Day 4: Stoutland

(BGM: Route 29 from Heart Gold/Soul Silver)

There are two things most first routes in a Pokemon game have in common.

1: There's going to be a regional bird

2: There's always going to be the designated Normal-Type that'll act as your HM Slave for the journey (i.e: Zigzagoon, Sentret, Bunnelby, and the king of them all, Bidoof).

While these two are about as consistent as the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Victory Streak…

Me: I'm still pissed off that the 49ers lost, by the way.

Lyra: The Chiefs are better! Patrick Mahomes is MVP! Get over it!

Me: Go back to Colorado, Bronco Lover!

Anyway, Game Freak occasionally throws a surprise Pokemon our way in these opening routes that subvert our expectations in that the final form is, for lack of a better term, good.

Sun and Moon has Grubbin which will evolve into Vikavolt. Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum have Shinx which will evolve into Luxray. And the Black and White games has Lillipup which will evolve into the Pokemon we'll be talking about today…

Stoutland!

(Insert Stoutland cry here)


(BGM: Vs Rival from Pokemon Black & White)

Don't let the fact that Lillipup being obtainable on the first route of the first Black & White game fool you. Lillipup is a good boi, and eventually evolves into the best boi known as Stoutland.

First let's talk about that design, which is based on a variety of different dog breeds. Stoutland is basically what happens when a Shih Tzu, a Scottish Terrier, a Yorkshire Terrier, and a Maltese get fused together, resulting in one badass doggo of a Pokemon. But despite the fierce appearance, Stoutland looks absolutely fluffy. Seriously I just want to hug it and give it headpats! Especially if it's the Ride Stoutland from the Sun and Moon games which, not only gets you to where you need to go quickly (basically allowing you to run without having to hold down the B Button all the time) but also acts as the game's Dowsing Machine. What a unique and interesting way to incorporate old mechanics.

Being a Normal Type Pokemon, Stoutland only has one weakness to the Fighting-type. While going up against Fighting-types can be daunting, it can learn moves like Aerial Ace…

(Static)

Between generations 4 and 6 it could learn Aerial Ace, and it can learn Work Up to boost both of its attack stats. On top of that, it has two abilities that can help it out in spades. First, there's Sand Rush, which raises its speed in a sandstorm. While Sand Rush is a good ability, it's only really good in double battles if your partner sets up a Sandstorm. The real ability you want is Intimidate which lowers your opponent's attack stat by one stage. Intimidate is a fan favorite ability among the fandom, and putting it on Stoutland, who is weak to Fighting-types, a type with mostly physical attacking moves, is a genius idea. Get a Stoutland with Intimidate if you can.

Stoutland's hidden ability, Scrappy, isn't that bad either, allowing it to hit Ghost-Types with Normal type moves. And given the amount of strong Normal type moves that Stoutland can learn, that is extremely good news.

Speaking of which, let's talk about some of Stoutland's moves.

On top getting some awesome Normal type moves like Return, Retaliate, and the always powerful Giga Impact, Stoutland can learn all three elemental fangs, Crunch and Bite, Play Rough, Dig, Stomping Tantrum, Iron Head, Superpower, Wild Charge…holy crap, there are so many good moves that Stoutland can use…

…If we're talking Physical moves.

Yeah, Stoutland can also learn moves like Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, and Surf, but I'd stay away from those given Stoutland's poor Special Attack stat. Although speaking of HM moves, Stoutland is one of few Pokemon I'd actually recommend teaching Strength too for battling. Not only does it provide STAB damage, but it's also a move with decent attacking power.

All in all, Stoutland is a very good boi to take with you on your Pokemon journey. It's appearance is cute but fearsome, it has good abilities, pretty balanced stats all around (although that's par for the course for most Normal types), and an impressive movepool.

With all of these facts in mind, Stoutland is a Pokemon worthy of all the headpats!

Sit, Stoutland, sit! Good dog.