History Main / ComMons

** Special mention goes to Taillow and Starly, who grow into a very fast Pokemon with a very useful ability (Guts, which increases Attack by 50% when affected by a status condition, combined with the Normal-type move Facade [doubles in power under the same conditions] and Same Type Attack Bonus makes Swellow an absolute monster), and a very powerful Pokemon (Staraptor has 120 base attack, two 120 base power STAB attacks [Double-Edge and Brave Bird], and the 120 base power Fighting-type move Close Combat [which puts him head and shoulders above all other non-Legendary birds, allowing him to defeat Rock and Steel Pokemon with ease, two types that laugh at all other birds]. And 100 base speed, only a little slower than Swellow).

* Rattata, Meowth and Pidgey in ''{{Pokemon}}'', as well as [[{{Expy}} all the others based on them.]] (Yes, Hoothoot, Poochyena, Taillow, Zigzagoon, Starly and Bidoof, we mean ''you.'') Also [[GoddamnedBats Zubat]] and Geodude, which can be caught early on in all generations (excluding ''PokemonBlackAndWhite'') and ''continue'' to show up in every single cave you enter throughout the game.

** Slimes do have a things going for them -- First, every DragonQuest Monsters game, you can breed a Kingslime using basic slimes and a ''lot'' of patience; Kingslimes tend to be pretty powerful (they are basically given skills similar to the main series heroes -- lightning, healing, revive, etc). Slimes themselves make good mates for other monsters -- in the original two games, Slime + anything meant a special kind of Slime, like Wingslime, Rockslime, Drakslime, all of which tended to be somewhat useful. But the thintvtropes.orglue slime ''really'' had going for them is that, if you leveled them up enough, they learn [[EarthShatteringKaboom Ma]][[EnergyBall n]][[GameBreaker da]][[KamehameHadoken n]][[KiAttacks te]] -- Megamagic in the US version, a spell that uses up all your {{Mana}} at once to hit the enemy with a ''huge'' blast.

** Slimes do have a things going for them -- First, every DragonQuest Monsters game, you can breed a Kingslime using basic slimes and a ''lot'' of patience; Kingslimes tend to be pretty powerful (they are basically given skills similar to the main series heroes -- lightning, healing, revive, etc). Slimes themselves make good mates for other monsters -- in the original two games, Slime + anything meant a special kind of Slime, like Wingslime, Rockslime, Drakslime, all of which tended to be somewhat useful. But the thing that the basic blue slime ''really'' had going for them is that, if you leveled them up enough, they learn [[EarthShatteringKaboom Ma]][[EnergyBall n]][[GameBreaker da]][[KamehameHadoken n]][[KiAttacks te]] -- Megamagic in the US version, a spell that uses up all your {{Mana}} at once to hit the enemy with a ''huge'' blast.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

** However, almost all of these pokemon will stay as useful party members for a long time if you train them up. However, many Bug-types like Caterpie, Weedle, and their various [[{{Expy}} Expies]] can also be caught very early on and evolve quickly (they reach their final evolution at level 10. Your starter generally won't get there until level '''36'''). But they are just as quickly out-paced in terms of stat growth and movesets by other pokemon, so many players will just pass them up entirely.

* Rattata, Meowth and Pidgey in ''{{Pokemon}}'', as well as all the others based on them. (Yes, Sentret, Hoothoot, Poochyena, Taillow, Zigzagoon, Starly and Bidoof, I mean you.) Also [[GoddamnedBats Zubat]] and Geodude, which can be caught early on in all generations. Most of them, like the flying types, Geodude and even Rattata, can evolve into monsters that stay useful for a long time, but have fun catching one about half an hour into the game and then fighting an estimated eleventy trillion more that you have no use for whatsoever.
** Although Sentret and Furret are something of ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]]'' compared to the others because unlike the others they are only caught in limited areas and look more cute.
** Also notorious are the bug and grass type pokemon, with a majority of them having terrible stats and used as Com Mons.
** Made doubly annoying when you face TRAINERS with them (Brock, Roxanne, and Roark, I'm looking at you... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and you too]], [[MemeticMutation Joey and your top percentage Rattata]]).
** Starly counts more under MagikarpPower, since Staraptor has pretty good attack and speed stats, plus it learns Close Combat naturally.
** While something similar may end up happening with some of the new mons, Black and White are set to avert the old expression of this trope because it has been confirmed that no pre-Gen V pokemon will appear prior to the Elite 4 and thus, no Zubats, no Geodudes, no Magikarps, and no Tentacools.
*** Despite the fact they have [[{{Expy}} expies]], many fans were still happy that the originals were gone.
** Also averted in the Granite Cave in Gen 3, where Geodude has a 10% encounter rate. Unfortunately, if you didn't pick Mudkip as your starter this is the only place you can get a good ground-type before fighting Wattson.
** Bidoof and Bibarel are probably the most hated version of these, due to their stupid looks, but in the 5th gen they have gotten their revenge: their Dream World ability, Inconsistent, has resulted in Smogon considering boosting them all the way up from the Never-Used tier to Uber tier. As in, the tier where it'll be fighting on even ground with the like of ''Mewtwo and Arceus.''
* Whirlms in ''VivaPinata''. Indeed, the only way to stop them is to cover up all the dirt in your garden.
** And once you've got Whirlms, you ''will'' have Sparrowmints.

** Although Sentret and Furret are something of ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]]'' compared to the others because unlike the others they are only caught in limited areas and look nicer.

** Bidoof and Bibabrel are probably the most hated version of these, due to their stupid looks, but in the 5th gen they have gotten their revenge: their Dream World ability, Inconsistent, has resulted in Smogon considering boosting them all the way up from the Never-Used tier to Uber tier. As in, the tier where it'll be fighting on even ground with the like of ''Mewtwo and Arceus.''

*** While Shock Wave and Guard chips in early games are mediocre at best, Reflector chips in Battle Network 6 can be incredibly useful while in good hands. They are easy to get (and S busting rank on Rare Mettaur 2 nets you a Reflector 3 chip in * code. You can put four in one folder and one deals 200 damage). What makes them so good is that unlike in older games, where guard chip reflected a shock wave at the opponent, in BN6 they reflect a very fast shot instead. This means that with correct timing you can block enemy attack AND get a counter hit easily, which puts you into full synchro mode (next attack deals double damage) and the enemy is stunned for a few seconds. If you follow it with multi-hit chip like Super Vulcan, Risky Honey or Bass chip and some Attack+ and Color/Double point chips (which add massive damage on multi hit chips, and all of this is doubled with full synchro), you can instantly kill any bonus boss with a single attack chip!

*** While Shock Wave and Guard chips in early games are mediocre at best, Reflector chips in Battle Network 6 can be incredibly useful while in good hands. They are easy to get (and S busting rank on Rare Mettaur 2 nets you a Reflector 3 chip in * code. You can put four in one folder and one deals 200 damage). What makes them so good is that unlike in older games, where guard chip reflected a shock wave at the opponent, in BN6 they reflect a very fast shot instead. This means that with correct timing you can get a counter hit easily, which puts you into full synchro mode (next attack deals double damage) and the enemy is stunned for a few seconds. If you follow it with multi-hit chip like Super Vulcan, Risky Honey or Bass chip and some Attack+ and Color/Double point chips (which add massive damage on multi hit chips, and all of this is doubled with full synchro), you can instantly kill any bonus boss with a single attack chip!

[[caption-width:340:They are, in fact, very [[IncrediblyLamePun common.]]]]

*** Despite the fact they have [[{{Expy}} expies]], many fans were still happy that the original commons were gone.

*** However, there are [[{{Expy}} expies]] of them in the form of Dangoro, Koromori, and Pururiru, as well as Rattata and Pidgey expies in the form of Minzeumi and Mamepato.

** Also, as mentioned above, [[PowerCreepPowerSeep Power Creep]] hasn't exactly helped. These days you have Lvl 4's that are more powerful than the old Level 5's and now certain Lvl 3's ([[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tune_Warrior Tune Warrior]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/X-Saber_Airbellum X-Saber Airbellum]]) are stronger than some of [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Celtic_Guardian the old]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Winged_Dragon,_Guardian_of_the_Fortress_1 Level 4's]]. And let's not forget poor [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Red-Eyes_B._Dragon Red-Eyes]], who's a Level 7 Nomal Monster and there are Level 6 Monsters that have the ''exact same stats'' for one Tribute less (like [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Amphibian_Beast Amphibian Beast]]).

** Also, as mentioned above, [[PowerCreepPowerSeep Power Creep]] hasn't exactly helped. These days you have Lvl 4's that are more powerful than the old Level 5's and now certain Lvl 3's ([[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tune_Warrior Tune Warrior]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/X-Saber_Airbellum X-Saber Airbellum]]) are stronger than some of [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Celtic_Guardian the old]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Winged_Dragon,_Guardian_of_the_Fortress_1 Level 4's]]. And let's not forget poor [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Red-Eyes_B._Dragon Red-Eyes]], who's a Level 7 Nomal Monster and there are Level 6 Monsters that have the ''exact same stats'' for one Tribute less (like [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Amphibian_Beast Amphibian Beast]]) and some of those are Effects (like [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Eyes_Zombie_Dragon Red Eyes Zombie Dragon]]).

* ''YuGiOh'' provides reams of monsters which even type specialists won't go near. One wonders why they bother wasting the paper. In particular, Normal Monsters are generally ignored unless they have notable stats (which keep creeping upward), and tribute monsters usually require some kind of great effect to be worth it.

** While something similar may end up happening with some of the new mons, Black and White are set to avert the old expression of this trope because it has been confirmed that no pre-Gen V pokemon will appear prior to the Elite 4 ad thus, no Zubats, no Geodudes, no Magikarps, and no Tentacools.

** Guard/Reflect * . The one chip you're guaranteed to have 99 of at some point in the game. Lampshaded at least twice - in ''EXE2'', when in a foreign country, a kid asks you to get him a Metguard * , because they're super rare there. However, all your spare chips have been stolen, so unless one's in your folder, you need to surf your way to the starting area to find one. Later in the sixth [?] game, someone gives you a good chip in exchange for '''30''' Reflect * as part of a mission.

** Starly subverts the trope by evolving into Staraptor one of the stronger ingame mons you can have in 4th gen and it's strong enough to make it to a decent tier level in competive scenes.
** The same can be said about Geodude, as especially in Generation 1, he evolved into one of the strongest in the game.

** Made doubly annoying when you face TRAINERS with them (Brock, Roxanne, and Roark, I'm looking at you... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and you too]], [[MemeticMutation Joey and your top percentage Rattata]].