Flareon's Plight...

Yes, this is a Pokemon-related entry.

Flareon is my favorite of the Eeveelutions, and yet, ever since the beginning, it seems like Game Freak as it out for it. Back in Red and Blue (or Red and Green if you're in Japan), it started out with this high Attack stat and slightly lower Special stat, but below average speed. Regardless, it could still run Fire moves with relative ease. Gold/Silver came out, and with it came the Special split, creating Special Attack and Special Defense. Flareon's Special Defense stayed the same, but its Special Attack took a dive. While it's Sp.Atk was stll above average, it had a harder time pulling off Fire-type moves. Oh, and did I mention that Flareon (and the Eeveelutions in general) have serious movepool issues. It's hard to come up with 4 decent moves for it.

Ruby/Sapphire was more-or-less the same story. The only good Special attacks that it had access to were Fire attacks (and Hidden Power, if you had the patience to deal with trying to get a good type and attack power). Not only that, but the changes to the EV system meant that Flareon would go down faster than it did before in the new offensive-based metagame. It seemed that Flareon would remain abysmal forever.

Then, hope came with Diamond/Pearl. There would be another split to shake the game's foundation; the Physical/Special split. Now, attacks were not Physical or Special depending on their type. Now, whether an attack was classified as "Physical" or "Special" depended on the attacks themselves. That meant... Physical Fire-type moves!! Indeed, introduced in D/P was a powerful Physical Fire-type move called Flare Blitz, which is basically a Fire-type Double-Edge. Finally, it seemed that Flareon could use it's insane Attack stat to its full potential...

But no... Turns out, Flareon did not get the move. Fate, being the cruel woman she is, snatched our hopes right from our hands. The only Physical Fire-type move Flareon got was Fire Fang. Now this would not be a problem, if Fire Fang weren't so weak. In fact, all three of the Elemental fang attacks are lacking in power (this puts Luxray in a similar position as Flareon, with high attack but average speed, and its strongest Physical Electric-type attacks only having 65 Base Power). There's a glitch that allows Fire Fang to hit any Pokemon with Wonder Guard, no matter what type they are (legally, the only Pokemon with Wonder Guard is Bug/Ghost, so it's already weak to it, but it can also hit through hacked Pokemon with the ability, such as the infamous Wondertomb), but other than that, Flareon really got the short end of the stick. So much that, while I trained one, I opted for mine to [try to] attack from the Special side (Modest; Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, and Protect).

Then, Platinum loomed over the horizon. With it would bring some moveset changes, as well as the return of Move Tutors. Suddenly, hope for Flareon was revived. Would Flareon finally get Flare Blitz as a natural level-up move? Would a Move Tutor provide it (as well as some other Pokemon) with the power it so desperately needs?

...Sadly, as the game was released, the answer to both questions turned out to be "No." There was no Flare Blitz tutor, and while all of the Eeveelutions got new moves, Flare Blitz was not one of them. Instead of Flare Blitz, they gave Flareon... Lava Plume. LAVA FUCKING PLUME. At this time, Fate laughed in our faces, and threw our hopes onto the ground.

In fact, ALL of the new moves that the Eeveelutions got were laughable:

Vaporeon: Muddy Water

Jolteon: Discharge

Flareon: Lava Plume

Espeon: Power Swap

Umbreon: Guard Swap

Leafeon: Swordsdance

Glaceon: Barrier

While Flareon got it bad, 4th Generation newcomers Leafeon and Glaceon got it worse! Leafeon could already learn Swordsdance through TM, so that's a waste of a moveslot. And Barrier is a move most other Pokemon with it learn very early, so what was the logic of making Barrier on Glaceon its last move (at Level 78, no less)?

Just as we thought nothing could save Flareon this generation, for the third time, our hopes were reignited with the announcement of Gold/Silver remakes Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Could this be it? Could Flareon finally get Flare Blitz this time? They say that the third time's the charm, so could this finally be Flareon's lucky break?

Now, with the games' official Japanese release just a day away, there's been a huge deluge of info from people who already have the games in some form. Turns out, HG/SS brought more new level-up moves to the table, as well as some new Move Tutors. So, did Flareon get lucky this time?

People have delved into the data of these games, and it seems very likely that... Flareon once again has been denied Flare Blitz. What. The. HELL?!

Fate continues laughing at us, and then stomps on our hopes, grinding them to dust underneath her feet.

I don't know what Game Freak's problem is. They deny Flareon Flare Blitz, while, in Platinum, they give out Outrage like it's candy. The words of Slowflake, a former GameFAQs user, probably holds soem ground: "Flareon killed Satoshi Tajiri's parents when he was 8" and "It's official, not only did Flareon kill Tajiri's parents when he was 8, it also had its way with his mother's dead body. And forced Tajiri to watch."

Admittedly, even if it got Flare Blitz, it would still need a bit more work done on it, especially with that speed (65 Base Speed isn't doing it any favors at all) and moveset, but Flare Blitz would be a step in the right direction.

Until then, Flareon will, sadly, remain a laughing stock in the PokeCommunity.

Don't worry, Flareon. I still love you.