Design-wise, I fear my tastes are pretty mainstream. Apart from the first hour or two of Sword, all the ones I'm familiar with come from the first generation. The flagship critters are good, of course, although it bothers me slightly that Eevee doesn't have a muzzle. Pikachu is better when on all fours; don't ask me why, he just is. I think the cutest one in Let's Go is Vulpix, possibly because someone gave me a stuffed one many years ago and I had no idea what it was from for a long time. I'm also partial to the ones with evolutionary lines that make visual sense, like Bulbasaur > Ivysaur > Venusaur and Charmander > Charmeleon > Charizard (which actually look like they could be three stages in the life cycle of the same animal).

In terms of their abilities, I think Golducks are kind of freaky-looking, but I made absolute bank with one in my Let's Go Eevee campaign. And they're just "weaponized Psyduck" freaky-looking, not "good Christ what the hell is that kill it with fire" freaky-looking, like Jynx and Mr. Mime.

Of the ones I've seen in Sword so far, I must confess to being a bit of a Wooloo man, even though, let's be fair, Wooloo is just a sheep. (Also, Galarian Zigzagoon is pretty cool-looking, although I don't know what the original version looked like. Also, "Zigzagoon" is a fun word.)

Speaking of weaponized Psyducks, let me introduce y'all to my Kantō Regional Championship-winning crew from Let's Go Eevee (all levels are at the time of storyline completion):

Eva (Eevee ♀ 60)
Unoriginal name, but at least she can say it. Likes to be worn as a hat. It is entirely possible that she was the mastermind of the entire operation, and my avatar character was just there to transport her around.

King Faraday (Raichu ♂ 60)
Started out as a lvl-4 Pikachu I caught on my way to Viridian City. Spent the most time out-of-ball of any capture. Always smiling. Probably up to something. Was originally named just Faraday before he evolved.

Howard (Golduck ♂ 55)
Raised from a Psyduck. An absolute weapon. Howard carried two of the gym leader battles (the ones against the Poison and fire-type gyms) singlehandedly. Collects Misty memorabilia in his spare time. (I made that last part up.)

Electrician (Onix ♀ 55)
The Electrician laughs at your puny Voltorb and its attempts to shock her, although she does have a hard time getting through doors. I spent a lot of time looking for a way to evolve her before I found out you can't.

Scorchio! (Charizard ♂ 55)
Joined the crew as a Charmander that a complete stranger gave me by the side of the road because I looked like I could be trusted. When he evolved into a Charizard, he had no luck whatsoever for a while. Lots of crits to the face.

The Unnameable (Mewtwo ◯ 72)
Can't actually have a name, because it was a gift code acquisition and you can't name traded Pokémon in Let's Go. Using this in the endgame was kinda like cheating, what with outleveling everything the opposition had by at least 20, but, hey, single-player game, I'm not proud. I'll bring a tactical nuke to a knife fight. :)

Not on the starting squad at the very end, but worthy of honorable mention:

The Exorcist (Alolan Ninetales ♀ 58)
Again, can't really be named because came in a trade (as an Alolan Vulpix). Did most of the heavy lifting in the Pokémon Tower quest because she was the only one I had with any Dark moves at all (she knew Dark Pulse for some bizarre reason).

The Cleaner (Wartortle ♂ 31)
Earned his nickname by assassinating Team Rocket leader Giovanni's Rhyhorn in our first battle with him, despite the fact that it ouleveled him by something like 15 levels. Sort of fell by the wayside because Howard was more flexible.

Biollante (Victreebel ♀ 38)
A workhorse in the first half of the game, but there wasn't a lot of call for Grass-type moves later on and I needed the roster space to level up the Electrician, so essentially retired after that point.

Orkin (Pidgeotto ♂ 35)
The go-to for Bug-type eliminations, but again, not much called for later on. Scorchio! took over most of the Flying-type duties once he evolved into a Charizard.

Doomkoi (Gyarados ♂ 45)
I remain amused that the most useless creature in the entire Pokémon universe evolves into this. It's like it's powered by all the impotent rage it experienced while it was a Magikarp.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.