Today I’m going to take a flying leap into the second half of the Unovan Pokédex to look at one of the Pokémon I used in my play-through of Black: the undead jellyfish Pokémon Frillish and Jellicent. Yes, you read that right: undead. See, they may not look it, but Frillish and Jellicent are actually Ghost-types. This is not only an immediate defence against any accusation that Frillish is just Tentacool 2.0, it also means that they possess a unique type combination, Ghost/Water, and therefore an inherently interesting set of powers. From a mechanical perspective, this is clearly a good start, so let’s look at the flavour.
The trouble with Jellicent is that it’s just a little bit difficult to take seriously. Well, to be totally fair, that’s more a problem with the females, since Frillish and Jellicent show some of the greatest sexual dimorphism of all Pokémon; all Jellicent are extremely poufy, but the females take the silliness further with the heart-shaped mouth and exaggerated eyelashes. I am not exactly certain why Nintendo feel that female Pokémon should have Barbie undertones to them, like the heart-shaped tails of female Pikachu or, worse, the heart-shaped horns of female Heracross (are they really supposed to fight with them?), but whatever the reason, it annoys me. Jellicent is still far from the silliest Pokémon I’ve ever seen, though, and if you actually look a bit closer and read the Pokédex entries, these things quickly shift from ludicrous to downright disturbing. Tentacool were in the game, more or less, to be annoying; they were the Zubat of the sea. 
They’re described as being dangerous, but not aggressive, much like real jellyfish. Tentacruel, of course, are much nastier, but they tend to be described as preying exclusively on Pokémon. Frillish and Jellicent... not so much. Frillish are deep ocean Pokémon, but they hunt at the surface, doing so by entangling prey in their arms, paralyzing them with various toxins, and dragging them back down to the sea floor. There’s no mention of Frillish harming people specifically, but Jellicent certainly do. Apparently areas populated by Jellicent act as Bermuda Triangle-like zones in the Pokémon world – ships that pass through are almost invariably sunk and their crews lost. These things quite literally kill people by the boatload. They also explicitly feed on life-force. So, in short: the Pokémon world now has undead jellyfish that are actively aggressive towards ships in their territory, powerful enough to sink them, and hungry for souls. Well, yes, it’s a bit worrying, but you can’t tell me it’s not awesome.
They’re described as being dangerous, but not aggressive, much like real jellyfish. Tentacruel, of course, are much nastier, but they tend to be described as preying exclusively on Pokémon. Frillish and Jellicent... not so much. Frillish are deep ocean Pokémon, but they hunt at the surface, doing so by entangling prey in their arms, paralyzing them with various toxins, and dragging them back down to the sea floor. There’s no mention of Frillish harming people specifically, but Jellicent certainly do. Apparently areas populated by Jellicent act as Bermuda Triangle-like zones in the Pokémon world – ships that pass through are almost invariably sunk and their crews lost. These things quite literally kill people by the boatload. They also explicitly feed on life-force. So, in short: the Pokémon world now has undead jellyfish that are actively aggressive towards ships in their territory, powerful enough to sink them, and hungry for souls. Well, yes, it’s a bit worrying, but you can’t tell me it’s not awesome.Of course, if I’m going to judge a Pokémon’s worthiness to exist, I have to look at what it can actually do as well. Jellicent is a stereotypical “bulky water” – a slow, tough Water-type Pokémon that isn’t totally impotent on an offensive front either (Water is a strong element to use for this kind of thing, because it comes with only two weaknesses: Electric and Grass). Everyone probably remembers at least one of these things: Blastoise, Poliwrath, Slowbro, Lapras, Vaporeon and Dewgong are all examples, of varying degrees of competence. There are a lot of Water Pokémon already, and a lot of them are like this, so Jellicent really needs to bring something new to the table to impress me. Fortunately... it does. I’ve already mentioned that Jellicent is a Ghost-type; this adds two more weaknesses to it (Ghost and Dark attacks) but in return gets it two extra resistances (Bug and Poison) and, more importantly, two immunities (Normal and Fighting), which mean opportunities to switch in with impunity. It also makes Jellicent one of only a handful of Pokémon that resist both Water and Normal attacks - one of a few classic combinations favoured for their wide type coverage.
Courtesy of its spiritual powers, Jellicent is the only Water-type Pokémon to have access to Will’o’Wisp, which burns its targets – a strong ability for a defensive Pokémon since being burned weakens a Pokémon’s physical attacks – but the introduction of a new Water-type attack with the ability to cause burns, Scald, may mean that this isn’t as unusual a trick as it would have been a year ago. As far as direct attacks go, Jellicent has more variety than the standard Water/Ice combination to which many Water Pokémon are limited; it can also learn Shadow Ball (a Ghost attack), Energy Ball (a Grass attack) and Psychic (a... yeah, you can figure this out for yourself). It lacks punch though, so loading its move slots with direct attacks is probably not the best plan. Jellicent also has the rare and dangerous Water Spout attack, which has a varying level of power that depends on the user’s current health; unfortunately Jellicent isn’t really fast enough to take advantage of this by attacking before it gets hurt. The truly lovely thing about Jellicent’s movepool is that it gets Recover, a tremendous asset to a defensive Pokémon. It also has two nice passive abilities. Cursed Body is an unusual new ability that can potentially disable attacks that hit Jellicent, preventing opponents from using them again for a few turns. I love the way this ability fits Frillish and Jellicent’s flavour and I can say from experience that it can be very handy in a tight spot. It’s not a reliable defence, though, so from a pragmatic standpoint Jellicent’s other ability is probably the better choice: Water Absorb, which confers total immunity to Water attacks (hence, more chances to switch in for free) and lets Jellicent heal itself when it is hit by one. I still like Cursed Body, though, for being colourful, interesting and somewhat useful.
Courtesy of its spiritual powers, Jellicent is the only Water-type Pokémon to have access to Will’o’Wisp, which burns its targets – a strong ability for a defensive Pokémon since being burned weakens a Pokémon’s physical attacks – but the introduction of a new Water-type attack with the ability to cause burns, Scald, may mean that this isn’t as unusual a trick as it would have been a year ago. As far as direct attacks go, Jellicent has more variety than the standard Water/Ice combination to which many Water Pokémon are limited; it can also learn Shadow Ball (a Ghost attack), Energy Ball (a Grass attack) and Psychic (a... yeah, you can figure this out for yourself). It lacks punch though, so loading its move slots with direct attacks is probably not the best plan. Jellicent also has the rare and dangerous Water Spout attack, which has a varying level of power that depends on the user’s current health; unfortunately Jellicent isn’t really fast enough to take advantage of this by attacking before it gets hurt. The truly lovely thing about Jellicent’s movepool is that it gets Recover, a tremendous asset to a defensive Pokémon. It also has two nice passive abilities. Cursed Body is an unusual new ability that can potentially disable attacks that hit Jellicent, preventing opponents from using them again for a few turns. I love the way this ability fits Frillish and Jellicent’s flavour and I can say from experience that it can be very handy in a tight spot. It’s not a reliable defence, though, so from a pragmatic standpoint Jellicent’s other ability is probably the better choice: Water Absorb, which confers total immunity to Water attacks (hence, more chances to switch in for free) and lets Jellicent heal itself when it is hit by one. I still like Cursed Body, though, for being colourful, interesting and somewhat useful.I really, really wish Jellicent’s designer had been a little more subtle with its gender differences. However, this is really my only gripe with it. It’s a unique combination of attributes wrapped in some unexpectedly dark flavour – which is always nice to see in Pokémon, because they really are surprisingly good at it when they want to be (seriously, check out Cubone, Shedinja, Yamask... for that matter, read the flavour text on some of the trading cards from the old Team Rocket sets, which really highlights just how crazy life could get in a world where most wildlife has dangerous magical powers). I doubt Jellicent will be a top contender, but uniqueness is tremendously valuable and ensures a Pokémon a place somewhere. It could maybe have been improved, but overall I think it’s good; we’re not quite out of ideas yet!
I hereby affirm this Pokémon’s right to exist!
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