Pokemon

I was introduced to one of my all-time favorite franchises around 2003, Pokemon, by a coworker of my mom's. He would bring in his GBA SP and his copy of LeafGreen and let me play it. Around the same time, I had a friend who got the all-new Nintendo DS Lite, so she didn't need her SP anymore-- so she gave it to me, and my mom's coworker gave me his copy of LeafGreen.

After that, I plowed through the games as they were released. I had Yellow, Gold, LeafGreen, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Black, White 2, Y, Moon, Ultra Moon, Omega Ruby, Shield, and Scarlet. I also had Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team, Explorers of Darkness, Pokemon Ranger, and Trozei. After a traumatic moving-of-house, I unfortunately lost most of them, save for my pre-DS titles. I had all of my DS and 3DS games in a case with my 20th Anniversary Pokemon New 3DS that were tragically lost. However, since then, my boyfriend bought me a replacement for my most favorite handheld of all time, and I've slowly been working on repurchasing most of what I lost. I have friends and my partner to thank for their help in this endeavor, because as we know, these damn games aren't cheap anymore. Now, in addition to these handheld ones I'm hunting down, I also have Legends: Arceus, Shield, Scarlet, and New Pokemon Snap for the Switch. I had Shining Pearl but, eh, lol.

For many years, Giratina was my favorite. This is partly because Platinum is my all-time favorite game after Legends: Arceus and Scarlet. When Gen 5 was released, Hydreigon became my favorite for 10 years until Gen 8's release, which is when I found my absolute child. Ghost/Dragon supremacy.

Why do I love this thing so much? I literally have a tattoo of it.

NOONE GETS WHY THIS POKEMON IS SO DAMN COOL. I already love Ghost/Dragon types, hence my Giratina love, but this thing is technically a fossil Pokemon. I already love all of the fossils, but the fact that this one isn't a revived rock type makes it so special. It's a literal ghost of a prehistoric animal. How awesome is that.

In addition, what animal is this a ghost of, you may ask? One of my favorite prehistoric animals of all time, the diplocaulus. A boomerang-headed giant salamander. Salamanders, if you don't know, are my favorite extant animal. I have one as a pet and I love her to death. And I love paleontology. Do you see why Dragapult makes me freak out?

This is a Pokemon with my favorite typing, which is a ghost of a prehistoric animal, which is an animal I already loved so much before this Pokemon was ever released. That paired with the fact that it loves its babies (despite shooting them out of its head) and its pre-evolution Drakloak literally gets anxious if it doesn't have its baby on top of its head is so precious. Plus, Dragapult is also meant to look like a stealth bomber. I love Pokemon that have design ties to machinery. Did you know apparently Hydreigon was originally going to be a tank dragon? You can see a remnant of this design in the stripes on its chest that look like tank treads.

I just love this damn thing so much.