Beedrill2001 Presents : Let's Talk Pokémon

#012 - Butterfree

Ahh Butterfree, the OG bug type that serves as the counterpart to my beloved Beedrill, thus making it my arch nemesis!

Just kidding! I actually like Butterfree a lot.

While my liking of Butterfree pales in comparison to the love I have for Beedrill, I do have a great fondness of the bug/flying type.

Design wise, Butterfree follows the simplistic approach a lot of Generation 1 pokémon do, but keep in mind that simplicity does not equal bad or lazy, far from it actually.

Butterfree is just a more chibified version of the insect it's based on and named after, and it totally works because I find this bug so cute!

(I definitely need to get a Butterfree plushie at some point to go along with my Beedrill one.)

Not to mention how important Butterfree was to the first season of the anime with Caterpie being the very first pokémon Ash ever caught, along with that certain episode I'll be talking about at a later date.

(I just realized that kids reading this years into the future might have no idea who Ash is due to the anime no longer being about him, and that makes me feel both old and sad.)

All I'll say about Bye Bye Butterfree right now is that I'm not saying you had to have cried while watching it as a kid, but if it didn't tug on your heartstrings at all then you have a heart of stone.

Moving on to how Butterfree performs as a pokémon, it's no secret that it's by no means an amazing pokémon, and both it and Beedrill helped cement the sentiment that most bug types are weak and should be boxed after going through the early parts of the game that many players had prior to gen 5.

Stat wise, Butterfree has 45 base attack, 50 defense, 90 special attack, 80 special defense, and 70 speed.

While having absolutely pitiful attack and defense, Butterfree's special stats and speed actually aren't that bad, but man is that defense problematic, especially when you're 4x weak to rock, which is a type comprising primarily of physical attacks.

There is a move introduced in gen 5 which Butterfree gets that makes it a powerful special sweeper, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Before the physical/special split of Generation 4, poor Butterfree got royally screwed over because of its typing.

In gens 3 and prior, a move's type was what determined if it was a physical or special attack, and unfortunately for Butterfree, bug and flying were both physical types.

Heck, Butterfree couldn't even learn a flying or bug move in gen 1 (besides String Shot, but you know what I mean), but could at least learn various psychic moves.

Seriously, I'm of the opinion that Butterfree should've been a bug/psychic type, but I guess it had to be flying in the minds of the game developers because it does indeed fly and the animal it's based on literally has 'fly' in its name.

Oh well, maybe it'll get a bug/psychic Mega Evolution in Legends Z-A?

Now, I'll finally go over Butterfree's moveset, which includes coverage like Shadow Ball, Giga Drain, Venoshock, and Electroweb, along with the aforementioned psychic type moves.

One of the things that Butterfree is most well known for attack wise is the series of status inducing powder moves it learns like Poison Powder, Sleep Power and Stun Spore, which while slightly inaccurate, get a boost from a particular ability I'll be talking about shortly.

Remember that move I mentioned earlier that turns Butterfree into a special sweeper?

Well, it's no other than Quiver Dance, a bug type status move introduced in Black and White that raises the user's special attack, special defense, and speed!

To every subpar bug/flying type like Beautifly, Mothim, and of course Butterfree, Quiver Dance is an absolute gift from Lord Arceus above!

This move makes these pokémon actually threatening in battle if they can manage setting up a few Quiver Dances.

Quiver Dance is so overpowered that in Legends Arceus, they gave Hisuian Lilligant a powerful signature move called Victory Dance, which is basically a physical version of Quiver Dance!

Moving on to Butterfree's abilities, it only gets one natural ability, that being Compoundeyes, which boosts the accuracy of any move by 30%.

Despite being the only choice outside its hidden ability, Compoundeyes is a fantastic ability for Butterfree, especially because it makes those powder moves 100% accurate.

Remember if it's not 100% accurate, it's 50% accurate.

In later generations, Compoundeyes also increases the chance of a wild pokémon having its held item (if it's a pokémon actually capable of being found with one of course).

Butterfree's hidden ability is Tinted Lens, which doubles the power of moves that the opponent resists.

Once again this is a great ability that can help Butterfree against pokémon that would otherwise wall it, especially steel types.

I feel that Tinted Lens is the best choice, but Compoundeyes certainly isn't bad, so which ever you would rather have is up to you.

Just like Sandaconda, Butterfree got a Gigantimax form in Sword and Shield.

I usually hate the amount of gen 1 pandering Game Freak does (especially with Megas and regional variants), but I'm glad Butterfree got something, both because it didn't get a Mega like Beedrill did, and that in a generation where the current gimmick is kaiju sized pokémon, it's fitting we get a Gigantimax form who is literally Mothra.

That said however, allow me to take a moment to rant about Game Freak's obvious bias of Butterfree over Beedrill.

My beautiful murder hornet has not been in a new game (Kanto remakes don't count) since X and Y, which came out over a decade ago!

Butterfree however, was last in Sword and Shield (I'm pretty sure you can catch Caterpie in the Underground during the post game of BDSP, but I'm specifically talking about main story only).

In my opinion, if Butterfree is in a game, Beedrill should be too since they are counterparts, but someone at Game Freak clearly disagrees.

Hopefully this heinous act will be rectified in Legends Z-A, and fellow bug lovers such as myself will be able to use both in the game.

Getting back on track, Butterfree is a bug I like quite a lot and has had quite an interesting history in both the games and the anime, but despite Game Freak trying their darnedest to convert me, Beedrill will always be my favorite OG bug.

Who knows, maybe in some alternate reality I'm known as Butterfree2001?

.....nah! Go team Beedrill!