#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.

#007 - Squirtle

SQUIRTLE

IN SHOW

135 episodes. That was how long Squirtle was a member of Ash’s pokemon team. He is the only one of the trio that actually ever left Ash (Bulbasaur takes care of the other pokemon with Prof. Oak and Charizard is training) and that deserves some credit. Squirtle was originally a member of the Squirtle Squad a gang of Squirtles who wore cool sunglasses and terrorized a small town. Why it never occurred to any of these people to catch the Squirtle I’ll never know. But what I do know is that I probably wasn’t the only one to be broken hearted when Squirtle left Ash to be leader of his old group, who are now firefighters. So he may not be with Ash, but he’s saving the world. Like a boss.

Also, you know how when Ash turned his hat shit was going down? Same thing with Squirtle. Only he’d pull out his shades and you KNEW someone was gonna get it.

WHY YOU WANT A SQUIRTLE

Squirtle could kill Brock. There was no question. You only needed to train a few levels and Brock would go down like a pebble you threw in a lake. Yea, that was terrible but it needed to be done because when you chose Squirtle you would not need another pokemon except for Pikachu, and that was only so that you could beat Misty just a little bit easier. Squirtle was going to survive for those two gyms, and that was probably the thing that mattered the most to many potential trainers. Based purely on the first gym Squirtle was the best choice.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A SQUIRTLE

Squirtle’s game picture was cute. In a sort of...idiot doesn’t know any better sort of way. The Squirtle they presented to you did not have the potential to wear shades. It just would’ve looked dumb. Everyone wanted their Squirtle to wear shades. This one could not.

IN SUMMARY

For the part of the game Squirtle was in, he rocked. He rocked in the show too. It sucked that he couldn’t live up to the massive personality he was given in the show, but he could definitely hold his own when it was required of him. And trust me, for the first gym battle it was required of him. It could be the difference between giving up and starting again or actually being able to progress through to the end of the game.

#006 - Charizard

CHARIZARD

IN SHOW

I could write a novel about all the adventures Ash and his Charizard have been in, but I won’t. We each have our private favourite episodes of the pair, so I’ll just capture what I deem to be the most important. The first thing is, man, we all HATED Charizard when he evolved. He saved Ash and we thought, great! No more Charmeleon, life is going back to the way it should be. We were wrong. It was 59 episodes before we would ever like Charizard or trust the creators of pokemon with our hearts. Why had they made us love Charmander so much only to make him into such an ass for the remainder of his life?

Then the worst happened, an ice beam froze Charizard and many thought that this was the end. Charizard was gonna die and we could get a better Charmander who wouldn’t destroy our hopes and things would go back to normal. But Ash saved Charizard’s life and they have been best friends ever since. Whenever Ash is in a pinch he can call on Charizard. They’ve flown together. They’ve beaten the toughest trainers. And they showed us that friendship needs dedication and trust more than anything else. Plus, Charizard is Ash’s strongest pokemon and that’s cool too.

WHY YOU WANT A CHARIZARD

Many would look at that statement and respond with ‘Why WOULDN’T I?’ I’ll get to that in a bit, so be patient. Charizard can Fly, Cut and move boulders around with Strength. He’s an HM whore, and we loved it. Though people only ever taught him Fly and Strength because who ever uses Cut and we needed those two extra slots for Flame Thrower and Fire Spin. Yes, in Red and Blue he sort of looked like a Dragonite, but at least he looked better then that awful Charmeleon and he looked amazing in Yellow.

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A CHARIZARD

Unfortunately for Charizard, as gym battles wear on we eventually move to the Elite 4 where no pokemon trainer is safe. We had gone through the whole game believing nothing could beat fire, except water, so for the first member of the Elite 4 we were stoked. Ice! How simple is that? We know what happens when you put a flame near an ice cube. According to the first generation of pokemon games, it melts and turns to water which puts out your flame. Because yes, your Charizard, the pokemon whose level you maxed and who you suffered through Charmeleon for, was defeated by the programmers making Ice strong against Fire. Against all logic. Even in grade school we could see the problem with this.

IN SUMMARY

The show taught us to believe in the power of Charizard. That he may be down, but he is never out. The game built him up by making him one of the most useful pokemon to ever exist. And then Lorelei took it all away with her Water/Ice combination. And we had put Charizard out front and everything because we expected the game to make some semblance of sense. Ice is not stronger than Fire. Maybe it was revenge for our awesome looking Charizard.

#005 - Charmeleon

CHARMELEON

IN SHOW

Charmander took some time to evolve, about 32 episodes, and by that time we had gotten pretty attached to the little guy. He’d beaten up Team Rocket multiple times, been a fast and loyal friend, and had even had some hilarious moments like helping Ash show that he is magic. We did not have a chance to appreciate Charmeleon as he evolved 3 episodes after his first appearance, but we didn’t want to. He was ungainly, mean, and not the sweet little thing we’d come to know and love. Was he suffering teenage angst? Was he rebelling because of the pain his original trainer had caused him? Was he jealous of Pikachu? Did he just think he was better than us?
It didn’t matter because of he was only a star for a short time, but we really sort of hoped for more.

WHY YOU WANT A CHARMELEON
Having a Charmeleon meant you were one step closer to that Charizard. Plus, because of how early Charmander would evolve because of the hard work we had to put in so that we could beat the first two gym leaders we had a high level pokemon so that not a lot of trainers standing on the side of the road could beat him. Plus after Lt. Surge came the Grass Pokemon gym and everyone knew who to call when that happened. Charmeleon was a strong addition to any team, especially when it came time to crush Erika.

Japanese Charmeleon

Western Charmeleon

WHY YOU DO NOT WANT A CHARMELEON

Remember how I said that Charmander actually looked pretty good in game? Charmeleon ruined it. The Japanese version is laughable, but the one released in the West was NOT much better. You wanted to punch this pokemon in the face not because you didn’t love him but because he looked so smug and his face was already deformed enough so how could it hurt it? Also, Charmeleon is a fire type, right? So you’d think with your Charmander levelling up you’d learn some new fire type moves. Ivysaur learned some new grass moves, so Charmeleon should too. Well you’d be wrong. Charmeleon relied on TM’s and whatever you hopefully taught your Charmander. So if you deleted all your fire moves for moves of other types in the hopes that you’d get some better moves off of Charmeleon, you’d be dead wrong and that fight with Erika? Well that could be a wipe.

IN SUMMARY

It’s hard to find redeeming qualities for Charmeleon. He didn’t get enough face time on the show to leave an impression that would get redeem his failures in the game, and he has some pretty big ones. Yes, he has his good qualities, but Charmander has the exact same ones so you might as well keep your Charmander until you’re only two levels away from Charizard so you only have one level of that terrible Charmeleon picture looking at you.