Wikipedia:WikiProject Pokémon/Reception archive

This is an archive to store reception for individual Pokémon articles in one place, so we can more readily get an idea of what can be revived. When contributing please only use reliable, third-party sources for reception and remember there is a difference between reception and promotion.

Jessie
Anime Classics Zettai! described her as quite often a "charming and endearing character", and that through revealing bits of herself over the course of the series she earned the audiences sympathy, where otherwise her antics would have driven viewers away.

Absol
IGN praised Absol's design saying it had "the neatest character design since Umbreon", attributing it to its pure Dark type.

Aipom
IGN mocked Aipom's design, calling it "a purple monkey with a hand coming out of his butt". GamesRadar ranked Aipom along with Croagunk fifth on their list of "Five unitentionally scary Pokemon, noting that their permanent large smiles are unwavering and scary.

Beautifly
1UP.com named Beautifly the fourth "Lamest Pokémon" in the franchise, noting the similarity to Butterfree including evolutionary forms, with the only difference being the evolution dependent on the game's day and night cycle.

Castform
GamesRadar named Castform in their list of fugly Pokémon, noting that while they consider it cute, its weird boob-like things hanging of its head are creepy.

Croagunk
GamesRadar ranked Croagunk along with Aipom fifth on their list of "Five unitentionally scary Pokemon", noting that their permanent large smiles are unwavering and scary.

Diglett
CNET called Diglett a recognizable Pokémon.

Doduo
Author Loredana Lipperini commented that Doduo shares a kinship to the extinct bird the dodo.

Drifblim
GameDaily ranked Drifblim fourth on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", stating "We're not sure why there's a Pokémon that resembles a hot air balloon with marshmallow fluff (at least we hope it's fluff) on its head. After all, how do you give that a hug?".

Ekans
Author Loredana Lipperini described Ekans as a "silent and somewhat treacherous snake".

Electivire
GamesRadar described Electivire as flat-out ugly.

Voltorb and Electrode
Author Loredana Lipperini commented that Electrode appeared to be "less grumpy" than its preceding evolution, Voltorb. CNET called Voltorb a recognizable Pokémon.

Exeggutor
In an open forum interview with ABC News, Creatures Inc. founder Tsunekazu Ishihara noted Exeggutor as his favorite Pokémon, citing it was the Pokémon he used while debugging the games.

Gardevoir
GamesRadar described Gardevoir and Granbull as the equivalent of Beauty and the Beast.

Gastly
Author Loredana Lipperini described Gastly as a "sticky and terrifying apparition".

Glalie
GameDaily ranked Glalie fifth on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", noting it "resembles a cat wearing a skull, or a cat with aspirations of being a goalie". GamesRadar named Glalie on their list of Fugly Pokémon, noting that it resembles a dirty snowball crossed with an evil cat head.

Golduck
Author Loredana Lipperini called Golduck a dragon.

Granbull
GamesRadar described Gardevoir and Granbull as the equivalent of Beauty and the Beast and also noted that his underbite is comparable to that of Bruce Springsteen's.

Happiny
GameDaily ranked Happiny 10th on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", stating while they found the character cute, it "looks like Kirby in drag".

Hitmontop
GameSpot editor Frank Provo commented that if players liked Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, they would like Hitmontop.

Horsea
Author Loredana Lipperini called Horsea "cute".

Ledian
GamesRadar ranked Ledian fourth on their list of "Five unitenionally scary Pokemon", noting that its gloves resemble Isotoners which they claim are used by murderers around the world.

Lopunny
Lopunny was listed amongst rabbits in popular culture. GamesRadar editor Carolyn Gudmundson listed the “humanoid” design of Pokémon as one of the most overused designs in the Pokémon series, citing Lopunny as an example; she also cited Lopunny as an example of how the series has failed to “tone down” the weird humanoid designs; she described Lopunny as a “sexy humanoid rabbit.” GamesRadar also included Lopunny in their list of “fugly Pokémon". They cited its cry and its pose, the former described as “suggestive”. They also criticized Lopunny for its lack of creativity, commenting that while the Nidorans had two Pokémon for each gender, Lopunny only had one. They added that a better idea would be to make the male version masculine, describing such an idea as a “Machamp-esque bunny.” However, they praised the Pokémon Battle Revolution incarnation of Lopunny as being “much improved” over the Diamond and Pearl incarnation. Fellow GamesRadar editor Darryl Vassar described Lopunny as a “bunny bombshell” as well as “curvaceous”.

Luvdisc
1UP.com named Luvdisc the third "Lamest Pokémon" in the franchise, describing it as one of the "filler Pokémon" for the games and adding "...we'll just go on making fun of whoever thought a heart-shaped Pokémon was a good idea".

Krabby
GameDaily named Krabby as the second best Pokémon they would like to eat, noting that it would go well with a pot of water and some butter. Krabby's claw grip was used to describe Pokémon's dominance on the Game Boy Advance charts.

Mareep
GameSpot editor Frank Provo described Mareep as a reference to the film Blade Runner.

Marill
Because of its resemblance to Pikachu and early-unveiling without a stated name, the character was initially referred to as "Pikablu" by fans and the media. This led to speculation amongst fans after its appearance in Pokémon: The First Movie that it was an evolved form of Pikachu that would appear in Pokémon Yellow, until debunked by IGN. GameSpot editor Frank Provo described Marill as "cute".

Nidoking
Author Loredana Lipperini described Nidoking as "reminiscent of another great myth" of dinosaurs.

Octillery
GameDaily named Octillery the tenth best Pokémon they would like to eat, noting that it would work will when cut into small pieces and deep-fried.

Oddish
Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga author Toshihiro Ono cited Oddish as one of his favorite Pokémon to draw for the series, stating the reason being "because its cute".

Persian
Author Loredana Lipperini described Farfetch'd as being "oriental".

Poliwag, Poliwhirl and Poliwrath
GameDaily ranked Poliwhirl eight on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", noting the swirl on its stomach as "hypnotic". Author Loredana Lipperini commented that cynics described Poliwhirl as a "swivel with purple gloves".

Porygon
GamesRadar described Porygon as "outdated as Nintendo 64 graphics" due to its subsequent evolutions. IGN described its evolutions as appearing "much more smoother and lifelife" than its initial design.

Quagsire
GamesRadar described Quagsire as the illegitimate child of Godzilla and the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Salamence
In the book "Dragonlore: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry", author Ash Dekirk describes Salamence as resembling a classical dragon.

Sandshrew
IGN described Sandshrew as "a cute little armadillo", emphasizing that this attribute is retained in its Sandslash evolution, but that it "adds a bit of edge as well".

Solrock
GamesRadar ranked Solrock second on their list of "Five unitenionally scary Pokemon", noting that it has immobilizing fear with the black lines around its eyes resemble mascara and that its a rock shaped like a sun.

Spinda
In an interview, Junichi Masuda noted Spinda as a favorite Pokémon of his due to its "well thought out" design. He noted that in order to make each Spinda have a different design, much planning and discussion had to be done to make it feasible in game.

Stantler
GameDaily named Stantler the eighth best Pokémon they would like to eat, noting that lots of people eat venision and that there are numerous recipes out there.

Sunflora
GamesRadar described Sunflora as a flower with a grin drawn on with magic marker, they also compared it to the TV show The Magic Garden which featured a giggling flower patch. They also named it on their list of fugly Pokémon, noting that it is completely uninspired and appears that someone has just thrown a smiley face on a sunflower.

Taillow
Computer and Video Games editor Maura Sutton criticized Taillow as a "boring bird-like critter", questioning whether it was the "new Magikarp".

Tangela
GameDaily ranked Tangela sixth on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", noting its vines more readily resembled worms, and its concealed "face". Author Loredana Lipperini called it a "plate of spaghetti" with legs.

Tauros
Author Loredana Lipperini compared it to a bull in mythology, though noting that it has "three tails and purple clogs".

Teddiursa
GameSpot editor Frank Provo called Teddiursa "downright bizarre".

Torkoal
In the book "Dragonlore: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry", author Ash Dekirk describes it as a giant drake, despite its lack of wings.

Trapinch, Vibrava, and Flygon
In the book "Dragonlore: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry", author Ash Dekirk states that while its first two forms, Trapinch and Vibrava, resemble overgrown bugs, Vibrava evolves into Flygon, which he describes as a "faery dragon".

Venonat
GameDaily ranked Venonat third on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", stating "Pokémon should be cuddly. Pokémon should have faces with big cheery smiles. They should not resemble bugs with blood-red eyeballs that suggest they carry disease." GamesRadar however praised the character, stating while its appearance would imply worthlessness, to the point that around their offices "Venonat fan" was an insult, its attacks showed otherwise and made it a versatile character.

Wartortle
Author Loredana Lipperini commented that Wartortle was more militaristic than Squirtle, citing its name which includes the word "war".

Weepinbell
GameDaily ranked Weepinbell seventh on their list of the "Top 10 Weirdest Looking Pokémon", stating "there's no denying that Weepinbell looks freakin' weird.".