In Defense of Vanillite (and other 'inanimate object Pokémon)

[Mushroom]

This was originally posted on my Tumblr, slightly edited it and posting it here, I'd love to get people's opinions

So, the Vanillite line, also known as Vanillite, Vanillish and Vanilluxe, also known as these adorable scamps:



So yeah. A trio of new pure Ice types introduced in Gen 5, evolving at surprisingly high levels, with a look that we haven't seen before in the games. OK, they're a bit wacky looking, but so is a lot of other stuff in Pokémon.

Of course the fan reaction looked a bit like this:



And I'm not sure I understand why these Pokémon are seen as deserving of a reaction like this. I see them constantly topping 'Worst Pokémon Ever" lists, along with its fellow Gen 5 whipping-boys the Klink line, and I think that's a gross overreaction.

The main argument is that it doesn't make sense that they would look like inanimate objects, and that there is no reason for something biological to exist that looks exactly like an ice cream cone.

Let me offer a defense of the Vanillite line, with a little headcanon I built up:

So, the Pokémon world is a dangerous, terrifying place, right?



Monsters hide anywhere they can, ready to leap out and attack with a whole array of elemental and physical powers. These are creatures that can melt rocks, swim across the ocean in minutes, eat your dreams and so many more horrifying and terrifying things.

And it's been established that wild Pokémon do hunt and eat each other, so it's just as, if not more, dangerous to be a Pokémon in this world than it is a human.

Captured Pokémon, on the other hand, generally have very safe lives. Free healthcare in the form of Pokémon centres, love and care from their owners. They're fed, they're sheltered.



So why wouldn't some Pokémon WANT to get caught?

It makes perfect sense to me that a lot of these Pokémon have adapted very quickly to the world they live in and have managed to survive by taking forms that they have worked out are appealing to humans.

Of course, this is a lot harder for the animal based Pokémon, because we can assume that they abide by similar rules of adaptation as real world animals, i.e. it takes a hell of a long time to change form to fit your surroundings. *(side note- I'm not talking about Pokémon 'evolution', which is essentially just growing up, not breeding down traits that could help survival)

But for sentient blocks of ice like Vanillite, there's no reason they couldn't enact that change a little faster. So, they've seen that there's another ice based entity that humans seem to be drawn to, one that always brings a smile to their face when they get their hands on it, and that's ice cream. Thus, they gradually, as a species start shifting towards an ice-cream form, in the hopes that the humans will look at them the same way and want to take them away from all the nasty fire types who want to melt them down to nothing.



The same could be said of mechanical based Pokémon like Voltorb. As a strange, mechanical based life form, it has adapted relatively quickly to a world where humans will pick up interesting things off the ground, particularly things that look like Pokéballs. So they've adapted to look like Pokéballs themselves in the hope that a kindly human will pick them up too.



Of course, ghost types that look like real things can be explained much more simply: They are possessed. We have seen this in action with Rotom, and it has been spelled out as much for Pokémon like Honedge.

But, to me at least, this seems to explain every other Pokémon that lives in the form of an every day object. They have adapted to the world they live in, and have done so with the express reason of appealing to trainers.

So leave Vanillite alone, ok guys? Its doing this for you. It just wants to be loved!



Do you agree? Reckon this makes sense? Or still think Vanillite is the worst?

[SirBlaziken]

I'll admit, I wasn't the biggest fan of the vanillite line at first (why isn't it part ghost? It looks part ghost), the gen wunners not helping (hey, you think an ice cream cone isn't creative, look at electrode and voltorb. Every gen has those 'not creative' pokemon, although what is and isn't creative is a matter of opinion). However, it's kinda started growing on me, especially vanillite with its cuteness and all. If I could clear out my black game or something, I might try a nuzlocke and reset until I get a vanillite, although that kinda ruins it.

For the record, I'm not a fan of luvdisc, mainly since it never does anything when I use it but it ends up whipping me when i'm against it. The shiny is cool, though.

I dunno, vanillite just makes me want to walk to the Dairy Queen that's about a quarter of a mile from my house. If only their ice cream could look this cute. I just thought of something, however. If vanillite adapted to look like an ice cream cone, what did it look like before that?

[Mushroom]

I figured they looked like some kind of generic, ice elemental. Kind of like the Ice Wraiths in Skyrim but less terrifying maybe:



Just some kind of sentient lump of ice and snow with no definite form, but Ice and snow are pretty easy to mould or melt and reform, so it could have taken a variety of forms before finding that for some reason, the ice cream cone look worked.

Just off the top of my head

[Kerou 犠牲]

I always thought the line was pretty cool

[Kpyna]

I like Vanillite too but I always felt like I was in the minority for it. I think you have an interesting theory-- of course, it's more likely that they were just running out of ideas when they were brainstorming all of those pokemon, but I think your theory makes sense. Maybe not in the case of Trubbish. That's probably not adaptation to get closer to humans. Maybe to hide among their junk from wild pokemon, maybe.