Why I aughta...!!!!!

324: Torkoal

Yet another of Gen 3's odd stand-alones, this time this thing has no new evolution or Mega to speak of, so Torkoal has simply and sadly been left forgotten. Which is disappointing, because Torkoal's design is actually pretty dang good. If only it had stats worth anything and wasn't stuck as a defensive Pokemon with one of the worst defensive types. (Thank goodness it's not Rock/Fire).

Torkoal itself is such a novel, cool idea that seems like it must have an odd amount of overlap with Camerupt, them both being Fire types with a volcano-shaped back that spews something out of a hole on top. At least, as a kid, we thought this was another volcano Pokemon, but it's actually a kiln/clay oven! And it's a wonderfully stylized tortoise with holes in its shell where you can see the burning within. And it spews smoke out of its top and nose, which is extra neat! Easily the coolest feature on top of all these cool features is how Torkoal's face looks pretty befitting for a clay sculpture of some kind, so it's really neat that they stylized its face that way! It's just a shame the dude's officially more neglected than Qwilfish.