#559 - #560: Scraggy & Scrafty

Scrafty (right) being pissed with its young.

Okay, I think it's time for me to make a confession: I am a sagger. I don't wear my pants below my butt or crotch like you see a lot of people of color doing all the time, especially men, but I still sag my pants and I've done that ever since I was a teenager. Today's Pokémon seem to encapsulate stereotypes that stem from various urban youth subcultures of the past few decades (namely hip-hop and punk), like giant mohawks, ill-fitting hoodies, bad behavior and, indeed, sagging or baggy pants - although it has to be said that the latter isn't exclusively associated with hip-hop or punk culture anymore due to popularization by skaters and rappers as well as the manufacture of brand underwear and boxers/boxer briefs with bright colors or patterns. However, it leaves no doubt for what reason Scraggy and Scrafty are actually dark/fighting types; this type combination perfectly summarizes their tendency to cause mischief and get into fights and implies that they're partly based on juvenile delinquents or gangsters. To justify creating Pokémon based on teens with sagging pants, Game Freak gave Scraggy and Scrafty a lot of reptilian features. The yellow substance around Scraggy's legs resembles a pair of trousers but is actually a tough rubbery piece of skin that it has shed - like lizards regularly do - and subsequently put back on. This pelt can be pulled all the way up to the neck in order to reduce the damage from attacks, and the saggier Scraggy's skin is, the more respect it garners from it.

A whole gang of Scraggy fucking up a kitchen. 

Any foe that so much as meets Scraggy's gaze will immediately have an unpleasant encounter with its massively thick cranium, as Scraggy is extremely short-fused. You'll probably also remember Ash's highly incompetent Scraggy - at least initially - that Ash hatched from an egg, requiring him to train it from scratch. The Scraggy liked to show its toughness to any Pokémon it met before trying to Headbutt them, but its overconfidence often got it into trouble as it believed it was much stronger than it actually was. Scraggy's English name really suits it, then, because it is most likely a combination of 'scrappy' (referring to its tendency to start fights out of nowhere) and either 'saggy' or 'baggy' (in reference to the molted skin 'pants').

"Wassup, dawg?"

Scrafty looks a lot scarier than Scraggy, flashing a ridiculously trendy mohawk, some fabulous eye shadow and a baggy hoodie - or rather just the hood - made of the same skin as its 'pants', which look even saggier than Scraggy's. If anything, Scrafty looks like a punker, although I'm sure anyone above the age of 30 is more inclined to call it a punk instead - which wouldn't be all that surprising considering Scrafty's Pokédex classification as the 'Hoodlum Pokémon'. It is able to expel an acidic liquid from its mouth in order to taunt opponents, which is no doubt an analogy for all the bullcrap those rude punks spit out nowadays in order to insult or taunt innocent passersby. Scrafty is known to display gang activity, living in groups with members of its species and beating up any Pokémon or human being who dares enter its territory. Gangs determine hierarchy by the size of one's crest; the bigger the crest, the more respected a Scrafty is, and the Scrafty with the largest crest becomes the gang leader. However desperate their need to rebel against the system is, though, Scrafty is shown to take very good care of its family, friends and turf. They're just misunderstood! Perhaps there comes a day when society won't treat them like total outcasts, but with a name like Scrafty ('crafty' means being skilled at deceit to achieve one's goals), I don't think the people in the Pokémon world will easily come to terms with a bunch of mohawk-sporting thugs.

I'm sure the fight this Scrafty just got out of was a
matter of life and death.

The Pokédex mentions that Scrafty is powerful enough to smash concrete blocks with its kicking attacks, although its physical attack stat leaves a lot to be desired in that regard. I mean, base 90 attack is fairly decent, especially since Scrafty has amazing defenses to boot, but it's still nothing compared to the likes of Darmanitan and Excadrill, to name a few. However, Scrafty has a very unique and useful type combination (dark/fighting) and access to a few moves that can raise its attack. The first is Dragon Dance, which raises the attack and speed of the Pokémon that uses it by one stage each, although Bulk Up raises attack and defense and plays more into Scrafty's defensive capabilities. The ability Moxie, which raises Scrafty's attack stat every time it gets a knockout, ties in perfectly with the Dragon Dance tactic and requires a Jolly nature as well as a strength-enhancing item like a Life Orb or some kind of Z-Crystal, while getting rid of status ailments with Shed Skin or lowering the opponent's attack stat with Intimidate works best when taking on a defensive approach - a Careful or Impish nature in conjunction with Bulk Up is not uncommon, and the Leftovers really help extend its durability on the field. In any case, no moveset is complete without some actual attacks. High Jump Kick and Crunch are amazing moves, and very few Pokémon resist both of these (only fairy types and Heracross, if I'm not mistaken), but moves like Iron Head, Iron Tail and Poison Jab - all very useful against said fairy types, because Scrafty is four times weak to them - as well as Head Smash, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch and Zen Headbutt provide some neat type coverage. There are still some STAB moves like Knock Off, Drain Punch, Power-Up Punch and Brick Break for you to choose from, especially since High Jump Kick has a chance to miss and cause crash damage equal to half of the user's maximum HP as a result.

This is still a better love story than Twilight.

I don't particularly feel a connection with Scrafty just because I'm a sagger. If anything, I should feel a disconnect with it because its official art and in-game sprite show it holding the waist of its 'pants' as if it's constantly pulling them up. I don't even have to do that - though I've been told to pull my pants up millions of times - and I'm not even wearing a fucking belt. Nevertheless, Scrafty is a cool and original Pokémon with fascinating origins, versatile competitive utility and an interesting design, albeit with some simplified facial features; Bogleech here suggests Scrafty looks like an awkward notebook doodle that has accidentally come to life one day, or that Game Freak designed it with the graffiti art style in mind. I wouldn't put it past them, but I feel like this Pokémon was a half-assed attempt by Game Freak to connect with a broader audience and draw more people to the franchise. Honestly, if I hadn't been a die-hard Pokémon fan already, this Pokémon wouldn't have brought me back to the franchise at all. Still, I like Scrafty well enough, and like all Gen. V additions, this Pokémon isn't getting a bad rating from me by any means.

Rating: 4/5