#331 - #332: Cacnea & Cacturne

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Shit, I don't know how to start this entry. Cacnea is such a forgettable Pokémon that I was almost surprised this Pokémon was next on my list. Obviously, Cacnea is based on a cactus - or, more specifically, the perfectly spherical barrel cactus - with some traits of a jack-o'-lantern, although it would be a whopping three generations later until we got actual jack-o'-lantern Pokémon called Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist. The problem is that Cacnea's flavor is a little bland, and I'm not referring to the fact that you can actually drink cactus juice to make yourself healthier. Or something. No, it's just that Cacnea can survive without any water for a period of 30 consecutive days, including in desert areas, which is... Why, I'm like, "WELL, DUH!!!" Most cacti live in arid areas anyway, and they never need much water in the first place. Moving on, Cacnea uses its thorny arms as hammers to attack its opponents. Great, so do other Pokémon; ask the ones who have access to Hammer Arm one way or another (fun fact: despite its habit of hammering opponents with its arms, Cacnea does not get Hammer Arm one way or another). The only somewhat interesting thing about its flavor is the yellow 'flower' on its head, which releases a strong aroma to attract prey; and the beauty and fragrance of this flower depend on the harshness of Cacnea's environment. It's not that interesting, though, and I think we'd better proceed with Cacnea's evolution Cacturne.

This is the Cacturne of a character named Harley. As you can
see, it is totally infatuated by... Team Rocket's Jessie! 

Cacturne trades Cacnea's yellow flower for a sun hat, its shape of a barrel cactus slash jack-o'-lantern for the shape of a seguaro slash scarecrow, and its pure grass typing for the grass/dark dual typing. There are actually a couple of explanations for the latter. The first one is that cacti are known as night plants because of this thing called crassulacean acid metabolism, or CAM photosynthesis for short, which is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions: the stomata (plant pores) remain closed during the day to prevent evapotranspiration and open at night to collect carbon dioxide. The second explanation is that Cacturne remains unmoving during the day - to prevent losing moisture to the harsh desert sun - and becomes active at night when the temperature drops, which may be a reference to the scarecrows in horror movies. It's a cliché, but all scary entities in horror movies come alive at night to take advantage of our limited visual perception when it's dark. It becomes even more unsettling when you realize Cacturne's Sapphire entry states that a ragtag group of this Pokémon will follow a traveler going through the desert in the thick of night and wait for the him (or her) to become exhausted and incapable of moving. Can we just acknowledge that Cacturne is a cold-blooded murderer? Yeah? Great, thanks. Kindly remind me that I won't be entering any desert for the entirety of my life.

Scary Cacturne.

But, ehm... such a malicious creature should be a beast in competitive play, right? Well, not precisely. Granted, Cacturne has base 115 attack and special attack, which is nothing to sneeze at, but its HP and defenses are terrible together and its speed isn't good enough for you to run a Choice Scarf set or something. Therefore, Cacturne is heavily reliant on a move Sucker Punch, which is a dark-type attack (STAB!) that moves first when the opposing Pokémon is using a damaging move. The problem is that Sucker Punch was nerfed in Sun and Moon and its base power is now 70 rather than 80. That is not terribly bad, but the nerf kind of... sucks, if you'll excuse the pun. Cacturne can be used as a wallbreaker or late-game sweeper, rocking Sucker Punch and several other attacking moves such as Dark Pulse, Energy Ball, Seed Bomb, Focus Blast, Brick Break, Poison Jab, Superpower, Fell Stinger, Drain Punch, Giga Drain and Thunder Punch. All of these moves are really good on Cacturne, to be honest, so you'd need a Rash, Mild, Lonely or Naughty nature to make it serve as a mixed attacker, although it could totally rock out with a physical Swords Dance set (with an Adamant nature) or a special Nasty Plot set (with a Modest nature). Depends on what you want or need. Just make sure to give it a Life Orb, which exchanges a little health for a bit more power each turn; it'll wear Cacturne down, but it won't be able to take many hits anyway. And if you think about teaching it moves like Synthesis or Destiny Bond: don't. Cacturne isn't fast enough to pull them off in the first place, and so you'd only waste your valuable turn. Make sure it has its hidden ability Water Absorb at all times, because Sand Veil only boosts its evasion in a sandstorm and isn't all that useful. Might as well give it an extra immunity to water on top of its psychic-type immunity and get some recovery off of incoming water-type moves.

Left: Cacturne waiting for heedless travelers going through the desert in the thick
of night. Right: a happy Cacturne mama with her baby Cacnea. 

It's a shame Cacturne seems to be one of those Pokémon in the 'forgettable' department. It's a scary and morbid Pokémon - which is why I'm surprised it wasn't featured in the Alola Pokédex, by the way - and it has a very pleasing design. Bogleech here opines that Cacturne is one of those Pokémon that is actually underdesigned for a change, and I am inclined to agree with him. A cactus is supposed to have 'seams' running its length, like Cacnea to some extent, and the spikes found all over its body don't look all that sharp - and trust me, I know from experience that a cactus stings when you touch it carelessly. Despite that, I actually really like Cacturne.

So... how about a rating of 4.5 stars? Yeah, that'll do. We don't want to make Cacturne all stingy, now do we?

Rating: 4.5/5