Beedrill2001 Presents : Let's Talk Pokémon

#778 - Mimikyu

To live in the shadow of another while desperately seeking to be loved by people is a miserable experience, but that's the life poor Mimikyu has to live.

Across the multiple generations, there have been several pokémon designed to imitate the design philosophy of Pikachu.

Gen 3 has Plusle and Minun, gen 4 has Pachirisu, gen 5 has Emolga, gen 6 has Dedenne, and gen 7 has Togedemaru....along with something a bit more unique.

Introduced in Sun and Moon, Mimikyu is a ghost/fairy type with such an interesting backstory.

Apparently being so terrifying in appearance that anyone who looks at Mimikyu will die from shock, it decided to wear a cloth costume designed after the franchise's mascot in order to get the love and attention that Pikachu gets.

This is so saddening and just makes me feel so bad for Mimikyu!

In terms of design, I absolutely love Mimikyu because it's both creepy and cute at the same time, which is probably why it's one of the few fairy types I actually like.

Mimikyu's costume reminds me of kids going out for candy on Halloween night, which makes me kind of nostalgic not gonna lie.

As for Mimikyu's base stats, it has 90 attack, 80 defense, 50 special attack, 105 special defense, and 96 speed.

While having solid defenses, Mimikyu is clearly meant to be a physical attacker, because that special attack is bad, not that it cares much about it anyways.

I'll also point out that Mimikyu is one of only a handful of Alolan pokémon who actually have a good speed stat.

(Seriously, if you go through the Sun and Moon pokédex, so many of the new pokémon introduced are either slow or just have mediocre speed. You'd expect pokémon like Decidueye and Vikavolt to be super fast, but their base speed is only 70 and 43 respectively.)

Being a physical attacker, Mimikyu of course gets some good physical moves like Shadow Claw, Play Rough, Shadow Claw, Wood Hammer, and Drain Punch, along with a wide array of status moves like Thunder Wave, Bulk Up, Light Screen, Will-O-Wisp, Charm, and Curse.

Unfortunately, Mimikyu also gets some really good special moves like Thunderbolt, Tera Blast, Dazzling Gleam, and Burning Jealousy that it can't make good use of do its poor special attack, which is a shame.

As for abilities, there is only one ability Mimikyu can have, and that's Disguise.

Prior to being nerfed in Generation 8, Disguise allowed Mimikyu to negate the damage of the first damaging move used on it once per battle, but doesn't block the damage from status ailments like poisoning or burns.

This ability is insane, allowing Mimikyu to shrug off an attack no matter how powerful it is, including Z Moves.

Even Game Freak knew how busted Disguise is, so they changed how the ability worked the very next generation.

From Sword and Shield onwards, Disguise still blocks the first damage dealing attack, but now deals 1/8th of Mimikyu's HP as damage to itself when used up.

While not as egregious a nerf as Game Freak gave to other abilities like Protean and Battle Bond (poor Greninja), it still sucks that Disguise isn't as good as it was in Mimikyu's debut generation.

I completely understand why Game Freak did it though, because Mimikyu can be incredibly annoying to take down, as made evident by the Totem Mimikyu you fight against in the Alola games.

(That thing can be a nightmare to battle depending on your team.)

With the release of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Mimikyu now got its very own Z Move called Let's Snuggle Forever.

Let's Snuggle Forever is a physical 190 base power fairy attack that may have a really cutesy sounding name, but the move's animation is anything but lighthearted.

Basically, Mimikyu gets above the opponent and jumps down at them, trapping the poor pokémon in its costume as an internal struggle takes place before Mimikyu sends them flying.

Considering what the pokédex says if anyone happens to catch a glimpse of what Mimikyu looks like under that cloth, it's a pretty morbid thought.

That's honestly why I like Mimikyu so much, it's a nice combination of adorable and spooky, which I must say perfectly explains why it's a ghost/fairy type.

I also must say, Mimikyu's existence makes me dislike Pikachu even more than I might already have.

While I love Raichu, its pre-evolved form is vastly overrated, even though it is the mascot of Pokémon.

Screw that yellow electric rat! Mimikyu deserves all the adoration Pikachu gets and then some!

I've used a Mimikyu on my team before and he was a great pokémon, which is more than I can say about the Pikachu that Pokémon Yellow dumps you with.

If I'm going to use an electric type from gen 1, I'd choose Jolteon over Pikachu any day.

Basically : Mimikyu > Pikachu.

While most fairy types are pink and cute, which really doesn't appeal to me (except for Slurpuff, I do like Slurpuff), Mimikyu is one of a select few fairies I love a lot, and no matter what the vast majority of people in the Pokémon universe would say, Mimikyu is a lot better than Pikachu, and you can fight me on that all you want, but my opinion won't change.