PIPER'S PERSONALLY
PREFERRED POKEMON

There are an awful lot of Pokemon out there. I don't even know what the number is anymore, after Scarlet and Violet came out. But it's big.
Since there are so many, ya gotta pick your favourites. And that's what this page is for!

My favourite Pokemon tend to be those based around obscure real-life wildlife, human culture and subculture (especially musical), or world mythologies. I tend to like those that lean torwards the 'cool' end of the spectrum, but there are lotsa cute Pokemon I dig as well. My favourite types are Electric and Poison (what can I say, I like status effects), though Water and Psychic are good runner-ups. My favourite region is Unova by far, but there are great Pokemon in every generation, and I'll have a section for all nine eventually.

Pokemon on this page are sorted primarily by generation, and then by Pokedex number.
As you can see, this page is hugely under-construction. New sections for various other Pokemon will be added periodically in the future.
Also in the future, this page will have additional subpages about my favourite characters and cities in the games. Check back sometime soon!

KANTO

#054 Psyduck
Let's kick things off with something odd!
I'll admit that I only really came to appreciate the merits of Psyduck somewhat recently, but it quickly became one of my favourite Pokemon of all time.
To start with, it's a platypus. Platypi are, like, the animal kingdom's poster-child for 'weird fucked-up abomination of God.' They're egg-laying, beaked mammals that spend all their time swimming around in the dark at night, have venomous spurs, and can sense electric currents in the water-presumably, that last one was the main inspiration for Psyduck's psychic powers.
So, Psyduck is an odd duck. It can't control it's budding psychic powers, so it has constant headaches (and thus, like the much later Galar fossil Pokemon, it's life is constant agony.) Design-wise, it's adorable; with it's constantly vacant expression, huge beak, and rubber-duck-yellow feathers. Fur? Who knows with Psyduck. It's shiny swaps that yellow out for a pearly blue tone I adore. It's a goofy-looking play on both one of the most iconic animal oddballs, and on classic sci-fi tales of kids with uncontrollable psychic abilities; two things I love.
Psyduck evolves into Golduck, which I don't like as much but still enjoy. It's a classic kappa design, while still keeping the platypus angle. I like how Psyduck's three black hairs (feathers?) turn into Golduck's spiky crest.

UNOVA

#495-497 Snivy, Servine and Serperior
Snivy is perhaps the earliest Pokemon I can remember calling my favourite. Way, way back when I was a little kid, before I really cared about Pokemon at all (the anime and Pokemon cards were king at our school, and I didn't even know about the games 'til years later), I saw Snivy in an episode of the TV show and immediately fell in love with it.
As a kid, I loved snakes, so Snivy already had that going for it. It's big leaf tail, and how it used it to absorb sunlight while sleeping, is adorable. It's constantly aloof expression has a definite charm; this Pokemon is cooler than you and knows it. Overall, it has a sleek, speedy look, which was the sort of design I liked a lot as a kid.
Snivy evolves into the similarly-sleek Servine, which adds more leaves and starts to lose it's legs. I always loved how, while other Grass-type starters are based off extinct animals, Snivy and it's evolutions seem to be based off the concept of evolution itself, and how it sometimes works in strange, roundabout ways. Servine's big collar reminds me of '60s sci-fi space suits, in a way.
Finally, Servine becomes Serperior, which has an excellent name, and loses it's legs entirely-but keeps it's hands, which it holds behind it's back at all times, looking regal. Here, the ivy and fleur-de-lis angle of this line's designs become more prominent, and the sci-fi collar turns into a big royal cape. Serperior swaps the aloof I'm-better-than-you expression for one of regal disdain, as it has reached the apex of it's existence and knows you never will, human peasant as you are. I mean look at this thing. It hates you. It's so good.
Ultimately, when I first picked up a Pokemon game, it was White-which of course features Snivy as one of it's starters. I was overjoyed to be able to pick it as my first Pokemon. It's held a special place for me ever since.

#610-612 Axew, Fraxure and Haxorus
Of course, I couldn't pick just one favourite Pokemon. (Hence this list.) But if I had to?
Haxorus would be the one.
It and it's pre-evolutions were, after I really got into the games, my longtime top-favourites. I liked them so much I used them in my online usernames and had a fan-character who was one-a purple Haxorus named Hazel, who liked stargazing. The number I used for my gym-challenge jersey in Shield was #612, Haxorus' pokedex number. You get the picture.
Why do I like these tusked dragons so much?
Their designs, for one. Haxorus has that overly-bipedal retro-dinosaur thing going on, while still looking sleek and balanced. The olive-green colourscheme the three share is a personal favourite of mine, and I dig Fraxure's variation on it in particular. I love the way it's armor slowly grows over the course of it's evolutions, and the strange boxy extension on Haxorus' back that suggests the vestigal remains of wings. Plus, I'm a huge fan of anything with tusks-walruses, warthogs, elephants, so on and so forth.
Conceptually, they're battle-axe-wielding knights... who are also dragons. You get the best of both worlds. Haxorus feels very classic-kaiju-design to me, which, as I'm sure you know by now, I adore.
In terms of personality, Haxorus is a textbook gentle-giant; it's pokedex entries describe it's tusks as being sharp enough and strong enough to cut through steel, but it rarely uses them in combat and can be surprisingly gentle with other Pokemon. Compared to it's more aggressive pre-evolutions, I get a sense of both personal growth and detachment and real-world predator behaviour, which I dig. It's The Dude of huge tusked dragon-monsters.

GALAR

#849 Toxtricity
So this one's kind-of a no-brainer, for me. I mean, I like punk-rock. I live and breathe it, really. I like reptiles and amphibians, and Poison and Electric are my two favourite types.
So they made a Pokemon mashing all of those things together. And the second I saw my Toxel evolve into Toxtricity I lost my mind. It's like someone at Game Freak telepathically looked at all the things I liked and made the perfect Pokemon for me.
I just adore all the little touches in Toxtricity's design; it's studded bracelets and belt, the ripped-up jean pattern on it's legs, and the fact that it has a built-in electric guitar on it's chest. It's literally never not rocking. It's overall salamander-esque appearance is pretty rad. I don't know how it strums that guitar with it's lobed fingers, but I guess that just makes it doubly impressive.
Toxtricity has two forms-Amped and Low-Key-depending on it's nature, with different abilities, personalities and hairdos to match. I love the names of these forms, and the idea of two forms referencing the two stereotypical angles of punk-rock-aggressive, wild and rebellious, or introspective, detached and perhaps drugged-out. It's also got a Gigantamax form, which turns it's studded belt into a detachable guitar that it smashes the opponent with in it's attack animations. Of course guitar-smashing has been done by just about every rock-star on the planet, but I like to read it as a London Calling reference.
As I said above, I love Electric types for their spunky, fun designs and neat biology, and Poison types for their status-effects, purple colourschemes and wildly creative concepts. Toxtricity delivers on both of these angles, and it's one of my absolute all-time favourites.