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"Happy" Flareon Day: The Flareon Rant
9 years ago
Today is January 10, the day the guys on Pixiv have designated to be Flareon's Day. What better time then, to finally discuss this. And so... it is time.
It's probably no secret that the Eeveelutions are among my favorite Pokemon ever. They always have, and they always will. Every single one of them, past, present, and future. Flareon included. You can probably see where this is going, for there exists a four-word sequence that I am beyond sick and tired of seeing:
"Flareon has no moves."
Ugh, even typing that out felt horrible. But yeah, this is a rant about the fandom's horrible treatment of Flareon. If you're a fan of the Eeveelutions or even just the fire-type version, I'm afraid that you cannot ignore it. You have to at least admit that yes, Flareon is actually kinda bad... in competitive play. I'm... actually not upset that Game Freak didn't make Flareon very good. What pisses me off more than anything else is that the fandom has turned it into a meme. The point of this is not to defend Flareon's worth, which remains a lost cause to this day. But on that note, I notice that even after Game Freak realized their error and gave them Flare Blitz, people still make "No Moves" jokes! Yeah, it might as well be named "Flare Suicide" in this case but for fuck's sake it's a move, god damn it! And Superpower, Flame Charge, hell, even Iron Tail don't count either? I realize they're all flawed in a way (with Flame Charge's problem being that it's better to use a Pokemon that starts fast), but seriously... The only time Flareon truly sucked if you ask me is the start of the 4th generation, when it lost physical Shadow Ball and before Superpower was available as a Tutor move.
While the point is obvious that Flareon is the butt of so many jokes because of this, I simply must ask: Why Flareon? Out of all the other subpar and terrible Pokemon out there, why do we make fun of Flareon far more than any other? Not even Luvdisc, Farfetch'd, or Unown have it this bad. There's even "fanart" of Flareon failing at everything. (Faileon? Worst part is that I've seen that name get used before.) I'm sure we all have some Pokemon we like that are pretty low on the tier list; Flareon and the other low-tier 'Eons aren't my only ones. Speaking of, I'd... prefer to think that's why Flareon is the target of such jokes so often. Eeveelutions are popular, possibly too popular. Eevee's pretty much set up like they could almost replace Pikachu as mascot now. It's Flareon's status as an evolved form of Eevee that makes them popular, as both a Pokemon and as a Pokemon that sucks in competitive. Yet no one makes fun of Glaceon for being almost as bad, probably worse now that Flareon has Flare Blitz... probably because Glaceon's always had usable Same-Type moves. I'd go so far as to say that Flareon's probably more famous as a sucky Pokemon than as an Eeveelution.
Flareon undoubtedly had it worst in February 2014, when Twitch Plays Pokemon began. I do not need to remind you what happened to Flareon, but I have an idea of why it happened. The players there mostly wanted Vaporeon as a Surf user, but there were some who felt that Lapras was more reliable to obtain (sadly proven true). Most of those others wanted a Jolteon, the second-fastest Electric type with usable offenses, and one of the few Pokemon able to super-effectively hit Psychic-types with Pin Missile, low attack be damned. Nobody wanted Flareon. I'm of the belief that even if the Charmander and Rattata were released, there would not have been a "False Prophet" if they had evolved the Eevee into anything other than Flareon. That's right, the "no moves" mentality of the fandom manifested itself in Twitch Plays Pokemon in the form of vilifying this Flareon, having sacrificed two Pokemon only to end up with what is unfairly regarded as one of the worst Pokemon in the games. This alone is the source of my hatred for TPP (even if future Flareons/Eeveelutions were treated much better), and I think it shows that the fandom just likes being a jerk to Flareon.
On the other hand, one thing I like about being a writer (or artist) is the freedom it gives me in writing in the universe. I can make any Pokemon badass, even with moves that no sane player would think to use. Low stats are meaningless therein, and I'll even use the anime as an example with Iris's Excadrill. At some point, Excadrill teaches himself Focus Blast and even kicks some ass with that move. Not only can Excadrill not teach themselves Focus Blast in the games, you as the player would never even use a TM on it, considering their crappy base 50 Special Attack compared to their fantastic 135 Physical. These limits do not and should not exist in fanart and stories, yet even in fanart Flareon still receives its usual treatment.
Yep, there's even fanart lampshading Flareon as terrible. One of my most hated themes in fanart, for instance, is art where even the other Eeveelutions have this view of their "fellow" Fire-Type. There's so much of it even, that image sites like wildcritters and even Pixiv have entire tags for this stereotype. Pixiv's tag (links at end of journal) has over 300 images, which leads me to believe that the Japanese are even bigger douchebags to Flareon than we are. Some of the themes they have are the other Eeveelutions picking on Flareon for being worthless, an Eevee's worst fear being evolving into a weak Flareon, or even outright not acknowledging Flareon as an Eeveelution.
For even more proof, I remind you again that today, January 10, is Flareon Day on Pixiv. As I said on Eevee Day, these dates are semi-arbitrary at most. These days are picked for a reason, usually wordplay based on their Japanese names. But not "Booster" as they call him. If it were, Flareon Day would be next month, with the "bu" sound corresponding to 2. Now, this is just a guess, but it's a very logical guess as to how I think they came up with it.
January 10. 1/10. One out of ten.
Fuck me, even the date is a "Flareon Sucks" joke. But despite this, I still celebrate it anyway since most of the fanart for the Day aren't about Flareon's shortcomings. Even if it's only about 10 this year; it's not one of the more popular Days.
Hall of Shame:
http://wildcritters.ws/post/index?t.....=flareon_sucks (NSFW warning for posterior's sake)
-"Although Flareon is cute and fluffy, when it comes to metagame, Flareon is outclassed by many fire types, especially by 5th gen. It is a physical fire type, and it lacks speed and especially HP to take advantage of it. While it can learn Flare Blitz as of 6th gen, it'll likely end up killing itself with it or never get a chance to use it.
To sum it all up, Flareon sucks, and these are pictures relating to that."
-Oh, how I wish I were kidding earlier. Thankfully there's only about 30 images under this tag, but I think I've made it clear how pissed I am that this tag exists. One of the reasons I prefer e621 is because they at least don't tag this shit.
http://www.pixiv.net/search.php?word=唯一王
-Pixiv's version of that tag. It translates to "The One King." How they decided it figuratively means either "Flareon Has No Moves" or "Flareon's only good for the fluff" is beyond me.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/No-Moves-198373971
-You may even have seen this one. Need I say more?
http://www.dorkly.com/post/76192/th.....nts-of-pokemon
-2 commandments in and it instantly pissed me off. I utterly hate the implication that a Flareon is a waste of both an Eevee and a Fire Stone. I think one of the artists here is the guy who did the one above this. I am proud to have personally left a comment on this one.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......st_id=23187854
-The joke here is that Flareon sucks and Arcanine not only does it better, they also look similar enough that he could literally replace Flareon. The other Eons either don't notice or worse, they actually agree. This is actually a kinda common joke over there, Notice the "唯一王" tag.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......st_id=35057716
-This one gets special fuckings. Normally I love when the Eeveelutions get crossed over with other series like this. Needless to say, the double-joke here completely ruins both this and the version that actually has the Flareon in it (and correctly spelled!). The double-joke being that Eevee does NOT want to be a "Hlareon," and that being the weakest Eeveelution, you'd go for them first in a Mega Man game. (I actually think the misspelling is intentional; there's some weird Japanese phonetic stuff where F and H are actually the same combined sound, similar to L and R.)
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......ust_id=5743743
-Flareon gets rejected by their fellow Eeveelution, Leafeon. Oh look, it's that "唯一王" tag again, thereby proving that this Leafeon thinks Flareon's too pathetic a Pokemon for a relationship.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......ust_id=7476888
-Another image you may have seen before. The joke is subtle here, and it doesn't have the tag. But I'm convinced that the Flareon's been placed in a position where he's barely hanging on for exactly this reason. Easily the best image in this list though.
On the other hand, we have these:
http://www.pixiv.net/search.php?wor.....ターの日 (I think the encoding fail is because of the auto-URL shortener, I've wasted 5 million edits finding that out)
-It just now occurred to me that I never linked to the Flareon Day tag. 5 months and many grammar-fix and link updates later, here it is. Remarkably lacking in a certain stereotype, but I'm sure there are a few that go there...
http://ourpkmnconfessions-blog.tumb.....eon-as-useless
-I've never submitted anything to any tumblr blog before, but this is exactly how I feel.
(EDIT: Link doesn't work anymore. Either the blog was taken down from not updating or renamed. I did edit it once from renaming but I can't find the link anymore. But I gotta leave it anyway because it's notable that there even was someone who thinks as I do.)
http://mangafox156.deviantart.com/a.....Love-310049677
-For once, fanart that lampshades not Flareon's shortcomings, but how everyone thus treats them! Hell, I even agree with the comments!
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Moves.....hown-496420775
-What the hell this isn't Pokemon! But damned if it ain't funny, and I don't even Smash, bro! It's the 3rd result when you search "no moves" on Deviantart, and a good laugh when I'm complaining to my friends about the first result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3dtChrIgok
-This journal was sponsored by this song. I may be a bit obsessed with Live A Live...
And that's that, I've finally gotten this off my chest. I just cannot stand how the fandom disproportionately treats Flareon like crap. I'd like nothing more than for this to be put to a stop, yet some people act like it's illegal for Flareon to be badass. I could even give names. But I won't. Not out of respect, mind you, but out of common sense. That said, this whole "No Moves" thing is what I despise the most about this fandom, and these jokes will NOT be tolerated here. On the other hand, feel free to tell me, what do you think about the way the fandom mistreats Flareon?
It's probably no secret that the Eeveelutions are among my favorite Pokemon ever. They always have, and they always will. Every single one of them, past, present, and future. Flareon included. You can probably see where this is going, for there exists a four-word sequence that I am beyond sick and tired of seeing:
"Flareon has no moves."
Ugh, even typing that out felt horrible. But yeah, this is a rant about the fandom's horrible treatment of Flareon. If you're a fan of the Eeveelutions or even just the fire-type version, I'm afraid that you cannot ignore it. You have to at least admit that yes, Flareon is actually kinda bad... in competitive play. I'm... actually not upset that Game Freak didn't make Flareon very good. What pisses me off more than anything else is that the fandom has turned it into a meme. The point of this is not to defend Flareon's worth, which remains a lost cause to this day. But on that note, I notice that even after Game Freak realized their error and gave them Flare Blitz, people still make "No Moves" jokes! Yeah, it might as well be named "Flare Suicide" in this case but for fuck's sake it's a move, god damn it! And Superpower, Flame Charge, hell, even Iron Tail don't count either? I realize they're all flawed in a way (with Flame Charge's problem being that it's better to use a Pokemon that starts fast), but seriously... The only time Flareon truly sucked if you ask me is the start of the 4th generation, when it lost physical Shadow Ball and before Superpower was available as a Tutor move.
While the point is obvious that Flareon is the butt of so many jokes because of this, I simply must ask: Why Flareon? Out of all the other subpar and terrible Pokemon out there, why do we make fun of Flareon far more than any other? Not even Luvdisc, Farfetch'd, or Unown have it this bad. There's even "fanart" of Flareon failing at everything. (Faileon? Worst part is that I've seen that name get used before.) I'm sure we all have some Pokemon we like that are pretty low on the tier list; Flareon and the other low-tier 'Eons aren't my only ones. Speaking of, I'd... prefer to think that's why Flareon is the target of such jokes so often. Eeveelutions are popular, possibly too popular. Eevee's pretty much set up like they could almost replace Pikachu as mascot now. It's Flareon's status as an evolved form of Eevee that makes them popular, as both a Pokemon and as a Pokemon that sucks in competitive. Yet no one makes fun of Glaceon for being almost as bad, probably worse now that Flareon has Flare Blitz... probably because Glaceon's always had usable Same-Type moves. I'd go so far as to say that Flareon's probably more famous as a sucky Pokemon than as an Eeveelution.
Flareon undoubtedly had it worst in February 2014, when Twitch Plays Pokemon began. I do not need to remind you what happened to Flareon, but I have an idea of why it happened. The players there mostly wanted Vaporeon as a Surf user, but there were some who felt that Lapras was more reliable to obtain (sadly proven true). Most of those others wanted a Jolteon, the second-fastest Electric type with usable offenses, and one of the few Pokemon able to super-effectively hit Psychic-types with Pin Missile, low attack be damned. Nobody wanted Flareon. I'm of the belief that even if the Charmander and Rattata were released, there would not have been a "False Prophet" if they had evolved the Eevee into anything other than Flareon. That's right, the "no moves" mentality of the fandom manifested itself in Twitch Plays Pokemon in the form of vilifying this Flareon, having sacrificed two Pokemon only to end up with what is unfairly regarded as one of the worst Pokemon in the games. This alone is the source of my hatred for TPP (even if future Flareons/Eeveelutions were treated much better), and I think it shows that the fandom just likes being a jerk to Flareon.
On the other hand, one thing I like about being a writer (or artist) is the freedom it gives me in writing in the universe. I can make any Pokemon badass, even with moves that no sane player would think to use. Low stats are meaningless therein, and I'll even use the anime as an example with Iris's Excadrill. At some point, Excadrill teaches himself Focus Blast and even kicks some ass with that move. Not only can Excadrill not teach themselves Focus Blast in the games, you as the player would never even use a TM on it, considering their crappy base 50 Special Attack compared to their fantastic 135 Physical. These limits do not and should not exist in fanart and stories, yet even in fanart Flareon still receives its usual treatment.
Yep, there's even fanart lampshading Flareon as terrible. One of my most hated themes in fanart, for instance, is art where even the other Eeveelutions have this view of their "fellow" Fire-Type. There's so much of it even, that image sites like wildcritters and even Pixiv have entire tags for this stereotype. Pixiv's tag (links at end of journal) has over 300 images, which leads me to believe that the Japanese are even bigger douchebags to Flareon than we are. Some of the themes they have are the other Eeveelutions picking on Flareon for being worthless, an Eevee's worst fear being evolving into a weak Flareon, or even outright not acknowledging Flareon as an Eeveelution.
For even more proof, I remind you again that today, January 10, is Flareon Day on Pixiv. As I said on Eevee Day, these dates are semi-arbitrary at most. These days are picked for a reason, usually wordplay based on their Japanese names. But not "Booster" as they call him. If it were, Flareon Day would be next month, with the "bu" sound corresponding to 2. Now, this is just a guess, but it's a very logical guess as to how I think they came up with it.
January 10. 1/10. One out of ten.
Fuck me, even the date is a "Flareon Sucks" joke. But despite this, I still celebrate it anyway since most of the fanart for the Day aren't about Flareon's shortcomings. Even if it's only about 10 this year; it's not one of the more popular Days.
Hall of Shame:
http://wildcritters.ws/post/index?t.....=flareon_sucks (NSFW warning for posterior's sake)
-"Although Flareon is cute and fluffy, when it comes to metagame, Flareon is outclassed by many fire types, especially by 5th gen. It is a physical fire type, and it lacks speed and especially HP to take advantage of it. While it can learn Flare Blitz as of 6th gen, it'll likely end up killing itself with it or never get a chance to use it.
To sum it all up, Flareon sucks, and these are pictures relating to that."
-Oh, how I wish I were kidding earlier. Thankfully there's only about 30 images under this tag, but I think I've made it clear how pissed I am that this tag exists. One of the reasons I prefer e621 is because they at least don't tag this shit.
http://www.pixiv.net/search.php?word=唯一王
-Pixiv's version of that tag. It translates to "The One King." How they decided it figuratively means either "Flareon Has No Moves" or "Flareon's only good for the fluff" is beyond me.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/No-Moves-198373971
-You may even have seen this one. Need I say more?
http://www.dorkly.com/post/76192/th.....nts-of-pokemon
-2 commandments in and it instantly pissed me off. I utterly hate the implication that a Flareon is a waste of both an Eevee and a Fire Stone. I think one of the artists here is the guy who did the one above this. I am proud to have personally left a comment on this one.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......st_id=23187854
-The joke here is that Flareon sucks and Arcanine not only does it better, they also look similar enough that he could literally replace Flareon. The other Eons either don't notice or worse, they actually agree. This is actually a kinda common joke over there, Notice the "唯一王" tag.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......st_id=35057716
-This one gets special fuckings. Normally I love when the Eeveelutions get crossed over with other series like this. Needless to say, the double-joke here completely ruins both this and the version that actually has the Flareon in it (and correctly spelled!). The double-joke being that Eevee does NOT want to be a "Hlareon," and that being the weakest Eeveelution, you'd go for them first in a Mega Man game. (I actually think the misspelling is intentional; there's some weird Japanese phonetic stuff where F and H are actually the same combined sound, similar to L and R.)
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......ust_id=5743743
-Flareon gets rejected by their fellow Eeveelution, Leafeon. Oh look, it's that "唯一王" tag again, thereby proving that this Leafeon thinks Flareon's too pathetic a Pokemon for a relationship.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust......ust_id=7476888
-Another image you may have seen before. The joke is subtle here, and it doesn't have the tag. But I'm convinced that the Flareon's been placed in a position where he's barely hanging on for exactly this reason. Easily the best image in this list though.
On the other hand, we have these:
http://www.pixiv.net/search.php?wor.....ターの日 (I think the encoding fail is because of the auto-URL shortener, I've wasted 5 million edits finding that out)
-It just now occurred to me that I never linked to the Flareon Day tag. 5 months and many grammar-fix and link updates later, here it is. Remarkably lacking in a certain stereotype, but I'm sure there are a few that go there...
http://ourpkmnconfessions-blog.tumb.....eon-as-useless
-I've never submitted anything to any tumblr blog before, but this is exactly how I feel.
(EDIT: Link doesn't work anymore. Either the blog was taken down from not updating or renamed. I did edit it once from renaming but I can't find the link anymore. But I gotta leave it anyway because it's notable that there even was someone who thinks as I do.)
http://mangafox156.deviantart.com/a.....Love-310049677
-For once, fanart that lampshades not Flareon's shortcomings, but how everyone thus treats them! Hell, I even agree with the comments!
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Moves.....hown-496420775
-What the hell this isn't Pokemon! But damned if it ain't funny, and I don't even Smash, bro! It's the 3rd result when you search "no moves" on Deviantart, and a good laugh when I'm complaining to my friends about the first result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3dtChrIgok
-This journal was sponsored by this song. I may be a bit obsessed with Live A Live...
And that's that, I've finally gotten this off my chest. I just cannot stand how the fandom disproportionately treats Flareon like crap. I'd like nothing more than for this to be put to a stop, yet some people act like it's illegal for Flareon to be badass. I could even give names. But I won't. Not out of respect, mind you, but out of common sense. That said, this whole "No Moves" thing is what I despise the most about this fandom, and these jokes will NOT be tolerated here. On the other hand, feel free to tell me, what do you think about the way the fandom mistreats Flareon?
Flareon has always been my favourite, and not just in a 'omnomnom Flareon' way, I mean, when I get an Eevee I usually evolve it into a Flareon first, then my other eevees into the other evolutions (it is my dream to have many, many eevees). I must admit, I don't know much about competitive play so I can't comment on that, but I wish Flareon didn't get the hate it got (One of my friends once referred to it as 'Eevee Plus' since it's the one that changes the least in evolution).
Pepper's going to be pissed if anyone calls her 'Faileon'.
Anyway, that comment your friend made... that is admittedly a more legitimate criticism of Flareon. It's a comment on their design, rather than simply joining the lolnomoves circlejerk. Heck, shiny Flareon basically has normal Eevee's colors. But none of this is gonna stop me from loving the Pokemon I do.
Yeah, I'd get pissed too (says Captain Obvious). Oh, speaking of your characters, I actually got another future journal idea from one of them... let's just say that Spice would do well to stay away from Sylveons with a bow on their right ear instead... which is actually something I'd like to do in RP once I'm fully ready for that.
Heh, I kind of wish I'd known about this day beforehand, I might have made a quick story in celebration of it. But oh well, there's always next year x3
Hmm, I might want to just go and state the Pixiv Eeveelution days in my next journal then, although some of them get more hits than others (Vaporeon was lucky to get 3 images last month). For reference, Umbreon's is Feb. 7 if you'd like to anything (more) with Keran.
I still haven't forgotten about that note I was gonna send you, just hesitant knowing it's a sensitive topic, and that people like you seem to still like my stories despite it. Might go with a TLDR version of it.
And don't worry too much about the note. I know it's a sensitive topic, and the best we'll likely be able to do is just agree to disagree. But I am all right talking about it, just via the notes so we don't clog up the comments too much with it ^^
Dumb joke aside, I've noticed that Flareon always got the short end of the stick on pretty much everything. I remember seeing something about Flareon being a subpar Fire-type a few years back.
And I really think that sucks. Flareon was always my original favorite of the Eeveelutions (let's be honest, though, they're all just wonderful~), and the only time I ever cared about its battle potential was when I dealt with the Battle Frontier. Back when I first got Flareon on my LeafGreen cartridge, all I could think about was "look at this sweet-looking fire-shooting fluff ball!" Hell, that's still how I look at it. Screw the competitive aspect. Not everyone cares about it.
Is Flareon the best Pokémon competitively? Absolutely not. Just like the vast majority of Pokémon out there. Didn't stop my Flareon from helping me scorch up the Elite Four years back. As far as I'm concerned, Flareon is and always will be a precious fireball that'll have no issues scorching your face if you disrespect it.
And with that, I wish you a very un-ironic Happy Flareon Day~
Flareon and many others are far from the best, yet it's mostly Flareon who gets the shaft from the fandom-side of things. That may be another reason why this bothers me so much...
But that aside I do like Flareon alot, and they actually are pretty good in some spin off games like PMD. ^^
Even though I do play competetively, Flareon is my most used Eeveelution. Point. Blank. Period.
I like its design the most out of the Eeveelutions. Call me a sucker for cute Pokemon but uhh... I kinda am. My top 2 favourite Pokemon both being fire foxes says something too. :3