The Value of Each Pokémon

In the Pokémon fanbase, there's several Pokémon that are universally accepted as popular and good - several probably came to mind just from you reading that sentence, right? The Eeveelutions, Mimikyu, Snom, Pikachu, most of the starters... and to be fair, it's easy to see why people love these Pokémon. It's pretty normal to have one of them as your favourite, and people won't question it.

I'm very public about how Nosepass is my top favourite, and I always get questions about why it's my favourite. It's one of the least popular Pokémon, and it isn't uncommon to see people putting it on their least favourite Pokémon lists and questioning why it even exists when it's so ugly.

The reason it's my favourite is deceptively simple... I just love it! Its design appeals to me a lot and I personally find Nosepass very cute. The thing is, I feel that the frequency of such questions I get and the sheer disbelief people have at someone liking Nosepass is indicative of an underlying problem. Perhaps not a huge problem, but a bit of a sad problem.

Nosepass isn't the only Pokémon of which people question their existence, as Trubbish and Vanilluxe can attest to. A common target of ire is Zubat for its overwhelming prevalence in caves, or Tentacool for its abundance in the seas. People generally accept that nobody likes these Pokémon, and that it's very odd when someone actually does. Why, then, do they exist? What purpose do they serve?

As of Sword and Shield, there's 893 different Pokémon (if you don't count different forms), representing all kinds of wildlife, plants, objects, and mythical beings. The sheer diversity brings so much life to the games, and it's incredibly exciting to start a new game or to go to a new route and see what different creatures you can find, especially when a new game has just been released. The same can be said of Pokémon GO - seeing uncommon Pokémon and catching things you haven't gotten yet is a great feeling. Additionally, an increasingly popular activity is to randomise the encounters in Pokémon games with unofficial tools, so that every new route has different and surprising Pokémon.

Considering this diversity and the sheer number of people who play Pokémon the answer feels simple: there's something for everyone. Every single Pokémon has to potential to appeal to someone, and the potential to be someone's top favourite. After all, everyone has different tastes! While a Pokémon like Trubbish may not appeal to you personally, I guarantee there's people out there who love and adore it. Someone out there loves Zubat, someone loves Vanilluxe, and someone especially loves Nosepass (a-hem).

It's definitely fine to dislike certain Pokémon for your own reasons, but believe me, every Pokémon is good in its own way and serves a purpose. Rather than be confused when someone loves a Pokémon that you hate, be happy for them! I think it's wonderful when people are excited about their favourites, and I hope the fandom continues to encourage positivity.

Page originally published on 11th November 2017.
Page last updated on 31st March 2021 at 00:07 UTC - (updating outdated information, very minor rewriting).