How did your favourite Pokemon become your favourite?

[joey the goon]

This thread definitely seems like a good thread to make my first post here on, so here goes.

Let me preface this by saying that Electric is my favorite type, and Rotom was my ex-favorite pokemon since I started playing Platinum a couple of years ago. I loved its uniqueness in that it could transform into other household appliances. I enjoyed using every one of them, but Wash and Heat were always my favorites. I remember it always zipping around causing mischief in the anime, and the developers even implemented it as a device that could guide and give the camera view in battles! Also, it’s just so CUTE! Though it's my ex favorite, its uniqueness and charm when I first saw it makes it hold a special place in my heart.

Since then, I’d been learning to use to make a logo for my draft team, and when my dear friend Lilburr taught me that opposite colors on the color wheel usually go along with one another, I kept that in mind when I bought Sword and discovered this badass.

*The Toxtricity of our city, of our ciiiity!*
This… was a love at first sight. The color scheme, the design, the typing, just EVERYTHING! UGH, I LOVE THIS THING. Personally, I’ve grown up with music all my life, and Toxtricity’s Low-Key and Amped forms (which are SUCH good names for forms auuughhhh) representing guitar and bass instruments with the amount of pink “strings” (idk) on their chest brought me back to the days where I religiously played Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I enjoy using Toxtricity in competitive battles as well, because thanks to its ability that boosts sound-based moves, its Boombursts and Overdrives pack such a huge punch (laughs in Marowak-Alola/Aegislash) and just plow through teams if they are not properly prepared. The gigantamax form, too, carrying attributes of both forms combined, and the fact that it smashes a LITERAL electric guitar for G-Max Stun Shock was just the icing on the cake for me. I love just about everything about this thing, and it’s found home as my favorite pokemon ever since Sword and Shield released. :)

 

[Mr.Bossaru]

gen 3 was my first Pokemon game, that I played with my brother, and as soon as I saw blaziken I feel in love, plus I loved the fact that may from the anime had a blaziken ''I had a crush on her as a kid'' but anyway when I first started completive play I was always sad blaziken was in Ubers lol

 

[Plague von Karma]

I've historically flip-flopped on a specific group of Pokemon for my favourites. I've played Pokemon since 2003, but they've been relatively consistent.


Kangaskhan has easily been my most consistent favourite ever since XY where it got its Mega Evolution. I always liked it since before then, but now it was something I'd be raring to bring to VGCs and the like. I really miss the Mega, but it's still really fun to use. Started out as a "mini Tauros", came into its own later on and formed a very, very unique identity.


When I first played Black and White I liked Zweilous and kept using it, until eventually it evolved at a ridiculous level and surprised me. I was completely blind so I didn't even know it had another evolution, especially considering how high it was. But man, what a badass design. Easily my favourite pseudo-legendary.


I'm a reptile nerd and Arbok has hit all the right spots for me over the years. It's a shame it sucks competitively as the concept it's had going for it since Gen 3 (Intimidate Poison-type, even got Sucker Punch later) should have aged like fine wine, but the stats just aren't enough. Regardless, ever since I saw it in the Indigo League series I've just adored it. Not much else to say, but you'll absolutely see me using it in in-game runs, no matter how inefficient it may be.


Dodrio's design has always struck something in me that I can't put my finger on. I enjoyed using it in HeartGold years back (don't ask) and it ended up taking me through the Elite Four. I started using it in old gen lower tiers a few years back and learned how cool it was there too, so it just crept up. I really like the fanart people have made for it, and the idea of 3 heads with different personalities is cool too. Gives it more depth than other "it gets more heads" Pokemon.


The King of Gen 1, as it's called. It's received much injustice over the years despite holding such a title, but it doesn't change how much I adore it as a Pokemon. The design remains realistic and simple, but just enough to say "yeah it's a Pokemon". That balance is something I appreciate a lot, and while the theme has taken a step back in recent years, it's still there and I enjoy it whenever it pops up. Tauros really got me liking it first though!


Love at first sight. I don't know why, but the irony of a mosquito being some jacked up bodybuilder absolutely floored me. It flexes when it dies! How could you not see this as absolute perfection?

 

[Sceptilian70]

My favorite Pokémon is Sceptile. I have liked it since the episode where Ash got Treecko, and then I got Pokémon Ruby and evolved it. It was one of my best Pokémon, despite its frailty, and I try really hard to use it in Link Battles and Shiny Hunt it to increase love for it. Also, I like Grovyle just as much as Sceptile and agree that Grovyle is very cool. I have a great love for Grass Pokémon in general, though they do have many weaknesses. And, as of today (4/21/21), I have also obtained a baby Shiny Treecko, which I'll evolve for use as Mega Sceptile in the Battle Tree. It's nicknamed Celestial.

Looking back at that run of Ruby, though, my most used and favorite for a little while was...
KADABRA.
I caught an Abra in a cave once and thought I was the best trainer of all time, since it would just escape when I tried to attack it. It quickly became my best Pokémon on the team, mostly because 8-year-old me used up all of his TMs on it. However, I always found it a great Pokémon and love Alakazam as well, especially its Mega, and in general I really love the "Glass Cannon/Hyper Offensive" type Mons. However, Sceptile is still my favorite, though Kadabra will always hold a special place in my heart, and probably a place in my Top Ten Favorite Pokémon List. Maybe.

 

[Navzyx-kun]

My favorite Pokemon was Quagsire, is Quagsire, and always will be Quagsire.

You might ask, why?

Look at this cute and joyful thing.

What about its competitive viability?

Well, Quagsire might have lackluster base stats, with only a total of 430, and absolutely NO stats 100 and above.
But it's really good in competitive due to
- Great Typing: Water/Ground only has one weakness, which is a lackluster type and has key resistances in Fire, Electric and Steel.
- Ability: While Damp might be a filler, both Water Absorb and Unaware are great. Water Absorb grants you an additional water immunity, but the big boy ability here is Unaware. It straight up IGNORES stat boosts, stopping setup sweepers in its way.
- Movepool: Quagsire has a diverse movepool, including Toxic, Earthquake, Scald, Recover, Stockpile and such.

And if that wasn't enough, my favorite music channel has Quagsire as a profile picture! (his name is Turbo, btw)
Turbo makes eurobeat music out of famous music. Check out his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCus8EVJ7Oc9zINhs-fg8l1Q


And that's about it. Farewell!

 

[Aqua Jet]

I don’t know what it is about Cottonee I really like, but the first game I played was Pokémon Black. During the playthrough, I caught a Cottonee and beat the elite four without evolving it (admittedly because I didn’t know how).

 

[bdt2002]

Hey guys, I’m back... what’s that? It’s not gonna be August 7th for a few more months? You silly goose, I already knew that.

Jokes aside, I’m not here for Espeon today. I already went over that whole thing. I have another favorite that I want to mention, because this thing is just too precious and if anyone hurts him I will be a very sad boi ;-;

(Not my picture)

That’s right. It’s the adorable baby Pikachu himself, Pichu. He’s always been my favorite of the evolution line, but not for the reason you may expect. Allow me to ask: do you notice anything a bit strange about this particular Pichu? Your attention is probably set on the blue ukulele it’s playing in this artwork I found online. Well... in 2010, the spin-off game that’s quite literally came to define me as a Pokémon fan was released, and with it came what might be the single most memorable Pokémon in history for anyone who’s informed on the perfect-ness that is the Ukulele Pichu of Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs.

I wish I could tell you all about how much of an impact this game and Pichu have had on me growing up, but this isn’t the thread for that. I will end this post by saying one tiny little thing.

Why in the name of all that is holy is Ukulele Pichu not an alternate costume for Pichu in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!? This is a cardinal sin against the human race and I need an answer from Nintendo NOW.

 

[Kawaii Gengar]

Gengar became my favorite when I watched the anime as a kid. I always liked watching the lavender town episode and seeing the ghost trio being goofy and mischievous towards Ash and the gang. I found them to be cute and endearing. Out of the three, Gengar specifically became my favorite Pokemon of all time because of it’s design and goofy (and somewhat mischievous) personality. His cool abilities like becoming one’s shadow.

Now I love using him in the games, whether it’s the main series or spin offs.

 

[Astra]

Poliwhirl is my favorite Pokemon now. I just think it's pretty neat.

 

[The Mind Electric]

When I was a kid playing the Unova games, Hydreigon's design really captured me. I used to imagine myself as a Champion with it as my ace. I don't think I even knew what it was good at, just that it was strong and that I wanted one. To this day, it remains one of my favorites. Alas, it evolves far too late for me to ever bother to get it when I play the Unova games. Just wait Hydreigon, one day my desire to use you will overcome my crippling laziness!

 

[Daylight]

My sister has joked about how my taste in Pokémon is basically identical to what it was 10+ years ago. Even as the generations progressed I basically used the same pool of Pokémon (mostly gen 3 faves like Milotic, Altaria, Kirlia & Gardevoir, Roselia, Delcatty, etc or other ‘mons that were prominent in gen 3 like Espeon and Suicune from Colosseum or Ninetales from PMD) with the very occasional addition to that pool (or a sidegrade in the case of Alolatales or Galarian Ponyta).

Similarly, my favorite Pokémon now is the same as it was then: Milotic.There were very brief times over the years where my #1 was another ‘mon—Mega Gardevoir or Xerneas when XY came out or Alolan Ninetales when regional variants were introduced—probably because they were shiny and new. And while I still do love them all, Milotic has consistently been my #1 fave.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Gen 3–both its main series games and its extremely fun side series like PMD and the genius sonority games. I still remember playing through Sapphire and seeing Wallace’s Milotic and wondering how to get that because I had to have that. And that feeling was compounded many times over after seeing Venus’s Milotic in Pokémon Colosseum—with its echoing cry and graceful animations. It was so beautiful and rare and majestic.

And I loved it even more when I discovered how to actually get it in-game and how it evolved from Feebas like the ugly duckling finally transforming into a beautiful swan. Nowadays that theme resonates with me even more: Feebas evolves when it’s inner beauty radiates outwards. And lately, I’ve really been learning that you’ve gotta do the inner beautifying first for your outer world to shift—just like Feebas!

I have many fond nostalgic memories of Milotic and I adore it’s design and gameplay. But to me, Milotic also represents how beautiful and powerful you really are—how you really can transform into the person you want to be.

On that note, I recently watched the Twilight Wings episode featuring Nessa and Milotic and it resonated with me so deeply. Not only was it animated stunningly and Milotic looked particularly gorgeous and majestic, but the theme of the episode was equally stunning. Nessa tells the little Feebas to believe in himself and to show them all—and he does! And she learns from him. She decides she can be both a powerful gym leader and a successful model—when you believe in yourself, the opinions of others don’t matter.

Also particularly serendipitous is the fact that I’m actually currently in the midst of starting my own modeling career—it came at the perfect time. And I’ve also actually recently commissioned a piece of custom jewelry based on Milotic! I can’t wait to wear it so I can always have Milotic reminding me to believe in myself.

P.S. Honorable Mention

I also gotta give a mention to the ‘mon who’s easily my #2: Espeon. Similarly to Milotic, it made a big impression on me in Pokémon Colosseum and it has since been my favorite eeveelution. Also like Milotic, I love playing with it in-game. It’s powerful and fast but also has a beautiful and graceful and even regal design. Also, Annie’s Espeon is basically my favorite part (or honestly the only part that stuck with me) from the Lati twins in Venice Pokémon movie way back when.

 

[Chadlad50]

Want to rewrite this since earlier I was on my phone and it wasn't as "in depth" as I wanted

So right now I'd say there's two contenders for my favorite:


This dude, the Sceptile. I love Sceptile and I'll say, even if he gets replaced, it easily has the best line of any starter. All 3 are great, with little to no flaw. Sceptile has a lot of personality and charm in it's design. I love the tree tail, the seeds on it's back it uses to grow trees in forests. I love the color scheme, etc. My only problem with Sceptile is...how bad it is. I love this Pokemon to death but without it's Mega it has little to no place in any competitive environment, which makes me really sad. #GiveSceptileTailGlowOrAtleastNastyPlot

And one that's currently competing for that spot:

Blaziken?? I don't know how this Pokemon rapidly ascended my "favorites" list. Like atleast 2 days ago, if you'd ask me my opinion on Blaziken, I'd spit in your face for asking me such a thing. Now? It's honestly really grown on me and almost my favorite. It checks all the boxes for me. Cool inspiration? It's based off of the Shamo Fighting Chicken, which is awesome. Color scheme? I love red, it's my favorite color. Cool typing? Fire/Fighting is a cool typing , it's just oversaturated. Competitive viability? First starter to get in Ubers, and while it's seen better days, UUBL isn't too shabby I'd say. Personality wise Blaziken doesn't immediately ring a bell or anything, but that can actually be a benefit. Blaziken can be whatever you want. It's easy to imagine an angry Blaziken, a joyful Blaziken, a Blaziken that just likes to sit on the beach all day, etc. Not to mention it's Mega evolution is *chef's kiss.* I love Mega evolutions but most of the time they don't always feel like a direct upgrade in terms of design. That isn't to say they're all worse designs than their base forms, but a lot are just cool interpretations but not necessarily better than the base form. Mega Blaziken is definitely an upgrade over Blaziken, with a much cooler color scheme. If Mega Blaziken was the default form, it'd easily be my favorite.

The main reason why I disliked Blaziken was because of the humanoid aspect to it, but I've recently stopped caring too much about that. That's why I've recently grown to like a lot more Pokemon (Incineroar, Cinderace, Delphox, Gardevoir, and more) which is why Blaziken has really grown on me. It remains to be seen if it'll actually become my favorite but I'd say it's likely.

Honorable Mentions

Greninja - This one would almost certainly be my favorite Pokemon if it weren't for one thing...my brain can't process it's design that well. My mind and brain has this weird thing where it's hard to visualize and process certain designs and objects, and this includes some Pokemon. (There's a reason I like Gengar so much). I don't know why this happens? Maybe chemo brain just makes my brain act dumb and stupid. But anyway, that's why I can't say Greninja is my favorite. My brain has done this with other designs too - including Sceptile and Blaziken - but it feels the worst with Greninja. Dumb reason, but hey, I'm dumb. But if my brain ever stops doing this or whatever, Greninja will definitely surprass Sceptile or Blaziken or Bruxish or whatever my favorite Pokemon is and instantly become my favorite.

Dragonite - My second favorite Pokemon and a long time favorite. I started the series in February of this year and while my favorite has changed many times, so far Dragonite has been my favorite the longest. And while he's no longer my favorite, I still love this big orange friend and any time I can use him on a team, I will.

Gengar/Gardevoir/Dracovish/Serperior/Emboar/Garchomp/Torterra - Pokemon I all really like and love but probably won't be my favorites at any time, I just wanted to mention them. Maybe Gengar.

 

[Chadlad50]

I'm actually amending my previous post. It's not Sceptile or Blaziken, but actually Charizard.


Probably the most boring as fuck pick for a favorite Pokemon and I'm well aware of it, but I like Charizard regardless. Having Charizard as your favorite Pokemon is like having Chocolate as your favorite flavor of ice cream. Obviously most people like it but it's delicious so it makes sense. A really cool design and two cool Megas (although I agree getting two is unfair) that are good competitively.

There's just something about Charizard that I love. It's a simple design, but still has a lot of cool aspects to it. I love Dragons, and I love Fire type starters. It also looks like a Pokemon that can have several different personalities. If I saw a Charizard that acted like a dick, I'd believe it. If I saw a Charizard that acted like a big sweetie pie, I'd believe it! My opinion changes all the time so this could be obsolete in the future (or tomorrow) but I think Charizard is definitely my favorite.

Pokemon that could become my favorites in the future

Lucario - Right now Lucario is also suffering from "Greninja syndrome" which would make sense if you've read my last post, although I think the proper name might be OCD or something. But Lucario definitely has a high chance of becoming my favorite.

Speaking of Greninja, I actually learned how to visualize it again! And I also learned I don't like it's design that much. It's the tongue scarf...gross. Chesnaught Supremacy gang

Blaziken or Sceptile could still eventually become my favorites in the future as well, for the same reasons as mentioned in my above post

 

[Nullzach]

My favorite Pokemon has to be wobbuffet (Sorry pichu and wooloo, wobbuffet just takes the cake)
I started to like wobbuffet when he was included in the team rocket intro, he just looked too goofy not to like.

 

[Unova Pokemon Trainer]

Charizard is my favourite because of how epic it was in the show. I remember always enjoying the action in the battles it was involved in. Not to mention it's very iconic.

 

[Pemderp63]

My favorite is Cosmog. I first played Sun and Moon during a particularly rough period and Nebby's presence always cheered me up. Seeing it evolve honestly made me feel both happy and melancholic. I started using it as a pfp on various forums and it grew on me even more. Now I can't possibly imagine another Pokémon taking its place.

 

[Coronis]

Eh I’m really bored, been up all night so I thought I’d write up about my non-Suicune favourites from each gen.

1: Gyarados
I just always loved the idea of a pathetic, weak Pokemon like Magikarp evolving into this badass amazing beast like Gyarados. iirc it was a main Pokemon in a fanfic I read around Gen 3/4 too and that just made the whole thing even better.

3: Flygon
Flygon you beautiful, beautiful boy. I remember being shocked when my Trapinch evolved into a Dragon-type with wings, and Flygon just took that another step further, it was absolutely beautiful. I loved the contrast of the red eyes with the green body. I remember being so disappointed back around my first playthrough when I realised it was not the pseudo of that Gen and there were not one, but two pseudos in it!

4: Infernape
Chimchar was an easy pick for me as starter, and it just got cooler as it evolved. The fighting type addition made it so good in game, I loved being able to beat Roark with a fire type (without ridiculous overleveling), felt so badass. Infernape’s overall design is just amazing, its still my favourite starter (just) and Gen 4 was also when I first learned about and got into competitive Pokemon. Fortunately for me, all my favourite Gen 4 mons were amazing competitively, whether it was Infernape or Azelf in OU, Staraptor in UU (I think it was OU at one point though..) or Darkrai in Ubers.

5: Volcarona
I always liked bug types, especially butterflies or moths. Alder having one with a great design that mirrored his was awesome for me. I also really loved a non-legendary Pokemon having a similar special encounter during the game, felt like it could open up a world of new opportunities. Also always loved Quiver Dance, and it getting its own exclusive move!

6: Greninja
Froakie was the first time I initially picked a Water starter, and boy did it pay off. I wasn’t quite sure about it at first but it did fit my general preferences for a Pokemon (speed and a decent attacking stat), and Frogadier and Greninja just improved on the design so much. When I finally compared Chesnaught and Delphox to it I honestly laughed. The addition of the Dark type and ninja basis was genius. And of course, competitively Protean oh my god, such a fun ability. I was quite surprised to see the anime transformation in Gen 7, but I jumped on it immediately and loved it.

7: Mimikyu
Oh my, everything about Mimikyu in Gen 7 spoke to me. It being a Totem mon, every single piece of lore regarding it, its stats and ability, its unique typing. I’ve never been that big a fan of Pikachu due to its overmarketing with the anime but I definitely warmed up to it in Alola with the introductions of Raichu-A and Mimikyu.

8: Toxtricity
Ah the most recent, Toxel being a gift ingame with a new typing drew me in to train it as part of my team and boy was I glad. Toxtricity ended up becoming my top Pokemon for that runthrough. The great dual STAB and the complimentary moveset and stats were well executed. Its actual design is just, amazing. I also loved the basis on guitars and bass with the two forms, also coinciding with a period in my life where my musical interest was at a huge uptick. It being part of the credits scene as part of the band was just icing on the cake.

I look forward to future gens and my future faves from each of them, though I still doubt they’ll ever overcome my nostalgia and general love for Suicune, you never know!

 

[bdt2002]

Aww. This is such a wholesome thread. Seeing discussions like this always makes me happy, so I'd be more than glad to list my story down. Historically, the Pokemon in my top 10 favorites list doesn't change a whole lot over the years. The consistent ones are always the same: Totodile's evolution line because of my extreme nostalgia for it in the HGSS era growing up, Palkia and Lugia as my two favorite mascot Legendaries, the Axew line because I'm an absolute sucker for Generation 5, and Infernape because my first ever Pokemon was Chimchar in Pokemon Pearl. Things like that.

But that all changed on August 7th, 2019. On that date, a Pokemon who I'd already liked (I'd say top 20%) and was probably my favorite of a certain group of evolutions instantly shot WAY up the rankings, easily into my all time top 10, because of something happening that day that might be a little tricky to understand at first. And that lucky Pokemon... is Espeon.

View attachment 287019
(Not my artwork)

Out of all the games where my already favorite Eeveelution would make this big of a jump, I would NEVER have expected to see it in the Pokemon Rumble series of spinoffs. I missed out on the original Rumble and the crappy mobile one, but I've been a consistent fan of the series either way, and have been grinding towards doing literally every possible thing you can do in Pokemon Rumble World for a while now. Now, Pokemon Rumble is a funny set of games, because while you can't get Shiny Pokemon outside of the original game and passcodes on the Wii U game, you can get Pokemon with special traits, and the "Epic" trait appears to be the unofficial replacement for them given the odds of finding one linking up.

The balancing act here is that while you can't enjoy the color pallet swaps of getting a Shiny, you can enjoy using a brutally overpowered toy Pokemon in exchange, to the point where I honestly hope Epic Pokemon make it into the main series someday. (Lol that'll never happen.) So, with all the explanation out of the way, let me tell you what happened.

Epic Pokemon RNG in this game is... weird, to say the least. I could make a whole other thread on this topic alone. All you need to know is that boss Pokemon fought at the end of a level have lower odds for having special traits when befriended with a maxed out Special Trait Tree, and only then do the odds of calculating an Epic come into play. Needless to say, getting an Epic trait boss Pokemon is almost impossible. What's more, you can only have so many Pokemon with you at one time. The number caps at 2,500 Pokemon at once, but the number can go higher if you reach 2,500 in the middle of a level.

So imagine my reaction when I'm in the surprisingly fun "Changing Land" stage. It's basically a randomizer for Rumble World. I get to the boss which turns out to be a sparkling Espeon. Bosses in this stage from my experience have a 50/50 shot of sparkling, which means you're guaranteed to befriend the toy Pokemon when you defeat it. Can you see where this is going yet? I promise I'm almost done.

If you didn't already see this coming, the Espeon boss was indeed an Epic trait. That was already incredible in its own right. But it gets better. Psychic is the type I have the most Epics of, with a total of eight so far (I actually got an Epic Abra the very next level I played!), and in my collection of Epic Pokemon, Espeon was my 20th one on the dot. This is significant given my history with the number 20. And on top of ALL OF THIS... I predicted all of this by "random chance" as soon as I saw the boss was an Espeon just for the LOLs.

If this doesn't spell out "incredible predetermination story" for you guys, I don't know what does. August 7th has became the official "Espeon Day" for me, and I even celebrated it a few months ago, letting the Espeon fan inside me shine brightly.

Oh, good lord, this post was longer and much more cringe than it needed to be. They say hindsight is 20/20, and right now mine's telling me that I shouldn't have over-exaggerated my story to this much of an extent. So just for your own sake... please don't waste your time reading this version.

All of that being said... come on. We all know what day it is. To most of us, it's just any other day in the month of August. To me, this means so much more. Three years ago today was the day when Espeon defied the odds and made its mark as one of my favorite Pokémon of all time, right up there with Feraligatr and Pichu. I know what I literally just said about my original post being cringe, but again... come on. How could you blame me for wanting to celebrate a moment so impactful that I've written a nine-page essay on it because I felt like it? (I don't want to post links to my works in threads, so you'll have to PM me if you want to read it.)

Long story short... if you were playing a spin-off game and called out a moment with mathematical odds eclipsing 1 in 120 million, that ended up being the 20th member of a proud collection... trust me, you'd be celebrating too.

 

[Shedinja-43152]

I've always been a fan of Bug-type Pokemon. When I was little, my favorite Pokemon were Scyther and Scizor.

I also was a big fan of Bug pokémons, and also loves Scyther and Scizor, I used both in my Leaf Green adventure, and use Scizor in Emerald Battle frontier.

But my favorite Pokémon is Shedinja. Because I also like Ghost type pokémons and toutgh it was the perfect combination (when I was a kid). I used him in my first playtrhough in Ruby and he was cool, not that strong. But for a regular playtrhough the trainers don't have that much moves who can hit Shedinja.
But, I guess for the competitive scenario Shedinja is almost useless. The most commun pokémon in OU is Tyranitar who brings sandstorm with him who already kill Shedinja. And he didn't learn Destiny Bond, what I miss that much in him. And also Skill Swap don't work on him, I can't move his Wonder Guard Ability to a Sableye and become invencible in Doubles.

 

[bdt2002]

I also was a big fan of Bug pokémons, and also loves Scyther and Scizor, I used both in my Leaf Green adventure, and use Scizor in Emerald Battle frontier.

But my favorite Pokémon is Shedinja. Because I also like Ghost type pokémons and toutgh it was the perfect combination (when I was a kid). I used him in my first playtrhough in Ruby and he was cool, not that strong. But for a regular playtrhough the trainers don't have that much moves who can hit Shedinja.
But, I guess for the competitive scenario Shedinja is almost useless. The most commun pokémon in OU is Tyranitar who brings sandstorm with him who already kill Shedinja. And he didn't learn Destiny Bond, what I miss that much in him. And also Skill Swap don't work on him, I can't move his Wonder Guard Ability to a Sableye and become invencible in Doubles.

Shedinja is a very heavy "matchup mon", as I like to call them, meaning it's absolutely insane in some matchups but is borderline useless in others. I always thought that, as crazy as this might sound, they should buff Wonder Guard. The ability's current classification is that it "protects the Pokémon from moves that are not super effective". What I think it should do is make it so "the Pokémon can only take damage from super-effective moves". On paper this sounds like the same thing, but the technical wording change takes into account residual damage too. Since Wonder Guard is one of those Abilities that can't be transferred off of the Pokémon who has it (most of the time), this change could make Shedinja viable again without having too much unhealthy impact alongside other Pokémon.

As far as the Shedinja we currently have is concerned without wishlisting, however, I still think it's a pretty cool Pokémon. The idea of a discarded cicada shell becoming a Ghost-Type upon death is nothing short of genius, and its set HP value of 1 makes it arguably the scariest user of the move Endeavor in the entire series, provided you can get the move onto Shedinja with, like, Mimic or something. Already having access to Shadow Sneak makes this strategy even more potent if you can get the setup working, allowing Shedinja to pick off 1 HP targets that don't have one of a Normal or Ghost immunity. In the off chance you want to use this strategy for yourself, I recommend using it on a rain team- the Water-Types seen in these can help against types like Fire and Rock while also keeping hail/sand off the field.

 

[Shedinja-43152]

its set HP value of 1 makes it arguably the scariest user of the move Endeavor in the entire series, provided you can get the move onto Shedinja with, like, Mimic or something.

Unfortunelly is impossible to Shedinja learn Endeavor. Maybe with mimic in doubles it can works.
The only strategy I can think to Shedinja is him to hold a Focus Sash.

 

[Local Dog]

Why do I like a gen 1 bug type that almost no one really remembers and doesn't even get attention from GF? For me, there's one reason: relatability

Venomoth in gen 1 was one of the worst fully evolved mons, arguably the second worst, just before Hitmonchan. It's typing is one of the worst you can have in the gen, its stats are much weaker than some first stage mons and its movepool is entirely unimpressive

However, in the world of comp pokemon, where every generation introduces a great deal of power creep and more and more older mons lose relevancy, Venomoth constantly rised against all odds. And not much happened to cause this. It managed to utilize abilities that wouldn't be great on other mons to its best extent, perfectly used small stat boosts and the occasional new move in its pool to find new niches. Whilst mons that were on the top of the world, like Snorlax, fell through the ranks with every new game, this one moth rised and rised and

Going from being trash in gen 1 to RUBL (with a very solid UU niche) in gen 7 despite being below 500 BST and having so many traits that would be unimpressive by themselves is an insane feat

Being from a problematic home in a shitty economic situation to standing solidly in my own life, I absolutely see something of myself in this moth :)

I hope it will be back in gen 9 with Aura Sphere, Earth Power or sth. I REALLY wanna see my moth in OU proper one day

Oh and I also like mega Lopunny because... Well I guess you can tell why

 

[Red Raven]

The story of why and how Garchomp became my favorite pokemon is actually really funny. I was introduced to pokemon thru the anime and I didn't even know there were pokemon games until I was in my early teens. During that time, I loved watching the movies and one of my favorites was the Giratina one. We already know how strong Dialga and Palkia are thru the previous movie and when I saw Giratina, I took a liking because of its design. When my cousin finally introduced me to the pokemon games, I played platinum as my second game and caught Giratina. Given that Giratina is an actual god, I had expected it to just effortlessly destroy everything in my path. It is Giratina after all. For the most part, that happened until I finally reached Cynthia. Spiritomb was pretty meh and when my Giratina killed it, she sent out Garchomp. Based on its design, I assumed that it was a dragon type so I used dragon claw. Imagine my surprise when Garchomp went first and killed my Giratina. I was like 'what the fuck is this? How can a random shark looking thing stand up to an actual god? Does this mortal even know its place? Where the fuck is the logic behind a mere mortal manfighting and somehow defeating a god?'. Cynthia nearly had me destroy my phone after that but I decided to instead just grind for an entire afternoon until I finally beat her

Fast forward to a few years, out of nowhere, youtube suggested to me False Swipe Gaming's Garchomp video and I watched it because I remembered this pokemon as being the one that royally pissed me off. Only then did I understand that pokemon practically has zero fucks when it came to logic and that Garchomp really was such a great pokemon even among legendaries. That video also got me interested in competitive pokemon and got me playing with me spamming Garchomp on every team. Sometimes pairing it up with a Tyranitar just to get some hilarious sand veil dodge and often times, trying to find ways to make Mega Garchomp work because after Rayquaza, it is the second coolest looking mega for me

Since then, I've started to play a bit of gen seven ou while waiting for crown tundra to drop and was impressed with how reliable Garchomp is. So much so that it became my favorite pokemon. When I was starting out on competitive battle, I was playing a lot of Dota 2 at the time so I am no stranger to competition. Aside from Garchomp's competitive prowess, I began to appreciate its design as well especially with how it doesn't have a stupid smiley face like that dumbass Dragonite. With it satisfying my competitive thirst and having a great design, Garchomp has become my favorite mon. I only wish it was given an equally great shiny instead of the one we have now that you can't even tell the difference if you aren't playing on a 3ds or Switch

Honorable Mentions

Because of how Garchomp became my favorite pokemon, the criteria for me to like a pokemon is that it must have a good competitive history. It doesn't necessarily have to stand the test of time but as long as it is successful in singles at least once. That pokemon must also have a good enough design



Milotic is my second favorite pokemon right after Garchomp. Same reason as above but instead of being menacing, it is instead elegant. Its successful debut generation and a powerful threat in uu the following gen also helped



Aside from it meeting the criteria I mentioned, this pokemon is the single most reliable pokemon when doing a playthru of the games. Evolves really early, incredible stats for a level 20 mon, and dragon dance? Hell yeah



Already mentioned why I like this. Being considered as the devil of pokemon also helped because I really like demons



Again, mostly its competitive prowess. The fact that it works so well with Garchomp also helped why I like Greninja

 

[Divine Retribution]

My favorite Pokemon are Azelf and Gengar. Gengar's an easy one to explain; I was an edgelord kid and Gengar is the classic edgelord Pokemon. I started playing in Gen 1 and Gengar was just the most well-designed Pokemon from Gen 1 in my opinion (one of the few whose designs I will still champion). It's a fairly simple, yet appreciable and nearly timeless design. I genuinely think Gengar might be one of the most iconic Pokemon in the series.

Azelf, on the other hand, is very much not iconic. In fact I think most people forget Azelf even exists most of the time. It's part of a forgettable trio that look essentially identical, only wearing different hats... or hairstyles... or whatever. I don't think they got all that much attention in the anime, and in the main series games, Mesprit is given the most focus. The player is sent after Azelf first during the storyline, but at this point they don't even know it's Azelf they're after, and by the time they reach Lake Valor, Team Galactic has already captured it.

So what is it about Azelf that appeals to me? Well, I think it's a combination of things. First, my preferences for Pokemon are definitely influenced at least a little bit by my success with them competitively, or at least they used to be. I first got seriously into competitive battling in DPPt, and Azelf was, at the time, one of the best Pokemon in competitive singles. It was arguably the best lead in the game, with access to rocks, a fast Taunt, and a strong Explosion, as well as a solid Nasty Plot sweeper who didn't have much competition at the time. Then of course team preview, the Explosion nerf, Alakazam and Espeon getting better HAs, and better leads like Excadrill and Landorus-T came along and knocked it solidly out of the competitive limelight.

There's also Azelf's role in PMD2. Azelf resides in a place called Crystal Lake, which is aesthetically and conceptually one of the coolest places ever represented in a Nintendo DS game. He's also the only one of its trio that successfully protects its Time Gear, risking his life (I guess? If the lake spirits can even die) to do so. Azelf doesn't exactly get a ton of attention in PMD2 either, but the few lines he is given paint him as a stoic, duty-bound guardian in contrast to Mesprit's rashness and Uxie's ineffectiveness.

 

[Choice Specs Heracross]

I don’t think I’ve posted this but Ho-oh is my favorite Pokémon. I think it’s a combination of nostalgia, its design, its battle prowess, its debut in the anime and its lore and appearances in the games (HG and Colo in particular) Yeah Ho-oh really just is on another level tbh :)