>>49942150>the fae and fae-like creaturesThat’s literally Fairy types. What do you think Pokémon like Hatterene, Mimikyu, Mawile, and Primarina are? They’re witches, sirens, boggarts, changelings: attractive, but also a little uncanny, mischievous, and sometimes dangerous. They’re not malevolent but nature spirits that don’t follow anthropocentric moral conventions. Even conventionally cute-looking Clefairy is a slightly alien creature that hides from people, dances at the full moon, and drinks dew from the grasses. Primarina looks pretty but look closer and you see the sharp teeth of a carnivorous animal. They’re not represented with obvious physical might because their power is nocturnal, indirect, and seductive, like the moon used to symbolise them. The use of foods and flowers and sweet smells in their designs all relate to this notion of seductive and indirect power, in the same way as moves like Baby Doll Eyes. I’ve loved fairies since I was a kid reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream—Clefairy has basically always been my favourite Pokémon—and the execution of Fairy type is as good a contemporary pop culture iteration of fairies as I could want. Certainly far less clumsy than Dark was when it was first introduced in Gen II and players barely got the chance to really use it. People just dislike Fairy because it nerfed types and mons they like. It has nothing to do with a principled rejection of Alcremie and Aromatisse.
