That is the angriest sphere I've ever seen.

100: Voltorb

Yet another Pokemon that catches a lot of counter-”genwunner” flak for being "awful" and "unimaginative." This time I partly agree. Not so much the "unimaginative" bit because, y'know, my taste isn't law, but I still don't exactly like Voltorb, sadly. The idea is sound, but I feel like it deserved a little better on the execution.

If you've dipped into any Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy setting, you're probably familiar with the mimic. The mimic is a monster that looks like a treasure chest just ready to be looted, but then it springs arms and/or bares teeth. (In usual depictions, anyway.) Mimics can take all sorts of forms based on the setting. And what is the equivalent of a treasure chest in Pokemon? A Pokeball!

That part of it is fun, but boy is it the absolute bare bones of a mimic. Heck, it takes away from the iconography of mimics, the big tongue and huge teeth, and all that. I guess it replaces that with exploding, which I'll grant is definitely a unique ability for a mimic, but that isn't exactly something communicated in its design other than being angry. I feel like a future Pokemon pulls off the mimic thing better, and even then. It has at least promoted a trend in Fakemon designing that's a lot of fun to mess with. What other critters and creatures can we make with Pokemonized mimics in mind?

Personal Score: 5/10

This one, however, was brought to you by Colgate.

101: Electrode

In all honesty, Voltorb could have stayed unevolved and I wouldn't have minded. Electrode here just feels unnecessary, being largely the same thing but flipped and with a different face. It's got the teeth now, I guess, but it's just slapped on there to make a face. They could've totally made the Pokeball's opening its “mouth!” To this day I don't know why that didn't cross their mind.

Especially with the implication in the Pokedex that these two are just sentient Pokeballs. Which wouldn't be the weirdest thing for the series to do. The way Pokeballs work themselves are kind of ambiguous, so I wouldn't be surprised a piece of technology that can store creatures converted into some kind of energy might go haywire under certain conditions, or if Voltorbs were born from one of the first models of Pokeballs that had that fatal flaw in them that would turn your pet snakes and mice into a really angry orb.

I know from a gameplay perspective this is just out of Pokemon's scope, let alone during the original Red and Blue days, but I can't help but imagine a Pokeball mimic being centered around the idea of "catching" your Pokemon in its mouth, and adding in the explosion aspect where it explodes with your Pokemon inside it if you don't break it out of there quick enough. Again, probably just out of Pokemon's range as far as gameplay goes, and maybe even borders on being a little unfair. But just the idea strikes me as something cool that could've been.