Jumpropeman's Top 10 Least Favorite Pokemon

Seeing Steel Komodo post his Top 11 Favorite Pokemon and seeing the video Jwittz posted yesterday on is Youtube channel about his Top 10 Worst Pokemon, the temptation to Mimic these fellows and their format is overwhelming. I have been playing Pokemon since Red and Blue, and I've always liked the direction pokemon is heading. The second generation is my favorite, but the addition of abilities and double battles made pokemon so much better than it had been in that generation. Overall, I like most every Pokemon, and making a top 10 favorite list would be pretty hard, but there are a few Pokemon who have bothered me since their inclusion in the ranks. Since they are the exception, I decided I'd make a list of these bothersome blokes rather than try to determine my top 10 favorites.

Interestingly enough, there are no Pokemon on this list from Generation 1. Perhaps its because they've had so long to stew in my mind that it's hard to dislike them too much, and old Pokemon like Tangela I didn't like got evolutions and generally outdone in badness by later generations. Let's get this show on the road though!

10: Togetic

When the second Generation of Pokemon was making its first gradual steps out of the gate, we were treated to a mystery egg that hatched into a strange new Pokemon called Togepi. Togepi was another one of the cute Pokemon like Jigglypuff and Clefairy, but it had a little shell on its butt to add an egg theme. It seemed obvious this little fellow would evolve, but would it become?

This. It became this.

 Togetic looks like a Pokemon I would have drawn back I thought a circle with spikes on it would make a good Pokemon. You can call Voltorb lazy or Diglett unimaginative, but Togetic doesn't even seem to know what it wants to be. The eggshell fused with its butt I guess,  and its body became the first shape that Ken Sugimori drew when he lazily dragged a pencil across the paper. Such an underwhelming evolution with nothing special to set it apart led me and virtually everyone I knew to ignore this little guy when it came time to train your team. Thank goodness that Togetic eventually got an evolution that saved the family line. Even though Togekiss has a few design issues itself, it looks like what Togepi should have ended on. I even trained a Togekiss to Level 100 because it can actually do stuff, evolving Togetic the moment Togepi evolved into it. Ultimately, Togetic is a useless and ugly blemish on the cute Toge- line. Try harder next time when you think up evolutions, Game Freak.

9: Krokorok

Digimon! Digital Monsters! Digimon are the Champions!

It's common to call a new Pokemon a Digimon. It's usually leveraged towards Pokemon who seem over-designed or overtly humanoid, but usually once the generation has time to sink into the fans' minds, we all stop complaining and realize they do fit in with the rest of the club.

Krokorok, on the other hand, still looks like a Rookie Digimon, or perhaps one of those Gatomon-type Champions who might as well be Rookies. It's two legged posture, "attitude" and general appearance would make it fit in easily Agumon and Gabumon. Sandile does not look bad at all, and Krookodile at least tries to look like something that might hang with Feraligatr, but Krokorok looks like it might walk up to you and start telling you to stop interfering with Etemon's Secret Plan.

Maybe if it would uncross those arms in its sprites and artwork. Even then, in Pokepark 2 and other appearances he still feels like he is a crossover character that the fan-fictions of Digimon meets Pokemon might create: the in between character who is both Digimon and Pokemon.

Not to mention his ugly ass shiny form.

Looks like he's some sort of ice cream with that coloration (and by the way, there is nothing wrong with an Ice Cream Pokemon like Vanillish, they are different ideas that work much better than 90s Croc with attitude! Fetch this guy some sneakers and give him a Sega Genesis game!)

8: Vullaby

Take solace in knowing that if a Mandibuzz kills you, its babies will probably be pooping in your skull,

When I first saw Vullaby, that skull diaper didn't register completely. I thought it was an eggshell diaper that had a heart on it for no reason. I thought it was a more bird-like Togepi that went horribly wrong. After finding out it was a skull, I didn't dislike Vullaby as much, but it is still an ugly little chick who takes it sweet time doing anything. What level do you think a chick like this would evolve? 20? 32 at most? Try 54. Over half its life this thing is sitting around being an ugly down-covered baby while Gabite has already been Garchomp for 6 levels. I understand it has to do with Vullaby being found late in the game, but this ruins any future games where they could have made Vullaby available early. Pokemon like Baltoy were available early in XD, but Vullaby would take forever to take off it you caught it at level 18.

The pink headed, martial-arts ponytail sporting, ruffly necked chick evolves into a half-decent vulture, but I'm glad I picked Pokemon White. Rufflet ain't too pretty either, but at least it doesn't have a diaper. It's like a Warhammer parody: "I SHALL WEAR MY ENEMY'S SKULL AS PAMPERS!" Although I have to admit, Vullaby has a lot better brattitude than Krokorok:

This chick is the reason I'll probably never train a Mandibuzz.

7: Mienfoo

 Mienfoo is another Pokemon that I dislike mainly because of its terrible design. Someone decided we needed a fighting type weasel, and this odd creature was born from that terrible idea. It's arm fat looks like sleeves and it's body has a skin flap to imitate clothes, which might work on humanoid pokemon like Hitmonchan, but on a mustelid it looks like a child pulling random clothes out and trying them on. Those two black dots on its head (eyebrows? Hope not) don't help it, they actually hurt it if anything. Without them it would look simple, which is forgivable for an unevolved Pokemon. Instead, look at this dumbass pic

Without those enormous black orbs it would look so much better. I thought it was dancing at first or teetering from confusion but that is its fighting pose. It is kicking. It has its hands out like someone doing the first part of the chicken dance. Mienfoo also has an interesting dichotomy with its evolved form. Whereas Magikarp and Feebas are meant to be ugly in comparison to their evolved forms, I think Mienfoo just IS ugly in comparison to the much more interesting Mienshao.

Hey Mienfoo, did your ugly black dots fuse into that purple dot? No? Then why do you have them!? Mienshao would have been better off a single evolution Pokemon. Mienfoo looks like a failed baby Pokemon. It looks like what you'd design if you only heard what Mienshao looked like and had no idea what color palette the evolution was. Mienfoo is a late bloomer like Vullaby as well, but its not as bothersome because besides winning beauty contests, Mienshao doesn't have much going for it. Mienfoo, you are worthless and ugly, go hide in the oubliette beneath the house and stop showing up in all of the damn caves. You're like a worse Zubat, because at least Crobat is awesome enough to offset the annoying first form.

6: Pidove

 I've accepted that every region will have a Region Rat, a Tiny Bird, and an Electric Rodent. Some are uninteresting (Patrat) some are useless (Pachirisu), some are bland (Starly, Staraptor rocks though) and some are forgettable (Sentret). None of them have bothered me as much as this Pigeon here. A boring name, a boring look, and a forgettable evolution line makes me fear for the future of the Tiny Birds. Besides that heart like plumage on its front, it's pretty much a cartoon pigeon. If I saw this thing in a chibi-anime I wouldn't bat an eye.

Unfezant isn't a bad Pokemon, it's just a bit boring. Tranquill and Staravia both fail to do anything besides annoy me as I search routes for new Pokemon, and Pidove... just kinda IS. It didn't stick out in Pokemon White/Black or their sequel, and even in the anime it was more of a tool for Ash than a character. Pidove is so boring and bland that I can't even come up with interesting issues with it. I hope they choose more interesting birds for the next generations, because this little plain thing falls to the wayside in a series with so many interesting creatures.

5: Volbeat

Fat, ugly, useless, outdone by its counterpart in appearance and design, and having a unique move it can't utilize because it's about as strong as a Wailmer. Tail Glow only gives you more light to see how terrible this bug type pokemon really is.

An ugly nose, terrible looking antennae, and a collar that might have worked if it had a better face to wrap around, Volbeat is one of the many Pokemon in Ruby and Sapphire that formed an unnecessary unevolving duo. Plusle and Minun were in this group too, but they were cute enough and did enough in the anime to justify their existence. A firefly Pokemon is interesting in theory: a bug type with good special attack that isn't a butterfly or has a secondary type (unless its made a literal FIRE fly). Instead, we got two stunted creatures that can only really handle Pokemon lower leveled than they are. If I fight a trainer with Volbeat, I am thankful for the free experience.

Sadly, because of its dichotomy with Illumise, these two fireflies will probably never evolve, meaning we'll always have to live in a world where this fat thing teeters about looking for a place in a world that doesn't need it. Even Spinda is more interesting because of its gimmick and just how unusual it is. Volbeat's purpose? Being number 313 in your Pokedex. You have to catch him to catch 'em all! Sorry!

4: Shaymin (Sky Forme only)

 The worst gimmick in all of Pokemon: Formes.

Sure, Unown had many shapes, and Shaymin was not the first to introduce Formes, but boy did it make them annoying. Shaymin was a cute little hedgehog who was just being its adorable self when someone decided it should be some sort of deer/dog. Giratina an Deoxys looked on in horror as a Pokemon who had no business transforming like they did become what would have been an evolution had it not already been decided Shaymin was legendary. Now it was flying, because ears as wings doesn't look dumb as hell.

As a hedgehog it was cute and cuddly, but now its essentially been infused with Rainbow Dash's attitude and an ugly smirk that completely killed the Serene look Shayming had. And because Sky Forme was marketed as a way to drum up interest in Platinum, we probably won't see normal Shaymin in anything anymore. Its been supplanted by this boring thing.

What's worse, in the Pokemon movie about Shaymin, it fell victim to Talking Movie syndrome, wherein if the Pokemon's name is in the title of the Movie, it can speak English. Mewtwo had an excuse: It was Psychic! Lugia was Psychic, Lucario barely works because Aura might as well be Psychic and probably would be if it was decided by people who weren't trying to give Lucario weird Steel/Fighting typing, but Shaymin had no reason to speak. It was a grass hedgehog, but they gave it a voice. I'm not even surprised when I hear Zorua or Keldeo speaking anymore because Shaymin ruined it. It didn't help it became an anorexic fox by the time the movie was over either.

Shaymin Sky Forme is also part of the ugly trend Pokemon is rocketing towards. Buying Diamond or Pearl isn't important when all those Legendaries will be getting new and better forms in Platinum. Black and White 2 both have better Kyurem and Keldeo Formes, making their counterparts in the earlier versions pointless by comparison. It's gimmicky and it's how they try to force you to buy the new "extra" version, but you could just wait until the next real new version and those new formes are just there now. I know it won't stop, but I hope the X and Y try to dial back the Formes a little. They are getting old and have never really been interesting anyway.

3: Azurill

Marill was bound to get a baby eventually. It was the face of Generation II, everyone was going crazy about "Pikablu", and even though its family is just as underwhelming as Togepi-Togetic were back when they were introduced, they thought Marill would be better off with a baby rather than a third evolution. And that is where this miserable creature comes from:

Perpetually sad since Generation 5 (in earlier generations it was cute and smiling. I guess they wanted a baby pokemon that made you feel bad instead of going for the usual "adorable" angle. Interestingly enough, in Platinum it has a neutral mouth. Beginning of the depression?), Azurill is just a bag full of problems. It doesn't look very good, with a teardrop shaped body that does it no favors visually and a face we've seen frown way too much.  It's typing is Normal for some ungodly reason while its evolutions are pure water. There is nothing making Azurill normal that wouldn't make Marill normal as well. They both dwell in water and can use their tails as flotation devices, so why is Azumarill Normal? It still learns water moves and it sacrifices the helpful Same Type Attack Bonus for water moves that would transfer over to Marill if it evolves for a Normal type STAB it doesn't need.

In fact, you don't really NEED Azurill anyway. You have to go the extra mile to have your Marill give birth to this fellow here. You must smack some incense onto mommy or daddy, and its not even worth it to get this pointless baby. Wynaut gives Wobuffet new moves in its extremely limited movepool at least. Azurill just lays around being terrible and crying. Generation II babies had an excuse: They were essentially missing first forms that only appeared when breeding. Later generations had to justify retroactive babies and making them became harder. Azurill fails to be justified. Even in Mystery Dungeon it just caused trouble.

I know I'm picking on a baby here, one that is now always crying, but it really doesn't deserve any praise.

2: Meditite/ Medicham

 The last two entries in this list are so bad that their whole families are tainted. Meditite and Medicham are a nice and interesting concept: Mix your spokesmen for Attack (fighting) and Special Attack (Psychic) stats into one Pokemon based on meditation. Could be interesting!

Instead we get these cave dwelling, Colloseum and XD infesting monkey men creatures. Ruby, Sapphire, and the two 3D RPG GCN games were littered with these creatures, and facing them was never fun. They were decent enough to bug you but not good enough to fall on your team. Instead, every trainer included them in the 3D games and they made victory road even worse than an HM slave showcase. Their abundance made them even worse than Pokemon like Mienfoo who just failed in the design department.

It's not like they succeed in that aspect though. Meditite went with a diamond mouth, red cheeks, and ears that somehow slide around its head depending on gender even though they look like puffballs. It's an ugly little monkey that insists on sitting in a stance that leads to very ugly sprites

It looks a bit better standing, but outside of the anime and spin-offs you wouldn't know it. Even in 3D games it won't stand. If a move knocks it backwards, it will walk on its hands back to its spot with its legs behind it in some weird yoga walk.

Medicham, on the other hand, is not so fortunate. No matter its pose, its spritework, or animation styling, Medicham is ugly. Its those lips. I guess Jynx put those in a garbage bin when she picked her better set of lips and Meditite found them when he wanted to cover up his odd sometimes-diamond shaped mouth. Medicham looks pouty or sassy, and that weird headdress does not help. It looks like fish or one of those deep sea creatures that look like an alien got stuck to his head and he rolled with it. It's pale body looks like Skin from the X-men and his giant pants ruin the look of a slender person who uses kinesis to win fights rather than bulk.

This ugly family have been was my least favorite bunch up until the generation 5 pokemon were revealed. Say what you will about a garbage based Pokemon, or an ugly evolution of an old Pokemon (People say Lickilicky sucks, I say I wish I never trained a Lickitung to level 100 before gen 4 was announced), no Pokemon has been as annoying and terrible as...

1: Scraggy/Scrafty

 These hideous, disgusting, overmarketed abominations are the only Pokemon I can say that I, without a doubt, hate. Others bother me or annoy me, and every now and then my older hatred for Meditite/Medicham is dying down now that I can turn a corner and they won't be there (only for it to be rekindled by remembering how they tainted the generation that pushed me into Pokemon more than ever).

Scraggy and Scrafty took an awesome typing and flushed it down the draw with a dumb concept. Why are they dark/fighting? Dark because... baggy pants? Fighting because... they like to headbutt people? We could have had a pokemon based on a thug turn out better, but when you make a thug pokemon into a lizard who uses it own skin sheddings as its pants and hoodie you just missed your chance for awesomeness.

Let's hit things one at a time. General Appearance (Ignoring the shed skin for now): Ugliest faces in the Pokemon world. Nostrils placed in weird spots, a strange toothy grin/grimace positioned to high on the face near eyes that look bad half-closed on Scrafty but always are for some reason either out of anger or aloofness. The crest on Scrafty is needlessly enormous as well. Scraggy had trouble holding its heavy head up as it is. I'm surprised Scrafty isn't dragging that red coxcomb on the ground 24/7. The lizard like bodies aren't too bad, but that's because we are ignoring...

The Shed Skin clothes. These ugly faces would have been enough to maybe place 9th on my list, but they have a stupid gimmick about wearing their old skin as clothes. I can get over how disgusting that would be (I'm perfectly fine with Jarate in TF2 after all) but they way they use it is sickening. Scraggy has to hold his skin pants up. Understandable, since the skin is obviously too large since it contained his huge round head before. But what isn't forgivable is the little lizards insistence on pulling them up ALL THE DAMN TIME.

Up and down, up an down. It's like he's trying to wear them as a shirt as well, or he's trying to cover his naked chest but then flashing you shamelessly afterwards. That face + that animation = disgusting little reptile who doesn't deserve to live.

Not to be outdone by its unevolved form, Scrafty found new ways to be disgusting with the old skin. Scrafty's pants don't need to be held up as much, so Scrafty used his free hands to fashion a hood out of his old head skin, turning it into the most disturbing hoodie I've ever seen. It's Ed Gein level skin wearing, except he's wearing his own skin rather than someone else's. Still ugly though, despite missing the serial killing Gein required to make his stuff. You might not be bothered by that little hood dangling like a cape, but that's not what is bad about it. In the anime, you get to Scrafty pull up his hood a few time, and it ain't pretty.

It even LOOKs like old flesh made into a hoodie. Scrafty's style is sickening, and the whole dead flesh as clothes thing is best left for games that try to freak you out, not for games meant to appeal to all ages.

The last nail in the coffin for these two is the same thing that cemented Meditite and Medicham into that part of my brain where bad thoughts dwell: oversaturation. Where as the mental monkeys made their domain in every nook and cranny of the games, Scraggy and Scrafty escaped into the real world as the face of Generation 5. Ash's main Gen 5 Pokemon seems to be Scraggy, based on anime prevalence and all the merchandise someone with no taste out there must be buying. If Scraggy had just been a blemish on Generation 5, I might not have been bothered by him so much, but whenever I would look into the new Pokemon stuff Scraggy would stare back at me. I swear he knew just how much I was bothered by him, because they seemed to play Scraggy centric episodes whenever I could catch the show.

I imagine this is how people who really hate Pokemon like Jigglypuff must feel: always pursued by the face you've come to dread.

Luckily, in the games these guys are restricted to a desert you don't need to spend much time in and trainers barely use them, but Grimsley has a Scrafty so training on the Elite Four can lead to seeing Scrafty while you grind. I couldn't find an image of him doing it, but Scrafty does a weird cud-chewing motion in the games, which isn't as disturbing as pants-flashing, but unless he is chewing on his cheek's interior I can help but wonder what he is doing, or why Game Freak animated him that way.

Oh, and there is this:

From the Pokemon Burst manga, this is a Scraggy combined with a human. Ugly in every medium.


There, got through that, and hopefully without sounding like someone who doesn't appreciate the world of Pokemon. I've sunk more hours into this series than any other, and I will probably be playing it for as long as I play video games. I may need to do a top 10 favorites list to balance out the venom I dished out in this list, but we'll see what happens in time.

Speaking of venom, how come the Poison type gets the short end of the stick? Super effective against one type, resisted by four, ineffective against Steel. Why can't it be super effective against fighting and water, since Fighting types would be unable to fight if ill and Water that's polluted/poisoned would be harmful? And Ice type needs to be better defensively! Seriously, it only resists itself! Can't it also...

Wait, that's enough for now. Pokemon is good despite its flaws, but just like anything great, it is bound to have a few hiccups along the way, and these were the 10 Pokemon that bug me the most.