"evil" pokemon?

[ripplefieldz]

yeah i'm. bitter about gengar again lol. anyway, i've noticed that it kinda feels like the anime really doesn't like to portray pokemon as evil? it's always lonely or misunderstood or something, and it's just... such a cop out every time i feel like. as far as i know we have 2 cases of an evil pokemon, one of these (malamar in x/y) had it's plotline promptly dropped as far as i know and the other is my bestie nihilego who i'm just saying deserved better than to get all the blame for lillie's trauma pinned on it :[ i know electric tale of pikachu had an evil haunter but the less i know about electric tale of pikachu the less i want to acknowledge it tbh

 

[Kurolegacy]

Don’t forget about the evil Togepi from DP.

 

[Superior Serperior]

And the Litwick who attempted to murder Ash and co from BW!

I agree with the point though, the show has always shied away from showing a Pokémon as actually evil/irredeemable to the detriment of some potentially interesting stories.

 

[Sai]

The Spiritomb in DP was so evil they sealed it back up in its keystone never to appear again.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

There was also Malamar.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Don't forget Spearow and Fearow, who have just about never been portrayed as good guys. Malamar and Togepi have benevolent portrayals in the good Malamar and Misty's Togepi.

 

[Kurolegacy]

And the Litwick who attempted to murder Ash and co from BW!

I agree with the point though, the show has always shied away from showing a Pokémon as actually evil/irredeemable to the detriment of some potentially interesting stories.

To be fair, the Litwick were acting according to their Pokédex entry. I’d say it’s less evil as acting within a nature that’s just naturally dangerous to humans. Normally you’d have to be reading Pokémon Special to see things like that in action.

 

[Alola]

Seeing as how Pokémon are based on animals, which aren't considered objectively evil, it's probably why Pokémon aren't often depicted as intentionally malicious.

They also mentioned this way back when in Kanto:

Outside of exceptions, Pokémon aren't inherently evil.

 

[jbmasta]

It's not a Pokemon per se, but the Sinnoh Summer Camp arc ghost episode did have a ghost girl who tried to draw Conway into another dimension, and the misblamed Dusknoir saved him. The King of Pokelantis possessed Ash, so genuinely malevolent entities do exist in the anime. Then there's The Old Chateau episode of the Generations mini-series.

 

[ripplefieldz]

Seeing as how Pokémon are based on animals, which aren't considered objectively evil, it's probably why Pokémon aren't often depicted as intentionally malicious.

They also mentioned this way back when in Kanto:

View attachment 157456

Outside of exceptions, Pokémon aren't inherently evil.

see, but the thing is that we have seen pokemon that have the intelligence to be evil. a lot of mythicals in the movies are pretty good examples, and as i and a couple other people mentioned, we have seen that damn malamar as like the one example of an evil pokemon and it's not even a legendary/mythical. besides, even from the start isn't meowth a shining example of pokemon having the intelligence to be good or bad? like obviously the TRio and meowth aren't Evil-evil and i know he's got a Tragic Backstory, but hopefully you get my idea.

maybe a pokemon can't be inherently evil, but like humans they have the intelligence to choose to be evil and that's what matters here.

 

[Weddingbells]

Seeing as how Pokémon are based on animals, which aren't considered objectively evil, it's probably why Pokémon aren't often depicted as intentionally malicious.

They also mentioned this way back when in Kanto:

View attachment 157456

Outside of exceptions, Pokémon aren't inherently evil.

Yeah but this contradicts the evil Togepi and evil malamar we seen in the series. Most of the time, it's the trainer who makes the pokemon the bad things. But the anime has shown plenty of examples that pokemon have the intelligence and awareness enough to be evil.

There also the case where pokemon are separated from their trainers but still choose to do good or bad things. Like Pikachu when he gets split from ash. It's not like Pikachu is suddenly gonna decide to do something bad just because ash isn't around. It shows Pikachu has his own moral compass.

 

[PaperSplash]

Seeing as how Pokémon are based on animals, which aren't considered objectively evil, it's probably why Pokémon aren't often depicted as intentionally malicious.

They also mentioned this way back when in Kanto:

View attachment 157456

Outside of exceptions, Pokémon aren't inherently evil.

I actually really liked this bit of worldbuilding and while it made for some interesting stories, I was disappointed about it being walked back on in later series.

That all said, I do agree that the "not evil, just misunderstood" trope is pretty overused in Pokémon. I think there are ways to portray Pokémon as antagonists without relying on that trope or just making them straight-up evil.

 

[Alola]

see, but the thing is that we have seen pokemon that have the intelligence to be evil. a lot of mythicals in the movies are pretty good examples, and as i and a couple other people mentioned, we have seen that damn malamar as like the one example of an evil pokemon and it's not even a legendary/mythical. besides, even from the start isn't meowth a shining example of pokemon having the intelligence to be good or bad? like obviously the TRio and meowth aren't Evil-evil and i know he's got a Tragic Backstory, but hopefully you get my idea.

maybe a pokemon can't be inherently evil, but like humans they have the intelligence to choose to be evil and that's what matters here.

Yeah but this contradicts the evil Togepi and evil malamar we seen in the series.

Which is why I specifically said:

Outside of exceptions, Pokémon aren't inherently evil.

There's going to be exceptions for most things in life, and Togepi and Malamar are it regarding explicitly evil Pokémon. That they're the only two substantial references being made here in over 1,000 episodes of the anime is telling regarding the fundamental nature of Pokémon (at least in the anime).

I can't really say I've ever desired for evil Pokémon plotlines in the anime; in a setting such as Mystery Dungeon, yes of course. Unlike evil people, what would happen as the consequence for their actions? They can't be arrested and tried, or stripped of privileges, etc; any human conventions or punishments don't apply to them. Their equivalent in animals are usually put down, but Pokémon aren't deliberately killed in the anime, especially by Ash & Co. So that just leaves reform or escape, with the former being unlikely and the latter already done by Togepi and Malamar; they do truly evil things and then get away with it scot free - people want more of that? I'd rather see the "necessary evils" so to speak, or the natural characteristics of species ("nature is cruel") that the anime doesn't adapt - such as a Sliggoo innocently trying to melt its Trainer and friends or people making sure not to look at the back of a Shedinja. It'd be harder to do, yes, especially for a children's television show, but adapting the legitimate dangers of Pokémon rather than forcing them to be evil would be better in my opinion.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

I'd rather see the "necessary evils" so to speak, or the natural characteristics of species ("nature is cruel") that the anime doesn't adapt - such as a Sliggoo innocently trying to melt its Trainer and friends or people making sure not to look at the back of a Shedinja. It'd be harder to do, yes, especially for a children's television show, but adapting the legitimate dangers of Pokémon rather than forcing them to be evil would be better in my opinion.

SM adapted that spectacularly, seeing how they implemented stuff like Bewear gleefully choking people to half death, Sandygast possessing kids and Mimikyu’s appearence sending people into a near death experience (also that one time those Meltan started eating a Magneton onscreen).