"Unloved" Pokemon

[dirkac]

Oh, i haven't seen the clauses for so long.

Another one that comes to mind is.......Magcargo (or macargo?), bad typing and middling stats make it unloved

Magcargo is pretty terrible but it's high Defense and Flame Body gives it a niche, if an extremely unreliable one.

 

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

I'm really scared about being proven wrong, but I do think the hate for Plusle is unwarranted, yes it is terrible competitively, but it's nothing like Pikachu.

I will say no more as I know KillerDraco or someone else will prove my opinion wrong.

EDIT: I expected this post to be ignored, it's fine. I can respect other people's opinions but I'm worried I will proven to have lack of knowledge on the franchise simply because I have a different opinon.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

I'm really scared about being proven wrong, but I do think the hate for Plusle is unwarranted, yes it is terrible competitively, but it's nothing like Pikachu.

I will say no more as I know KillerDraco or someone else will prove my opinion wrong.

EDIT: I expected this post to be ignored, it's fine. I can respect other people's opinions but I'm worried I will proven to have lack of knowledge on the franchise simply because I have a different opinon.

Your opinion is your opinion. People say I have a "lack of knowledge" because I dislike Smogon and competitive battling. They can say what they want. You're not wrong, dude. It's just your point of view.

Anyhoo, why does it seem like Raikou gets no love? Suicune (my boo) and Entei are everywhere, but Raikou gets nothing. What's up with that?

 

[dirkac]

I'm really scared about being proven wrong, but I do think the hate for Plusle is unwarranted, yes it is terrible competitively, but it's nothing like Pikachu.

I will say no more as I know KillerDraco or someone else will prove my opinion wrong.

EDIT: I expected this post to be ignored, it's fine. I can respect other people's opinions but I'm worried I will proven to have lack of knowledge on the franchise simply because I have a different opinon.

It is.

It has literally nothing going for it, not even the wtf factor Pachirisu has for being in a VGC Champion's Team.

Your opinion is your opinion. People say I have a "lack of knowledge" because I dislike Smogon and competitive battling. They can say what they want. You're not wrong, dude. It's just your point of view.

Anyhoo, why does it seem like Raikou gets no love? Suicune (my boo) and Entei are everywhere, but Raikou gets nothing. What's up with that?

I don't see how disliking something means you have a lack of knowledge but w/e.

Likely because it was the only one without a Movie to draw attention to it, Entei being the star in its Movie and having massive publicity, and Suicune being a Game Mascot.

That said, Raikou is pretty popular, and iirc saw a rather large spike of usage between Gen V and VI.

 

[Schade]

Magcargo is pretty terrible but it's high Defense and Flame Body gives it a niche, if an extremely unreliable one.

It is awesome for hatching eggs though.
Its main letdown is its 4x weakness to Water and Ground-Types, which are both pretty common..

 

[Kiyuni]

I would say Qwilfish is pretty unloved, I actually forgot it existed for a while there.

While I haven't used it, I'm liking its moveset.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

It seems like this thread has gone from "Unloved Pokémon" to "Unused Pokémon in Competitive Play." The two are not the same.

Anyhoo, I think Cresselia doesn't get enough TLC. She's like the polar opposite to Darkrai. Shouldn't they be on the same level? I hope she gets some good lovin' in the Gen 4 remake.

 

[KillerDraco]

It seems like this thread has gone from "Unloved Pokémon" to "Unused Pokémon in Competitive Play." The two are not the same.

The latter is a subset of the former. For example, one couldn't say Gothitelle is completely unloved, as a lot of people use and love it due to its semi-unique niche of Shadow Tag, despite the fact that its design doesn't get a lot of praise.

Cresselia on the other hand, suffers from a lack of development. Darkrai got a bit more emphasis due to 1) Being an event Pokemon (who always get the better deals), and 2) Getting a starring and titular role in a movie. Cresselia was not the only one at first, as Heatran and Giratina had the same issue in Diamond and Pearl, of just sort of being "there" with little explanation beyond their Pokedex entries. But as time passed, Giratina got a starring role in both a movie and Platinum version, while Heatran, despite having moderate development at best, became a competitive superstar.

Phione's not particularly loved itself due to basically being an inferior Manaphy, and in fact has a significant portion going out of their way to disprove if it is a Legendary Pokemon or not. It gets attention, sure, but the bulk of it is not positive attention.

 

[Belgrim]

Mesprit seems kind of unloved because it's outclassed by its siblings Uxie and Azelf. One being bulky and the other an attacker. I love to pet all the lake trio members in amie. Mesprit is by far the cutest one though because of how playful it is. It is the emotion pokemon after all lol. I honestly feel like the whole lake trio is unloved because of how one of the trio members was a roamer and the other two didn't have much backstory. They feel like the same level of attention as the bird trio. Only the birds have gen 1 love.

 

[Nacreous]

I,personally,dislike seeing any gen 1 pkmn.I'm just sick of them.Their designs are so outdated,I just can't stand stumbling onto them.But they keep shoving them down our throats.Enough already!

 

[Afrodisiac]

Delphox. Such a failure tbh, never seen a starter go from the most popular to most hated in a matter of days.

People seem to really like Fennekin and even Braixen too, but despise Delphox's design and overall mediocrity in battle. I personally don't like it either.

 

[Kiyuni]

Yeah, it seems that all the attention's gone to Greninja especially after it appeared in Smash 4. Then again I did end up picking it, so I don't know. It was before it was going to be in Smash 4 though.

 

[Psynergy]

In Delphox's defense, while it is unquestionably the weakest of the three starters competitively, it's actually arguably (I could say unquestionably if I wanted to be bold) the best of the three starters in-game. No EXP Share of course. Greninja's level-up movepool is unspectacular and it gets pathetic Dark STAB moves unless you get TM Dark Pulse late in the game, while Night Slash is meh and requires a Heart Scale. Meanwhile Chesnaught suffers the same thing with its Fighting STAB options in Brick Break and Hammer Arm being late or requiring a Heart Scale, all on top of its low speed.

Delphox on the other hand doesn't need to rely on the TM's it wishes it could learn since Fire/Psychic alone is stupid good in XY, giving it the biggest advantage in gyms relative to the other starters. It also happens to actually gets its secondary STAB before it even evolves and then Mystical Fire on its own is acceptable for the few levels you have it before Flamethrower comes. You also have Shadow Ball via Heart Scale if you really need a good move for Olympia so it's got no issues functioning effectively without TM's.

Of course whether in-game usefulness matters is subjective, but if we're being honest so is competitive usefulness. And of course designs but that's another subject.

 

[Creyk]

Chesnaught makes it really hard to like him though. I mean...does anyone think that design is not ugly? Chespin was cute, Quilladin is horrible as well. Braixen is weak, while Greninja is a beast is competitive play, it makes sense that he's the most popular one

 

[Raravian]

I mean...does anyone think that design is not ugly?

I do. It's not elegant or beautiful in a graceful way, that I agree with, but Chesnaught does convey the powerful and still defensive, spiky feeling. It's not your stereotype 'pretty' design, but aesthetic appreciation can take many forms. I can appreciate powerful looking designs just as well as cute designs, as elegant designs, as bulky designs, badass designs, or just designs that look authentic to their inspiration. The bottom line is, it needs to leave a positive impression on me, and there are many ways to do that. Chesnaught has succeeded in this, and I have grown into liking it even more upon using it my Pokemon Y game.

 

[Creyk]

I do. It's not elegant or beautiful in a graceful way, that I agree with, but Chesnaught does covey the powerful and still defensive, spiky feeling. It's not your stereotype 'pretty' design, but aesthetic appreciation can take many forms. I can appreciate powerful looking designs just as well as cute designs, as elegant designs, as bulky designs, badass designs, or just designs that look authentic to their inspiration. The bottom line is, it needs to leave a positive impression on me, and there are many ways to do that. Chesnaught has succeeded in this, and I have grown into liking it even more upon using it my Pokemon Y game.

That is just great
I like that about pokemon, all of them are appreciated by someone. There are probably a couple of people out there who adore Ariados even though it's seldom used. (Although, it does look amazing)

 

[SlowPokeBroKing]

I love the whole Chespin line design-wise. Chespin is cute as hell, Quilladin makes me smile with his fat and happy attitude, and Chesnaught looks so cool to me. The only line I like entirely from starter to final stage in any generation.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

The latter is a subset of the former. For example, one couldn't say Gothitelle is completely unloved, as a lot of people use and love it due to its semi-unique niche of Shadow Tag, despite the fact that its design doesn't get a lot of praise.

But being unused compeitively does not automatically constitute being an unloved pokemon, just as being used competitively does not automatically constitute being a loved one.

Competitive play is only a portion of the whole spectrum regarding a pokemon. I do understand that competitive prowess is a valid reason for many to love a pokemon, but to make it synonymous with loving a pokemon just seems out of touch to me.

 

[Afrodisiac]

In Delphox's defense, while it is unquestionably the weakest of the three starters competitively, it's actually arguably (I could say unquestionably if I wanted to be bold) the best of the three starters in-game. No EXP Share of course. Greninja's level-up movepool is unspectacular and it gets pathetic Dark STAB moves unless you get TM Dark Pulse late in the game, while Night Slash is meh and requires a Heart Scale. Meanwhile Chesnaught suffers the same thing with its Fighting STAB options in Brick Break and Hammer Arm being late or requiring a Heart Scale, all on top of its low speed.

Delphox on the other hand doesn't need to rely on the TM's it wishes it could learn since Fire/Psychic alone is stupid good in XY, giving it the biggest advantage in gyms relative to the other starters. It also happens to actually gets its secondary STAB before it even evolves and then Mystical Fire on its own is acceptable for the few levels you have it before Flamethrower comes. You also have Shadow Ball via Heart Scale if you really need a good move for Olympia so it's got no issues functioning effectively without TM's.

Of course whether in-game usefulness matters is subjective, but if we're being honest so is competitive usefulness. And of course designs but that's another subject.

Yeah, but people don't really mind about in-game usefulness since you could use a Dunsparce and a Delcatty and still wreck the league. Both in-game and competitive usefulness are subjective but generally people cater to the second, not only for tournaments but also for friendly battles since you might want to brag about your precious and powerful starter.

IMO, Delphox's hate comes first and foremost from it's aesethic features tho'; bad shape, unpleasant ear hair, awful cry, among others. That's the reasoning i've been reading from people on several forums.

 

[KillerDraco]

But being unused compeitively does not automatically constitute being an unloved pokemon, just as being used competitively does not automatically constitute being a loved one.

Competitive play is only a portion of the whole spectrum regarding a pokemon. I do understand that competitive prowess is a valid reason for many to love a pokemon, but to make it synonymous with loving a pokemon just seems out of touch to me.

Hence, a subset. No one is claiming competitive usefulness is the be-all, end-all measure of whether a Pokemon is loved or not. The prime example of this would be Charizard; it was absolute rubbish competitively in Gen 4 and Gen 5, and thus wasn't used much at all, but there's not a person on earth who would claim that Charizard is unloved. However, whether or not a Pokemon is loved is not a black and white, yes or no answer. Popularity exists on a spectrum, and how much a Pokemon is or isn't loved can be debated based on a number of factors; general public reception, notoriety, appearances in anime/movies, competitive useage, emphasis within the main games, etc.

However, competitive usage is just the easiest point to prove. Simulators have usage statistics, Battle Spot keeps records of the most used Pokemon, and VGC has teams tracked to see which Pokemon are most common. You can easily figure out the most used Pokemon, and usage is an objective fact (and only usage I mean, not to be confused with competitive usefulness which is subjective), as opposed to something like how well received a design is, which is wildly subjective. Whether that's enough to determine if a Pokemon is loved or unloved depends on the person interpreting it, since the entire concept of "loved vs. unloved" is subjective as a whole. There could be some hidden cult that numbers in the thousands and worships Farfetch'd and Dunsparce for all we know, but if we're not directly observing those people who love those Pokemon, then the perception is that they're unloved. But it's just that; a perception.

tl;dr - Competitive use is a factor that can't be ignored or discredited. However, it has to be weighed against all the other factors as well.

Masquerain would be a good example of a Pokemon that's unloved for a multitude of reasons across the board. It disappointed a lot of people by losings a unique Bug/Water typing to become a generic Bug/Flying type, it's not great competitively, and its role in the anime was fairly minor.