Written by Jonathan Wojcik

   I mentioned earlier how much I like the freaky, quasi-humanoid pokemon - how they make me think of fairy-tale monsters like goblins, trolls or ogres. Jynx, a first-gen classic, is one of my favorite examples of this theme; a weird, squat, psychic ice-monster that happens to almost, sort-of, kind of resemble a human woman if you're impaired enough, which isn't that far-fetched, seeing as the earliest "mermaid" sightings are believed to have really been manatees. And just like some sort of legendary sea-siren, Jynx employs her psychic powers towards seduction, incapacitating opponents with her kisses, dances and haunting songs. Eerily, Jynx is also said to communicate in a "babbling" that sounds similar to human speech.

Sadly, this uniquely odd pokemon is another one the fans love to hate, seemingly for no reason other than the fact that it somewhat resembles a humanoid woman without also resembling a pencil-thin anime ballerina. I guess Jynx is just too much woman for most pokenerds to handle.

   Notoriously, Jynx was once portrayed with an almost pitch black face, until rather understandable accusations of racism forced the purple-skinned version we see today. When I first saw Jynx, however, it never occurred to me that she had black skin at all; I assumed the lips and eyes were peering out from a shadowy void between her hair and her "dress," leaving the details of her face a mystery. Speaking of the "dress," though, I don't think enough people appreciate the fact that Jynx is legless. We've seen the underside. There's nothing there. What we take to be a "skirt" is closer to a boneless, mollusk-like foot, or even the creeping disk of a sea anemone - just the anatomy for something that may hang out on rocky island shores, luring sailors to their doom.

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