Alola Pokemon that exceeded your expectations.

[zoroarctic]

The opposite of the disappointment thread. Which Alola 'Mon did you not think much of at first but turned out to like a lot more than you thought you would?

I have two so far. The first is Alolan Persian. When I saw it was a pure Dark-type, I was worried it would just be a weaker and slightly faster version of Liepard, but Fur Coat really did wonders for it. It feels less like Liepard and more like a poor man's Umbreon with a little more special punch.

Next is Ribombee. I didn't think much of Cutiefly when it was revealed because I've never had any use for Bug-types. I decided to keep it in my time simply because I needed a Fairy-type at the time. Turned out to be a good move as it got me through the Grass trial. I eventually swapped it out for A-Ninetales, but that's the longest I've ever had a Bug-type in my team.

 

[KrystalDragon13]

Mimikyu did wonders for me. I wasn't thinking it would be garbage by any means but it served me extremely well to the point of becoming my main star on my team. I'm happy I decided to go with one, and is probably my new favorite fairy type.

 

[IncineROAR]

Toucannon and Mudsdale both surprised me

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Turtonator, Drampa, Jangmo-0 line, Decidueye, Incineroar, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma, Magearna and Marshadow.
If ultra beasts count then all of them especially the Dark/Dragon.

 

[Cute Charm]

Araquanid.

Slow yes. but very sturdy otherwise. despite being part bug it managed to become my main water type after I originally caught a dewpider until I could get a wimpod.

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

Salandit.

Don't get me wrong I loved it from day one but the Pokémon I love tend to be kind of meh and I was worried Salandit's stats were going to be just...bad... But Chili Pepper the Salazzle turned out to be one of the aces of my team. She may be slightly fragile and she covers in fear of earthquakes... But when she has the advantage then hell yeah she's great.

Then there's my own Raichu who surprised me only recently when I was surprised by Dou...I mean Blue... and Raichu actually held out a lot longer than I thought she would thanks to maxed out affection... she still lost... but she made it to Blue's very last Pokémon while only having one HP so... good on her.
I always knew Raichu was a glasscanon, but this one keeps surprising me.

 

[Spectre Of The Departed]

I'm very tempted to say Mimikyu tbh. With the way it was introduced and how it was 'marketed' (at lack of a better word) as a Pikachu wannabe, I thought the end result would be some gimmicky tributemon that would be a complete waste of an interesting typing combination and ability. Once I saw its stat spreads though, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised... I mean, sure its stats are not mindblowing by any means but they are surprisingly decent for the most part while its movepool is fairly solid. And if taking into account its ability essentially gives you a free turn along with the fact it has access to Swords Dance, Mimikyu could potentially have some offensive presence... a presence which could be further increased with Weakness Policy since it can be triggered by Disguise, although that can be a bit more situational and very reliant on prediction.

Another pokemon I'd like to mention is Mudsdale as imo it has almost everything to be one of the most annoying tanks ever created due to its stat spread, and the combination of Stamina+Assault Vest... too bad Ground is far from being a stellar typing defensively.

 

[Eggseggseggseggs]

Bewear, Alolan Marowak, Tsareena, UB 02-Beauty, and Marshadow. Also the bamboo rocket ship princess UB and Toxapex.

For the first three they are all pretty great powerful defensive Pokemon. Bewear in particular totally lived up to being really strong but also is super buff and take hits Lycanroc Midnight desperately wishes it could (and that I desperately wish it could too wish it could too yes I'm still salty). Only things I really don't like is that it's normal type is kinda lame (fairy would have been cool) and it's "new ability" is literally just a worse Fur Coat, but it's still great. I didn't even like it when I first heard about it but now it's a surprise hit with me. I also love it in the anime.

And Tsareena and A Marowak are mon I wasn't interested in at all till now. Now I just feel like Alola Marowak is just an all around cooler one

Meanwhile Beauty and Marshadow look to be offensive terrors. Marshadow especially already had me swooning as soon as it was shown how cute it was and now that the type and stats are known with it hitting literally everything (usually very hard too) and it's crazy signature, and it's wonderful animations and everything I love it even more. Might be my fav of the gen. Only things I don't like too much about it are the green color (though the shiny is much better) and that it isn't out yet.

And the other UB and Toxapex are both incredible defensive mon especially Toxapex which never dies. I still wish Toxapex didn't just magically lose half of it's body for no reason but otherwise it's great.

And really every since we saw the other UBs I was in love with most of them. They exceeded my expectations as a whole for how much I would like all of them and the concept and designs.

 

[PurplePopplio]

I am going to say Togedemaru. He may fear Earthquakes, but his Zing Zap attack has saved me multiple times.

Such a shame that he doesn't learn any decent Steel attacks. Gyro Ball isn't very usable. :/

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Definitely Marowak-A. Thought it would be mediocre at best, but it's actually a super good anti-meta pokemon since it can wall tapu koko and pheromosa (among others) with a SpDef Lightningrod set, and it can even use Sub + Thick Club to turn those same mons into setup opportunities.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I wanna say Shiinotic. This thing has some great defenses and a pretty decent movepool to go with its strong special attack. I have mine with the moves Giga Drain, Moonblast, Spore, and Dream Eater.

 

[GhostLucario]

I'm not very far in the games but I am absolutely loving Ribombee and Mudsdale. The latter in particular is a fantastic tank and it has decent offense too. I had never used a Ground type in my main team before (Swampert doesn't count) but I am loving it.

Ribombee is awesome, too bad it doesn't get Moonblast by level up.

I'm also enjoying Crabrawler, it might not be very fast but it helped me immensely with Illima's trial, Hala and Olivia.

 

[Peridorito]

Ribombee surprised me. I tought it would just be a useless early-game bug but it is actually really good.

 

[Envoy]

All of the Tapus.

I knew they would be good based on their abilities alone, but I didn't expect them to be legit good on their own terms.

Bulu hits like three trucks yo!

 

[Gengarzilla]

Ribombee is one that I didn't expect to be good, and I'm happy for this. It's probably my favourite Gen VII mon. I'll be honest, I thought it would end up evolving further.

One other Pokémon that caught me off guard was Kartana. When they said that big things come in small packages, they weren't kidding.

 

[Falconwing]

Ribombee, Mudsdale, and Salandit have all proven themselves to me, especially Mudsdale. That horse has become by brand new favorite tank with just how powerful it is. Great coverage options as well so running an Adamant Assault Vest variant with Stamina seems pretty viable.

 

[Alolan Coconut]

I haven't finished the game yet, but so far - and I mentioned this before - Golisopod.
I was sceptic at first, mainly because of its Ability, but thanks to the combination of priority moves and Leech Life, I think it is a really great Pokemon.

Will come back to this when I'm done with the main story.

 

[Esserise]

Alolan Sandslash. Originally I was super-disappointed to learn that Alolan Vulpix wasn't in Moon, because I'd really wanted to use one. I settled for Sandshrew, thinking that'd it'd be kind of frustrating to work with, since it has quad-weaknesses to Fire and more significantly, Fighting. But no, that little guy was much more durable than I'd have ever thought, and was a pretty solid team member throughout the rest of the game. (Shame about Icicle Crash being held back until the move relearner, though.)

 

[PanicAttack]

Midday Lycanroc. Lack of Earthquake is a bit of a bummer, but a fast attacking Rock-type that actually works well? Never saw that coming.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Midday Lycanroc. Lack of Earthquake is a bit of a bummer, but a fast attacking Rock-type that actually works well? Never saw that coming.

Terrakion has existed since BW tho