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Alright, we're doing this to be fair.

I'm a 90's kid so I grew up with the very first Pokémon games, but despite that I don't think the first ones were always the best, a lot of the designs ether repeated the same concepts or some of them just haven't aged very well.

Fearow (Onidrill)

I feel like Fearow was simply meant to be the more predatory counterpart to Pidgeotto. It's an unholy combination of various birds, particularly roosters, vultures, and condors.

People at the time complained about Black and White's designs for sometimes being a different take on an old Pokémon's concept, but I feel like this was one of those cases where they did the "vulture" concept better, it being Mandibuzz.

Golbat

Okay, so I think Zubat and Crobat slap hard enough, but what about Golbat?

Golbat is a fundamentally ridiculous Pokémon and that can be appealing for some folks, there are times when a sense of humour is allowed, but Golbat is a little too much for my taste.

Last time I defended anthropomorphization, but in this case I think some animal plasability could've possibly helped.

I also find that it looks especially awkward without its ginormous tongue, it looks like something is missing without it.

Graveler (Golone)

The thing about a few of these old designs is that some of them are extremely dated, Geodude being one of them.

The main concept here is that it's a rock with arms. It can throw rocks at you with its arms and it gains even more arms up evolving into Graveler.

Graveler made it onto the list because Graveler has always been ugly and unappealing to me. Don't get me wrong, "ugly" can be a good thing, it's healthy for the game to diversify its designs, but this one doesn't hit for me.

Jynx (Rougela)

Alright, let's talk about it, while they didn't intend for it, Jynx ends up looking like a racist caricature.

Jynx was likely inspired by the yokai Yama-uba, which is a mountain witch, though Jynx is a modern interpretation of that by incorporating the Ganguro fashion trend.

It is my understanding that it was started by rebellious youth who contradicted the traditional Japanese concept of beauty; pale skin and dark hair. They instead tanned their skin, bleached their hair, and wore colourful makeup.

This is why Jynx has a red dress instead of a more traditional Kimono, and sings and dances referring to modern 90's pop music. If they ever do a "Legends: Arceus" for the Kanto region, I would be curious to see a more traditional take on Jynx's design.

Raticate (Ratta)

One of the things that makes some of these old designs feel so dated is how they convey aggression, and for Raticate it feels especially forced.

Rattata and Raticate both try really hard to make rats scary and cool, particularly with the emphasized teeth and "generation 1 angry eyes".

Rats are actually very cute in real life, so it just feels like such a foreign characterization. It's also not particularity exciting ether, there's a reason Pikachu took off while this one didn't.

Seaking (Azumao)

I actually kind of like Goldeen, I think she serves. Seaking, however, I never found interesting.

Seaking is an unholy combination of a goldfish, salmon, and koi with some fantastical features added on to make it seem more like a monster.

It's also anthropomorphized in a weird way, giving it scary human lips. All of this stuff doesn't make Seaking seem too boring, but it is forgettable.

Seel (Pawou)

They say simplicity is strength. They also say, "go girl, give us nothing".

Last time I mentioned that I disagree with this notion that Pokémon are at their best when they closely resemble real life animals, so no, there should be more of a concept here, rather than simply adding some features and calling it a day.

Venomoth (Morphon)

Venonat is actually very cute, it's essentially the same as Butterfree but make it walk instead of fly.

Venomoth, however, is just soulless and forgettable. It's just a purple moth, but give it the same eyes as Paras to convey that you can find it in dark places or something.

I just don't find Venomoth to be very inspired, apologies.

Voltorb (Biriridama)

Out of all the Pokémon listed, Voltorb will probably be the most debatable if it belongs on here or not.

The thing is, every RPG needs to have a mimic and instead of a chest with sharp teeth this time, you've got a Poké Ball.

The reason Voltorb looks angry while Electrode looks happy is because one side is positively charged and the other is negative. Get it?

At the same time though, it really is just a Poké Ball with "generation 1 angry eyes". That makes for a decent enemy encounter, sure, but it's not something that I would ever want to train or own as a pet.

Weedle (Beedle)

If I were to choose between Weedle and Caterpie, I would choose Caterpie.

Weedle has a fat little nose along with humanoid eye placement. If that's meant to make it look cute, it doesn't succeed much with me.

The giant stinger on its head looks like a miniature dunce cap.

People seem to really like the dumb or dim-witted looking Pokémon, but I don't think Weedle is for me.