By Jo
One of my favorite things about the Pokemon games is that with every new region, you can only ever catch Pokemon local to that area until you’ve beaten the main story line. It lets you get acquainted to the new ones that have been introduced in that generation, and really shows just how useful the new pokes can be. And sometimes you end up finding yourself attached to pokemon you never imagined being fond of.
Swanna was one of those unpredictable favorites. When it was first previewed, I hated Swanna – thought it was an unoriginal Pokemon that everybody would eventually roll their eyes at and forget about in the long run. Before the games had been released in the U.S., I had planned on using something like the Pidove evolutionary line for flying, or even Braviary. Though it became apparent to me in the fourth gym that I wasn’t as attached to my Tranquill as I’d assumed I’d be.
So I decided to try out others who’d eventually be able to fly and ended up catching my Ducklett around the same time. Something just clicked with it when I battled in the fourth gym and it helped my Oshawott take down Clay’s team and evolved shortly after. That Swanna ended up becoming one of the strongest members on my team and now I have a surprisingly great deal of fondness for it and its pre-evolution.
Cubchoo was another that I’d written off from nearly the beginning. Sure it was somewhat cute, but I couldn’t seem to get over that nasal drip that was constantly marring its sprite. Just thinking of it made me want to blow my nose. Still, I’d always been fond of ice-types and when its nose wasn’t running it was just simply a blue and white cub that I felt the need to cuddle. Its pokédex entries didn’t really help matters any, though. They stated “When it is not feeling well, its mucus gets watery and the power of its Ice-type moves decreases,” as well as “Its nose is always running. It sniffs the snot back up because the mucus provides the raw material for its moves”. Still, I ended up giving my little guy a chance and once I got past the whole ‘he’s shooting his snot at every Pokemon we fight’ gross-out, I realized he was actually an asset to my team. Eventually my Cubchoo evolved and, just like that, its running nose was a thing of the past. Unlike its pre-evolution, Beartic’s pokédex entries are relatively normal too and don’t involve a runny nose at all.
Every now and then, we come across Pokemon that just don’t seem to fit our fancy and we end up writing them off. Though, if you give those Pokemon a try, chances are that they’ll change your opinion of them.
Tags: Cubchoo, Ducklett, Oshawott, Pidove, Swanna, Unova Region