#008 - Wartortle

WARTORTLE

IN SHOW

Ah, Wartortle. The only major character to ever have a Wartortle was May, whose Squirtle evolved in to one. The only other major appearance was a group of Wartortle who followed their leader, a Blastoise, on their own little island and were upset when the leader would not wake up. It was another situation of the producers/creators (I don’t want to blame a specific group) wanting to show the other evolutions of Squirtle but not wanting the main Squirtle to evolve.

WHY YOU WANT A WARTORTLE

Wartortle suffers from a symptom I like to call ‘exactly the same but...’ Wartortle can learn Surf, as can all his counterparts which is a big bonus as you need to Surf a lot towards the end of the games and so being able to Surf is a pretty awesome thing. He can also use Strength so he’s not a one trick pony as he had the potential to be.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A WARTORTLE

My biggest complaint about Wartortle is his tail and ears. Why did they get bigger? Blastoise loses his completely and Squirtle has no ears so the reason they made both aspects bigger has eluded me for years. Ivysaur and Charmeleon at least improved on the design of the pokemon, and you could see a connection between the first evolution and the second one. But Wartortle? He’s a Squirtle that grew a busy tail like a squirrel and big ears like an elephant only to lose them again at the next evolution. It’s not necessary to underwater creature to have big ears and a huge tail. It’s always seemed pointless to me. Also, Lt. Surge. He’s the guy you’re gonna have to fight right off the bat, and now is the time you have start catching pokemon. Squirtle could take care of himself for the first two gym leaders which will lead you into a false sense of security which you will regret the moment you realize Lt. Surge is an electric type and all you’ve got is a water type.

IN SUMMARY

As a child I really wanted to like Wartortle. Squirtle was an awesome character on the show and kept everyone laughing. He hadn’t been abused like Charmander or have a protection complex like Bulbasaur. He was the joker, and he wanted to make everyone laugh. And we did laugh. We were glad he never evolved in to Wartortle because the Wartortle evolution never made any sense. It felt forced and wrong. We knew the starters had to have a three-tiered evolution chain, and we knew it’s hard to make a perfectly acceptable turtle go into a bigger perfectly acceptable turtle, but Wartortle made no sense. Do I have an example of an evolution that would have made more sense? No. I can’t say I blame them for making Wartortle, and I know it’s wrong to judge a pokemon just on its’ looks. Wartortle is a good pokemon, and his stats and moves make sense for the next progression in the Squirtle line, but Wartortle himself doesn’t and at least for me, that’s hard to get past.