Welcome back to me reviewing the Generation 7 Pokemon! So I did 2 blogs today because why the hell not? Gives you all a lot of material to take in. So with the last 5 Pokemon, I went through Pokemon I love and Pokemon I thought were okay, but not anything special, with one Pokemon that was in-betwixt those two levels. Here, I will cover 6 MORE Pokemon for today, so we started with Cutiefly today and will be ending with Araquanid.
Starting us off this time is Mareanie. Now, the thing about Mareanie is that it is an incredibly difficult Pokemon to find for a Pokemon you have to go and get so early in the game. I get that Bagon is too, but Bagon is supposed to be difficult since, well, it is in the Pseudo-Legendary line. Mareanie does not have a special line it is in, so it can quickly become a very forgotten Pokemon. This is probably why I was never able to find one. However, if you do want to try getting a Mareanie, you have to first go out to either Route 9 or the Melemele Sea. Actually, if you try the Melemele Sea, you can fish for it in special areas where its encounter rate in an SOS Battle goes from 1% to 20%. Also, it has to be called upon in an SOS battle. You can’t just initiate a battle and expect for it to come to you. Oh never think so. So in THAT sense, Mareanie can be a real chore to go and catch. However, if you do have the good luck to get one, you will not be disappointed. It has a decent movepool , an okay design although I do not think the Shiny form improves on it in any way, shape, or form, and its Abilities are actually really great for it. It can score critical hits with a poisoned targets if it has the Merciless Ability, and Limber keeps it from being Paralyzed. Even Regenerator is great as it heals the Pokemon if you switch it out. The fact it’s so hard to come by though cannot be ignored, and therefore, I can only give it a Fair, but it will get a high Fair.
Mareanie evolves into Toxapex, and let’s be honest, this is the Pokemon that has become a new mass hysteria in the metagame. The aforementioned Merciless Ability means Toxapex becomes a powerful force, even when it is already an essential immovable object with its high defenses. The design supports its Defense and honestly, it’s such a cool design and so fearsome at the same time. It also gets bonus points thanks to its rather disturbing Pokedex that reads “Toxapex crawls along the ocean floor on its 12 legs. It leaves a trail of Corsola bits scattered in its wake.” Yikes! So not only is Toxapex Merciless when basically being our slaves, but even in the wild it is a vicious cold-blooded predator who does not mess around! Thank God I’m not a Corsola! Another thankful thing is that even though it doesn’t get this form until relatively late, it’s at least not obscenely late like Vikavolt and Crabominable! I think after looking at those getting this Pokemon at Level 38 is not so bad. Toxapex is still going to be a chore to register in your Pokedex though because getting Mareanie is difficult enough as it is. It’s a cool Pokemon and well worth the trouble of going to get, but getting to bond with it won’t be an easy task as you have to go through a lot just to get its pre-evolution.
Next we go to Mudbray. Now I know donkeys aren’t the most appealing animals unless they’re voiced by Eddie Murphy, but if you can look past that, Mudbray is actually lowkey really cute. It also has a really neat Shiny that makes it all the more appealing. What’s also great is that they are not hard to find at all. Where you get one is actually a really suitable location in the Paniola area of Akala Island. Because this is still early on in the game, it has the opportunity to grow alongside your team unlike Mareanie. It also has a Signature Move in High Horsepower, a 95 base move with good enough accuracy to make this into a threat. If you were also lucky enough to get the Stamina Ability, Mudbray, and by extension Mudsdale, will be a viable mainstay that will make for great support if you started off with Rowlet like I did. Mudbray is just so enjoyable to have on my team! ^_^
Now, Mudbray evolves into Mudsdale, a Clydesdale Pokemon, and honestly, I am far from disappointed! It is the Pokemon you will on if you need to go through Spiky Terrain such as in Route 12 and that cavern you need to go into to get Guzzlord. You get this evolution at a reasonable Level 30 and its Physical Stats make this a prime buddy to have around, especially if you have the aforementioned Stamina Ability. With Stamina combined with a 100 Base Defense, physical moves aren’t going to do much against it. Designwise, it also works and is a suitable to improve on Mudbray. Considering Donkey turned into a horse in Shrek 2, it’s a nice connection to make if you are one of Shrek mouth breathers that I have seen as of late. If you want to build a team around the Rowlet line, this evolutionary line will be a great asset to your team and Mudsdale is just so enjoyable and chill.
Dewpider I don’t really have a lot of knowledge on, but what I can say is that if you liked Surskit before it evolved into the fail that was Masquerain, then you might like Dewpider as well. It’s basically just like Surskit, but the difference is that unlike that Pokemon, this one actually evolves right. Having Water and Bug together has not been done since Generation 3, but I am glad it kept what it had this time around. That being said, I’m not big on the design. I do think it looks somewhat awkward. But I don’t hate the way it looks either. Its Abilities, just like the other Pokemon we have gone through here, also suit this a LOT! Water Bubble will make Water attacks powerful even before the STAB, and Water Absorb gives it an Immunity to Water by healing damage from Water attacks instead of taking damage from them. You won’t get to spend much time with this before it evolves though, so it’s not like you’ll be missing out on much if you do skip Dewpider because you’re most likely going to encounter its evolution first anyway.
And finally, we’ll finish today with Araquanid. It’s a very defensive Pokemon just like Toxapex, but it doesn’t excel as well as Toxapex does defensively, so you will have to be careful if you’re dealing with Electric types. Speaking of, that’s the first type of trial you can even send it out against as they are in the wild in Malie Garden. It’ll become this form at Level 22, which I would have to argue is too early if Dewpider is only going to be in the wild in Brooklet Hill because at that point in the game, your party will generally be a few levels past that already. That means it’s not even worth catching Dewpider, so if you really want to use Araquanid in your playthrough, wait until you are in Malie Garden and just go straight for the evolution. Another thing about Araquanid that has to be noted is that it is actually very deceptive. Its Moon Pokedex entry will tell you “Despite what its appearance suggests, it cares for others. If it finds vulnerable, weak Pokémon, it protectively brings them into its water bubble.” That makes it seem like a good-natured Pokemon, right? Oh, but you’d be dead wrong, because the Sun entry reads “It delivers headbutts with the water bubble on its head. Small Pokémon get sucked into the bubble, where they drown.” Wait… WHAT!? So basically, it passes itself off as a caring Pokemon, but it actually cruel because the Pokemon it supposedly wants to protect will actually die because of Araquanid’s meddling! If you remember what I said about Masquerain when I did my Bottom 100 Pokemon countdown, you will remember that I do NOT like Pokemon who are frauds, and, as much as I hate to say it, this Pokemon passes as a fraud because of these Pokedex entries. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate this Pokemon at all. I actually think it can be serviceable if used right. But there is just so much that puts me off about Araquanid that I can’t say I overly like it either. I think the best place to put it would be in Fair as the positives and negatives either cancel each other out or are not over-the-top enough to tip it into one of the spectrum or the other.
Love (in order of review):
Rowlet
Decidueye
Litten
Incineroar
Rockruff (Borderline with Really Like)
Lycanroc (Both Forms)
Mudsdale
Really Like (in order of review):
Dartrix
Torracat
Pikipek
Toucannon
Mudbray
Like (in order of review):
Popplio
Vikavolt
Sensu Oricorio
Wishiwashi (Borderline with Really Like)
Toxapex
Fair (in order of review):
Primarina (borderline with Like)
Grubbin
Charjabug
Crabawler
Crabominable
Pom-Pom Oricorio
P’au Oricorio
Baile Oricorio (not too far from Like)
Cutiefly (not too far from Dislike)
Ribombee
Mareanie
Dewpider
Araquanid
Dislike (in order of review):
Brionne
Trumbeak
Yungoos
