10 Worst Middle-Stage Pokémon
It's not a phase, mom.
One of the main elements of every Pokémon game is the idea of evolution. It's pretty simple, really - catch a Pokémon, make it stronger, and it will eventually evolve into something more useful in battle. Because evolution has been a staple of the franchise since its inception over two decades ago, most Pokémon fans recognize that the form between the starting and final forms tends to be... well, awkward.
There are a few notable exceptions, such as Grovyle, Dragonair, Flaaffy, and Luxio, but on the whole, middle-stage evolutions tend to be frumpy, unfinished-looking filler Pokémon that you can't wait to evolve. They're basically the teenagers of the Pokémon world - while not quite as helpless as children and babies are, they still aren't entirely reliant on their own because they're going through this strange, not-fully-realized period of their lives that both of you are excited to see the end of.
Before we get into this list of the worst examples of middle-stage Pokémon, though, just a quick note: this list is reserved for Pokémon who were always meant to be middle-stage, so Pokémon that became middle-stage in a later generation, such as Golbat, Piloswine, or Dusclops, are automatically disqualified (not that I was ever considering any of those three anyway).
Now, with that out of the way, here are the 10 most execrable, disgusting, insulting middle-stage Pokémon of all time.
10. Herdier
Herdier isn't a bad Pokémon, per sé, but it's just so bland.
I mean, what differentiates this Pokémon from a regular dog? It literally looks like someone at Game Freak drew a stylized portrait of their Yorkshire Terrier and the executives just said, "sure, whatever, put it in the game."
Lillipup is easily the better early-game Normal-type over Patrat, and Stoutland is honestly a great attacker with decent speed and bulk. But the line as a whole suffers greatly from its lack of ingenuity. And Herdier is easily the least creative of the three.
It's so uninventive, I can't even think of anything else to say about it. It's just... a dog. A normal, ordinary dog.