Venonat Family
Two adorable bugs in a row?!
How has Game Freak managed to steal my heart so well with bugs? I’m someone who can admire insects, but overall feel rather squeamish around them.
But once again, Venonat is another one of those Pokémon I would be willing to hug… so long as I don’t think about the fact it can toss around Poison Powder. Game Freak really loved to attach the Poison typing to their early insects without going into detail as to why.
Venonat’s cuteness comes from the fact it’s 99% fluff. Just a big, fuzzy ball of fur on tiny legs. Personally, I find its compounded eyes don’t actually sour its adorableness. I love that Game Freak went with an anatomically realistic approach, but with a pleasant cartoony spin.
While I’m still talking about what makes Venonat cute, I want to bring up the smaller details I feel are icing on the cake. I adore its impractically small hands and giant antennae. I love that only three simple shapes comprise its mandibles and make them look far cuter than they should be.
And I can’t get enough of its color pallette. That purple is among the most royal and gorgeous shades my eyes can interpret. All the other colors that comprise Venonat’s pallette are positively satisfying to look at.
It’s a shame that Venonat’s Pokédex entries are nowhere as extensive as my fangirling over its appearances. Aside from its eyes being able to shoot laser beams, it lives out a relatively normal existence hunting insects.
However, that detail – or lack thereof – is something I find curious. The Pokédex doesn’t allude to any particular Pokémon that Venonat hunts after. It only hunts “insects.” Does it mean Venonat hunts any Bug-type Pokémon it can lay its mandibles on? Does that mean Pokémon live amongst regular, non-magical animals (similar to what the Animé did)?
Or am I just overthinking everything again and reading too much into biographies the size of Twitter posts?
Whatever the case, Venonat is a fluffy darling too precious for this world.
Highest Praise!
Venonat’s half-Poison typing becomes apparent once it becomes Venomoth, a giant moth that scatters deadly toxins with every flap of its wings.
But where did my little Venonat go? It doesn’t keep the large antennae, any of its fuzzy fur, or even the awesome red eyes. A giant moth monster is a given to have as a Pokémon, and I’m not against Venonat changing from one species of insect into another (besides, Game Freak likes to do that a lot anyways). Purely on the design level, I feel Venomoth comes completely out of left field.
Actually, remember in a previous article when I commented that Butterfree and Venonat seem to have the same face? It’s uncanny how many traits those two unrelated species share.
Was Butterfree meant to be Venomoth, but got switched at some point in development? It’s been a fan speculation for many years, but no information has ever been found to crack the mystery. For all we know, there isn’t even a mystery to begin with. Two similar-looking things don’t have to be connected to each other.
Even with the previous in mind, I still want to whine that Venomoth doesn’t fit as Venonat’s evolution. Can’t please everyone, I guess.
By itself, Venomoth isn’t an awful design, but it’s also easy for me to forget about. Since we’ve already looked at other flying insects like Butterfree and Beedrill, Venomoth just doesn’t feel as impressive. It’s not an absolutely “Plain Jane” design, but it’s also not rocking the boat and being terribly exciting, either.
Actually, reading its Pokédex entries only disappoints me that Game Freak didn’t take Venomoth’s design further. Apparently, the scales on Venomoth’s wings can change color to reflect what kind of toxin it’s producing. According to Silver Version, they’re a darker hue for poison, while lighter for paralysis.
This information opens up some interesting ideas. What if Venomoth’s typing was based on the color of its wings? Either each Venomoth form is static (like East/West Shellos and Gastrodon), or it could have an ability that changes its type on the fly while in battle. Why limit Venomoth’s scales to scattering just poison or paralysis? What if it could also use a burn-inducing powder?
If Venomoth still had Venonat’s laser-shooting eyes, what if it scattered its powder around and then shot at them to split the lasers into MORE lasers, like a prism does to a ray of light? What if that attack also had a 20-30% chance to apply a random status effect on the target Pokémon (poison, burn, paralysis, sleep, etc)? Heck, make this attack hit the entire battle field in a giant laser explosion, putting all other targets at risk for a random status condition.
I hate when I ramble off ideas like that, because it makes me wish that Venomoth was so much more than it actually is.
Venomoth’s design isn’t terrible, but it plays it safe, and that’s what disappoints me. I wanted Venonat to evolve into something that’d knock my socks off.
"Meh"
