Top 100 Pokemon #83: Magmortar

I've been informed that my list is rather lacking in boobies. So to make up for that... a Pokemon partially based on the booby bird!

You were expecting something else?

#83: Magby/Magmar/Magmortar

These guys are weird. Their Japanese names are Buby, Boober, and Booburn respectively, which is bound to cause misunderstandings for anyone who don't know what booby birds are--they're a type of sea bird, which does kind of explain the beak-like mouths and rather... round bodies. Of course, rather than make such a Pokemon of an actually-aquatic nature, GameFreak decided to make them entirely out of fire, adding in some elements of the salamander (often associated with fire in mythology) and, when deciding to create the evolution in Gen IV, gave Magmortar cannons for arms.

Arm cannons are always useful. Unless you're trying to pick up something.

I'd say more, but he's a Pokemon practically made of fire and has arm cannons that shoot fireballs. From a conceptual perspective, that's plenty awesome enough. Admittedly, the design could be better; Magmortar seems a bit too round in places. Maybe with a better design, he would have placed higher. But anyways, he's here in my personal ranking, so let's talk more about what makes Magmortar awesome...

...and that is his battle capabilities. Magmortar has a great Base 125 Special Attack, coupled with a decent Base 95 in Attack, make him a very offensive Pokemon. His abilities, Flame Body and his Dream World ability Vital Spirit, serve a somewhat defensive role; Magmortar does not have very good physical Defense, so being able to get a crippling burn against someone that hit you with a contact move, which are by-and-large physical, is if nothing else, a nice parting gift to the opponent. Vital Spirit prevents sleep, which is always useful.

Pyromaniacs never sleep on the job.

Magmortar's great offensive power is backed by an excellent movepool to take full advantage of that power. He has all the Fire attacks you can ask for short of signature moves, from Flamethrower to Fire Blast to Lava Plume to Overheat. He also has Thunderbolt and Focus Blast, which give some great coverage alongside Magmortar's STAB. Meanwhile, if you want to go mixed, you have physical moves like Earthquake, Cross Chop, Flare Blitz, ThunderPunch, and even Mach Punch if you're dying for priority.

This is all to say that Magmortar's a great choice if you're looking for a Fire-type for your team.

I'd finally like to give a quick shout-out to Magmortar's "partner", so to speak, in Electivire. The guy barely missed out on my Top 100, but he's cool, too, being this Electric tiger-like beast with high physical Attack and a solid physical movepool to make use of. Like Magmortar, his design is kind of awkward to me in places, and unfortunately, with nothing cool like Magmortar's arm cannons to make up for it, he sits just outside this ranking. All the same, I'd like to point out that these two form an interesting duo in that one's a specially-based Fire-type and another's a physically-based Electric-type. In other words, they're essentially heralds to Reshiram and Zekrom.

Setting the precedent for powerful blasts of fire and strikes of lightning.

 Next time: Leafy faces on parade.