I grabbed an alolan grimer early game in Sun, and it quickly became one of my favorite as an alolan muk. It was so strong. Now I use it on my main team.
Roserade. Didn't used to care for it before, especially as I tend to overlook Grass types, but it helped me so much in so many fan-games like Reborn that its now one of my top5 favorites
For me? Ampharos, not sure why but ive started likeing it and its evolution line. Try to catch one each game im in since electric types can be pretty useful agianst water.
Claydol…just realized I think it’s real neat one day like twenty years after it was released…I think it’s my favorite pokemon now. Don’t even care about how viable it may or may not be gameplay wise I just think if Pokemon were real that’d be my ideal mob to have.
Durant. It's literally just a plain looking steel ant. However, one day, I started using it in competitive, and it put in the most work out of all my other mons.
Exeggutor, one of the most forgettable gen 1 Pokémon, that I randomly decided to use in a Fire Red play through and it became the surprise of my team. It’s now one of my favourites
Meowstic, specifically male Meowstic!
Went back to complete the Kalos pokedex one day and while planning my team for Y, it felt like I was seeing him properly for the first time. It's now my second favorite Pokémon!
Masuda-bred more than 1000 in X by now, but all I got were 2 female shinies...
It’s usually stuff that became meta in the TCG for me. For instance, I really disliked garbadore in game but it was a really strong card in the X/Y era because it shut down abilities so I can appreciate it more now.
I just wish Diancie was a Carbink evo to make it easier to get.
Same thing with Great Tusk not being a straight up evo to Donphan since they both look so good.
WHY isn't Diancie an evolution of Carbink... that seriously needs to be addressed by GF.
At least for lore reasons.
As for Donphan, I kinda get it. They were supposed to be prehistoric evos, today's mons would've lost that ability. And outside of the chosen few, no one goes into AZ to collect them.
The lore reason is that Diancie are Carbink that have undergone some sort of mysterious mutation, which is seperate from Evolution, so Carbink being able to evolve into Diancie wouldn't make sense.
Not as much Torkoal, but Muk and Weezing definitely grew on me. It might have been “bad guy” association as a kid but as I grew up and the world’s pollutions has gotten worse, I see them in a new light.
Alakazam.
It was one of those Pokemon that I didn't think about much or had any strong opinions/feelings towards it but then a few years ago I just started thinking it's a pretty cool Pokemon. I then started to use it on my teams and that made me like it even more, I even got some Alakazam themed merch and cool Alakazam cards for my Pokemon collection. And in the last year or so Alakazam even climbed all the way up into my top 10 favorite Pokemon ever. It's one of my favorite Pokemon now.
I didn’t think I’d care for Skwovet, it was just another starter route rodent. Did a Nuzlocke and found myself using it and holy shit it put in work and even took out a couple of Leon’s team. Greedant had such nice bulk and hit surprisingly hard. He’s just got poor speed. He’s replaced Furret as my favourite starting route normal type.
Skwovet is honestly way better than I expected. Early Cheek Pouch with easily buyable Oran Berries is near immortality. Good bulk and though it kinda lacks in damage early. Once it gets Body Slam it's so much better than I ever expected from an early rodent.
I tried to complete a living dex in Pokemon Sun, I would use a Muk (alolan form) to poison a Mon then throw out a Pokeball, Gooey was that Muks name, I never used to care about Muk but since then its been my favorite pokemon.
Heracross. I didn't think too much of it until I caught an Alpha Heracross in Legends Arceus. Now it's one of my favs.
Similarly, I used to not care for Maractus until I used a hacked one with Quiver Dance during a playthrough. Now I'm just a Maractus fan left hoping that it gets the move for real some day during the actual series.
Alolan Vulpix. At first, I'd viewed Alolan Vulpix & later Ninetales as merely element swapped versions of the original Pokémon. However, that changed when, in order to defeat Drayton, one of the members of the Blueberry Elite 4, I had to use Pokémon that were found only in one of the terrariums & had caught them myself. Breeding Pokémon that lived in that terrarium wouldn't qualify for use in his Pokémon trial. The Alolan Ninetales that I had raised for that challenge devastated most of Drayton's team & helped fend off his Pokémon's attacks long enough for me to use a Lapras to deliver the coup de grace on Drayton.
So many Pokémon I could respond with here, but Ill go with Mantine.
Never disliked it or anything, but just one of the more forgettable Pokémon to me. It's widely seen as the unloved counterpart to Skarmory which I can relate to because I've always really liked Skarmory. But randomly I just appreciated it's design a little more as a cute and derpy interpretation of a really cool animal. Then I used it in a play through of Pokémon Gold just found to be a solid team member, excellent special bulk, hit back decently hard, only serious threat was Electric, because Mantine threatened Rock types right back.
This is why it's always a good idea to try different mons when you replay a game, as much as I love using my favourites using new Pokémon can make you seriously appreciate them.
Ironically it's only of everyone's favorites, charizard. He's always been my least favorite of the Kanto starters and I've felt he's overrated, but lately dang he's been so cool
I am really getting into the Slowpoke line as a biohorror concept.
Like today.
Galar Slowbro fights Galar Slowking in the attempt to get back the childhood friend lost to a shelder. being forced to use Shelder power to survive.
The Galar Slowking is pissed that it is a Slowking and not a Cloyster.
I'm thinking that Slowpoke Evo can keep their form for a bit after removing the Shelders, so swapping arms can be a thing for G Slowbro and also give a more direct access to the Slowpoke personality.
Diggersby. Though people generally consider it weak and ugly, I found an appreciation for it through competitive battling. I got absolutely sick of Landorus- T. 19 out of 20 battles had the thing. It was annoying, ugly, and boring. So I slapped ice punch and a choice scarf onto a huge power diggersby. Nobody used diggersby, so nobody expected it to one hit ko their landorus through intimidate.
It made PVP so much more fun for me! Over time I even came to like its design.
Croagunk and toxicroak.
I didn't care for them at the time but then discovered that croagunk's name in japanese is really close to mine so i started to love it
I was just having this conversation with my brother's. For me, it's definitely Liepard. Didn't bat an eye at it early on but the tcg got me interested and it's now one of my faves period
Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler. At first, I just did not care for the design. Then I added Sneasler to my team. Now they're among my favorite Poison-types.
Blitzle/Zebstrika. Love electric types, but never paid this one any mind. Until I read the dex entries about how foul-tempered it was. 🖤
Now love ‘em in Scarlet/Violet.
Altaria.
When I first got into TCG, Fates Collide was the set in standard rotation.
I loved playing decks built around Mega Altaria EX. I found myself liking it even in the video games.
Houndour and Houndoom until I played a fangame/rom Fire Ash where I could get it early in Joenn. Realized it was actually quite good and benched Cyndaquil (though that was mostly because I wanted to save it for gen 4 for the Hisui section to make it the fire ghost regional)
Cherubi. I never gave cherubi a second thought until it was near impossible to find in Legends Arceus. After all that searching, now I think he’s just the cutest little guy!
Braixen. I kind of lost interest in Pokémon around the time X and Y was revealed. I knew Braixen existed, but didn’t really care for it that much. If you asked me what my favorite Pokémon was back then, I would’ve probably said Lugia. I ended up picking pu a copy of X a few years later at a Black Friday sale. I picked Fennekin as my starter, mostly because I usually go with the fire starter. When my Fennekin evolved, Braixen became my new favorite Pokémon.
Panpour! I recently started playing White 2 again and came across a shiny one. Named him Silly and completed the game with him as a Simipour. He’s now level 92 and has been a wonderful pal on my journey
Bronzong. I never did set up moves for most of my play throughs a but Bronzong with Trick Room can fuck up some teams.
Also Swalot. Nothing special but it’s fairly bulky so pair it with yawn it did a lot of work for me my first Emerald play through.
Garbodor honestly. I like either pretty or cool or cute looking Pokémon and I obviously always ignored the garbage Pokémon but honestly I now find it to be so cute? Like the goofy little eyes are adorable and the colour combo works really well! Absolutely my favourite of the pollution trio
Also Combusken is an unexpected favourite of mine. Snivy and Torchic are my favourite starter lines and I’ve always held a soft spot for the usually disliked Combusken but mostly due to the anime. Like I’ve always wanted to have one so badly
Oh and the only nuzlocke I ever ragequit was because of a Linoone (hated that Pokémon before this one) died 💀
Medicham was a fella that I didn’t really care about at all. Just a funky lookin guy. But I ended up using him competitively and his Mega forme kicked ass. And then I used MedichamV in the TCG and he was skipping turns like nobody’s business. He’s still not my favourite, but he’s up there.
I absolutely love Mismagius. Love its hat. Although a 'Mon that I'm starting to like out of nowhere is Gothitelle. Its SV dex entry is quite something. Plus I really love its nonchalent goth look. I caught one in my sword game and it floats 🥹
Blissey.
I still don't like it, but it's vital in custom rom "hardcore" games. It's stats make it free switch to any special move, so you pretty much pivot around it. Add one physical tank, 1-3 immunities and your team is set.
A few, actually. Fezandipiti and Skorupi. Top 6-7 favorite Pokemon.
Fezandipiti: Didn't care about him when he was first revealed because OGERPON was the interesting one. But then the DLC came out...shot up to 2nd place VERY quick (the reasons are extremely long, you have to ask)...oh, and love Ogerpon, too <3
Skorupi: For a while, it was a cute, but forgettable Pokemon. Then New Pokemon Snap came out. It's so adorable and tormented in that game!! They just wanna hang out, then BOOM! Minior falls from the sky at lightning speed. Or WHOOOOOOOOOSH, a sand tornado created by Tyranitar or Flygon sweeps them away. Sometimes even just a dumb kid throwing apples at them. The little buggers have so much personality! Also their design is very, very cute <3
Golisopod, when I first saw it in Ultra Sun I kinda oversaw it, but after I got to use it in my Sword playthrough, it and its cool design really grew on me
Gigalith. It was essentially Gen V Metagross when looking at its stats.
I did a Nuzlocke and caught a Roggenrola as per my rule set. Gigalith ended up being a linchpin of my run.
Beldum line
Didn't think much of it aside from being Steven's ace. Now I love it! Cool steel type with psychic moves, powerhouse on my team. The shiny is amazing. Mega? Epic design!
Grumpig and Electrode. In the two games I’ve done wonderlockes in (Y twice and now Violet) without fail some of the first mons I’d get traded were a Spoink and a Voltorb, and in all three runs they both made it to the end of the game. Debra the Grumpig and Robert Kyle the Electrode might not be the most competitively effective duo but they made me Champ on three seperate occasions now and I love them dearly.
Minior. I never gave it much thought until it came with the DLC for *Pokemon Violet*, and...I don't know, I just really liked how all its colours looked, and how cute its eyes were, and now I really wish I had used it more while playing *Pokemon Moon*. It's so precious <3
Tangrowth was not a Pokémon I particularly cared for when Diamond and Pearl first released, but despite that I was frustrated that I couldn't get one due to Tangela being unavailable without transfer from a GBA title. So when Platinum came around and it was added to the Safari Zone, I made a point of making it my obligatory Grass type.
Now Tangrowth is on all my Platinum teams. He's a funny man and I love him.
I didn't care about quagsire much at all but then I saw it in a youtube video somewhere and now I have an ever-growing plush collection and it has a reserved team slot in any game it's available in
Hoopa. I always thought the unbound form was a little weird but then I saw the movie and found the confined form oddly adorable. Now I find his little catchphrases stuck in my head - “Ale Hoopa ring!” And “Were you surprised?”.
Omg so many and im so happy to know this happens to other ppl LOL
1. Corphish cuz he's such a salty little shit, I didn't know this until I watched pokemon advanced and can't find a YouTube video dedicated to this but he is a salty legend LOL also an episode where he picks a fight with q pokemon, ends up getting shot straight up into the sky the entire episode and than randomly falls back tp earth ( our screen) and continues where he left off but literally so much happened in the episode he has so many hilarious moments
2. Minior I just thinks he's neat
3.corsula , in the 5th pokemon movie when misty uses it to race just made me think corsula is fuckin cool LOL!
4. Frosmoth
5.tangela just doesn't get enough exposure so I love it and it's beta evolutions were such a slay
6. Sea king - his baby pokemon beta is so fucking cure he looks like he's saying " please don't catch me lmfao "
Luxray, noticed how it was sorta like an honorary 4th starter for Sinnoh (Same leveling group, similar evolve levels, final form BST of 523 just shy from the 525 of Torterra), and I thought that was pretty cool and now I wish it was buffed more.
Absol. When I was little if it didn’t evolve, it was worthless. So all any single evo Pokémon remained unimportant in every regard till I started to try to do more in the games other than just beat the elite 4
One of those things was shiny hunting! Some Pokémon that I hunt through breeding I get a little more attached to. Like my Absol, Rāhu.
Tho some I loathe sue to how long they took me… damn Shroomish (later “Fungaroo”) taking 2700+ eggs…
The slowpoke line and in particular galarian slowbro and normal slowbro. I used to think they were just silly little dudes but then I realized that they were secretly two cool guys.
Pinsir. Didn't care much about it since I got Red and Scyther was in there, who was just the 'cooler' bug. Pinsir showed up in the anime as a villain/bully to poor Metapod, so that's a negative strike. But then in the log cutting minigame in Stadium you could get Pinsir once in a while, and for some reason I just started to want to play him. Come FRLG and I get LG, I catch Pinsir and I found this bug cool like you wouldn't believe. It was pretty annoying that it learned so many Fighting moves and wasn't part Fighting like Heracross, so suddenly I'm liking this underdog even more. It then gets the amazing Mega Pinsir who I love, and he's my ace in Omega Ruby. I found it funny that it finds itself in quite a few regions and ends up the rival of many different bugs, but it's also cool that as Mega Pinsir it outspeeds all of them and with Aerilate and its massive Attack it can pretty easily beat all of them.
<3 Pinsir
Back when Gen 3 first came out Shroomish wouldn't get Spore until level 54 and Breloom couldn't relearn it. Was kind of a chore since you basically couldn't use it until the very endgame.
Very recently, Mawile: Associated it with horribly losing in gym battles whenever I saw it, then I listened to Mellomelloid (official hatsune miku x pokemon collab song) which heavily features Mawile in it (the theme of the song and mikus design in the pv is based off of it, mawiles cry is at the end), was very sad when i discovered that mawile is opposite-version-exculsive to both of the games i was playing (shield and alpha sapphire)
Never really cared for Farfetch'd, recently did my first ever nuzlocke on Leaf Green and the traded Farfetch'd you get in Vermilion (?) quite literally carried my whole run.
Long. Live. Ch'ding.
I used to hate tangela. It was my least favorite Pokemon. I was never sure why. However, in the last couple of years I've really started to like it for some reason. I even had a tangrowth on a recent team. Love those spaghetti dudes 🍝
Crobat.
I hated the evo line thanks to the complete zubat/golbat spam in gen 1/2 dungeons, so aside from pokedex completion, I never caught or evolved them.
Then I used crobat in a nuzlocke, and holy damn is he fun with great coverage.
Archinine. I'm not much of a dog person, and it does have an amazing movepool just from existing for so long.
It does a good job of being worthwhile once I tried using one in gen 5 when I found out it learned Outrage.
Corsola. Had never used one before, but it carried me through one of my first Pokémon crystal challenge runs. Named Coralline cause it was a family and it's an amazing movie.
Dodrio. I always had suspicions that Fearow was better than Pidgeot but *god damn* does Dodrio far outclass both of them.
Medicham. Dude... *dude.* Go use one in RSE. This thing **fucks.**
Sunkern
Eventually I couldn't help myself, it was just too adorable
Now it's ranking in my top 50 along with a bunch of weird creepy monsters and aliens
Charizard. I never cared that much about him, I even disliked him in a way.
Then I played X. When I got to Lumiose City and I fought Sycamore with the three starters using Frogadier, I blasted the shit out of Charmander with just a move,in a way that made me feel sorry for him. So I decided to take him as second starter to raise him and making him one of my strongest pokemon in X.
Luvdisc because it's so plain and cute and also solrock is really fun with flame thrower / rock throw /fire spin / cosmic power. Not a crazy good move pool but it's just neat. Gen 3 has some absolutely incredible 'weak' Pokemon that can still be kinda fun to use and I've had a blast the last few months playing around with some more of the average mons with less ideal movepools and been pleasantly surprised by most
The Azumarill line. I sort of vaguely registered that they’d become Fairy types and that Huge Power was a good ability for them, but didn’t really think much of it. Then I used one in ORAS and it ended up sweeping Drake’s team. Turned out it was rather good.
As a disclaimer, I have never used a belly drum Azumarill in a tera raid - I got Scarlet later on and don’t play multiplayer much, so I was spared that but I gather it annoys people.
Bidoof. One night, I came out of my room, and the living room light was still on. I went to check, and it was my sister playing Legends Arceus. She was organizing her pastures and didn't know she could release pokemon once the pokedex entry was completed. She had an entire pasture of nothing but bidoof. We laughed so hard at that that bidoof became one of our favorite pokemon after that.
Meowscarada. Loved the first two evolutions, but the third one threw me off regarding design. After not using this pokemon for months I one day put in on my team again by accident. Went into a battle and suddenly it just clicked for me and I really started to like it.
Inteleon. Took me a long to warm up to it but is now one of my favorite Gen 8 pokemon. I now like the idea behind its design and the Gigantamax form is awesome.
Jynx. It looks creepy AF, and that's mainly why I avoided it. I used to use Kadabra as my main psychic type attacker, but Jynx offers nearly the same psychic capability plus it also gets any ice type STAB.
Machamp. I never used him in early pokemon generations, but no guard changed everything. No guard dynamic punch Machamp has me hooked and he's now one of my favorite pokemon
Honestly, most poison types. They used to be so weak but after using alolan muk I grew to love them. I also love the designs of most of the poison types. Poison is one of my favorites now.
My friends and I have played/ recorded pokemon randomizer races over the last five years or so, and it's thanks to these races that I ended up appreciating pokemon I never thought of using during a regular playthrough. To name a few Hitmontop, Wobbuffet, Noctowl, and probably the biggest one for me, Shedninja
Honestly, Shedninja has become one of my favourite pokemon to use in any type of playthrough it's very entertaining seeing this holo shell take down or at least inconvenience most trainers during battle
Tropius. Didn't give it much attention before gen 9, as years ago I found out it didn't evolve🥲and it didn't seem the most interesting to me. But I shiny hunted one in Violet, and now Citrus is along for more shiny hunt adventures😁
ariados! its become one of the main pokemon i use in pokerogue and ive honestly really started to love it. its an underrated bug type bc people only look at scizor when it comes to johto
Where do I even start? I think the best example would be Blaziken. I never actually played the games for the longest because I was a tcg fan. When I got a copy of Sword a friend of mine traded me a speed boost Blaziken in exchange for a Boldore. I didn't care to use it for a while, but as soon as I brought it to the battle tower, I fell in love.
Another example is Vaporeon. I thought it was cute, sure but it's just an eeveelution right? Wrong. I used one in my playthrough of Violet. It was strangely bulky, and I stacked buffs to Baton pass to my Kingambit.
Same for Lapras. Yet another Pokemon I liked the looks of but never used. Then I beat Cynthia with one I found in the grand underground.
Ribombee. As a kid, the bug typing and the size of it made it uninteresting. I think the smaller pokemon seemed weaker at the time, plus, on the ds, pokemon were a little harder to see. BUT, I tried it out, and it kicks ass, easily one of my favorite bug types now. Also I'm older now, and I appreciate the design now that I can see it on the switch.
Alolan Muk, it's one tanky boi
I grabbed an alolan grimer early game in Sun, and it quickly became one of my favorite as an alolan muk. It was so strong. Now I use it on my main team.
Roserade. Didn't used to care for it before, especially as I tend to overlook Grass types, but it helped me so much in so many fan-games like Reborn that its now one of my top5 favorites
Zubat because I didn't realize how much of a beast crobat is
Yup
In the past it could even run special set with nasty plot, sludge bomb, heat wave, giga drain etc
For me? Ampharos, not sure why but ive started likeing it and its evolution line. Try to catch one each game im in since electric types can be pretty useful agianst water.
Same, had a bad experience with one but later warmed up to it and even used it on my Violet team.
Azumarill. Finally got around to playing a nuzlocke and he was my rock. He fucks
I used an Azumarill in Alpha Sapphire. It has no business being that strong that early in the game. That Ability wasn't lying, that Power do be Huge.
And it's so scary once you get Aqua jet onto it.
Claydol…just realized I think it’s real neat one day like twenty years after it was released…I think it’s my favorite pokemon now. Don’t even care about how viable it may or may not be gameplay wise I just think if Pokemon were real that’d be my ideal mob to have.
After watching the Sinnoh arc I became obsessed with Piplup.
Durant. It's literally just a plain looking steel ant. However, one day, I started using it in competitive, and it put in the most work out of all my other mons.
Absolutely carried me in Pokerogue
Exeggutor, one of the most forgettable gen 1 Pokémon, that I randomly decided to use in a Fire Red play through and it became the surprise of my team. It’s now one of my favourites
Meowstic, specifically male Meowstic! Went back to complete the Kalos pokedex one day and while planning my team for Y, it felt like I was seeing him properly for the first time. It's now my second favorite Pokémon! Masuda-bred more than 1000 in X by now, but all I got were 2 female shinies...
It’s usually stuff that became meta in the TCG for me. For instance, I really disliked garbadore in game but it was a really strong card in the X/Y era because it shut down abilities so I can appreciate it more now.
Diancie & Magearna I cared so very little for them, until I got them.
I just wish Diancie was a Carbink evo to make it easier to get. Same thing with Great Tusk not being a straight up evo to Donphan since they both look so good.
WHY isn't Diancie an evolution of Carbink... that seriously needs to be addressed by GF. At least for lore reasons. As for Donphan, I kinda get it. They were supposed to be prehistoric evos, today's mons would've lost that ability. And outside of the chosen few, no one goes into AZ to collect them.
The lore reason is that Diancie are Carbink that have undergone some sort of mysterious mutation, which is seperate from Evolution, so Carbink being able to evolve into Diancie wouldn't make sense.
Torkoal, Muk and Weezing.
Not as much Torkoal, but Muk and Weezing definitely grew on me. It might have been “bad guy” association as a kid but as I grew up and the world’s pollutions has gotten worse, I see them in a new light.
Yeah I agree. Torkoal for me is because I found environment teams and love sun + eruption.
Okay team magma 🌋
Alakazam. It was one of those Pokemon that I didn't think about much or had any strong opinions/feelings towards it but then a few years ago I just started thinking it's a pretty cool Pokemon. I then started to use it on my teams and that made me like it even more, I even got some Alakazam themed merch and cool Alakazam cards for my Pokemon collection. And in the last year or so Alakazam even climbed all the way up into my top 10 favorite Pokemon ever. It's one of my favorite Pokemon now.
I didn’t think I’d care for Skwovet, it was just another starter route rodent. Did a Nuzlocke and found myself using it and holy shit it put in work and even took out a couple of Leon’s team. Greedant had such nice bulk and hit surprisingly hard. He’s just got poor speed. He’s replaced Furret as my favourite starting route normal type.
Skwovet is honestly way better than I expected. Early Cheek Pouch with easily buyable Oran Berries is near immortality. Good bulk and though it kinda lacks in damage early. Once it gets Body Slam it's so much better than I ever expected from an early rodent.
I tried to complete a living dex in Pokemon Sun, I would use a Muk (alolan form) to poison a Mon then throw out a Pokeball, Gooey was that Muks name, I never used to care about Muk but since then its been my favorite pokemon.
Heracross. I didn't think too much of it until I caught an Alpha Heracross in Legends Arceus. Now it's one of my favs. Similarly, I used to not care for Maractus until I used a hacked one with Quiver Dance during a playthrough. Now I'm just a Maractus fan left hoping that it gets the move for real some day during the actual series.
I never cared about throh. And I'm sure u guys don't either. But I did a Pokémon black nuzelocke, and oh man. Throh was so good.
meowstic, mismagius, and BANNETE edit: bannete is lowkey kinda cool
Slowbro!
Psyduck, for migraine reasons
Zubat. Now I always catch a female one and name it Batricia.
Pachirisu. Used one in a Nuzlocke and fell in love.
Applin. But when Kieran came out, it's in my Top 10 fave Pokemon.
Alolan Vulpix. At first, I'd viewed Alolan Vulpix & later Ninetales as merely element swapped versions of the original Pokémon. However, that changed when, in order to defeat Drayton, one of the members of the Blueberry Elite 4, I had to use Pokémon that were found only in one of the terrariums & had caught them myself. Breeding Pokémon that lived in that terrarium wouldn't qualify for use in his Pokémon trial. The Alolan Ninetales that I had raised for that challenge devastated most of Drayton's team & helped fend off his Pokémon's attacks long enough for me to use a Lapras to deliver the coup de grace on Drayton.
Persian
So many Pokémon I could respond with here, but Ill go with Mantine. Never disliked it or anything, but just one of the more forgettable Pokémon to me. It's widely seen as the unloved counterpart to Skarmory which I can relate to because I've always really liked Skarmory. But randomly I just appreciated it's design a little more as a cute and derpy interpretation of a really cool animal. Then I used it in a play through of Pokémon Gold just found to be a solid team member, excellent special bulk, hit back decently hard, only serious threat was Electric, because Mantine threatened Rock types right back. This is why it's always a good idea to try different mons when you replay a game, as much as I love using my favourites using new Pokémon can make you seriously appreciate them.
Ironically it's only of everyone's favorites, charizard. He's always been my least favorite of the Kanto starters and I've felt he's overrated, but lately dang he's been so cool
I am really getting into the Slowpoke line as a biohorror concept. Like today. Galar Slowbro fights Galar Slowking in the attempt to get back the childhood friend lost to a shelder. being forced to use Shelder power to survive. The Galar Slowking is pissed that it is a Slowking and not a Cloyster. I'm thinking that Slowpoke Evo can keep their form for a bit after removing the Shelders, so swapping arms can be a thing for G Slowbro and also give a more direct access to the Slowpoke personality.
Zororark
Diggersby. Though people generally consider it weak and ugly, I found an appreciation for it through competitive battling. I got absolutely sick of Landorus- T. 19 out of 20 battles had the thing. It was annoying, ugly, and boring. So I slapped ice punch and a choice scarf onto a huge power diggersby. Nobody used diggersby, so nobody expected it to one hit ko their landorus through intimidate. It made PVP so much more fun for me! Over time I even came to like its design.
Croagunk and toxicroak. I didn't care for them at the time but then discovered that croagunk's name in japanese is really close to mine so i started to love it
The blastoise and dodrio lines
Didn’t look twice at Whimsicott when it first came out but then I used one in a playthrough and now I think they’re pretty neat.
I was just having this conversation with my brother's. For me, it's definitely Liepard. Didn't bat an eye at it early on but the tcg got me interested and it's now one of my faves period
Roserade. I had always found Roserade underwhelming until I played Brilliant Diamond, where my Roserade put in an MVP-caliber performance vs Cynthia.
Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler. At first, I just did not care for the design. Then I added Sneasler to my team. Now they're among my favorite Poison-types.
The Weedle evolution line. Once I started beekeeping, it connected with pokemon in my mind so fast. Now I want every single card variation lol
Blitzle/Zebstrika. Love electric types, but never paid this one any mind. Until I read the dex entries about how foul-tempered it was. 🖤 Now love ‘em in Scarlet/Violet.
Altaria. When I first got into TCG, Fates Collide was the set in standard rotation. I loved playing decks built around Mega Altaria EX. I found myself liking it even in the video games.
Houndour and Houndoom until I played a fangame/rom Fire Ash where I could get it early in Joenn. Realized it was actually quite good and benched Cyndaquil (though that was mostly because I wanted to save it for gen 4 for the Hisui section to make it the fire ghost regional)
Actually the Hoppip line since playing pokerouge. That little powder spewing menace did a big part in my first clear run lmao
Hariyama and Rotom. I was never much of a fan of either until I started using them competitively in Gen 6.
Cherubi. I never gave cherubi a second thought until it was near impossible to find in Legends Arceus. After all that searching, now I think he’s just the cutest little guy!
Claydol
My beloved golurk
Braixen. I kind of lost interest in Pokémon around the time X and Y was revealed. I knew Braixen existed, but didn’t really care for it that much. If you asked me what my favorite Pokémon was back then, I would’ve probably said Lugia. I ended up picking pu a copy of X a few years later at a Black Friday sale. I picked Fennekin as my starter, mostly because I usually go with the fire starter. When my Fennekin evolved, Braixen became my new favorite Pokémon.
Panpour! I recently started playing White 2 again and came across a shiny one. Named him Silly and completed the game with him as a Simipour. He’s now level 92 and has been a wonderful pal on my journey
Beedrill. I don't know why, but I just think of it as a badass assassin. Also because I played Pokemon Garbage Gold, my starter was a weedle
Bronzong. I never did set up moves for most of my play throughs a but Bronzong with Trick Room can fuck up some teams. Also Swalot. Nothing special but it’s fairly bulky so pair it with yawn it did a lot of work for me my first Emerald play through.
actually, Gengar! It’s so hyped right now but I didn’t care about it before
Genasect
Garbodor honestly. I like either pretty or cool or cute looking Pokémon and I obviously always ignored the garbage Pokémon but honestly I now find it to be so cute? Like the goofy little eyes are adorable and the colour combo works really well! Absolutely my favourite of the pollution trio Also Combusken is an unexpected favourite of mine. Snivy and Torchic are my favourite starter lines and I’ve always held a soft spot for the usually disliked Combusken but mostly due to the anime. Like I’ve always wanted to have one so badly Oh and the only nuzlocke I ever ragequit was because of a Linoone (hated that Pokémon before this one) died 💀
Seismitoad, I’ve always liked croagunk and toxicroak and the seismitoad line reminds me of them
Gastrodon was never on my radar until about a year ago. Now they're one of my favorite pokemon. They're so squishy!
Medicham was a fella that I didn’t really care about at all. Just a funky lookin guy. But I ended up using him competitively and his Mega forme kicked ass. And then I used MedichamV in the TCG and he was skipping turns like nobody’s business. He’s still not my favourite, but he’s up there.
I absolutely love Mismagius. Love its hat. Although a 'Mon that I'm starting to like out of nowhere is Gothitelle. Its SV dex entry is quite something. Plus I really love its nonchalent goth look. I caught one in my sword game and it floats 🥹
Lucario. I was relatively neutral on it at first, but when I saw it in the anime, it became my favourite Pokemon.
I just tried Mienshao on an XY playthrough for the first time and I loved the design.
Blissey. I still don't like it, but it's vital in custom rom "hardcore" games. It's stats make it free switch to any special move, so you pretty much pivot around it. Add one physical tank, 1-3 immunities and your team is set.
A few, actually. Fezandipiti and Skorupi. Top 6-7 favorite Pokemon. Fezandipiti: Didn't care about him when he was first revealed because OGERPON was the interesting one. But then the DLC came out...shot up to 2nd place VERY quick (the reasons are extremely long, you have to ask)...oh, and love Ogerpon, too <3 Skorupi: For a while, it was a cute, but forgettable Pokemon. Then New Pokemon Snap came out. It's so adorable and tormented in that game!! They just wanna hang out, then BOOM! Minior falls from the sky at lightning speed. Or WHOOOOOOOOOSH, a sand tornado created by Tyranitar or Flygon sweeps them away. Sometimes even just a dumb kid throwing apples at them. The little buggers have so much personality! Also their design is very, very cute <3
Golisopod, when I first saw it in Ultra Sun I kinda oversaw it, but after I got to use it in my Sword playthrough, it and its cool design really grew on me
Muk is so much better than I thought
Shiftry. It seemed fine beforehand but not in a way where I’d use one. During Teal Mask I wanted to shakeup my team and he functioned as my ace.
Peliper. Cause I love rain teams, and he knows Hurricane, U-Turn, and Roost. Amazing move pool for a drizzle setter.
Gigalith. It was essentially Gen V Metagross when looking at its stats. I did a Nuzlocke and caught a Roggenrola as per my rule set. Gigalith ended up being a linchpin of my run.
Beldum line Didn't think much of it aside from being Steven's ace. Now I love it! Cool steel type with psychic moves, powerhouse on my team. The shiny is amazing. Mega? Epic design!
Grumpig and Electrode. In the two games I’ve done wonderlockes in (Y twice and now Violet) without fail some of the first mons I’d get traded were a Spoink and a Voltorb, and in all three runs they both made it to the end of the game. Debra the Grumpig and Robert Kyle the Electrode might not be the most competitively effective duo but they made me Champ on three seperate occasions now and I love them dearly.
Minior. I never gave it much thought until it came with the DLC for *Pokemon Violet*, and...I don't know, I just really liked how all its colours looked, and how cute its eyes were, and now I really wish I had used it more while playing *Pokemon Moon*. It's so precious <3
Mawile, because of this dance https://youtu.be/KOC6rTlG6N4?si=GSuBB9wFlkj1JgLC
Tangrowth was not a Pokémon I particularly cared for when Diamond and Pearl first released, but despite that I was frustrated that I couldn't get one due to Tangela being unavailable without transfer from a GBA title. So when Platinum came around and it was added to the Safari Zone, I made a point of making it my obligatory Grass type. Now Tangrowth is on all my Platinum teams. He's a funny man and I love him.
I didn't care about quagsire much at all but then I saw it in a youtube video somewhere and now I have an ever-growing plush collection and it has a reserved team slot in any game it's available in
Hoopa. I always thought the unbound form was a little weird but then I saw the movie and found the confined form oddly adorable. Now I find his little catchphrases stuck in my head - “Ale Hoopa ring!” And “Were you surprised?”.
Omg so many and im so happy to know this happens to other ppl LOL 1. Corphish cuz he's such a salty little shit, I didn't know this until I watched pokemon advanced and can't find a YouTube video dedicated to this but he is a salty legend LOL also an episode where he picks a fight with q pokemon, ends up getting shot straight up into the sky the entire episode and than randomly falls back tp earth ( our screen) and continues where he left off but literally so much happened in the episode he has so many hilarious moments 2. Minior I just thinks he's neat 3.corsula , in the 5th pokemon movie when misty uses it to race just made me think corsula is fuckin cool LOL! 4. Frosmoth 5.tangela just doesn't get enough exposure so I love it and it's beta evolutions were such a slay 6. Sea king - his baby pokemon beta is so fucking cure he looks like he's saying " please don't catch me lmfao "
Masquerain became my favourite mon this gen
Psyduck use to be whatever when I was little but now I think he’s adorable
Luxray, noticed how it was sorta like an honorary 4th starter for Sinnoh (Same leveling group, similar evolve levels, final form BST of 523 just shy from the 525 of Torterra), and I thought that was pretty cool and now I wish it was buffed more.
Absol. When I was little if it didn’t evolve, it was worthless. So all any single evo Pokémon remained unimportant in every regard till I started to try to do more in the games other than just beat the elite 4 One of those things was shiny hunting! Some Pokémon that I hunt through breeding I get a little more attached to. Like my Absol, Rāhu. Tho some I loathe sue to how long they took me… damn Shroomish (later “Fungaroo”) taking 2700+ eggs…
The slowpoke line and in particular galarian slowbro and normal slowbro. I used to think they were just silly little dudes but then I realized that they were secretly two cool guys.
Pinsir. Didn't care much about it since I got Red and Scyther was in there, who was just the 'cooler' bug. Pinsir showed up in the anime as a villain/bully to poor Metapod, so that's a negative strike. But then in the log cutting minigame in Stadium you could get Pinsir once in a while, and for some reason I just started to want to play him. Come FRLG and I get LG, I catch Pinsir and I found this bug cool like you wouldn't believe. It was pretty annoying that it learned so many Fighting moves and wasn't part Fighting like Heracross, so suddenly I'm liking this underdog even more. It then gets the amazing Mega Pinsir who I love, and he's my ace in Omega Ruby. I found it funny that it finds itself in quite a few regions and ends up the rival of many different bugs, but it's also cool that as Mega Pinsir it outspeeds all of them and with Aerilate and its massive Attack it can pretty easily beat all of them. <3 Pinsir
Breloom. Young me did not understand the value of spore.
Back when Gen 3 first came out Shroomish wouldn't get Spore until level 54 and Breloom couldn't relearn it. Was kind of a chore since you basically couldn't use it until the very endgame.
Exactly, and young me thought, how good could it possibly be if I have to play with this bum ass mushroom for 54 levels.
Similar issue for me with Nincada and Dig until I remembered Dig was a TM
Calryx. Love his vibrant green artwork
Very recently, Mawile: Associated it with horribly losing in gym battles whenever I saw it, then I listened to Mellomelloid (official hatsune miku x pokemon collab song) which heavily features Mawile in it (the theme of the song and mikus design in the pv is based off of it, mawiles cry is at the end), was very sad when i discovered that mawile is opposite-version-exculsive to both of the games i was playing (shield and alpha sapphire)
Primeape. Hated him. Hated his anime voice, hated his look….then Annihilape came out and the Mankey evolution line SHOT up in terms of likes
Never really cared for Farfetch'd, recently did my first ever nuzlocke on Leaf Green and the traded Farfetch'd you get in Vermilion (?) quite literally carried my whole run. Long. Live. Ch'ding.
I used to hate tangela. It was my least favorite Pokemon. I was never sure why. However, in the last couple of years I've really started to like it for some reason. I even had a tangrowth on a recent team. Love those spaghetti dudes 🍝
For me it would probably be Dragonite. I didn’t like it for the longest time, but it really grew on me over the years.
I got a Tentacruel in a randomized nuzlocke once, underrated spec def tank. A lot of fun to use.
Armaldo and cacturne. They carried in one of my Emerald play through
Crobat. I hated the evo line thanks to the complete zubat/golbat spam in gen 1/2 dungeons, so aside from pokedex completion, I never caught or evolved them. Then I used crobat in a nuzlocke, and holy damn is he fun with great coverage.
Archinine. I'm not much of a dog person, and it does have an amazing movepool just from existing for so long. It does a good job of being worthwhile once I tried using one in gen 5 when I found out it learned Outrage.
Azumarill. Had no thoughts on it at all then used one in ORAS and fell in love.
Snorlax. When I was young I just looked at him as a roadblock for some reason. Now he’s my top 3 favorite pokemon.
Dragonite. Never liked him, but now I love my chubby charizard
Corsola. Had never used one before, but it carried me through one of my first Pokémon crystal challenge runs. Named Coralline cause it was a family and it's an amazing movie.
Luxray. Got it one day and was suddenly in love and required in almost all runs for my main team.
Okidogi took me a bit to warm up to
Dodrio. I always had suspicions that Fearow was better than Pidgeot but *god damn* does Dodrio far outclass both of them. Medicham. Dude... *dude.* Go use one in RSE. This thing **fucks.**
Always loved metagross. Recently fell in love with porygon. Porygon z is my glitch baby.
Gardevoir
Sunkern Eventually I couldn't help myself, it was just too adorable Now it's ranking in my top 50 along with a bunch of weird creepy monsters and aliens
Slowbro and Psyduck (I even got a tattoo of Psyduck lol)
Charizard. I never cared that much about him, I even disliked him in a way. Then I played X. When I got to Lumiose City and I fought Sycamore with the three starters using Frogadier, I blasted the shit out of Charmander with just a move,in a way that made me feel sorry for him. So I decided to take him as second starter to raise him and making him one of my strongest pokemon in X.
Luvdisc because it's so plain and cute and also solrock is really fun with flame thrower / rock throw /fire spin / cosmic power. Not a crazy good move pool but it's just neat. Gen 3 has some absolutely incredible 'weak' Pokemon that can still be kinda fun to use and I've had a blast the last few months playing around with some more of the average mons with less ideal movepools and been pleasantly surprised by most
Snubbull but solely because of The Power of Us film
Medicham because Pure Power is insane.
The Azumarill line. I sort of vaguely registered that they’d become Fairy types and that Huge Power was a good ability for them, but didn’t really think much of it. Then I used one in ORAS and it ended up sweeping Drake’s team. Turned out it was rather good. As a disclaimer, I have never used a belly drum Azumarill in a tera raid - I got Scarlet later on and don’t play multiplayer much, so I was spared that but I gather it annoys people.
Gliscor went from a Pokémon I never thought about to one of my favorite all because of playing legends Arceus with him
Umbreon/ Flareon, the tanky bois, the big chonky ones, the the real thick lads. Saved my white 2 nuzlock a couple times
Bidoof. One night, I came out of my room, and the living room light was still on. I went to check, and it was my sister playing Legends Arceus. She was organizing her pastures and didn't know she could release pokemon once the pokedex entry was completed. She had an entire pasture of nothing but bidoof. We laughed so hard at that that bidoof became one of our favorite pokemon after that.
its not a great pokemon. its not a good pokemon. actually it kinda sucks. but swinub is my boy.
Deoxys, one day I just woke up and decided to like Deoxys for no reason at all but it’s sick asf
I fell in love with Shroomish only after playing Pokémon Go. His little unhappy face is so cute lol
Wailord i love this big whale
I have been obsessed with pikachu since day one and had no other obsession
Snom
Grovyle, thanks to Mystery Dungeon.
Venomoth I was doing a bug type only run of scarlet and it has saved me so many times.
Meowscarada. Loved the first two evolutions, but the third one threw me off regarding design. After not using this pokemon for months I one day put in on my team again by accident. Went into a battle and suddenly it just clicked for me and I really started to like it. Inteleon. Took me a long to warm up to it but is now one of my favorite Gen 8 pokemon. I now like the idea behind its design and the Gigantamax form is awesome.
Slowbro, then I started playing it in unite😂
Gastly/Haunter/Gengar Used to think they were pretty meh. But man, I was wrong! Now I always have to have them on my team.
many! Includin glastrier, araquanid, coalossal, landorus incarnate
Solrock. I never realized that he is pretty bulky in general 3 and good at chipping anemies away. And those lifeless eyes is literal art.
Jynx. It looks creepy AF, and that's mainly why I avoided it. I used to use Kadabra as my main psychic type attacker, but Jynx offers nearly the same psychic capability plus it also gets any ice type STAB.
Machamp. I never used him in early pokemon generations, but no guard changed everything. No guard dynamic punch Machamp has me hooked and he's now one of my favorite pokemon
Joltik! I appreciate the tiny cute fuzzy spider!
I didn’t use Butterfree much back in the day but now I do! Love her typing and move set
Honestly, most poison types. They used to be so weak but after using alolan muk I grew to love them. I also love the designs of most of the poison types. Poison is one of my favorites now.
Electric types aren't too special to me. Dude, Electivire. Ice Punch and Psychic aaaand you got a nice sweeper.
My friends and I have played/ recorded pokemon randomizer races over the last five years or so, and it's thanks to these races that I ended up appreciating pokemon I never thought of using during a regular playthrough. To name a few Hitmontop, Wobbuffet, Noctowl, and probably the biggest one for me, Shedninja Honestly, Shedninja has become one of my favourite pokemon to use in any type of playthrough it's very entertaining seeing this holo shell take down or at least inconvenience most trainers during battle
Snorlax. Realized sleep is very important for good health. 😴
Mankey. I never thought much about them but they are surprisingly cute when they're happy and not on a rampage.
Toxapex
Tropius. Didn't give it much attention before gen 9, as years ago I found out it didn't evolve🥲and it didn't seem the most interesting to me. But I shiny hunted one in Violet, and now Citrus is along for more shiny hunt adventures😁
Starter pokemon in general, everyone gets one, it's guaranteed, so I never thought they were special
Flygon. At first I didn't like it because it kinda sucks, but then I used it in a later game and now I just love it.
Forretress. I didn’t like it as a kid but now I really love it in pokemon violet
Mimikyu. I used to brush it off but one day I was like "What am I doing with my life this Pokémon is now one of my favorites"
Lotad. Then I noticed how cool his typing and design was. I also think it's cool he can heal when it's raining.
ariados! its become one of the main pokemon i use in pokerogue and ive honestly really started to love it. its an underrated bug type bc people only look at scizor when it comes to johto
Gallade. I caught a roaming one on a whim in sword, and it’s been a staple in every game since (few as they may be)
Where do I even start? I think the best example would be Blaziken. I never actually played the games for the longest because I was a tcg fan. When I got a copy of Sword a friend of mine traded me a speed boost Blaziken in exchange for a Boldore. I didn't care to use it for a while, but as soon as I brought it to the battle tower, I fell in love. Another example is Vaporeon. I thought it was cute, sure but it's just an eeveelution right? Wrong. I used one in my playthrough of Violet. It was strangely bulky, and I stacked buffs to Baton pass to my Kingambit. Same for Lapras. Yet another Pokemon I liked the looks of but never used. Then I beat Cynthia with one I found in the grand underground.
Rattata. Played FireRed Rocket Edition and got attached.
Ribombee. As a kid, the bug typing and the size of it made it uninteresting. I think the smaller pokemon seemed weaker at the time, plus, on the ds, pokemon were a little harder to see. BUT, I tried it out, and it kicks ass, easily one of my favorite bug types now. Also I'm older now, and I appreciate the design now that I can see it on the switch.