We’re back for the Normal-type reviews, and today we’re going to focus on Eevee, a well-regarded Pokémon who can evolve into several different types of Pokémon! If you are ready with this one, please proceed.
Selected Fan Art (Artist: piinl)
Eevee is one of the most popular Pokémon for many reasons. For one, it looks like a common pet, akin to a cat or a dog, making it a relatable Pokémon to many people. Another reason is its cuteness, and that charm steals the hearts of people, especially the cat and dog lovers. Last but not least is Eevee’s potential to evolve into different Pokémon through different means, all having different types. This makes Eevee a multiple-choice Pokémon that provides both similarity and diversity, easily bringing fans who share the common love for Eevee and its Eeveelutions (yep, that’s what they’re called). There is a reason Eevee is a very common choice of main character’s Pokémon in fan-fictions.
Eevee’s evolutions tend to be related to the type they evolve to, based on the name, look, feel, and evolution method. It is generally a simple approach in how the Pokémon evolves: after evolution, it will look like a canine with characteristics that fit the type. To summarise Eevee’s Eeveelutions, there’s Flareon the Fire-type who evolves with a Fire Stone, Vaporeon the Water-type who evolves with a Water Stone, Jolteon the Electric-type who evolves with a Thunder Stone, Espeon the Psychic-type who evolves through level-up and friendship under the day, Umbreon the Dark-type who evolves through level-up and friendship under the night, Glaceon the Ice-type who evolves through level-up in the presence of an Ice Rock, Leafeon the Grass-type who evolves through level-up in the presence of a Moss Rock, and Sylveon the Fairy-type who evolves through level-up with a Level 2 Affection (through Pokémon-Amie) and a Fairy move.
Once Eevee evolves, it will change its ability to something else (it doesn’t share any of its abilities with others), as well as the moves it learns. Pre-evolutions don’t necessarily learn moves the evolutions don’t learn (unless it’s a Stone evolution, which Eevee also has), but Eevee is special because it has several moves that it cannot learn after evolution. Baton Pass (the most notable move) is exclusive to Eevee. Eevee is also the only Pokémon in its family to have Adaptability, which is a great offensive ability, although Eevee is not quite powerful, being a pre-evolution.
Eevee is able to evolve into many different forms because of its irregular and unstable genetic code. In the first Generation, only the element stones would have evolved Eevee’s, which is why the first Generation only mentioned that as a basis for evolution. However, later Generations explained Eevee’s evolution methods as adapting to its environment, actively or passively. The “element stones” are still being used (to be fair, five of the evolutions do require element stones).
The fact that Eevee could evolve into many different forms is why it is an ideal choice for any story. Certain characters will have Eevee as their Pokémon, not knowing what it will evolve to. Examples for showcasing an Eeveelution that was introduced in a Generation include Red’s Eevee (who was owned in Generation 1) evolving into Espeon and May’s Eevee receiving an icy form in the anime. It could also provide a source of conflict as it did in the anime episode “The Battling Eevee Brothers”. Eevee is also used to demonstrate a character’s development, because its different evolutions can exemplify different personalities or developments. For example, in Pokémon Yellow, Gary’s Eevee will evolve differently based on how well you did against him. Of course, there are the numerous fan-fictions that use Eevee as a main character’s Pokémon.
Eevee shares several traits with starter Pokémon. For one, it is a rare Pokémon that is typically given away, and in cases where you can catch it, it is rare to find and is not quite an easy Pokémon to capture. In fact, it is a starter Pokémon in Pokémon XD (Colosseum instead have Espeon and Umbreon as starters). Even breeding for another Eevee is not simple, due to its high male to female ratio and requiring a long journey to hatch (unlike starters, for the latter).
Eevee’s main feature as being able to evolve into different forms is a very flexible concept that people like for several reasons. Fans could come up with how their Eevee should evolve, come up with never-before-used types, or just having several evolutions as a team akin to having many pets (such as Virgil in the Black and White anime era), among other things. Of course, evolutions are a favourite thing because it signifies a Pokémon getting stronger or receiving a different strength. As such, Eevee remains a fan-favourite to this very day.
+ A Pokémon with similarity and diversity
+ Open to more evolutions
+ Useful Pokémon in stories
– Tends to be overused or overrepresented
TCG Card
This card is chosen because of its unique status as a card based on Pokémon Scramble/Rumble, where the Pokémon look like small plastic toys. It might not be the choice of card you will associate with Eevee, but since there are only three Normal-types (Bibarel, Eevee and Rattata) that are given this treatment, Eevee is chosen to represent this small selection of Scramble/Rumble-ised Pokémon.
Trump Card
Of all the moves Eevee could learn, Trump Card is chosen because it is one of the few Pokémon to learn it, and it learns it naturally too! In a way, it fits Eevee in that it has so many evolutions that it will use any “card” in its hand to attempt to get stronger. Then again, that’s my theory, so it’s not necessarily true.
Unlike any other move, in which maxing out PP is encouraged for prolonged usage, Trump Card wants you have as little PP as possible so that its power will increase. It doesn’t matter if you have more PP, because the damage will be the same at 5 PP and 8 PP, making it worse with more because you are stuck with a low BP attack. This move isn’t powerful until you have 1 PP left. Beforehand, it will have 40 BP, 50 BP, 60 BP and then 80 BP depending on the amount of PP left after using this move. However, the last PP will unleash a power of 200 BP!
This move is another example where the player is rewarded when something is sacrificed, which is in this case the PP of this move. As such, it is only great if you made preparations with it, so it’s not a common attack. The fact that it can only do heavy damage once makes it very risky to use up the last remaining attack. On the bright side, it will never miss unless the opponent is currently invulnerable. This move is a Special attack, so it doesn’t overlap with other rewarding high-risk attacks like Last Resort and Flail. Eevee is a better Physical attacker, but Adaptability boosts this move’s power to huge heights, so it’s not totally useless on it.
As with any rewarding high-risk moves, Trump Card is hard to use reliably because the opponent will be able to see it coming, but if you managed to take advantage of this move, it gives a rewarding feeling to the player, much like the feeling you get when you use a trump card well.
That’s all for today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.
Next Article: Farfetch’d
