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Normal-type Reviews: Buneary & Lopunny

We’re back for the Normal-type reviews, and today we’re going to focus on Buneary and Lopunny, a pair of rabbit Pokémon! If you are ready with this one, please proceed.

Selected Fan Art (Artist: celty-sturluson)

There are a lot of appealing animals such as monkeys and penguins, whose appeal are different from each other. Rabbits, another appealing animal, get by with their harmless and innocent appearance. Being fluffy and cute, rabbits make for great pets. However, they can also be hard to maintain, since they have some quirks that would be difficult to manage, such as chewing on things and creating a lot of offspring.

Buneary is based on just an ordinary rabbit. There doesn’t seem to be any hints that it is based on other things besides a rabbit because it is simple as far as Pokémon based on animals go. Sure, it has extra fluffy fur and one rolled up ear, but it is ordinary otherwise. This leads me to believe that Lopunny was designed before Buneary was. Lopunny, on the other hand, appears to be more than a rabbit, so much so that it looks human-like. In fact, Lopunny looks very much like a human rabbit. While Lopunny has an appearance that exudes beauty and cuteness, it is also a capable fighter. This is supported by the fact that it learns a lot of Fighting attacks and has a Mega Evolution that is part-Fighting.

The way Lopunny looks, you would have guessed that it is designed to be appealing to adults. Thankfully it’s not too appealing (if you know what I mean) because it might be too suggestive otherwise. Indeed, Lopunny looks like what a “Playboy bunny” would suggest. It’s interesting that while this style is popular in Japan, this style is not known to be a “Playboy bunny” and is more of something sexually appealing in appearance. Sure enough, Lopunny is a subject of fan-art that highlights its more sexual aspects (female ones, that is), along with some other Pokémon such as Gardevoir and Meloetta.

Fur is another thing rabbits are known for, so you can expect fur to be mentioned for these Pokémon. Buneary is said to use it for warmth during the cold nights by tucking its head, while Lopunny’s fur is useful for shielding. Lopunny is even said to shed twice a year, presumably because old fur loses its beauty and effect. It’s surprising that even though fur is useful for these Pokémon, Fur Coat isn’t its ability (though it might be because they already have three abilities), neither is Cotton Guard known as one of their moves.

One interesting thing about Buneary and Lopunny is their base friendship stat. Buneary’s stat defaults at zero, while Lopunny’s default is higher, at 140. In fact, Buneary is the only one to learn Frustration by level-up whereas Lopunny learns Return. In addition to this, Buneary only evolves through friendship. This makes Buneary seem more distrusting than it initially appears. One possible reason for this is how rabbits are normally a target for predators, due to its relatively small size and tastiness to the predator, therefore they do not trust others to be nice with them. Buneary has a tendency to raise its ears when there’s danger and run away, judging by its Run Away ability (Cute Charm is Lopunny’s equivalent).

Buneary, even before evolving, already shows signs of strength. The ear it rolls up could be used as a means for impact, akin to a coil spring whose coil is released from its compressed state. It seems that the ears are powerful it can bounce high by springing off the ground. Lopunny, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to use its delicate ears as a means to attack, preferring to keep them groomed. Even then, its ears are used as a shield for protection. Its main form of offence is its graceful and curvaceous legs, which do not resemble a real rabbit’s legs.

As a battler, Lopunny has unique qualities. It learns a great deal of status moves, such as Baton Pass, Encore and Healing Wish, among notable ones. One of its abilities is Klutz, which goes well with a harmful item since Lopunny cannot get harmed by them. This is best used with Switcheroo while holding a Flame Orb or Assault Vest. Even though Lopunny is said to be a powerful attacker, its Attack stat is not enough to be lethal. Fortunately, its Mega Evolution changed all that, because this time, Lopunny gains a lot of Attack and enough Speed to be more effective. It helps that Mega Lopunny has Scrappy so that it can hit through Ghost-types. This is important for High Jump Kick, a new attack it learns in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Even with a resist in its way, Lopunny could resort to its Normal STAB, since Normal and Fighting STAB are unresisted if you take Scrappy into account.

Even though Buneary and Lopunny are rabbits, I don’t feel they fit the mould of what I would expect from rabbit Pokémon mainly because they looked too human. There are a lot of dog and cat Pokémon that resemble actual animals, so it would be nice if we have a rabbit Pokémon that resembles a real rabbit, especially a fully-evolved one (the closest to a real rabbit is Bunnelby). Lopunny’s sexually appealing look doesn’t quite appeal to me, but I can understand how it could appeal to some people. At least Lopunny has the skills to back up its body, though.

Buneary’s TCG Card

With the way Buneary looks here, it looks like one of the Hello Kitty characters thanks to the roundness of its head and the short body. In fact, it could feasibly pass off as one of those characters! I suppose it looks cute, but then again I’m not into Hello Kitty, so it’s up to the cuteness judges to give the verdict.

Lopunny’s TCG Card

There is a striking style with this card’s design. The flowers seek to accentuate the pleasantness of Lopunny, and it’s posing as if it’s one of those girls that are modelling. Obviously, any animal-based Pokémon never shows them, so it’s safe for anybody, but the way Lopunny used its ear to cover its body, it strengthens the case that it looks like it’s posing as a model, since it looks like it’s covering the more sensitive bits.

Frustration & Return

Both moves are introduced when every Pokémon is granted an extra friendship value in Generation 2, so that they could capitalise on it in their battles. Because both Buneary and Lopunny are the only Pokémon to naturally learn both of the mentioned moves, both moves are suitably linked to them. Buneary’s naturally low friendship makes Frustration a great move to use on it, whereas Lopunny’s higher friendship allows Return to start out strong.

Since both moves can be learned by almost every Pokémon, any Physical attacker is able to use this move as an alternative attack if none others are available. Based on the way this move’s power is calculated, the maximum power is 102 BP, while 1 BP is the minimum. Naturally, using both is inadvisable because both cannot be powerful at the same time, and besides, having two Normal Physical attacks with the same effect (the lack of it) is redundant.

Usually though, Normal-type Physical attacks appreciate a powerful STAB attack, so they will naturally want to use them based on the level of friendship. Obviously, Buneary and Lopunny will find this move useful, since they are Physical attackers. If a Physical attacker has an ability that turns Normal attacks into another type, they would almost always use this attack because of the benefits of STAB and power boost, so expect Mega Pinsir and Mega Salamence to use this attack for their Flying STAB thanks to Aerilate.

Realistically, these moves are a display on how your Pokémon appreciates or dislikes you, so it could be used for tests, but ultimately, it is mostly used for a battling advantage. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but a point could be made that there is some dissonance with it, what with treating your Pokémon well or not, just so you can capitalise on one of these moves.

That’s all for today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.