#303: Mawile

A Sableye making itself comfortable in
Mawile's jaw. These two Pokémon are often
seen as counterparts.

Mawile can be seen as a counterpart to Sableye, whom I discussed exactly a week ago. Like Sableye, this Pokémon is quite unique, although it is based on yet another Japanese mythical being, so its basic form doesn't appeal to me as much as Sableye's basic form does, despite the fact that it's actually a steel type (I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but steel is my favorite of the 18 types currently available in the games). Mawile is based on the Japanese myth of the futakuchi-onna, literally 'two-mouthed woman'. This type of yōkai is characterized by her two mouths - a normal one and a second one located on the back of her head; or rather in the back of her head. The origin of this second mouth is pretty terrifying: in many stories, the soon-to-be futakuchi-onna is a wife of a miser and rarely eats. That's why a second mouth mysteriously appears in the back of the woman's head, often mumbling spiteful and threatening things to her and demanding food. If it's not fed, it can screech obscenely and cause the woman tremendous pain. Ultimately, though, the woman's long hair begins to move on its own like a pair of serpents, so that the second mouth can help itself to twice the amount of food the woman usually consumes. In other stories, the mouth forms from an axe wound she sustains accidentally or even because her own husband tries to murder her. The jaw on the back on Mawile's head, however, is just a set of transformed steel horns that Mawile uses to chomp its foes with after it lulls them out of wariness or into complacency with its docile-looking face. In other words, Mawile is a dangerous creature that likes to deceive people and other Pokémon, hence its classification as the 'Deceiver Pokémon'. Everything comes together when you look at the origins of Mawile's English and foreign names, too: a maw is the mouth of a voracious animal - an animal devouring great quantities of food - and a wile is a strategem or trick intended to deceive or ensnare, while its foreign names are all plays on 'jaw', 'mandible', 'lying' and 'cheating' and the like.

Mega Mawile. 

But Mawile's regular form is nothing compared to its Mega evolution, who suddenly has two sets of jaw-like appendages protruding from its head. While the single jaw is strong enough to chew through iron beams on itself, the pair of jaws can be controlled individually by Mega Mawile and boast tremendous power. Looking at Mega Mawile's ability and base attack stat, that should not come as a surprise: a base attack stat of 105 is already nothing to sneeze at, but the ability Huge Power will raise its physical prowess to ridiculous levels. When you have a Pokémon with a base attack stat of 105, perfect IVs, an attack-beneficial nature (Adamant, Lonely, Naughty and Brave) and EV training in said attack stat, its physical proficiency can be as high as 339 - a massive 678 when Huge Power is applied! This effectively makes Mega Mawile the strongest Pokémon in the game. In fact, its attack stat even exceeds the limit of 669 attack (255 base attack, as 255 is the highest possible 8-digit binary number), equalling a Pokémon with a base attack stat of 259. Mega Mawile's base stat total may be only 480 - the lowest among all Mega forms, along with Mega Sableye - but Huge Power made Smogon ban it from any competitive tier lower than Uber, the tier where powerful legendaries like Rayquaza, Lugia, Dialga, Reshiram and Zekrom reside as well. It is that strong.

Mawile standing next to its Poké Ball.

Unfortunately, Mega Mawile is more of a hit-and-run Pokémon. Its defense is great and its special defense is quite good, too, but its mediocre HP can't back up its good defensive stats and its speed is nothing to write home about. You can't do anything about its speed, either, because Mawile can't learn Agility or Autotomize and can't hold any stat-enhancing items such as the Choice Scarf because it needs to hold a Mega Stone to Mega-evolve. Then again, Mega Mawile has access to some excellent STAB moves like Iron Head and Play Rough (as of Gen. VI, Mawile is a fairy type in addition to its primary steel type), as well as some superb type coverage in Crunch, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Brick Break, Sucker Punch, Knock Off, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch and the elemental fangs. The latter have a base power of 65 and are quite weak compared to moves that are usually used in the competitive scene, but Mega Mawile is so strong that I think it can pull them off quite well if you are in need of them, especially after a Swords Dance boost (yup, as if Huge Power combined with a base attack of 105 wasn't enough already, Mega Mawile can also sharply boost its attack with Swords Dance). As it's not fast to begin with, it's a given you should slap an Adamant nature on it, making it an absolute powerhouse. It even leaves huge dents in defensive teams, easily knocking out Pokémon in two or three hits that are not very effective on them.

Hey Mega Sableye, don't lose your big-ass gemstone. Its defensive qualities are
what makes you competitively viable in the first place. 

It's Mega Mawile's offensive prowess what makes me like this Pokémon in the first place, although I like its design more than regular Mawile's as well. The pink hakama (a type of Japanese garment) make it more reminiscent of the Japanese lore of the futakuchi-onna and also emphasize its fairy typing. Well, in my opinion, anyway. There are plenty of steel-type Pokémon that end up high on my list of favorite Pokémon - in fact, Aggron and its pre-evolutions are next on my rating list - but Mawile will have to do with 4.5 stars rather than 5, the same as Sableye.

+0.5 for originality and +1 for the awesome Mega.

Rating: 4.5/5

#302: Sableye

Creepy fan art of Sableye. It uses its sharp claws to dig through
the earth and excavate gems, which it then devours.

Now, this Pokémon is a real gem, literally and figuratively. The dark/ghost Sableye is inarguably, indisputably, irrefutably an obscure and creepy but unique Pokémon. A goblin-like creature with sharp teeth and claws and eyes like diamonds that sparkle in the dark and allow it to see in low light, it is feared by many people because it's said that looking directly into its eyes will cause it steal one's soul away. Those eyes are not the only gemstones to be found on its body, though: it has a red gem on its chest, and on its back are a blue and green gemstone as well as another red one, which is probably a reference to the trio of games of the generation it debuted in. The diamond eyes and gem-like adornments on Sableye's body are the result of its diet, which consists of rock and raw gemstones. It even preys on Carbink, but it is apparently too slow to catch them, as they're usually taken by Gabite before Sableye can even do so much as to lay a hand on them. The whole gemstone thing extends through its Mega evolution as well: all the energy from Mega-evolving is concentrated into the red jewel on its chest, which detaches from Sableye's body and significantly increases in size, leaving a small hole in Mega Sableye's chest. Mega Sableye now shelters itself behind the large and heavy jewel, which is said to boast such incredible hardness that nothing even leaves so much as a scratch on it. Hiding behind the jewel comes with some benefits and disadvantages: Mega Sableye can take advantage of opening its targets leave exposed, but supporting the massive jewel makes it too slow to turn around, which makes it vulnerable from behind.

I especially like the lore behind Sableye's design, though. Brace yourselves.

Amazing fan art of Sableye picking its teeth after a delicious
meal consisting of rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

Sableye is based on the Hopkinsville Goblin, which is claimed to be an extraterrestrial being encountered in the towns of Kelly and Hopkinsville in the state of Kentucky (where the chicken comes from). On an August day in 1955, five immensely dumb adults and seven extremely gullible children arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that small alien creatures in a spaceship repeatedly popped up at the doorway or peered through the windows of their farmhouse, attacking them. They had been holding the creatures off with gunfire for four hours, or so they said. Four remarkably clever city policemen, five unusually intelligent state troopers, four outstandingly bright military policemen from a nearby army base and three incredibly smart deputy sheriffs were concerned about a possible gun battle between local citizens and decided to take a look anyway, even though they found nothing but holes in window and door screens made by firearms. The story got widespread coverage in local and national press, although details such as "large pointed ears, claw-like hands, eyes that glowed yellow and spindly legs" only appeared in various media much later than the date of occurrence. A couple of exceptionally wise sceptics presumed that the creatures were just great horned owls - which have pointed ears and yellow eyes and aggressively defend their nests - that were misidentified by the hopelessly stupid Hopkinsville people because they were intoxicated, yet many tremendously crazy people called ufologists regard the whole affair as one of the most significant and well-documented cases in the history of UFO incidents.

Yeah, right. Alcohol ruins lives, people, so drink responsibly.

Anyway, The Hopkinsville aliens are most famous and popular in Japan, where they have appeared in various anime shows and video games, including Pokémon: the 'spindly legs' part caused the creatures to make swaying motions that are even demonstrated by Sableye's 3D movements in Gen. VI and Gen. VII.

Official art of Mega Sableye.

Unfortunately, neither regular Sableye nor Mega Sableye are very good in battle. The latter is even tied with Mega Mawile for having the lowest base stat total of all Mega-evolved Pokémon, at 480. That's not particularly a good base stat total for a Pokémon that is not holding an item other than a Mega Stone. Mega Sableye has excellent defense and special defense, sure, and its ability Magic Bounce lets it bounce back most status moves to the user (I think the only exception is Memento), but its mediocre HP stat doesn't back up its great defenses and its attacking stats are no more than decent. However, Sableye - and therefore also Mega Sableye, obviously - has access to reliable recovery in the move Recover, priority damage in Fake Out and priority Will-O-Wisp due to the Prankster ability; be careful, because regular Sableye is quite frail and Prankster will change into Magic Bounce upon Mega-evolving. As for the fourth and last moveslot, Foul Play is a decent option to attack with, as this move uses the opponent's attack stat rather than Mega Sableye's attack stat. It'll pay off most of the time, and even if Foul Play should be weaker, it's still a STAB move. For more reliability you could also use Knock Off, which even knocks off the opposing Pokémon's held item, rendering it unusable for the rest of the battle. In that case, Impish is the preferred nature for Mega Sableye, boosting its defense and lowering its special attack - which it isn't gonna use, anyway. Using regular Sableye is out of the question, unless you teach it Taunt and give it the Leftovers, which can make it somewhat viable as a blocker for Pokémon that want to set up an entry hazard or try to remove yours. There are much better options out there for that, though, and it is much better to just use Mega Sableye instead.

Sableye as seen in the anime. 

I think Sableye has an interesting and unique design and flavor to it and I definitely consider its Mega as one of the most original ones. Sableye has never been one of my favorite Pokémon, but I have to say that I've gotten more respect for the people who created it, as even I acknowledge the distinctiveness and originality of its design. Of course, at the end of the day it's just based on yet another mythical creature, but at least this time it's a mythical creature from modern history rather than ancient or postclassical history; the Kelly-Hopkinsville event was pretty recent in comparison, occurring 'only' 62 years ago. Moreover, this whole gemstone thing used to be unique to Sableye until Carbink and Diancie came into play, so it's not as if there wasn't some thought put into Sableye's whole concept. This Pokémon's getting a solid 4-star rating.

Rating: 4/5

#280 - #282, #475: Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir & Gallade

You probably wonder why the hell I'm wasting my time writing an entry for Ralts and its evolutions instead of playing the fuck out of Pokémon Sun and Moon, but the answer is simple: I am one of those unfortunate souls living in Europe - the Netherlands, to be exact - and I'm impatiently waiting for the games until I hear the clanging sound of my mailbox on the 23rd of November. Might as well write a couple of articles before I'm going on a 'hiatus', I'd dare say.

3D art of Ralts. If it wasn't looking up, you wouldn't be able to see the eyes that are
usually hidden beneath its cap-like head. Or maybe it is a cap, I'm not sure.

So... Ralts. It's a strange Pokémon, because it doesn't seem to be based on anything in particular. If anything, Ralts looks kind of humanoid, resembling a child. Human children often sense when something is amiss, and Game Freak have built its design and flavor from there: Ralts uses the horns on its cap-like head to read people and Pokémon's emotions and hides when it senses hostility. It reflects the mood of the person it reads, meaning that it becomes happy when its Trainer is in a cheerful mood and gets doleful when its Trainer is in a sad mood. A wild Ralts will rarely show itself to people (which is true, as it's the rarest of the early-route Pokémon), but when it does it will only draw closer when it senses the person has a positive disposition. When it evolves into Kirlia, however, the eyes - which Ralts does in fact have but are hidden beneath its 'cap' - become clearly visible now and it looks like it's wearing a... a tutu. And it has the stance ballet dancers are commonly portrayed with.

Well, I've seen Pokémon with stranger features than those.

3D art of Kirlia, in which it seems to be performing some kind of ballet dance.

Anyhow, Kirlia's horns are used to amplify its psychokinetic power and have the ability to let reality become warped. This distortion of reality causes mirages of nonexistent scenery and can cause a rip in dimensions (would Kirlia have anything to do with the Ultra Beasts in Sun and Moon?), which allows Kirlia to see into the future. It enjoys dancing on sunny mornings (well, duh!) and is said to grow beautiful when exposed to a Trainer with positive emotions. Again, cheerfulness lies at the basis of Kirlia's powers: a happy Trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic abilities. Also interesting is Ralts and Kirlia's namesake. While the French and German names of Ralts, Tarsal and Trasla, are anagrams of the word 'astral' and even the name Ralts has something to do with it, Kirlia's name is derived from Kirlian photography. Bulbapedia describes it as "a special way of taking pictures that supposedly reveals psychic energy auras around subjects," but it is much more scientific than that: it is a collective term for photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of coronal discharges, electrical discharges brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically charged. The techniques are named after Semyon Kirlian, a Russian inventor and researcher of Armenian descent, hence Kirlia's name.

Incredible papercraft figures of Ralts (little one in the front),
Kirlia (left), Gardevoir (right) and Gallade (middle).

Kirlia has two ways of evolving: it evolves into Gardevoir starting at level 30 or, if male, you can expose it to a Dawn Stone and let it turn into a Gallade. Gallade was inroduced one generation later than Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir as an alternative evolution of Kirlia, and it is believed to be created as a counterpart to Gardevoir: the latter is a special attacker who looks like a damsel in distress, while Gallade is a physical attacker and resembles a gallant knight. Or so goes a popular fan theory, but the truth is that Gardevoir can also be male. Its Japanese name is even Sirnight
(サーナイト), which may be derived from the phrase Saa, naito! ("Come, knight!") or just simply means Sir Knight. Or both. The English name of Gardevoir is based on the French words of garde and devoir - 'guard' and 'duty', respectively - or may be a combination of garder and voir, French verbs for 'to keep' and 'to see'. This is reflected in its Pokédex data, which explain how Gardevoir will protect its Trainer even at the cost of its own life (wow, that's some heavy shit!) and that it has the ability to see into the future, distorting the dimensions to such an extent it creates small black holes. The former explanation may also suggest that Gardevoir is based on a guardian angel, although it looks more like a principal dancer, very much like Kirlia resembles a ballet dancer.

Gardevoir laying in the grass, resting a bouquet of flowers on its chest.

However, Gardevoir is especially notorious for its role in the Internet meme called Rule 34, which is a generally accepted Internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable object. Or, simply put: if something exists, there is pornographic content of it. Gardevoir isn't the first Pokémon to be made into hentai images (a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and manga pornography) and it definitely won't be the last, but I can safely say it is the most prominent. Just Googling Gardevoir results into a certain 50/50 mix of normal and pornographic or suggestive images of Gardevoir, and I have to say it's disturbing. Who in their right mind would go and think, "Today I am going to create a pornographic image of a Pokémon, making the suggestion that it's sexy." A Pokémon! Ugh. I'm mentioning this aspect of Gardevoir because it is so painfully visible, otherwise I wouldn't even have mentioned it at all. It goes without saying that I won't post any hentai images of Gardevoir on this blog, nor will I recommend Googling them. And should you decide to do that anyway, enter Google at your own risk; I won't be held accountable.

Fan art of Mega Gardevoir.

It's a relief that Gardevoir is still being seen as a more-than-decent Pokémon to use, in-game as well as competitively. Its HP, attack and defense are mediocre, but its special attack and special defense are both sky-high, while its base 80 speed stat is decent. Its typing - psychic/fairy as of Gen. VI, gaining the fairy typing on top of its already existing psychic typing in X and Y - is especially helpful, as Moonblast helps against dragon types and Psychic makes short work of poison-type Pokémon that threaten its very existence. There are numerous ways to make use of Gardevoir, but it should stay a special attacker at all times. A Choice Specs set is mentioned on Smogon, but there is also a Life Orb set supported by Calm Mind and a Choice Scarf set to let Gardevoir outspeed some Pokémon in the competitive metagame. At least Gardevoir doesn't have to worry about coverage, because it has access to some pretty neat moves of many different typings, among which are Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Signal Beam and even Icy Wind. Phew. And that's not all, because Gardevoir got a Mega in X and Y. The horns protruding from its chest are know larger and are said to be a physical manifestation of its heart, making it able to let loose tremendous psychic power now that its heart is open. And that is clearly perceptible, because Mega Gardevoir leaves a dent in any opposing team with its base 165 special attack. Moreover, it has access to the Pixilate ability, which lets it turn normal-type moves into fairy-type moves. They also get a boost, making Hyper Voice more competitively viable than Moonblast, especially because Hyper Voice infiltrates substitutes. Before Mega-evolving, though, Trace is the preferred ability, as it copies the opposing Pokémon's ability and might turn it against them.

Shiny Mega Gardevoir. The flower on top of its head is not part of its design, but it's
a nice touch to the whole 'mourning' aspect of its design. 

Also, did you notice that regular Mega Gardevoir looks like it's wearing a wedding gown and shiny Mega Gardevoir seems to be wearing a mourning dress? That is such a nice touch, and I think shiny Mega Gardevoir is one of the most beautiful shinies out there. It's really pretty. Gardevoir is very loveable as a whole, by the way; I love everything about it, including its simple but beautiful design, its characteristics, its competitive utility and its Mega evolution - shiny Mega Gardevoir in particular.

And then we have Gallade, who isn't quite as beautiful and elegant as Gardevoir. Regular Gallade has the same stat distribution as Gardevoir, with only their attack and special attack stats swapped, so it's a very decent physical alternative to Gardevoir, but I'm just not that big a fan of its design. Its horizontally oval thighs are a bit off-putting, its slender body shape just doesn't do it for me as much as Gardevoir's, its blade-like arms don't look overly efficient and its legs are just weird. Gallade significantly earns points when it Mega-evolves, gaining a cape that fits it knightly aesthetics and blades that look more efficient than those of its regular form, as well as a head that resembles a gladiator's helmet. The weird legs and oval shape of its hips stay but are less accentuated because of the overall more busy 'knight in shining armor' design, which is a plus. Mega Gallade has a very nice design overall, but it doesn't even come close to Gardevoir's graceful looks.

I wanted to show you Gallade's weird oval hips and what better
way to do that than include its official artwork here? 

Like Gardevoir, however, Gallade fiercely fights to protect its Trainer. When doing that, it shows that it's a master of courtesy and swordsmanship and a master in predicting its foe's moves. The blade-like arms can be extended and therefore show resemblances to tonfa, melee weapons best known for their role in the armed component of Okinawan martial arts. Mega Gallade has arms that look like actual blades, however, and these are used simultaneously in a dual-wielding style by calling on its psychic powers. Predicting the foe's moves is still up to the player, though, because there's no denying it: Gallade is as frail as Gardevoir. Its Mega is kind of bulky, with 115 special defense and 95 defense, but the HP stat is never boosted upon Mega-evolving and Gallade's HP is honestly a bit subpar. Thankfully, its base 80 speed becomes 110 when it Mega-evolves and it can dish out damage hard and relatively fast. While Gardevoir usually needs a Timid nature, which ups speed and lowers attack, that is actually a bad nature for Gallade: Jolly or Adamant (both lower special attack, but the former provides an increase in speed and the latter an increase in attack) are usually the natures to go with, as well as a physical moveset, obviously. Aside from STAB moves like Psycho Cut, Zen Headbutt, Close Combat, Drain Punch and Brick Break, it also has a crazy diverse movepool: Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Knock Off (very handy to knock off the opposing Pokémon's item, doing double the damage), Stone Edge, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Sneak, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch and even Dual Chop are all very viable choices on a competitive Gallade's moveset. To top it all off, Gallade learns Swords Dance, which it can use to double its attack stat and perform a late-game sweep.

Wally and his Mega Gallade. 

Don't want to use Mega Gallade? That's fine, because you can use a Choice Scarf or Choice Band set on a regular Gallade, although the latter provides an attack boost rather than a speed boost and both sets lock it into using only one move until it's switched out. A Life Orb would therefore be better, especially because it allows Gallade to use Swords Dance, but Smogon also mentions a Bulk Up set. Bulk Up raises Gallade's attack and defense by one stage each, but its defense is already quite low, so it's not worth the hassle. If you can manage to pull it off, that's fine, but it's not the best way to use Gallade.

At the end of the day, Gardevoir and Gallade give the illusion that they're perfect counterparts, but that is really not the case here. Gardevoir has a 50/50 gender ratio, while Gallade is 100% male, so they're not the damsel in distress and Prince Charming everybody likes them to be. It has to be said that Gallade is a very good physical-based option if you don't need a special attacker, and its Mega is actually really cool; I like how it fits its flavor perfectly. I love everything about Gardevoir, however, while I'm not a big fan of regular Gallade's design. I'm gonna have to rate them separately: Gardevoir gets an easy 5, while Gallade will have to do with 4.5 stars. And that's mainly because of its Mega!

Rating Gardevoir: 5/5

Rating Gallade: 4.5/5

#258 - #260: Mudkip, Marshtomp & Swampert

A part of the July 2014 issue of the Japanese manga magazine
CoroCoro Comic was made into a variation of an old Mudkip
meme. 

Goddamn, Mega Swampert is on steroids, I'm tellin' ya. Look at the motherfucker in the image on the right and tell me it's not swallowing anabolic substances. Mega Swampert looks like a bodybuilder whose muscles and veins are fit to burst, so it might be best for it to quit that synthetic crap. All jokes aside, though, the image on the right is an excerpt from the July 2014 issue of the Japanese manga magazine CoroCoro Comic, in which Mega Sceptile, Mega Diancie and Mega Swampert were revealed for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. It was made into a variation of an old Mudkip meme called "So I herd u liek Mudkipz" (in correct English: "I heard you like Mudkip"), as Mudkip is Swampert's basic stage. The new phrase said, "I herd u liek MURDER", which was due to Mega Swampert's ridiculously bulky appearance. It didn't quite catch on, as the Mudkip meme had died off about two or three years previous, but at least it made me snigger a little. That's mainly because I knew the "So I herd u liek Mudkipz" meme existed, although I never quite understood it. Apparently it originated in 2005 with the DeviantArt group MudKipClub, an account founded as a place for users to share their love for Mudkip and its evolutions by submitting fan art of them. The owner of the community started posting the phrase "So I herd u like Mudkips" ('heard' probably unintentionally misspelled) on other users' comment walls as an invitation to join the MudKipClub community. The phrase catched on and other users started to post variations of it in comment sections on forums of sites like Fark and Reddit. The spelling of 'like' and 'Mudkips' - although it's more common for Pokémon names to stay the same in plural - slowly changed into 'liek' and 'Mudkipz', and by 2009 the latter two dominated as opposed to their 'original' spellings.

An adorable little Mudkip playing in the mud. 

It's curious that, of all Pokémon, Mudkip became a meme. I mean... it's cute and all, but if this "So I herd u liek Mudkipz" thing hadn't become a famous Internet meme, it would easily have been one of the most forgettable starter Pokémon. That's my opinion, anyway, and it's mostly based on the fact that Mudkip is supposed to be an axolotl, an animal that was already the inspiration for the design of Wooper. Mudkip does have some features that could resemble those of axolotls, but its classification as the 'Mud Fish Pokémon' might refer to gilled African lungfish. Additionally, its Japanese name Mizugorou (ミズゴロウ) contains the word mutsugorō and indicates - along with the English name of Mudkip - that this Pokémon is based on a mudskipper, while its German name Hydropi refers to the mudpuppy. It's unsurprising Mudkip keeps being compared to an axolotl though, as all above-mentioned critters have some of the features axolotls have as well. At least they're all a little slippery, I imagine. As far as Pokédex entries go, Mudkip can use the sensitive radar receptors on its headfin to determine changes in air and water currents and that's pretty much all there is to say about it.

Up: someone made a collage of Marshtomp's
disquieting Gen. VI sprite. Just what we needed,
right? Down: HELP, AN INVASION OF
MARSHTOMP! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

Mudkip evolves into what is probably the most awkward middle stage of a starter Pokémon I have ever seen. Marshtomp looks both goofy and creepy, and for the most part I can attribute that to its unsettling eyes in combination with its wide mouth. Have you seen its frickin' Gen. VI sprite??? Swampert has the same eyes, but at least it looks a little more intimidating than Marshtomp, whereas the latter is supposed to be somewhat cute. Except it doesn't look cute to me, and I also don't like its design as a whole. As for its Pokédex entries, none actually stood out. Its has a thin, sticky film enveloping its body that enables it to live on land, but it likes to play in and moves faster through mud than actual water. It looks up mud pools when it becomes weak and dehydrated due to its skin drying out and wants to replenish its fluids. Eh. I'm sure mudskippers are called that way for a goddamn reason. Marshtomp's headfin does resemble a murmillo helmet, a helmet worn by a type of gladiator during the Roman Imperial age, and it might be evidence of Swampert's oncoming destructive abilities (note that Mudkip is already stronger than it looks, as it can smash rocks that are bigger than itself, and Mudkip is a mere 1'04"). Swampert, who can apparently be both bipedal and quadrupedal according to its game sprites, is where all the excitement is. Most of its Pokédex entries elaborate on what Mudkip's entries have told us, like Swampert's ability to sense the most subtle of changes and differences in the sounds of waves and tidal winds and its tremendous strength: it can move boulders weighing more than a ton, is capable of towing a gigantic ship while swimming, and propels through water faster than a jet ski. Swampert's vision is excellent, as it can see perfectly in even the murkiest bodies of water.

This piece of fan art perfectly demonstrates how badass
Swampert is.

Most of Swampert's flavor doesn't follow through in the games, though; it is quite slow, and Muddy Water still has terrible accuracy compared to Surf. Game Freak didn't lie about its power, though, as its base 110 attack stat is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. With base 100 HP and 90 defenses, it even has some considerable bulk behind it. which makes it more than viable as a Relaxed- or Impish-natured support Pokémon with moves like Stealth Rock, Roar and an attacking move or two rather than a powerhouse. Let it hold the Leftovers and it will endure the battle for quite some time. When you run a Careful or Sassy nature (both boost its special defense) you can run a Curse set, which allows Swampert to pump up its attack and defense and annihilate incoming foes. It becomes super fast as Mega Swampert, however, due to its excellent Swift Swim ability. If you set up the rain, this ability will activate and double Mega Swampert's speed stat, allowing it to sweep pretty much everything but grass types with its base 150 attack stat. All it needs is Rain Dance, Waterfall, Earthquake and Ice Punch, although it learns Hammer Arm, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Aqua Tail, Iron Tail and Power-Up Punch if you need any these moves. This Rain Dance strategy doesn't explicitly require a Jolly nature, so you can max out its attack stat by slapping an Adamant nature on it. Take note of this, though: an Impish nature on a regular Swampert doesn't work if you want to use the special-based Scald as support, and due to its speed, an Adamant nature on a regular Swampert is more effective if you want to go the offensive way.

Instead of getting carried away about how awesome Swampert is, I'm giving you a
heap of adorable Mudkipsies, because "I herd u liek Mudkipz". 

Swampert is amazing. I never used it in the days of Ruby and Sapphire, but I have gotten a newfound love for this slimy badass - or, more specifically, its Mega - since I used it a couple of times in Omega Ruby and realized this thing is just as good as the other Hoenn starters. Hoenn is by far not my favorite region and the Hoenn Pokémon aren't really my favorite, but I have to say the starters of this region are the absolute best, no exceptions. This is the first - and only - generation in which I'm giving all of the starters perfect ratings, and I don't regret it.

Rating: 5/5

#255 - #257: Torchic, Combusken & Blaziken

From an incredibly badass plant lizard we move on to... an oversized chicken. An awesome oversized chicken, that is.

Awww, our cute little chickie!

Of course, every oversized chicken starts off as a chick. Torchic is the perfectly adorable starter Pokémon, and like we can expect from a chick it follows its Trainer with an unsteady gait. It keeps a flame somewhere in its belly that causes it to feel warm when it is hugged, which - in combination with its own fluffy coat - will give its Trainer a warm feeling indeed. When Torchic is attacked, it will shoot fireballs with a temperature up to 1,800°F resulting from above-mentioned internal flame. It should be mentioned that Torchic's Japanese name is Achamo (アチャモ), which is derived from the shamo, a breed of chicken once bred and raised for cockfights. As Torchic evolves into Combusken, it gains the fighting type, which set the tone for Game Freak to create Gen. IV and Gen. V fire/fighting starters as well. Maybe they noticed Blaziken's overwhelming popularity and decided to build from there, but by the time Emboar was announced, everybody had come to hate new fire/fighting starters tremendously. I mean, you can pull off the same trick twice in a row, but three times? No. And let's be frank here: a skinny ape and a fat boar aren't quite as impressive as an oversized chicken that beats the crap out of everybody, right? (Yes, I know the phrase 'oversized chicken' has a negative connotation to it, but I don't mean it that way, I swear.)

Pretty cool fan art of Combusken, who seems to be sparring
with Braixen. 

But Torchic and its evolutions are not only based on the shamo chicken. There's a creature in Japanese mythology called the basan - or, alternatively, the basabasa or inuhōō - which is a fowl-like bird that resembles a large chicken and breathes a cold, ghostly fire. The only difference, of course, is that Torchic and its evolutions produce scorching hot flames... Anyway, let's continue with Combusken, a Pokémon that is so engrossed in training every day that its powerful legs can dish out up to ten kicks per second. Combusken is noisy while it fights, producing sharp cries that distract and intimidate its opponent and boost its own confidence and concentration. As a Blaziken, its legs have developed and muscled up so much that it can use techniques Combusken cannot, such as Blaze Kick and High Jump Kick. What's more, its legs are actually so powerful that they allow Blaziken to leap over 30-story buildings. However, not only its kicks are devastating; its punches are also very dangerous, and that's because of the white-hot flames that come out of its wrists, which burn more intensely the tougher the foe is and leave them scorched and blackened. Blaziken even has a Mega evolution, who hones the power of its kicks and even experiences a burning feeling from the friction of the surrounding atmosphere as it unleashes a flurry of savage kicks. As Mega Blaziken's body temperature increases, its power and speed continue to ramp up.

Blaziken as seen in Pokkén Tournament.

In that regard, the Speed Boost ability is quite fitting on (Mega) Blaziken, but when I take a look at its moves I'm surprised it didn't get Reckless. It's an ability that boosts the power of recoil moves by 20%, and moves like High Jump Kick, Brave Bird and Flare Blitz would greatly benefit from it. Speed Boost ain't bad though, and when a hidden ability Blaziken Mega-evolves, it retains that ability. That, in combination with a potential Swords Dance and Blaziken's formidable attacking stats, makes both Blaziken and its Mega form so incredibly powerful that they were bundled off to Smogon's Uber tier. Both can be used as mixed attackers, but they lean more towards a physical moveset, especially when you consider they have easy access to Swords Dance. Blaziken's physical movepool is also extensive to such an extent that a special moveset would be stretching it. I mean, you can run Overheat or Fire Blast instead of - or next to - Flare Blitz, just because the latter deals so much recoil damage to Blaziken, but aside from that a late-game Swords Dance sweep is very much preferable. Just note that you need to let Blaziken carry a Blazikenite when you want to Mega-evolve it, but that a Life Orb or Choice Band would suffice if you don't. And because you're running Speed Boost on Blaziken by default (ain't nobody want to use the Blaze ability; this ability fires up fire-type moves when Blaziken gets below 33% health, but it doesn't have the defenses to make good use of it), you can just slap an Adamant nature on it, no problem. You can even give it the move Protect, so you can get a free speed increase.

Amazing fan art of Mega Blaziken. Yes, the fire 'ribbons' on its wrist are part of
its design. 

Yup, Blaziken is a monster and a fan favorite, and the fact that it got a Mega before Sceptile and Swampert only supports that statement. I always ended up choosing either Treecko or Torchic as my Hoenn starter, just because I thought their final evos were awesome (they still are). Sceptile is still my favorite starter Pokémon ever, but I love Blaziken as well and I certainly think it deserves a perfect rating.

Next up is Swampert. Oh man, you gotta love the Hoenn starters!

Rating: 5/5

#252 - #254: Treecko, Grovyle & Sceptile

Fan art of Treecko (on top of Sceptile), Grovyle (left) and
Sceptile (right).

It's time to enter the Hoenn region, and what better way to do that than to start off with the best starter Pokémon ever? I am, of course, talking about Sceptile. Its pre-evolution Treecko, however, is a feisty little thing. It is a cool, calm and collected Pokémon in dire situations and almost never gets upset, although it is bold enough to hold staredowns with opponents larger than itself. While it is clearly based on the leaf-tailed gecko, a species of lizard that blends in with plant-like appendages, the digits on Treecko's hands and feet have small hooks rather than adhesive toepads and enable it to scale vertical walls with ease. It is even able to predict the next day's weather by sensing humidity with its tail. Grovyle isn't all that interesting; it has stronger muscles than Treecko and is known for its dexterity in the treetops, as it has powerful legs that allow him to leap from branch to branch with astounding agility, which I'm sure Treecko is able to do to some extent as well. The leaves protruding from Grovyle's body are used for camouflage, which is not surprising for a Pokémon that is based off of geckos. And while Bulbapedia states that Grovyle - and Sceptile, for that matter - resembles certain species of dinosaurs appearance-wise, I still consider the whole evolution line lizards, geckos in particular.

This Treecko wants to be a Sceptile so badly that it is dressed
in a Sceptile tracksuit. So adorable.

I mean, there were some feathered bipedal dinosaurs, and the leaves on Grovyle's arms do give it some aesthetic similarities to dromaeosaurus and protarchaeopteryx, but where is the collar-like appendage on Sceptile that the dilophosaur is so well-known for nowadays? Or did Michael Crichton and Jurassic Park's scenarists make it up entirely? I don't think so. No, I'm sticking with leaf-tailed geckos, and you can take that quite literally: Sceptile has a leafed tail that looks like the tree branch of a conifer. Also, its behavior seems to be more plant-like than lizard-like, as it seems to be basking in sunlight to regulate its body temperature. Sceptile also has two rows of yellow nodules on its back, which are described as seeds with nourishing effects and the ability to revitalize trees. This gives Sceptile resemblances to leguminous plants with nitrogen stored in nodes of their roots, while the seeds or seed pods of these legumes contain quite some nutrients, too: well-known examples that can be included in a healthy diet are peas, beans, peanuts, lentils and soybeans. Aesthetically, the rows of nodes on Sceptile's back - especially when it comes to shiny and Mega Sceptile - bear resemblances to seed cones of certain yew trees. And considering the entire Treecko line's relation to trees, this affiliation is not too farfetched.

Official art of Mega Sceptile, which is one of my favorite Megas
to date. The tail is longer than regular Sceptile's and can be fired
at opponents like a missile.

Unfortunately, Sceptile has been nerfed in Gen. IV, making its then signature move Leaf Blade a physical move while Sceptile itself was more of a special attacker. It is still more of a special attacker, but its physical movepool is so much better. Crunch and Dragon Claw were two of its best special-based coverage moves because of their typings, but since the Gen. IV physical/special split they're physical. Furthermore, Sceptile learns Earthquake, Outrage, Iron Tail, Thunder Punch, Drain Punch, Rock Slide, X-Scissor and Brick Break, whereas the best special-based moves it can get are several grass-type moves like Leaf Storm and Energy Ball and two coverage moves in Focus Blast and Dragon Pulse. Dragon-type moves do get a STAB boost upon Mega-evolving, but it's basically adding insult to injury. However, I personally like a physical Sceptile more than a special one, although this is mainly because of its insanely large physical movepool and access to Swords Dance. Like, Mega Sceptile's base attack stat is still a solid 110, so it isn't bad by any means, although its base 145 special attack and ability Lightning Rod (draws in electric-type moves, nullifies them and raises Mega Sceptile's special attack by one stage afterwards) inarguably make it more of a special attacker. And you know what? A special moveset is the most efficient and most utilized moveset on Sceptile, but a Swords Dance set is so much more fun to use, only because of its gigantic physical movepool. And because its base 145 speed is already insane to begin with, you can easily run an Adamant nature instead of a Jolly nature; barring any Pokémon holding a Choice Scarf, it'll outspeed everything anyway.

Ash's Sceptile, with its signature twig.

Sceptile, and especially its Mega form, is my favorite starter Pokémon to date, although I have to say they're gonna be surpassed by Litten and Torracat and whatever their final evolution will be when Pokémon Sun and Moon drop. And I'm not joking this time. Of course, Sceptile will forever be one of my favorite Pokémon, not in the least because Ash owned a Sceptile that showed some serious badassery and personality in the anime. It already came up with and perfected new variations of certain moves when it was still a Treecko or Grovyle, but as a Sceptile it started keeping a twig in its mouth like a banchō, a Japanese juvenile gang leader. This character type was very common in sixties and early seventies manga and anime and it gave Sceptile a little bit more of a mischievous personality, which I loved. By the way, have you seen Sceptile's shiny form? Gorgeous. This factor, and all of the other factors described above, at least result in a perfect rating from me on this blog.

Rating: 5/5

#246 - #248: Larvitar, Pupitar & Tyranitar

Okay, let me confess something here: I don't care for pseudo-legends all that much. Other people would easily give all of them five-star ratings if they would be doing this whole rating thing, but I won't. With the notable exceptions of Metagross and Hydreigon, I don't like pseudos as much as I actually should, and I think the fact that I like Dragonair more than Dragonite is a really good example of that. Don't get me wrong here: I still like Dragonite to some extent, and I'm definitely not going to bash Tyranitar or any of the other pseudos, but you shouldn't expect me to go fanboying over them, either.

Cute little Larvitar holding on to its Substitute plush. 

However, you can't deny that Tyranitar are terrible parents. Its basic form Larvitar is born deep underground, far from its parents, and takes a long time coming to the surface: it will have to eat the surrounding soil before it can see its parents' faces. It will only enter its pupal form - i.e. evolve into Pupitar - upon eating an entire mountain's worth of earth, although in the games it just evolves at level 30. As a Pupitar it becomes trapped in a shell that is so hard that it can even withstand a collision with solid steel, and it has to create a gas inside its body that it compresses and forcefully ejects to propel itself like jet. So it has to fart to move around? That's gross. However, it can move freely inside the shell while its arms and legs are developing, and its thrashing has such destructive power that it can topple a mountain. And Tyranitar? Tyranitar can crush a mountain with one hand. One hand. So... yeah. It has a vicious and insolent nature (see, I told you these things are bad parents!), and it will always be looking for a chance to fight because it knows its thick and rocky hide gives it a good resistance to all forms of attack. It is rarely scared and will never flinch at anything - except at a Serene Grace Air Slash from a Togekiss or a Serene Grace Iron Head from a Jirachi. If it's enraged, Tyranitar will set off outstanding non-STAB Earthquakes (the entire evolutionary line are rock types, but the secondary ground type changes into the dark type when Pupitar evolves into Tyranitar) that can completely change the entire landscape, often forcing cartographers to draw up new maps. So all things summarized, Tyranitar is nothing short of savage.

Pupitar in TCG. 

Now, you'd think that the entire evolutionary line are based on the notorious species of tyrannosaurus rex, but that is not necessarily the case. All of their Japanese names end with the suffix -giras, which may be derived from kirai ('hate') or Gojira and Angiras. Those are the Japanese names of the lizard-like creatures Godzilla and Anguirus, respectively, and are the monsters most often used in old Japanese tokusatsu movies, live-action fantasy or horror films with considerable use of special effects. As Anguirus is based on the ankylosaurus, it is more likely that Godzilla was the inspiration for Larvitar, Pupitar and Tyranitar - or Yogiras (ヨーギラス), Sangiras (サナギラス) and Bangiras (バンギラス) in Japanese. Godzilla itself was designed by combining the tyrannosaur, iguanodon and stegosaur, along with adding some crocodilian features, so we're coming full circle here. And if someone may be wondering what the prefixes of these Pokémon's Japanese names mean: Yogiras is derived from yōji ('baby') and/or yōsei ('larva'), Sangiras contains sanagi ('pupa'), and Bangiras and its foul temper were inspired from yaban ('savage') and/or ban ('barbarian'). That is awfully accurate, I'd say. Additionally, Tyranitar's English name is most likely derived from 'tyrant', referring to its vicious nature, rather than tyrannosaurus rex.

Pretty savage fan art of Mega Tyranitar.

Tyranitar is also a beast in competitive play. Aside from its speed, its base stats are decent to excellent, and it only gets better as Mega Tyranitar. It's not true that there isn't any attack that will leave a scratch on T-tar, but at least Game Freak have shown some consistency by giving it good defenses. Its base 110 defense is already sky-high, but because it's a rock type, its base 100 special defense will even increase by 50% during a sandstorm. And this only applies to regular T-tar. Its Mega has a base stat total of 700, with 164 attack, 150 defense and 120 special defense (before its ability Sand Stream whips up a sandstorm). Holy cow. You'd think it would be impossible to beat Mega T-tar at all, but it is kind of slow and has a whopping seven weaknesses, among which a quadruple one to fighting-type moves, so it has its flaws. There are some useful sets for regular Tyranitar, among which a Jolly Choice Scarf set and an Adamant Choice Band set, both with the Sand Stream ability and staple moves like Crunch, Stone Edge, Pursuit (a 40-power move that does double damage when the foe switches out on the turn it is used) and either Superpower or Earthquake. It can even be used for support, like setting up Stealth Rock and paralyze foes with Thunder Wave, but when using Mega Tyranitar I'd recommend going with a Dragon Dance set. Dragon Dance raises Mega
T-tar's attack and speed by one stage, and when it manages to pull one off, you're in big trouble, because it can finish off your Pokémon with a plethora of STAB and coverage moves.

Regular Tyranitar.

Now, I have another confession to make: I am NOT a fan of Mega Tyranitar. The spikes protruding everywhere from its body and the scales, which are now red instead of blue and enable it to emanate more power because they're seething with energy, only make it overdesigned. The scales do make Mega Tyranitar look more vicious, but they only enhance the notion that there are too many unnecessary additions to its design. So my rating today is for regular Tyranitar, who already looks savage on its own and didn't really need a Mega in the first place. And even though Tyranitar is naturally savage, its blue scales actually give it a somewhat softer look and don't make it look like it's overdesigned. I like Tyranitar more than Dragonite, but it's not one of my favorite Pokémon, so I'll guess it'll have to do with a 4.5-star rating. Which, by the way, isn't bad by any means.

P.S.: There's actually a Smogon Mega T-tar set called 'Indominus Rex', named after the new made-up dinosaur hybrid from Jurassic World. That's just fucking hilarious.

Rating: 4.5/5

#228 - #229: Houndour & Houndoom

(Disclaimer: The following paragraph contains some content from Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon by editor Joseph Tobin. It is an informative book containing a collection of essays by various authors analyzing the popularity of Pokémon by addressing core debates about the globalization of popular culture and children's consumption of mass-produced culture.)

TCG art of Houndour.

There has been public outcry from religious parents against Pokémon since it started to be a thing in 1998; in Japan the craze started two years previous, but the franchise has remained relatively free of criticism in its home country, despite the infamous spree of epileptic seizures that the anime episode "Electric Soldier Porygon" induced in young viewers in 1997. In spite of official approval from the Anglican Church and the Vatican in 2000, religious parents and other church officials continue to believe the subliminal messages found in the cartoon series, movies, games and cards are 'tantamount to training children in the occult'. Those so-called malevolent messages include evolution, occultism, violence as a source of power, sexual perversion, and New Age concepts such as reincarnation (wait, I am genuinely confused right now; 'original' Christians don't believe in reincarnation?) and psychic powers. Critics cite Satanic elements in Pokémon, such as 'inflicting pain through slashing, psychic powers, fits of rage and draining the life force out of on opponent', and according to them, Pokémon is nothing short of 'an epic struggle with Satan for the souls of children and adults'. Some parents go as far as making their children burn their cards and destroy their video games.

OMG, this papercraft Houndoom is amazing!

While I personally believe these cries of disapproval and condemnation are nothing but a pile of horseshit, Game Freak did create two Pokémon based on creatures from the underworld: Houndour and Houndoom, who are obviously based on hellhounds. They also share some traits with regular dog breeds like Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers, and the striped patterns on their backs even make them bear resemblance to the thylacine. While this creature sounds like it's some kind of base liquid, it was actually a marsupial more commonly known as the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger (even though it wasn't feline) - not to be confused with the Tasmanian devil - and is believed to have gone extinct in 1936. There are several tales of different kinds of hellhounds in various kinds of folklores, but it's enough to know that Houndour and Houndoom are based on hellhounds in general. And let's be honest here: some of their aesthetics are noticeably satanic, among which the skull-like crest on Houndour's head, Houndoom's curved horns and Houndoom's arrow-shaped tail. The latter is commonly associated with the devil, who is often depicted with a tail ending in a triangular tip. Even Houndour and Houndoom's Japanese names, Delvil (デルビル) and Hellgar (ヘルガー), are obvious references to Hell and the Devil, while Houndoom's French and German names, Démolosse and Hundemon, contain the words démon and Dämon, respectively. I probably don't have to tell you what the English translation of those words is, right?

This more realistic approach of Houndour and Houndoom is fantastic. There are
some really talented artists on the Internet. 

Unfortunately, Houndour's Pokédex entries are excruciatingly lame. They're nothing more than it showing common pack behavior and teamwork with others of its species. Houndoom's also mention pack behavior, but quite differently: the one Houndoom with its horn raked sharply towards its back serves a leadership role in the pack, and the leader is usually chosen by fighting among themselves. Houndoom's guts contain toxins that it uses to create fire, which is why Houndoom's fire has a foul odor and the wounds and pain inflicted by it will never heal or go away. Other Pokémon shudder in fear and flee when they hear its eerie howls, and people from the past imagined its howls to be the call of the Grim Reaper. Now, that's more like a hellhound!

Mega Houndoom.

Houndoom also proves to be quite the hellhound in the competitive scene: it's supposed to be a speedy special attacker with a Timid nature, a Life Orb attached to it, and a moveset consisting of Nasty Plot and three attacking moves. As Houndoom's movepool is kind of lacking, you're stuck with Dark Pulse and Fire Blast, and probably Sludge Bomb or some type of Hidden Power. Mega Houndoom, however, has a whole different tactic: the Sunny Day/Solar Beam combo. While regular Houndoom doesn't have access to the ability Solar Power - the best ability for it is Flash Fire, which lets it absorb fire-type moves and raises its special attack in the process - Mega Houndoom does, and it uses it with flair. This ability increases Mega Houndoom's special attack when the sun is up at the cost of some HP each turn, and when Sunny Day is in effect, fire-type moves get a 50% boost and Solar Beam doesn't require a turn to charge. It's like a Life Orb, only in the form of an ability. It has proved to be quite effective, although you could just slap Nasty Plot on it and replace Solar Beam with something like Taunt or Will-O-Wisp if you want Houndoom to last longer. By the way, have you noticed how Mega Houndoom's tail now almost looks like the devil's trident? Nice touch. Also, its body is now covered with a bone-like armor and the claws on its paws are red because of its ability to generate more heat.

Houndoom in what looks like the middle of a wildfire.

I have nothing but love for this thing, especially since Game Freak decided to give it an awesome Mega. Those who regularly visit my blog have probably deduced by now that I am an atheist, by the use of variations of the word 'goddammit'. I don't have much with religion in general, and that has much to do with religious people in my environment condemning my lifestyle and saying I should turn my life around (I'm gay), but mostly I just think most of them are hateful, hypocritical and biased and don't want me to play Pokémon. So Pokémon based on creatures from the underworld is my definition of irony, although I think Game Freak didn't create Houndour and Houndoom to intentionally offend Christians - or religious people in general. Of course, the main reason why I love Houndoom and its Mega is because they look awesome, but I figured this would be an excellent moment to voice my opinion about religion. I know I don't seem nice right now, but I have had too many negative experiences with Christians in my own country (lucky for me I live in the Netherlands, one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world). However, believe me when I say I'm very much like Houndour: I bark, but I don't bite.

Rating: 5/5

#214: Heracross

Heracross is ready to fuck up its opponents. 

Everything Game Freak did wrong with Pinsir they did right with Heracross. Pinsir is still a competetent and likeable Pokémon, and I didn't give it a 4.5-star rating for no fucking reason, but let's face it: with its ability to learn a ton of fighting-type moves - including its vast fighting-type level-up movepool - Pinsir should have been fighting in the first place. Heracross is less obviously a fighting type in its design (although its Mega form makes up for that) and doesn't learn as many fighting-type moves as Pinsir does, but it's definitely better than its 'predecessor'. Like Pinsir, Heracross is based on a popular bug species used in insect fighting, namely Japanese rhinoceros beetles, which are known for their incredible strength. Heracross, whose name is derived from Ἡρακλῆς ('Heracles', a demigod of Greek mythology more commonly known by its Roman name Hercules) and 'cross', has a flavor that could be expected from a combative bug: the claws on its feet are strong *blah blah blah* it uses them to dig them into the ground to gain a secure and solid footing *yada yada yada* hurls opponents and competitors for food over great distances with force *wah wah wah* thrusts its prized horn under enemies' bellies and flings them far way *yada yada yada* can lift 100 times its own weight and topple trees *blah blah blah*. No surprises there at all. Heracross feeds on fresh sap from leafy trees, though, and while it's usually a gentle and docile Pokémon, it will chase anyone who disturbs it while feeding on tree sap.

That's a sign of a serious tree sap addiction, if you ask me. I would check into rehab if I were you, Crossy. The sooner the better.

Official Mega Heracross art

In all seriousness, though, Heracross has gotten a nice new tactic in competitive play: a Mega. While I initially thought it was just a weird Mega evolution when it was first revealed, it has gradually grown on me since. Its design actually makes a lot of sense, too. It's already in Heracross's name, but Mega Heracross is based on the Hercules beetle, which is obviously derived from that same Greek demigod I was talking about earlier. The oddest thing about Mega Heracross is that its torso apparently resembles the grille of an air conditioner very much, doesn't it? It also functions as such: when it unleashes its maximum power, its body temperature increases dramatically, so it opens the shells of its arms and torso to let the heat escape. And it does indeed unleash its maximum power, because it has a whopping base attack stat of 185! Only Mega Mewtwo X exceeds that with a base attack stat of 190, but that's a legendary Pokémon and all, and Heracross most definitely isn't. It does lose a little speed upon Mega-evolving, though, so it allows you to not run a speed-boosting nature like Jolly but an attack-boosting nature such as Adamant instead. With a maxed-out attack stat of 260, Mega Heracross hits like a pulp truck crashes into an invisible dome. In other words, it hits HARD. And with the Skill Link ability, which allows moves that randomly hit two to five times to always hit five times, and a few nifty moves that benefit from it (Bullet Seed, Rock Blast and STAB Pin Missile), Mega Heracross is a force to be reckoned with. It can even use Swords Dance to boost its attack stat to utterly ridiculous levels.

It looks like this Heracross is swinging an opponent around. I believe it's Salamence,
but I couldn't be entirely sure. 

But there is also regular Heracross. It doesn't have access to Skill Link like Mega Heracross does, but it has some formidable abilities that it can use instead: Guts gives Heracross a 50% attack boost when it is inflicted by a status condition, which is why you can give it a Toxic Orb or Flame Orb to hold, while its hidden ability Moxie raises its attack by one stage every time it knocks out an opposing Pokémon. The latter works very well with a Choice Band or Life Orb rather than a Toxic Orb or something, as an Orb item only hinders Heracross when it doesn't have Guts. Both sets allow you to run a Jolly nature, but you should shy away from multi-strike moves. Go with moves that will do a massive amount of damage instantly, such as Close Combat, Megahorn, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Knock Off, Facade (only in conjunction with an Orb item) and either Night Slash or Shadow Claw.

3D (or semi-3D?) art of Mega Heracross, to be found in the Furious Fists expansion
of the Trading Card Game. The shells on its arms are open in order to ventilate its
body. 

Yes, Game Freak did a lot of things right with Heracross, and this Pokémon is a huge step forward compared to regular Pinsir - whom Game Freak did fix somewhat with a Mega. And while Mega Heracross is a monster, I'm still not a huge fan of its design. Yes, I know it's supposed to be based on a Hercules beetle, but the openable shells on its arms and torso makes me think like it's some kind of ventilation shaft. And to me, that's not exactly the definition of 'ordinary'. Then again, Pokémon based on magnets (Magnemite and Magneton) or gears (Klink, Klang and Klinklang) are quite out of the ordinary too, but at least their designs and flavor revolve all around that aspect instead of that aspect being just a small part of their designs. Like I said, I've come to appreciate Mega Heracross's design little by little, but for now I can't give it a perfect rating yet. It's a bit weird when you consider I'm giving 5-star ratings to Pokémon like Shuckle, Furret and Unown, but that's just the way it is.

Rating: 4.5/5