Poochy the red-nosed yena

261: Poochyena

Rather than getting out of the starters with a common rodent or bird, we get to a more miscellaneous earlygame fodder Pokemon. A hyena seems like an odd fit for a game's early 'mons, since one would figure hyenas would be a better fit as a mid-game Pokemon where they have more room to get a little weird. As-is, Poochyena is a competent enough design with a cute snaggle-tooth and yellow eyes. We would just rather a Dark-type hyena Pokemon do something more fun rather than stick to being just an animal so hard.

Also, just a nitpick but Poochyena is a bit of an odd name for it. Hyenas aren't canines, believe it or not, but are actually felines that just happen to be very dog-like, sharing a suborder with traditional cats, mongeese, meerkats, and other cat-like carnivores.

Aha! Look, a mistake in the art! Mightyena's nose is supposed to be red, not black! And as Pokemon fans, it's our duty to never let go of this ever!

262: Mightyena

Mightyena is much the same, but even then it loses out on the snaggle tooth that Poochy had. It does in general feel like a mish-mash of hyenas and wolves, but the parts of it that make it more wolf-like just sadly make it less interesting. Like c'mon, you've missed the point of being a hyena! It's got the shaggy fur, for sure, but it just seems like such a vanilla animal Pokemon compared to what it feels like a hyena Pokemon SHOULD be, with a devilish smile and wicked expression.