item because it actually fits within the lore somewhat, when a lot of evolutionary items aren't really explained or directly contradict how the PokeDex claims the Pokemon evolves, so it's nice to have one you can actually understand how it fits in with the Pokemon's evolution.
Steelix is pretty much better than Onix in every way as I've mentioned: longer, harder, tougher, and live further underground than any Onix have ever hoped to reach, digging towards the center of the Earth---although since it's only ever been recorded to reach six-tenths of a mile underground, it's still got a long, long way to go. You know, that actually doesn't even sound that deep to me even though the PokeDex loves to exaggerate. Like the deepest we've drilled is about 7.6 miles I believe, so Steelix is pretty far behind what human's have accomplished---he hasn't even broke through the crust of the Earth! So, yeah, it seems like Game Freak probably should've raised those numbers a bit more, because unless I'm reading things wrong, there's really no reason Steelix should be as hard as he is due to the compression and heat of the Earth's core because he's so far away from it. Another quick check shows that human beings can survive about 1.7 miles or so down beneath the ground without dying from heat, although it certainly gets hot, so Steelix lives in a relatively cool location.
A lot of fans of the show probably never watched past Johto, but did you know Brock's Onix actually did evolve? But not under his command, you see before leaving for Hoenn Brock left most of his Pokemon with his brother Forrest who took over the Pewter City Gym, including Onix. Next time we saw Onix during the Battle Frontier season, one of the rare times the Battle Frontier season remembered it took place in Kanto, it had evolved into Steelix, which for a long-time fan like myself was amazing---one of the classic party members finally got the respect it deserves! Brock's Steelix hasn't really appeared since then---and a recent Ending during the Best Wishes season showing a bunch of old Pokemon actually forgot it had evolved and still had it as Onix---but Steelix the species has made numerous appearances throughout the show under the command of our Steel-type Gym Leaders, Jasmine and Byron, and used by two Pokemon League rivals, Harrison and Morrison. Steelix is always a pretty cool Pokemon to see, but I imagine him and Onix are probably somewhat of a pain for the animators to draw though.
#M208 - Mega Steelix
All of the Mega Evolutions we've encountered so far have Mega evolved from Pokemon who were always the top-members of their evolutionary line, but here's a Mega Evolution who evolved from a Cross-Generation Evolution---it went beyond the beyond, you could say. Like pretty much every Mega Evolution, there's no downside to using Mega Steelix, as it receives a boost to its already powerful Defense as well as gains Special Defense, to help deal with the Special Attackers causing it trouble, and a moderate boost to its own Attack, so that it can dish out damage as well as take it. If Mega Steelix is on a Sandstorm team, it's even more lethal, now able to deliver powered-up Rock, Ground and Steel-type attacks that it's known for to crush the enemy where they stand. I gotta say Mega Pokemon just being souped up versions of their original forms does tickle the child in me, and I gotta admit Mega Steelix is probably one of the coolest. Even with the boost though, unfortunately Mega Steelix still hasn't regained its spot in the upper tiers, because all those crazy-high attack Pokemon who gave it trouble also got Megas of their own.
Mega Steelix was introduced in ORAS, and appeared as one of two Pokemon who were distributed via the Demo Version---only Japanese players got to get Mega Steelix early, but luckily everyone can get their own Steelixite in ORAS by finding it within the Granite Cave on Dewford Island. When Steelix reacts to the Mega Stone, the cells within its body are said to undergo a mutation that morphs them into a new type of crystal that's harder and more heat-resistant than any know mineral found on Earth, even Ponyta's hooves. And Mega Steelix looks rather neat without ruining the coolness of the original Steelix, now sporting crystalline structures bursting out of its body as well as a "diamond shield" floating around its body---these elements bring to mind how the Mega Evolution energy is usually displayed, so I imagine they're meant to be that same energy solidified and given a physical shape? Also notice the little black-orbs on its body look quite similar to a Rock Pokemon introduced in Generation V, who also has relationship with the earth's core---perhaps Mega Steelix absorbs these Pokemon during its evolution?
Like most Mega Evolutions, Steelix has only made a cameo appearance in one of the Mega Evolution Specials. But hey, if the writers ever decide to give all of Ash's friends Mega Evolutions, here's one for Brock.