Elemental Monkeys: Pokémon’s Most Hated Starters 

I’m still bitter that it’s called “Panpour” and not “Pansoak” to go with the -sage and -sear of the others.

The elemental monkeys are equivalent to the, “Bro think they’re the Starter Pokémon💀”

People would probably hate them a lot less, if they all evolved from one Pokemon ala Eevee Style. The actual weird part is that we effectively have the same Pokemon line, 3 times over. They’re like a pseudo starter trio but they’re basically a monkey band.

When and if pokemon remakes black and white. The monkey trio definitely need a revamp of moves and stats to be extra helpful

Simisear is literally my fire GOAT. he may not have been the strongest or won many battle, but he was there with me from the start and I never once thought of replacing him even when i got a litwic

5:01 Game Freak actually has a very good oportunity to make these guys the starters of a "Legends: Unova". Would people hate it? Probably. Would it be memed? Yes. Would i laugh my ass off? ABSOLUTELY.

For me it’s their evolutions that ruin it for me. They’re not the best designed Pokemon. The pre evolutions are cute and I love the idea of the 3 monkeys representing an element and the see/hear/speak no evil story

Pansage and Simisage will always be my favorite monkey of the trio.

Simisage looks cool Simipour looks cute Simisear looks silly

I love the elemental monkeys. It's saddening that people don't like them. I love Simisear

I'm indifferent about the Pokemon themselves, but the first gym being a dynamic challenge based on your starter is such a cool concept.

I really like the elemental monkeys I like how it could potentially provide an explanation as to why starter Pokemon are Grass/Fire/Water, like there could be an unknown region where an elemental monkey is given when someone comes of age, a tradition that is then borrowed and adapted by other regions But I do think that the elemental monkeys need more diverse move pools

Simisage is the legendary SSJ Broly of Pokémon. I love it.

Might sound weird but I think they were intended to be pokemon that you use early game but fall off later, akin to butterfree. The other options for grass,fire, and water types are generally more powerful. The elemental monkeys are both early but can be fully evolved by the 3rd gym but compared to pokemon that require more investment arw much weaker

Legit picked snivy as my starter in my first black playthrough and used simipoor on my team all the way to the league

I had the same story in White with Simipour being in my N Final Boss team. Simipour was a nice looking swimmer that wasn’t a fish and I didn’t want the water fossil as there’s too many of them in comparison.

The elemental monkeys look something invented to fill up space. They're the kind of thing you make when your back as against the wall in s whiteboard presentation but shouldn't carry over to the final game.

I wouldn't say I hate the elemental monkeys but I don't really hate that many Pokemon in general. I only really tolerate Simisage on top of that. Do I think there are Pokemon worst than Simisear by the time of that popularity event back in like 2016, yeah sure. But I understand why he's there at the bottom.

I grew fond towards Simisear because I used it in USUM on a team competitively and it did wonders

I've never understood the hate. The monkeys are cute, and the evolutions have solid designs. I started with Oshawatt, but Simipour is my favorite of the three. And Simisage looks like it has a cool mohawk.

My first (and currently only) Nuzlocke was in Black, and I got a Pansear. It eventually became Simisear and made it all the way to the Elite 4, where I had to sacrifice it against Caitlin. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the elemental monkeys, but that Simisear has given me more of an appreciation for them.

They really don't tell me anything, without seeing them ugly, but really anonymous.

Honestly, I didn't really care for them until I got into competitive. I wanted to be different and started using Simisear. And geez it was so refreshing. Gluttony with a healing berry, will-o-wisp, knock off, belch/flamethrower, and recycle. Nobody sees it coming.

I not only used Panpour on my White team, I also got a Pansage in my Y playthrough to use in my team. Since you can catch them pretty early, and I chose Froakie and knew I would be getting Charmander eventually, I caught one to act as the grass-type member of my Grasss-Fire-Water team core. Didn't make it all the way to the Elite four before getting replaced if I recall correctly, but he did stick around for a surprisingly long time.

I have a similar history with the monkeys. I chose tepig on my first playthrough and so got given a pansage. I had it for the whole game and really liked it. Its stats may not be outstanding but its fast and has a surprisingly diverse movepool, allowing it to have something relevant against basically any boss trainer

dude yes, the guidebooks are AWESOME. my brother and i probly spent over 100 hours of our lives just looking through and rereading the diamond and pearl guidebook as kids. so good.

In my first run of Pokémon White, half my team was literally early route Pokémon because I loved them. Emboar, Simisage and Stoutland were the strongest in the team. The other 3 slots remaining were changing all the time.

Love that there’s finally a video that shows love and appreciation for the elemental monkeys I will forever love them and every other gen 5 Pokémon until my grave

In my first few games, I just kept the first 6 Pokemon I caught so I actually did keep my Panpour. I didn't evolve it for a long time though cuz it's a stone evolution and I was scared it wouldn't learn any new moves. In general, I prefer the base stages over their evolutions (they're very Aipom-shaped), though I like Simisage too. As for how we obtain them in BW, I feel like it might've been more creative if they had just been normal encounters so the player actually had to think more about which one would be useful in the Striaton fight. Then again, approaching their availability this way might've run the risk of making the monkeys competition for the actual starters by the end of the game (especially Simisage vs. Serperior). This isn't as much of a problem in XY cuz those starters are all dual type and have stat distributions more extreme than any of the monkeys, but in Unova Emboar is the only starter with a niche that's completely distinct from its corresponding monkey. That's why I'm fine with them not getting evolutions, because if they're meant to be secondary starters, it'd be weird if they ended up stronger than the actual starters.

Simisage is my all-time favorite grass type Pokemon. I had one on my team from Gen 5-7 because I think it had a very cool design. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Gen 5 remakes before being able to use it again.

Ok i unironically love pansage and panpours lines they’re easily one of my top 5 pokemon

since their theme is type matchups, one idea I had was to give the simis evolutions, but the evolutions become grass/flying, fire/fighting, and water/rock, making it so they each have a type advantage over the one that previously countered them.

I always wanted them to get branching evos when traded with one of the other Elemental Monkeys. Giving us interesting typing combos and giving them new life

In my copy of Pokémon Y, for most of the game I used a Panpour which helped me quite a bit on my journey. Sadly I had to relinquish it as it couldn’t know surf, but I did help it evolve and gave it a special place in the PC. I am even planning on using it for a BW playthrough, so I bet it’ll be fun to have the funny monkey again

Pansage was the most prominent of the three in marketing, and I remember seeing it a lot when I went to the Black/White tour in 2011. It was an event they had in malls around the U.S. where you could play a demo of the game and watch the Zoroark movie. Because of that I ended up having a Simisage on my team when I played Black, and I always associate it with that tour!

During my play though of X I caught a pansear in the Forrest area and decided to use him because I simply never had one on my team before. He stuck with me the entire game and inspired me to have an even split between unova and khalos mons. In terms of actual game XY are definitely not the best but that team I put together is still my all time favorite.

I've always personally loved both the first forms and evolved forms of each of the monkeys, they have such vibrant personalities and really nice designs, to the point where I never got why people hated them, they're among some of my favorite in the entire series!

The elemental monkeys are some of my favourite Pokémon, i saw them first in a pokedex book and I've loved them ever since. I hope they get added to the switch in legends ZA

If the Evolutionary Monkeys (which is a dope title) ever return id like to add more types like with Eeveelutions. And to keep the trio theme: Dark, Fighting, and Psychic. Dark and Psychic to reference Umbreon and Espeon introductions.

1:00 Real ones picked 2 of the same type, because f playing optimally lmao

I remember my first playthrough of Black, I was really missing mons from older gens, so I didn't have the heart to catch anything. Instead, I opted to play the game using only handouts. Which worked out cause levelling was hard enough without having a full team of 6 to slow me down. But on top of that, the choice really made me appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of my 4 gift pokemon, Simipour included. Being one of the only 4 mons I owned in that first playthrough, it really made a mark and I just can't hate it even if I don't think it's the best designed of any of the monkeys. Might be the most useful though, only by virtue of typing.

I think we can expect them to return in Pokemon Legends Z-A since they did reappear in Kalos in XY, but not usable in any of the Pokemon games within the Nintendo Switch, so I hope they’re back in some interesting way.

I do think that the monkeys might have a shot in Legends ZA since they were in the OG Kalos dex (in fact, the other mons not yet in a Switch game, Furfrou and Patrat/Watchog, are also in the OG Kalos dex)

i really came around to loving pansear/simisear. carries in the 1st gym and the 3rd gym (against burgh). especially because you can evolve it right when you get the castelia and once it learns a stronger move at 22.

Fun fact the ability blaze, overgrow and torrent can only be on a starter Pokémon of the respective type except for the elemental monkeys so they are consider honorary starters.

gotta love the silly elemental monkeys :)

Lol, I just ordered the guide book for my replays, be more fun than looking up everything online

I actually started pokemon black last month. I picked oshawott and got pansear. I truly wish the voice in the back of my head telling me to drop it was louder 😭

I find them to be peak game design. Especially Pour. Being able to get Scald and evolve at 22 means that it's good, even pushed for that stage of the game. But will need good team support in the late game due to its low defence stats.

When zarude is more likeable than another Pokémon you know it’s bad

I really hope they give them new cross-gen evolutions with dual typing in future games like how Starters do most of the time considering they felt so incomplete with just having two-stages hence why most people myself included just boxed them in favor of much better mons to use maybe aside from Simipour who's one of the few decent non-starter Water type to use along with Seismitoad

I mean, they were in the Kalos intro forest, too, so Legends ZA is viable to bring them back along with Furfrou and Pateat/Watchog, all being available in Kalos.

I've never understood the full hate for them. I find them being a trio of Elemental Monkies, along with them being a slight nod to the 3 Wise Monkies. My personal favorite of course being Simipour, it just looks like they're chilling all the time, and I really enjoy that design choice. Also think Simisage being a reference to tough biker gang members is also pretty interesting to, as seen with the hair. As for Simisage, I don't have too much thoughts about it, but I don't hate it like so many people apparently do. I do have to say though, if these three are as "universally hated" like people on this site like to claim, then care to explain why I've found a lot of fan art of this trio, aling with some posts from people talking about why they like them? Plus, stat whlise, they not that bad. I know opinions are opinions, but I just think these guys get WAY to much undeserving hate. Thanks for making this Gator, really nice to see a positive video on the guys for once.

I remember playing white for the first time and having a Tepig and Pansage. I replaced Pansage with a petilil pretty quickly for some reason but I should really go back and give the trio another shot

Including the Mankey and Aipom lines, these are the only monkey Pokémon I actually like. I don’t exactly hate the rest of them, but I’ve never been fond of them either, and yes that includes the Grookey & Chimchar lines; Ash’s Infernape being the lone exception since it’s a character with an arc.

Also they are the only pokemon other then starter Pokemon that are able to get starter pokemon abilitys like torrent, blaze and overgrow as their ability/hidden ability

You also can get them from shaking grass in pinwheel forest

6:49 Lol ditto!!

i had a pansear in my XY nuzlocke. the moveset was amazing and he got me out of MANY close calls that would have ended my run. particularly the double froufrou battle on route 6. when i lost him to a solrock in glittering cave i was DEVASTATED. his name was infernape. i so wanted him to fully evolve before dying. or even better, making it to the end...

My favourite Pokémon is -Sand Rattikare- Sandslash. I think,what Sandslash undeservedly approach to late,when we have a more interesting poke ground type.

I had a pansage in X and kept it until the fairy gym, I swapped it out because I didn’t know it needed a stone to evolve at the time

I spent 2 hours trying to catch pansage yesterday. I caught a leavany, a lilligant, found 2 of each of the 2 monkeys I didn't need, and about 30 audinos...never again.

I appreciate Pansear for being one of the only chill fire type, its devil-like tail is cute and overall Pansear is an improvement over Chimchar in my opinion☕️

I missed gen 5. To me when I played gen 6 it was like there were 200 new mons and with all that choice I didn’t give them a second look. I was also immediately put off by their designs so I never had an idea that they had lame stats/moves

I definitely love semicir because I just I use them on my nuzllock through x and he actually pulled his weight and he managed to give me out some tight spots so I'm going to have to give it to them

The problem with the Simis is that they look like awkward 2nd stages, but are last stage pkmn. The elemental monkeys deserved to have 3-stage lines, which would make them even closer to actual Starters, but they got the Pikachu & Eevee stone evo treatment.

I'd have given them sub types for current day to make them unique Add in fairy fighting and ground to help them have some unique typing to be a good second pokemon to your starter. That would also give them more type coverage and better moves.

I've always really like Simipour's hippie vibe! And Simisage's delinquent theme really grew on me; more Pokemon need pompadours

They’d be better if they were anything but monkeys. We have SO many monkeys. Maybe differing simians at least, lemurs could be cool? Perhaps spiders as a lil’ spider monkey reference?

Their pseudo starter status is even more clear when you remember their hidden abilities are Overgrow, Blaze, and Torrent respectively. Also while I do like Pansage, Pansear, Panpour, and Simipour, the other 2 I'm just fine with

I had the same experience when playing Pokemon white. Tepig was my starter so I got pansage and not only did it stay on my team throughout the entire game, but also became one of my favorite gen 5 Pokemon.

I still have my platinum guide book from the 6th grade definitely nostalgic

They are in the Kalos regional dex so there’s a CHANCE they’ll be in Legends ZA (not guaranteed though as some Pokemon in the Sinnoh dex aren’t in Legends Arceus)

Watch these guys get Mega Evolutions in ZA.

I almost aleays love using the monkeys. I think the only one I actually haven't used is Simipour, but that's mostly because I barely pick Snivy and when I do, I usually want to use a different water type.

I honestly feel like when it comes to Simisear, it kinda suffers from having some bad timing in the Unova games, as around the time you can evolve pansear...you have access to darumaka over on route 4 at that point before you tackle Burgh

They are surprisingly good in Gen 5 random battle on showdown

Always thought simisage had a delinquent look with the hair so every one I’ve had on a team was named The King that man was mvp for several encounters

I chose to battle Cilan because he was a companion in the anime so I ended up with simisear in my run of Pokémon White. The elemental monkeys themes could've been more consistant.

Anybody wondering if crispin of the blueberry elite four might be related to thirst triplet gym leaders? They are all chefs too

I would love if a future 3rd stage of the elemental monkeys would give them a second starter type. Water-Grass, Grass-Fire and Fire-Water.

Simisage's pompadour is too cool to hate, best one

Its weird how if they got a 2nd stage evolution, Unova would technically have 3 sets of starters. The original set, the elemental monkey and the trio of tympole, litwick and sewaddle.

I think one of the biggest reasons Simisear was picked last out of the Elemental Monkeys in particular was how utterly outclassed by the Infernape line it is in skills, practicality, AND design. It's hard to pick Simisear as your favorite overall for anything other than nostalgia in a gen 5 playthrough next to Infernape, and I'm saying this despite being one of the few with way more nostalgia for Simisear than Infernape.

Went back and played Black a couple years ago. If ANY of my Pokémon clutched HARDEST in most battles it was my Pansear/Simisear. He was the literal CLUTCH that helped me beat Cilan, Clay, Brycen, and even Drayden. To the point where it even became somewhat of a joke between a couple friends where I'd be like "ALRIGHT RELEASE THE MONKEY."

Simisear is well...flaming lol. Never noticed that before. I also didnt even try using. Straight to the box.

Finally, somebody else who likes the “Elemental Monkey Trio”! If they make a new “Legends” game set in a time period within the Unova region, I’m hoping they’ll get a better deal and receive third stage evolutions. What names would you suggest for such evolved forms?

Since you made me think about it I can't even remember if i did or didn't keep the monkey around. Gut instinct says no but I couldn't say for sure.

I dunno if you can count them as starters cause the only reason why they exist is to counter cilan's gym cause they use the super effective typing and i mostly put them under gift pokemons.

I might be one of the few people who actually kinda liked the Elemental monkeys (I'm not super crazy about them, but I have no hate for them). Receiving the elemental monkey as a gift from that NPC made me love them even more.

I had a Pansage named Kiki. She was awful and terrible at fighting but I had a rotating team slot and felt bad abandoning her 💀

I still remember my Simipour from my Black playthrough. I named him Pojo.

I miss the monkeys. The Pansage I got was with me throughout my White journey. I actually really like them. I believe they deserve to come back.

Only used pansear until i got a team of 6 i wanted to use instead so i didnt bond with it much but i have to admit simisears art for conquest goes hard. If thats what his ingame sprite looked like in b&w id of used him

Pokémon Concierge is the only place that I can see these guys now 😂😂😂

1:30 LITERALLY ME BUT WITH W2

I like to think these guys *are* the starters for trainers who dont have a good connection with professors that can hand them rare actual starters. food at home kinda starters

I remember using Pansage/Simisage through the first time I played Black (never actually finished that run) and found it a bit underwhelming in comparison to the other mons on my team by the time I got through Victory Road. So though I don't hate the monkeys, they really don't align with my taste enough for me to actually want to use them.

Plot twist they’re the starters for legends ZA

I agree with everything you said. I also chose snivy and enjoyed panpour I’ve never understood the hate they get