Arcanine-WILL I CHOOSE YOU?

With 721 Pokemon and more soon to come, the decision is left in everyone's hands. Who will I choose for my team in Pokemon Sun and Moon. So far I've talked about Mudsdale and Garchomp but today I'm going all the way back to the first generation to try and make this decision... Which leaves the ultimate question, Arcanine, WILL I CHOOSE YOU?

Arcanine is one of my favourites from the first generation. Arcanine looks so powerful but so dog-like at the same time. I mean doesn't he just look like a huge, fire German Shepard? I know he's meant to be like a lion, but he just looks so loyal. This is a pokemon that deserves a mega evolution (even though Mega Evolutions probably won't be returning). If they give him an ice type alolan form though I might cry. Speaking of which, I need to show off some art for some alolan Arcanines so what better time than now!

This concept art (to the left) by Pokemon Concepts is like a total opposite of Arcanine! It's fur is literally floating water! THAT IS JUST SO COOL! I'M LOST FOR WORDS!

THIS IS THE COOLEST POKEMON DESIGN EVER!

(Actually, you'll have to see my favorite starter Pokemon post for that information...)

Now that we've looked at Arcanines appearance we need to look at its statistics because that's a whole new factor of the story!

Stat	Range
	At Lv. 50	At Lv. 100
HP: 90	150 - 197	290 - 384
Attack: 110	103 - 178	202 - 350
Defense: 80	76 - 145	148 - 284
Sp.Atk: 100	94 - 167	184 - 328
Sp.Def: 80	76 - 145	148 - 284
Speed: 95	90 - 161	175 - 317
Total: 555   Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable. Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable. This Pokémon's  Special  base stat in Generation I was 80.

Arcanine is meant to be a good attacker with a reasonable speed. His average stat total is 555 which is prettygood, but considering we just looked at Garchomp it seems a bit weak. It still is a really good stat total and is equivilent to the Pokemon known as Banette. With a Mega Evolution or some minor stat changes we could be looking at a very affective Pokemon. The next section is about it's move set. But, with Arcanine being a Generation One favourite for many we might be looking at a completely new move set if he gets an alolan form.

Because Arcanine is evolved by fire stone, it's moves are learned from his unevolved form. I'll be showing the statistics of both just to compare. Growlithes moves are presented below

Generation VI Other generations: I - II - III - IV - V

Level   Move   Type   Cat.   Pwr.   Acc.   PP   Contest   Appeal   Jamming  1 Bite Dark Physical 60 100% 25 Tough 2 ♥♥ 3 ♥♥♥ 1 Roar Normal Status — —% 20 Cool 3 ♥♥♥ 0   6 Ember Fire Special 40 100% 25 Cute 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   8 Leer Normal Status — 100% 30 Cool 2 ♥♥ 1 ♥ 10 Odor Sleuth Normal Status — —% 40 Clever 2 ♥♥ 0   12 Helping Hand Normal Status — —% 20 Clever 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   17 Flame Wheel Fire Physical 60 100% 25 Beautiful 3 ♥♥♥ 0   19 Reversal Fighting Physical — 100% 15 Cool 1 ♥ 0   21 Fire Fang Fire Physical 65 95% 15 Cool 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   23 Take Down Normal Physical 90 85% 20 Tough 6 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 0   28 Flame Burst Fire Special 70 100% 15 Beautiful 3 ♥♥♥ 0   30 Agility Psychic Status — —% 30 Cool 3 ♥♥♥ 0   32 Retaliate Normal Physical 70 100% 5 Cool 3 ♥♥♥ 0   34 Flamethrower Fire Special 90 100% 15 Beautiful 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   39 Crunch Dark Physical 80 100% 15 Tough 1 ♥ 4 ♥♥♥♥ 41 Heat Wave Fire Special 95 90% 10 Beautiful 2 ♥♥ 2 ♥♥ 43 Outrage Dragon Physical 120 100% 10 Cool 6 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 0   45 Flare Blitz Fire Physical 120 100% 15 Cool 6 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 0

Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Growlithe Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Growlithe Click on the generation numbers at the top to see level-up moves from other generations

So Growlithe will probably come with the advantage of ember when I first capture him so that means I'll be set for any grass type Pokemon as soon as I begin. I'm going to have to keep him a bit of a higher level in case we run into water types. Luckily we'll have Take Down pretty quickly so I wouldn't worry to much. By the time we learn take down, we'll already be building up our awesome fire type moves! Eventually we'll have access to moves such as Flame Burst, Flame Thrower, Heat Wave and even Flare Blitz if I'm patient and don't evolve him.

Generation VI Other generations: I - II - III - IV - V

Level   Move   Type   Cat.   Pwr.   Acc.   PP   Contest   Appeal   Jamming  1 Thunder Fang Electric Physical 65 95% 15 Cool 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   1 Bite Dark Physical 60 100% 25 Tough 2 ♥♥ 3 ♥♥♥ 1 Roar Normal Status — —% 20 Cool 3 ♥♥♥ 0   1 Odor Sleuth Normal Status — —% 40 Clever 2 ♥♥ 0   1 Fire Fang Fire Physical 65 95% 15 Cool 4 ♥♥♥♥ 0   34 Extreme Speed Normal Physical 80 100% 5 Cool 3 ♥♥♥ 0

Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Arcanine Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Arcanine Click on the generation numbers at the top to see level-up moves from other generations

There really isn't any point to evolving him early unless you want Extreme Speed... But... I don't know why you'd choose that over Flare Blitz...

All in all Arcanine is a pretty good choice for a companion in Pokemon Sun and Moon, but there's still a huge decision yet to come... Because there's 721 Pokemon that roam around in these games, and we haven't even begun to get into them yet...

All Graphs and Tables were taken from the Bulbapedia...

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