#014 - Kakuna

KAKUNA

IN SHOW

Where there is a Weedle, there are Kakuna. Kakuna was often shown hanging as a warning that there were Beedrill in the area and that the Beedrill were protective. Kakuna was a bad sign.

WHY YOU WANT A KAKUNA

You want a Kakuna so that you can evolve it into a Beedrill. But you always wanted to catch a Weedle first because otherwise Kakuna would become completely useless. With poison sting a Kakuna could stay in a fight longer, and possibly even hold its own. Another bonus to a Kakuna? Kakuna was only ever shown with arms once, and that is in the pokedex for Red and Blue.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A KAKUNA

If you completely skipped over the Weedle stage of the evolution, you would regret it. Evolving a Kakuna or Metapod is hard enough but without poison sting many would find it impossible and your Beedrill would be forever tainted with the fact that you had to struggle so hard just to get one.

IN SUMMARY

If any child were to ever see a bunch of Kakuna hanging in a tree, I’m pretty sure they would suffer some sort of heart attack.

#013 - Weedle

WEEDLE

IN SHOW

Weedle was always more of annoyance than a main character, and tended to stick around to mess up other people’s plans. It is true Ash almost caught one before being challenged to a battle, but he didn’t. This did lead to Metapod evolving at such a rapid rate, and for that we thank it.

WHY YOU WANT A WEEDLE

If you wanted a Weedle you wanted a Beedrill, and lots of people wanted a Beedrill. Weedle was exactly the same as Caterpie having a very limited move set, but Weedle had Poison Sting instead of Tackle. For some people, this made the difference. Tackle was an attack that would do more damage, but was only good for one turn. The potential to poison other pokemon? That made Weedle that much cooler.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A WEEDLE

Like Caterpie, Weedle had to evolve. It was no real use otherwise.

IN SUMMARY

Weedle was as cute as Caterpie, but much more dangerous. Touch a Weedle in the wrong spot and you’ve been poisoned, Caterpie could never do that to you.

#012 - Butterfree

BUTTERFREE

IN SHOW

By the end of the 4^th episode, Ash had a Butterfree. He had him for 17 whole episodes, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I cried when Butterfree left. It was a touching moment, Ash letting go of the very first pokemon he caught. And why did Butterfree leave? True love. Nothing else would have separated the two steadfast friends from one another. With a sweet montage, sad music, and a crying Ash, Butterfree fluttered out of the show, but not out of our hearts.

WHY YOU WANT A BUTTERFREE

Unlike the other main bug pokemon Butterfree won its fights by using status ailments. It may take a bit longer, but it was a much more interesting way to fight than the simple pick strongest attack, use, win. Butterfree’s sleep powder also helped us catch a lot more pokemon than we ever thought we’d be able to, because everyone knows a pokemon is easier to catch when he’s asleep.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A BUTTERFREE

If you are not the kind of person who relies on slowly debilitating your enemy until it’s too weak with illness to fight, then Butterfree is not your type of pokemon. Butterfree’s main attack couldn’t be reached until level 32 and most people aren’t that patient when they have Charizards burning down forests. So while Butterfree was really good at catching pokemon, and helping out in a battle, it couldn’t really handle its own. For many trainers Butterfree was a trophy, and not a real fighter.

IN SUMMARY

Butterfree had an emotional goodbye. He was the first proper pokemon anyone had seen caught, and he showed us the love that we could experience with our pokemon. He was also the first pokemon to say goodbye, and hit that landmark as well. As a pokemon he had the quickest evolutionary cycle, so though his previous forms were weaker it didn’t take as long to reach him and many trainers found him to be worthwhile, at least for catching other pokemon.

#011 - Metapod

METAPOD

IN SHOW

Ash had a Metapod for about one episode. Caterpie evolved into Metapod at the end of its appearance episode, and by the end of the next one Metapod had evolved as well. Only one Metapod has ever been shown to be able to fight back and that was Bugsy’s and he was a gym leader so don’t be too impressed.

WHY YOU WANT A METAPOD

The length between Metapod and Butterfree is a thankfully short one. You want to start with a Caterpie though, and not go straight for a Metapod you caught because move sets transfer. A Caterpie with tackle becomes a Metapod with tackle and that can be the difference between hours of fighting and constantly switching pokemon back and forth, and just hours of fighting.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A METAPOD

If you saw a Metapod and decided to completely skip the Caterpie stage, prepare for 3 levels of the most annoying time you will ever have. This is why a lot of trainers decided to always catch the lowest level of the pokemon evolution chain, and work your way up because otherwise you’d be stuck with a Metapod that can only use harden.

IN SUMMARY

The transition between Caterpie to Butterfree had to be marked somehow. Metapod was that way. He served his purpose, and we moved on.

#010 - Caterpie

CATERPIE

IN SHOW

When Misty laid eyes on her very first Caterpie, no one could understand why she wouldn’t love the adorable critter. He was the first pokemon Ash Ketchum would ever capture, and that has a special place in our hearts. Caterpie was only around for one episode, but it only wanted to be loved and everyone hated Misty for not returning the sentiment.

WHY YOU WANT A CATERPIE

You wanted a Caterpie if you wanted a Butterfree. Everyone had to choose at some point, except for the greedy who caught both, but you could always tell what kind of person was playing the game depending on which pokemon they were still playing at the end. Caterpie actually looked like a Caterpie in the pokedex and that was a big thing after the first 9 pokemon on the list expressed some difficulty with it.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A CATERPIE

If you caught Caterpie, it had to evolve. It had no move set, only Tackle and String Shot and that was not gonna get you very far in the game.

IN SUMMARY

The Caterpie in the show was cute. It was enough to turn any bug hater into an immediate bug activist. But the show also showed us that Caterpie was merely a stepping stone to the bigger pokemon, and prepared us for the fact that yes, our Caterpie would suck, but it could be worth it.

#009 - Blastoise

BLASTOISE

IN SHOW
Gary has a Blastoise which means he must’ve originally picked a Squirtle. I don’t remember any major fights with Gary using his Blastoise, but maybe I just have selective memory. It didn’t have a personality you could cling to anyway. There were some Blastoise shown being firefighters at one point.The only Blastoise I really remember was the episode where one had a Jigglypuff stuck in its’ gun and it was asleep for most of that episode.

WHY YOU WANT A BLASTOISE

Blastoise was the first pokemon to ever, EVER, evolve human technology. There was no explanation for it. No other pokemon had it. So while Charizard was cool because he was a giant fire breathing dragon, and Venusaur was cool because he could use solar beam, Blastoise took the cake for the water cannons built into his shell. Hydro Pump was invented for this guy, and he was really the only pokemon we could ever take seriously when using it. This was the pokemon that we wanted Ash’s Squirtle to evolve into. Could you imagine a Blastoise putting on the shades? We would have even suffered the small evolution of Wartortle if Ash could’ve had this guy on his team. Like his prior form he could learn Surf and Strength, so that’s another point for him.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A BLASTOISE
The guns. While many children thought it was the most amazing thing in the world, we would grow up and realize that it didn’t make sense. He showed no sign of ever needing guns in any prior forms, there was no hint or clue, and how did that kind of technology just evolve into a creature. There was no way it was all natural. No one has ever properly explained the guns on Blastoise, and I doubt anyone ever will. Another issue with Blastoise; the picture. While a lot of the pictures in the pokedex are bad Blastoise’s picture is probably something the creators want forgotten as soon as possible. It’s why in other generations he looks amazing. Because while Venusaur’s took away a lot of the intimidation factor, Blastoise’s made us downright not want to work our way up to getting one because we’d have to look at it for the rest of our lives.

IN SUMMARY

As a child, Blastoise could do no wrong. We wanted that canon toting pokemon, and we wanted him bad. He wasn’t in enough episodes and we wanted Squirtle to evolve into him. He was around long enough. He showed no inclination that he did not want to evolve. We were disappointed that he didn’t. But, if you could look away from the picture or maybe just put your finger over the screen whenever you had to go through the pokedex, he was a pretty awesome pokemon to have.

#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.