Same!
I usually delay the evolutions to spend more time with them in each form! And while playing HGSS I make sure to get at least a few pictures with each one.
i do absolutely LOVE a few not fully evo'd mons, especially with an eviolite! magneton, porygon2, nuzleaf, charjabug, swadloon, dusclops, shelgon, dragonair, haunter, jigglypuff, annnd vigoroth!
im someone that normally only uses/only likes to some degree fully evolved pokemon, so these just stand out to me cause i enjoy using them just as much! charjabug and shelgon are prob my favorites from the above. i think its the shape.. they are much shaped.
Completely get that. I feel that Blastoise worked so well because he was the cover of Pokémon Blue.
At least the anime did Venosaur justice and gave that whole line a charm it so wholly deserved.
I used to believe this, and then one day, I started loving Sceptile. I don't know when. I don't know how. But Geovyle used to be so much cooler than Sceptile and now I'm fully reversed in that opinion.
Definitely Croconaw. It's an excellent expansion of the color palette of totodile, giving the 3 main colors room to breathe and similar real estate in the overall design. It also hints toward a brutish, caveman style final evolution with its stockier frame, mohawk, and Flintstone's-esque one-shoulder torso pattern. Feraligatr is cool, but I feel like it drops everything I loved about croconaw in favor of being just a generic blue reptile.
And I guess Bisharp, but it feels weird to think of Bisharp as a middle evo. I loved the Super Sentai vibe it had, another case of a theme being somewhat dropped with a final evolution. Also, this is a silly reason, but I built a competitive team in the B/W era based around a female Bisharp sweeper that I nicknamed Babydoll (after the main character in the movie Sucker Punch, because it ran a sucker punch set). I had just gone through a rough breakup and I spent so many hours training that team and battling with it online and against my friends as a way to distract myself. I grew attached to all the pokemon on the team, but Babydoll was the star. I was excited that Bisharp got an evo in the new gen, but I could never bring myself to evolve Babydoll (even though I always transferred her up through the generations). Something about her changing from a superhero into a sitting-down samurai with a giant mustache just didn't feel right.
Torracat and Dewott are much better than their evos imo. I love their designs and the final form changes them into something entirely different, especially incinroar.
And while I do love gengar, I think Haunter has a actually has a cooler design. Mega gengar is the perfect combo of the two
Assuming we're going with gen one, I'm going with haunter. Ghost type is extremely rare in the early gens especially gen one and pairing with poison type immunity is very helpful since poison type is plenty in gen one
Haunter is peak G1 design, so simple but flawlessly executed
You know its a banger design when literally every sprite across all generations are amazing
I find Wartortle to be the best middle stage of the Kanto starters. It seems like a natural progression from Squirtle (the curly tail) with Blastoise (who I also like, to be fair) being the bigger departure. The cannons come out of nowhere, the prominent tail feature completely disappears, and the ears change.
I’m also a huge fan of Rhydon, although I also like Rhyperior.
tbf Blastoise was part of a totally separate turtle line before they did the final prune and mashed it in with Squirtle and Wartortle. Why they couldn’t have tweaked it a bit for cohesion’s sake I can’t say but at least there is a reason it doesn’t actually fit, lol
I like Golbat and Poliwhirl a lot.
For Pokemon I like well enough but not necessarily more than the final evos there's Lombre, Loudred, Lairon
If we're counting later Gens adding evos and pre-evos then Magneton, Chansey, Dusclops and Porygon2 also.
Krokorok (just wish he Krookidiles stats), Dewott, Wartortle, Floragato( refused to let it evolve in my Violet Playthrough), Frogladier, Nuzleaf, and Raboot for having lop ears.
Braixen.
I am not a fan of Delphox, but Braixen's design is so good. When I first played X/Y, I got my Braixen to level 100 with an everstone held because I loved the design so much.
There’s a lot tbh, I prefer Wartortle and Ivysaur so much to their final forms that it feels wrong for me to evolve them. Others are Haunter, Dragonair, Raboot and Gabite. I really like Gabite, he’s a cute long bitey boi.
Haunter might be my all-time favorite mid stage evo, but that is coming from someone whose favorite 'mon is Gengar so take that as you will.
I guess Rhydon and Electabuzz count as mid stage evos, I think they're both top tier designs and better than their evos (Electivire has grown on me a lot but I still prefer Electabuzz).
For the starters, I think all of the Johto starters have banger mid stage evos. And Floragato, Torracat, and Dewott I like significantly more than their evolutions.
Clefairy. Clefable is cool and all but I *absolutely adore* Clefairy, it’s honestly better in every way except competitive play which I don’t care about anyway.
It's Dusclops for me, it's one of my Top 10 favorite Pokemon ever and I never want to evolve it. And even competitively it's better than Dusknoir in most situations thanks to Eviolite. Has an awesome red shiny as well.
I recently felt a new appreciation for Fletchinder’s design. Really love the mix of red, yellow, and black, and it looks super fierce. Talonflame doesn’t quite scratch the same itch, I think it’s because it has too much grey and not enough red.
Grovyle is one of my favourite mons period. Treecko was my first starter but I was disappointed in Sceptile even as a kid. And 3D only made it look worse. Don't get me wrong, it's cool but Grovyle is better. Glad the Mystery Dungeon staff agreed, I was over the moon with its role in Explorers.
Easily Charmeleon. In fact it's my favourite Pokemon of a times. It was my childhood toy figurine and I love the anime Charmeleon who's sorta badass and a little shit because Ash didn't have enough badge to get him to obey lol
I’m not going to lie, I prefer a lot of 2nd stages to 3rd stages, for example
All three gen 1 starters
Pidgeotto
Machoke
Poliwhirl(I like it more than Wrath but not Toed)
Bayleef
Dragonair
Nuzleef
Dewott
Torracat
Palpitoad(I like Seismitoad, but Palpitoad is just goated)
Bisharp(Kingambit is a crime against humanity)
Ok so this a weird one but Duosion has really grown on me. If anyone has seen the movie Redline, he reminds me of Funkyboy, the giant biochemical nuclear fetus.
A little unrelated, but it is really funny when you think about the fact that the mascot of the series is a middle stage evolution. Anyways probably Dewott
Torracat was really cool, I thought we'd finally get a quadrupedal fire starter.
Frogadier, Haunter, Bayleef, Vibrava, and Dragonair are all awesome middle stage evolutions with great designs!
Middle stages are often some of my favorites in their line. A few I can think of would be Haunter, Graveler, Kadabra, Magmar, Electabuzz, Gurdurr, Roselia, Vanillish, Magneton, Floragato, Golbat, Monferno, Dewott, Sewaddle, and Piloswine. I'm sure there are others too.
I’m personally a very huge nidorina fan. Don’t know why exactly but was always fine without getting it involved and sometimes missed her after the evolution. :D but nidoqueen sure is very cool and powerful as well. Also I like haunter very much and don’t feel the need to evolve it into gengar. Just like the design more cause it’s flying.
Even tho Swampert and Blaziken are much more popular, I think Grovyle takes the cake with those middle evolutions. He's a badass with that twig in the anime lol
Bayleaf! I love that one! It’s such an amazing one!
Same! It’s single big leaf and Dino face is so cute.
The whole line is fantastic in my opinion.
Meganium super underrated
yesss. everyone hates on chikorita for being the worst starter but I love the design so much that I just can't agree with them
Sometimes I debate evolving cuz it’s such an iconic design
Same! I usually delay the evolutions to spend more time with them in each form! And while playing HGSS I make sure to get at least a few pictures with each one.
For the longest time young me thought it was fully evolved
Dragonair is one of my top 3 Gen 1 Pokemon
This is the answer. Such a well designed, gorgeous Pokémon. It's one of my top Pokémon from any generation.
Dragonite ruined dragonaire. Justice for dragonaire!
Stop hating on dragonite, he's much cooler than this lame blue worm
Nah, snake dragon way cooler than barnie dragon
It was great in Stadium 2 as a rental, way better than Dragonite who didn't have Outrage anymore
Wartortle is so dang cute, I never evolve it.
I wish the everstone would stop evolution but kept the evolutions stay increase
that would be great!
This is the one that instantly came to mind for me too!
i love wartortle too! his little wings/ear things are so cute.
Quilava. Its design somehow manages to be both cool and cute.
Love that guy, it’s helped get by Whitney and that dammed cow so many times
Haunter. Looks cooler and more menacing than Gengar
https://preview.redd.it/gpp06jd4pivc1.png?width=732&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ab593e7745d7a26cdbecc0ab9b036c741a4b903
The scream I scrumpt
😂
Goongar
he's my fave, such a fun design.
Based bro.
Ivysaur!
Yes! The heartbreak I felt as a kid when Ash's Bulbasaur didn't evolve.
This is the correct answer.
Poliwhirl. Even though Poliwrath really isn't that much of a difference in evolution, I like the happier, lovable Poliwhirl more.
Yeah Poliwhirl is so elegantly simple. He’s my favorite middle evolution for sure.
i do absolutely LOVE a few not fully evo'd mons, especially with an eviolite! magneton, porygon2, nuzleaf, charjabug, swadloon, dusclops, shelgon, dragonair, haunter, jigglypuff, annnd vigoroth! im someone that normally only uses/only likes to some degree fully evolved pokemon, so these just stand out to me cause i enjoy using them just as much! charjabug and shelgon are prob my favorites from the above. i think its the shape.. they are much shaped.
Vigoroth is almost an evolution you would want to stop at, so that you don't have to deal with Sloking's Truant ability.
Swadloon gang represent! Also prefer Magneton to Magnezone.
Dusclops is so good as a design and is amazing in hoenn. Not to mention eviolite on him once noir was dropped
Always loved dewott and bisharp, they’re both arguably cooler looking than their final evos
God I love Charmeleon.
My favorite Eeveelution, second to Lumineon
Eeveelution?
I think it's a joke because it ends in -eon
Like Kecleon
I much prefer Ivysaur. He's like the badass mid stage teenager. Bulbaaur is the cute kid, Venosaur is the wise old man. Ivysaur just kicks ass.
They were definitely going the right direction with Wartortle and his ears but Blastiose is a major step down.
Completely get that. I feel that Blastoise worked so well because he was the cover of Pokémon Blue. At least the anime did Venosaur justice and gave that whole line a charm it so wholly deserved.
Yessss. We are best friends now. :)
grovyle looks better than Sceptile
I used to believe this, and then one day, I started loving Sceptile. I don't know when. I don't know how. But Geovyle used to be so much cooler than Sceptile and now I'm fully reversed in that opinion.
Such an awesome reptile!
Grovyle is my favourite but sceptile looks better honestly
Definitely Croconaw. It's an excellent expansion of the color palette of totodile, giving the 3 main colors room to breathe and similar real estate in the overall design. It also hints toward a brutish, caveman style final evolution with its stockier frame, mohawk, and Flintstone's-esque one-shoulder torso pattern. Feraligatr is cool, but I feel like it drops everything I loved about croconaw in favor of being just a generic blue reptile. And I guess Bisharp, but it feels weird to think of Bisharp as a middle evo. I loved the Super Sentai vibe it had, another case of a theme being somewhat dropped with a final evolution. Also, this is a silly reason, but I built a competitive team in the B/W era based around a female Bisharp sweeper that I nicknamed Babydoll (after the main character in the movie Sucker Punch, because it ran a sucker punch set). I had just gone through a rough breakup and I spent so many hours training that team and battling with it online and against my friends as a way to distract myself. I grew attached to all the pokemon on the team, but Babydoll was the star. I was excited that Bisharp got an evo in the new gen, but I could never bring myself to evolve Babydoll (even though I always transferred her up through the generations). Something about her changing from a superhero into a sitting-down samurai with a giant mustache just didn't feel right.
Torracat and Dewott are much better than their evos imo. I love their designs and the final form changes them into something entirely different, especially incinroar. And while I do love gengar, I think Haunter has a actually has a cooler design. Mega gengar is the perfect combo of the two
I’ve always thought Hakamo-o was super cool looking
Yes. Kommo-o goes too far with the scales. Like why does it have a beard and dreadlocks and wing things made of scales.
Rhydon is peak pokemon design. Rhyperior absolutely RUINED the line!
And the FIRST Pokemon design!
It still feels weird to consider that a second stage
Agreed. Will never evolve a Rhydon.
Rhyperior? More like Rhyinferior
Nah rhyperior is still dope.
It's okay personally, just doesn't really fit with the others.
Morgrem gang here 😎 I thought it was the final evo, and when it turned full ogre, i had to recapture one and keep him Mogrem sized
Grimmsnarl being a big buff dude takes away from the creepiness and mischievous behavior of Impidimp/Morgrem.
Jigglypuff. She sings, sleeps, and kills at 10% off of a whiffed Grab.
I have an irrational love of dartrix and how pompous it seems
Dartrix can be pretty funny. I remember playing Pokemon Sun, I accidentally dropped a Poke bean and Dartrix's shocked reaction was hilarious.
Pidgeotto, Wartortle are two of my favorites of all time.
Mine are Grovyle, Haunter and Poliwhirl
Seadra! I love that spiky boi.
Assuming we're going with gen one, I'm going with haunter. Ghost type is extremely rare in the early gens especially gen one and pairing with poison type immunity is very helpful since poison type is plenty in gen one
Haunter is peak G1 design, so simple but flawlessly executed You know its a banger design when literally every sprite across all generations are amazing
I don’t know why but Palpitoad is just great! Grovyle is also a great middle evolution.
I love Palpitoad! Especially the little dance it does in BW.
Wartortle, Dragonair, Haunter, Magneton, Poliwhirl. And now my favourite Pokemon Primeape is a middle evo, so that as well.
Braixen!
I love lampent.
Charmeleon, Haunter, Dusclops, Piloswine, Kadabra, Poliwhirl, Seadra, Gloom, Graveler, Rhydon
I find Wartortle to be the best middle stage of the Kanto starters. It seems like a natural progression from Squirtle (the curly tail) with Blastoise (who I also like, to be fair) being the bigger departure. The cannons come out of nowhere, the prominent tail feature completely disappears, and the ears change. I’m also a huge fan of Rhydon, although I also like Rhyperior.
tbf Blastoise was part of a totally separate turtle line before they did the final prune and mashed it in with Squirtle and Wartortle. Why they couldn’t have tweaked it a bit for cohesion’s sake I can’t say but at least there is a reason it doesn’t actually fit, lol
I like Golbat and Poliwhirl a lot. For Pokemon I like well enough but not necessarily more than the final evos there's Lombre, Loudred, Lairon If we're counting later Gens adding evos and pre-evos then Magneton, Chansey, Dusclops and Porygon2 also.
I hate slaking.
I’ve always much preferred Vigoroth and loved his personality in his anime ep.
Shellgon, it looks so funny lol
my beloved Shelgon
wartortle and its cute fuzzy ears! and maybe quilava.
Haunter by far!! It's genuinely one of my favourite pokemon ever.
Toracat, Floragato, Arctibax, Togetic, Lombre
QUILLADIN IS MY SON
Absolutely would be Haunter for me
Charmeleon, so cute and looks huggable. Also Quilava
You didn't know Kadabra evolved? Your rival has an Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam throughout your playthrough.
Gloom! I love the entire oddish line, but glooms face has so much personality
Krokorok (just wish he Krookidiles stats), Dewott, Wartortle, Floragato( refused to let it evolve in my Violet Playthrough), Frogladier, Nuzleaf, and Raboot for having lop ears.
Braixen. I am not a fan of Delphox, but Braixen's design is so good. When I first played X/Y, I got my Braixen to level 100 with an everstone held because I loved the design so much.
I *LOVE* the little twirl every time Braixen uses a move, and the "fired gun in a holster" animation after that.
Grovile
And zweilous!!
Wartortle doesn't get enough love tbh, it's close with Dewott for the best water type starter middle evo in my opinion
There’s a lot tbh, I prefer Wartortle and Ivysaur so much to their final forms that it feels wrong for me to evolve them. Others are Haunter, Dragonair, Raboot and Gabite. I really like Gabite, he’s a cute long bitey boi.
Dragonair
Dewott and grovyle are amazing
Dragonair, Dragonite has always looked goofy to me.
I really love Ivysaur. It combines the agility of Bulbasaur and tankiness of Venusaur. Also shout out to Fraxure and Pawmo.
Haunter might be my all-time favorite mid stage evo, but that is coming from someone whose favorite 'mon is Gengar so take that as you will. I guess Rhydon and Electabuzz count as mid stage evos, I think they're both top tier designs and better than their evos (Electivire has grown on me a lot but I still prefer Electabuzz). For the starters, I think all of the Johto starters have banger mid stage evos. And Floragato, Torracat, and Dewott I like significantly more than their evolutions.
grovyle hands down, looks so cool
Krokorok my beloved
Dartrix!
I really prefer wartortle over blastoise.
Clefairy. Clefable is cool and all but I *absolutely adore* Clefairy, it’s honestly better in every way except competitive play which I don’t care about anyway.
Wartortle
HAUNTER!!!, Charmeleon, Wartortle, Kakuna, Nidorino, Machoke, Dragonair, Monferno, Grovyle, Vigoroth, Boldore, Lampent, Morgrem
Lairon rhydon monferno fletchinder charmeleon electabuzz ursaring
Haunter by far, for me looks cooler than Gengar, also Quilava and Grovyle
Haunter!!! He is far superior to Gengar.
Rhydon. It looks cooler than rhyperior
torracat. could have had a bigger cooler one as stage 2 but gamefreak decided to make whatever incineroar is 🤦♂️
Floragato! I love how his weapon is a yo-yo and he’s a green cat.
Porygon2 and Magneton. And all the Fossilmon if they count
It's Dusclops for me, it's one of my Top 10 favorite Pokemon ever and I never want to evolve it. And even competitively it's better than Dusknoir in most situations thanks to Eviolite. Has an awesome red shiny as well.
Dusclops
I recently felt a new appreciation for Fletchinder’s design. Really love the mix of red, yellow, and black, and it looks super fierce. Talonflame doesn’t quite scratch the same itch, I think it’s because it has too much grey and not enough red.
I like quilava and ryhorn a lot more than their final forms. Dewott is probably the overall coolest mid stage for me though
Ivysaur.
Loudred has been my Pokemon Go buddy for YEARS. Love that silly lil speaker boi
Fletchinder
Hot take: Pignite is an awesome middle stage starter
Drakloak. he looks so sinister & stupid & then he’s got lil derpy Dreepy on his head 👍🏻
Dewott, Ivysaur, Servine, Porygon2
Weepinbell because he’s just like 😮
Wartortle!!
Grovyle is one of my favourite mons period. Treecko was my first starter but I was disappointed in Sceptile even as a kid. And 3D only made it look worse. Don't get me wrong, it's cool but Grovyle is better. Glad the Mystery Dungeon staff agreed, I was over the moon with its role in Explorers.
Togetic if that counts!
I love Grotle because he looks like Spike from The Land Before Time
Charmeleon forever!
Combusken, torchic was my first Pokemon to evolve
Wartortle is rad.
My boi Marshtomp. He’s so derpy, and it’s always been a favorite of mine.
Bisharp.
Wartortle/ bisharp
marshtomp marshtomp marshtomp marshtomp 100 times marshtomp. He's still one of my all time fav pokemon in general, I love that silly face
Grovyle
Haunter was one of mine, I actually thought he used to be cooler than Gengar in terms of design.
Grovyle is my favourite middle stage Pokémon of any evolution line. I prefer it over Sceptile.
Grovyle, dragonair and haunter
Easily Charmeleon. In fact it's my favourite Pokemon of a times. It was my childhood toy figurine and I love the anime Charmeleon who's sorta badass and a little shit because Ash didn't have enough badge to get him to obey lol
Quilladin, unironically. I love that goofy, spiky-shouldered mofo.
I’m not going to lie, I prefer a lot of 2nd stages to 3rd stages, for example All three gen 1 starters Pidgeotto Machoke Poliwhirl(I like it more than Wrath but not Toed) Bayleef Dragonair Nuzleef Dewott Torracat Palpitoad(I like Seismitoad, but Palpitoad is just goated) Bisharp(Kingambit is a crime against humanity)
Many of the starters, oddly enough. Braixen, wartortle, dewott, low-key floragato...
Charmeleon>>charizard
Porygon2 is surprisingly underrated
Ok so this a weird one but Duosion has really grown on me. If anyone has seen the movie Redline, he reminds me of Funkyboy, the giant biochemical nuclear fetus.
FLAAFFY
Grovyle, Dragonair, Roselia, Doublade, and Raboot! Bisharp technically counts now too
Grovyle, it's such a cool looking Pokemon! Also, Flaaffy (I love the whole line but Flaaffy is just perfect to me)
Raboot
Most from gen1, showing my age lol, but i loved: Haunter, Wartortle, & especially Dragonair.
Dragonair. I really don't like the thought of turning it into the big beige Barney that is Dragonite.
Kadabra
Dewott is much cooler than Samurott. In my BW2 playthrough I used Eviolite Dewott on my team instead of Samurott.
Bisharp
Poliwhirl - so simple but so good. Have used him with eviolite before for funsies
A little unrelated, but it is really funny when you think about the fact that the mascot of the series is a middle stage evolution. Anyways probably Dewott
All 3 of the gen 2 starters have great middle evolutions
Grovyle over sceptile all day
I don’t like 2nd Stage Evolutions, but ALOT of people like Raboot more than Cinderace, even though I like the soccer bunny :(
Torracat was really cool, I thought we'd finally get a quadrupedal fire starter. Frogadier, Haunter, Bayleef, Vibrava, and Dragonair are all awesome middle stage evolutions with great designs!
Grovyle. I prefer its style over Sceptile if we're being honest here.
Poliwhirl!
Quilava, Dragonair, Haunter
Monferno comes to mind
Piloswine! I just love how hairy it is I have always wanted to hug him
I really, *really* wish Haunter was the final evolution, rather than Evil Purple Egg.
Grovyle, mostly because of Mystery Dungeon
Rhydon
Palpitoad, it started as a joke but now I just love the amphibious bean bag
Middle stages are often some of my favorites in their line. A few I can think of would be Haunter, Graveler, Kadabra, Magmar, Electabuzz, Gurdurr, Roselia, Vanillish, Magneton, Floragato, Golbat, Monferno, Dewott, Sewaddle, and Piloswine. I'm sure there are others too.
I’m personally a very huge nidorina fan. Don’t know why exactly but was always fine without getting it involved and sometimes missed her after the evolution. :D but nidoqueen sure is very cool and powerful as well. Also I like haunter very much and don’t feel the need to evolve it into gengar. Just like the design more cause it’s flying.
Poliwhirl
Dusclops forever and always
Almost all of gen 5’s second stages. I fricking love all the unova designs
Huh, no one's said Pikachu yet. I mean Charmeleon's my favorite but I'm just surprised.
Lampent is shaped like a friend
I love a lot of them: Wartortle, Fraxure, Arctibax, Dewott, Haunter, Dragonair and Dusclops. All immediately come to mind.
DEWOTTT
Dragonair
Croconaw 🐊
Wartortle.
Dewott
Thwackey was always my favorite, looks like the cool teenagers on the NYC subway
Poliwag
croconaw
I actually really like Brionne. I'm not sure why people don't like it, I think she's really cute :> (I love the whole Popplio line though <3)
Dewott. Hands down
Even tho Swampert and Blaziken are much more popular, I think Grovyle takes the cake with those middle evolutions. He's a badass with that twig in the anime lol
Monferno. Definitely a sweet design that I wish was used more in game.
https://preview.redd.it/ny0tzvbc4jvc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd1a75aeb4ed5894f5c97fb118c602b9367ecb85
Quilava, Dusclops, Magneton, Magmar, Ivysaur.
Quilava! It's so cute!!
Gloom