Favourite Baby Pokemon

[DatsRight]

Okay these little scene stealing, arm occupying fellas are always divisive additions, so let's discuss which one you think came closest to being handled well.

Obviously there might be some subjectiveness here since 'baby' can qualify for a lot of unevolved or cute Pokemon. The general qualifications is that they mostly act young and dependent (and often are shown to be newborn), are out of their ball most of the time to be mothered by their trainer, evoke 'big sibling' roles out of the other Pokemon, and usually evolve late in their run, if ever.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot some examples like James' Mime Jr. Just click other and list them down if you chose them. And yes I know I screwed up Snowy, she's a Vulpix.

 

[Cat's Eye Draco]

I thought May's Eevee and Dawn's Cyndaquil were handled pretty well. They managed to be useful without being overpowered, the girls spent a fair amount of time training and bonding with them, and (as far as I recall) they were given about the same amount of focus/screen time as the rest of their teams.

 

[Pikachu979]

Dawn’s Cyndaquil and Misty’s togepi

 

[Zoruagible]

Mime Jr and Brock's Happiny
Bonsly and Togepi are a close second

 

[Leonhart]

Kasumi's Togepy is my favorite simply because I thought it was cute and it debuted during OS, which was my favorite era of the anime. And as much flack as I give Kibago, I have to admit that I consider him to be one of the better babies.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Definitely Togepi because it literally was the very first Pokémon we ever saw to hatch from an Egg and first Baby Pokémon to be seen and we got to see a unique personality that changed slightly as time went on but it still was the same Pokémon. Togepi went from a literal baby that couldn’t do a thing for itself to a Pokémon that learned Metronome without anyone noticing and learning to use it when help was needed the most and became protective of its friends. We saw it go from a baby that could start crying at any moment to one that learned how to be responsible and able to look after a group of younger Togepi. There was definitely a lot of character growth for it when you look back at it in hindsight.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I have a soft spot for Ash's meltan. Before the anime I didn't even care for it and didn't appreciate its design. The anime actually managed to give character to that species and make it cute and adorable

 

[Ubermuk]

Dawn's Cyndaquil was so cute and not as annoying as Togepi or Bonsly so there's that. May's Eevee is a close second.

 

[Leonhart]

We saw it go from a baby that could start crying at any moment to one that learned how to be responsible and able to look after a group of younger Togepi. There was definitely a lot of character growth for it when you look back at it in hindsight.

I think my issue with how Togepy was handled is that most of its on-screen development was saved for that two-parter in AG, when it should've at least happened during Jouto. It still bothers me that the writers waited until the Houen saga to evolve Togepy, which was a Gen II Pokemon that had been around since Kanto.

 

[DatsRight]

The problem was that Togepi started off an okay compliment to Misty's character early on, but then due to staying stagnant up until that two parter, it kinda became dead weight. It didn't 'ruin' Misty like some say, but being her most prominent representing Pokemon, alongside Psyduck who wasn't much better, her role as a trainer felt a bit undercooked since she never did anything with it. She had one attempt at training Togepi and then gave up (and then essentially threatened Ash if he so much as remotely gave her the same flak she always gave him about training ;P), otherwise relying on Togepi doing things on its own accord without her even noticing.

Togepi, like Psyduck, stuck as a constant reminder of Misty's incompetence as a trainer, while nearly every other example, while often suffering similar inactivity over cute moments, at least TRIED a few occasions (even Mallow commanded Shaymin properly a couple of times and had it help around her restaurant). It probably helped however that most later trainers with babies tended to alternate better with their other more experienced Pokemon, while most of Misty's non-comic relief Pokemon only appeared sporadically for a lot of the OS. The obvious exception is Snowy, being Lillie's only Pokemon for almost all of SM, though obviously she did a fair bit more with her.

 

[SerenaRulez]

Ash's Noibat was the cutest hatchling Pokemon but Misty's Togepi and May's Eevee were also really cute.

 

[Ignition]

@DatsRight I didn’t know Lillie had an Eevee

My favorite is easily Brock’s Bonsly. It had a somewhat consistent character arc from a whiny baby to a battle capable Sudowoodo who watched over Brock’s other baby Pokémon Happiny.

Second place is tied between Ash’s Meltan and Noibat due to their relationships with other Pokémon on his team

 

[horrahforyou]

@DatsRight I didn’t know Lillie had an Eevee

My favorite is easily Brock’s Bonsly. It had a somewhat consistent character arc from a whiny baby to a battle capable Sudowoodo who watched over Brock’s other baby Pokémon Happiny.

Second place is tied between Ash’s Meltan and Noibat due to their relationships with other Pokémon on his team

Nope Snowy is an Alolan Vulpix not Eevee

 

[Ignition]

Nope Snowy is an Alolan Vulpix not Eevee

I'm aware

 

[UltimateNinja]

I found Togepi to be annoying in some episodes. Don't care for Eevee and Vulpix either, for me they are just shillmons who are cute but boring to watch. Shaymin and Meltan were meh, Noibat and Axew were okay.

My favourite one is probably Bonsly. For me the right way to handle a baby Pokemon.

 

[Ubermuk]

My favourite one is probably Bonsly. For me the right way to handle a baby Pokemon.

As in it was literally the most babyish of them all? I get that it acted its age but man that thing sure did cry a lot even for an infant. What makes me laugh is how when Brock first met it it didn't act like a baby and it was only when it got caught that it needed to be bottle fed.

 

[Leonhart]

Togepi, like Psyduck, stuck as a constant reminder of Misty's incompetence as a trainer, while nearly every other example, while often suffering similar inactivity over cute moments, at least TRIED a few occasions (even Mallow commanded Shaymin properly a couple of times and had it help around her restaurant). It probably helped however that most later trainers with babies tended to alternate better with their other more experienced Pokemon, while most of Misty's non-comic relief Pokemon only appeared sporadically for a lot of the OS. The obvious exception is Snowy, being Lillie's only Pokemon for almost all of SM, though obviously she did a fair bit more with her.

I think that as weak as Togepy was, it at least served a purpose by helping the cast get out of sticky situations several times thanks to Metronome [although it was rather convenient how useful that one move was]. The indirect effect that Togepy had on Kasumi's character bothered me a little bit more however, because Kasumi mellowed out a lot once she got Togepy. It was rather jarring.

 

[DatsRight]

@DatsRight I didn’t know Lillie had an Eevee

I know, I screwed up and it won't let me edit the choices.

I think that as weak as Togepy was, it at least served a purpose by helping the cast get out of sticky situations several times thanks to Metronome [although it was rather convenient how useful that one move was]. The indirect effect that Togepy had on Kasumi's character bothered me a little bit more however, because Kasumi mellowed out a lot once she got Togepy. It was rather jarring.

I don't think Misty mellowing out around Togepi was bad per se, often many hot headed characters have one token 'morality pet' they are gentle around to show their redeeming side. The bigger problem is that the rest of her involvement petered out shortly afterwards, and Togepi didn't really offer much more versatility. Metronome was like Psyduck's Psychic attacks, a DEM running gag that Misty didn't really gain much more agency from and most of the time didn't even know about and otherwise they didn't actually take part in many other activities together as Pokemon and trainer, Misty just lugged it around episode after episode.

A lot of the time, Togepi may as well have just been a human baby.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Ash's meltan it was cute and bratty and tenacious at the same time, plus its chemistry with rowlet was also well executed.

 

[jaden767]

I don't like Baby Pokemon that much because most of them are annoying and a waste of space but Ash's Noibat was one of the better options.