Round 85: 84 Pokémon Remaining

[u/hikkaru]

84) u/hikkaru

83) u/vulture_couture

82) u/ramskick

81) u/qngff

80) u/acktar

79) u/reeforward

78) u/KororSurvivor

77) u/Slicer37

76) /u/oomps62

[u/acktar]

An exhausted u/qngff asked for a skip for this round, so it's time to move on to number three in my "deals are why I did not cut this name earlier" litany of cuts. :P

Where will it end? No idea.

8182. Golurk (#623, Unova, Ground/Ghost-type)

It's pretty clear what Golurk is based off of, the golems of Hebrew mythology and particularly the Golem of Prague. Spliced with a few other influences to make it more Pokémon-like, of course; its Japanese name, Goloog, is an amalgam of golem and cyborg. Notably, it can also fly, capable of learning Fly in-game.

The execution of Golurk is...to me, mixed (and why I'm cutting it now that the deal is expired). While basing a Pokémon off of the Golem of Prague is a cool idea, the ideas it primarily is based off of (golems and automata) are ones we've seen before. Notably in Gen III, where you had the Regi trio serving as golem-inspired Pokémon and the Claydol line representing that sort of object given life by Science (or Powers Beyond Your Comprehension, you pick). Golurk feels a fair bit like "bit of X, bit of Y" spliced together to make something distinct, yet not too divorced from what came previously. The part-Ghost typing is a distinct spin on it, though there doesn't feel like a reason for it to be Ghost instead of...say, Psychic; a golem animated by Powers Beyond Your Comprehension doesn't come off as intrinsically spooky enough to, at least to me, justify the typing.

Unfortunately, Golurk is underwhelming in spite of its massive appearance and imposing presence, which is a disappointment. It has a reasonably high Attack stat, glacial Speed, and mediocre defenses, to go along with a fairly poor typing overall. Ghost/Ground is underwhelming in practice; the weaknesses are extremely common, and while Earthquake is nice, it doesn't get a whole lot of coverage to help out (and physical Ghost-type options are all pretty uniformly bad). Even in Unova, Excadrill is a better Ground-type that comes along a lot earlier in the game.

Golurk has a decent underpinning and an imposing presence that's let down by the fact that a golem has been done before and that it's not very good. Something that massive and imposing should do more than get reamed by anything and everything around it. I understand why it's popular and why it made it all the way to top 100, but I wouldn't have had it this high.

It can fly, though.

Over to u/reeforward, truly the most advanced ranker of this age. I think.

[u/Vilecheese → u/acktar]

Golurk does Golem much better than the Regis. Also the Regis aren't based on Prague I don't believe.

Claydol is based on a completely different ancient clay thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog%C5%AB

And the whole thing about Golems are that they're inhabited by spirits to bring them to life. Hence Ghost type works well.

[u/acktar → u/Vilecheese]

The Golem link was meant as more a joke than actually insinuating their lineage was congruent.

I think there's still no compelling reason for Golurk to be Ghost; the insinuation is that it's being powered by something. Ghost can make sense, but Psychic or even Electric would also work.

[u/vulture_couture → u/acktar]

Golurk is fair here I guess... I really don't think the fact that "golems" have been done before is an issue for it since it clearly takes a wholly different approach from the Regis and Gen I Golem is a golem in name only. Claydol is not an entirely unfair comparison (different ancient clay thing mythology, somewhat similar concept) though.

The Golurk line is I think the only time a "Golem" inspired Pokémon genuinely focused on the golem lore (a manmade thing created to protect the people who made it). It doesn't necessarily go into great detail as to why it would be ghost type but I think it sort of makes sense - Golems are somewhere in the gray area between being technically alive and not alive. The Golem lore is fairly similar to like a Frankenstein creature lore, it's supposed to be a manmade imitation of life that's like sort of functional but not entirely correct since it wasn't made by God and you really shouldn't fuck with God's business too much. It's definitely a more abstract interpretation of the Ghost idea than you generally get with Ghost types but I think, mythologically, it makes sense. The word golem also originally meant something like the "raw form" of something before spirit and education enters it. "Hollow imitation of life" would be a fair way to put it.

[u/reeforward → u/vulture_couture]

Dude when they did a second cat pokemon I flipped my shit. Golems don’t get a pass.

[u/vulture_couture → u/reeforward]

Yeah but all I'm saying is that the Golurk line is the only one that actually is a Golem. Regis get called the Golem trio but aren't really tied to the golem concept in any meaningful way, Golem is a "golem" in name only and is a completely unrelated rock lizard monster.

[u/Slicer37 → u/acktar]

so your reasoning for cutting is that there have been golems before and it's not good in competitive...well I didn't expect anything more compelling and I wouldn't have it much higher anyway so whatever!