Top 50 Pokémon: Rainbow Rocket blasts off again!

[Kirin]

i gotta know, what type is the iPad?

The boring answer is "cannot be used in battle, therefor irrelevant" - which also applies to Rotom Bike, Rotom Drone, Rotom Phone, and Rotom Information Terminal, half of which I just learned existed.

 

[JBear]

yrrucS ooT

 

[Torzelbaum]

Rotom is truly a mon for all seasons.

...

OK, it's not so much all seasons as all parts of your house.

 

[RT-55J]

"cannot be used in battle, therefor irrelevant"

Fine, I guess I'm forced to headcanon it:

Rotom Bike

Ground

Rotom Drone

Flying

Rotom Phone

Bug

Rotom Information Terminal

Psychic

Also, apparently this Pokemon might have been based on Pulseman? Very based (on Pulseman) if true.

 

[Falselogic]

Wait is Mogri doing this or is Kirin?

 

[JBear]

Yes!

 

[Kirin]

Indeed. Mogri is leading with me helping out (I’m doing all the GO commentary plus we collaborated on plotting and such), but also he’s out of town for a few days this week so I took over posting for a bit.

 

[Mogri]

44th (tie)
#632 Durant
Iron Ant Pokémon
Bug / Steel
First Discovered: Unova Region (Gen V, Black/White)

Score: 59 - Votes: 2 - Highest vote: 6th (Mogri)​

They attack in groups, covering themselves in steel armor to protect themselves from Heatmor.

Maxie’s got some moxie including two Bug/Steel Pokémon on his team. Compared to Scizor, Durant is weaker, frailer, and much faster. However, Scizor’s Technician-boosted Bullet Punch compensates for the speed difference against anything that doesn’t resist Steel. So what does Durant bring to the table? One answer is First Impression, a strong, priority Bug-type move that can only be used on Durant’s first turn after switching in. Durant also gets access to Rock Slide, always a great move. After that, it’s hard to give this a good answer, since Durant’s next best feature is the Hustle ability, which makes physical moves much stronger but gives them a 20% chance to miss. If Durant gets a free turn to use Hone Claws, it can boost its Attack and accuracy to cover for that miss chance, but Durant’s paper-thin Sp. Defense makes a free turn hard to come by.

Is Maxie plotting to start up Team Bug or something?

So Durant here isn’t particularly useful for much of anything in GO, but it is our first example of a Regional pokemon! I understand that in, uh, various countries over here in the Pokemon world, certain species are exclusive to, like, which “version” of reality you happen to be living in? But you can somehow trade with trainers in the other reality? I really don’t know how that works metaphysically, but we only know about one version of Earth, so our regionals are just geographically exclusive. ANYWAY. Durant here and its rival/counterpart Heatmor are one of a set of hemisphere-ish splits, with one found in the Americas and Africa, and the other in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. In this case, though, they’ve swapped places a few times since their debut, so everyone’s had a chance to catch some for their ‘dex.

I love that they gave this thing Truant as its hidden ability, presumably just for the pun.

 

[Mogri]

I've backfilled the "First Discovered" into our earlier entries. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Beta Metroid]

Most of my picks weren't really based on any gameplay mechanics, but Scizor's a bit of an exception to that. Scyther is up there with my absolute favorite Pokemon in terms of character design, outdone only by my favorite starter. However, it is quite notoriously a bit of a mess to actually use (only available late game, have to deal with Safari Zone mechanics, version-exclusive, lousy typing, and lousy movepool). I appreciate the elegance with which Scizor turned that into a force to be reckoned with, simply by reallocating the same stat totals and swapping out Flying for Steel.

But while Scizor is very cool looking in its own right, it isn't QUITE as cool as Scyther. This is a humbling reminder that flaws are part of life, and just adds to the beautiful imperfection that is this Pokemon family.

(Mega Scizor and Kleavor just don't appeal to me much).

 

[JBear]

For when you really need to ruin a picnic.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[pudik]

great basketball player too

 

[conchobhar]

I love that they gave this thing Truant as its hidden ability, presumably just for the pun.

Durant lends itself to a lot of puns. I named one DurantDurant; a friend named one Kevin.

 

[Falselogic]

I don't think I've ever even SEEN Durant?! Is it restricted to just Black/White? I think that is the only game I never played.

 

[Daikaiju]

I don't think I've ever even SEEN Durant?! Is it restricted to just Black/White? I think that is the only game I never played.

I see it a lot in GO. One was near my office this morning.


Still there. Huh.

 

[conchobhar]

I don't think I've ever even SEEN Durant?! Is it restricted to just Black/White? I think that is the only game I never played.

It's a little obscure. It was in X/Y but only in the post-campaign areas, then it missed Sun/Moon. It's a mid-game mon in Sword/Shield, though.

 

[Falselogic]

Huh, just finished watching the child beat Shield and I don't think he ever ran into it. He wasn't big on collecting them all though...

 

[Kirin]

42nd (tie)
#129 Magikarp
Fish Pokémon
Water
First Discovered: Kanto Region (Gen I, Red/Green/Blue)

Score: 60 - Votes: 2 - Highest vote: 1st (Johnny Unusual)​

An underpowered, pathetic Pokémon. It may jump high on rare occasions, but never more than seven feet.

A Magikarp living for many years can leap a mountain using Splash. The move remains useless, though.

Is Magikarp truly “the most weak and pathetic Pokémon in the world,” as another Pokédex entry suggests? Well, it’s a close contest: Feebas has the same stats but a much more useful ability; Cosmog has comparable stats and learns only Splash and Teleport; and many Pokémon have a lower stat total. Even in its native Kanto, Magikarp can boast better numbers than Weedle and Caterpie, although Magikarp’s statistical superiority is solely due to its semi-respectable Speed. So where does Magikarp find its place in the competitive scene? Well, you may be surprised to learn that Nicholas Bingham nearly took the 2016 Australian Nationals with a team that included Magikarp, and 2016 was an incredibly high-power format that included Primal Groudon and Kyogre, Dark Void Smeargle, Geomancy Xerneas, and Mega evolutions for Kangaskhan, Mawile, Gengar, and Salamence. “What part did Magikarp play in this,” you ask? I can’t find any evidence that Nicholas ever fielded Magikarp, but I’m sure he had an excellent plan for the Fish Pokémon, even if he only included it because he lost a bet.

He’s planning to humiliate his opponent. Spectacular!

Magikarp was the first example in GO of a species that takes 400 candies to evolve rather than the usual 25-100, so obtaining enough to acquire it’s high-powered evolution Gyarados was a long-term goal in the early days. But yeah, on its own, it’s useless here too. That one GO Rocket grunt with a team of three Shadow Magikarp is pretty funny, though.

You drag this useless pokemon around for most of the game and you have to have them waste the first turn of every battle in order to eventually get something useful out of him. It's amazing. This dumb fish is the best.

 

[RT-55J]

that's a good fishie

 

[Ixo]

I played Magikarp Jump for a little while because it’s a funny concept (train your fish to jump higher than anyone else’s fish in the fish league) until it was apparent that the requirements to progress were gonna be completely absurd.

 

[Falselogic]

I love the idea of Magicarp. Totally useless slot occupier that you just have to invest in. With a big pay off once you do. In Red, Gyrados was in my final team.

 

[Kirin]

Oh, that video reminds me, Magikarp was also the first shiny available in GO! That was an exciting moment.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I just love the big dumb fish

 

[Falselogic]

He flops around marvelously.

 

[Daikaiju]

FEEESH

 

[Rascally Badger]

I love the idea of Magicarp. Totally useless slot occupier that you just have to invest in. With a big pay off once you do. In Red, Gyrados was in my final team.

In Red, Gyarados was my final team.

 

[Daikaiju]

 

[Mogri]

 

[Mogri]

42nd (tie)
#103 Alolan Exeggutor
Coconut Pokémon
Grass / Dragon
First Discovered: Kanto Region (Gen I, Red/Green/Blue)
Score: 60 - Votes: 2 - Highest vote: 4th (Kirin)​

The strong sunlight of the Alola region has awakened the power hidden within Exeggcute. This is the result.

Our first regional variant is the vegetarian vampire's dream come true: the long-necked Alolan Exeggutor. Compared to the original flavor, this one trades the Psychic subtype for Dragon, meaning it takes quadruple damage from Ice instead of Bug. With the long neck, it also gains a little Attack, but it remains stronger on the special side. Since its strongest attacks, Leaf Storm and Draco Meteor, both harshly drop Exeggutor's Sp. Attack, it's often used as a hit-and-run attacker.

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few coconuts.

This was the first regional form we got in GO! Of course, on Earth we can’t just travel to Alola (Hawai’i isn’t quite close enough), so we can’t normally evolve them; they usually come from raids or special events. In the case of our favorite Tall Boi here, there was a surprise event where the map was suddenly filled with wild Alolan Exeggutor everywhere - it was a sight to behold. As for uses, it’s an okay budget source of grass or dragon damage that’ll do in a pinch. Maybe someday we’ll see its signature move, Dragon Hammer…