#109 - #110: Koffing & Weezing

Some ancient official art of Koffing.

Jesus CHRIST, am I glad I get to review a Pokémon I actually like after the disaster that is called Lickilicky!

Koffing and Weezing are the last of 33 poison types in the Kanto Pokédex (they even outnumber water types in this generation), but are they the best? They are some of the most disgusting, that's for sure, as they are the personification of air pollution. As a matter of fact, Koffing and Weezing were originally known as Ny and La in the Red and Blue bèta. These names obviously represented the air-polluted metropolises of New York City and Los Angeles, respectively, although I guess they can't be as bad as Beijing. Instead, the translators went with Koffing and Weezing, which are corruptions of coughing and wheezing, as you usually do when inhaling toxic gases. Additionally, Koffing and Weezing share traits with two other poison-type evolution lines, namely Grimer and Muk (based on water pollution) and Trubbish and Garbodor (based on land pollution).

Koffing (above) and Weezing (below) in the Pokémon
anime series. 

Koffing is all about air pollution, though. This kind of pollution is probably the most well-known and most serious kind, due to the emission of high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) by numerous factories and cars all over the world, and more. Koffing is the personification of that kind of pollution, as it is able to create gases within its body by mixing toxins with garbage. These gases are lighter than air, allowing Koffing to hover, and they're so malodorous and unhealthy that they cause sniffles, coughs and teary eyes to those around it. If Koffing becomes agitated, it will increase the toxicity of its eternal and expels them from all over its body. It produces more gas when it's hot, but when too many kinds of gas are mixed up at too high a temperature, they will expand and cause its thin, balloon-like body to explode. Apparently, it takes many years for two Koffing to form a Weezing when two gases pool (of course, leveling up Koffing to level 35 will suffice in the games). Each of Weezing's heads contains a different toxin, which Weezing mixes by inflating one head and deflating the other. When these gases mix (and when Weezing feeds on dust, germs and gases emitted by rotted kitchen garbage and toxic waste, for that matter) it becomes more toxic and putrid, but unlike Koffing's gases, Weezing's can actually be used to make top-grade perfumes by diluting them to the highest level.

Some amazing realistic fan art of Koffing expelling its poisonous
gases.

In short, Koffing and Weezing are dangerous Pokémon you should not be around with if you don't want to choke on highly noxious gases. It's a nice touch to match Koffing and Weezing's level-up movepool (e.g. Poison Gas, Smog, Smokescreen, Haze, Clear Smog, Self-Destruct, Explosion) with their flavor. Seriously though, having these Pokémon be based on air pollution, Trubbish and Garbodor completing the pollution 'cycle' in the fifth generation, is a very subtle way to bring pollution to the attention of people, which may make them aware of it. Whether this was really Game Freaks intention or not (personally, I think they just wanted to come up with some really original ideas), it is probably a slightly ineffective way to do so all the same, as children really don't care about it and just want to use these awesome creatures to proceed through the game. While Weezing definitely isn't the most popular out of all existing Pokémon, it is undoubtedly the most popular pollution Pokémon (poor Garbodor is hated on by practically everybody), being one of the original 151 along with Grimer and Muk and the most defensive one.

Weezing in the anime series, emitting its extremely toxic gases.

And that great defense stat, usually exploited by using a Weezing with a Bold nature, makes this Pokémon very useful in competitive play, combined with its ability to badly cripple its foes. It does that by burning them with Will-O-Wisp, poisoning them by setting up Toxic Spikes or damaging them while gaining some HP back with Pain Split. That last move adds the current HP of the user and the target, divides that value by two and sets the HP of both Pokémon to that result. It's tricky to use, but used correctly it's a good way to regain some health back, not to mention it is actually the only way to do that besides giving either Black Sludge or Leftovers to Weezing as a held item. Black Sludge is the better option, as it only heals poison types and hurts Pokémon of other types; and if some Pokémon or other uses Trick or Switcheroo, it will hurt it instead of heal it. As for the other slot in Weezing's moveset, it should use either Sludge Bomb or Flamethrower, despite its attack being slightly higher than its special attack.

Wait, what? I never knew that; I thought its special attack was much higher than its attack stat! Goddamn, reviewing every single Pokémon can be rather surprising sometimes...

More weird Weezing fan art, just for the hell of it.

Anyway, you can even drop Toxic Spikes and add both moves, because Flamethrower hits steel types whereas Sludge Bomb does not, and Will-O-Wisp gives the opposing Pokémon a status condition anyway. Clear Smog and Haze are options to reset all stat levels of the target to 0, which prevents the opponent from setting up. Clear Smog can be used to damage the foe as well, but it doesn't work on steel types, while Haze is actually able to do so but doesn't do any damage. Lastly, Weezing's ability Levitate makes it get rid of a pesky weakness to a very common type, the ground type, which makes its only weakness the psychic type.

All in all, I quite like Weezing, although it doesn't really appeal to me as much as Muk and Garbodor do. And yes, I do actually like Garbodor. Don't hate on me. Long story short, Weezing gets a well-deserved rating of 3.5 stars, just half a star lower than Muk and probably Garbodor, too.

P.S.: Did you know that Smogon, the premier website specializing in the art of competitive battling, is actually named after Koffing's German name?

Rating: 3.5/5