#443 - #445: Gible, Gabite & Garchomp

Let's put out a few reviews before Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon drop, shall we?

Stubby little Gible in TCG.

For the basic form of a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, Gible is available fairly early on in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, found in the secret section of Wayward Cave after obtaining Strength as well as the Mine Badge. In comparison, Dratini was hard to obtain because it is found in the fucking Safari Zone or in the Rocket Game Corner for a shitload of coins, Larvitar couldn't be encountered until after you had finished the entire Kanto post-game in Gold and Silver, Bagon couldn't be caught in Meteor Falls until after you had gotten Waterfall and the Rain Badge from the eighth and last Gym Leader, and Steven left a Poké Ball with a Beldum for you to snatch at his house only after beating him in the Pokémon League. In addition, Deino (Black and White) and Jangmo-o (Sun and Moon) are found in Victory Road and Vast Poni Canyon, respectively, which is nearly at the end of the main story. Only Goomy is found before the sixth Gym in Pokémon X and Y, but Goodra might well be my least favorite pseudo-legend in existence, so I'm not overly excited about that fact. It's a good Pokémon, but still...

Regular Gabite (left) with its shiny form (right).

Gible is a little shark-like dragon-type Pokémon, with the secondary ground typing and a pair of horns comparable to jet engines to boot. Basically it's just a shark - more specifically a hammerhead shark - adapted to deserts, which is... well, we've seen weirder things from Game Freak, so I'll buy it. Moreover, its design kind of makes sense, as Gible and its evolutions may be a reference to the book After Man: A Zoology of the Future, the first of Dougal Dixon's speculative evolution series, in which one species is mentioned as a type of land shark that lives in desert regions. Additionally, there's also a land shark creature called a bulette (pronounced 'byoo-lay') to be found in the tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons. Desert sharks, huh? Pretty clever, to incorporate this idea into the Pokémon franchise. However, when it comes to its flavor text, Gible is nothing special: it likes to dig holes for homes in caverns, play-fight with others of its species, huddle close with others of its species if it gets too cold, bite enemies with its strong jaws or pounce on them forcefully while hurting itself because of its clumsiness, etc. The only interesting thing to say about Gible is that it once lived in the tropics and now lives in caves warmed by geothermal heat to avoid the cold. I really can't see Gible and its evolutions surviving in the tropics, because I imagine the humid environment would have made them very uncomfortable due to their ground typing. Or maybe they were once aquatic sharks - not 'land sharks', as the Pokédex insists - and had to adapt because they were forced to find another habitat? That makes more sense; I guess they're the original Alola Formes, ha ha ha.

I'll let myself out in a minute.

Awesome realistic fan art of Garchomp! When it folds up its body and extends its
fins/wings, it looks exactly like a jet plane and is able to fly at the speed of sound,
creating blades of wings that can fell trees and swallowing whole flocks of birds
while it's at it. In my opinion, the artist perfectly put the emphasis on this aspect of
Garchomp!

For now, allow me to continue and let me move on to Gible's evolution Gabite, whose scales apparently have medicinal properties and can heal most illnesses. What's more, the Gabite Scale is an actual item in the Gen. IV Mystery Dungeon games Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky and these scales are stated to be a cure-all for all afflictions in a Mystery Dungeon anime special, however incurable these ilnesses may seem. Also, Gabite loves sparkly things and habitually digs up and hoards gems, resulting in its nest constantly being targeted by thieves. Gabite is so obsessed with its loot, in fact, that it can have its gaze fixed on the jewels it has amassed - or Carbink it has caught - for hours on end. It's an unhealthy obsession and I think Gabite should see a Pokémon psychiatrist. Just sayin'.

Also, want more proof that Gible, Gabite and Garchomp are based on sharks? Gabite's French name Carmache is derived from two possible shark genera, namely carcharias and carcharodon.

Garchomp in the Pokémon Adventures manga series (left) and Pokkén Tournament (right). 

However, Gible and Gabite are nothing compared to the almighty Garchomp. Seriously, anyone who has ever faced Cynthia's Garchomp must have lost at least one team member to it. The first time I played Pokémon Diamond I let my Empoleon stay in, thinking it could either outspeed or live any attack from Garchomp and strike back with an Ice Beam. I have never been more wrong in my life. That Garchomp is one of the reasons why Cynthia is considered one of the hardest Champions to take down, along with the fact that her team is just crazy diverse - in her Pokémon's typings as well as their movesets.

Mega Garchomp whipping up a sandstorm. In its Mega form,
Garchomp is known to become mad with rage, and in its anger
it slices the ground to pieces with its scythe-like blades, created
by the claws and fins melting and morphing together due to the
excessive energy released when it Mega-evolves. 

However, Garchomp isn't just the cherry on top; it's the entire fucking cake. Being a pseudo-legendary, it has good base values in all of its stats, most notably its attack and speed. That's why a Swords Dance set (for some reason, Game Freak did not give it access to Dragon Dance; I guess they were scared that would be too broken) supported by a Jolly nature is the most common set run on Garchomp: raise its attack by two stages and fire away with Dragon Claw, Earthquake and Fire Fang. While Dragon Claw is more accessible than Outrage, you could still go all out with the latter and switch out Garchomp once it gets confused. Also, Fire Fang isn't mandatory, as it also has access to some neat coverage moves such as Iron Head, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Poison Jab, Brick Break and Aqua Tail. And while Garchomp's special attack is still only 80, Fire Blast is often used instead of Fire Fang because it is more effective against physical walls like Skarmory or Pokémon that like to rely on chip damage such as Ferrothorn, just to name a few - although it has to be said that Garchomp also likes to rely on chip damage with its ability Rough Skin. To finish the set, there is a plethora of items you could give Garchomp: Life Orb gives some extra oomph to its attacking moves, Dragonium Z or Groundium Z let it perform a powerful Z-Move that will probably blow the opposing Pokémon out of the water, the Garchompite lets it Mega-evolve, and the Choice Band and Choice Scarf are excellent items that work well on movesets that only consist of attacking moves. Leftovers is an option, but only if you have a slightly defensive Garchomp rocking Stealth Rock - which, by the way, is not an uncommon option, either.

Gible trying to... eat my precious little Shuckle? GIBLE, SHAME ON YOU!!!
Fortunately, Shuckle is showing the crowd (and Gible) who's da shit.

Garchomp is terrifying and I wouldn't like to meet it in real life. It's a cool Pokémon and aside from the weird-looking square jaw on Mega Garchomp I won't criticize it; it's just not one of my favorite Pokémon. And there are still a lot of 5-star ratings coming up in the next couple of years. I'm not a fan of pseudo-legends in the first place - especially not Dragonite when compared to its pre-evolution Dragonair - and Garchomp is not an exception. However, the only thing that really bugs me about it is its flavor text: Garchomp's Pokédex entries mention that Garchomp can fly at Mach speed (hence its classification as the 'Mach Pokémon'), yet it cannot learn Fly. Great consistency there, Game Freak. Sublime.

Rating: 4.5/5