#100 - #101: Voltorb & Electrode

Misty's Togepi actually befriended a Voltorb in the anime
episode "The Underground Round Up"; season 2, episode 34.

Somebody at Game Freak must have thought, "Hey, let's make a Pokémon that disguises itself as a Poké Ball and blows itself up for no goddamn reason at all."

Sounds fun.

And so Voltorb came into existence. And indeed, Voltorb do look like Poké Balls, which they demonstrate in the games as well. Generally, Poké Ball icons in the overworld are handy items you can pick up from the ground, but you might just get tricked and encounter a Voltorb when running about in the power plant (or New Mauville, for that matter). Incidentally, Voltorb's shiny form looks like a Great Ball, an upgraded Poké Ball. Coincidence? I think not. These Pokémon were first seen in a plant where modern Poké Balls were invented and are thought to have been created by being exposed to a strong energy pulse. This theory is only strengthened by the fact that it was discovered that Voltorb's components cannot be found in nature and thus it is a man-made Pokémon.

A Poké Ball among the Poké Balls.

But that's not all: Voltorb can evolve... into a reverse Poké Ball. That's right, Electrode is just an upside-down Voltorb, with just one difference: it has a mouth. Even Electrode sometimes gets mistaken for an item, despite it being almost 4 feet tall. It is known for drifting with the wind when it is full of stored electricity (which they absorb from power plants where fresh electricity is being generated, often causing blackouts), despite it weighing nearly 150 pounds. Other than that, Voltorb and Electrode are very much alike when it comes to their flavor: both Pokémon have the tendency to explode with very little or no stimulus (the slightest shock could trigger an enormous explosion), the only difference being that Electrode sometimes does it to entertain itself when it is bored. That's one suicidal bomb ball if I've ever seen one. Yeah, we all know the struggle of trying to catch an Electrode when suddenly it blows up in your fucking face.

Ken Sugimori's official art of Electrode.

However, Electrode really doesn't need the moves Self-Destruct or Explode, because its powerful (!) base 50 attack stat doesn't let it make good use of them. Electrode is a fast special attacker instead, even though it's not strictly a glass cannon: its base 80 special attack is okay, but it isn't something to write home about. Being the second fastest out of all non-legendary Pokémon, it's its speed what makes Electrode worthwile. It is able to set up the rain quickly with Rain Dance (and a Damp Rock attached to it, to extend the duration of the rain) and abuse a perfectly accurate Thunder, which would otherwise have only 70% accuracy. Taunt is useful to prevent opponents from setting up with stat-increasing moves, entry-hazard moves or moves that induce other weather conditions, and Volt Switch allows Electrode to get the hell out of the battle if it needs to, while still inflicting some damage. A Choice Specs-holding, Modest-natured Electrode might be an option as well, but it doesn't have all that many useful special moves to begin with. A staple move would be Thunderbolt, with Signal Beam and any type of Hidden Power as back-up. And the fourth move? Uhm... Thunder? Maybe Mirror Coat if you feel confident enough that your Electrode can endure a special-based move first? I don't know; these are literally all good special-based moves it has access to. Too bad Electrode doesn't have much offensive presence, but at least it has three interesting abilities. Soundproof is the preferred and most useful one, because it negates the effects of all sound-based moves, including the ones that would normally damage Electrode. Static paralyzes a foe upon making contact and its hidden ability Aftermath causes the foe to take some damage when Electrode is knocked out with a direct attack. Nice abilities, but they're easy to get around.

We're so ballin'.

I don't know whether I should see Electrode as extremely unimaginative or the other way around. All I can say is that Electrode didn't disappoint me when I used it in a playthrough once, and one of the reasons is that it had no weaknesses. Normally, Electrode is weak to ground-type moves, but as these are somewhat easy to predict, I found myself evading many Earthquakes by setting up a Magnet Rise. This move lets Electrode levitate by using electrically generated magnetism for five turns, making it immune to ground-type attacks. Heh, I had so much fun with that. Just the fact that I used one in the first place is an indication that I don't hate Voltorb and Electrode in the slightest; on the contrary, these short-fused Pokémon have very interesting characteristics in my opinion. Besides, you can't say nobody put some thought into their designs. If only they had somehow executed them in a different way, because now they just seem lazy while this is not really the case at all. How about a 3.5-star rating, huh?

Rating: 3.5/5