No. 879: Copperajah

 the Minecraft pokemon

I hate that Copperajah is so blocky. It just reminds me of that awful Pokemon Quest game, which asked the question "What if we made a game with an even uglier art style than the Rumble games?"

The way its toenails are just a part of the leg itself, looking painted instead of natural, pisses me off. I know it's a Steel type, so it's allowed to look unnatural and synthetic, but somehow I just don't think it needed a rectangular ass body with sharp corners. And french fry tusks. What's infuriating is that the rocks on its head are plenty bumpy, so it doesn't even maintain the perfect cubic aesthetic.

And it's a shame, because the colors are great,and I think if it was just allowed to be more elephant-shaped instead of refrigerator-shaped I'd really dig it.

Overall: 4/10

No. 878: Cufant

 I don't know how to type out an elephant sound, so you'll have to imagine it yourself.

One day they'll listen to me and make that Ghost elephant Pokemon. Call it Pachydream. I don't care that Musharna sort of stole that gimmick, it's a tapir not an elephant.

Until then, Cufant is the first elephant Pokemon in quite a while, and thankfully it's a good one! The color scheme is striking, and in general it looks like it would pair well with Numel. I like how the trunk ends in a spade for digging up... whatever Elephants eat. Peanuts? do peanuts grow underground?

Overall: 7/10

No. 877: Morepeko

AH↓HA↑HA↓HA↑HA↓HA↑

Time for another regional Pika-clone. This one has Doraemon pockets and a bifurcated colorscheme like Monokuma. Also it has the body shape of a Minion.

When its belly is empty it gets Hangry and changes form, but the only gameplay difference is that its signature move becomes Dark-type instead of Electric.

Last gen we had Mimikyu, who was the resident Pika-clone while also having a fun gimmick and a fantastic design concept. Morepeko is mildly gimmicky and that's better than not being anything at all besides a fruitless effort to capture the Pikachu Appeal, (the Pikappeal, if you will) but I still don't like it much. Attaching it to Marnie in an attempt to siphon some of her popularity didn't work, it's just kind of dumb and useless.

Morepeko? how about LESSpeko, thank you.

Overall: 3/10

Monster Rancher #65: Tiger

They're Grrrrrreat!

Hey wait a minute - that's no tiger. He doesn't even have stripes! it's just your normal, everyday blue wolf with horns!

which, I admit, is still plenty monstrous. Just not seeing the "tiger" in this one. It's still an iconic monster, with a design that those charlatans and grifters over at Gamefreak would blatantly steal later for their Shiny Lycanroc.

Also, fun fact - you can find this Monster by popping in Insane Clown Posse's Riddlebox. Whoop whoop!

Overall: 8/10