POTW Pokémon of the Week #84: Koffing and Weezing

MegaPod · Apr 7, 2018

In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect. Every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. This week's Pokémon of choice are Koffing and Weezing!

Koffing and Weezing, both members of the original 151 Pokémon, make up a two-stage evolution family of pure Poison-types. Koffing and its evolution are purple, spherical creatures with basis in air pollution and perhaps naval mines. They are filled with toxic and foul-smelling gases that make them lighter than air, as well as prone to exploding! Weezing’s second head apparently results from the fusion of Koffing where two different poisonous gases mix. These city-dwelling stink bombs can be seen as parallels to Grimer and Muk, fellow Generation I Poison-types which are based on water pollution, as well as the Generation V family of Trubbish and Garbodor, based on land pollution.

Koffing is one of the few Pokémon to be mentioned by name in a game soundtrack, as its Japanese name “Dogars” is repeatedly spelled and chanted in the Virbank City Gym’s theme in the Japanese version of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. The dopey-faced Koffing also happens to be the mascot of the popular competitive Pokémon battling fansite Smogon, which actually borrows Koffing’s German name as its own.

In battle, Weezing‘s ability Levitate effectively negates what would be one of its two type weaknesses, Ground, leaving it most vulnerable to only the Psychic type. Its focus on Defense also allows it to be an effective Pokémon in its tier for setting up status moves such as Toxic Spikes and Will-O-Wisp; however, it still suffers from poor Special Defense, HP, and Speed.

A notable member of this species was owned by James of Team Rocket. James’ Koffing, which eventually evolved into a Weezing, was used as the trainer’s main Pokémon as the Team Rocket trio pursued Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu throughout Kanto. James relied less on his Weezing in battle during his time in the Johto region, mostly using its smog as a cover for escapes. However, Weezing remained a loyal member of James’ team up until early into Team Rocket’s time in Hoenn. The Team Rocket trio found themselves saving a group of wild Koffing and Ekans from a poacher, and James was ultimately forced to release his Weezing alongside Jessie’s Arbok in order to lead the Pokémon to safety. This was an especially tough moment for James and Weezing alike, as they shared a bond much like brothers.

Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
How is this Pokémon in-game?
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Should Koffing and Weezing have gotten Alolan forms, perhaps with air-purifying properties, like their counterparts Grimer and Muk, whose regional variants consume waste in the Alola region?
What are your thoughts about Pokémon being born from human waste? Is that a sign of severe pollution in the Pokémon World or something else?
Do you think a real-life Pokémon could spawn in our world from pollution or other inorganic material??

If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Fluttershy of Light · Apr 9, 2018

Weezing is a rather nice physically bulky Pokémon. Access to WoW makes it rather threatening to physical threats as it becomes even bulkier against them. Unfortunately though the typing is rather bleh.. Pure poison is one of the flaws for this line. Since it doesn't get stab to a type that isn't immune to a type. Flamethrower is a possible option for it in that case but it still gets rather outclassed with other poison like Aegis, or let bulky Pokémon with access to similar sets.. If they gave it an alolan form then it'll probably have a better niche. They wouldn't even need to get rid of levitate since it's already a nice ability to have. It is fun to harass other Pokémon with WoW, sludge bomb, protect, and pain split though..

Zexy · Apr 9, 2018

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
Like. Nice design and typing (when factoring in Leviate)
How is this Pokémon in-game?
Not my kind of favourite, a bit on the bulky side.
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Useful for defensive strategies. But once again not the kind of thing I look for in my teams.
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
James' one was great!
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
People would be terrified of it and the whole pollution surrounding it and avoid it. Except maybe Team Rocket-like people.
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Better stats and a Dark typing. Can't do much about Ability because Levitate fits it so well and a Poison/Dark Levitate would be great. Think of Drapion but better! Perhaps focus on Sp. Atk. more, although it's not really feeling like an offensive Pokemon. So I'd focus the stats on bulk too and take off from Attack.
Ideally if Levitate becomes a sort-of modifier on Pokemon regardless of Ability, it could get some different Ability too.
Should Koffing and Weezing have gotten Alolan forms, perhaps with air-purifying properties, like their counterparts Grimer and Muk, whose regional variants consume waste in the Alola region?
It would be nice, sure. Could give those Poison/Dark instead similar to the Grimer line

What are your thoughts about Pokémon being born from human waste? Is that a sign of severe pollution in the Pokémon World or something else?
Not a fan of the idea of inanimate objects becoming Pokemon in general... but I don't think the pollution is that severe worldwide. Just quite concentrated in a few cases.
Do you think a real-life Pokémon could spawn in our world from pollution or other inorganic material?
Thankfully, I don't

Jinjo · Apr 9, 2018

I'm not a fan of them but they do fit perfectly for James. I've never used either of them in the game. In our world, I get the feeling they will make it hard for us to breathe. They don't need Alolan forms. Pokemon being born from human waste is a sign of severe pollution which looks terrifying.

Camille · Apr 10, 2018

Koffing is too goofy for my liking, but I quite like Weezing. I remember encountering and catching a shiny Koffing in Fiery Path in my first Ruby playthrough, and they also tend to be annoying in the games because of Self-Destruct and Explosion. I think Weezing needs a Special Attack boost, since its special movepool is actually pretty decent with moves like Sludge Bomb, Dark Pulse, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower. The only drawback of Levitate is that it prevents Weezing from absorbing Toxic Spikes, so it is a very helpful ability.
James' Weezing in the show was decent, I remember that Koffing evolved just to please him. While it was largely underpowered, it would rarely pull off some feats, such as when it defeated both Flareon and Jolteon in an OS episode.

Nicolas721 · Apr 10, 2018

I like Koffing. The idea of a naval mine that just goes floating expelling dangerous gases is awesome, and I also saw a theory that he was based upon lung cancer, which is creepy and cool and the same time (not the cancer, the fact that it could be based on it

). Weezing adds a layer of coolness with its derp heads, but it's just not really pleasing to look at, unlike Koffing.

In the games, they got a nice role in Gen I as one of TR's main Pokemon, and in Gen III as part of the Fiery Path, I have fond memories of encountering them with my team. In Gen V Koffing had a comeback as Roxie's ace, but in Gens VI and VII they have been left out of both regional dexes despite both being huge. Ouch.

Their Alolan form would be obviously a Dark-type.

I'm kidding. They could be Flying to represent pure air, or Electric or Water in order to return to their naval mine inspiration.

Sunsette · Apr 14, 2018

I fondly remember this line from the anime and early Nintendo games, but I don't think I've ever used them in any of the main series games. I'm a fan of the design (even with the wonkiness in Koffing's Red/Blue sprite being somewhat upside down compared to how it appears the rest of the time: )

An Alolan or other regional interpretation of the line would be neat; I do like the idea of a more aquatic version, since they're designed to look like underwater mines.

Zeb · May 9, 2018

Two classic Pokemon. There's something distinctly Japanese about these two imo, maybe it's just the Gen 1 design patterns like the eyes, but I think it's also reflected in how many JRPGs have similar floating bomb/ball style enemies. There's also things like hitodama, which aren't dissimilar despite being fire. I actually quite like that they are based on a naval mine but aren't aquatic, it's a little twist on something which Pokemon does every now and then and I think it makes the designs a little more interesting than a direct imitation. Another example: Araquanid being a diving bell spider, but instead of using its bubble to submerge (like the real life spider), it uses it to surface and come on land. Just a little twist rather than a direct copy.

Koffing is very cute, I remember I didn't realise how cute Koffing was until around the time of B2W2 and Roxie appearing in the anime - it convinced me I was going to use one in B2W2 (and I did, I nicknamed it Boomb). I also remember using one in a RS playthrough too. Funnily enough, I don't think I ever used one in their original region Kanto, but it didn't come until Cinnabar so I suppose it's not too surprising. Weezing I remember fondly just due to how it sounded like it had a sore throat in the anime, but in terms of its design I think there's potential they could have done more with it, rather than just adding heads like fellow Gen 1 mons Dugtrio and Dodrio did. (Even Exeggutor is multi-headed, I guess Gen 1 just had a thing for it.) But even then, I don't dislike it and still think it's rather fun.

Definitely one of the most appealing things I like about them is their use of Will-O-Wisp. It's not often that Wisp gets distribution outside of Fire and Ghost types, so it's pretty cool. Their distant similarities to things like hitodama and will-o-wisps might be one of the reasons they get the move, I guess.

POTW Pokémon of the Week #84: Koffing and Weezing

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