#246 - #248: Larvitar, Pupitar & Tyranitar

Okay, let me confess something here: I don't care for pseudo-legends all that much. Other people would easily give all of them five-star ratings if they would be doing this whole rating thing, but I won't. With the notable exceptions of Metagross and Hydreigon, I don't like pseudos as much as I actually should, and I think the fact that I like Dragonair more than Dragonite is a really good example of that. Don't get me wrong here: I still like Dragonite to some extent, and I'm definitely not going to bash Tyranitar or any of the other pseudos, but you shouldn't expect me to go fanboying over them, either.

Cute little Larvitar holding on to its Substitute plush. 

However, you can't deny that Tyranitar are terrible parents. Its basic form Larvitar is born deep underground, far from its parents, and takes a long time coming to the surface: it will have to eat the surrounding soil before it can see its parents' faces. It will only enter its pupal form - i.e. evolve into Pupitar - upon eating an entire mountain's worth of earth, although in the games it just evolves at level 30. As a Pupitar it becomes trapped in a shell that is so hard that it can even withstand a collision with solid steel, and it has to create a gas inside its body that it compresses and forcefully ejects to propel itself like jet. So it has to fart to move around? That's gross. However, it can move freely inside the shell while its arms and legs are developing, and its thrashing has such destructive power that it can topple a mountain. And Tyranitar? Tyranitar can crush a mountain with one hand. One hand. So... yeah. It has a vicious and insolent nature (see, I told you these things are bad parents!), and it will always be looking for a chance to fight because it knows its thick and rocky hide gives it a good resistance to all forms of attack. It is rarely scared and will never flinch at anything - except at a Serene Grace Air Slash from a Togekiss or a Serene Grace Iron Head from a Jirachi. If it's enraged, Tyranitar will set off outstanding non-STAB Earthquakes (the entire evolutionary line are rock types, but the secondary ground type changes into the dark type when Pupitar evolves into Tyranitar) that can completely change the entire landscape, often forcing cartographers to draw up new maps. So all things summarized, Tyranitar is nothing short of savage.

Pupitar in TCG. 

Now, you'd think that the entire evolutionary line are based on the notorious species of tyrannosaurus rex, but that is not necessarily the case. All of their Japanese names end with the suffix -giras, which may be derived from kirai ('hate') or Gojira and Angiras. Those are the Japanese names of the lizard-like creatures Godzilla and Anguirus, respectively, and are the monsters most often used in old Japanese tokusatsu movies, live-action fantasy or horror films with considerable use of special effects. As Anguirus is based on the ankylosaurus, it is more likely that Godzilla was the inspiration for Larvitar, Pupitar and Tyranitar - or Yogiras (ヨーギラス), Sangiras (サナギラス) and Bangiras (バンギラス) in Japanese. Godzilla itself was designed by combining the tyrannosaur, iguanodon and stegosaur, along with adding some crocodilian features, so we're coming full circle here. And if someone may be wondering what the prefixes of these Pokémon's Japanese names mean: Yogiras is derived from yōji ('baby') and/or yōsei ('larva'), Sangiras contains sanagi ('pupa'), and Bangiras and its foul temper were inspired from yaban ('savage') and/or ban ('barbarian'). That is awfully accurate, I'd say. Additionally, Tyranitar's English name is most likely derived from 'tyrant', referring to its vicious nature, rather than tyrannosaurus rex.

Pretty savage fan art of Mega Tyranitar.

Tyranitar is also a beast in competitive play. Aside from its speed, its base stats are decent to excellent, and it only gets better as Mega Tyranitar. It's not true that there isn't any attack that will leave a scratch on T-tar, but at least Game Freak have shown some consistency by giving it good defenses. Its base 110 defense is already sky-high, but because it's a rock type, its base 100 special defense will even increase by 50% during a sandstorm. And this only applies to regular T-tar. Its Mega has a base stat total of 700, with 164 attack, 150 defense and 120 special defense (before its ability Sand Stream whips up a sandstorm). Holy cow. You'd think it would be impossible to beat Mega T-tar at all, but it is kind of slow and has a whopping seven weaknesses, among which a quadruple one to fighting-type moves, so it has its flaws. There are some useful sets for regular Tyranitar, among which a Jolly Choice Scarf set and an Adamant Choice Band set, both with the Sand Stream ability and staple moves like Crunch, Stone Edge, Pursuit (a 40-power move that does double damage when the foe switches out on the turn it is used) and either Superpower or Earthquake. It can even be used for support, like setting up Stealth Rock and paralyze foes with Thunder Wave, but when using Mega Tyranitar I'd recommend going with a Dragon Dance set. Dragon Dance raises Mega
T-tar's attack and speed by one stage, and when it manages to pull one off, you're in big trouble, because it can finish off your Pokémon with a plethora of STAB and coverage moves.

Regular Tyranitar.

Now, I have another confession to make: I am NOT a fan of Mega Tyranitar. The spikes protruding everywhere from its body and the scales, which are now red instead of blue and enable it to emanate more power because they're seething with energy, only make it overdesigned. The scales do make Mega Tyranitar look more vicious, but they only enhance the notion that there are too many unnecessary additions to its design. So my rating today is for regular Tyranitar, who already looks savage on its own and didn't really need a Mega in the first place. And even though Tyranitar is naturally savage, its blue scales actually give it a somewhat softer look and don't make it look like it's overdesigned. I like Tyranitar more than Dragonite, but it's not one of my favorite Pokémon, so I'll guess it'll have to do with a 4.5-star rating. Which, by the way, isn't bad by any means.

P.S.: There's actually a Smogon Mega T-tar set called 'Indominus Rex', named after the new made-up dinosaur hybrid from Jurassic World. That's just fucking hilarious.

Rating: 4.5/5