Heh.  I wish!  I’d be lying if I said I’d never entertained fantasies of being somehow recognised for all this nonsense I produce, but I suspect that most Pokémon fans don’t want what I’m selling (so to speak).  I’m okay with writing for a niche audience, though.  How did Seneca put it again…?  Haec ego non multis, sed tibi; satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus – I do this not for the many, but for you; for we are a great enough theatre for each other.

The man’s prose is terrifying, but you can’t deny it’s eminently quotable.

Hmm.  Y’know, I’ve never actually gone through them all and thought about it.  Let’s see…

(For convenience’s sake, I’ll assume that one element is ‘dominant’ for any Pokémon that have two – otherwise, a lot of these will appear twice.  Also, de gustibus non disputandum – these are my personal favourites, and not the ones I necessarily think have the best or most interesting designs and concepts, though there is naturally some overlap.)

Grass – my favourite Pokémon of all is, and has always been, Vileplume, whom I consider to be in many ways the archetypal Grass Pokémon: peaceful, tranquil, but able to hit back with downright sadistic disabling attacks when provoked.

Fire – Ninetales, elegant, clever, enigmatic, and terrifyingly vengeful – reminds me of a Greek goddess.  I’ve always had a soft spot for Camerupt too.

Ground – Marowak.  What can I say?  I like darker takes on Pokémon, and Marowak is one of the cooler ones.

Poison – Mmm… probably Nidoqueen; a mother’s love, wrapped up in a battle-tank body.

Electric – Ampharos.  This is the GSC nostalgia talking; I’m not even going to try to deny it.

Water – My favourite is Milotic, but there are a lot of other Water-types I love as well; Starmie, Carracosta, Kingdra, Relicanth, Octillery, Gastrodon… I could go on.

Rock – Hmm.  This one’s tough, but I’m probably going to go with Rampardos, partly because dinosaurs are awesome and partly because, like I always say, there’s no ‘kill’ like overkill.

Flying – I’ve never been much of a Flying-type kind of dude… probably Archeops, with an honourable mention to Tropius for having such a crazy awesome design.

Ice – Froslass, who does the whole ‘mysterious wandering spirit’ thing so very, very well.

Normal – There are so many it’s hard to choose, but I’m going to go with Dunsparce, because Dunsparce needs more love.

Bug – mmm… tricky… I want to say Venomoth, but I’m also very tempted by Masquerain and Galvantula, both of whom I think have really interesting designs… call this one a three-way tie.

Ghost – Spiritomb, who is literally made of the imprisoned souls of 108 unrepentant murderers, has always been the one for me.

Fighting – Mienshao, hands down, for totally redefining how Game Freak design Fighting-types.

Dragon – Am I allowed to say Kingdra?  Eh, she already got a mention… let’s go with Flygon, because Flygon is awesome.

Psychic – Sigilyph.  The archaeology fanboy in me just can’t go past this one.

Dark – Houndoom, probably, with Umbreon and Absol a close second and third.

Steel – Bronzong, just for being friggin’ indestructible.

Y’know, I wish I could tell a nice inspiring story about this, but… no… not really, no.

I suppose in a general sense it’s part of the whole 90’s cultural mishmash that I was brought up in, with all that that implies – the importance of equality, emphasis on a person’s ‘inner beauty,’ a generally positive but cautious attitude to technology, the value of friendship… all those things have shaped the way I think, to an extent, but no, I don’t think my actions in any one situation have been informed by Pokémon specifically.  Honestly, it’s more the other way around, like I was saying in my last post – my life experiences and worldview shape the way I think about Pokémon, and fiction in general.