DIPPLIN AND HYDRAPPLE (What?!)
Oh my gosh, remember APPLIN?! One of the critically few Pokemon I positively adored in the last generation, but not quiiiite so much its evolved forms?! DIPPLIN looks almost exactly like an Applin, but with the charming addition of dripping goop on its apple and a long, thin spike on top, giving it the appearance of a caramel apple on a stick! They made the goo look like a dripping "mouth" while they were at it, too, like the drippy upper lip of Magcargo.
So this is some kind of Applin regional form, right? NO!!! Dipplin EVOLVES from Applin! It's an alternative to those other evolutions, actually equal to their total stats and range of potential moves, but retaining everything I loved about Applin with improvements! How many Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet are going to feel made for me personally?!
Dipplin is the result of an Applin evolving with the "Syrupy Apple," found only in the Kitikami subregion of Paldea, and it also differs from Applin by containing two little dragon worms, explaining why it also has a perpetually exposed tail. These are cutely enough referred to by the Pokedex as the "fore-wyrm" and "core-wyrm," which work together to coat their shared apple in protective syrup that they also use to lure and mire their prey. This is expressed by the signature ability "Supersweet Syrup," which lowers enemy evasion, and the signature move "Syrup Bomb," a damaging attack that consecutively reduces the target's speed for three turns in a row.
Almost my only critique of Dipplin itself is that it remains grass/dragon type, making the Applin line one of the largest evolutionary families in Pokemon to have no typing variation at all. You may know (or have reasonably guessed) that I always thought a poison type Applin would have ruled, and this has the goopiness for one, though I could have also seen this as dragon/fairy type, or the dragon/bug type everyone has so long clamored for. How would we rationalize that, though? I suppose we could say this is what happens when Applin has actually consumed most of its apple, thereby losing grass type?
Another critique is that Dipplin would have been perfectly fine left as Dipplin forever and ever, but as soon as it became available, players noticed that this Pokemon is compatible with Eviolite, the item that boosts defensive stats only for unevolved Pokemon. This immediately teased the existence of an evolved form already in the pipeline, and I have to have mixed feelings about that, because it arguably renders Dipplin an "obsolete" Pokemon already...but it already has the hefty stat totals of the popular Flapple and Appletun, which makes it arguably better than both with the Eviolite bonus, except for the fact that it doesn't learn the coveted leech seed. I guess that's fair, since giving this both leech seed and eviolite would have outclassed the other two evolutions far too much. Then they would need further evolutions of their own to make up for it, and then there'd be, by my estimate, one billion different evolutions of Applin. Did I ever mention my dyscalculia.
Dipplin is every bit the perfect baby as Applin, now one of my new favorite-ever Pokemon, and could have only been more "me" with a slightly different type combination, which is a pretty minor point. As I mentioned in my original review of this line, a wormy apple is even kind of complementary to the "pollution and garbage" Pokemon I like to amass, and now it's a wormy candied apple...a classic Autumn and Halloween treat!
So, who's that evolution we were talking about?? It wouldn't actually become available until several months later...
So this is some kind of Applin regional form, right? NO!!! Dipplin EVOLVES from Applin! It's an alternative to those other evolutions, actually equal to their total stats and range of potential moves, but retaining everything I loved about Applin with improvements! How many Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet are going to feel made for me personally?!
Almost my only critique of Dipplin itself is that it remains grass/dragon type, making the Applin line one of the largest evolutionary families in Pokemon to have no typing variation at all. You may know (or have reasonably guessed) that I always thought a poison type Applin would have ruled, and this has the goopiness for one, though I could have also seen this as dragon/fairy type, or the dragon/bug type everyone has so long clamored for. How would we rationalize that, though? I suppose we could say this is what happens when Applin has actually consumed most of its apple, thereby losing grass type?
Another critique is that Dipplin would have been perfectly fine left as Dipplin forever and ever, but as soon as it became available, players noticed that this Pokemon is compatible with Eviolite, the item that boosts defensive stats only for unevolved Pokemon. This immediately teased the existence of an evolved form already in the pipeline, and I have to have mixed feelings about that, because it arguably renders Dipplin an "obsolete" Pokemon already...but it already has the hefty stat totals of the popular Flapple and Appletun, which makes it arguably better than both with the Eviolite bonus, except for the fact that it doesn't learn the coveted leech seed. I guess that's fair, since giving this both leech seed and eviolite would have outclassed the other two evolutions far too much. Then they would need further evolutions of their own to make up for it, and then there'd be, by my estimate, one billion different evolutions of Applin. Did I ever mention my dyscalculia.
Dipplin is every bit the perfect baby as Applin, now one of my new favorite-ever Pokemon, and could have only been more "me" with a slightly different type combination, which is a pretty minor point. As I mentioned in my original review of this line, a wormy apple is even kind of complementary to the "pollution and garbage" Pokemon I like to amass, and now it's a wormy candied apple...a classic Autumn and Halloween treat!
So, who's that evolution we were talking about?? It wouldn't actually become available until several months later...
So, I have to say I still like this creature best when all we really see are its eyeballs, but Hydrapple is just appealing enough to be an acceptable evolution if I must accept an evolution. It keeps the trademark eyes that remind me of a preying mantis, but with a skull and muzzle shape a bit more like a little baby crocodile than either Flapple or Appletun, a long snakey neck, and oh yeah, a bunch of additional heads:
So now this creature is a whole dang nest of squirmy serpents infesting a gooey candy apple, which the Pokedex calls "Syrpents." That's interesting, actually, doesn't that mean a single one would be considered its own Pokemon? A dragon type just called Syrpent? Do they really ONLY exist in the context of a Hydrapple, which is defined as multiple Syrpent living in a giant apple together???
I only just realized this whole line also works as a reference to the Garden of Eden. Or did I realize that and talk about it before? We have a "snake" living in an apple, and you may or may not know that European dragons used to be symbolic stand-ins for Satan. Is this Pokemon THE DEVIL!? Obviously no, that's not the point, and it's just as much Lernean Hydra as anything else, but put it on a team with the right psychic, ghost and dark types and I think you're onto something pretty metal. That's a lot of things, and they all go together in a really cool and unique concept for a Pokemon!
There's only one final, glaring problem here, and that's the fact that Dipplin is exclusive to pAiD DLc, a concept I am both morally opposed to and for the time being financially locked out of. Worse than that, Hydrapple is exclusive to a second, additional paid DLC. This doesn't affect the final score of course, because we're here for the creatures themselves as standalone concepts, and those of us here for the creatures themselves have already resigned ourselves to the fact that you can't even get all the creatures you want in any of the games anymore anyway, so whatever. Pokemon "video's games?" Huh? Never heard of them! "DLC" Pokemon? What's that? Never heard those three letters together. Sounds like nonsense. I can't imagine anything that could stand for. Dudes Like Cars? I guess. I guess they do. Dancing Like Clowns? If you wanna, sure. Wait...hold on, are you trying to say...maybe...Darling Little Crabs!? Oh my god. Hell yeah. Now you're cooking!!!!! That is what I am ABOUT, BUCKO!!!!!
I only just realized this whole line also works as a reference to the Garden of Eden. Or did I realize that and talk about it before? We have a "snake" living in an apple, and you may or may not know that European dragons used to be symbolic stand-ins for Satan. Is this Pokemon THE DEVIL!? Obviously no, that's not the point, and it's just as much Lernean Hydra as anything else, but put it on a team with the right psychic, ghost and dark types and I think you're onto something pretty metal. That's a lot of things, and they all go together in a really cool and unique concept for a Pokemon!
There's only one final, glaring problem here, and that's the fact that Dipplin is exclusive to pAiD DLc, a concept I am both morally opposed to and for the time being financially locked out of. Worse than that, Hydrapple is exclusive to a second, additional paid DLC. This doesn't affect the final score of course, because we're here for the creatures themselves as standalone concepts, and those of us here for the creatures themselves have already resigned ourselves to the fact that you can't even get all the creatures you want in any of the games anymore anyway, so whatever. Pokemon "video's games?" Huh? Never heard of them! "DLC" Pokemon? What's that? Never heard those three letters together. Sounds like nonsense. I can't imagine anything that could stand for. Dudes Like Cars? I guess. I guess they do. Dancing Like Clowns? If you wanna, sure. Wait...hold on, are you trying to say...maybe...Darling Little Crabs!? Oh my god. Hell yeah. Now you're cooking!!!!! That is what I am ABOUT, BUCKO!!!!!
Darling Little Crab
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