Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Favorite Pokemon by Generation : Black & White

Finally, my top ten favorite monsters from the brand new Pokemon generation! Nintendo has been asking various websites to remove images from these games, but there's no real reason it could cause any harm. We'll see how much they care about my seldom-noticed blog.

#1 FAVORITE:


THE GARBAGE BAG (poison) - generation V has many deliberate parallels with memorable Pokémon from generation I, so I hoped they might include some sort of "pollution" monster in homage to Muk and Weezing. They not only did exactly that, but blew them both out of the (polluted) water. I absolutely, positively love every detail of this thing. The screaming garbage-disposal mouth, the fact that it rips out of its own bag-body as it evolves, the amorphous trash arms...it's a work of art, up there with my other favorite sludge beasts, Hedorah and Raremon. I daresay this may even be the first Pokémon to rival my adoration of Gloom.


THE ELECTRIC LAMPREY (electric) - I've wanted to see a leech or lamprey-like Pokémon since the first generation. Anything long and slimy with a sucker for a mouth, really. These guys are not only quite cool-looking lampreys, but are unexpectedly pure electric type, and have the "levitate" ability. They are electrical bloodsucking lampreys that fly instead of swim. How terrifying is that? I like the middle stage and its glassy fish-eyes better than the final stage, but all three are lovable.


THE NINJA SLUG (bug) - this guy takes a little explaining. It starts out as some kind of metallic helmet snail, but if it gets traded to another player in exchange for a new beetle-like Pokémon, the beetle evolves into a knight-like bug, essentially stealing the snail shell, while the snail evolves into a soft, shell-less mollusk wrapped up in cloth like a vengeful ninja. It's likely based on how certain ground beetles are specially adapted to reach into snail shells and prey upon the residents.


THE CENTIPEDE (bug/poison) - there are sadly only three poison-type lines in generation V, but at least all three kick ass. One is the garbage bag, another is a pokeball fungus, and the third is this lovely giant centipede. The wheel-like middle stage might actually be one of my all-time favorite Pokémon designs and I rather wish it were the final form, but the fully evolved centipede is still a great addition to both bug and poison. Plus, it looks a little like a velvet worm as well.


THE FLATFISH/FLOUNDER/SOLE (ground/electric) - one of my favorite, freaky fish is now a suitably freaky pocket monster. This goofy thing has no evolutionary stages, is the first-ever ground/electric type, and lives on desert sand instead of water. Natural prey for flying, electrical lampreys, perhaps?


THE CASKET (ghost) - what can I say, really? It's an egyptian sarcophagus with shadowy hands and a menacing face. It's a great concept for a ghost type and wonderfully designed, plus its official "pokedex" entries are some of the darkest yet; its unevolved form is the first ghost-type ever explicitly stated to be a human ghost, and supposedly weeps as it gazes into the mask of its original face. Holy crap. The evolved form is said to house an actual human body, or een engulf and mummify human beings. HOLY CRAP. The name "Spiritomb" would have been so much more appropriate for this guy than the actual Spiritomb, though, and it's too bad "Sarcophaghoul" has too many letters for a Pokémon name.


THE SKIN SHEDDER (dark/fighting) - you would never guess by looking that this thing is dark/fighting. It also looks positively silly, especially its simplistically drawn face, but that's what makes it so darling. Another appealing part is the fact that it wears the outer skin of its unevolved form like pants and a hoodie. It seems to be themed around some sort of punk-ass street thug.


RANKURUSU (psychic) - many believe this thing's Japanese name is a combination of "rancor" and "homunculus." It's also gone around that it may be based on a water bear or tardigrade, since its theme seems to be enduring elements. All I know is that it's a weird little baby-like monster floating in green ectoplasm, and that's just darling.


THE ELECTRIC SPIDER (electric/bug) - the bug/poison Spinarak and Ariados from the second generation are cool and all, but not particularly arachnoid for "spider" Pokemon, and while these creative new bug/electric "tarantulas" still have the wrong number of legs, they have distinctly spiderlike anatomy, especially in the eyes. These are totally the spiders that fans have been waiting for, and they have as much "cute" factor as coolness.


THE VULTURES (dark/flying) - a dark-type vulture was a common fan concept for years, and they did not disappoint. Since Pokemon usually have more than one theme going for them, these carrion birds are also dressed up caveman-style in what are probably Pokémon and/or human bones!

HONORABLE MENTION


THE ICE CREAM (ice) - Everyone who thinks this is a stupid idea for a Pokémon is a blackened, soulless shell of a person and should feel bad.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Saturn said...

I just KNEW the garbage guy would be number one! As soon as I saw the thing I thought "wow, that thing totally looks like it just crawled out of Mortasheen." AWESOME.

3:03 PM  
Anonymous SaucyLobster said...

You like the garbage pokemon? I don't believe you... I mean you of all people.

A cool fact about desukans prevo is that is was a person and that its mask was its face. It looks at it every so often and cries.

4:08 PM  
Anonymous Brontozaurus said...

When I first saw the ice cream Pokemon, I was like 'What the hell?'. But now I like it because it's just so darn off the wall. A fakemon artist wouldn't dream of it at all. I especially love that it goes from one scoop to a cone to a double cone.

5:59 AM  
Anonymous Erick said...

I also adore Dasutodasu, Shibirudon, Maggyo (who is based on stargazers, btw, fish with eyes on top of their head who bury themselves in mud and can emit electrical shocks. they look awesome: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/135/cache/toxic11-stargazer-fish_13501_600x450.jpg), Desukan, and Denchura. Dasutodasu, Desukan, and Denchura are my favorites appearance wise, but Maggyo deserves special mention for its cry. It sounds like a fart. YES.

3:50 AM  
Anonymous Tarazuma said...

Amazing, all those you listed are part of my (massive) favorite list too! Well, except for the skin shedders and the flatfish, but I still like them for being so original, and being a far cry from the generic cutesy crap from Gen 4.

Gen 5 put the MONSTERS back in Pocket Monsters! I love it so much!

Dasutodasu (the evolved trash monster) is my absolute number one favorite from Gen 5, I'm glad I'm not alone! I knew I could count on the webmaster of Bogleech to appreciate such an awesome, weird, and original design!

Unfortunately, he is pretty horrible in the game. Not that I care too much, since I only use my faves no matter what, but his stats are lousy and his abilities are absolute garbage (no pun intended!)

Also, Deathmas and Deathkan are clearly the soul of a pharaoh, making me love them even more. I mean, I love ancient egypt so much, and Deathkan became an instant favorite purely from seeing a section of it's back sprite during the pre-release pics earlier this year!

The best cries are Dasutodasu and Musharna IMO, since they are the absolute weirdest!

Here's a link to all the cries in 1 vid if you haven't heard them (with download link to the wavs): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkvOCf_vcD8

Also, I'm sort of surprised you didn't at least mention Shanderaa (the ghost chandelier with the tim burton-esque mouth) :P Similar to Deathkan, their evolution line is also surprisingly sinister for Pokemon!

3:33 AM  

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