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Ice-type Reviews – Generation 4 (Part 2)

Today, we continue with more Ice-types for Generation 4, which are all evolutions of existing Pokémon before that Generation. If you’re ready, let’s proceed.

Glaceon

Glaceon is another member of the ever-expanding Eeveelution group, with a new member being shown off recently (Sylveon). Based on its looks, it is easy to identify it as an Ice-type, for it is crystal blue and it has some diamonds to represent diamond dust. Introduced together with Leafeon, they introduced a new evolution method of needing to be in a specific area to evolve (after levelling up). In Glaceon’s case, you need to be in an area with an Ice Rock to evolve.

Eeveelutions are known for their adaptation to the elements, like as if they are one with them. For example, Flareon is a Fire-type that is very hot on the inside, and Vaporeon could liquidise itself. Naturally, Glaceon is a cold Pokémon that is able to freeze its surroundings, and it could stiffen its fur with that kind of chill. The latter would allow Glaceon to make its fur spiky, so it’s a kind of protective technique. It’s not Glaceon, but in the anime, Jolteon showed a similar way of fending itself by poking Arbok when it tried to wrap itself despite being paralysed by Arbok’s Glare. So, the same technique might work for Glaceon too.

Like with any Eeveelution, the animal that Glaceon is inspired from is ambiguous. On the one hand, its face looks cat-like, but is body features are fox-like, especially its ears and tail. The best guess as the closest thing Glaceon resembles is the Arctic fox, a fox that resides the Arctic region (you saw that coming didn’t you?). It has an average body length of 85cm (according to Wikipedia), which is almost the same as Glaceon’s average height (0.8m). Another interesting thing about Arctic foxes is their fur changes colour depending on the season, so it’s brown in summer and white in the winter.

I suspect that any Eeveelution fan would assign certain character archetypes to each of the Eeveelutions, but I have no idea what are the common ones. If I were to guess, Glaceon would be the calm and cool one because of its nature as an Ice-type, but I could be wrong. As with the entire Eeveelution family, when it comes to promotion, none are left out. Take the most recent Pikachu short, for example. It’s about Eevee and friends, and naturally Glaceon will be there too. Before that, Virgil (of Unova) is shown to have the entire Eevee family (outside of Sylveon, which wasn’t revealed then). In the anime, May had an Eevee that hatched from an Egg, but it evolved into a Glaceon at one time when it came into contact with an Ice Rock (I guess newer Eeveelutions take priority when it comes to being shown off).

In battling, Glaceon’s very high Special Attack complements well with its Ice-type, for the ability to unleash powerful Ice Beams or Blizzards to overwhelm the opposition. Beyond that, its coverage is rather limited, needing a Hidden Power to hit the advantageous types hard, especially Fire and Steel. Glaceon is another Ice-type with defences that are quite good, which is counterintuitive to Ice-type’s many weaknesses, but even then, the extra defence is not bad, allowing it to survive neutral hits or certain priority attacks. Ice Body also helps Glaceon a lot, for it could perform a Hail stall set similar to Walrein with more offensive presence, or it could use this ability to offset some of Life Orb’s recoil. Snow Cloak is still a potential live-saver, so both abilities have their uses.

Eeveelutions are not my favourite, but I acknowledge those who admire this group of pet-like Pokémon. No matter whether you like them or not, you can be assured that in every new game or spinoff, they will always be there in one way or another, sometimes as a late addition. What I dislike about this evolution method is, this basically necessitates the Ice Rock in future instalments even though there are no cold places. Among the Eeveelutions, Glaceon is one of my more favourite ones, because that tuque on Glaceon and the “sideburns” are nice touches.

Mamoswine

Our next exhibit today is Mamoswine, an Ice-type that evolves from a previous Ice-type. This time, Piloswine is given a unique evolution method, allowing it to become stronger and bulkier. Mamoswine also looks a lot better than Piloswine, at least in my opinion. I suppose I prefer evolutions in general for their general strength, so it’s a treat to see something got the evolution since evolutions tend to outdo the original forms.

In order to evolve Piloswine, you need to have Piloswine learn Ancient Power, a move that is latent for Piloswine (but not Swinub), and then level up. Normally, this would be possible since Swinub learns it through breeding, but it wasn’t possible before. There are two other Pokémon who evolved the same way, and the similarities between those Pokémon is their evolutions are based on prehistoric animals, and Mamoswine is based on the mammoth, an animal that is closely related to elephants based on their physique. However, Mamoswine kept the snout its more basic forms got, so it is still a “swine”.

Like Piloswine, Mamoswine’s tusks are made of ice, but similar to Piloswine, the material for Mamoswine’s tusks doesn’t look like it’s made of ice, but it looks like keratin (same material as the tusks of any other mammal). The shaggy moustache around its face is an odd addition to Mamoswine, but it could be a sign on how Mamoswine is an “old” Pokémon, or it could just be the hairy part around the animal’s nose with nothing significant. Mamoswine also appears to look fiercer than Piloswine with its now visible eyes that are always in a scowling position. Its larger tusks are also another indicator that it’s a Pokémon you don’t want to mess with. It even learns Scary Face, something its more basic forms cannot learn!

Mammoths are most commonly associated with the Ice Age, and were extinct long ago. They were known because of their remains, so that’s how people knew about their existence. Similarly, Mamoswine is said to be dug up while it is encased in ice, and it’s apparently still alive after all these years. There are some stories where a mammoth was frozen but alive (and was revived in the present period), such as Cro, so this idea had been done before at least once. The reason for its extinction is not known, but it is mentioned in the PokéDex that its extinction happened at the same time as the rise in temperature in the environment. This does bring the question on how Mamoswine survives in the present period when it was revived, but if I could guess, it is possible that food is a lot easier to forage in the current period.

Mamoswine is a huge improvement over Piloswine in battling, which is natural for an evolution. Its defences are not changed, but a higher HP makes it better. It still retains Thick Fat, so it still takes less damage from Fire and Ice attacks. Moreover, the most important improvements are its Attack and Speed, as it now poses more of an offensive threat, especially against Dragon-types. It has the same coverage as Piloswine, including Icicle Crash and Earthquake as powerful attacks, and Stone Edge backing up as coverage. Ice Shard is important for faster Pokémon that it could KO. Perhaps a surprise Freeze-Dry could be used to catch unsuspecting Water-types from resisting its Ice STAB. Like Piloswine, Mamoswine is a decent Stealth Rock setter for its immunity to Hail and Sandstorm, meaning it could retain its Focus Sash in any weather (works well with the Endeavour + Ice Shard combo). Moreover, Oblivious prevents any attempts of Taunt from working, so nothing can stop Stealth Rock from being set. The advantage with Mamoswine is its higher Attack, so it could threaten any lead weak to its STAB attacks.

I am pleased with how Mamoswine turned out. I used this Pokémon before and it is very good since its power is simply a high point. Moreover, Mamoswine’s design is a lot better than Piloswine because it looks tidier in form while still maintaining the appearance of the animal it is based on. Overall, Mamoswine is a great example in updating an older Pokémon.

Froslass

Up next is Froslass, an evolution of Snorunt. Unlike the other evolutions we have reviewed so far, Froslass is special because it is a gender-specific evolution. A female Snorunt could only evolve into a Froslass if it is exposed to the Dawn Stone. To be honest, I couldn’t help but think that there is some gender inequality here, so hopefully there aren’t any gender-specific evolutions next time.

Froslass looks like it is dressed in a kimono, a traditional Japanese clothing. There is what resembles a skirt below its head with a ribbon wrapped around it, and its hands look like they have sleeves of a kimono. There is one detail that is easy to mistake if you glance through this, so remember that Froslass’s hands are on its head like Snorunt, but not on its skirt. Like Glalie, the actual head is enveloped within a mask, and it could float too. This is not saying much as a Ghost-type, since ghosts are commonly portrayed as levitating.

As I have mentioned in my previous review, Glalie is a dangerous Pokémon for its ability to eat things that it freezes. Froslass is similarly guilty of this, since it could also freeze its prey with its icy breath too. The nature of being harmful is a common trait among Ghost-types, so this behaviour isn’t out there as a Ghost-type. Another thing that is mentioned in the PokéDex is that based on the legends, a Froslass is the apparition of a woman who was lost in an icy mountain, which is funny since it evolves from Snorunt, a Pokémon that is definitely not an apparition. This folklore is directly inspired by the yuki-onna, a yokai based on the female snow spirit, which is also said to be the spirit of someone who was perished in snow. Other traits found on the yuki-onna include having an icy breath, having no feet, and of course, being female-only.

Froslass’ Speed is one of the best qualities, combined with access to key moves. It is one of the few users who could use Spikes, and together with its Ghost-type, opponents couldn’t just use Rapid Spin to remove the Spikes it set while it’s around. Not only does it use Spikes well, it could also prevent the opponent from setting up, either with Taunt or a lucky activation by Cursed Body, or possibly Thunder Wave (with the added benefit of lowering the opponent’s Speed). That Speed is also great for taking down an opponent with it through Destiny Bond, so the opponent isn’t exactly safe by trying to knock it out. Offensively, it is sufficient, because besides Ice Beam, it learns the Special Electric attacks as well, granting extra coverage.

Among split evolutions, there is an inequality between Froslass and Glalie, albeit one that isn’t noticeable at first glance. It’s true that Froslass evolves in a more difficult way, but it has so many advantages over Glalie that it is not funny. For one, Froslass’ type combination is a lot better than Glalie since it gets immunities (and Ghost is a great complementary type). Since Froslass is a Ghost-type, it gets the complementary moves that Ghost-types get, including but not limited to, Psychic, Destiny Bond, Trick and Confuse Ray. Froslass also has a Speed advantage, so it could perform more with what it has. All these factors make Froslass seem like the better Pokémon. I think the developers noticed this too, because they gave Glalie Moody, one of the best abilities in the game, to compensate, although Glalie’s not likely to be acknowledged since Moody is banned in competitive battling communities for the perilous effects it has on competitive battling.

This inequality would normally apply to Gallade too, another Pokémon that is a gender-specific evolution, but there is little to no disparity between Gardevoir and Gallade (Gardevoir won’t be able to benefit from most of the extra moves that Gallade gets anyway). Besides, Gardevoir has the Fairy-type, which is great like the Fighting-type. More importantly, Gallade could potentially pass its moves to others since it is male, unlike Froslass’ female-only restriction, making moves it learns stuck to its kin.

One of Froslass’s known appearances in the anime is during Ash’s battle with Paul in the Sinnoh League. Paul used it against Pikachu after Ash’s Infernape’s battle against Paul’s Ninjask. While Froslass was overbearing with her hail and freezing tactics, Pikachu manages to beat her by breaking out of the ice block trap and launching the famous Volt Tackle. In the episode “The Drifting Snorunt”, where Froslass tricked Ash and friends through hallucinations (like that never happened before…) and blackmailed the heroes and Team Rocket into helping her get her pal Snorunt back.

Besides my main gripe about Froslass, the one about having more advantages over Glalie (and thus having inequality between split evolutions), Froslass is actually a really well-designed Pokémon. It resembles its source material to fool people, while still having ties with its basic form in some way. Moreover, it manages to look spooky as well. It is also a true yuki-onna Pokémon, unlike Jynx.

So that ends today’s winter wonderland, despite not being actually snowing. One problem with Generation 4’s Ice-types is that the majority of them are evolutions of old Pokémon, leaving only one original family, so despite being a great run for Ice-types, there is a flaw with this Generation. You can bet that Generation 5’s Ice-types have their merits and flaws as well. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.

Thanks for reading.