905: Enamorus
And our first and only totally new Pokemon is... a new genie??? Really????? I mean, props for not going after the popular thing all the time but. Dunno who exactly was clamoring for a new, girlier genie.
Enamorus would almost feel like it'd be way better if it just had nothing to do with the genies. There's a cool design there in having a lady with a snake-like tail that wraps around her like a fur scarf. And it's nice to have another "girly" Pokemon with a bit more of a "granny" look to her, even if being pink and having hearts on her seems like a step too far.
Just... she gets way less exciting when she has to be related to these bozos. It's like the reverse of the Gardevoir-to-Gallade situation where you have a set of manly Pokemon, so OBVIOUSLY they need a pink, slimmer counterpart with hearts all over her. We could maybe buy it if they were representing the four seasons with.... I don't know, Tornadus for winter, Landorus for fall, and Thundurus for summer and now Enamorus is finally here to represent spring. But that feels like a major stretch.
It's not even explained too much how it fits in with the other forces of nature, other than being the start of the cycle we guess, said to come to bring winter to an end as Tornadus and Thundurus do their tussle as Landorus quells the fighting to save the harvest, but hmm. She's the best looking of these guys, but we wish she had nothing to do with them.
Personal Score: 6/10
Therian Form:
Therian Form:True to the original trio, her Therian form is way more interesting. Enamorus now becomes something akin to a softshell turtle, shrouded in a cloud "shell" and having the snake-tail coiled up on its back. We even kind of like the silly heart-shaped shnoz it has. And just the utter chaos combination of a flying turtle with a snake tail is something to admire. Just, again, it feels wasted by having to be associated with the other Forces of Nature.
That said, apparently Enamorus' Therian form is part of a quartet that's only just now been completed, with three previous Therian forms being a hawk, a dragon, and a tiger. These coincide with three of the Chinese Four Symbols, the Vermillion Bird of the South, the Azure Dragon of the East, and the White Tiger of the West. Which, as you probably guessed, Therian Enamorus fills in as the Black Tortoise of the North, even having the snake that the Black Tortoise is portrayed with. It feels like something that sort of happened on accident, like they only just noticed these three here match up with the Four Symbols, so they found the first excuse to make a fourth one.
But also in the same way we're suckers for the-sand-is-the-ocean trope of creature design, where normally aquatic creatures are portrayed as sand-swimmers, the-sky-is-the-ocean is also a really cool design trope, one that's been fairly underutilized in Pokemon thus far.
Personal Score: 7/10
One of the most unnecessary Pokemon I've ever seen...and yet, I can't help but kind of like it, especially the Therian Form. It's weird, but in a good way, like something from Wonderland! (Plus, the Incarnate Form reminds me of Him from the Powerpuff Girls.)
ReplyDeleteI think part of what makes Enamorus feel so unreal and unnecessary is how much of a Fakemon move it is. Cause we notice in Fakemon generations a lot that there's a legendary in the mix that's just directly related to a canon legendary. Enamorus is that except real, which is kind of funny.
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