#102 - #103: Exeggcute & Exeggutor

Official Sugimori art of Exeggcute. Ever wondered why the
middle one appears to be so evilly happy? Well, I'll tell you why
that is: IT HAS NO CRACKS IN IT!!!

It seems like someone at Game Freak just couldn't make up their mind.

You know, I have no problem with Pokémon that look like eggs. What I do have a problem with, however, is the inconsistency in the creation of Exeggcute, explicitly referred to as the 'Egg Pokémon'. And to be honest, I understand why, because Exeggcute clearly looks like a bunch of cracked eggs gathered together (apparently, their shells are very durable, so it can survive without spilling the contents), especially since one of the six eggs that form Exeggcute is cracked open entirely and has its yolk exposed. Or is that its brain? Anyway, Exeggcute's Pokédex entries tell a whole other story by saying they're not really eggs. And then they don't. And then they do. And then they don't. Like, WHICH ONE IS IT, GODDAMMIT? Here are some of these incredibly confusing Pokédex entries, so as to give you a clue what the goddamn hell I'm talking about.

Pokédex entry Red/Blue:
"Often mistaken for eggs. When disturbed, they quickly gather and attack in swarms."

Pokédex entry Ruby/Sapphire:
"This Pokémon consists of six eggs that form a closely knit cluster. The six eggs attract each other and spin around. When cracks increasingly appear on the eggs, Exeggcute is close to evolution."

Pokédex entry FireRed:
"Even though it appears to be eggs of some sort, it was discovered to be a life form more like plant seeds."

Pokédex entry Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
"Its six eggs converse using telepathy. They can quickly gather if they become separated."

This is some awesome 'real-life' Exeggcute made out of eggs.
And yes, I'd personally like to see this Pokémon as such. 

You see what's the problem here? These Pokédex entries are clearly contradicting each other. Pokémon X and Y have made it even more confusing, as the former uses the entry from Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, and the latter uses that from FireRed. I know, right? Game Freak, will you just MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MINDS??? Jesus Christ. Well... at least some of Exeggcute's entries explain its secondary psychic typing, a typing it desperately needs as an Exeggutor, but I'll get back to that later. In all respects, it is recommended to let Exeggcute evolve by use of a Leaf Stone ASAP, preferably at level 17. At that level, you'll be able to teach it Bullet Seed and, upon evolution, Psyshock. And as Exeggutor has a very respectable attack stat (its special attack is off the charts, though), Bullet Seed is far from unusable, at least until you get access to a better grass-type move.

Official art of Exeggutor by Ken Sugimori. Each of its heads
has a distinct face and its own character and thinks
independently from each other, which is why its cries are so
noisy. When a head grows too large from exposure to strong
sunlight, it drops off and emits a telepathic call in search of
others to form an Exeggcute cluster.

That's for regular gameplay. In the competitive scene, however, Exeggutor is a great asset in a sun team, mainly because of its ability Chlorophyll, which doubles its mediocre speed stat when the sun is up. This is necessary to make Exeggutor some sort of sweeper, especially since it is naturally slow and has a whopping seven weaknesses, which can easily be exploited. Its hidden ability Harvest would normally be an excellent ability, as it automatically recycles a used Berry, but Exeggutor actually needs the speed boost here. I'd go with a Modest-natured Exeggutor, though a Timid one will suffice as well. The latter can be used for a little extra speed at the cost of some offensive presence, but either will be fine with Choice Specs or a Life Orb attached to it. And if you give Exeggutor Leaf Storm (be cautious with this move, it lowers Exeggutor's special attack stat by two stages after one use), Giga Drain (for more reliability), either Psychic or Psyshock (the latter might come in handy to check specially bulky Pokémon, as this move hits for physical damage but uses Exeggutor's special attack stat) and a fire- or ground-type Hidden Power (to check steel and/or poison types), you'll be A-OK.

At any rate, I actually like these Pokémon. In fact, I am currently doing a grass monotype playthrough on Pokémon Y (yeah, I like being weird) and one of the Pokémon I'm using is Exeggutor. I regret nothing, because its typing is extremely useful and it is easily the strongest Pokémon on my team. Yes, I do admit that 'The Walking Jungle' (even though it is just a single coconut tree) is a weird Pokémon, but weird isn't always a bad thing. That's why I'm giving Exeggutor a well-deserved 4-star rating.

Rating: 4/5

#69 - #71: Bellsprout, Weepinbell & Victreebel

TCG art of Bellsprout.

I was going to make a joke about how Bellsprout's Pokédex number fits it perfectly, but on second thought I think that would have been highly inappropriate.

Shit, I did it, didn't I?

But all joking aside, Bellsprout's only distinctive trait is that it is based off of carnivorous pitcher plants, which is not an uninteresting thing to work with. To find anything interesting, however, we should take a look at its evolutions, Weepinbell and Victreebel, because all Bellsprout can do is prey on bugs and stick its root-like feet in the ground to absorb water and be stuck there. Even Weepinbell behaves much like a real-life pitcher plant does: it camouflages itself to await its prey, sprays pollen to paralyze them, and melts them with its internal acids, which it neutralizes to prevent its own acid fluids from melting its own body. When its victims don't fit in its gigantic mouth, it slices them up with the razor-sharp leaves it has for hands. That is kinda gross, but I'm starting to get a little disappointed there. It looks like Bellsprout and Weepinbell are just alternatives to Oddish and Gloom, and worse ones at that, too.

Dumb-looking Weepinbell

So, is Victreebel any better? A little. It is less clumsy than Weepinbell, who hangs from the stem of a tree while it is asleep, often letting itself fall and finding itself on the ground when it awakens. Good job there, Weepy. Victreebel's long vine (or whip, if you will) is used to mimic animals in order to attract prey, along with a sweet scent it produces, and an acid that has dissolved numerous victims and becomes even sweeter and more effective at attracting prey (mostly small birds and rodents, which Victreebel hoards). This acid even devours the hardest things it swallows. The most interesting thing is that groups of Victreebel often go out to collect Leaf Stones to help Weepinbell to become more Victreebel during nocturnal evolution rituals. The more Victreebel, the better, I assume.

Except for Pidgey and Rattata, that is.

So its classification as the 'Flycatcher Pokémon', which also applies to Weepinbell, is not strictly true. Real-life pitcher plants often lure just insects, though, so I'll let Game Freak have that one. What I'll also let them have is the misspelling of 'bell' in Victreebel, because the game script only allowed them to use a maximum of 10 characters for each name and item when the Pokémon franchise was just getting started. What I won't let them have, however, is Bellsprout's classification as the 'Flower Pokémon'. It's a bud, not a full-grown flower. Come to think of it, I don't even think I can consider Weepinbell and Victreebel flowers; I'd rather see them as plants. To make it simple, it would have been much more appropriate to make Bellsprout a flycatcher Pokémon as well, but why go the easy way when you can make it as difficult as possible? Right, Game Freak?

Fan art of a dangerous-looking Victreebel.

Well, off to a more pressing matter: how does Victreebel stand out as a battler? Honestly, it sucks. Or rather: I think it sucks. Okay, I'll admit it has some very good attacking stats, with its base attack being a little higher (105) than its base special attack (100). The thing is that Victreebel can't do anything with them for too long, because it is frail and relatively slow. Its ability Chlorophyll doubles its speed in harsh sunlight, so that is the situation you want it in. In the process of setting up the sun, though, it might well have to take a hit first and that is not what you want. Instead, let another Pokémon set up the sun and switch in to a Modest-natured Life Orb Victreebel when the time is right. Victreebel doesn't have many moves to sweep with while the sun is up, but Solar Beam is a good idea; that move normally requires a turn to charge up first, but not in the sun. Sludge Bomb is another STAB move for it, while Weather Ball (through breeding) has the effect to change types during certain weather conditions, changing into fire in harsh sunlight. Sleep Powder (do I need to explain what it does?) or Growth (raises the attack and special attack stats by two stages each while the sun is up; otherwise, this move just raises these stats by one stage each) might be a good idea, but pass on Synthesis; the moment Victreebel has healed up, it'll get an opponent's move in its face. If you're so adamant about having a healing move in its moveset, then drop Sludge Bomb for Giga Drain, which does a great amount of damage and heals 1/3 the damage dealt to the opponent.

This fan-art Victreebel looks more interesting than
the original, and it also looks more like a real-life
pitcher plant to me. The Venonat on the edge of
Victreebel's mouth is about to meet its maker, tho.

Also, the games fail to maintain Victreebel's flavor. Despite its huge whip, it can only learn Power Whip (which is its only good physical attacking move, mind you) and Acid Spray through breeding, while moves like Acid and Gastro Acid are only available through its pre-evolutions. Well, at least that is something, isn't it? It learns such few useful and available moves for a normal playthrough as well, in which setting up the sun is a bit unnecessary and thus it has to rely on some other status moves or perhaps more STAB moves instead. I feel like Game Freak could have done so much more with this whole pitcher plant thing, but Victreebel turns out to be a worse alternative to Vileplume altogether, who could pull off at least the poison part better than Victreebel. Even though Vileplume's ability Chlorophyll contradicts its flavor a little, as it is usually a nocturnal Pokémon, it is still better. It can fight and set up on its own and it is capable of taking a hit, while Victreebel is too frail to set up first and needs another teammate to summon the sun for it instead. It is such a shame I have to be so negative about Victreebel, because I really don't hate this thing; not by a long shot. Carnivorous plants are an original topic to work with, and its flavor text is actually quite interesting (well, more interesting than Bellsprout and Weepinbell's), but it's a pity the games don't really show that it can be a good Pokémon by changing its movepool around a little. For now, I won't use this Pokémon, but its design, characteristics and role in the anime series (who could forget James's Victreebel, who would try to swallow James out of affection for him every time it is sent out of its Poké Ball?) save it from getting a poor rating.

Rating: 3.5/5

#46 - #47: Paras & Parasect

Newer official art of Paras.

Have you actually ever run into a Paras with pink mushrooms on its back and gotten totally ecstatic because you thought you had encountered a shiny Paras, only to find out that a regular Paras' mushrooms are actually pink; and NOT red, as I thought myself?

No? Lucky you.

Seriously though, apparently I just can't seem to remember certain Pokémon's color schemes. Paras is a perfect example of such a Pokémon. The worst part is that the mushrooms of a shiny Paras are actually pink as well; Paras is just a darker shade of orange in its shiny form. And if I remember correctly, Paras' mushrooms were RED prior to X and Y, even in the anime and its older official art... Or have its mushrooms always been pink in its official art? Well, it's whatever; I'm only confusing myself now. I should ask myself whether Paras is actually worth fussing over, and the answer is a firm 'NO'! There is nothing interesting about Paras itself, not even the parasitic mushrooms called tochukaso that are growing on its back and exert some command over Paras' actions. That is to say, these mushrooms only get interesting when Paras evolves into Parasect, when the host is drained of its nutrients and energy and the two tiny tochukaso become one big mushroom that has full control over Parasect. In short, Parasect is a zombie.

Those big, creepy, glassy, milky-white eyes, though...

Adorable mommy Parasect with her cute little baby Paras on
her back. 

You'd almost think that I don't like Parasect, but that is not exactly true. I just think Parasect is a tad bit underwhelming in battle. It is by no means a good competitive battler, as its defensive stats are only somewhat decent (but nothing to write home about); and while its attack is actually quite good, it has nothing to back it up with, like a good HP or speed stat or even better defenses. Not to mention that this thing has quadruple weaknesses to both flying- and fire-type moves, very common types in the game. Parasect serves a better purpose when it is used in-game, and with that I mean a playthrough of the main storyline. Like I said, its attack is actually a solid base 95, but the problem is that Parasect's movepool isn't all that great when it comes to diversity. It's staple move is X-Scissor, which you should deinitely teach it. However, while it is capable of learning grass-type moves, its secondary typing, they're all special-based and you'll find them doing less damage than you wish they would, especially due to Parasect's very medicore special attack stat. You don't even get access to Seed Bomb until after you've finished the Delta Episode in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. At least teach it Giga Drain though, as this move let Parasect heal itself while doing damage to its opponent, and fill in its other moveslots with Swords Dance and either Brick Break or Cross Poison.

When it comes down to it, I'll use Parasect. But only if I have to, 'cause I have no plans on using this thing anytime soon. The whole creepy parasite/zombie thing is quite interesting, if I'm being honest, so I'll give it an extra star for its flavor.

Rating: 3/5

#43 - #45, #182: Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume & Bellossom

Oddish (up) and Gloom (below) in the
anime series.

This is a special entry in the sense that Gloom is actually the first Pokémon in the Pokédex that is capable of split evolution.

Well, okay... Eevee was the first Pokémon ever to be capable of evolving into multiple Pokémon, being the only Pokémon in Red, Blue and Yellow who could do that, but Gen. II saw the addition of multiple split evolutions and the basic or middle-stage Pokémon capable of evolving into said Gen. II Pokémon (Gloom into Bellossom, Poliwhirl into Politoed, and Slowpoke into Slowking) all come before Eevee in the Pokédex. Tyrogue, a baby Pokémon introduced in Gold and Silver as well, evolves into either Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee or Hitmontop, and the first two of those are to be found a bit earlier in the Pokédex than Eevee, too. Gloom just happens to be the first one. Its pre-evolution, Oddish, seems rather uneventful at first sight, but there are some things about its flavor that is actually quite interesting. Firstly, Oddish is based on a mandrake, a plant that shrieks when you pull it out, killing everyone that is within earshot. Well, at least in folklore. And, you guessed it, Oddish screams when it is pulled out of the soil it hides in. Second, Oddish is the only Pokémon known to have a scientific name: oddium wanderus, referring to its habit of wandering around at night. Lastly, Oddish is a nocturnal Pokémon and buries its sensitive body in the ground during the day to avoid sun and predators. It only starts moving at night, when its leaves start absorbing moonlight, which it uses to grow. It is for this reason that Oddish naturally learns the strong fairy-type move Moonblast (which it has been capable of as of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire), which Gloom, Vileplume and Bellossom cannot learn by level-up at all. They can learn Dazzling Gleam, which hits multiple opponents, but this move isn't near as strong as Moonblast is.

Official Sugimori art of Vileplume.

Vileplume, the grass/poison-type Pokémon Gloom can evolve into by means of using a Leaf Stone, greatly benefits from the lone move that Oddish can learn and that is unavailable to its evolutions otherwise. Quite some Pokémon from the first to the fifth generations have received a small boost in one of their stats, and Vileplume is no different: its special attack stat has actually been raised by 10 base points, from a nothing-to-sneeze-at base special attack of 100 to an even better special attack of 110. While it's in the NU (never used) tier competitive-wise, it's actually a great Pokémon to use, not in the least because of its hidden ability: Effect Spore, which has a chance to paralyze or poison the foe or put the foe to sleep when it makes contact with Vileplume, works great in conjunction with status-inducing moves like Sludge Bomb. With a final moveset of Sludge Bomb, Moonblast, and Giga Drain and Moonlight for reliable recovery (Giga Drain even deals some serious damage to the opponent, too) you actually have a great offensive Vileplume to rock out with. Vileplume has decent defenses as well, so if you invest in those instead of its special attack, you might even be able to stall or have a higher chance of inducing status ailments. Especially when you ditch Moonblast for a move like Sleep Powder.

Old official Sugimori art of Bellossom. Maybe its skin
color causes controversy (as was the case with Jynx),
because now its skin has a green color rather than blue.

Bellossom, on the other hand, has a quite different flavor than Oddish, Gloom and Vileplume. While those Pokémon are predominantly nocturnal and toxic (especially Gloom, who secretes a sticky drool-like nectar from its mouth to attract prey and releases a foul fragrance from the petal on its head that can be smelled from a mile away, and Vileplume, who shakes or burst its petals into bloom to create highly allergenic and toxic pollen with which it paralyzes its prey), Bellossom is actually a happy Pokémon that is often seen dancing and chanting. It dances when cloudy weather persists (as a ritual to summon the sun), or when the period of heavy rainfall ends and it is drawn out by the warm sunlight. That's not strange, regarding the fact that Gloom actually evolves into Bellossom when it is exposed to a Sun Stone. Considering the fact that Bellossom is such a happy Pokémon, almost resembling a hula dancer, it is not illogical that Gloom loses its poison typing when it evolves into Bellossom. I feel like Bellossom should have gotten fairy as its secondary typing, however, as this type wouldn't fit it badly at all. That way, Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam would have been STAB moves that would have hit harder than Vileplume's Moonblast attacks. Bellossom is more defensive than it is offensive, though, so investments in its defenses might have more effect than investments in an offensive Bellossom. A moveset that consists of Sleep Powder, Giga Drain, Sunny Day, and either Synthesis or Moonlight is an excellent moveset to ensure its durability. Sunny Day activates Bellossom's ability Chlorophyll, which doubles its speed in harsh sunlight, while both Moonlight and Synthesis heal 75% of its health while the sun is still up.

The entire Oddish family: Oddish (left), Gloom (right), Vileplume (middle), and
Bellossom (on top of Vileplume's petals). 

At the end of the day, both Vileplume and Bellossom make for interesting flower Pokémon. The former is even based on rafflesia arnoldii, a large flower that looks and smells like decaying flesh and generates heat to match the radiating warmth of an animal carcass. Ew. Both Pokémon have their uses, although I've always liked Vileplume a little bit more than Bellossom. That is just my personal taste though, and if I'd had to rate the entire Oddish family as a whole, I would whole-heartedly grant them a more-than-decent 4.5-star rating! And yes, usually my ratings are mostly (but not entirely) based on the final evolution in an evolution line, and this not really an exception, but in this case I should take Oddish and Gloom's flavor into consideration as well!

Rating: 4.5/5

#1 - #3: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur & Venusaur

Old official art of Bulbasaur, drawn by Ken Sugimori.

Awww, Venusaur. Poor thing. You did nothing to deserve my dislike towards you, except... well, exist.

Alright, I'll grant you, Bulbasaur is likeable enough and Ivysaur isn't all that bad either, at least design-wise. But I don't like Venusaur. Like, at all. Never have, in fact, and up to this day I have never chosen Bulbasaur as my starter once, let alone that I have ever used Venusaur in a playthrough or in the competitive scene, period. Like many other players, Charizard and Blastoise were more to my liking and so I always ended up choosing either Charmander or Squirtle instead of Bulbasaur. Compared to a fire-breathing lizard/dragon and a giant-ass turtle with friggin' cannons on its back, a weird flower dinosaur/reptile thing appears to be a lot less awesome. Now, don't get me wrong; Charizard and Blastoise have never belonged to my list of favorite Pokémon, but I like them well enough. And as they both got amazing Mega evolutions in the Nintendo 3DS games X and Y (Charizard even got two, one of which gains the dragon typing upon Mega-evolving instead of its regular flying type), Gen. VI was not kind to Venusaur in the slightest. If anything, its Mega has become even weirder than its normal form, getting an entire jungle on its back, as well as two unluckily placed flowers on its head and... yeah, its ass.

Butt flowers. Are you fucking kidding me, Game Freak?

Well, at least its farts should smell good, ha ha ha.

Anyway.

Fan art of Ivysaur.

So, as I grew up I came to realize that Venusaur wasn't all that great of a Pokémon to use. When I was little, I didn't know that attack, defense, special attack and special defense were based on typings and not on moves. With its decent special attack stat, grass moves hit hard, but all of the other moves it could learn (Hyper Beam, and later on Earthquake and Sludge Bomb in Game Boy Advance games Ruby and Sapphire) were all physical moves that could better be taught to Pokémon that are able to make better use of them because of their superior attack stats. Solar Beam was literally its best move and the only move worth mentioning, but Sunny Day wasn't around in Gen. I yet, so Venusaur was stuck with charging its move every other turn. Even after the physical/special split in Gen. IV (with which I was incredibly happy, I'll tell you that much), Venusaur hasn't been incredible either. If you want a physical Venusaur so badly (Mega Venusaur has a base attack stat of 100, so it wouldn't be that terrible), you might want to go with Earthquake, Outrage and Petal Blizzard, even though Venusaur doesn't learn any physical-based poison-type moves. It's better to make use of its superior special attack and its grass/poison typing and go with a special-based Venusaur instead. You can teach it either Petal Dance or Giga Drain (or both if you want the strength of Petal Dance and the reliability of Giga Drain), Sludge Bomb, and a move or two to annoy the opponent, such as Synthesis and Leech Seed. Venusaur is defensive enough to pull off the tank tactic, and it's the most common way it's used in competitive, anyway. Hyper Beam, which was broken as fuck in Game Boy games Red and Blue, is best to be avoided these days, as Venusaur doesn't benefit from that move at all.

Official Ken Sugimori art of regular Venusaur (left) and Mega Venusaur (right). 

While this Pokémon lacks diversity in its movepool, it definitely has its uses if you know what you're doing, and there are certainly people who do like Venusaur - people who can find ways to make excellent use of it. But at the end of the day, my dislike for Venusaur has only grown over the years, and X and Y made that even worse by giving it a close-to-horrid Mega evolution design-wise. To make things worse, its Pokédex entries throughout the games (or its flavor or characteristics, as I like to call them) aren't anything special; they're what most real-life plants do as well. This Pokémon is, and will always be, one of those Pokémon I won't ever use in any way possible, just because it doesn't appeal to me personally. I don't hate Venusaur, let that be clear, but I don't like it. Especially now that there are so many other starter Pokémon to choose from (and we're still counting, mind you), the chances that I'll grow affective towards Venusaur are practically zero. Plus, I don't see myself starting to develop 'feelings' for it in general; I've disliked Venusaur way too much for way too long for that.

Rating: 2.5/5