Pokemon Review #4: Charmander

And now we move on to the Starter that almost everyone chose at the beginning of Pokemon Red/Blue. And why the hell wouldn’t he be the starter of choice for most Pokemon fans?

Bulbasaur and Squirtle are great, but Charmander is the definition of a perfect starter. He’s a Fire Type, and trying not to sound like a Genwunner, Gen 1 Fire Types are almost unanimously amazing. He’s adorable as all hell. He’s a cute baby dragon that eventually evolves into a badass adult dragon. The flame on his tail is cool (hot?) as hell. It’s also essential to his survival, as he will die if it extinguishes. Everything about his design screams awesome. And the whole Charmander line is absolutely superb.

Charmander in the anime is also great. His loyalty to Damian is heartbreaking, as Damian is a worthless trainer who vainly places emphasis on strong Pokemon instead of caring about the Pokemon he has and he has selfish motivations. When Ash rescues Charmander from a thunderstorm that he got caught in waiting for Damian, that really warmed my heart. I know there’s an Ash hate bandwagon nowadays that just loves to talk about how inferior he is to Red, but fuck those people. Actions like this are what make me love Ash. In addition, Charmander had one of my favorite voices in the anime. It was so goddamn adorable. And Charmander was the only one in his line that had any respect for Ash. Seriously, Charmeleon and Charizard were dicks.

Grade: A+

Pokemon Review #3: Venusaur

This is a Pokemon that I disagree with NAPACE on. He doesn’t care for Venusaur. I love Venusaur. I still prefer Bulbasaur, but Venusaur is pretty damn awesome in his own right.

I love how the bulb from Bulbasaur eventually blossoms into the magnificent flower you see before you. Seriously, that thing is pretty awesome. And Venusaur’s big, bulky frame is a definite plus, in my opinion. It makes Venusaur look like an intimidating badass. Combine this with his face that just says “Come at me, bro. See what happens.” His design does everything right.

Though often snubbed in favor of Charizard and Blastoise, Venusaur is actually a higher tiered Pokemon than either of them, according to Smogon, and more useful in battle. Behold, the Venusaur Renaissance is here. Er, kind of. People still seem to prefer the other two (myself included). Whatever. Venusaur is a great Pokemon regardless. Especially since his name rhymes with Penisaur. Heh heh. As you can tell, I am a very mature person with a rather sophisticated sense of humor.

Grade: A+

Pokemon Review #2: Ivysaur

 

Ivysaur suffers from what I like to call “Middle Stage Evolution Disorder.” It’s a disorder in which the Middle Stage Pokemon aren’t as memorable, and frankly, not as good as either their pre-evolved forms or their final Evolutions. Unfortunately, many Pokemon suffer from this condition, and Ivysaur is merely the first in a long line of these poor guys.

That’s not to say that Ivysaur is a bad Pokemon. Far from it. It’s just that he’s not as cool as either Bulbasaur or Venusaur. But Ivysaur is a good Pokemon in his own right. I like the new bulb on his back, even if it got smaller and changed color. The leaves are a nice touch, His teeth are also sharper than Bulbasaur’s, which is a plus in my opinion. And as opposed to Bulbasaur’s happy, smiley face, Ivysaur looks far more serious and stoic, which is quite cool.

But where MSED really starts to become apparent is in his basic design. I mean, if you take away the new bulb, he looks pretty much looks like a slightly bigger Bulbasaur with sharper teeth and a more serious face. It’s not the most creative design, is what I’m getting at. Also, I can’t recall any really memorable moments involving Ivysaur in the anime. But all in all, Ivysaur is still a really good Pokemon.

Grade: B+

Pokemon Review #1: Bulbasaur

Bulbasaur is the first Pokemon in the Pokedex, and what a great Pokemon to start out with. You know, I kinda feel bad for Bulbasaur, and really, all the Grass Starters. Generally speaking, the Grass Starters are ignored in favor of the Fire Starters or maybe the Water Starters. Thankfully, in Yellow, I didn’t have to feel sorry for Bulbasaur since you got all three Kanto Starters in the game. Hey Gamefreak, where’s my Pokemon Electric Yellow remake?

Pity aside, I really like the concept of Bulbasaur. Dinosaurs are awesome, and I love the concept of animal/plant hybrids (just ask the Pikmin, they’ll tell ya). Combine the two, and the result is great. The bulb on his back is a nice touch, especially when you see this little guy perform a freaking Solarbeam out of it. I also like his eyes. Adding red eyes to anything instantly makes it cooler. And c’mon, Bulbasaur is just adorable.

Another thing I like is that Ash’s Bulbasaur is a very caring and protective Pokemon, from protecting those Pokemon in the Hidden Village to soothing Togepi and calming him down in the first movie. I could totally imagine Bulbasaur being a great father some day. And you know what? That is really awesome.

Grade: A+

Introducing: Pokemon Reviews

Hello there, everyone. Today, I am going to start something new at Happy Katana. I am going to start reviewing Pokemon. I was influenced by the excellent Not All Pokemon Are Created Equal, which is one of my absolute favorite Pokemon sites, if not my favorite. Basically, his blog is him reviewing every single Pokemon. And it’s awesome. I was reading his reviews and thought “Hey, why can’t I do that?” A few reasons behind this:

1. I love NAPACE. Fantastic site, and I’d love to see more sites do that.

2. I love Pokemon. It’s probably my third favorite video game series of all time. And I would love to review them.

3. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t done the best job of updating the site frequently for a while now. There are a lot of articles I have in development right now (I promise, I’ll have the second part of my GameCube article and my big SpongeBob project finished at some point) and not enough finished. I have been doing a shitty job of writing on a consistent basis. This is something that will provide more content for the site. The reviews will be short and sweet, which will be significantly easier and less time consuming to write. Also, I like to think writing these reviews will help get me out of the writer’s block rut that I’m in and will inspire me to start writing more. Don’t think these reviews are just filler, though, and that I’m only writing them to keep the site updated. No, I’m reviewing the Pokemon because I love the series, and it’s something I would legitimately love to do. Seriously, this is going to be so much fun. More content is just icing on the cake.

Lo and behold, here we are. I do want to note that my scoring system will be different from his. While he uses a more traditional 1-10 scale, I will be using a letter grade scale. I always preferred that method of scoring than the 1-10 score. Without further adieu, let the reviews begin