#why is the pre evolution like a weird blob

[sznmjun]

Who designed the gen 9 Pokémon why are they all ugly

[adobe-outdesign]

How do you feel about the pre-evos for the pre-release revealed Gen 9 mons? (Or to put in more simple terms, Charcadet, Tadbulb, Shroodle and Cetoddle)?

Charcadet is more or less what you'd expect from an Armarouge pre-evo. It's small, it's cute, and it's pretty clear how it transitions into its evo. The coal mask is clever and the dark parts of the body give the design good balance and contrast.

Notice, however, that I said it's what you'd expect from an Armarouge evolution. It's very bizarre that it has a split evo, yet the pre-evo so strongly resembles only one of its evolutions. The Gumbi limbs, the color palette, and the shoulder pads are all Armarouge-like, while literally the only Ceruledge element in it is a tiny spec of blue at the top of its fire "ponytail". It would've been easy enough to work some more blue into the design if nothing else, so I don't know why they didn't do so. Not that big of a deal, obviously, just the one main thing that bugs me about it.

I actually like Tadbulb more than Bellibolt. I don't love it or anything, but I feel like it's stronger in concept and overall design than Bellibolt, which felt somewhat unfocused.

The idea of a tadpole that's also a lightbulb is simple but effective for an electric-type. The body shape conveys this well, with the upper body having a distinct light bulb shape and the tail being more tadpole like.

That said, I'm not a big fan of the colors or the markings. It's hard for me to unsee the yellow on the head as hair, and even putting that aside, brown doesn't feel like a good pick for a light bulb; a solid yellow body, or even white, would've worked just as well. The white dots on the yellow are also bothersome; what even are those? I'm also not big on the face, but that's just a personal thing.

So in short, I like the idea and I think Tadbulb has the right idea overall; it's just that the execution could've used a few more rounds of refinement to really work.

For some reason a lot of people seem to be confused by a "mouse" evolving into an aye-aye. To me, it makes perfect sense—as Shroodle's name implies it's a shrew, not a mouse, and shrews are one of only a few venomous mammals. This fits with Grafaiai's poison-typing and poison saliva. And Pokemon have never needed to evolve into the same species as they start out with, so I don't get why people have an issue with this.

What I will say, however, is that I find the change in anatomy jarring. Grafaiai has relatively realistic anatomy with defined limbs and whatnot, so it feels weird to go from that to this shapeless little blob. Stuff like it having no whiskers, nose, or proper limbs make it feel like a completely different Pokemon despite the obvious visual similarities (such as the eyes, colors, "hair", etc.).

And just in terms of isolated design, the "notch" in the black feels strange (mostly because it's hard to unsee it as an ear), and it having pupils feels weird. It's fine enough, but I don't find myself liking it even a fraction as much as Grafaiai.

Finally, Cetoddle is fine; nothing spectacular, but nothing bad. When I first saw it I thought it looked a bit too much like Cetitan, and indeed, it doesn't progress at all in the land whale department. However, the "toddler" elements, such as the uncertain gait and single buck tooth, save it from feeling pointless.

It also has some visual differences; it lacks an underbelly or any gray on the design whatsoever, the mouth is a different shape meant to close around its single tooth perfectly, and the pink covers only the upper eyes instead of the entire outside ring. It also only has one horn and no claws. These changes, combined with the slightly tweaked concept, help it stand out a little against Cetitan. It's still obviously not a groundbreaking pre-evo, but it works for what it is.

So overall: Charcadet is good except for the complete lack of Ceruledge elements to it. Tadbulb has some design issues but is still stronger than Bellibolt, Shroodle doesn't quite fit artstyle-wise with Grafaiai but at least makes conceptual sense, and Cetoddle is perfectly fine and does what it needs to.

[waywardstation]

There are actually very few Pokemon that I actively dislike. (In fact some of the few that I actually do dislike are some of the most popular. >.< ) But of the Pokemon that I quite like but people in general don't seem to... Off the top of my head, the first thing to come to mind is Stunfisk. It's ugly and has not very great stats and I love it! :D It's one of those Pokemon that's just so dumb I can't help but to adore it! I even gave Emmet a Stunfisk in A Pale Reflection because I feel like it's the kind of Pokemon that would be right up his alley! Unpopular and terrible stats, but he'll make it work! (Also Stunfisk genuinely has some potential for Double Battles. For some reason it can learn like... All the moves that effect everyone on the field like Earthquake Discharge etc.)

A lot of people in my past experiences have pointed to gen v to say that Pokemon has run out of ideas and makes bad, uninspired Pokemon. Those people are wrong but eh. What can you do, right? But I like gen v and its Pokemon! I think they're mostly great all around! Because of Emmet and Ingo, I do feel like I need to fight for the Klinklang line! Because at least in the context of Emmet and Ingo, they are incredibly fantastic Pokemon that say so much about their characters and I love them! (I also think that I'm the only one to headcanon that those were their starters and not Litwick and Tynamo because Klink just suit the two of them SO well!) Genesect is my favorite legendary, and I think that people overall are just very meh on it. Garbodor is just a good friend! And people who shit on Garbodor are fools I tell you! FOOLS!

Outside of gen v though... People seem very divided on Klefki. People either HATE Klefki or LOVE Kefki. I'm in the camp that loves it personally! I don't know how people feel about Pyukumuku, but I just wanna squish them very badly. I for one LOVED tossing the Pyukumuku back out to sea in gen vi I want to smoosh the friend. I don't think that people have an opinion on Minior generally speaking but I like it because SPACE! SPAAAAAACE!!! SPACE!!!!!!!! Tropius is a friend I quite enjoy that I don't think people hardly ever talk about. Swalot... I have no idea why but Swalot just makes my brain tingle in joy. Maybe it's the mustache. It's probably the mustache. Swalot may just be very gender to me. I too just want to be a giant purple blob with a mustache. Dunsparce may not be a very good Pokemon. But I enjoy it. It's a friend! And I can't exactly put my finger on why my brain is always so pleased to see Chinchou and Lanturn... Probably just because I like bioluminescence...

But overall... Bug Pokemon. Bug Pokemon are terrible, but I love them. I love them oh so very much! If gen v gave us anything, it gave us fantastic Bug-Types! Every single Bug-Type in gen v SLAPS! (Except Durant. Sorry Durant.) I LOVE Bug-Types! Third favorite type! (Ground is #1, second is Ghost (but everyone loves Ghost. I don't think that there is a single Ghost-type that people don't generally love!) and third is Bug!) I also quite like Normal-Types because I like weird little gimmick Pokemon ideas. Normal is definitely an underrated type with a lot of fun little possibilities. I would definitely like to do a monotype run using just Bug or Normal types some time. >.<

So yes. Pokemon! I like! :D

There are a few popular Pokémon that I’m also not particularly fond of either haha

But! There are several Pokémon you’ve named that I absolutely love!! Klinklang was an immediate favorite of mine when Gen 5 came out; we have so few Pokémon that look like actual machines, and I am always wanting more!!

Tropius is another great Pokémon, so underrated; I keep hoping for a second evolution stage, or even pre-evolution stage for it. I have a sitting cuties of Tropius and I love them.

Chinchou is another favorite of mine because it used to be a favorite of one of my childhood friends (and we’re still friends!), so favorite by proxy haha

But yes!! Love love love all of Gen v’s bug types!!! So many good ones; scolipede’s line is one of my favorites.

Great list of Pokémon favorites here, OP!! Thanks for sharing!

[nochepokes]

The Igglybuff Line

(I am currently very sick with a sore throat. Please excuse any drop in writing quality.)

I mentioned back in the Cleffa Line review that I see the Cleffa and Igglybuff lines as counterparts/parallels to each other, which is further helped by how close to each other they are in the National Dex. I’m not sure how clear this was in the other review, but it’ll be clear here- the Jigglypuff line is by far my least favorite of the two. The designs just aren’t as good and aren’t nearly as charming.

Igglybuff here was the precise reason why this review took so much longer to come out than the other ones I made yesterday (other than that I’m sick). I really don’t like this design, to the point that I outright didn’t want to review it. But, with the exception of one line far in the future that I’m definitely not reviewing for highly personal reasons, I have to do all of them.

Igglybuff reminds me of a Beanie Boo, the newer line of plushies out by the same people that made Beanie Babies, and not in a good way. Don’t get me wrong, I like Beanie Boos on a base level, but Igglybuff has the same sort of expressionless, glassy eyes on a much less interesting body, and it just doesn’t look nice. The weird forehead swirl doesn’t help either.

Ew.

Things get a little better when Igglybuff evolves into Jigglypuff. The design remains fairly simple and fixes a lot of the problems I had with Igglybuff by having ears and a forehead curl like Clefairy’s, but my problem still lies in the eyes. I know, I know, it’s probably to differentiate it more from Clefairy, but unless you’re actually making a Beanie Boo it’s really hard to make big, watery eyes work on a pink-blob design like this.

I don’t hate it, though. Sure as hell better than Igglybuff.

I think we’re witnessing a bit of an exponential curve here. Compared to its pre-evolutions, I actually quite like Wigglytuff. Shocking, I know. The little pink blob’s body elongates and takes on an almost rabbit-like physique with longer ears and feet, and the addition of a white underbelly actually helps quite a lot. The big eyes actually kind of work on this particular design, since they don’t take up such a large chunk of the body this time. Overall I think this is a pretty big improvement on what was established before (and after), and my only complaint is that the forehead curl doesn’t look like it’s attached to the body- but it’s not a very big complaint.

Good job, tuff puffs, you sure have improved.

One more thing, PLEASE look at this picture of Wigglytuff from the anime:

This is lightly cursed and I love it.