Can't have a blog called pop goes the sneasel without reviewing sneasel!

SNEASEL!!!!!!!!!!!!

SNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASEL!!!!!!!!!!!

HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God okay I just. I just. I love Sneasel so much okay. Sneasel’s a premium edgelord, and one of Gen II’s original Dark-types. I feel Sneasel actually represents the type’s overall vibes best out of all of them, being a nasty little cat thing with an expression that tells you it just REVELS in being an asshole. It’s great!!!!! It’s also got a fantastic colour scheme (inconsistently portrayed across gens, admittedly) of dark grey and pink, subtly unique proportions with tiny legs and long arms that emphasise its scratching ability, and the eyelashes and asymmetry of the feather ear makes it instantly iconic. It’s just rad in every possible way.

Beyond the clear black cat vibes, it’s also notably another youkai-based pokemon, being partly based on kamaitachi: weasels with sickles on their legs purported to cause whirlwinds that inflict sharp, painless wounds. Ironically Sneasel doesn’t learn Razor Wind, but this aspect seems to be the only explanation for Sneasel’s secondary Ice-typing (beyond the fact it lives in cold regions): kamaitachi are frequently associated with frigid wind. We don’t actually see Sneasel do much with the theme (beyond learning Icy Wind), but it doesn’t really need to. Its skill at just cuttin’ things is dope as is.

Sneasel also notably has some special history in the TCG, being the first ever card to get banned! Its second attack – Beat Up – was obscenely strong for the time period, averaging 80 damage with a full bench (boosted by a passive damage bonus from Darkness energy) at a time when even dealing 30-40 damage for that same energy investment was very respectable. Thanks to a brokenly mistranslated Slowking card rendering it almost impossible to counter, on top a lack of weakness or retreat cost, Sneasel reigned supreme. It’s iconic enough that this specific card would get continually reprinted and referenced throughout the lifetime of the TCG, though power creep has obviously ensured it’s no longer a threat.

Sneasel also has a very interesting development history, from what we’ve seen of beta GS sprites. It started out as a simple, cute weasel – almost entirely unremarkable. Then it lost its tail and got its bastard personality added on, seen in this particular iteration, and also it was blue I guess? It later got a Sonic-looking iteration before eventually landing on the Sneasel that we know. Even its colour scheme was finalised rather late; you can see traces of this sprite’s colour scheme in Sneasel’s GS sprite, being brown and blue before getting its colours updated to their final look in Crystal.

Speaking of colours, look at that shiny! Pink, yellow, and blue is a beautiful combo, though honestly, it doesn’t really fit Sneasel’s vibes at all. Not that I mind; shinies that do fun off-tone things are always superior to shinies that just shift the shading a bit, and it’s certainly a striking look.

Sneasel is an absolutely phenomenal pokemon, one that I feel doesn’t get anywhere near enough appreciation. Given I named this blog after it, that’s probably not terribly surprising! It’s not quite my favourite pokemon – we’ll get to that one eventually, I’m sure – but it’s easily in my top three. It feels like every time I look at it I gain just a little bit more adoration for it. My one objection is the fact that female Sneasel has such a small feather. Why you gotta do that, Game Freak :(

Nastiest crime boy/10.