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Weekly Article – Potential Fairies

Generation 6 introduced the Fairy-type, and along with the announcement, it is revealed that certain Pokémon would be retyped so that they will have the Fairy-type. A sample of candidates to receive this privilege were Jigglypuff, Marill and Gardevoir. There were a lot of speculation on who would receive the Fairy-type, with the Clefairy line and Togepi line being the lucky ones (the information was revealed before the actual Fairy-type is announced).

Come the games’ release, and we got to see who actually got the Fairy-type. It was generally disappointing for those who speculate, because the number of conversions are a lot less than the expected conversions. This made the Fairy-type a tad limited in variety. It isn’t without reason though, since the Fairy-type is a great type, beginning from a Dragon immunity.

For today’s article, I shall list a number of Pokémon who should have been given the treatment. If you are ready, you may proceed.

Reason: Absol is a unique Dark-type in that it is not characterised by evil, unlike its other Dark-type contemporaries. Giving Absol a Fairy-type would do well to differentiate this fact.
 
Benefits: The Dark/Fairy-type neutralises the Bug and Fighting weaknesses, making Absol less susceptible to those types. Fortunately Poison and Steel aren’t quite common weaknesses. The greatest benefit with Dark/Fairy Absol is STAB on Play Rough, which gives Absol the best STAB combination for a Dark-type. The double resistance to Dark helps it take Knock Off for little damage if it has the Absolite, since Mega Stones do not affect Knock Off’s damage increase.

Reason: Audino is part of the Fairy Egg Group, which is the same as Clefairy, Jigglypuff and Chansey. It is pink too, which is the colour of fairies. Not only that, its special healing abilities would represent an aspect in fairies, which is their ability to heal others of their ills. They may resemble an animal (in Audino’s case, a rabbit), but that doesn’t stop some animals like Snubbull from being fairies. Even though I mentioned Chansey just now, I will go on a record and say that I don’t think Chansey should receive that type since its very bulky, which would have made it too good.
 
Benefits: Under a Normal/Fairy-type, Audino would be the most ideal for healing the team. Its Physical Defence is very good for a Fairy since they tend to have great Special Defence. Not only that, its Regenerator meant that passing a Wish would be less risky.

Reason: These three are tiny and light, which are common characteristics among fairies in fiction. Not only that, their names have something resembling fairies in it. Azelf have “elf” or “gnome”, Mesprit has “sprite” while Uxie has “pixie”.
 
Benefits: All three Pokémon has good stat distribution, as well as a wide reach of moves. The extra Fairy-type to go with their Psychic-type will neutralise two weaknesses, which is a plus. On the offence, a Fairy attack to go with Shadow Ball is a huge advantage due to its advantageous coverage, while on the defence, an extra immunity and a double resistance to Fighting makes for switch-in opportunities.

Reason: The pixie-like Event Pokémon are special in that they are, well, fairies, which equates to being a chance encounter since fairies are supposed to be unlikely to meet normally. I could have gone on and say all of them deserve the treatment, but I chose Celebi for this one for a reason. If Celebi is presented as a free gift if you use a Bank, a good way to introduce it is to give it a Fairy-type, so that there is more incentive to collect a new Celebi. The type I am proposing is to replace Psychic with Fairy.
 
Benefits: With a Fairy/Grass-type, Celebi’s enemies will change, starting from the Dark-types and Bug-types that would have troubled it if it were Psychic. This meant that it doesn’t need to resort to Psychic (a difficult type to use these days) and go for Dazzling Gleam, which has great coverage with Shadow Ball. It might have a double weakness to Poison, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Reason: Cherubi has the word “cherub” in it, which is a type of angel, so that suits a fairy. Moreover, both Pokémon are in the Fairy Egg Group. This would form a correlation between cherries and fairies (it rhymes!).
 
Benefits: A Grass/Fairy combination is quite good, at least it’s better than just pure Grass, since it nullifies the Bug weakness. It would double the Poison weakness, but it’s not a common type to worry about. The extra resistances would give it better chances at supporting a team. Offensively, Dazzling Gleam is quite good because it affects more than one opponent, so it could at least provide some offence when the need arises.
 

Reason: There seems to be a relation between fairies and the moon, as the Clefairy family and the moves Moonlight and Moonblast had shown. Because Cresselia is deeply associated with the moon, it is an ideal Pokémon to receive the Fairy-type.
 
Benefits: Cresselia’s large defences are undermined by its Psychic-type, since it is weak to two frequently-used utility moves U-turn and Pursuit. By granting neutrality to both Bug and Dark, Cresselia is able to do its job as a wall. The Fairy-type’s Dragon immunity, along with Levitate’s Ground immunity, makes it the best Pokémon to taken on Ground/Dragon-types since it is not weak to Rock. It might not have the best offences, but the fact that Moonblast has power behind it makes up for that.

Reason: Milotic is a Pokémon associated with beauty, making it a worthy candidate for being a Fairy-type. Its scales are also known to be quite elegant and useful to have. It is a counterpart to Gyarados, a more fierce Pokémon, so a Fairy-type would suit its calming nature quite well.
 
Benefits: With a Water/Fairy-type, Milotic would do a better job than Azumarill at showing how it is a beneficial defensive type, thanks to having recovery and better defensive potential (with Marvel Scale). On the offence, assuming Milotic has Moonblast, it would be decently strong on the Special side, with Competitive to benefit from Sticky Web and Defog.

Reason: Both Misdreavus and Mismagius are based on banshee, a type of fairy. Usually, fairies are associated with goodness, but these are not one of them. Their appearance would also fit the mould of fairies.
 
Benefits: Having STAB on both Ghost and Fairy is a huge advantage, since this type combination is only resisted by three type combinations (only Fire/Normal exists). Due to this, their offensive capacity is advantageous, thanks to the ability to boost with Calm Mind or Nasty Plot. It helps that the Dark weakness is neutralised, along with having four immunities (plus a double Bug resistance). It should be noted that Ghost has a resistance to Poison, meaning that Ghost/Fairy is not weak to it.

Reason: Their counterparts, Cottonee and Whimsicott, received a Fairy-type. Petilil and Lilligant are counterparts to the duo in a sense that they are both based on mythical creatures, in which Lilligant specifically is based on a dryad (in that it is a female plant-based species). The same type would keep their status as counterparts balanced.
 
Benefits: Lilligant has very limited coverage, which the Fairy-type would solve by giving it some Fairy attacks. It won’t overcome the types that beat it (Fairy is resisted by the same types as Grass), but the extra coverage will help a lot. The extra coverage would help best in a Quiver Dance set. On the support side, a Grass/Fairy Lilligant will give it more chances in switching in.

Reason: These electrical rodents are mascots of the franchise, so if they receive the Fairy-type, it would be quite grand because that change becomes the most noticeable one. They are also part of the Fairy Egg Group.
Benefits: Currently, Dedenne is the only Electric/Fairy-type, and while it’s a useful type combination, its low stats and incompatible movepool (it cannot learn Dazzling Gleam) didn’t quite allow it to capitalise on that. That’s why we need another partner to show how it’s done. With this type combination, Play Rough and possibly Dazzling Gleam are earned as a move. Pikachu’s huge offences with a Light Ball will hurt a lot (just watch out for low defences), and Raichu’s great Speed will surely scare some Pokémon, even if its offences aren’t the highest (it gets Nasty Plot, though).

Reason: Snorunt is based on the Koro-pok-guru, a type of dwarf-like creature in Ainu folklore. As for Glalie, it is more of a demon with that face. Still, a scary Fairy would be a unique addition.
 
Benefits: The Ice/Fairy-type between both Pokémon would help differentiate from Froslass, whose dual type is beneficial. It would be similar to how Gardevoir differentiate itself from Gallade with a new Fairy-type. With this, Glalie would be much better with confronting Dragons with its immunity. Assuming it gets Play Rough, it would have good coverage offensively (Crunch + Play Rough).

Reason: Their cute appearance and the fact that they look like ice-cream is something that wouldn’t be out of the blue in a fairy tale. It would complement the candy-like fairies Swirlix and Slurpuff too.
 
Benefits: Ice/Fairy is not necessarily the best of types, since Ice-types are disadvantaged defensively, but the fact that there are extra resistances is welcomed, especially the Dragon immunity. Having two types that threaten Dragon-types is a big advantage because there are more options. It doesn’t quite help coverage for Fire- and Steel-types, but it’s a big improvement nonetheless.

That’s all for my suggestions on who should’ve been a Fairy-type. There are probably some other Pokémon that would suit the Fairy-type that I didn’t list, so if you have a suggestion, you could list it in the comments. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I have writing it.

Thanks for reading.