We’re back for the Normal-type reviews, and today we’re going to focus on Furfrou, a Pokémon whose fur could be styled in various ways! If you are ready with this one, please proceed.
Selected Fan Art (Artist: Kagay)
There are a lot of dog breeds out there all waiting to be represented as Pokémon, because pets is one thing people love, and Pokémon can be an alternative to one. For now, we have a lot of different dog breeds as Pokémon, including Granbull, Houndoom and of course, Furfrou.
Dogs show qualities that people really love, namely their loyalty. It mutually solves a person’s need for a friend and a dog’s innate nature of being loyal with people it trusts. The dog could even be quite protective, and this kind of loyalty makes one secure. There is a reason Furfrou were designated as guardians of the king in Kalos, historically. In the anime, it’s stated that Furfrou are intelligent and sensitive, something pet owners would say about certain dogs.
Furfrou, as its look and its species name suggests, is a poodle. Poodles are one dog that is standard in France, so it’s appropriate to see it in Kalos (a France-inspired region). Unlike regular poodles, Furfrou is much larger than an average dog. In fact, every dog Pokémon is much larger than the dogs they are based on. It would normally be dangerous for dogs to be large, but if they are quite loyal to people, they would also be better protectors.
Like poodles, Furfrou is abundant with fur. It has so much fur that it could use it as armour, which is the basis of its ability Fur Coat. This ability doubles Furfrou’s Defence, essentially halving Physical damage. With abundant fur, it looks like it needs styling. Indeed, trimming the fur could be beneficial for Furfrou since it would allow Furfrou to use its slim body to be swifter. It would be interesting if styling Furfrou allows you to change its ability from one that doubles Defence to one that doubles Speed, because it makes Furfrou a more flexible Pokémon to use.
Furfrou is meant to be very difficult to take down on the Physical side, between its ability, Cotton Guard and Charm or Baby-Doll Eyes. Unfortunately, Furfrou doesn’t have instant recovery that would take advantage of it. Furthermore, it doesn’t learn too many moves to be versatile, but it does have some good moves like Sucker Punch, U-turn, Work Up and Thunder Wave.
Similar to real poodles, Furfrou could be styled into something fancy. This is done through a grooming salon, which is the Friseur Furfrou at Luminose City in the games. There are a lot of styles that the player could choose for Furfrou to be shown, and they make Furfrou look like it’s wearing something, especially a hat. The anime episode also showcases this, in the episode “Grooming Furfrou!”. It doesn’t last forever, though, as its original scruffy style will eventually override whatever effort was put into its design.
While the Pokémon world is normally inconsequential when it comes to the ethical treatment of animals, there is one particular topic that should be brought up. Styling a dog’s fur as an art is an incredibly gray area. On one hand, treating a dog’s fur as canvas is considered cruel to the animal who can’t think for itself, since it can’t give permission to be treated this way. On the other hand, a groomer could express their artistic skill on a dog to show something pleasing to the eye, and the dog would love the attention it receives. Both sides have a point, so I am not going to argue with either, because I love both the artistic result on the dog and to see the animal receive fair treatment from humans.
Furfrou’s voluminous fur is what makes Furfrou attractive, in terms of the ability to style it in whatever you like, and as a helpful tool in battle. Let’s not forget that the abundant fur encourages touching and rubbing it, for the sensation of touching soft and fluffy stuff is a relaxing and joyful thing (unless there are complications in allergies).
+ Fur could be styled
+ Very furry!
– Fur-styling does not suit everyone’s tastes
TCG Card
True to the original, this card comes in different flavours. These different Furfrou coats do its best to make it truly a collectible, thanks to each version being only found in specific sets. Of all the coats presented in this gallery, my favourite is the Kabuki trim, due to its striking red colour. Despite the different graphics, all these Furfrou cards have the same properties, so if you just want to play a Furfrou card, you don’t need to have different Furfrou, unless you want some bragging rights.
Odor Sleuth
Normal-types have a common inability to get their attacks through Ghost-types, but with Odour Sleuth, they can attack them with not only Normal attacks, but Fighting attacks as well. Odour Sleuth implies that the user detects their target through smell, and in Furfrou’s case, the sensitivity of a dog’s nose allows it to have an advantage over Ghost-types. Another way to affect Ghost-types is using Foresight, which is using the power of sight instead. In any case, sixth sense is involved.
It’s not a commonly-used move because Normal coverage is not quite useful, nor is Fighting coverage unless the user is a Fighting-type. It does have some utility if the user has Rapid Spin for guaranteeing hazard removal, so it could possibly be used on Donphan (the only user with both moves). Usually, the effect in hitting Ghost-types is best used with Scrappy, mainly because the ability to hit Normal-types is already intrinsic, therefore saving a turn and moveslot. That ability essentially makes Mega Lopunny really dangerous.
Overall, this move’s effect is useful, but it sacrifices too much on the user’s part that makes it only worth using if it either compliments another Normal attack or if it is in the form of an ability (Scrappy).
That’s all for today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.
Next Article: Girafarig
