#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

I welcome you all to my brand new Pokémon review blog!

July 5th, 2015

Hey guys! My name is Robbin, I'm from the Netherlands, and this is my second blog about Pokémon. While the previous one contained a countdown of my favorite Pokémon of all time (the fact that I made that countdown before X and Y were released explains the lack of Kalos-based Pokémon), this blog should take a hell of a lot more time: I am going to review every single Pokémon in existence! I will do that in chronological order. This means I am going to start off with the Bulbasaur evolution line, continue with the Charmander line, then the Squirtle line, etc., all the way up to the 721th Pokémon, Volcanion.

(Disclaimer: Of course, the 721st Pokémon should now be the 809th Pokémon, Melmetal, but don't forget I wrote this in July of 2015. Volcanion wasn't officially a thing yet, and Sun and Moon wouldn't be announced for at least eight months from then. At the pace I'm reviewing Pokémon right now, I suspect it will be a while before I get around to reviewing the seventh generation, so please bear with me.)

By the way, if I come across a Pokémon with an evolution or pre-evolution that was introduced in a later generation (such as Onix, a Gen. I Pokémon that got an evolution in Gen. II, Steelix), of course I will discuss that Pokémon as well. If I get to the point of 'encountering' that certain Pokémon later on, as a result of reviewing all Pokémon in chronological order, I'll simply skip it. I mean, it's bullshit to not review Onix and Steelix in one post, right? Also, at the end of my review you'll see a rating of the reviewed Pokémon, which can be anything from half a star to five stars. Below is a list of Pokémon that have gotten a perfect rating of 5 stars so far, as well as a list of Pokémon that have gotten a rating of 4.5 stars and are still eligible for a 5-star rating! By contrast, below those is a small list of Pokémon that got 2.5 stars (which is when Pokémon start to get bad) or less, just to show you the Pokémon that I dislike or hate.

Please keep in mind that these reviews are mostly based on my own experiences with those Pokémon, as well as their designs and whether or not I would like to use them in a playthrough once. It is a matter of taste and opinion. And yes, of course I will occasionally provide you with some in-depth information such as competitive use and stuff, but I am a casual player and therefore I am not at home in the competitive scene, although I do have a faint idea which Pokémon are popular and which ones are often ignored. Nobody uses Ariados or Beautifly in competitive battles, but they make for very decent Pokémon to use in a regular playthrough. At least in my opinion.

While I posted one of my favorite Pokémon daily on my previous blog, I won't post a review on this blog every day. Writing takes a bunch of time; time I simply do not have sometimes. There is no schedule that clarifies on which days of the week I will post a review, but I will try to update the blog at least six or seven times a month. That should be achievable, right? By the way, if you see any grammatical mistakes or spelling errors, please feel free to notify me by leaving a comment under the appropriate article/entry and I'll change them immediately. I hate being incorrect and inconsistent. Well then, without any further ado, my first ever review - Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur - should be up tomorrow. Have fun!

Robbin,
a.k.a. The Shiny Luxray



Pokémon that got 4.5 stars (63 so far):

#009: [Mega] Blastoise
#015: [Mega] Beedrill
#024: Arbok
#036: Clefable
#045, #182: Vileplume & Bellossom
#062: Poliwrath
#073: Tentacruel
#094: [Mega] Gengar
#099: Kingler
#115: [Mega] Kangaskhan
#126: Magmar
#127: [Mega] Pinsir
#130: [Mega] Gyarados
#141: Kabutops
#145: Zapdos
#146: Moltres
#150: [Mega] Mewtwo [X/Y]
#160: Feraligatr
#171: Lanturn
#185: Sudowoodo
#205: Forretress
#214: [Mega] Heracross
#217: Ursaring
#225: Delibird
#243: Raikou
#248: [Mega] Tyranitar
#250: Ho-Oh
#262: Mightyena
#267: Beautifly
#272: Ludicolo
#286: Breloom
#303: [Mega] Mawile
#310: [Mega] Manectric
#319: [Mega] Sharpedo
#326: Grumpig
#332: Cacturne
#337: Lunatone
#340: Whiscash
#348: Armaldo
#354: [Mega] Banette
#369: Relicanth
#378: Regice
#383: [Primal] Groudon
#385: Jirachi
#398: Staraptor
#417: Pachirisu
#428: [Mega] Lopunny
#430: Honchkrow
#442: Spiritomb
#445: [Mega] Garchomp
#460: [Mega] Abomasnow
#466: Electivire
#468: Togekiss
#475: [Mega] Gallade
#482: Azelf
#491: Darkrai
#494: Victini
#521: Unfezant
#531: [Mega] Audino
#534: Conkeldurr
#542: Leavanny
#549: Lilligant
#558: Crustle


Pokémon that got 5 stars (79 so far):

#006: [Mega] Charizard [X/Y]
#018: [Mega] Pidgeot
#025: Pikachu
#034: Nidoking
#038: Ninetales
#053: Persian
#055: Golduck
#059: Arcanine
#078: Rapidash
#082: Magneton
#091: Cloyster
#133-#136, #196-#197, #470-#471, #700: Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon & Sylveon
#142: [Mega] Aerodactyl
#144: Articuno
#148: Dragonair
#151: Mew
#154: Meganium
#162: Furret
#176: Togetic
#181: [Mega] Ampharos
#201: Unown
#208: [Mega] Steelix
#210: Granbull
#212: [Mega] Scizor
#213: Shuckle
#227: Skarmory
#229: [Mega] Houndoom
#244: Entei
#245: Suicune
#249: Lugia
#254: [Mega] Sceptile
#257: [Mega] Blaziken
#260: [Mega] Swampert
#282: Gardevoir
#295: Exploud
#306: [Mega] Aggron
#308: [Mega] Medicham
#321: Wailord
#334: [Mega] Altaria
#336: Seviper
#338: Solrock
#342: Crawdaunt
#350: Milotic
#359: [Mega] Absol
#363: Spheal
#376: [Mega] Metagross
#377: Regirock
#382: [Primal] Kyogre
#384: [Mega] Rayquaza
#389: Torterra
#395: Empoleon
#405: Luxray
#409: Rampardos
#414: Mothim
#424: Ambipom
#429: Mismagius
#436-#437: Bronzor & Bronzong
#448: [Mega] Lucario
#452: Drapion
#464: Rhyperior
#472: Gliscor
#479: Rotom
#483: Dialga
#485: Heatran
#487: Giratina
#488: Cresselia
#492: Shaymin
#497: Serperior
#503: Samurott
#508: Stoutland
#510: Liepard
#512: Simisage
#523: Zebstrika
#526: Gigalith
#530: Excadrill
#545: Scolipede
#553: Krookodile
#555: Darmanitan
#561: Sigilyph


Pokémon that got 2.5 stars or fewer (19 so far):

#003: [Mega] Venusaur - 2.5 stars
#051: Dugtrio - 1.5 stars
#122: Mr. Mime - 0.5 star
#132: Ditto - 1.5 stars
#192: Sunflora - 2 stars
#202: Wobbuffet - 2 stars
#206: Dunsparce - 1.5 stars
#211: Qwilfish - 2.5 stars
#279: Pelipper - 0.5 star
#297: Hariyama - 2.5 stars
#327: Spinda - 1 star
#351: Castform - 1.5 stars
#368: Gorebyss - 2 stars
#370: Luvdisc - 1 star
#462: Magnezone - 2.5 stars
#463: Lickilicky - 0.5 star
#467: Magmortar - 2.5 stars
#476: Probopass - 2 stars
#493: Arceus - 2.5 stars