Pokemon of the Week

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Going through some Pokemon of the Week threads from 2009.

Yeah, Chansey is definatly good for an NFE poke. It wouldn't survive in OU, though; it comes just short of Blissey's fat ass glory.
lmao
Sableye isn't my favorite Ghost-type
lmao
one of these days I'll manage to stop being an obnoxious fanboy...
I love math dude. Its the one thing in this world that always has only one right answer.
...MR?
 
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still not as l8 as MR...

Pokemon of the Week #30 (5/13/2014)

Gourgeist

250px-711Gourgeist.png

Gourgeist, the Pumpkin Pokemon. Singing in eerie voices, they wander town streets on the night of the new moon. Anyone who hears their song is cursed. It is also known to enwrap its prey in its hairlike arms. It sings joyfully while observing the suffering of its prey.

If you think I should have saved this for Halloween, don't say it, as there are plenty of other Pokemon befitting for said holiday. None quite as fitting as Gourgeist, but...shut up. Gourgeist is one of my favorite Pokemon, actually, definitely my favorite ghost-type from Gen VI, which is definitely an accomplishment considering that I like Aegislash and Trevenant a very significant amount. There are multiple reasons why I like it so much.

Visually, Gourgeist is obviously based on a jack-o-lantern, a Pokemon people have been wanting for years. Upon seeing Gourgeist for the first time, I was somewhat disappointed, as while I thought it looked cool, I was hoping for something better. It's obviously grown on me since. While it's true that Gourgeist's design doesn't scream cool like Aegislash's or Trevenant's do, I believe it's still a good design. It's pretty feminine looking, which I appreciate, largely due to its feminine hair. The hair isn't just for show, however, which I'll get into later. Its body is divided into two segments: the pumpkin segment, which comes with a pair of stubby legs, and the upper torso. The upper torso is actually based on a candle, which I did not initially realize. The black and pink "hair flip" is supposed to be the wick of said candle, and the hair is supposed to resemble melted wax. It makes sense, as jack-o-lanterns traditionally use candles to produce the glow they are known for.

Gourgeist has some underlying cool qualities as well, such as its personality and behavior. As you can see from its Pokedex entries, Gourgeist uses its "hair" as a weapon. This is quite cool in itself, but it's also particularly dark for Pokemon, as Gourgeist's only stated reason for doing so is to watch other Pokemon suffer. Even if it does consume them afterwards, this is pretty goddamn sadistic. The other Pokedex entry, while not quite as cool, is also very interesting, and is quite creepy to visualize. Said behavior was probably inspired by trick-or-treating, but it could be inspired by some story/stories I don't know about, as well.

Gourgeist, like a significant amount of other Pokemon, has multiple forms. However, Gourgeist's forms are quite unique. When you catch a Pumpkaboo in the wild, it will be in one of four sizes: small, average, large, or super. The size stays the same after evolving into Gourgeist, and is also passed on to any offspring. The size cannot be changed in any way. Smaller Gourgeist are faster, but have slightly less HP and attack power. The bigger ones hit a bit harder and have more HP, but are slower. This whole size mechanic is very interesting. It's inspired largely by the tradition of picking out pumpkins in a pumpkin patch for Halloween. I myself have done that a few times.

Competitively, Gourgeist is good. Not great, but it's still good. I will focus on two sizes, small and super size, although middle two sizes are viable in their own way, particularly large for being almost as bulky/strong as super while having the speed to outrun more threats. Super size Gourgeist has very high physical bulk. This is made better by Will-o-wisp, a very common move for ghost types which cripples opposing physical attackers. It lacks reliable recovery, but Leech Seed is better than nofin, and it also wears down the opponent. It also has access to various support moves, most noteworthy being Trick Room, making it a good Pokemon for teams who use said strategy. Trick Room teams use a lot of slow, hard hitting Pokemon, and while Gourgeist is no Escavalier, it still hits hard off its good attack stat.

At the moment, I'm not particularly sure which strategies Gourgeist uses best. This is especially true for Gourgeist Small. Gourgeist small is significantly more frail than super size, and it hits less hard, so it's restrained to strategies that make use of its higher speed. With its high (but not super high) speed, it can cripple things with status faster than other sizes ever could. While Trick Room is no longer a good option, moves like Light Screen, Destiny Bond and Pain Split suddenly become more appealing than ever, as faster Pokemon make better use of those moves. It also seems capable of using the notorious Subseed strategy fast grass-types are known for, though it's speed isn't quite as good as things like Sceptile, Whimisicott, and Jumpluff.

As mentioned, I'm not totally sure what the best Gourgeist sets are. Its signature move, Trick-or-treat, seems too inconsistent, I can say that much. It also faces competition from Trevenant, who has less bulk (and is much slower than Gourgeist Small) but superior healing capabilities due to Harvest.


Pumpkaboo, the Pumpkin Pokemon. The pumpkin body is inhabited by a spirit trapped in this world. It is said to carry these spirits to the place where they belong so they can move on. As the sun sets, it becomes restless and active.

Being merely the pre-evolution of the main focus, I don't feel like I have much to say about it. It's obviously based on a jack-o-lantern as well, and is quite cute. Its upper body is somewhat bat-like, and considering its affiliation with Halloween, it seems likely that this was intentional. The black protrusions from its collar are definitely neat looking as well.

Unlike Gourgeist, who has its HP, Attack, and Speed significantly influenced by its size, only Pumpkaboo's HP and speed are affected, and to a less significant degree. I don't know how well Pumpkaboo fares in Little Cup. Probably well, it has good physical bulk and attack for said metagame.

also I have a plushie of it

P1000439_zps152d35cf.jpg~original
it is cute <3

some fanart of both of them:

かぼちゃ | ぷっと [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=40728830
かぼちゃポケモン | 風雪 [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=40439914
【ポケ擬】あけましておめでとうございます | ぬらお [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=40717603
かぼちゃ全サイズ集合 | ねこのりん [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=40125443
擬人化パンプジン | こなずち(ももんじゃ) [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39991228
ペロッパンプジン | 流@淫ターセプター [pixiv] http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39797414
 
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Ahh, so that's what Gourgeist's design is based on. I knew there was more to it than just bein' a jack-o-Lanturn with... uh, hair. T'is neat. I do like its design origins and the aesthetic execution, but it still don't hold a candle to Chandelure. ba-dum-tssh

Pumpkaboo's design is decent as well, though it's hard for me to like a pumpkin that is simply haunted. Its design lacks the extra detail its evolution has.

Gourgeist > Aegislash

 
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As in I significantly prefer Gourgeist, not that it's designed better than Aegislash. It's hard to beat Aegislash's design...

Edit: Your mention of Chandelure reminds me of this:

P1000045_zps6c247134.jpg~original


P1000044_zps8890ade5.jpg~original

and...uh...this too...

P1000041_zps3844b35e.jpg
but let's not talk about that...
 
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