901: Ursaluna
It definitely feels like the way they picked these evolutions was under the same kind of mentality they picked which Pokemon got evolutions back in Gen 4. With Pokemon like Stantler, Basculin, and Qwilfish, all of which were in a bit of a "one-off loser club", getting new evolved forms and all. At first glance Ursaluna here might seem to be an odd exception, but is it really? Rhydon seemed like a "complete" line but ended up getting the vastly different Rhyperior anyway. All this to say Ursaluna feels like both a weird pick and a weird way to progress Ursaring, so it still feels kinda at-home alongside Rhyperior, Dusknoir, and Mamoswine in the "this line felt complete already but thanks anyway I guess" club.
Ursaluna is interesting though. Ursaring had always felt kinda "there", in terms of Pokemon. A regular mid-game Normal type that was easily forgotten. Ursaluna picks up a Ground type and is covered in a layer of peat, the surface-layer of soil that is mostly made up of decayed organic matter. That's already a neat start, but it goes in so many fun directions with it.
This peat layer that they wear also makes a huge "hill" shape on their back, which is notable because the Hokkaido's own ussuri brown bear is known for excavating burrows into hills. Ursaluna's essentially carrying its burrow around with it! It also has the cool design detail right on its forehead, with the way mud is splattered on its face making the huge yellow spot look like a full moon poking out from behind clouds. Neato!!
It's also just cool to finally have a 'Mon that just a bit more of Just a Bear, but in more of a naturalistic way than Ursaring opting to be Just a Bear in a more anthropomorphic way. Because sure, while bears can stand on two legs, they spend most of their time on all fours. It took a bit, but we finally have a bear Pokemon that reflects that!
AND it's a mount! Bear mount like, ups its cool-factor by at LEAST half a point.
Personal Score: 7.5/10
Comments
Post a Comment