Is there anything to Basculin other than a filler pokemon?
No.
Well…
…no.
I mean… maybe…?
…no.
But then again… because, it sort of… so…
…mmmmmmmm…
…no.
Daniel Duck asks:
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One lunatic's love-hate relationship with the Pokémon franchise, and his addled musings on its rights, wrongs, ins and outs. Come one, come all, and indulge my delusions of grandeur as I inflict my opinions on anyone within shouting distance.
Pokémaniacal 
Once heard someone claim they were representative of feuding American political parties, which might tie into the whole “clash of values” theme going on in Black and White’s story, but that’s likely just a big stretch. XD
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lol
I kind of love that
I suppose they do make a kind of sense in context, in that unnecessary conflict is arguably a theme of those games’ story… but… ugh, they’re just so *dull*.
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It doesn’t hurt that they were meant to have diametrically opposite abilities (Reckless and Iron Head), but accidentally ended up identical except for one in-game trade that actually retained Reckless. A lot like the political parties, is the joke I’m making.
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I remember Ken Sugimori basically admitted in an interview that Basculin was nothing more than filler. They were late in Black/White’s development when they realized they barely had any Pokemon to populate Unova’s waterways, so they quickly designed a fish and gave it two forms. Basculin can thank poor planning for its existence.
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I read the same thing. I really feel like Game Freak’s decision not to use any old Pokémon in Black and White required a lot more commitment to the idea than they actually had.
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Ironic because that’s what most fans hated the most about it XD
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The most unfortunate thing is they’ve since proven there’s more original fish they could do than the rather generic Basculin. As much as I don’t love Bruxish, I cant deny its creative. Pokémon like Basculin were the only flaws with gen 5 – it was solid in all areas except the number of redundant designs it used.
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I mean, it fills the role of “aggressive fish”? Most of the common fish pokémon are very docile, think of it: magikarp, barboach, finneon, wishiwashi, relicanth, feebas, luvdisc…. even goldeen is more even tempered than aggro. There has to be aggressive stuff in the sea besides predators like gyarados and huntail.
It’s cute, I like blue basculin’s eye, and it’s an option if someone wants to fill an aquarium filled team or something. Every Pokémon is *somebody’s* favorite. I thought Mr. Mime stans wouldn’t exist, then I found one a little while ago. I was shocked.
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Carvanha, my friend.
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Carvanha fills the “aggressive fish” role much better than basculin ever could.
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