The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
There's been lots of clamor for an ana-style sub review compass, or any review at all, and I really don't want this to end up like FERU so I thought I'd take a stab at it. However, I unfortunately have a life, so there's no way I'm writing a paragraph on every mon. Instead, I'd like to call out some specific subs I think are notable, either because I like them (The Good), I think they're unhealthy (The Bad), or they're the gimmick mons that half our voters eat up despite 90% of them being shitmons (The Ugly). Here's hoping I don't mess up any of these takes, and all of these are my personal opinions, so of course take them with a grain of salt. Also I have to say this, just because I do not like your sub does not mean I do not like you as a person. Any criticism here is purely for the betterment of this mod and I do not at all mean to offend.
Since this is the first slate I'll try to be pretty lenient from a balance standpoint, but essentially if the mon would be great in FERU it's too much for FENU. Also please note: I am not a council member. My opinions on balance can and will differ from theirs, and just because I personally do not like a mon does not mean it will be vetoed. Honestly some of these (particularly The Ugly) aren’t even particularly great, I just find their gimmicks or skillsets unhealthy and wouldn’t want to see them in the meta. Now, with all that said, let's begin.
The Good
Look, you all know I love this mon. I've been clamoring for it to be brought back since before FENU was even existent, so it's obvious I'd put it here. Appledam is a reliable fatmon with an amazing ability in Imposing Adipose, balanced by multiple 4x weaknesses to ensure it can still be broken. What I really like about this is the defensive utility it brings to the table, with some massive resistances to Fighting, Water, Electric, and a
4x resistance to Ground. Beyond this, it's able to set rocks, and despite its admittedly terrible offensive profile, it has multiple tools to work around it in Body Press and Apple Acid. Quiver Dance on this is mildly worrying at first, but once you consider its abysmal base speed and horrible coverage, I think it's pretty easy to say this is a balanced mon in spite of QD.
I guess when they hit they just keep hitting. Perrim’s ability is very very cool, as even special NP sets (arguably the best set) benefit from Sunshine Form, and they don’t necessarily have to even use some weird move to get it, as very much of its best coverage is Technician-boosted. I worry a little about how well it may hold up down the line, but I think right now it’s a potent threat, and it has room to grow so I doubt it’ll fall too far.
Disgustingly good SD breaker, with Pixilate Double Edge to absolutely nuke everything off the face of the earth and Close Combat for any pesky Steels that dare try to wall you, and if the opponent tries to sack, you even have Moxie for that! Of course, it's balanced due to its pretty shoddy typing and poor speed, but I think this thing is very very solid and would be a great mon in the meta.
Feels wrong to put more than one sub by one person in the Good category, but I can't help myself. This thing seems super super versatile, with a typing that's proven to be great in the right circumstances through Volcanion, a god-tier ability in Regenerator, reliable recovery, good coverage, Will-O-Wisp to patch up its awful physical bulk, and even Shell Smash if you want to run offensive sets (though of course it is very very slow and not very strong, similarly to Appledam). Don't get me wrong, Smash sets are great, but its poor matchup against offensive teams and inability to break bulky Waters means defensive sets will also have a chance to shine.
The HO mon we deserve. Gurdbat makes no attempt to hide that it was made for screens, and instead of having stupid power with something like SD or QD, it has stupid bulk, which is funny and hopefully not broken. I like this because if it gets in we will never have to add a screens abuser again and can immediately shut down anyone who tries.
The kind of mon you can just throw in your 6th slot and feel good about. Seems super solid, though it'll probably outclass base Glasnow if that ever drops. Huge bulk slow Fighting types with priority are cool, and huge bulk slow strong Fighting types with a method of recovery that isn't Leftovers are even cooler. I can't see a world where this isn't both good and healthy (unless the meta gets powercrept to FERU levels), so I would be very fine with this getting in.
The Bad
Mon seems very optimized for NU. S-tier defensive typing, great bulk, reliable recovery, utility out the wazoo. Can't really see this being balanced in a sub-RU meta.
Same deal as Wigglarm, hyper-optimized for NU. Good bulk, S-tier typing, reliable recovery, and this one even has SD+DIB, which is pretty insane. Not as bad as Wigglarm, but I think if this won the meta would revolve around it, and that isn't something I want to see.
Noticing a trend here of mons being made with an RU mindset. Again, this mon just seems like way too much for FENU. Not only is it an S-tier scarfer/breaker for this power level, it also has an ability that’s insanely busted once any mon with a good ability gets in (and in turn is super restrictive on submissions). I don’t see a world where this is a healthy force in the FENU meta.
Look, I see the vision. And maybe I'm wrong to call this one out, maybe it's fine. But when I see that statline with QD+Sleep Powder, there is no part of me that thinks "this will be balanced in NU" and more importantly, "this is a mon we should start our meta with". I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this one on here, but overall I just don't think it's a healthy choice for this early in the meta.
Ridiculous anti-offense tool. I don't think there's any way to balance this ability, as with this statline it just beats out basically any setup sweeper, particularly if you run scarf. Plus, it's still a great pivot outside of that (literally pult mini), so there's no hope for it.
Fast Pex? In my NU meta? I don't think so. No longer has Regen, so I think it'll probably just be a high-ranking defensive mon now. Mon never had regen. I will seek help
The Ugly
This is literally just better Wobbuffet. Mon is still broken with Shadow Tag, and now it even has setup for ultimate brokenness. nvm it doesn't have shadow tag i am blind
This ability is extremely degenerate. Consider this situation: you're faster than the opponent and they want to use a move they used last turn. Now you have a chance to completely invalidate what they want to do. Alternatively, this mon is pretty fat with WoW+Strength Sap+special bulk, so maybe the opponent only has one move to break you, you hit them, and now they have none. There's no world where I would want to see this mon be playable in a competitive meta.
A gimmick among gimmicks. Ice Grassy Glide is not an interesting concept and when it's done at the expense of a mon's regular movepool, it's made even worse. Poor offenses and a complete lack of Grass STABs means this thing is a shitmon.
This is literally just worse Wobbuffet. Mon is still broken with Shadow Tag; if
Wynaut got banned from base OU there's no shot worse Wobb lasts in NU.
Looks like a shitmon. Not much else to say. Just seemed like the kind of gimmick people would jump at, and if added it would most likely be completely unusable as its stats are bad, its utility movepool isn’t great, and this all compounds when you realize it’s a physical Electric/Bug.
While this is sick in concept, it is textbook gimmick mon. Its gimmick actively hurts it, as NP sets can't sweep at all, and once it transforms it loses Astral Barrage, which is the only thing making it good. 94 HP is kinda insane but I just don't think this is it. That being said, this definitely has the most hope out of anything in this category, so if you really need your gimmick fix, I wouldn’t die if this got in (or just vote for Perrim lol).
Another texbook gimmick mon, but not the cool kind this time. Simple SD + STAB ESpeed (not to mention Super Luck) is just insane, especially for NU, and that’s not even mentioning the fact that it can run NP to mess with physical walls. Nothing healthy here, but exactly the kind of thing people have a history of voting for, so I kindly request you don’t make that mistake.
Yucky yucky Belly Drum mon. BellySpeed is a very potent combo. In fact, it's potent enough that Linoone is NUBL in regular mons. This is that but better. Mon would be obnoxious to face in RU, let alone NU.
The 'won because of the sprite' mon for this slate. Similar to Tapu Wimi in that I wouldn't have mentioned it except for the fact that people will probably vote for it, and it is not good. 110/70 offenses on a physical Bug/Fairy is pretty terrible, but workable in NU thanks to SD. Geomancy is also a broken move, so while its stats and offensive typing suck, that is also an option. HOWEVER, this thing's bulk is actually horrendous. Neuroforce has shown itself to be a pretty bad ability in recent days (especially on a mon with mediocre STABs and average at best coverage options), but this is not true of the inverse. This mon already has terrible bulk, and then it sets itself up to take even more damage if the opponent can hit it super-effectively. Not only that, it's even SUPER VULNERABLE to status! Geomancy is still pretty busted so like, maybe this sees use on HO? But cringe 33% from rocks so I still stand by my placement. Mon has spammable STABs now y'all can vote it for the sprite.
Bonemerang/TAxel/filler/filler. Mon is either stupidly bad or stupidly good, neither of which are positive, not to mention it's the biggest Pillage punish under the sun if you run viable 4th moves Spore or Shell Smash.
The final Wobb. Almost put this in 'The Good' for humor value until I noticed it learned Acupressure, but I still had to mention it because after reading through the effects of this thing's ability it's actually hilarious. Generally trapping isn't the best idea, especially for a mon with a STAB that is super-effective against the targets you're trapping, but since the type being trapped is Ghost it's essentially just a beefed-up Pursuit trap in a Pursuitless meta, which is pretty funny. Additionally, trapping + setup is a huge no-no since it allows for degenerate strategies, and you may notice that this gets Contrary+Superpower, but the type it traps is
Ghost, meaning Superpower literally cannot be used to set up against trapped targets.
It also gets Calm Mind and Nasty Plot, but this thing's Special Attack, Speed, STABs, and bulk are all awful, meaning even at +6 it's easy to stop with almost any dedicated special wall, fast offensive mon, or Dark type. The pivoting-blocking part of its ability is pretty stupid if I'm being honest, but a Dark/Psychic with U-Turn immunity is pretty silly. Also Contrary on the opponent means opposing Ghost sweepers can't setup on you, making you able to do your job better, which is amusing.
Unfortunately Acupressure breaks the mon, but this thing is the single most ridiculous, layered gimmick I've seen in a very long time, and if these interactions were all planned out huge props to the submitter. NEVER MIND I SOMEHOW FORGOT ABOUT CONTRARY HALFWAY THROUGH WRITING THIS. I LOVE THIS MON PLEASE VOTE FOR IT IT'S SO STUPID I LOVE IT
Wouldn’t really feel right to put any of my own subs on here, but I’ll just put a disclaimer here to please check them out if you get a chance. I think my best this slate are Gak and Shielterra.
Only realized now that by praising everyone else's subs I'm killing my own. Also I will try to update this if more mons are added by people, I just wanted to give people more than enough time to edit things as they saw fit before vetos. Outdated text will be italicized.