Thread: Dratini vs Deino

Because there was a thread about Bagon and Gible.
This is about Dratini and Deino, not their evolved forms.

vs
So we have a serpentine pseudo-dragon, and a blind infant hydra.

Blah blah your favorite design which would win most useful best typing best one to have in a progressive rock band.
You know how these threads go already, just say what you like the best about each.



I am surprisingly torn up on this. On one hand, Dratini has always been one of my favorite pokémon, ever. It is my favorite form of its own line, and its mystical apearance is really the sort of thing that appeals to me. If I had made this poll earlier it would've been an easy choice.

But Deino... It's design is fantastic. How the hair covers its face like that is awesome, and it's pretty unusual to see a pokémon with no (or undeveloped) eyes. And its line's theme is great.
It also looked to me somewhat flower-like when I first saw it. It disappointed me that it wasn't the Dragon/Grass I was hoping for, but it's okay because of the Yamata no Orochi's and hydra concept and Dragon/Dark is fine.
Though I wonder what'd have it been like with the cyber-tank design...


In-battle... Dratini is very versatile offensively and always a threat in LC. Deino does have some good things, like a marginally better bulk and pretty good coverage... But even with that I'm going to say Dratini is still the better one here.
Of course, this is LC. Most people don't care about it.


But yeah, as cool and awesome as I think Deino is I'm going with Dratini.

I'm choosing Deino for the Dark-typing. It doesn't have 4X weakness, and has an extremely awesome evolution line based on the hydra XDD.

Deino
It is good and no 4x weakness
design is great
And a special attacker
Yay

Uh, guys, Dratini has no 4x weakness either. In fact, Dratini has less overall weaknesses than Deino.

Anyway, I'm actually torn up about this too, @Infinity Mk-II, but for slightly different reasons. On the one hand, the Dratini family in general is one of my top 5 favorites of all time. But even though I don't really think Deino's design stands out as particularly good, I love, love, love the twistedness of its Pokedex entries. How it's blind and belligerent, how it's evolved form Zweilus is constantly fighting with itself, the idea that one head might have finally overcome the other to become Hydreigon. It's some messed up shit, and I love every second of it.

In battle, Dratini is clearly superior. Less weaknesses and usable offensive stats. Deino is stuck with Hustle as an ability, which means it'll be missing more often than I'd like. Not to mention Deino is physically inclined while Hydreigon is specially inclined, so the stat/move dissonance is completely in effect. Interestingly enough, that's another reason why I like Deino.

In the end, I'm gonna go with Dratini because of Kanto pride, the fact that it's so adorable, and the fact that I don't have to wait to level 64 to get a freaking Dragonite, but it's actually a surprisingly close call for me.

Originally Posted by Grass Type Trainer

But even though I don't really think Deino's design stands out as particularly good, I love, love, love the twistedness of its Pokedex entries.

Well... when I reffer to a pokémon's design, I actually mean it as a catch-all term for everything that isn't rooted on gameplay (think "character design"). I do like the art and how the thing looks, though, but I meant more its concept and theming and generally the story behind it.

It also evolves stupidly late, yeah... but so does Larvesta, so it'd be quite hypocritical of me to blame it that. And I think the two of them evolving so late kinda adds to them in concept, even though it is a negative thing in gameplay.