8 of the Laziest Gen I Pokemon Designs

This week we had Pokemon Day 2024 and, like with most video games, I'll be perpetually behind on anything announced, just like with Sword/Shield, Arceus, and Scarlet/Violet. Instead, my mind thinks back to comments I heard when first getting back into Pokemon games around the time of X/Y. It's a perpetual conversation and commentary about how new generations of Pokemon are getting weird, but also somehow the game designers are running out of ideas. So to prove my point, I've brainstormed a handful of the original Pokemon that weren't exactly the Mona Lisa.

Muk: A literal pile of sludge evolved from a smaller pile of sludge.

Rattata: A purple rat that evolves into a brown rat. Not even a type distinction (except in Alola).

Voltorb: A Pokeball with eyes (though somewhat more interesting if you read its origin theory).

Ekans: A purple snake that evolves into a purple cobra; even its poison-typing isn't creative.

Caterpie: A literal caterpillar, based exactly off a real type of caterpillar.

Dugtrio: Diglet was okay enough... but Dugtrio is literally just three Diglet.

Rapidash: Just a bigger version of Ponyta, but I suppose the horn makes it a unicorn.

Dewgong: A white seal evolved from a white seal.