Hey there, sorry for the week off. Ended up being busy travelling for a few days but I’m ready to kick things back off again with another nice little family of Bug Pokemon and our first of quite a few moth Pokemon: the Venonat family.

Venonat is whole other kind of juvenile bug distinct from the ones seen so far, and this has some of my favourite features of the unevolved Generation 1 bugs, Venonat is a whimsical little purple fuzzball with vivid pink compound eyes and diminutive limbs and antenna, really committing to a more palatable cutesy take on a kind of bug many would otherwise find really gross. The distinctive colour scheme does a lot to both make it look bold and poisonous while also giving it a vibrant mascot appeal, and the limbs and mouth being a more fleshy colour make it just a little off-putting without completely undermining the whole design. Many have speculated that this Pokemon was originally supposed to evolve into Butterfree and while I don’t think there’s much hard evidence of that I do see the resemblance. Regardless it feels more like just a simple shared aesthetic between Pokemon like Rhydon and Nidoking or Venusaur and Vileplume using the same flower, and the differences between the caterpillar to butterfly evolution and a venomous caterpillar-flea thing to a venomous moth are significant enough that I do feel the way these lines are now is just generally better all-round.

Soon enough, the silly little fuzzball evolves into one of Twitch Plays Pokemon’s strongest soldiers: Venomoth. Venomoth quite significantly scales back on Venonat’s most interesting and distinctive traits but still feels like a reasonable enough evolution and a really nice take on a venomous moth (as if the name didn’t do enough of the work in really spelling that one out). The simpler shade of lilac works very nicely as a single toned design, the eyes are not as immediately compelling as Venonat’s but work better for the more subdued look in a way.  I think what stands out to me most is the head. The eyes looking beadier really works with the head shape, in conjunction with the crest and teeth to create something that looks a lot more menacing than its pre-evolution. Plus competitively despite being a humble design this Pokemon is surprisingly effective: Quiver Dance and Tinted Lens are not to be messed with and they really make Venomoth more than it initially looks to be, as with its appearance in Twitch Plays Pokemon where it famously exploited Lance’s Dragonite knowing non-damaging Psychic moves to breeze through the fight at Level 32. While these aren’t design things specifically, they both contribute to my positive personal perception of Venomoth a lot. There seems to be the notion of this Pokemon being simple and appearing to be lacking, but it’s surprisingly really solid and having a lot to appreciate. They’re not complex, they’re just plain nice to look at.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – I can’t really put my finger on this one, but it’s fundamentally a good Pokemon and I like it a lot