#538: Throh

Two male-only fighting-type counterparts with their own specific martial art specialty... Hmmm, does anybody have any idea where I've seen that before?

All jokes aside, though, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan share their pre-evolution Tyrogue with each other and so they're technically both part of an evolution line, which means I reviewed them simultaneously (along with their third counterpart Hitmontop). Such a thing won't be happening with Throh and Sawk, especially since they will receive different ratings as well.

Throh as seen in TCG. This drawing is actually pretty accurate
as well: one of Throh's Pokédex entries states that this Pokémon
always travels in packs of five.

Even though they have a lot of things in common aesthetically, Throh - red-skinned and beefy and apparently specializes in judo - is unequivocally the opposite of Sawk, who is blue and thin and seems to specialize in the more offense-oriented martial art karate. First and foremost, though, both Pokémon are based on oni, some kind of ogre or troll creatures in Japanese folklore that are usually red or blue and are typically portrayed as hulking fugures with one or more horns growing out of their heads. In fact, according to interviews with Ken Sugimori in Nintendo Dream, Sawk and Throh both had horns when they were still in development. Game Freak did this to make these Pokémon look more like oni, but the horns were ultimately omitted in their final designs and replaced with eyebrows so as not to clash with Thundurus and Tornadus, who were both originally designed to be red and blue. To tie in with the fact that oni are often portrayed wearing something, usually loinclothes, Throh looks like a judoka wearing a white judogi with a black belt, the latter of which it actually weaves from vines and ties around its waist to increase its own power. Throh is driven by an irresistable urge to throw larger opponents, probably trying to prove itself compared to Sawk, who is taller and physically stronger.

Sawk (left) and Throh (right).

However, Sawk is also as breakable as a toothpick, while Throh has above-average defenses and a massive base 120 HP stat, allowing to live a hit from anything that isn't super-effective on it - and sometimes even when a move is super-effective. It takes on the role of Hitmonchan substitute in that regard, as that Pokémon is also a bit more defensive than Hitmonlee, although the latter is just slightly faster and more aggressive and has the same special defense stat as Hitmonchan. Throh, on the other hand, has a significantly better HP stat than Sawk and is much less offensive-oriented than its counterpart as well. The problem with that is that Throh doesn't learn a whole lot of support moves to go with its defensive disposition. Sure, there's Rest and Sleep Talk, but that usually means that Sleep Talk will select Rest when Throh is asleep because of Rest. I'm not a huge fan of this combination - except on a Pokémon that can actually pull it off quite well, like Suicune - and I'd recommend you go for an offensive set. Nothing crazy, mind you, but at least Throh learns a few nifty moves that are available to only a handful of other Pokémon: Storm Throw has a base power of 60 but always results in a critical hit, while Circle Throw has decreased priority but forces the opposing Pokémon to retreat to its Poké Ball. Throh doesn't mind the decreased priority anyway, because it's slow as hell to begin with. In fact, a moveset consisting of Bulk Up, Circle Throw/Storm Throw, Rest and Knock Off isn't that bad, as long as you give Throh a Careful nature to give its special defense a small boost and let it hold the Leftovers so that it can heal up a bit of its HP every turn. Throh also has access to a few great coverage moves if you need them. Poison Jab comes in handy against fairy types; Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Ice Punch or Thunder Punch are perfect against flying types; and Fire Punch, Earthquake and Zen Headbutt are overall handy moves against Pokémon that Throh can't touch with its STAB moves, like bug and poison types.

The trickiest is determining Throh's ability, though. Guts increases Throh's defense by 50% when it suffers from a non-volatile status condition and is amazing when it gets burned or paralyzed (poison is more annoying and takes more HP from Throh every turn than a burn does). As this Pokémon is slow, it is very susceptible to flinching, and Inner Focus prevents that altogether. Finally, Mold Breaker ignores the effects of abilities that could potentially affect the damage or effects of a move that Throh executes, meaning, for example, that Throh can bypass Levitate and use Earthquake as it goddamn well pleases.

A Throh figurine, with its counterpart Sawk standing in the background.

Design-wise, I like Throh a lot more than Sawk: in this case, red looks better than blue, beefy looks better than skinny, and the T-shaped unibrow (which probably wasn't intentional... right?) isn't as stupid-looking on Throh as the reversed S on Sawk. While I like Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan - and even Hitmontop - more or less equally, this isn't the case with Throh and Sawk at all. I even did a Pokémon Y Wonderlocke once, in which I got a Throh that pulled me and the rest of my team through pretty much 95% of the game, until I was so stupid not to heal it when it was facing a fucking Crustle with Rock Wrecker. I have to say I got a bit attached to this bulky bruiser, and for all of the reasons I mentioned I'm giving it a solid 4-star rating.

Rating: 4/5