Hai human beans,
Pokemon Fever has gotten to me again after having taken a two-year-long hiatus from the franchise, so I'm really in the mood to talk about it. A common Pokemon-related list to make is of your ten favourite Pokemon, so here it is. Just note that there are over eight-hundred different species of Pokemon, excluding shiny variants, alternate forms and fusions. This means that there are probably a few other Pokemon I like, perhaps more than the ones on this list, that I've just temporarily forgotten about. Also, note that I tend to love Pokemon for their designs, not just their performance in battle. Also, I don't care that a Pokemon is "legendary". In other words, expect a lot of weaklings, not just a list full of Uber-tier badasses.
Ten - Keldeo
I love mythology, and one mythological creature that has gotten a bad rep over the years is unicorns. The designers of Keldeo must've wanted to do the old creature some justice, because they designed a unicorn that can walk on water that uses its horn as a sword. It also has a "Pikachu design", being both cute and cool, and its colour scheme offers a lot of variety without overdoing it.
My only gripe with Keldeo, other than its lackluster stats, is that while it goes all out on the horn-sword gimmick, it pays no homage to the supposed medical aspects of the horn, which were believed to have healing powers. The only regenerative move it gets is Rest, which is almost universal and adds no personality to Keldeo. Though, for whatever reason, I always see Keldeo as a very male Pokemon, so it makes my inner 2018 smile at what I see is a very feminine male Pokemon. Hey, unicorns are more and more being associated with LGBT, and I guess Keldeo is no exception.
My Keldeo's nickname is Alicorn, the name given to the unicorn's horn that's said to have healing properties.
Nine - Aegislash
A Pokemon based on the Aegis, Zeus/Athena's thunder-inducing shield mounted with the visage of Medusa. HELL. YES. I'm very fortunate to have a shiny form of both Aegislash and its pre-evolution Honedge, both traded to me from the same user. In hindsight they may both be hacked considering the former has perfect IVs, but the Honedge was level one so perhaps they were legitimately bred. I don't care, this thing truly does live up to its name, being a non-legendary that's banned from OU.
Aegislash has arguably the best signature move of any Pokemon, being King's Shield. This thing ROCKS! It works like Protect, making the Pokemon immune to almost every attack in the game for a single turn and taking priority regardless of speed. However, if an opponent uses a physical attack on you with this move active, it will also lower their attack stat. Typically, a Pokemon can either be a fast sweeper, or a defensive wall. This is because with two separate defence stats, it can be very hard to maintain all-round defences without sacrificing power. Not a problem for Aegislash, as you'd have to be bloody mental to send a physical attacker out against it. Max out its special defence and attack stats and you've got a defensive sweeper on your hands, with moves such as shadow sneak giving it priority to nullify its lackluster speed, and swords dance to buff up shadow sneak's weak forty base power. And then you have Sacred sword, the mother of all reads, with its base ninety power and 100% accuracy that'll neglect any stat buffs the opponent has in place.
I named my Aegislash Praetorian, after the Roman Emperors' personal guards. Unlike a lot of powerful Pokemon nowadays, this thing is all strategy.
Eight - Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur was my first ever Pokemon, and though it's the "Spiderman" of the Kanto starters (as in, not popular at all in comparison), I'll always adore it. A green dinosaur with a plant on its back? Sure, why not? Its fully evolved form, Venusaur, is actually the only Kanto starter to still be viable to this day, with its combination of Synthesis, Giga drain and Leech seed making it a great chip damaging Pokemon. Unfortunately though, it is weak to some of the most common attack types, including flying, fire and ice.
Though I don't remember much about my original Bulbasaur since this was over a decade ago, I do remember it evolving into Venusaur for the first time, after having beaten my rival on the S.S. Anne. But the way I see it, even having just one memory from all those years ago is impressive. I named my best Bulbasaur Salad.
Seven - Darkrai
If you get matched against this thing in doubles battles prior to Generation 7, just throw in the towel. Its signature move, Dark Void, has 80% accuracy and will put all opposing Pokemon to sleep with just one use. Its ability, Bad Dreams, will deal periodic damage to all sleeping opponents on the field. This move was nerfed in Generation 7 to a poor 50% accuracy, but with a Psychic-Z held item and Hypnosis, it'll speed itself up whilst putting the opponent to sleep. Darkrai is intended as a powerful special sweeper, with dark pulse and nasty plot combining to make a spitefully cruel killing machine. If you know how to knock it out it shouldn't be so threatening, but if you get stuck without a type advantage then kiss your victory goodbye.
Though not canon, its design reminds me somewhat of the Pokemon Banette, a sentient doll that hunts down the child who abandoned it, presumably to do terrible things. Perhaps upon fulfilling its sick scheme and realising what a monster it has become, it devotes its life to good and becomes a Cresselia as a result. Upon failing to find the child, it instead builds up enough anger to evolve into Darkrai, inflicting nightmares upon those in the city as a last ditch attempt to hurt the child that abandoned it. Okay, this sounds pretty morbid to be honest, but look at this thing. Does Darkrai really look like it's interested in cuddles, or does it look like it wants to sacrifice you to a big open flame?
Its design is one of the few good ones from Generation 4, resembling a menacing shade of some sorts. I named mine Nyx, after the Goddess of the night from Greek Mythology.
Six - Giratina
Let me fill you in on a little secret: Giratina is actually Lucifer, yes, the Dark Lord himself. Kickass designs aside for a moment, Giratina has two forms: A basilisk, and a serpent. In its basilisk form, Giratina has six legs, six ribs and six spikes on its wings. In its serpent form, it has six wings, six ribs and six wing spikes. Satan is often portrayed as a serpent, represented by Giratina's alternate form, whilst the basilisk is dubbed "The King of Serpents". If these "coincidences" aren't convincing enough, then let's look at Giratina's very expansive lore.
Arceus created the creation trio, each of which had dominion over a different thing: Palkia had space, Dialga had time, and Giratina had dimensions, which is supposedly what's between space and time. Giratina however, was banished by Arceus to the Distortion World for its violent behaviour, much like Satan, who was one of God's angels until his banishment for trying to start an uprising. Arceus supposedly created the Sinnoh region and is often dubbed the "God" of the Pokemon universe. Finally, basilisks are said to be able to kill with a single glance, much like a Gorgon. Just look at this thing's eyes; as golden as they come; the colour often used for a basilisk's eyes.
What an awesome Pokemon, they literally based a Pokemon on Satan and it couldn't look more terrifying. If there's one thing Generation 4 got right, it's its gorgeous legendaries. Not only is its design and origin awesome, but it's a murderous Pokemon in battle too. I'll just summarise this segment with its signature move: Shadow Force. It's a two-turn move that'll remove Giratina from the field and typically out-speed the opponent, meaning they'll completely waste their turn if they don't predict this move beforehand. It'll hit for 120 damage, making it the strongest ghost type move in the game. Lastly, as if this busted move wasn't strong enough, it'll hit through the move Protect, making it extremely difficult to avoid since normal types are extremely uncommon in competitive play. Giratina will always have a place on my Ubers teams. I named my main Giratina Apocalypse. I have dozens of them in the PC though, because Giratina is one of the most common legendaries in the game. It's also one of the easiest shinies out there, I've received quite a few in exchange for perfectly bred Froakies. Not sure why, I guess there have just been a lot of shiny Giratina events or something.
Five - Diglett
Yep, the Pokemon most commonly associated with me until recent weeks is only number five. In hindsight, my love for Diglett was a little... undeserved. Though it does have an entire area dedicated to it in the Kanto region, its evolved form is terrible across the franchise. Its design, while cute, doesn't quite win any awards, and it's often mocked for a combination of its name and design.
So, why do I like it so much? I was playing Factions on Cubecraft back when that actually existed and wasn't just a fantasy fueled by the staff team, when some random player whose name I've completely forgotten, spoke those unforgettable words: "Diglett dig, diglett dig, trio trio trio!" I recognised the words from the anime episode 'Dig those Diglett', and immediately began to sing along in the chat. Yes, Diglett is a Pokemon that actually has its own theme song, and that fact alone sent my love for this silly-looking mole to the stars.
After trying - and failing - to get a shiny version of my own, either through trading (It got to the point where I was offering shiny legendaries, yet the closest I ever came was a shiny Dugtrio) or through breeding hundreds of eggs, old forum user @TheCircleOfFire hacked one in for me. Her name was Digletta, and I grinded her to level 100 and never evolved her. I even had a goldfish in real life that I named after her. I was a weird fifteen-year-old...
Four - Garchomp
Ahh Garchomp, my favourite pseudo-legendary, my go-to lead in any OU match and my favourite Pokemon from the god-awful Generation 4. I'm unsure how it adopts the 'Gar' part of its name, but 'Chomp' obviously refers to a mighty bite, as made clear by its pre-evolutions, Gibble (nibble) and Gabite. Does it live up to its name and title as a pseudo-legendary? Heck yeah it does, this is the sort of Pokemon that'll dissect you with its shark fin claws just for breathing the same air as it! Its mega form literally has scythes for arms! Scythes, things commonly associated with the personification of DEATH!
My Garchomp currently has Dragon Claw, Swords Dance, Earthquake and Sandstorm, though admittedly the latter move is experimental and has only temporarily replaced Protect. Let this baby get its Swords Dance up, and it's all over for you. With a deadly combination of two powerful physical attacks that can tackle most common types in the game, you stand little hope at bringing this thing to its knees. I named mine Armageddon, and for very obvious reasons.
If there's anything negative to say about Garchomp though, it's that its mega is somewhat underwhelming, though this thing does not need it in the slightest. Also, its shiny variant is so similar to the original that I'd much rather use my stronger, non-shiny version. I'd have preferred a darker, more intimidating colour scheme.
Three - Torchic
As a basic-stage Pokemon, Torchic is no battler. With only a 310 base stat total, it's winning no matches against Arceus or any of the pseudo-legends, but it's just so damn cute that I couldn't care less. It is my opinion that Torchic is the cutest of any Pokemon, being based off a very cute species of bird in real life and having a playful nature and adorable facial expressions that Disney would be envious of. Just look at my profile picture if you need any form of convincing.
Also, let's not forget that Torchic evolves into Blaziken at level 36, one of only two fully evolved starters to be banned from OU for its overwhelming abilities (the other unsurprisingly being Greninja). Each of the three Hoenn starters are magnificent, so I can understand why Mudkip may be the most popular of the three (not sourced, just making an assumption). Anyways, I named my shiny Torchic Drumstick because of its "cooked" colour scheme. My buddy Alaina thinks this is awful, but I think comparing it to its cooked self sorta adds to the cuteness. Plus, I'm vegetarian, so it's not like I'd consider eating this lovable ball of fiery fluff anyways.
Two - Jirachi
Jirachi is a mythical Pokemon from Generation 3, and is pretty special to me for a number of reasons. When I was twelve or so, my friend got a Jirachi plushy, and I instantly fell in love with it. Just the sight of something so well designed and cute instantly made it my favourite Pokemon at the time, despite having never actually owned one in any of the games. I loved it so much, his mum (now my Godmother) actually bought me one of my own, and it rested by my pillow even after I got bored with Pokemon. I knew I had to get one in the games, and though I can't remember how I got it, I do know that it was a nightmare to face in battle.
Iron head, thunder wave, doom desire and fire punch, combined with the Serene Grace ability, made Jirachi the most infuriating Pokemon to deal with, next to Darkrai in doubles of course. What's worse is that Jirachi was an OU-tier back in gen 5. This meant the only counter that existed was Heatran, but because it's typically the power-house of the team you'd never switch into it, because paralysis is one of the most crippling status effects a lead can have and Jirachi out-speeds, making a clean getaway impossible. If Jirachi is specially defensive, you'd want to use physical attackers on it, except you'd never switch into one of those either since Jirachi would just burn it, fracturing its attack stat. Trying literally anything else would be foolish, because with a 60% flinch chance, iron head would slowly chip away at your health until there's nothing left of your team but built up frustration. Even when you finally do knock it out, two of your party members are paralysed, your sweeper is burned and your Regirock is now DEAD.
Gen 6 greatly nerfed Jirachi by making electric types immune to the effects of paralysis, not to mention Jirachi was briefly moved to Ubers where it couldn't compete against the likes of Arceus or Darkrai. But although it's not as effective in battle, it's still one of the best designed Pokemon ever made, and in Pokemon X somebody was kind enough to trade me a shiny form. I named my Jirachi Harmonia, an ironic name considering the rage it used to cause. I think my Black version's Jirachi was named Starburst, which is a very tasty candy!
One - Gardevoir
Gardevoir is a very popular Pokemon, but for all the wrong reasons. I'm sure if you know anything about Pokemon culture, you'll know what those reasons are... Ughhh, why do weird people have to ruin everything I love?
Anyways, Gardevoir isn't cute, nor is it super powerful... but I first started liking Gardevoir for its role in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, which really expanded upon its lore. See, the trivia question "Of all the Pokemon, which would you choose to have in real life?" has a very obvious and utterly flawless answer to it no matter who you are, and you're looking right at it. Gardevoir is a psychic type, and is therefore telepathic. In fact, its hidden ability is Telepathy, which allows it to communicate with allied Pokemon of different species' to its own; it's not such a stretch to think it could also communicate with a human, especially when the anime has made human-Pokemon communication commonplace. Not only can this thing understand you, but it can actually communicate back to you. It is very loyal, willing to die to protect its trainer (as demonstrated in PMD). Its Pokedex entries refer to its ability to create black holes, so you know it'll defend you no matter what from any threat you ever come across. Lastly, it's very humanoid, and quite beautiful at that, making it more than just a monster both in understanding and in design. This thing isn't just your badass overpowered shield that'll save you from danger; it's your friend, your super-humanoid soulmate who will always be there for you, the perfect companion who will literally die for you, whose loyalty is unchallenged. Gardevoir will be there after your first breakup to tell you it's okay, will scorch your bullies into oblivion and will read you a story if you can't sleep at night. For these reasons and more, Gardevoir is my favourite Pokemon of all time. I named my newly acquired shiny Gardevoir Eiriana, after the character from my fictional fantasy world who rules the continent of Concordia, protecting her people from any and all dangers they may face. Gardevoir may not be the best in battle, but it has a fantastic design, and a lot of lore for a non-legendary. Just... don't Google Gardevoir. It's pretty scary.
Pokemon Fever has gotten to me again after having taken a two-year-long hiatus from the franchise, so I'm really in the mood to talk about it. A common Pokemon-related list to make is of your ten favourite Pokemon, so here it is. Just note that there are over eight-hundred different species of Pokemon, excluding shiny variants, alternate forms and fusions. This means that there are probably a few other Pokemon I like, perhaps more than the ones on this list, that I've just temporarily forgotten about. Also, note that I tend to love Pokemon for their designs, not just their performance in battle. Also, I don't care that a Pokemon is "legendary". In other words, expect a lot of weaklings, not just a list full of Uber-tier badasses.
Ten - Keldeo
I love mythology, and one mythological creature that has gotten a bad rep over the years is unicorns. The designers of Keldeo must've wanted to do the old creature some justice, because they designed a unicorn that can walk on water that uses its horn as a sword. It also has a "Pikachu design", being both cute and cool, and its colour scheme offers a lot of variety without overdoing it.
My only gripe with Keldeo, other than its lackluster stats, is that while it goes all out on the horn-sword gimmick, it pays no homage to the supposed medical aspects of the horn, which were believed to have healing powers. The only regenerative move it gets is Rest, which is almost universal and adds no personality to Keldeo. Though, for whatever reason, I always see Keldeo as a very male Pokemon, so it makes my inner 2018 smile at what I see is a very feminine male Pokemon. Hey, unicorns are more and more being associated with LGBT, and I guess Keldeo is no exception.
My Keldeo's nickname is Alicorn, the name given to the unicorn's horn that's said to have healing properties.
Nine - Aegislash
A Pokemon based on the Aegis, Zeus/Athena's thunder-inducing shield mounted with the visage of Medusa. HELL. YES. I'm very fortunate to have a shiny form of both Aegislash and its pre-evolution Honedge, both traded to me from the same user. In hindsight they may both be hacked considering the former has perfect IVs, but the Honedge was level one so perhaps they were legitimately bred. I don't care, this thing truly does live up to its name, being a non-legendary that's banned from OU.
Aegislash has arguably the best signature move of any Pokemon, being King's Shield. This thing ROCKS! It works like Protect, making the Pokemon immune to almost every attack in the game for a single turn and taking priority regardless of speed. However, if an opponent uses a physical attack on you with this move active, it will also lower their attack stat. Typically, a Pokemon can either be a fast sweeper, or a defensive wall. This is because with two separate defence stats, it can be very hard to maintain all-round defences without sacrificing power. Not a problem for Aegislash, as you'd have to be bloody mental to send a physical attacker out against it. Max out its special defence and attack stats and you've got a defensive sweeper on your hands, with moves such as shadow sneak giving it priority to nullify its lackluster speed, and swords dance to buff up shadow sneak's weak forty base power. And then you have Sacred sword, the mother of all reads, with its base ninety power and 100% accuracy that'll neglect any stat buffs the opponent has in place.
I named my Aegislash Praetorian, after the Roman Emperors' personal guards. Unlike a lot of powerful Pokemon nowadays, this thing is all strategy.
Eight - Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur was my first ever Pokemon, and though it's the "Spiderman" of the Kanto starters (as in, not popular at all in comparison), I'll always adore it. A green dinosaur with a plant on its back? Sure, why not? Its fully evolved form, Venusaur, is actually the only Kanto starter to still be viable to this day, with its combination of Synthesis, Giga drain and Leech seed making it a great chip damaging Pokemon. Unfortunately though, it is weak to some of the most common attack types, including flying, fire and ice.
Though I don't remember much about my original Bulbasaur since this was over a decade ago, I do remember it evolving into Venusaur for the first time, after having beaten my rival on the S.S. Anne. But the way I see it, even having just one memory from all those years ago is impressive. I named my best Bulbasaur Salad.
Seven - Darkrai
If you get matched against this thing in doubles battles prior to Generation 7, just throw in the towel. Its signature move, Dark Void, has 80% accuracy and will put all opposing Pokemon to sleep with just one use. Its ability, Bad Dreams, will deal periodic damage to all sleeping opponents on the field. This move was nerfed in Generation 7 to a poor 50% accuracy, but with a Psychic-Z held item and Hypnosis, it'll speed itself up whilst putting the opponent to sleep. Darkrai is intended as a powerful special sweeper, with dark pulse and nasty plot combining to make a spitefully cruel killing machine. If you know how to knock it out it shouldn't be so threatening, but if you get stuck without a type advantage then kiss your victory goodbye.
Though not canon, its design reminds me somewhat of the Pokemon Banette, a sentient doll that hunts down the child who abandoned it, presumably to do terrible things. Perhaps upon fulfilling its sick scheme and realising what a monster it has become, it devotes its life to good and becomes a Cresselia as a result. Upon failing to find the child, it instead builds up enough anger to evolve into Darkrai, inflicting nightmares upon those in the city as a last ditch attempt to hurt the child that abandoned it. Okay, this sounds pretty morbid to be honest, but look at this thing. Does Darkrai really look like it's interested in cuddles, or does it look like it wants to sacrifice you to a big open flame?
Its design is one of the few good ones from Generation 4, resembling a menacing shade of some sorts. I named mine Nyx, after the Goddess of the night from Greek Mythology.
Six - Giratina
Let me fill you in on a little secret: Giratina is actually Lucifer, yes, the Dark Lord himself. Kickass designs aside for a moment, Giratina has two forms: A basilisk, and a serpent. In its basilisk form, Giratina has six legs, six ribs and six spikes on its wings. In its serpent form, it has six wings, six ribs and six wing spikes. Satan is often portrayed as a serpent, represented by Giratina's alternate form, whilst the basilisk is dubbed "The King of Serpents". If these "coincidences" aren't convincing enough, then let's look at Giratina's very expansive lore.
Arceus created the creation trio, each of which had dominion over a different thing: Palkia had space, Dialga had time, and Giratina had dimensions, which is supposedly what's between space and time. Giratina however, was banished by Arceus to the Distortion World for its violent behaviour, much like Satan, who was one of God's angels until his banishment for trying to start an uprising. Arceus supposedly created the Sinnoh region and is often dubbed the "God" of the Pokemon universe. Finally, basilisks are said to be able to kill with a single glance, much like a Gorgon. Just look at this thing's eyes; as golden as they come; the colour often used for a basilisk's eyes.
What an awesome Pokemon, they literally based a Pokemon on Satan and it couldn't look more terrifying. If there's one thing Generation 4 got right, it's its gorgeous legendaries. Not only is its design and origin awesome, but it's a murderous Pokemon in battle too. I'll just summarise this segment with its signature move: Shadow Force. It's a two-turn move that'll remove Giratina from the field and typically out-speed the opponent, meaning they'll completely waste their turn if they don't predict this move beforehand. It'll hit for 120 damage, making it the strongest ghost type move in the game. Lastly, as if this busted move wasn't strong enough, it'll hit through the move Protect, making it extremely difficult to avoid since normal types are extremely uncommon in competitive play. Giratina will always have a place on my Ubers teams. I named my main Giratina Apocalypse. I have dozens of them in the PC though, because Giratina is one of the most common legendaries in the game. It's also one of the easiest shinies out there, I've received quite a few in exchange for perfectly bred Froakies. Not sure why, I guess there have just been a lot of shiny Giratina events or something.
Five - Diglett
Yep, the Pokemon most commonly associated with me until recent weeks is only number five. In hindsight, my love for Diglett was a little... undeserved. Though it does have an entire area dedicated to it in the Kanto region, its evolved form is terrible across the franchise. Its design, while cute, doesn't quite win any awards, and it's often mocked for a combination of its name and design.
So, why do I like it so much? I was playing Factions on Cubecraft back when that actually existed and wasn't just a fantasy fueled by the staff team, when some random player whose name I've completely forgotten, spoke those unforgettable words: "Diglett dig, diglett dig, trio trio trio!" I recognised the words from the anime episode 'Dig those Diglett', and immediately began to sing along in the chat. Yes, Diglett is a Pokemon that actually has its own theme song, and that fact alone sent my love for this silly-looking mole to the stars.
After trying - and failing - to get a shiny version of my own, either through trading (It got to the point where I was offering shiny legendaries, yet the closest I ever came was a shiny Dugtrio) or through breeding hundreds of eggs, old forum user @TheCircleOfFire hacked one in for me. Her name was Digletta, and I grinded her to level 100 and never evolved her. I even had a goldfish in real life that I named after her. I was a weird fifteen-year-old...
Four - Garchomp
Ahh Garchomp, my favourite pseudo-legendary, my go-to lead in any OU match and my favourite Pokemon from the god-awful Generation 4. I'm unsure how it adopts the 'Gar' part of its name, but 'Chomp' obviously refers to a mighty bite, as made clear by its pre-evolutions, Gibble (nibble) and Gabite. Does it live up to its name and title as a pseudo-legendary? Heck yeah it does, this is the sort of Pokemon that'll dissect you with its shark fin claws just for breathing the same air as it! Its mega form literally has scythes for arms! Scythes, things commonly associated with the personification of DEATH!
My Garchomp currently has Dragon Claw, Swords Dance, Earthquake and Sandstorm, though admittedly the latter move is experimental and has only temporarily replaced Protect. Let this baby get its Swords Dance up, and it's all over for you. With a deadly combination of two powerful physical attacks that can tackle most common types in the game, you stand little hope at bringing this thing to its knees. I named mine Armageddon, and for very obvious reasons.
If there's anything negative to say about Garchomp though, it's that its mega is somewhat underwhelming, though this thing does not need it in the slightest. Also, its shiny variant is so similar to the original that I'd much rather use my stronger, non-shiny version. I'd have preferred a darker, more intimidating colour scheme.
Three - Torchic
As a basic-stage Pokemon, Torchic is no battler. With only a 310 base stat total, it's winning no matches against Arceus or any of the pseudo-legends, but it's just so damn cute that I couldn't care less. It is my opinion that Torchic is the cutest of any Pokemon, being based off a very cute species of bird in real life and having a playful nature and adorable facial expressions that Disney would be envious of. Just look at my profile picture if you need any form of convincing.
Also, let's not forget that Torchic evolves into Blaziken at level 36, one of only two fully evolved starters to be banned from OU for its overwhelming abilities (the other unsurprisingly being Greninja). Each of the three Hoenn starters are magnificent, so I can understand why Mudkip may be the most popular of the three (not sourced, just making an assumption). Anyways, I named my shiny Torchic Drumstick because of its "cooked" colour scheme. My buddy Alaina thinks this is awful, but I think comparing it to its cooked self sorta adds to the cuteness. Plus, I'm vegetarian, so it's not like I'd consider eating this lovable ball of fiery fluff anyways.
Two - Jirachi
Jirachi is a mythical Pokemon from Generation 3, and is pretty special to me for a number of reasons. When I was twelve or so, my friend got a Jirachi plushy, and I instantly fell in love with it. Just the sight of something so well designed and cute instantly made it my favourite Pokemon at the time, despite having never actually owned one in any of the games. I loved it so much, his mum (now my Godmother) actually bought me one of my own, and it rested by my pillow even after I got bored with Pokemon. I knew I had to get one in the games, and though I can't remember how I got it, I do know that it was a nightmare to face in battle.
Iron head, thunder wave, doom desire and fire punch, combined with the Serene Grace ability, made Jirachi the most infuriating Pokemon to deal with, next to Darkrai in doubles of course. What's worse is that Jirachi was an OU-tier back in gen 5. This meant the only counter that existed was Heatran, but because it's typically the power-house of the team you'd never switch into it, because paralysis is one of the most crippling status effects a lead can have and Jirachi out-speeds, making a clean getaway impossible. If Jirachi is specially defensive, you'd want to use physical attackers on it, except you'd never switch into one of those either since Jirachi would just burn it, fracturing its attack stat. Trying literally anything else would be foolish, because with a 60% flinch chance, iron head would slowly chip away at your health until there's nothing left of your team but built up frustration. Even when you finally do knock it out, two of your party members are paralysed, your sweeper is burned and your Regirock is now DEAD.
Gen 6 greatly nerfed Jirachi by making electric types immune to the effects of paralysis, not to mention Jirachi was briefly moved to Ubers where it couldn't compete against the likes of Arceus or Darkrai. But although it's not as effective in battle, it's still one of the best designed Pokemon ever made, and in Pokemon X somebody was kind enough to trade me a shiny form. I named my Jirachi Harmonia, an ironic name considering the rage it used to cause. I think my Black version's Jirachi was named Starburst, which is a very tasty candy!
One - Gardevoir
Gardevoir is a very popular Pokemon, but for all the wrong reasons. I'm sure if you know anything about Pokemon culture, you'll know what those reasons are... Ughhh, why do weird people have to ruin everything I love?
Anyways, Gardevoir isn't cute, nor is it super powerful... but I first started liking Gardevoir for its role in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, which really expanded upon its lore. See, the trivia question "Of all the Pokemon, which would you choose to have in real life?" has a very obvious and utterly flawless answer to it no matter who you are, and you're looking right at it. Gardevoir is a psychic type, and is therefore telepathic. In fact, its hidden ability is Telepathy, which allows it to communicate with allied Pokemon of different species' to its own; it's not such a stretch to think it could also communicate with a human, especially when the anime has made human-Pokemon communication commonplace. Not only can this thing understand you, but it can actually communicate back to you. It is very loyal, willing to die to protect its trainer (as demonstrated in PMD). Its Pokedex entries refer to its ability to create black holes, so you know it'll defend you no matter what from any threat you ever come across. Lastly, it's very humanoid, and quite beautiful at that, making it more than just a monster both in understanding and in design. This thing isn't just your badass overpowered shield that'll save you from danger; it's your friend, your super-humanoid soulmate who will always be there for you, the perfect companion who will literally die for you, whose loyalty is unchallenged. Gardevoir will be there after your first breakup to tell you it's okay, will scorch your bullies into oblivion and will read you a story if you can't sleep at night. For these reasons and more, Gardevoir is my favourite Pokemon of all time. I named my newly acquired shiny Gardevoir Eiriana, after the character from my fictional fantasy world who rules the continent of Concordia, protecting her people from any and all dangers they may face. Gardevoir may not be the best in battle, but it has a fantastic design, and a lot of lore for a non-legendary. Just... don't Google Gardevoir. It's pretty scary.
