So behind. Between all the Gen VI leaks life being so crazy... ehhhh who'm I kidding, I have no life.
Between all the Gen VI leaks I've been ignoring this thread.
Day 22: Who is the coolest NPC in the Pokémon games?
Lt. Surge is pretty much the Fonze of the Pokemon world, both in terms of sheer coolness and in being a product of his time. Red and Blue were the type of games that blurred the lines between real life and the Pokemon world so much that you often wondered if it wasn't some kinda parallel universe or something. References to the moon landing, Pokedex entries talking about actual Earth landmarks, and, of course, the Lightning American. I don't think any modern characters are this obvious of a cultural caricature, except maybe Fantina. He's definitely a layered character, and by that I mean he might possibly be insane. The fact that he fought in an honest-to-goodness war with a Raichu at his side is kinda surreal, and I'd imagine seeing so many cute critters bite it by the hundreds affects you in a way that makes setting up a trash can puzzle in your gym seem perfectly reasonable. I can just see him coming back home to totally-not-Unova America after years of service, looking at his electric partners-in-arms, and deciding that he's gonna move to Kanto to start over on a new battlefield. One that'll let him teach kids some valuable lessons with a healthy does of humility.
Honorable mention goes to Youngster Joey. Yeah, he's not "cool" the same way Surge is, but he's just so... I dunno... enthusiastic about his buddy. He's just so proud of his little rodent it's almost touching. When I played Silver back in the day, I found him annoying like everyone else (I don't think it every occurred to anyone to actually take him out of our phone list), but I also totally
got him. We all have our favorites, some of which aren't exactly what you'd call 'good', but we tend to look past that anyway. We should all strive to be in the top percentage like Joe.
Day 23: Which Pokémon was the biggest disappointment when you used it in-game?
Maybe Cranidos? I'm actually struggling to think of something here. Not that I hate it or anything, it's actually my favorite fossil 'mon ever, but I just found it to be a little underwhelming despite its crazy, crazy attack power. With Choice Scarf it's actually not bad, but until you get one you have to deal with a very slow 'mon that has to rely on Head Smash to reach it's full potential, which of course has recoil. You'll end up using more hyper potions on this guy than anything else just to keep it chugging along.
Day 24: What is the cutest Pokémon?
So many candidates... I won't even attempt to list them all, so I'll go with Pachirisu.
I almost feel kinda cheap picking him, since it's kinda designed to be, well, a 'cutemon'. Battle prowess and stats come second to pure, unbridled sweetness, but I can't help it. Mission accomplished, Game Freak. In my defense, I'm a sucker for cute rodents. And I don't mean Pikachu, who, while cute, kinda has more of a "teddy bear" thing going on. A little too rolly-polly. But Pachirisu works from it's pointy ears to it's big fluffy tale. Wanting to hug that thing doesn't make you a sissy, it just means you have a soul. I've said it before, but even though Gen IV isn't my absolute favorite, when the designs from those games work, they work. It Super Fanged my heart, and reduced my grumpiness by half.