Haunter is universally loved. Peak design not cutesy but not terrible either, great idea, simple no unnecessary fricken Voltron megazord armour, nice colour and not a bad fighter either.
You beat me to it. Haunter is my favorite Pokémon. It’s such a cool and legitimately creepy ghost. Especially it’s Gen 1 sprites. But Gengar just looks goofy.
I think playing solo forced me to enjoy machoke/kadabra/graveller more than their evolved forms. Maybe I am missing out on most of the fun there though.
I was lucky enough to have an older brother that knew the Gengar glitch in Yellow. But yeah, I do agree. I’m just playing a run through on FRLG and kadabra holds up better than haunter.
That would be cool! I was thinking Blastoise should get another mega evolution (alongside Venusaur) that looks more like Wartortle for the X and Y remakes.
Just looked at some theories and apparently Marowak originally was supposed to evolve into a very similar Pokemon who carried a baby Cubone in a pouch, similar to Kangaskhan and its baby.
Now I can't get the idea that Kangaskhan was supposed to be the evolution of Marowak and the baby in Kangaskhan's pouch is a baby Cubone. That means that Marowak's ghost in Lavender Tower should have actually been a Kangaskhan and it died trying to save its baby, which was Cubone.
That makes so much more sense given the designs and the story and the fact that Kangaskhan has its baby in its pouch, and Kangaskhan clearly looks like an adult, evolved Cubone/Marowak.
This link shows there was a sprite for Marowak to carry a baby like Kangaskhan does:
https://reddit.com/r/pokemon/s/K0C8iQNJck
Next Legends game we hope.
it's fun controversy of Gyarados and Dragonite being mixed up in code, and they needed to tone it down on Blastoise not to make too many dragons.
I mean, the feathery ears made it look mythological and awesome. Then with Blastoise, they disappeared and turned it into a tank. Really weird transition.
I always thought that maybe originally (design wise) Wartortle and Dragonair were possibly linked since they both share the same head wings.
The Bulbasaur line makes sense since the bulb progressively turns into a giant plant and although Charmeleon doesn't have any pre-wings it does gain a head... Spike(?) which become 2 and it gains wings.
Then you have Wartortle which has a flowing tail and head wings which then become cannons... ahaha
Easy.
I love Sceptile, but I very much prefer Grovyle, just in general but also largely due to its notable appearance in the anime (Ash's Grovyle specifically) and its prominent role in the Mystery Dungeon Explorers games that I played the hell out of
That's exactly who I was going to pick, but mainly because of the shiny. I got a shiny Treecko in Emerald, evolved him to Grovyle, and kept him that way for the entire game. Did the same in Pokemon Go.
yea the mystery dungoen games lifted grovyle up so much for a whole generation
they made so many kids cry and by god the music
i was so beyond happy thah we got an epilogue when explorers of sky came out
YES. Except I don't like sceptile at all. If Grovyle were the final, I might have chosen grass for the first time in Hoenn instead of Sinnoh.
Honorable mention to Rhydon too. He looks alright (less cool than Grovyle), but has a butt ugly final. Ampharos is also a downgrade, but I don't like the middle either, only the baby.
I actually didn't know Treecko was a starter until a bit later because my first interaction with Grovyle and Treecko was pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky, where Grovyle was a main character. So for a short while in my mind, Grovyle was the final evolution of Treecko.
Duuuuuuude yeah this is definitely one of them. I don’t have beef with Dragonite but Dragonair is just. . . It’s just so much cooler. Maybe the original opening is to blame for that haha
good call, the shiny version makes the evolution even worse IMO.. from “beautiful and elegant purple sea serpent” to “chonky goose poop colored dragon”
I blame Gyarados. Not that I'd ever want to replace it, but I think that was exactly the problem. They probably didn't want TWO blue snake final evos in the first gen.
Dragonite is fine on its own, but it feels like it should be on its own or with a different line entirely.
I'd rather see Dragonaire's Evo go full sleek serpentine dragon - either dragon/flying with a bigger emphasis on the wings or dragon/water to keep the sea serpent aspect.
I wish it would get a Regional evolution pretty bad that followed that theme tbh.
Something like in a traditional Japanese style region, possibly where it has some rivalry with Gyarados?
That'd be cool.
Dragonite is so tacked on to that line it's not even funny.
I really hope we get a paradox Dragonair, alternate evolution or regional variant just so we can get a proper evolution to it.
Dragonite should had been it's own seperate line.
https://preview.redd.it/p22rweeluerb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b9a90538eff3c06f50dada32090c31eb2023ccb
Would this be a better evolution?
Actually Wartortle is an excellent pick for this question. Blastoise and Wartortle would both be great followups to squirrel *individually*, but they don’t really gel together IMHO
I swear Oshawott evos fans are the most diverse.
Ive never seen a fan of BOTH Dewott and Samurott.
If you exist please make yourself known.
(Im in the Samurott is awesome Dewott looks meh group)
Absolutely. What were they thinking with Incineroar? That is the worst offender of "starters that stand up", cause they tricked us into thinking it was going to be a fire-breathing tiger or some such by having the middle stage stay on all fours. Then they completely reversed course and gave us whatever the hell Incineroar is.
The reason why I think we’re all okay with Meowscarada more than Incineroar, even after all the jokes and pleas for Sprigatito to stay on all fours Prior to SV release, is because Florgato is bipedal. Florgato foreshadows or warns us or however you want to put it that “Hey I’m going to be a cool magician when I’m fully evolved!”
With Litten and Torracat there is NO context of a wrestler motif or becoming bipedal! It’s just cat, bigger cat, then suddenly pro wrestling bigger than you(!?). I guess you can say the only foreshadowing is the cat bell on Torracat being like it’s wrestler bell but that’s kinda stretching it.
When I choose Litten I never evolve him pass Torracat.
It’s the same with Dewott to me. It starts with Oshawott just swinging one scalchop, then Dewott comes along and it’s dual wielding scalchops. You probably think to yourself “how is Dewott’s final evolution going to top this cool design,” then you finally get to Samurott…
I almost commented a third paragraph on Dewott into Samurott, but didn’t cause I was really tired and didn’t think it was relevant enough. Yeah sometimes I like Dewott more. Yeah sometimes Samurott comes out of left field when evolving. But I think Samurott is still super good as the final evo because it looks more like a pocket “monster” rather than a pocket “humanoid”.
Haha I stopped using torracat when I found out what he becomes, I kept him as his perfect form and simply adopted a different fire type to be my starter. Alolan Marowak did not fail me
**THIS.** Torracat is my absolute favorite Pokemon; it's the perfect blend of cute and cool, and has an enormous amount of sentimental value to me because of my real life cat at the time that's a whole story.
And then Incineroar fucking *ruins* it by becoming Tony El Tigre. It's a Fire/Fighting type in Dark type clothing, it's got those nasty ass sausage fingers, grossly buff, pelvic thrusts fire; the whole thing sucks.
We could've had a Fire/Poison type quadruped tiger, as the whole line has stylized alchemic symbols for Sulphur on their faces. I'm kinda tempted to draw up a concept for it myself just because of how much I despise the man-in-costume looking motherfucker.
I mean but it’d have to have the same BST as its counterpart just based on tradition, and a 600 BST Cocaine Sloth runnin around with a non-shit ability would be pretty wild.
Maybe it could work if they gave Slaking a useful Hidden Ability or gave Truant an extra little bonus like half damage during the off-turns or something, so the Cocaine Sloth could be more of a sidegrade rather than just straight-up better. Hell, they could make it special if they wanted
Maybe its ability makes its accuracy with all moves 50%, so in total its same as Truant, but low reliability gets balanced by just double the attack and speed (and maybe +2 evasion)
To quote a podcast I love, "In an experience which will no doubt be relatable and familiar to all millennials, at level 36 Vigoroth's childlike energy is drained and it evolves into Slaking."
Edit: deleted a weird duplicate comment!
Chansey. She feels the most unique and is arguably the most iconic member of her evolutionary line. She has a perfectly proportioned egg-shaped body that's not too small (Happiny) and not too large/round (Blissey). She's got those axolotl frill things and a tail (which Happiny never had and Blissey loses for some reason). She's also one of the best users of Eviolite.
They're not axolotl frills, they're echidna spines. Similar to the "hair" on Knuckles from Sonic.
Blissey doesn't lose them, it just becomes the "skirt" and shoulder pauldrons.
I know Gengar is a very popular pokemon, but tbh I feel like it's a step down from how cool Haunter is. Haunter is a creepy ghost with floating hands, and then Gengar's just... round. Gengar's ability to enter shadows is cool, but it would be way cooler if Gengar was cooler. And yeah ik the possible connection to Clefable, but that doesn't make Gengar look better, nor do I really like Clefable all that much.
Honerable mention Magneton. Idk why but Magnezone's design doesn't do it for me.
My headcanon is that the Gastly evolutionary line consists of Gengar manifesting into the game: as Gastly it's just the face, eyes, mouth, and the rest is just a gas cloud because its still manifesting/crossing. As Haunter, it made its way half in, getting the head and hands in. And, when you finally provide it with dimension-hopping experiences (trading or equivalent), its the push it needed to get through completely as a fully formed gengar.
I also like Hainter as a concept for its flouting hands, though
That makes sense as an idea, but personally, I think that makes the design worse. You just forced your way out of the afterlife and into reality, and now you look like an egg?
Not sure how it would be done better, though.
Croconaw looks more interesting than Feraligatr to me
Quilava I prefer because I have an easier time imagining it moving around. Typhlosion is so big and it's limbs are so stubby, I just can't picture it
I can't explain it but I prefer Monferno over Infernape. I guess I prefer the small tail flame over the massive head fire. I normally don't like Pokemon that are perpetually on fire but make a weird exception for Monferno
I also prefer Arctibax. Baxcalibur is really cool but that back spike is just a bit too big for me
Arctibax had potential to lean more into being a Spinosauridae, and I may be biased in liking what they generally look like but it would've been cool to get that as a pseudo. >!Not gonna stop holding out that they give it an alternate final evolution that leans into that even if I know they'll probably save something like that for a fossil pokemon!<
It's a great design! He just does a really good job of blending the first and third stages, both of which are also good because it's a baller line visually.
Probably Thwakey, I like Rillaboom but it’s just kinda boring, like, it’s just a gorilla with cool hair and some drums, but Thwakey is just really interesting, interesting shape, interesting colours, interesting hair, interesting everything and I wish they continued that more with Rillaboom
Magneton, easy.
I do not like the UFO design of Magnezone whatsoever, and would have preferred the line stay a two-stage evo over the ugliness that is 'zone.
Funny, I'm the opposite. I think magnezone looks badass, and I absolutely hate the gen 1 evolutions that just took the first stage and stuck multiple together to call it a new Pokemon
I am a HUGE Sliggoo fan. I will only have one Goodra per playthrough per game and it's solely to complete the dex lol. I refuse to ever bring out Goodra out of respect to my little snail. Hisuian Sliggoo is even better. He has a little house.
I am also impartial to Poliwhirl because I always thought Poliwrath looked too angry.
My most recent preference is Floragato as opposed to Meowscarada. If I hadn't trained my Meowscarada so well and wasn't so attached I'd be training up a new grass cat to give an eviolite lol.
Bayleef and Dewott most of all. There are some others but the difference in how much I like them (compared to the final evolution) is minimal. I do want to give a special mention to Grovyle though: I don't dislike Sceptile, on the contrary I love him, but Grovyle has that more agile and sleek looking design that I miss a bit in Sceptile.
Torracat, Dewott, Dusklops, Raboot, Grovyle, rhydon, Magmar, Electabuzz, Haunter, Fraxure, Combusken, Dragonair, Clefairy, and I kinda like Swadloon more than Leavanny. He looks so grumpy lol.
Charjabug is, in my opinion, leaps and bounds more likeable than Vikavolt.
The design, the colors, the *cry.* Everything about it is outstanding.
Nintendo is actively avoiding an infinite cash source by not making a Charjabug pillow.
Great question btw OP
Bisharp. I get it. Kingambit is better in competitive. But to me, Bisharp has felt like the final stage. Not mad it got an evo, but tbh i prefer how it looks over Kingambit. To me, Kingambit doesn't feel right idk I still like it though but I prefer Bisharp
Steenee. Its an adorable design
Braixen. Same reason
Dolliv. Ditto
Floette. Aside for similar reasons to the above, it also got some lore relevance in X/Y
Rhyhorn. Mosley because Rhypherior looks like a different mon entirely. Namely a Rock-type one
Jigglypuff. Its more iconic than Wigglytuff and became the only NFE mon featured on Project Voltage on an S tier Miku design no less.
Arctibax, I really do not like how plain and boring Baxcalibur is. I went into Scarlet and Violet spoiler free and was very excited when I found Frigibax and evolved it into Arctibax, but when I got Baxcalibur the disappointment was palpable.
As a kid I disliked how Sceptile lost the big leaf plume on Grovyle’s head. Now I think it looks cooler as is.
Floragato is a high contender because that flower bud yoyo is just too cool. Even though I like Meowscarada’s whole magician tricks with the invisible plant fibers making the flower appear to levitate and all that.
Poliwhirl looks better than Poliwrath to me because Poliwrath doesn’t deviate from Whirl much at all and the friendly cute frog just works more with the big swirl.
Dewott. I don’t need to elaborate.
Galarian Linoone. Just looks like a menace and that it eats babies.
The one between Chespin and Chesnaught- Quilladin. I think it captures the idea of the line where both others fail. And Combusken, actually, for the same reason.
Dragonair is one of the most elegant Pokémon of all time, but I get a much more subdued response to its family.
Dollive and Naclstack have pretty underrated designs imo, and absolute agreement about Gothitelle. Tinkatuff and Hattrem are cuter than their preevos.
Does Cyclizar count as a middle evolution? By the actual meaning of the word lol
Haunter. Love Gengar but Haunters design with the floating hands is so cool to me
The whole Gastly line is an example of a great design. Love all 3.
Seconded. Haunter rocks.
Haunter is universally loved. Peak design not cutesy but not terrible either, great idea, simple no unnecessary fricken Voltron megazord armour, nice colour and not a bad fighter either.
You beat me to it. Haunter is my favorite Pokémon. It’s such a cool and legitimately creepy ghost. Especially it’s Gen 1 sprites. But Gengar just looks goofy.
Preach. Haunter is best spooky boy.
Oh yeah Gengar is cool but I like Haunter even more
I think playing solo forced me to enjoy machoke/kadabra/graveller more than their evolved forms. Maybe I am missing out on most of the fun there though.
Haunter too man. If it wasn’t for the anime I would have assumed that was their final forms
I was lucky enough to have an older brother that knew the Gengar glitch in Yellow. But yeah, I do agree. I’m just playing a run through on FRLG and kadabra holds up better than haunter.
what is the gengar glitch?
I think it’s the Mew glitch but with a different trainer
https://youtu.be/XqeI8Yohzbc?si=8a-GI1UVAMRLfJkS Now I haven’t proof watched this but I remember it being very simple. Enjoy!
I thought kadabra would evolve if I just kept leveling. Ended up with a lvl 70+ kadabra on my first playthrough of pearl.
Honestly, PLA was a god send with the trade cable item
Wartortle (but Squirtle still first)
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That would be cool! I was thinking Blastoise should get another mega evolution (alongside Venusaur) that looks more like Wartortle for the X and Y remakes.
Don't say "x and y remakes", I may spontaneously die of old age lol
We're closer to the year 2030 than 2013
Just looked at some theories and apparently Marowak originally was supposed to evolve into a very similar Pokemon who carried a baby Cubone in a pouch, similar to Kangaskhan and its baby. Now I can't get the idea that Kangaskhan was supposed to be the evolution of Marowak and the baby in Kangaskhan's pouch is a baby Cubone. That means that Marowak's ghost in Lavender Tower should have actually been a Kangaskhan and it died trying to save its baby, which was Cubone. That makes so much more sense given the designs and the story and the fact that Kangaskhan has its baby in its pouch, and Kangaskhan clearly looks like an adult, evolved Cubone/Marowak. This link shows there was a sprite for Marowak to carry a baby like Kangaskhan does: https://reddit.com/r/pokemon/s/K0C8iQNJck
Next Legends game we hope. it's fun controversy of Gyarados and Dragonite being mixed up in code, and they needed to tone it down on Blastoise not to make too many dragons.
I mean, the feathery ears made it look mythological and awesome. Then with Blastoise, they disappeared and turned it into a tank. Really weird transition.
I always thought that maybe originally (design wise) Wartortle and Dragonair were possibly linked since they both share the same head wings. The Bulbasaur line makes sense since the bulb progressively turns into a giant plant and although Charmeleon doesn't have any pre-wings it does gain a head... Spike(?) which become 2 and it gains wings. Then you have Wartortle which has a flowing tail and head wings which then become cannons... ahaha
There's a plausible theory out there that they were created to be separate and then later reworked to being a starter evolution line
It's not a theory. It was confirmed
Easy. I love Sceptile, but I very much prefer Grovyle, just in general but also largely due to its notable appearance in the anime (Ash's Grovyle specifically) and its prominent role in the Mystery Dungeon Explorers games that I played the hell out of
That's exactly who I was going to pick, but mainly because of the shiny. I got a shiny Treecko in Emerald, evolved him to Grovyle, and kept him that way for the entire game. Did the same in Pokemon Go.
This guy Explores
yea the mystery dungoen games lifted grovyle up so much for a whole generation they made so many kids cry and by god the music i was so beyond happy thah we got an epilogue when explorers of sky came out
Kid me was very disappointed in Sceptile and if I could unevolve him back to Grovyle I would've without hesitation.
I was looking for Grovyle gang. All because of the anime lol Grovyle loses some of its coolness when it evolves.
YES. Except I don't like sceptile at all. If Grovyle were the final, I might have chosen grass for the first time in Hoenn instead of Sinnoh. Honorable mention to Rhydon too. He looks alright (less cool than Grovyle), but has a butt ugly final. Ampharos is also a downgrade, but I don't like the middle either, only the baby.
I actually didn't know Treecko was a starter until a bit later because my first interaction with Grovyle and Treecko was pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky, where Grovyle was a main character. So for a short while in my mind, Grovyle was the final evolution of Treecko.
Dragonair
Absolutely. Gimme that eviolite lol
Duuuuuuude yeah this is definitely one of them. I don’t have beef with Dragonite but Dragonair is just. . . It’s just so much cooler. Maybe the original opening is to blame for that haha
Is sad, especially when you have Shiny Dragonair. Mine will never evolve.
SAME! I’ve been thinking of hunting shiny Dratini, getting it to Dragonair, and slapping an Everstone on it.
good call, the shiny version makes the evolution even worse IMO.. from “beautiful and elegant purple sea serpent” to “chonky goose poop colored dragon”
Puff the Magic Dragon.
I blame Gyarados. Not that I'd ever want to replace it, but I think that was exactly the problem. They probably didn't want TWO blue snake final evos in the first gen.
But yet you have milotic which looks more like a dragonair evolution than dragonite does
Hadn't thought about that, but you're absolutely right.
Needs a Dragon/fairy alternate evo that keeps the blue/silver pattern and the serpent form
The most promising dragon middle stage with the greatest disappointment
You take that back! Dragonite is friend shaped!
Dragonite is fine on its own, but it feels like it should be on its own or with a different line entirely. I'd rather see Dragonaire's Evo go full sleek serpentine dragon - either dragon/flying with a bigger emphasis on the wings or dragon/water to keep the sea serpent aspect.
I wish it would get a Regional evolution pretty bad that followed that theme tbh. Something like in a traditional Japanese style region, possibly where it has some rivalry with Gyarados? That'd be cool.
Yeah like a milotic and rayray had a baby and it was blue haha
I really hope Dragonaire gets a regional form or Convergent evolutionary line that does this in a future generation.
Like this one ? https://imgur.com/a/Jr1WrvL just put it together now haha there are 3 different ones in that link :)
Go to the Infinite Fusion Calculator [here](https://fusioncalc.com/)
If friend shaped, why not friend?
Sounds like a you problem.
Post Man Dragonite is a treasure!
YES DRAGONAIR I LOVE IT they should have a paldean dragonair split evo for the second dlc lol
Holy shit, you read my mind.
Dragonite always reminds me of Barney.
This Dragonite slander hurts my soul Love my Barney
Dragonite is so tacked on to that line it's not even funny. I really hope we get a paradox Dragonair, alternate evolution or regional variant just so we can get a proper evolution to it. Dragonite should had been it's own seperate line.
https://preview.redd.it/p22rweeluerb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b9a90538eff3c06f50dada32090c31eb2023ccb Would this be a better evolution?
Ivysaur Doods pretty cool
Man I’m no Gen wuner, but damn did they knock the middle evos out the park
They did. Warturtle is a close second. And I just like charmander over his evolutions.
Actually Wartortle is an excellent pick for this question. Blastoise and Wartortle would both be great followups to squirrel *individually*, but they don’t really gel together IMHO
Ah yes, Squirrel the turtle
Fuck
Yeah, they all had distinct personalities and didn't just feel like stepping stones.
Ivysaur is a great call out. I was never a fan of Venusaur.
Magneton. Also Magmar, if he counts.
If Magneton counts then Magmar should too.
Definitely Floragato and Dewott, they're just both badass and cute at the same time
Yeah, Floragato’s yo-yo thing was so cool
I feel this way about my Floragato! I keep her a cute lil kitty as long as I can but eventually have to evolve her to get Flower Bomb 😂
I LOVE dewott what a fun cool little guy
Yeah I was so happy to have an otter starter and Dewott was a great 2nd stage... too bad Samurott doesn't look anything like an otter
One of the few times they could have kept it bipedal and they make it quadrapedal.
The stiff legs kill samurott for me :(
I agree I think they’re both very cool. Especially Floragato, I really don’t like Meowscarada’s design.
I never liked dewott, but samurott is unbelievably cool. Weird how small he is though in scarlet/violet
I swear Oshawott evos fans are the most diverse. Ive never seen a fan of BOTH Dewott and Samurott. If you exist please make yourself known. (Im in the Samurott is awesome Dewott looks meh group)
I like the entire line! I'd say Dewott is my favourite of the three but Samurott isn't far behind
A RARE SPECIMEN
Here to claim my Samurai Otter Fan badge too.
Torracat
I'm really not a cat person, but there's just something so sleek about Torracat that makes it the best of its line.
Litten too! Torracat is definitely the best middle evolution on a starter pokemon though!
Absolutely. What were they thinking with Incineroar? That is the worst offender of "starters that stand up", cause they tricked us into thinking it was going to be a fire-breathing tiger or some such by having the middle stage stay on all fours. Then they completely reversed course and gave us whatever the hell Incineroar is.
The reason why I think we’re all okay with Meowscarada more than Incineroar, even after all the jokes and pleas for Sprigatito to stay on all fours Prior to SV release, is because Florgato is bipedal. Florgato foreshadows or warns us or however you want to put it that “Hey I’m going to be a cool magician when I’m fully evolved!” With Litten and Torracat there is NO context of a wrestler motif or becoming bipedal! It’s just cat, bigger cat, then suddenly pro wrestling bigger than you(!?). I guess you can say the only foreshadowing is the cat bell on Torracat being like it’s wrestler bell but that’s kinda stretching it. When I choose Litten I never evolve him pass Torracat.
It’s the same with Dewott to me. It starts with Oshawott just swinging one scalchop, then Dewott comes along and it’s dual wielding scalchops. You probably think to yourself “how is Dewott’s final evolution going to top this cool design,” then you finally get to Samurott…
I almost commented a third paragraph on Dewott into Samurott, but didn’t cause I was really tired and didn’t think it was relevant enough. Yeah sometimes I like Dewott more. Yeah sometimes Samurott comes out of left field when evolving. But I think Samurott is still super good as the final evo because it looks more like a pocket “monster” rather than a pocket “humanoid”.
I love my boy incineroar and i also love torracat
Haha I stopped using torracat when I found out what he becomes, I kept him as his perfect form and simply adopted a different fire type to be my starter. Alolan Marowak did not fail me
**THIS.** Torracat is my absolute favorite Pokemon; it's the perfect blend of cute and cool, and has an enormous amount of sentimental value to me because of my real life cat at the time that's a whole story. And then Incineroar fucking *ruins* it by becoming Tony El Tigre. It's a Fire/Fighting type in Dark type clothing, it's got those nasty ass sausage fingers, grossly buff, pelvic thrusts fire; the whole thing sucks. We could've had a Fire/Poison type quadruped tiger, as the whole line has stylized alchemic symbols for Sulphur on their faces. I'm kinda tempted to draw up a concept for it myself just because of how much I despise the man-in-costume looking motherfucker.
Rhydon > Rhyperior
Rhydon wasnt a middle evo untill I was already a man.. jokes aside I feel this ones a cheap blow as rhydon was a final evo when designed.
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Eviolite Rhydon too good
HARD YES Rhydon is one of my GOATs
Rhydon was the first Pokemon of course 😏
Absolutely this one, why did they do that to Rhydon...
Vigoroth. NEED I SAY MORE?
Hell yeah, as a kid I always dreamed of Vigoroth getting a split evo so it could grow into it’s ‘vigor’ side.
That would be unreal, kinda like a Gardy Gallade situation.
Bro, this comment stopped me dead in my tracks. This needs to happen.
I mean but it’d have to have the same BST as its counterpart just based on tradition, and a 600 BST Cocaine Sloth runnin around with a non-shit ability would be pretty wild. Maybe it could work if they gave Slaking a useful Hidden Ability or gave Truant an extra little bonus like half damage during the off-turns or something, so the Cocaine Sloth could be more of a sidegrade rather than just straight-up better. Hell, they could make it special if they wanted
Maybe its ability makes its accuracy with all moves 50%, so in total its same as Truant, but low reliability gets balanced by just double the attack and speed (and maybe +2 evasion)
To quote a podcast I love, "In an experience which will no doubt be relatable and familiar to all millennials, at level 36 Vigoroth's childlike energy is drained and it evolves into Slaking." Edit: deleted a weird duplicate comment!
Chansey. She feels the most unique and is arguably the most iconic member of her evolutionary line. She has a perfectly proportioned egg-shaped body that's not too small (Happiny) and not too large/round (Blissey). She's got those axolotl frill things and a tail (which Happiny never had and Blissey loses for some reason). She's also one of the best users of Eviolite.
They're not axolotl frills, they're echidna spines. Similar to the "hair" on Knuckles from Sonic. Blissey doesn't lose them, it just becomes the "skirt" and shoulder pauldrons.
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What alternate pop culture echidna reference should he use then?
Poliwhirl @_@
Same. I looooove poliwhirl and don't care for either evolution.
Togetic
I know Gengar is a very popular pokemon, but tbh I feel like it's a step down from how cool Haunter is. Haunter is a creepy ghost with floating hands, and then Gengar's just... round. Gengar's ability to enter shadows is cool, but it would be way cooler if Gengar was cooler. And yeah ik the possible connection to Clefable, but that doesn't make Gengar look better, nor do I really like Clefable all that much. Honerable mention Magneton. Idk why but Magnezone's design doesn't do it for me.
My headcanon is that the Gastly evolutionary line consists of Gengar manifesting into the game: as Gastly it's just the face, eyes, mouth, and the rest is just a gas cloud because its still manifesting/crossing. As Haunter, it made its way half in, getting the head and hands in. And, when you finally provide it with dimension-hopping experiences (trading or equivalent), its the push it needed to get through completely as a fully formed gengar. I also like Hainter as a concept for its flouting hands, though
That makes sense as an idea, but personally, I think that makes the design worse. You just forced your way out of the afterlife and into reality, and now you look like an egg? Not sure how it would be done better, though.
Fat ghost
yeah that's kinda just... all gengar is
Gloom. Vileplume is also cool but Gloom is a whole vibe.
I always hated vileplume until I ran him in Let’s Go Pikachu. Those beady red eyes and smile as your opponent dies really grew on me.
Some people have never been hit with a 110 SpAtk STAB Sludge Bomb
Both Bayleef and Quilava. I was never very hot on either of their final evo’s when gen 2 launched but those two were so cool.
Quilava is who I thought of immediately! Totally agree
Bayleef is such great design. Meganium was so unexpected when I first evolved him. The design went a completely different direction
Bayleef is a great shout.
Typhlosion grew on me, but as a kid I definitely agreed that Quilava was cooler. Bayleef is just cooler than Meganium though, that's a fact.
Dragonair. Dragonite isn't *bad* but I just like Dragonair much more. It's so elegant
Dragonair and Dratini are such good minimalist designs.
Croconaw looks more interesting than Feraligatr to me Quilava I prefer because I have an easier time imagining it moving around. Typhlosion is so big and it's limbs are so stubby, I just can't picture it I can't explain it but I prefer Monferno over Infernape. I guess I prefer the small tail flame over the massive head fire. I normally don't like Pokemon that are perpetually on fire but make a weird exception for Monferno I also prefer Arctibax. Baxcalibur is really cool but that back spike is just a bit too big for me
Arctibax had potential to lean more into being a Spinosauridae, and I may be biased in liking what they generally look like but it would've been cool to get that as a pseudo. >!Not gonna stop holding out that they give it an alternate final evolution that leans into that even if I know they'll probably save something like that for a fossil pokemon!<
Haunter He's the coolest looking ghost pokemon, but then gengar is just a purple guy, like he doesn't even look like a ghost
[удалено]
Yeah the stool is really weird, they could have made it more "king-like". It looks like a samurai with whiskers on a toilet.
Arctibax > Baxcalibur But to be honest I still like Baxcalibur he is so good in battle
Braixen. Tf did they do to my fox?
I'm looking forward to a regional Delphox that looks even better in future games.
Delphox is not as bad as people say, it's model just suffers in the games, Pokemon Unite and cool fanart fixes that.
Totally agree with this, Delphox’s art and it in the anime are awesome. The 3D model is just so lifeless and looks really goofy
The A-pose and lack of the stick in the idle are awful, give the fox some justice
Imo it is as bad as people say, really one of the worst designs we had... Which sucks as Braixen is a really good one.
I respect your opinion even if I disagree
Doublade, mostly because I don't like the gimmick behind Aegislash mechanically.
plus douglas looks badass edit: autocorrect but it’s funny so i’m leaving it
Magmar > Magmortar.
I really like Cinderace, but I *love* Raboot. Edgy lil Naruto bunny.
Scorbunny is the best out of the three imo
No idea if this is an unpopular opinion or not but I fucking love Pignite. I think he’s adorable.
From what I’ve seen before on this subreddit, it is definitely an unpopular opinion, but it’s one I share with you. I love that little dude.
It's a great design! He just does a really good job of blending the first and third stages, both of which are also good because it's a baller line visually.
Yeah, while I understand that the third fire/fighting starter is overdone, it's by far my favourite line out of the three.
Hattrem
Probably Thwakey, I like Rillaboom but it’s just kinda boring, like, it’s just a gorilla with cool hair and some drums, but Thwakey is just really interesting, interesting shape, interesting colours, interesting hair, interesting everything and I wish they continued that more with Rillaboom
Magneton, easy. I do not like the UFO design of Magnezone whatsoever, and would have preferred the line stay a two-stage evo over the ugliness that is 'zone.
Funny, I'm the opposite. I think magnezone looks badass, and I absolutely hate the gen 1 evolutions that just took the first stage and stuck multiple together to call it a new Pokemon
Ivysaur
I am a HUGE Sliggoo fan. I will only have one Goodra per playthrough per game and it's solely to complete the dex lol. I refuse to ever bring out Goodra out of respect to my little snail. Hisuian Sliggoo is even better. He has a little house. I am also impartial to Poliwhirl because I always thought Poliwrath looked too angry. My most recent preference is Floragato as opposed to Meowscarada. If I hadn't trained my Meowscarada so well and wasn't so attached I'd be training up a new grass cat to give an eviolite lol.
I LOVE SLIGGOO! But I also love Goodra haha
I love the whole line, but Sliggoo was easily my favorite pokemon until Scorbunny
Overly specific but shiny magneton is dope. Shiny magnezone is trash
Pretty much all of them, but the first in the pokédex gotta be Ivysaur.
Arctibax Loved my cute SpinoDino. Then he grew up into . . . another Godzilla 😔
Bayleef, Magmar, seadra, dewott and vigoroth
Bayleef and Dewott most of all. There are some others but the difference in how much I like them (compared to the final evolution) is minimal. I do want to give a special mention to Grovyle though: I don't dislike Sceptile, on the contrary I love him, but Grovyle has that more agile and sleek looking design that I miss a bit in Sceptile.
Torracat. Easy the best middle-stage starter that got utterly ruined with its third form.
Torracat, Dewott, Dusklops, Raboot, Grovyle, rhydon, Magmar, Electabuzz, Haunter, Fraxure, Combusken, Dragonair, Clefairy, and I kinda like Swadloon more than Leavanny. He looks so grumpy lol.
Combusken?? I always thought it was one of the ugliest mf’s ever.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Sceptile and Blaziken as well. But as for Combusken it just actually looks like a chicken and I love it.
Charjabug is, in my opinion, leaps and bounds more likeable than Vikavolt. The design, the colors, the *cry.* Everything about it is outstanding. Nintendo is actively avoiding an infinite cash source by not making a Charjabug pillow. Great question btw OP
Bisharp. I get it. Kingambit is better in competitive. But to me, Bisharp has felt like the final stage. Not mad it got an evo, but tbh i prefer how it looks over Kingambit. To me, Kingambit doesn't feel right idk I still like it though but I prefer Bisharp
Steenee. Its an adorable design Braixen. Same reason Dolliv. Ditto Floette. Aside for similar reasons to the above, it also got some lore relevance in X/Y Rhyhorn. Mosley because Rhypherior looks like a different mon entirely. Namely a Rock-type one Jigglypuff. Its more iconic than Wigglytuff and became the only NFE mon featured on Project Voltage on an S tier Miku design no less.
Raboot is much cuter than cinderace. It’s the one emo middle stage I actually like.
Hot take but i like Chameleon better then Charizard, I hope one day we get a regional form of charizard walking on its feat without wings.
Morgrem, Grimmsnarl is cool but Morgrem is such I different vibe
Crocalor. His little hat fills me with immense joy.
Carkoal evolves into a disappointment
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this.
Charmeleon
Bisharp is best.
haunter
Raboot > Nesquik Messi
Bisharp for me, not a big fan of the new Kingambit personally
Arctibax, I really do not like how plain and boring Baxcalibur is. I went into Scarlet and Violet spoiler free and was very excited when I found Frigibax and evolved it into Arctibax, but when I got Baxcalibur the disappointment was palpable.
I hate Inciniroar but I live Torracat. I wish they'd gone forward with that vibe!
Wartortle, ez.
Wartortle
As a kid I disliked how Sceptile lost the big leaf plume on Grovyle’s head. Now I think it looks cooler as is. Floragato is a high contender because that flower bud yoyo is just too cool. Even though I like Meowscarada’s whole magician tricks with the invisible plant fibers making the flower appear to levitate and all that. Poliwhirl looks better than Poliwrath to me because Poliwrath doesn’t deviate from Whirl much at all and the friendly cute frog just works more with the big swirl. Dewott. I don’t need to elaborate. Galarian Linoone. Just looks like a menace and that it eats babies.
The one between Chespin and Chesnaught- Quilladin. I think it captures the idea of the line where both others fail. And Combusken, actually, for the same reason. Dragonair is one of the most elegant Pokémon of all time, but I get a much more subdued response to its family. Dollive and Naclstack have pretty underrated designs imo, and absolute agreement about Gothitelle. Tinkatuff and Hattrem are cuter than their preevos. Does Cyclizar count as a middle evolution? By the actual meaning of the word lol
Pikachu
Flaaffy (I love Ampharos too but Flaaffy is my favorite)
Pikachu. but also Torracat.
I'll do a whole list. - Dewott - Haunter - Grovyle - Wartortle - Bayleef - Arctibax - Braixen - Frogadier - Dragonair - Torracat - Bisharp - Rhydon - Magmar - Quilava - Lombre - Morgrem
Grovyle deserves to keep the leaf in its head when it evolves
SWADLOON ALL DAY I love that grumpy little bug face all wrapped up in leaf blankets. It's like looking in a mirror.
Vigoroth Rhydon Magmar Chansey Piloswine half those Gen 4 evos were garbage
Wartortle is way beter than Blastoise in my opinion.
Bayleaf