Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Igglybuff
Jigglypuff is great. It’s a hilarious character in the anime, getting mad at the audience when it inevitably puts them to sleep. And it is a MENACE in Smash Bros. It’s also in the opening fight cutscene for Pokemon Blue and goes up against Gengar with a headbutt! Jigglypuff is such a normal sight in the Pokemon world now that it’s a little hard to remember just how WEIRD it is. It’s based off a balloon, can swell up like Kirby and fly, looks a little like a cat(?) and can sing in over 12 octaves. The human ear can only hear about 10 octaves, but does this mean Jigglypuff could communicate long distances with elephants and whales? Or does it go up incredibly high to tinnitus screeches? Also it apparently sings differently based on region, so you could have rapper or metal growler Jigglypuffs for sure.
Again, it is so weird that this is a pretty normal Pokemon design, when the things it does are so freaking weird. It can even fully deflate! That’s terrifying! In one of the mangas, Green even used hers as an escape balloon.
It’s just so… so weird.
Wigglytuff is a cute bunny version of Jigglypuff, and can apparently take the balloon thing even further - even getting into contests on who is bigger. Which is weird now that I say that. Huh.
Which brings me to another point. For some reason, a significant portion of Wigglytuff entries talk about how if you touch it, you won’t ever want to stop. It’s supposed to have very soft, very nice fur. But like… the Pokedex REALLY wants you to know you WILL. NOT. WANT. TO. STOP. TOUCHING. IT.
The cute rabbit balloon is being talked about in really weird ways… If I choose to ignore the weird… sexual?… vibes here, it’s kinda creepy. Like a squishmallow you can use to entrance people. Gives the fairy type aspect a little more spookiness to it.
Igglybuff is ugly as sin, but it weirdly has a lot more explicitly in common with Jigglypuff than its final evolution does. It bounces around like a balloon, but it also sings a lot. Wigglytuff is never mentioned singing in the Pokedex. I guess one can assume it still has the ability, but it’s a bit weird how much Jigglypuff’s entries focus on vocalizations just for it to never be talked about again. Instead, it’s all about the FUR.
So it’s kinda cute to have the baby version learn how to sing and be self conscious about it. It also apparently has sweet smelling sweat. Again, weird, but not quite as weird as the fur. It also gargles water to soothe its sore throat from singing - which is ADORABLE.
Strange aside here - I have a really odd personal story involving the Jigglypuff evolution line. When I was in elementary school, it was the early 2000s, so Pokemon was EVERYWHERE. I was a little nerd who liked animals and creatures and drawing, so Pokemon was obviously my jam, but it also made me a NERD. One of my best friends was even nerdier than I was and they came up with a cute little playgroup thing where we pretended to be a tribe of Wigglytuffs. My friend was the Chief Wiggy and a couple other friends got different roles. Eventually other kids found out and wanted to join, so they got to be Jigglypuffs and would eventually rise up to evolve into Wiggys. I think there were even some Igglybuffs from younger grades. It was all very silly and I don’t remember anything we actually did, but it all came to a head when my very tiny, very white, very helpless-looking bestie was called into the office on suspicion of running a gang.
So yeah, definitely an impactful pokemon in my life.
