#48 - #49: Venonat & Venomoth

Official art of Venonat.

I have absolutely no idea what the hell I'd have to write about Venonat. It's just a bad Pokémon to use, and ultimately it's a forgettable Pokémon as well. It's not that I don't like Venonat, it's just that there's nothing specific about it that I'd want to write about, aside from maybe its radar eyes that allow it to see in the dark. In my opinion, it doesn't add anything to the franchise other than being Venomoth's pre-evolution. That is not necessarily a bad thing, though; the game should not allow you to use some Pokémon until they are actually fully evolved. Venomoth is not one of them, however, but I'll get to that later on. The thing is that Venomoth has become a kind of a legend lately, and I think that this Pokémon won't easily be forgotten. That has everything to do with the part it played in 'Twitch Plays Pokémon'. I told you almost everything in Pidgeot's entrance, though, so I'm not going to repeat all of that right now. All I can say that AATTVVV (also commonly referred to as ATV or All-Terrain Venomoth), as the Venomoth was called because everybody was pressing multiple buttons at the same fucking time, has played a major part in defeating Lance, the fourth Elite 4 member.

Fan art of All-Terrain Venomoth, who slayed Lance's dragon all by itself during the
disaster that is called 'Twitch Plays Pokémon'.  

You see, when ATV was facing Lance's Dragonite, it managed to survive by using Poison Powder on the thing, which slowly wittled away Dragonite's health while it only used Barrier and Agility in return. Needless to say that the poison damage did it in, and therefore, ATV is commonly called 'The Dragon Slayer'. It was one of the most memorable moments during the playthrough of Pokémon Red on streaming service Twitch, but unfortunately, ATV went down during the battle against Champion Blue and the entire team had to defeat the Elite 4 and Blue from scratch. That didn't affect the 'legendary' status Venomoth received after the playthrough was done, by the way, because from now on, many people will think of All-Terrain Venomoth when you mention this Pokémon.

All hail to Ken Sugimori for providing us with this beautiful
official Venomoth art. 

Well, let's be honest... That is not exactly a surprise, as Venomoth isn't really a good Pokémon to use in the competitive scene. For in-game purposes, on the other hand, it would be quite a decent Pokémon to use. Its attack and defense are terrible and should be ignored, but it has a reasonable special defense stat and even better special attack and speed stats. With those, you can hit fast and relatively hard, and with good moves at that, too. Bug Buzz and Sludge Bomb are must-haves, while the other slots should be filled in by Quiver Dance (which raises its special attack, special defense and speed by one stage each) and either Psychic or Energy Ball, depending on the Pokémon you already have in your team. You can even omit Quiver Dance and go for both offensive moves; Venomoth's stats are decent enough to pull that off. There might be people who might make good use of this Pokémon competitively, but I think it would go down very fast. No matter how you look at it, Venomoth is still quite a frail Pokémon, after all...

Ultimately, Venomoth is a likeable Pokémon, but no matter its legendary status, it is still only a decent Pokémon. There is nothing about it that really makes it stand out to other Pokémon. That is to say, if you don't count the stupid theory that it should have been Metapod's evolution while Butterfree should have been Venonat's, because the latter two share so many similarities; from the large bug-like eyes to the little hands and their antennae. Even so, 3.5 is not a bad rating at all!

Rating: 3.5/5

#27 - #28: Sandshrew & Sandslash

I had this exact same Sandshrew plushie.

Jeez... Writing the previous entry about the Pokémon franchise mascot felt like writing a 1,000-page novel.

Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen right now though, because Sandshrew and Sandslash cannot compete with Pikachu's popularity. I'm not saying that they're not likeable or even capable Pokémon, so let's see what they have in store for us. Well, Sandshrew is actually just there for being adorable, and that manifests itself in those fluffy plushies of Sandshrew that I had one of as well. And even though I don't have it anymore, it was definitely my favorite and most huggable Pokémon plushie, aside from maybe Togepi. (Perhaps I should mention that I didn't have all that many plushies to begin with, so that is probably the reason why it was my favorite.) Game Freak can even make a pangolin/armadillo Pokémon look cute if they want to, even though it should be noted that all real-life animals can be cute if drawn correctly. However, it seems that Game Freak have had a broad view of what exactly a mouse is: as is the case with Rattata and Raticate, both Sandshrew and Sandslash have been erroneously classified as 'Mouse Pokémon'. I'll grant them, Sandshrew has some traits of mice, but Sandslash... Goddammit, I shouldn't worry about this whole thing over and over again. I wanted to say that Sandshrew mainly serves as the pre-evolution of the ground-type hedgehog/porcupine thing that is Sandslash, so how does Sandslash fare in battles?

Nice fan art of Sandslash

Well, Sandslash isn't used all that much in the competitive scene, but that doesn't mean it's not capable. In fact, with its high attack and defense stats it can actually put in some good work. Its special attack is absolutely booty, but it doesn't need it, while it could use some more special defense and speed. However, spend some time EV-training Sandslash with either an attack- or defense-bossting nature in its attack and defense stats (as well as some of its HP) and you have a hard-hitting physical tank. The moves it learns are some really basic TM moves though, but Earthquake is going to be its main move anyway, combined with Swords Dance. The other two slots in its moveset should be filled in by Rock Slide and Poison Jab (to counter ice and grass types, to which Sandslash is weak), while X-Scissor is also an option. You can even go with a speed-reducing nature and teach it Gyro Ball (a move that does more damage the slower the user is compared to the target), but if you insist on teaching Sandlsash a steel-type move, you'll be better off with the Move Tutor move Iron Tail instead, because most ice types aren't very fast to begin with. Not to mention it would be completely bodied by fairy types due to its lackluster special defense.

Sandslash wallpaper.

One last feature I think is really nice, is that Sandshrew and Sandslash's claws are venomous, just like a shrew (a mouse-like mammal) is poisonous in real-life, hence their ability to learn Poison Sting naturally. Moreover, Sandslash's claws can break and its spikes are shed regularly, after which they grow back quickly. And even though Sandslash may not be the best Pokémon out there, I really like this Pokémon. Remember, my rating is not based on just a Pokémon's fighting performances, but also on its design, my personal experiences with said Pokémon and whether or not I'd like to use it in a playthrough once. That is the reason why Sandslash gets a 3.5-star rating.

Rating: 3.5/5

#10 - #12: Caterpie, Metapod & Butterfree

Caterpie and Metapod.

I would like to start this review with saying that Caterpie was the first of the mandatory caterpillar-cocoon-butterfly evolution lines every generation, but I'd be lying if I did that: the second and fourth generation don't have such evolution lines. Neither does the fifth generation, strictly speaking, because Leavanny and Scolipede certainly aren't butterflies...

That is not to say, however, that Caterpie wasn't the first of many such evolution lines to come, the other ones being Weedle in Gen. I (in fact, Weedle and its evolutions will be reviewed right after Butterfree), Wurmple and its split evolutions in Gen. III, Sewaddle and Venipede in Gen. V and Scatterbug in Gen. VI. As for Caterpie, I can safely say that this Pokémon is nothing short of unexciting, to say the least. The only characteristic worth mentioning is that its antenna emits a horrible stench, which is something the larvae of papilio xuthus (Asian swallowtail) and papilio troilus (spicebush swallowtail) can do as well. It doesn't help that Caterpie looks exactly like those larvae. It evolves into Metapod early though, at level 7, just like all of the above-mentioned caterpillar Pokémon, with the exception of Sewaddle and Venipede from the fifth generation. No, Caterpie is extremely uneventful, utterly boring and ultimately forgettable indeed, but Metapod is where it gets interesting. Don't get too excited though, because Metapod isn't that fascinating.

The epic Metapod vs. Metapod battle in "Challenge of the
Samurai"; season 1, episode 4. 

However, there is one thing about Metapod that I will always remember: the epic battle of the two Metapod in "Challenge of the Samurai", the fourth episode of the Pokémon anime series. You all remember that samurai guy challenging Ash to a battle, right? Well, they both sent out their Metapod and all those Metapod could do was use Harden. I was eight years old when I saw that for the first time. Knowing that Pokémon was all about 'harsh' battles like the ones I saw in the previous episodes, this Metapod battle was so ridiculous to me that at first I looked at the screen with my dumbest stare for a few seconds and then started laughing. I couldn't stop with that for about five minutes, with some intervals here and there; my mom probably thought I had gone crazy or something. Well, the excitement of what has become the most boring as well as the most epic Pokémon battle in all existence didn't last long anyway, because Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree in that very same episode.

Ash's Butterfree (left) trying to impress the pink Butterfree
(right) with its colorful scarf during mating season.

Now, Butterfree is where things get moderestly interesting. An sich, Butterfree is not such a strong Pokémon and it isn't often used in the competitive scene. For in-game purposes, Butterfree is a decent Pokémon to use: its special attack got a boost in the sixth generation and it is capable of learning some very good special moves, such as Bug Buzz, Psychic, Shadow Ball and Energy Ball, along with Quiver Dance to give its special attack, special defense and speed a boost. You can even teach it Dream Eater if you want to play the Compound Eyes/Sleep Powder/Dream Eater combo (you might not want to bother with that though, as the TM for Dream Eater is only available post-game). So what is it that we'll all remember Butterfree for? Well... the anime, of course. And yet again it's Ash's Butterfree I'm talking about. In the 21st episode of the anime, "Bye-Bye Butterfree", Ash and his company come across the Butterfree mating season and Ash lets his own Butterfree try to find a mate. It's the pink Butterfree (which is not the official shiny form of Butterfree, mind you) Ash's Butterfree falls for. After some failed attempts to impress her, Team Rocket attacks and they are ultimately stopped by... right, Butterfree. Needless to say that Pinkie is impressed by Ash's Butterfree now, and Ash releases his Pokémon after an emotional good-bye.

It is that emotional good-bye that we'll always remember, but in the end, Butterfree isn't all that unforgettable. It's a decent Pokémon all around: its design is decent, its stats are decent and it's usable in a playthrough, but there is nothing about it that makes me want to love it. I don't hate it either, though; I like it well enough for a passing grade!

Rating: 3.5/5