But a Jape

“Haiaimbil is a dual-type Normal/Normal Pokemon that evolves from Haiaiman. It is the final form of Haiai. It is a bipedal Pokemon that resembles a cross between an aye-aye and some guy.”

– wiki article on Haiaimbil

I should clarify that my issue with Pokemon that are just straight up guys is not one exclusive to the recent generations. Never mind Gen 1’s infamous Mr. Mime, Hitmonchan was wearing clothes! And boxing gloves! And despite Gen 5 being my favorite iteration of Pokemon, Sawk and Throh are probably the worst offenders of this phenomenon. Those two are just people! What is going on?!

And then there’s the most recent generation – I’m not alone in being disappointed that the final evolutions of the Grass and Water starters are a bit too… anthropomorphic for my tastes. Especially when it seems like part of their themes incorporate a sort of… romantic flair.

And then there are the ones I’m more conflicted about, like Armarouge and Ceruledge, the likes of which I fully admit, look fucking badass. But you put these guys on the same team as the regular animal-like Pokemon and tell me, “This person is the sentient and societal equivalent to this animal,” and all sorts of cognitive dissonance alarms start blaring in my head.

– James