![Ice Type](https://thespectacledobserver.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ice-type.jpg?w=1100)
It’s December again, snow is falling down, Christmas trees are going up and retail workers are gearing up for another bout of absolute Hell. #PrayForRetailWorkers
So, now that the ghostly going ons are over and the dark nights have arrived it’s time we take some inspiration from the snow and cover my top 5 Ice type Pokémon. Gripping stuff, I know. So, shall we get started?
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- VANILLUXE
Everyone hates Vanilluxe. That’s pretty much universally accepted, so trust me to break the mould. I’ve always had a soft spot for Pokémon with bad reputations so when I had the chance to use this Pokémon in a recent replay of Pokémon White Version last year prior to the release of Sun & Moon. Vanilluxe was a pretty powerful member of the team and when it came to the Elite 4 really brought it’s A-game. I understand that people dislike it because it’s an ice cream with eyes but… So what? Voltorb is a PokéBall with eyes, but that’s a discussion for another day, perhaps. In the end, Vanilluxe, very good, give it a try, don’t judge a book by its cover.
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- CLOYSTER
I’ll be the first to admit that Cloyster suffers from poor design choice in regards to references to a woman’s anatomy, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. Cloyster is a Pokémon I’ve not had very much experience with but the experience I do have with it is very good. We all have that go-to Pokémon we have on our party who helps train lower levelled Pokémon to a higher level and Cloyster has been that Pokémon for me for a long time and it’s well overdue a proper place on a story-mode team. Maybe in Ultra Moon… It hits hard, it hits pretty fast and it beats you down and beats you down, just like ya boy – Guzma.
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- GLALIE (MEGA GLALIE)
We’re heading back to the days of Alpha Sapphire now for this entry. Remember the event Glalie players in the UK received in the demo for Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire? Do you recall how that Glalie came with its own Mega Stone? Yeah, that Glalie. This may be cheating a bit but that Glalie was a beast. It didn’t just beat its opponents, it grounded them into chunks of meat – then preserved the meat with its ice-cold body temperature to feed to smaller, less tanky Glalie. Hoenn in Alpha Sapphire shook in fear at my Mega Glalie and Kyogre didn’t know what hit it when it encountered Freeze-Dry for the first time. Don’t need anything else, Glalie destroyed the Hoenn region, mic drop, bye.
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- ALOLAN NINETALES
For a long time I debated between Alolan Ninetales and Alolan Sandslash for this spot on my list but in the end I went with the fire fox turned ice fairy – Ninetales. Majestic and powerful, Alolan Ninetales is a sight to behold, both physically and in battle. Blazing her way through my run through of Pokémon Moon Ninetales was one of the most utilized members of my party. She well and truly earned her place on the team and then some more. At times I had to force myself not to use her just so that the other members of the party had a chance to catch up with her level-wise. Choice Scarf Moonblast, Ninetales destroyed all life in the Alola Region, even beating a Salazzle in one hit at one point. Now that’s impressive.
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- LAPRAS
Come on, you knew this was coming. What’s not to love about Lapras? Everyone knows this peaceful dinosaur and love it for how unfathomably pleasant it is. I, like many others, have very fond and nostalgic memories of Ash’s Lapras in the Orange Islands arc of the Pokémon anime back in the day and I’ve used it on numerous teams over the years. The Lapras that springs to mind when I think of them in game is the Lapras I acquired on Route 12 of the Kalos region on my first play of Pokémon Y.
At that point I’d never used a Lapras properly before and I was eager to give it a try as I didn’t have a water type at that point and Lapras was the perfect fit for the team I had. It proved time and time again to be a very valuable ally in the battle against Team Flare and it was a phenomenal battler. With the addition of Pokémon Amie to Gen VI, I grew to love Lapras for more than just my nostalgia of it and it played a big part in creating my love for the Pokémon Amie/Refresh features in every game since.
My biggest memory of that Lapras, though, was during the Elite 4. I was battling the Champion, Diantha, and the battle had whittled down to a 1v1 between her Mega Gardevoir and my Lapras. I had no revives left and I needed to end the battle ASAP, so in a gamble I used Perish Song. It worked. I won the Kalos League through a loophole in the game’s code using my Lapras’ Perish Song, and it was brilliant. Lapras, everyone loves it, everyone who says they don’t are lying.
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And there’s my list. They’re all good Pokémon in there, a few surprised too, I bet. Do you agree with my choices? If not, who are your top 5? Feel free to let me know in a civilised manner. I suppose I should give a special shoutout to Alolan Sandslash, considering it was in the running of this list for a long time until Alolan Ninetales showed up and took its place. So here’s to you, you odd-looking steely ice igloo, you.
Spectacled Observer. 🙂