#96 - #97: Drowzee & Hypno

Two pieces of TCG art of Drowzee.

Sometimes I think Pokémon isn't meant for kids at all, because Game Freak come up with the scariest Pokédex entries for certain Pokémon.

The Pokémon I'm going to talk about right now are good examples of that.

Drowzee is a tapir Pokémon that is based on the Japanese myth of the baku, tapir-like creatures that are known for eating people's bad dreams. Drowzee basically does the same thing: it is able to put people to sleep and sense their dreams with its big nose, and will then eat those dreams through the victim's itching nose. Unlike the baku, Drowzee prefers fun dreams over nightmares, as the latter make it ill, and it will rarely eat the dreams of adults because children's dreams are seemingly tastier. They're TASTIER. Drowzee, you're already a creep for being some sort of dream pedophile, but the fact that you remember every dream you've eaten and can even pass them on to someone who sleeps by you is even creepier. Strangely enough, Drowzee is NOT able to learn Dream Eater in the video games; at least not by level-up. A few other Pokémon are, however, but the only one who can learn this particular move that somewhat matches its flavor is Darkrai. Drowzee, on the other hand, learns it through TM85 instead, which can be taught to numerous Pokémon that way. Game Freak, what up wit dat?

Rare Candy Treatment had the same issue with Drowzee not being able to learn
Dream Eater naturally. The only inconsistency is that Drowzee actually eats dreams
through the victim's nose rather than the ear. 

Anyway, if you thought Drowzee was scary, you ain't seen shit yet. You see, when Drowzee reaches level 26 it evolves into Hypno. That Pokémon is based on the same mythological monster its pre-evolution is based on (although Hypno looks more like a combination between a hypnotist and a proboscis monkey rather than a tapir, in my opinion), except it carries a glittering pendulum that it rocks at a steady rhythm to lull people into a deep hypnosis or put them to sleep in order to feast on their dreams, polishing its pendulum while it awaits its prey. But here's the thing: there once was an incident in which a Hypno took away a child it hypnotized. It's a KIDNAPPER! Game Freak, are you trying to let kids have a good time playing Pokémon or scare the shit out of them? Well, you can't say it's not an original concept to work with, at least I'll grant them that.

Hypno hypnotizing a child, which can be seen in the reflection of
his pendulum.

Too bad they didn't do anything in the video games to match its flavor. Okay, they let the player return a child who was kidnapped by a Hypno and taken to the nearby Berry Forest on Three Island (one of the Sevii Islands) in FireRed and LeafGreen, but I still don't get this Dream Eater thing. Not that Hypno needs that move anyway, because it will have to put the foe to sleep first and the only way it can do that is by using the low-accuracy move Hypnosis. Oh hey, looky looky at that: a flavor-matching move! Alright, enough with the sarcasm; let's see what Hypno is used for in competitive play. Its highest stats are its special defense and HP, so it won't come as a surprise that it is used a specially defensive wall. Combined with hold item Leftovers (to heal some of its HP after every turn) and ability Insomnia (so that Hypno can't be put to sleep) that can be accomplished very easily, especially combined with the Wish/Protect combo and a status-inflicting move like Thunder Wave or Toxic. Of course, Hypno should have an attacking move as well, which comes down to either Seismic Toss, which does damage equal to the user's level and is used against Pokémon that resist its STAB move Psychic, or Psychic itself. As for when using Hypno in a playthrough: it can learn Nasty Plot, which sharply raises its special attack, so a moveset consisting of Nasty Plot, Psychic, Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam is perfect. Its base 73 special attack (and physical attack, for that matter) might be a bit too low, but at least it's not entirely useless if you use at least one Nasty Plot.

I have never used Hypno before, and I don't think I want to in the future. It's not that I'm appalled by its characteristics or something (on the contrary, I quite find them some of the most interesting in the games), but Hypno is one of those Pokémon that has never really appealed to me, either. Aside from that, Hypno does have an interesting design and flavor, so I'll grant it a well-deserved 3.5-star rating.

Rating: 3.5/5