>>40307879I didn't give Aipom a lot of thought until it made its cameo appearance as Lisa's shoulder mon in the third movie. I barely even knew it existed, as Aipom is a rather inconvenient Pokemon to acquire in GSC, and isn't even a good Pokemon to boot. Even in Gen 3, Aipom felt like it was just a tacked on Pokemon that was included to complete the national dex.
Everything changed with the lead-up to Gen 4. The Spurt! opening from February 2006 showed that an Aipom would be very prominent on the main cast. That Aipom would eventually be caught by Ash, and it was Ash's first Pokemon that he acquired that wasn't part of the same generation that he was currently in (Aipom was Gen 2, not 3). This made me question whether Aipom would play a bigger role later on. Ash caught Aipom right as his Battle Frontier journey was over, and he barely used it. I wondered if Aipom was meant to be used in Sinnoh, and then questioned why Aipom, a Gen 2 Pokemon, would be relevant to Sinnoh. Then I suddenly remembered Weavile and Bonsly, two evolutionary relatives of Gen 2 Pokemon. This had me believing Aipom would evolve. And once I saw the leaked images of Aipom's evolution, that solidified it for me. I knew the anime Aipom would evolve into Ambipom (but I expected Ash to keep Ambipom and not trade it to Dawn).
I like Ambipom's design except for its nose. Like, if it didn't have that stupid triangular nose, it would be an absolutely amazing design.
