The new Pokémon suck! Have the creators run out of ideas?

I think the title explains it all.

In the months leading to Diamond and Pearl (which will be released tomorrow in North Amerca), there has been a lot of speculation over the new Pokemon. Who are they? What will they look like? What new types will Generation IV introduce?

When we first caught a glimpse of Gonbe — Munchlax in his English translated form — we were all pretty excited. And then Lucario came along and showed us that the games’ creators still had their zest. He looks cool, like a neat hybrid between Blaziken and Mewtwo.

But then the reveals kept coming.

Some were cool. Others were okay. Then there were some that were just “huh?”

Look, not every Pokémon’s going to be amazing. Geodude is a rock. Voltorb is a Pokéball. But each still has a sort of charm that these new Pokémon lack.

Some of these new Pokémon look like noobish Fakemon. (Which isn’t meant to be a slight against Fakemon. Fakemon can be cool, but many are amateurish.)

Like, what’s the deal with Bidoof? I don’t need an explanation. Just look at this thing.

(Bidoof? More like Bidoofus.)

Then you’ve got this nasty: Carnivine.

Something about him just creeps me out.

But then you have the belle of the ball.

Drapion. It looks like it came straight out of a little kid’s nightmare. Like, your son had a nightmare about a scary monster and you asked him to draw the monster and this is what you got and you turn it into a Pokémon hoping your colleagues at Gamefreak won’t notice that you asked your three-year-old child to do your job for you.

Don’t expect plushies of this one.

Look, I’m not out to bash Generation IV. And if you like these Pokémon, good for you. You see something I don’t see (beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, right?) Some of Generation IV’s Pokémon are awesome. But I’m seeing an alarming number of poorly designed monsters and it makes me worried for Generation V and beyond.

Dear Gamefreak: If you want to take a bit more time to develop the followup games to Diamond and Pearl, that’s fine by me. Just give us better Pokémon.