Is Flygon a Bug or Not?

[Octavius]

Flygon feels like a smorgasbord of ideas that were all thrown together. It's like Gamefreak couldn't decide on an overall direction for it, so they just gave it a lot of different traits and hoped players would love it for whatever it ended up being.

And what it ended up being is a physical attacking, dragon/ground type with levitate. Called the 'mystic' pokemon, some of its lore reads "Because its flapping wings whip up a cloud of sand, this Pokémon is always enveloped in a sandstorm while flying. Red covers shield its eyes from sand. The flapping of its wings sounds something like singing. Because the “singing” is the only thing that can be heard in a sandstorm, this Pokémon is said to be the desert spirit".

Huh. Well that's kind of weird. I guess levitate makes sense as Fly-gon can, in fact, fly; but based on its lore it should also definitely get abilities like sand veil or shield dust. It's also apparently a 'spirit' of some sort and is known for singing. Yet it's a physical attacker. I would expect a 'singing' spirit to be more specially inclined. And, even though it's known for making noise, it doesn't learn any sound-based moves... except...

It technically does! Flygon's pre-evolution, Vibrava, learns Bug Buzz by level up! And that makes a lot of sense, given that Vibrava's lore states "Vibrava’s wings have not yet completed the process of growing. Rather than flying long distances, they are more useful for generating ultrasonic waves by vibrating."

Cool! So Vibrava doesn't really fly, but Vibrava's only ability is Levitate. So what's up with that? 

And while Bug Buzz seems like a move that makes sense on this pokemon species based on its lore (maybe Perish Song would be another), neither Flygon, Vibrava, or Trapinch are actually bug-type at all. Trapinch is ground, and Vibrava/Flygon are dragon/ground types. And despite not being bug-type, they are exclusively in the Bug Egg Group! What the heck!?

 

So look at these guys. What in the world are they? 
The first two evolutions definitely look like bugs. Even Flygon still looks like a bug, but definitely bears many more lizard-like traits (like its arms). It's kind of like this species has a metamorphosis between each stage, ultimately emerging as this 'singing' desert bug-lizard. But it's also said to be a spirit. Whatever that means..

So what do you think Flygon is? Or, what do you think it should be?  What typing should it have, what abilities or moves should it be able to use? how should its stats look? And how do you make sense of its pre-evolutions? I'm curious to see what you think.

[Lord Drakyle]

a Hybrid Lizard/Dragonfly?

[SilverAngelus]

@Octavius Have you ever played Pokemon Insurgence? If not, you might find yourself a surprise ^^

 

One thing that sets me off is the fact that since Flygon is Dragon/Ground, which means ice is 4X weakness. But I still love the Flygon line ^^

35 minutes ago, Octavius said:

So look at these guys. What in the world are they? 

They are the very notion of awesome. Need I say more?

 

While it does make sense that Vibrava and Flygon could have bug as their typing, it also does not make sense. Just because they resemble bugs does not mean they have to have Bug as their secondary typing. In fact, they live in a desert! It is only correct to say that they should resemble their homes, if anything. (Although, I'm still not disagreeing that Flygon should be a Bug type =p )

Also, there are some Pokemon that have less typing than what they should have *cough* Johto starters *cough*, so Vibrava and Flygon aren't the only one here. 

 

Allow me perform the ritual to summon the expert

@Jess

[Azeria]

Flygon is a dope ass design that incorporates several elements of different creatures to create a truly unique creature in terms of concept and design. If it weren't for me being exposed to Garchomp first and Hydreigon looking so cool, this guy'd be my favourite Dragon and Ground type(seperately, not the dual typing.)

 

That being said, Trapinch and Vibrava could've been part bug. The final stage 'blossoming' into a true Dragon makes more sense than suddenly going from ground to ground/dragon upon evolving.

 

Ground > Bug/Ground > Dragon/Ground

 

Would make the most sense in my eyes, as Vibrava is really the most bug like in the family whereas Flygon loosely retains that but looks more like a lizard.

[Hycrox]

It's an attack helicopeter

[Swampellow]

The Flygon line is also based off of an Antlion and its life stages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion

 

That is why it has so many bug like qualities.

[Jess]

Being part of the Bug egg group, based design-wise on antlion (which is an insect) and being capable of learning Bug Buzz, a move exclusive to Bug-type Pokemon (with the exception of Vibrava), makes it obvious that Flygon is suited-enough to have the Bug typing. More suited at least than having the Dragon typing, since it isn't based on a dragonfly (like Yanmega, which, weirdly enough isn't a Bug/Dragon either), but on antlions. 

 

I just see that, somehow, the designers just for some weird reason deny us a Bug/Dragon Pokemon, which is sad, since every other type have at least one 'mon being a dual Dragon type too.

 

So, Yanmega, a DRAGONfly, is a Bug/Flying. And Flygon, an ANTlion is a Dragon/Ground. Don't get me more salty about this...

 

PS: God knows why Flygon, with that eye-pattern design, doesn't have Compound Eyes as Hidden Ability. It would benefit Dragon Rush, Rock Slide, Dragon Tail, Iron Tail, make it literally incredible. With the Bug typing instead of the Ground, it would also resist Ground type attacks, so the Levitate loss wouldn't hurt at all. It would easily be OU (Choice Scarfed maybe, or Life Orbed with Dragon Dance)...

[Candy]

I love Flygon - it's probably my favorite ground type (I mean it's cute-looking me thinks).

However, I swear I would've never guessed that it evolves from Trapinch. I mean what. Flygon clearly looks like a dragon, while trapinch is def an antlion.

So yeah totally agree it's one of those pokemon that GameFreak just meshed random stuff in and hoped it'd be accepted as it is xD

[Octavius]

@Jess Do you think Flygon would be better competitively with a Dragon/Bug typing (and access to different abilities) than a Dragon/Ground typing? Or what if it got tinted lens instead of compoundeyes? I think tinted lens would be just as good, if not better (especially if flygon were a special attacker).

[Jess]

4 minutes ago, Octavius said:

@Jess Do you think Flygon would be better competitively with a Dragon/Bug typing (and access to different abilities) than a Dragon/Ground typing? Or what if it got tinted lens instead of compoundeyes? I think tinted lens would be just as good, if not better (especially if flygon were a special attacker).

Weakness-wise, yes, I think so. It would have no more the hideous 4x weakness to Ice, making it possible to tank an Ice Shard without fainting and retaliating with some of its strong moves. Would resist Ground, Fighting, Water, Electric (x1/2) and Grass (x1/4). It would be weak to Ice, Fairy, Dragon, Rock and Flying (x2). I think this would make it quite balanced.

Flygon would have ways of countering Rock types with Earthquake/Superpower, Ice and Flying types with Stone Edge/Rock Slide (hello Compound Eyes), Dragon types with Dragon Rush (again, hi Compound Eyes) and Fairy types with Iron Tail (triple hello to Compound Eyes).

Tinted Lens might be good as well, since Bugs don't hit many things hard with their STAB. However, Tinted Lens on a Dragon sounds like a bit of a broken step to take. They aren't resisted by anything apart from Fairies (immune) and Steel types (x1/2). Removing Steel would make it nearly impossible to tank a Dragon Rush from Flygon without a Fairy type. I'd not give Flygon Tinted Lens, but give it X-Scissor. It can learn Dragon Claw but not X-Scissor? Also, Sceptile can use X-Scissor, but Flygon can't use either its claws or its wings who are rhombi-blade shaped, to use X-Scissor?

 

Special attacking Flygon would only be functional with Choice Specs... Why waste a Dragon Dance Pokemon with good Attack and Speed by utilising its mediocre 80 Special Attack?