My Top 15 favorite Pokemon, part 2

So last time out we did the first 8.....now for the last 7 to conclude my top 15 favorite pokemon. Fair warning, I have a hunch anyone who started playing in 2006 or after wont remember any of these :P

#7 Charmeleon

Ok time for some controversy, Charizard is fugly. given that its only 5'7", the thing is basically a fat dragon and not as scary as a dragon should be. Charmeleon on the other hand is freaking awesome. The dark red works so much better for it than the Orange does on its other two evolutionary forms. And even at 3'3" it looks meaner and scarier than Charizard. I'm legit worried this thing might rip my balls off. And hell the anime got it perfect when it came time to have one of Ash's pokemon go rebel.....telling you, Charmeleon was born to look pissed off. In fact, even with the advent of Mega Charizard (x only in my case as I dont own y) I'm still tempted not to evolve my Charmeleon cause I like it so much more than Charizard.

Sidenote by the way, this is the only entry on the list (other than members of an entire family who make the list) to not be a fully evolved pokemon.


#6 Raichu

 So Pikachu is not one of my favorite pokemon. I say that not because its cool to hate on pikachu, as many players do due to his overexposure. I say it because even when there were only 150 I didnt like his design enough to put him in my top 10.

On the other hand, I'm in the constantly growing minority of people who love Raichu. Way the hell back in Red and Blue he was always a member of my party along side my starter......even on the few bulbasaur runs I did where I didnt really need him. Same actually in the remakes.

And can I just mention how freaking mad I was about pokemon yellow. when I first heard of it I was thrilled...I can have a Raichu as my starter?.....then I found out Pikachu never evolves in that game and got massively depressed.  Talk about a slap in the face to a cool pokemon. Or the first slap anyways, cause these days thanks to all the upgrades and exclusives Pikachu has gotten, its arguably better than Raichu. But I dont care, whenever I catch a Pikachu, its getting a Thunderstone. After all its a shame to miss the only thing in existence that makes orange, brown and yellow look good together.  Also, have to say, love the tail....that is how you incorporate a lightening bolt into a pokemon.

This on the other hand, is not

And its stats are nothing to be laughed at either.....sure it has no defense, but with that speed its pretty much always going first and it has a rather wide move pool for an electric type. In fact it boasts 2 different attacks over 100 damage (Thunder and Focus Blast) to hit a whopping 7 types with just those 2 moves. (and those are often a OHKO) Incidentally even Pikachu cant make that claim (no focus blast for him). Add to that that Raichu can paralyze you before you can move and youve actually got a really solid pokemon a lot of the time....albeit one generally forgotten about in favor of its preevolution.

#5 Articuno

Normally, excpet for my first run though, I dont play with legendaries on the team....they tend to make things a bit too easy (even as easy as the normal game is). Articuno is the exception. First i just like the concept, its a giant Ice Bird....seems much more original then the firebirds/phoenixs that all over normal fantasy, and it doesnt invovled using lightening as "link" to air/wind ect.

Second off its a beautiful design, and its only gotten better as the graphics improve in each generation, and lastly as odd as this sounds, its stats kinda suck. Yes it has a lot of them, but as far as being spread out, pretty much all of its stats are average. Consider that Laparas beats it for HP ties it on attack, just as a comparison for a single form pokemon of the same generation. Point is, its stats are ill distributed enough to make me actually want to use it without making the game too easy....and the fact it looks  great and has a unique type (or uniqueish cause Delibird sucks) also help make it really cool.

#4 Granbull

Fair warning, all you people who laughed at male snubbull  looking like he was wearing a pink dress all these years are about to get your asses handed to you when it evolves into this. THAT is what an attack dog looks like.....while the lavander color also lets Granbull have the potential of being really cuddly.

Sadly for years Granbull's average stats and common typing kept it overshadowed and almost never seen...but the modern day has been kind to granbull. Then it woke up in Generation 6 and suddenly discovered it was a fairy.  IE the type completely immune to the Super powerful dragon type.....which also became the secondary type of a lot of Mega Evolved Pokemon....like Charizard, Grachomp and Rayquaza, who, along side regular dragons like Hydreigon or Salamance suddenly found themselves unable to hit this thing with their most powerful attacks.

Oh also, turns out Granbull has the highest Attack stat of all fairy types, making it the best user of the types second most powerful move. Not bad for what till then had been a cool looking after thought.


#3 Volbeat

Holy fuck its John Adams. That really was my first thought upon seeing Volbeat.....and keep in mind this was well before the John Adams mini series so its not like I had Adams on the brain at the time. To this day I still think this thing looks like John Adams. Mostly because it looks fat (adams was nicknamed his rotundity) and that red thing on its head looks like Adams hair.

I mention this cause there is no other way for me to defend why I like this thing and why its my favorite bug type ever (on my team in almost every single R/S/E run I ever did), other than its a pokemon that appears to make an american historical reference (albeit one im sure is accidental) at least to my eyes.  And I know I only like this thing for that reason cause I am massively blah about its female counterpart Illumise

#2 Nidoking

Like most people, I think this is one of the best designed pokemon ever. Its not clear exactly what animal it is....but at the same time its clearly based on an animal or combination of animals (based on its pre evolutions I assume a rabbit and a rhino). One things for sure.....this is one bad ass mother fucker. And its movepool is all kinds of diverse on both physical and special moves and its got decent enough stats to use either. Hell its basic moveset and TM pool lets it hit up to 13 (only 12 of which are set, the 13th can be one of 2 types depending on moves picked) of the 18 types....and it resists 3 of the remaining 5. leaving it only normally damaged or unable to super effectively hit Normal and Ghost/Dark (depending on which of the two was the 13th type yours can hit). Thats insane.

Oh plus its worth noting this beast is available as early as level 16....well in time for the third gym leader in most games it appears in  (assuming you have a moonstone, which you will in RBY and LGFR and possibly SGC SSHG and XY depending on luck).

Now just because it looks sexist to have Nidoking and not its queen, the reasons Nidoqueen isnt on this list are two. First unlike Nidorino Ninorina actually learns a decent attack at level 43 that can not be taught by TM (as nidorino's can) so it might be worth holding off on evolution....making Nidoqueen a much later game arrival, so not as useful throughout the game. And secondly that bra/binki design on Nidoqueens chest just kills me. I honestly hate that, it looks stupid. Had she gotten the single color chest of Nidoking, (even if she had to have breasts) shed have been tied with him here.

#1 Blastoise Evolutionary Line

Here we are my absolute favorite Pokemon ever.....and our second entire family to make this list.

They say you form your strongest connection with the first starter you pick.....not true in my case. Squirtle was my second starter.....but the first I finished the game with.

Now the reason all 3 of them make this list is because I tend to love 1 and like the other 2.....but the one I love fluctuates every few years (Blastoise at the moment).

Still all 3 of these are awesome designs, Squirtle has the whole "cute kid" look, Wartortle is clearly the rebellious teenager of the group and Blastosie is the adult parent......just based on the looks alone even if I didnt know they evolved into each other.

Now look I'll admit I might have started Pokemon with bias in this choice I was a huge ninja turtles fan....and Wartortle looks like he could be on that team.....while Blastoise looks like the the guy the ninja turtles call when they need heavy backup.

Plus unlike Charizard Blastoises stocky build works to its advantage when you realize its only 5'3". It still looks powerful thanks to the stocky build (although the fact it only weights 180 seems a bit unbelievable). To this day, if I could start any pokemon game with any generations starter, I'd likely still pick Blastoise.

By the way, its worth noting that Blastoise is also capable of beating BOTH of its generations starters, as it can learn Ice Beam to drop Venusaur as well as its natural advantage over Charizard. And while Charizard can now make that same claim (due to solar beam) hes only been able to do that since Gen 4. Blastoise had been doing it since Generation 1

Although as much as I love this whole family....its not all roses for them. They do have 1 relative I really dont like

Cause he takes the whole bad ass water cannon thing just one step to far to the point its now stupid........and outside of the re-positioned cannons is basically regular blastosie, so its also a lazy design as well. But except for keeping him away from odd rocks in a place that totally isnt france, Blastoise is awesome.

So there we have it, my 15 favorite pokemon. While I'm not surprised Generation 1 dominated (taking nearly 50% of the spots), I am kinda shocked how well fire types did (with 4) since I generally dont consider my self a fan of the type nor do I particularity feel like my team needs a fire type. Guess thats what happens when you write this stuff down for once....you realize what you really like. I guess in my next game, I might just have to grab me a fire type......