The sad story of Blastoise?
Venusaur got Frenzy Plant and became the top grass attacker.
Charizard got Blast Burn and became a powerhouse skirting the power of Moltres and Entei
Based on the existing pattern, July is likely to bring about a community day for my favorite of the Kanto starters, Blastoise. As we all know, Blastoise is a pokemon that has lived in the shadows of Vaporeon ( which now lives in the shadows of Gyarados and Milotic, which now live in the shadows of what is easily one of the greatest pokemon in the game, Kyogre) since day one. Is its abyssal fate sealed to forever stand as a watery foot note, or do you think that it will usurp Gyarados as the premier non-legendary water attacker, or Milotic as the premier water defender?
My personal thought: assuming Hydro Cannon is close enough to Frenzy Plant and Blast Burn, Blastoise will likely rival but not surpass Gyarados. This is manly due to the fact that Gyarados gets Waterfall while Blastoise only has Watergun for its fast move. On defense, I don't see it competing with Milotic. Better bulk and superior counter-coverage just give it the advantage.
So yeah, I'm not very optimistic about my favorite starter. Here's hoping that I'm wrong. Please let me know your opinions =D
Answers
Let's see...
Bulbasaur in March with Frenzy Plant
Charmander in May with Blast Burn
Think maybe there's a patern? And even if it's NOT in july, that makes what I said no less relavent: we're virtually guaranteed to see Hydro Cannon Blastoise soon, and the fact that Larvitar is next (who is going to have Smack Down BTW, it was confirmed in a leak what was even posted on the main page here), has no baring on the subject at hand. If I want to discuss Palkia and it's potential, does the fact that we have Kyogre as a raid boss right now make my wanting to discuss something that has the potential to be relevant in the future any less relavent?
Sure, we can discuss anything we want, but if Niantic decides to give Ttar the special move "Yawn" and makes Shuckle the July CD pokemon, we're wasting our time. Yes, I know these possibilities are absurdly unlikely, and Smack Down and Squirtle are probable. But we don't KNOW they will happen the way we KNOW that the water event is happening until June 21st. That's all I'm saying.
I've heard that the move Hydro Cannon will be powerful and two bar. That does immediately give it some use as the other big name water types use single bar moves as their best option.
Plus a diverse team would be cool. I still haven't powered up a Milotic, so we"ll see when and if Blastoise will see use.
Just now powered up my Venusaurs, to go up against Kyogre.
Back then, Blastoise was a slightly worse Vaporeon but Gyarados was even worse than Blastoise due to lacking a Water fast move.
Ignoring Kyogre, Vaporeon does have a niche over Gyarados due to higher TDO, so Blastoise with a two-bar HC may similarly have a niche over Gyarados/Vaporeon with one-bar HP and Vaporeon with inferior AT/WP.
With a 171 attack stat Blastoise won't be relevant even with a better charge move. He will still have his CD moment I think tho & you will still want the shiny variant but won't be particularly useful in the meta. People love Blastoise cos he looks cool, would be great if he was buffed but can't see it.
