One Eye is Better Than None

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by XanderDWulfe

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#7: Duskull & Dusclops

"Nocturnal, Duskull wanders lost among the deep darkness of midnight. It's piercing, scarlet gaze can make even the strongest of men freeze in utter fear and once they set that gaze on you, it will doggedly pursue it's intended victim, and as it is able to pass through any solid wall, only the break of dawn can stop it's pursuit. It loves the sound of crying children and purposefully drifts by bad children at night in order to make them cry. Because of this, there is an oft-told admonishment given to misbehaving children that this Pokémon will spirit away bad children who earn scoldings from their mothers"

"Dusclops' body is said to be entirely hollow and the inside of it is like a blackhole. It is capable of compressing down matter and absorbing it into itself, what happens to the objects it does this to is unknown. They have been known to find wandering will'o'wisps and eat them, because of this it is thought that the only thing in a Dusclops' body is a single ball of sprectral flame... however anyone that tries peering into it's body is pulled into the void so this has never been confirmed. Dusclops is also capable of hypnotizing its foe by waving its hands in a macabre manner and by bringing its single eye to bear. The hypnotized foe is then made to do Dusclops's bidding."

I freaking love these two Pokemon. Seriously, it was tough to rule down between Banette and Dusclops as I generally like both pretty equally, but in the end Duskull and Dusclops won out, probably because I like both forms, while Banette I only like it's one form and even then prefer it's mega incarnation... that isn't to say there aren't things I dislike about these two. Abysmal stats are one thing, but really the ultimate caveat to these two is the fact that it's not a two stage evolution anymore... is it? To me, this duo was pretty complete, they had such a great, daunting presence about them... then Dusknoir was made. I appreciate the fact that it's kinda trying to be the Grim Reaper of Pokemon and in the respect it does make more sense as a follow up to Duskull who is very death like while Dusclops is... well... I think the Chochin-obake of Japanese folklore, but also kind of a mummy? Ya know, I don't know what it is entirely, but it still has a cohesive design.

Dusknoir on the other hand I can't even understand what I'm looking at when I see that thing. It does have a vague resemblance to Lord Death from Soul Eater, you know, if Lord Death was overweight and on meth. Just nothing about it is pleasing and it was totally unnecessary to me; but we aren't here to talk about Dusknoir, are we? No! Duskull and Dusclops have always captivated me, because I think they're the only real Ghost-type visually to disturb me. They're much more stark then the other Ghost-types and I'm always liked skeletons and skull motifs. It fit well into my aesthetic that had been lacking in the series so far. I've also always loved the look of the Chochin-obake, as they're both creepy and ridiculously stupid looking! Another thing I appreciate was the fact that it was allowed to be itself.

What do I mean by this? Well, earlier days of Pokemon allowed for multiple ideas being put into one in order to make something unique. You could tell what elements made it up, but together it was one idea. It wasn't anything else, it was a Pokemon. More and more the series has gone the route of making sure things are so represented that it's simply just the animal they're trying to represent, there's nothing neat or special about it to make it a Pokemon. Seems ironic as these two came out in the same games that gave us Beautifly which is they perfect example of what I'm talking about... I dunno, it's probably just me but I find the growing push to make sure Pokemon just look like ever day, common animals is really annoying. That's not to say they didn't do that back in Gen 1, that's one reason I never cared for Seel or Dewgong, but I just think more overall creative integrity was allowed back then and Dusclops, among many others I feel were examples of a dying breed.

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