#13 - #15 - Weedle, Kakuna & Beedrill

The Weedle evolution line: Weedle (bottom left),
Kakuna (bottom right) and Beedrill (middle).

Little Weedle is one of the two original Gen. I catterpillar Pokémon, the other one being Caterpie. Fortunately for Weedle, it is not quite as uneventful as Caterpie is, although it is a close call. The only thing that distinguishes Weedle from its counterpart is that it's also part poison type, meaning that it is able to poison its foes. That led to some seriously irritating battles early on in the Red and Blue games, especially if you didn't have any Antidotes at the ready. Weedle and its first-stage evolution Kakuna definitely look more interesting than Caterpie and its first-stage evolution Metapod; the former because of the intimidating horn on its head, the latter because it looks intimidating overall. You might have noticed the little claws that Kakuna has tucked in (they extend from its body a little in its Red/Blue sprite), a feature Metapod certainly does not have. Then again, it wouldn't have fit Caterpie and Metapod if they had such things, as they are supposed to be the pre-evolutions of a butterfly, whereas Kakuna evolves into... a bee. Which looks more like a paper wasp, if I have to be honest. Not only that: Kakuna also becomes scorching hot to touch as it is busy preparing for its coming evolution, and it is still capable of poisoning predators with its stingers. Yes, the Beedrill line has always appealed more to me than the Butterfree line has, I won't deny that, but it is not to be ignored that both Pokémon sucked ass back in the days of Red and Blue. Butterfree because it didn't have beneficial typings (Butterfree is special-based, and bug and flying were both physical-based types before the physical/special split in Diamond and Pearl) and Beedrill because it didn't have any good moves, not even of its own types, and because its defenses were absolutely booty.

Official art for Mega Beedrill.

Of course, this has all changed in the course of time, but Beedrill has one advantage over Butterfree: it got a Mega evolution last year. Yes indeed, Mega Beedrill became a thing with the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, even though it isn't available before defeating Groudon or Kyogre; at that point you probably already have a full roster of six Pokémon (although it's possible, as you are able to obtain the Beedrillite before entering the Cave of Origin). This Mega has definitely made Beedrill a whole lot better, having gained a boost of 60 in its attack stat and 70 in its speed stat, bringing the total up to 150 and 145, respectively. It has had to give up 30 of its special attack though, but he never needed that stat anyway. Not only is Beedrill now a physical sweeper because of its stat boosts, it also has a shiny new ability to boast about: Adaptability, which increases moves of its own types even further. Due to these changes, Beedrill is now often used in the competitive scene, with movesets containing moves such as Poison Jab, Drill Run, Knock Off, Brick Break, Swords Dance (if you're feeling lucky; Mega Beedrill is still quite frail, as its defenses haven't gotten a boost at all) and your regular bug-type moves like X-Scissor, U-Turn, and even Pin Missile for breaking Substitutes at the first hit and continuing on attacking for some moderate damage.

It is quite clear that Mega Beedrill is made for the competitive scene. And quite honestly, it needed the boost. Beedrill already appealed more to me than Butterfree, but it has started to appeal to me even more now that it has a Mega (a very poisonous one at that, as the poison from its limbs works instantly, while the poison from its 'tail' is slow-acting), which I admit is not really fair towards the likes of Butterfree. I'm sorry, my sweet little butterfly, but this vicious bee wins this round...

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