Favorite Pokemon: Johto

So, just as I did with Kanto, we're going to continue with the other regions. So today's list is in the Johto region. Since we already know the format and the type order, and we know how this all goes, let's just get started. shall we?

Ah, time to start things off with the fluff. I used Furret in the same team as Raticate, as I explained in the previous post, and it was a lot of fun to finally use. My favorite part was teaching it Ice Beam and watching as it single-handedly took down Drake's team. But I've always loved this little fluff-ball, it's just really cute and I honestly wish I could have one.

Now, as much as I'd love to simply place down Typhlosion, you all know I have to put the little guy in here. Also, I can't just make a favorites list without putting Cyndaquil here. Cyndaquil has a lot of meaning to me, as I've mentioned several times in the past. But, of course, thanks to this blog, and thanks to some new friends recently, Cyndaquil has again gained even more meaning to me. Nothing will change that this little Fire starter is my all-time favorite Pokémon, and I love it.

I always feel like Lanturn is kind of left out. I don't really hear much regarding Chinchou or Lanturn, and I think they're really cute and fun-looking Pokémon. I've always wanted to use them in a Soul Silver run, or, well, in any team really. Maybe soon I'll get to use them. But either way, I really like this little anglerfish.

Ampharos has more history with me in Pokémon XD than the other games. However, I have used it a few times during Soul Silver runs as well. I just really love it. Mareep and Flaaffy are also really cute, and I just like the idea of little sheep turning into... whatever Ampharos is meant to be. Also, I guess as some extra bonus points, I love how its Mega Evolution turns Dragon and grants it some amazing hair for some reason. I just really love Ampharos, and it's always fun to place in my team when I need a tough Electric type.

My enjoyment of Bellossom actually came from my first Nuzlocke. A Pokémon Emerald Nuzlocke, to be exact. I caught an Oddish and proceeded to turn it into Bellossom, as I didn't want the additional Psychic weakness that would be given to it. Of course, this means that Bellossom can be poisoned, but it's a small price to pay. I named it "Spore," and it was always really sturdy and really helped demolish things. That's why I love Bellossom so much, besides that it's just really cute, too.

So as much as I love Swinub and Piloswine, I'd rather just stick Mamoswine into a Sinnoh list to be honest. Even so, I think Delibird is silly, but I like the little Santa feeling they were going for. Of course, the only move it learns is Present, which can heal the opponent or hurt them, so it's not exactly a very practical move. But Delibird can learn some nice TMs, such as Ice Beam, which can really help it do better in battle. I don't have much experience with it, as I haven't really used it yet, but I will eventually.

I've only ever used Heracross in a team once, but I knew it would be a fun Pokémon to use. For being a standalone Pokémon, it sure dominates. When I used it in Soul Silver, it made very short work of many a Trainer and even some gyms as well. I'd love to say it also dominated the Elite 4, but Will would have taken it out due to the Fighting typing. It did, however, take out Bruno and Karen very handily, so this beetle really stood its ground, and I've always loved it.

I've always loved Spinarak, and Ariados has always been cool, too. It's weird, as I stated before. I hate bugs in real life, but love them in games. Probably because they can't get me? I don't know. Spiders, in particular, are some of my favorite gaming creatures when it's not in real life. I think Ariados has just always looked intimidating, I guess, especially back when I played Gold as a kid.

Another Pokémon I've only used once, but I've always found Steelix to just look awesome! I always liked Onix, but when we got Steelix back in gen 2, I probably sat there like "Woah Onix evolves!? This things looks so cool!!" I mean, sure, it now has a weakness to Fire instead of resistance, but that's the only thing that happens when you change Rock to Steel. Plus, now it's now 4x weak to, say, Grass and Water.

Crobat has always looked awesome. It's always just looked menacing and tough. I have used it in Soul Silver quite a couple of times and it always came out destroying things. Sure, you have to put in the effort to get a Zubat to evolve into Golbat first, but it's definitely worth it once you get Crobat. Obviously, it has all of the same weaknesses as the rest of its evolution line, but it's just a lot more powerful. I also like the subtle color switching. Now it's mainly purple with blue wings, as opposed to blue with purple wings. I don't know, I just really like that too.

I will admit that a lot of love for Espeon came from Pokémon Colosseum, which can also be said for Umbreon. I feel bad, because I didn't like Espeon as much as Umbreon until recently after using it in a couple of teams, namely a random Soul Silver run and my Eevee team in Sun. It really held its own and when I played through the Elite 4 in Sun, it completely demolished Hala's team with uses of Psychic. Thanks to how much I started using it, I grew to love it a lot more than I did before, but the spark started thanks to Pokémon Colosseum.

I've never used Shuckle, but I really want to because I know it can become a monster if used properly. It's just.. really silly, but I love it. Like it looks like a Pokémon that gets overlooked, kind of, and I'd love to use it a lot. I know at some point, I will use it and I'll try hard to use it to some full potential that I know it has. Also, just as a quick note, I don't even remember if I caught Shuckle in Colosseum, as there's a lot of endgame stuff I didn't do. I never even purified every Shadow Pokémon because I never got all of them, which I'm ashamed to admit. But regardless, Shuckle is always going to be a cool Pokémon to me.

I always have a thing for pseudo-legendary Pokémon. Sure, they might not reach "favorite" status, but I always love them because I love seeing these powerful Pokémon that kind of reach that in-between state of "super powerful, but not legendary-powerful." In fact, I think Tyranitar is the only pseudo-legendary that's not a Dragon type (If I'm wrong, I apologize) so that makes it feel even more special. I've just always loved it, and I love how it looks like it could just rampage and cause a ton of destruction in its wake!

Since Misdreavus is technically the only new Ghost in Johto, it has to take the Ghost spot. Even so, I've always liked it. It just looks really silly and cute. I've used Mismagius before, which means I've had some use with Misdreavus, but it was quite some time ago. As for Mismagius, I used it recently in a team based on the team Lusamine uses in Sun and Moon, but otherwise that's about it. I've always wanted to use Misdreavus more though, so maybe sometime soon, I will.

Now, here's some fun irony. Kingdra is actually a Pokémon that I dislike going up against, but if I'm using it, I love it a lot. I think it's thanks to Clair in Johto that I dislike fighting it so much, as prior to gen 6, Kingdra was only weak to Dragon attacks. Obviously it's now also weak to Fairy, but not back then. Back then you just had to be ready to take on a Water/Dragon type out of nowhere. Even so, I'd love using it in a team. I know I will eventually, too. But I have to admit, it's pretty awesome.

So Umbreon has the general same reasons as Espeon, for the most part. But I also like Umbreon a lot as it used to be my favorite Eeveelution, until Leafeon took its place. But even still, Umbreon is a personal favorite of my best friend, and I sometimes name my Umbreon after his nickname in honor of him because I think he's a great person and I'm glad that Umbreon reminds me of him.

Skarmory has some of the same reasons as Bellossom. It was in my Emerald Nuzlocke, named "Dovabird," and it took many hits for my team. Even before the Nuzlocke, I always loved it because I thought it was such a cool concept, and I think seeing it as a Shadow Pokémon in Colosseum really made me see how special it could be. I still love using it, and I always feel bad when I have to go against one as I remember how fond I am of Dovabird.

Azumarill was used in my first Black 2 team, and despite it not being a Fairy yet, it still took a lot of hits and dealt a lot of damage to my enemies. I just really love how cute it is. I've always liked Marill, but always found Azumarill to be a lot cuter in the long run. I don't know, maybe because it looks like a bunny? Regardless, I always love having a chance to use this little buddy.
And that's all for my Johto favorites! I know the explanations weren't as grand as Kanto, but sometimes all you can do is rehash your thoughts on your favorites, because if that's what you think, well, it's your opinion, you know? Thanks for reading and I'll see you again soon!

Have a nice day!~