>>40222660While it's not my absolute favorite, I have to point out that Barbaracle is amazing and doesn't get nearly enough respect. It does the whole "first stage but duplicated" deal far better than, say, Magneton or Dugtrio, and its design pulls from several inspirations to make a compelling and expressive creature out of a sessile organism. In battle, it performs better than any of its Rock/Water counterparts and competes rather favorably with Cloyster for the title of best Shell Smash user in the game. People tend to dismiss it as an ugly shitmon, but Barbaracle is so much more than that. It's an imaginative and daring take on a fascinating real-world animal that also happens to more than hold its own in the middle tiers, and it's a crime that it got overlooked in RU in favor of safer-designed but significantly less effective Pokemon like Tsareena or Jolteon.
