How did your favourite Pokemon become your favourite?

Zapdos will be my favorite now and always.

I had a dream about me in the Pokemon anime. And before you say it, yes it was important. I was in Kanto and watched as Zapdos and its smug face was soaring in the sky. Then it was hit by lightning. The one who caused it: Raikou. I was so angry that he'd defy the mighty original god of Thunder in pokemon. I tried to help but I couldnt. I was forced to watch Zapdos get into a GSC esk battle with Raikou - the Thunder spam, RestTalk, the eternal PP. And I was forced to endure this pain. Every time I see it I think of that dream. How helpless it was in the face of danger. Its robotic like cries for help. And what I could've done for the thunderbird

I like a whole other Pokemon like Archeops, Murkrow, Eelektross, Gliscor, Reshiram and Sirfetch'd. But the empathy I saw for the pinnochio bird was nigh unmatched compared to the others I like.
 

The one and only buck

Banned deucer.
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 :)
Eh i got u dawg. Ho-oh is favourite mon too. Mostly for competitive reasons tho. I’ve playing the tier National dex AG for some months and I came to the conclusion that ho-oh’s bulk, offensive power, amazing move pool and broken ability made him the best and most versatile mon of the tier.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
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 :)
Eh i got u dawg. Ho-oh is favourite mon too. Mostly for competitive reasons tho. I’ve playing the tier National dex AG for some months and I came to the conclusion that ho-oh’s bulk, offensive power, amazing move pool and broken ability made him the best and most versatile mon of the tier.
Historically I've been more of a Lugia fan than a Ho-Oh fan, but I can say with confidence that I still like it more than a number of mascot Legendaries. Two things I'd like to add to your post as a Johto fan myself are its battle theme in HeartGold, because it's infinitely better than Lugia's battle theme (Lugia has its own theme in a movie so it balances out) and its Shiny coloration being pretty much a direct reference to Gold & Silver... you know, the games it was first released in?
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
You can tell that Lugia was tacked on. Why would you go to the middle of the sea to catch the mascot, it makes no sense.
Lugia has been confirmed for quite some time now to have been designed with the second Pokémon movie in mind. This design philosophy goes both ways for Lugia when you compare it to Ho-Oh. On one hand, Lugia gets to thrive in an environment it was created for, whereas the developers gave Ho-Oh no such luxury. On the other hand, since Pokémon as a franchise originated as video games, including a character created with a different medium of the franchise in mind inside of the original medium meshes much worse with the Pokémon games by default compared to Ho-Oh, who from what we know had no such issue while having a more established role in its generation's games.
 

Choice Specs Heracross

Banned deucer.
I absolutely love Lugia in the 2nd movie and Shadow Lugia although I think it would have made more sense for it to have flipped off/defs and be dark/flying because it’s its own subspecies (XD). I like how he’s a speedy wall and multiscale is an amazing HA for him like Regenerator is for Ho-oh.
 

Mex

The last ace in a lost hand
is a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Personally, my favorite Pokémon is Dialga, the reason being kinda complicated. Part of it is thanks to PMD2. Dialga's Fight to the Finish was probably the first video game song that i truly found great, and it's stuck with me for over a decade, alongside the theming of Temporal Tower, and the impossibly hard time i had with that boss fight when i was first playing

Outside of that, the concept of a Pokémon that controls time is just appealing to me as well. The ability to mess with time is extremely interesting to me, and with Dialga being the reason that time continues to flow, or even stopped flowing, in the Pokémon universe just makes me like it even more.


Outside of Dialga, I also really like Mantine, which is due to a much simpler reason, being that when i first started playing Pokémon Go, on my first day I saw a Mantine at a pokestop that was just a mural of a Manta Ray, and it just kinda clicked with me at that point.
 

Choice Specs Heracross

Banned deucer.
I prefer Dialga to Palkia but I do love how the latter saves the day in Part II. Also, Palkia is arguably the best Pokémon in PMD2. Water/Dragon was nuts before the advent of Fairy. I mean Clair/Juan/Drak(E) can be pretty horrifying and part of that is definitely because of using a Pokemon with some of the highest base stats that isn’t a (psuedo) Legendary or has a hindering ability. I mean Kingdra had the best balanced type, the best neutral coverage type, Swift swim, dragon dance, I could go on.

About Mantine, a fellow Swift Swimmer. I love all the Water/Flying types because it’s such a good combo. Manta Rays are really cute and I love how he got buffed In S & M. His minigame was super fun and useful too in the sequels but man did it wreck my circle pad :/ It bothers my OCD (which I do legitimately have btw) that Skarmory doesn’t have a pre-evo and 85 (374) HP although I suppose he’s been a beast since 1999 and a Skarmory Pre-evo would probs get banned in LC anyway.
 
What is your favourite Pokemon AND WHY? How did that Pokemon become your favourite? Anime? In-game? Competitive battling? Or any other reason?

My favourite Pokemon is the adorable Johto grass starter Bayleef.

Well, I got into Pokemon when I was five years old. It was 1999 and the anime started airing in the Netherlands. The fourth episode, in which Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree, was the first episode I ever saw. I was hooked. I became a major PokeManiac, which I still am. Thanks to that episode, Butterfree became my favourite Pokemon. I cried when Ash released him, and I still cry when I even think about that episode.

However, when Gen 2 was just new, I got introduced to Chikorita. TCG card, a flippo and then Ash's Chikorita in the anime... I had a new favourite Pokemon. Her sheer cuteness, her crush on Ash, her jealousy towards Pikachu, her personality... Perfect.

Then, in 2002, Ash's Chikorita evolved in the anime. I immediately loved Bayleef. SO CUTE!!! Since the day I saw the episode in which Ash's Chikorita evolved, Bayleef has been my favourite Pokemon for eightteen years and still is, and always will be.

Gen 3 introduced Altaria and Milotic, two Pokemon I also adore. However, they cannot even come close to Bayleef's awesomeness.

Using Bayleef in Pokemon Crystal and Pokemon Colosseum, and getting a Bayleef plushie and figurine, only strenghtened my Bayleef favourism.

I love the entire Chikorita line, but Bayleef the most. Now, in 2020, I have three Bayleef plushies, several TCG cards and figurines, and even wrote a fanfic from Ash's Bayleef's perspective a few years ago.

In most of my playthroughs of any game in which Chikorita is available (which includes breeding it in another game and trading the egg to the game I'm playing), I use Bayleef on my team. Not Meganium, but Bayleef. I love Meganium, but nowhere as much as Bayleef. And yes, I EV train the Bayleef and make sure to get a good nature and IV's, to make sure it doesn't hold my team back.

What is your favourite Pokemon? And why? How did that Pokemon become your favourite?

View attachment 280414
Garchomp is my favourite and I like Garchomp because it is a good strong Pokémon and I like dragon types
 
If anyone here has seen my favorite pokemon lists, chances are they might've noticed a peculiar no 1 each time.

pelipper.png
:bw/pelipper: :sv/pelipper:
Pelipperito!!!

Now, y'all might be wondering why this pelican ranks higher than literally all the other mons in existence, instead of other water creature like a starter, kyogre, gyarados or anything like those. Well, there's actually a lot of reasons!

-They have a simple yet charming looks to them. Idk, the cartoon eyes, simple body shape and beak just make them extremely appealing to me. And wingull is adorable (and for whatever reason they haven't been as annoying to me as to other people).

-The shiny is my favorite color! Admittedly, it's not a SUPER drastic color change or one that has people gawking at it and dedicating hours into obtaining them. But hey. It's an extremely neat shade of green, and they actually look good in it, so I still consider it a win!
pelipper.gif


-They're massively useful for casual and competitive play! The stats aren't impressive admittedly, but the type combination, easy accessibility as a wingull, relatively low evolution level and how easy it is to get one with drizzle (excellent ability!). Drizzle also makes them useful for competitive battling, hitting like a truck with rain boosted water moves and unmissable hurricanes and supporting the rest of the team.

Ok that's it rly. Not as complete of a reason, but still valid in my opinion!
images (2).jpeg
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
If anyone here has seen my favorite pokemon lists, chances are they might've noticed a peculiar no 1 each time.

View attachment 494835:bw/pelipper: :sv/pelipper:
Pelipperito!!!

Now, y'all might be wondering why this pelican ranks higher than literally all the other mons in existence, instead of other water creature like a starter, kyogre, gyarados or anything like those. Well, there's actually a lot of reasons!

-They have a simple yet charming looks to them. Idk, the cartoon eyes, simple body shape and beak just make them extremely appealing to me. And wingull is adorable (and for whatever reason they haven't been as annoying to me as to other people).

-The shiny is my favorite color! Admittedly, it's not a SUPER drastic color change or one that has people gawking at it and dedicating hours into obtaining them. But hey. It's an extremely neat shade of green, and they actually look good in it, so I still consider it a win!
View attachment 495009

-They're massively useful for casual and competitive play! The stats aren't impressive admittedly, but the type combination, easy accessibility as a wingull, relatively low evolution level and how easy it is to get one with drizzle (excellent ability!). Drizzle also makes them useful for competitive battling, hitting like a truck with rain boosted water moves and unmissable hurricanes and supporting the rest of the team.

Ok that's it rly. Not as complete of a reason, but still valid in my opinion!
View attachment 495045
A few things I want to reply about on this post if that's okay :D

1. "Pelipperito" might be one of the greatest names I've ever heard a Pokémon called, to the point where "Despacito" started playing in my head as I was typing this post. A similar thing happened with Sprigatito when I tried one out for the first time, funnily enough.

2. I can imagine you were pretty happy with all the love this Pokémon got in Sun & Moon, so much so that this may have been what pushed our flying friend into the top spot for you.

3. I feel like I've asked this question elsewhere on Smogon before, but how did you get the Shiny model of :sm/pelipper: to show up like that? I'm probably just forgetting the text code for Shiny sprites/models, but I still figured it was worth asking. Thanks in advance :)
 
I'm pretty horrifically indecisive and love lots of Pokemon - not all of them, but lots. But a couple years ago I went to a tattoo convention to get my first ink. A particularly nerdy artist there was looking to catch the OG 151 in his own way, by tattooing them to people. He'd just started the project, and so besides Charmander and Pikachu the list was open. After some deliberation, I decided getting Haunter tattooed to me was the best choice, so it is now my favorite on the grounds that only an idiot would walk around with a tattoo of their non-favorite on them.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
In my posts about Espeon's defying the odds and helping me rediscover what it means to love the Pokémon franchise, and Pichu's overhwleming amount of nostalgic influence stemming from Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I'd like to think I've made it relatively clear that one of, if not the biggest factors that impacts how much I go on to love or hate any given Pokémon is how much of an impact that Pokémon left on me. Since the topic is still fresh on my mind... let's talk about dolphins for a second, shall we?

:sv/finizen: :sv/palafin:

Admittedly, these two being still so new means my opinions on them could always change. I'll also be the first to admit that they aren't the only Pokémon from Paldea that peaked my interest; Paldean Wooper (and by extension Clodsire) was two of my favorite things in one regional variant (those being Johto representation and Poison-Types), Nacli is literally a power-up from Super Mario Galaxy 2 and you can't convince me otherwise, Glimmora is pretty much my dream competitive Pokémon only held back by the fact that Geeta sucks at using one, and Iron Valiant is the Gardevoir and Gallade fusion I've wanted ever since Generation 6 added Gardevoir's new Fairy-Type and gave it and Gallade to Diantha (in XY) and Wally (in ORAS) respectively.

All of that being said... 2022 was a roller coaster of a year for me coming off of an especially stressful 2021. My attention had largely shifted over to the Super Mario franchise for 2022, in part due to Mario Kart's 30th anniversary as well as because 2022 was the year I started my crossover project. For a while I was insistent that I wanted to quit Pokémon at least for a while, fearing that continuing would make 2022 (almost) as stressful as 2021 was. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was a very nice surprise, but for the longest time, Scarlet & Violet had me very worried for reasons I won't dive into here. (Get it? Dive? Because they're dolphins? ...yeah let's just move on.)

Leave it to a freak accident, a completely different Nintendo franchise, and a longtime wish for a dolphin-based Pokémon in the first place to be exactly what I needed.
 
3. I feel like I've asked this question elsewhere on Smogon before, but how did you get the Shiny model of :sm/pelipper: to show up like that? I'm probably just forgetting the text code for Shiny sprites/models, but I still figured it was worth asking. Thanks in advance :)
I got it from here!
https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/xyani-shiny/
Downloaded the image and then added it like any other picture. Hope it helped! Also


1. "Pelipperito" might be one of the greatest names I've ever heard a Pokémon called, to the point where "Despacito" started playing in my head as I was typing this post. A similar thing happened with Sprigatito when I tried one out for the first time, funnily enough.
Never thought my boy would make someone think of despacito, but oh well, glad you liked it!
 
Tepig  sprite from Black 2 & White 2


this guy is my favorite mon.

my first pokemon game was white and I choose tepig as my starter. I named it bacon (very original) and I used it, but gave up cause twist mountain was too confusing for my 6 year old brain. couple of deleted save files later I got past twisted mountain and proceeded to beat the rest of the game with an extremely overleveled emboar (also named bacon). my first time beating the game with emboar has always given me an appreciation for the mon.

also, I used to be into pokemon cards and the first card I got was a pignite pokemon card from mcdonalds which came with a toy. I'm pretty sure I still have both of them, but I'm too lazy to find them so here's a google image of them.

2012 McDonalds Pokemon Pignite #6 Happy Meal Toy Figure | eBay
Pignite (4/12) [Mcdonald's Promos: 2012 Collection]
 
I'm pretty horrifically indecisive and love lots of Pokemon - not all of them, but lots. But a couple years ago I went to a tattoo convention to get my first ink. A particularly nerdy artist there was looking to catch the OG 151 in his own way, by tattooing them to people. He'd just started the project, and so besides Charmander and Pikachu the list was open. After some deliberation, I decided getting Haunter tattooed to me was the best choice, so it is now my favorite on the grounds that only an idiot would walk around with a tattoo of their non-favorite on them.
These are good opinion about tatttoo.
 
My current favorite is probably Slither Wing, but that kind of stems off Volcarona being my previous (and now 2nd) favorite, so consider it the pre-amble there.

To begin with, Bug types have always been among some of the Pokemon that rank highly for me. I'm not a big person for real life insects, but Pokemon makes them intriguing to me because it applies a lot of interesting behaviors or biology to them on a larger scale creature, which feels the most fantasy-esque to me in terms of the creature design compared to some other designs feeling too "animal but fancy color" or going to the other end of "this is a character, not a species" like I've criticized in some recent Gens. Gen 5 was a good Gen for Bug Types especially.

Then we come to Volcarona. I love this thing's design and implied lore as a Sun Deity, given its Legendary-like Encounter in the Relic Castle and extreme rarity in general to help reinforce things. It still has a distinctly insectoid look, uses a very unique but also flavorful type combination, and while controversial as the "match-up Moth" in several OU gens, has a Playstyle I like the design of. Volcarona has always felt like one of the Pokemon that's not actually a Pseudo Legend but fits right in with them for fight scenes or crowd shots, alongside stuff like Flygon or Bisharp/Kingambit.

It bears a clear Achilles Heel with its SR weakness and lower Physical Bulk that comes with pros and cons (Flame Body/Swarm take advantage of it baiting Physical Attacks or potentially dropping to low HP quickly from the above, for example) rather than just feeling like cement shoes they put onto an otherwise fine or overpowered Pokemon like, say Defeatist on Archeops (which flavorwise I don't see a good correlation with). It has a lot of ways to vary up with EVing for Bulk vs Speed/Power, running different coverage, and interesting play with each Generational Gimmick.

Then we come to Gen 9, where I see this thing on Sada's team during the End Game Battle, and my first post-game thought is "I wanna catch this" since it wasn't a species that appears before post-game. It's a big fuzzy punch bug, and compared to Volcarona's more rotund body with tiny legs, this one can actually walk on them. Part of my love is how effectively it works as a Volcarona look while having a distinct identity (something I'm iffy on with a lot of Paradoxes as counterparts, especially the Future ones), to the point I could see it as a split evolution. The latter point especially contributes because it reminds me a lot of Larvesta, who has a very Physical lean before evolving into the Specially-focused Volcarona, adding to the unique flavor since a lot of Paradoxes are their base form-but-better in terms of Base stats (main other exceptions I qualify as Iron Valiant and the two "DLC Legend" paradoxes). The Compound Eyes and lack of a visible mouth shared between them is also endearing to me, keeps their faces expressive but alien against the more Anthropomorphized look of a lot of Pokemon. Slither Wing as a result is a Pokemon I enjoy just watching and interacting with, much less using in battle with its weird move access and unique defensive profile for this gen.

Fuzzy Moth good
 

Band

scatters things often
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
My favorite Pokemon is and most likely will forever be Scizor. It probably became by favorite during XY, when I was getting into "competitive" and could now play the game and actually understand everything 100%, as english is actually my second language with portuguese being my native one.

Anyways, that was the generation Megas were introduced and me and my friends would battle each other all the time, so I obviously would always have a Mega Pokemon on my team, that being Mega Scizor. There was no particular reason as to why I chose that, I probably just thought it looked cool. I didn't understand ANYTHING about EVs, IVs or breeding despite being able to understand english, so my Pokemon were all caught in the wild and trained in the Elite Four lol. Yet, my Mega Scizor was always my best Pokemon at those matches (probably because it has godly typing, ability, and stats, but still). Swords Dance + Bullet Punch + Roost wrecked basically any Pokemon my friends would bring, and I always used my starter Greninja and in-game Florges for other threats. That also kept going throughout ORAS, and I would eventually stop having any irl friends that liked Pokemon once SM rolled around (moved schools + I was 14, so it was "uncool" to like Pokemon, so I stopped playing after USUM).

Fast forward a couple years, I'm 17 and bored during quarantine and decide I want to get back into mons and replay some older games, especifically Platinum. So I restart my save file and decide to use a Scizor. It performed amazing, was always my most reliable team member. I start to remember the days I used to play XY and really get an affinity for base Scizor. It's cool, slick, strong, and reliable, so I grew really attached to it. From then on, it was hard not to use Scizor any time I replayed Platinum, HGSS, and even XY. I also grew to really love its Shiny (specially in older gens, the lime is really cool!), but I got sold completely on it this generation. The metallic effect is perfect, it's the best Scizor has ever looked and it solidified my love for it even more!

There's probably some other parts of the story I'm missing but that's it. My favorite Pokemon before Scizor, though, was Krookodile, the MVP from my original Black team from 2011.
 

Coronis

Impressively round
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus

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.
Just catching a glimpse of this post literally means I have to replay Sky.
 
My absolute favorite Pokemon is Marshadow
marshadow-pokemon_compressed.gif


My favorite type has always been Ghost. When I had Blue as a young kid, I originally picked Haunter as my favorite Ghost type... only to later find out that it evolved into Gengar, who my brother had claimed as one of his favorites. Since it is impossible for siblings to have overlapping favorites, Gengar was blocked from becoming my new favorite, so I was determined to get a new favorite ghost in Gold... Only for it to turn out to be the case that the only new ghost was Misdreavus, who was locked away in the post-postgame. I was still determined to make Misdreavus my favorite for a while, but I was always a bit disappointed that competitively it remained outclassed by Gengar. It had its niche with Perish song, sure, but continued to live in Gengar's shadow.

Ever since, every generation I would hope for a new ghost type to become my favorite.

Gen 3? Banette was ok but somehow didn't rise to the ranks of favorite.

Gen 4? I had high hopes for Mismagius but it remained outclassed by Gengar, and after waiting and hoping for a Misdreavus evolution it just fell short---though I think the main issue was that I didn't even get to use one on my in-game team due to the fact that there was only one dusk stone in the game, so it was too important to use on a random in-game Misdreavus, but I don't think I ever finished my optimized team. Giratina was probably my favorite ghost at this point, but didn't rise to overall favorite. I think I probably liked Darkrai quite a lot at this point---it was what I wished Misdreavus could have evolved into, and I was annoyed it wasn't a ghost type. But, at the same time, this was back in the days of it being next to impossible to get mythicals, so I never even had a Darkrai back then.

In Gen 5? Chandelure had a good shot at becoming a favorite, especially with the tantalizing prospect of it getting shadow tag, but of course that never released and was replaced with infiltrator next gen, and within gen 5 its meh speed once again meant that Gengar outshadowed it.

Gen 6 finally delivered an amazing ghost type in Aegislash, and it became my favorite for a while. Mega Gengar was also amazing, and brought Gengar back into the favorites fold. At this point, the only things these mons were missing was shoulder-mon status. Pikachu's iconic hanging out outside of a pokeball felt like a nice feature for a favorite to have. Hoopa was the right size for a shoulder mon, but I actually didn't really like its design very much -- and then Hoopa unbound wasn't ghost anyways (and was a lot uglier).

Then, gen 7 rolled around. During the prerelease period Mimikyu was revealed, and it was a strong contender for a possible new favorite: great typing, neat ability, shoulder-mon. I didn't quite like the lore of an entire species of Pokemon cosplaying as Pikachu, but I could maybe accept it through a head-cannon that the species could make spider-silk and just made their outfits out of that. Decidueye also might have been a contender for favorite once it was revealed that it was a ghost-type, but then, the datamine of the demo happened, and images of all the Pokemon were revealed. I remember seeing Marshadow and thinking "that mon looks so cool, but GF will probably pull another Darkrai on me and it won't be ghost type." And then, once the game was finally datamined, not only was Marshadow a ghost, but it had one of the best offensive type combinations in Ghost/Fighting. And it had an absolutely bonkers move in Spectral Thief, plus a signature Z-move to boot. That sealed it. This was my new favorite Pokemon, and it has been ever since. I got two copies during the distribution, and saved one to use during my playthrough of Ultra Sun, using a mono-ghost team. This remains my favorite playthrough of the entire series.

In gen 8, once Dragapult was leaked and revealed to be ghost/dragon, it shot up to one of my top favorites, surpassing Aegislash but not Marshadow. Hisuian Zoroark (and Zorua) also blew by Aegislash to the top of the favorites list, just behind Dragapult.

Finally, with gen 9 came the release of Flutter Mane, which was everything I had hoped a Misdreavus evolution/form could be (except for its stupid snaggle tooth and name). It's not enough to push passed Marshadow, but Flutter Mane is now my #2 favorite ghost, ahead of Dragapult.

At this point, I doubt Marshadow can be dethroned. It is everything I wanted in a favorite Pokemon. I've bought basically all of the Marshadow merch I could find at this point: the plush, the TGC box with the Marshadow figure, the version of that same TGC box but that came with a jumbo card instead, the Marshadow TCG tin, a game-stop exclusive Marshadow figurine, the Marshadow pins, socks, and sweater from the Pokemon Center store, most of the Marshadow TCG cards (except the Sylveon card with Marshadow on it that goes for like $100+ on Ebay ;_;), Japan-exclusive(?) TCG card sleaves... If there is any other official merch out there, I am unaware of it (and please let me know if it exists...!)
 
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Over the years I had many favorite Pokémon. When I was first getting into the universe, at around 12-13 years old, it was Sawsbuck. Because when I was introduced to Pokémon TCG, that was literally one of the very first cards I had ever gotten from a friend, and I never took that moment for granted. To this day I still have that card, even though recently after all these years of having it, I found out it was fake. Nonetheless, without that card, real or not, I wouldn't have gotten into Pokémon the way I do today.

Two years later however, when I was 14, my appeal shifted from Grass type to Electric type Pokémon, as I found a new ideal favorite to latch onto, which was Electrike. I also liked Talonflame, Pangoro and Minun, but I specifically remember that Electrike and its evolutions was the thing I was most obsessed with. I was constantly asking my parents for a new card pack when Mega Evolutions were a thing, hoping for a chance that I'd be the first in the entire family to collect the entire tree. Which I wasn't obviously. My siblings were also heavily into Pokémon, so I basically had no luck when it came to being the first to do anything.

Eventually my craze for Pokémon was diminishing, which led to my other five favorite Pokémon. Since I was about 16-17 years old, Lucario, Lycanroc, Mimikyu, Delphox and Suicune were my absolute favorites (and they still are) without a doubt. The one that still reigns supreme however would be Lucario, because as I got older, the design of the Pokémon and its obvious appeal had stuck on me. Ironically, I use to hate Lucario because of how popular it was when I was young, and even when I started to like Lucario at that age, I just didn't really want to admit it to myself or others.

And so for Lycanroc, it was about the same. I knew how popular it was, but it's design, just like Lucario, struck a chord with me. Mostly because back then, having three forms you could evolve (and all having really good designs), says a lot.

Mimikyu, which I must say, was probably the most fascinating, even to me back then. It had the appeal of Pikachu, but at the same time, it was almost the exact opposite of any other popular Pokémon you'd think it be perceived as. It was shrouded in thick mystery and intrigue, which many legendary Pokémon have, yet this wasn't even a legendary, so in all obviousness, I just couldn't help but latch onto it.

Suicune, mostly because of the design, but also because it's really the only Legendary I really like dearly besides Ho-oh, Lunala or Palkia. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm really fixated on liking Canid designs for any Pokémon, and Suicune filled that niche perfectly. The only reason I ever became interested in Suicune, ironically, was because I liked Ho-oh way more back in the day. So the moment I had access to the internet, I decided to dig deeper into the lore, to then learn that Ho-oh created the Johto three, which obviously included Suicune. I couldn't help but like at least one of them, which snowballed into favoring Suicune.

And finally for Delphox, since I grew up with X and Y, Fenniken has always been my favorite starter and always will be, so knowing that Lucario is pretty much my all-time favorite Pokémon, it's no suprise (other than me growing up with the starter) that it would be one of my all time favorites.
 
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