Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Larvitar Family
246: Larvitar
Gen 2 has something that’s unique to it, all the way to this day, in that it doesn’t fall back in the Dragon type to provide a pseudo-legendary for it. Even if it’s something that might as well have been Dragon type. There are future psuedo-legendaries that aren’t Dragon, Metagross and Volcarona, but their respective Gens always end up with one that better befits the traditon of pseudo-legendary. But in any case, we’ll enjoy it being Dragon-free for now.
Larvitar takes on a more “cool” brand of cute instead of Dratini's vanilla-cute. It's like a child with an angry disposition. It doesn't care how small it is. It will fight you.
Personal Score: 7/10
I like it, even if I don't have a whole lot to say about it.
247: Pupitar
Oddly enough, the lizard-like Larvitar takes on a cocoon transformation, which is odd but I nonetheless like the idea. Something about things that normally shouldn't have pupae forms having pupae forms is a novel idea in and of itself. And Pupitar is a pretty cool one to boot.
Personal Score: 7/10
It's weird, but I like it.
248: Tyranitar
Tyranitar is an eruption of awesome, becoming a huge, fearsome Rock/Dark monster. It's easily third place in terms of my favorite pseudo-legendaries. (Maybe fourth, if we're counting non-traditional ones. But still.) I find it cool that it still has bits on it reminiscent of Pupitar, with big gaping holes of blackness in its chest.
Tyranitar easily comes in as a Pokemon that looks like it'd fit in the most if it were to be a kaiju. In fact, Tyranitar could very well be based on the King of Monsters himself, Godzilla! They have overall the same sort of body structure, and the “Tyrant” in “Tyranitar” implies tyrannosaurus rex. Which is what Godzilla originally was before being exposed to nuclear fallout. (Or, at least something similar)
And as if there were any doubts, Gen 5 created Mecha Tyranitar for their movie-themed side-attraction, Pokestar Studios. HMMMMMM.
Personal Score: 9/10
Kaiju are just my jam, man!!
Mega Tyranitar:
The only part that would've made the Godzilla theme perfect would be if its Mega Evolution became the going-to-explode Burning Godzilla. But alas, we're left with this thing. If you ask me, some bits of it feel just a little bit like overkill. Namely, the number of the large back-spines going down it, and the oddly misshapen banana-tail. I get it's meant to look a little more jagged and naturally formed rock, but the way it's drawn just doesn't look right to me.
But! Mega Tyranitar doesn't totally do away with the Godzilla theming, because its large shoulder spikes and head crest are pretty convincing lampshades to Space Godzilla. I kind of wish they perhaps played it more straight. If it weren't for being limited to their base form's movepool, it could've picked up a Rock/Psychic typing. Or maybe, it could've had an ability that turns Dark type moves into Psychic type. Loads of what-ifs.
Personal Score: 8/10
It's cool, but it dips a bit into silly looking.
Overall:
A nice line. I really haven't given these Pokemon enough credit.
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