Who does her lashes

215: Sneasel

Sneasel's another Pokemon that feels weird to remember it used to be a loner with no prevo OR evo. It just kind of was. It was also one of the more weirdly recluse Pokemon in the game, not being available throughout the entirety of the Johto half of GSC's journey, instead only appearing in Mt. Silver and the route before it, the likely very final area you'll ever see in the game.

Sneasel finds basis on the youkai known as the "sickle weasel", or the "Kamaitachi", which is a youkai in and of itself that is also a monster embodiment of the concept of frostbite. It's said to ride on icy mountain winds, slashing at poor victims before it's ever seen. Hence why Sneasel's entire thing is being a fast 'Mon with a high attack stat.

Sneasel itself could convey this basis even better, with this in mind. Not enough of its design really communicates "Ice" to us. Not every Ice type needs to have clunky chunks of frozen water on their bodies, but Sneasel COULD use something like a tail or hair made of billowing snow drifts to give it a more "icy wind" feel, and also to make it a Pokemon that rather literally is a frostbiting wind that physically attacks you. Still though, it throws in a nice amount of asymmetry to keep a bit of intrigue, if just a little bit. It's a pretty simple "cool appeal" monster design, but it does this really well for what it's worth.