Based on the title alone, you already know what I'm about to do. I'm going to be taking my two current obsessions (Encanto and Pokemon) and combining the two. I'll be giving each Madrigal family member a full team of six, based on their powers, personalities, and role in the story. Note that I don't know much about or care much about the competitive meta, so these teams might not be incredibly balanced. Some of them might end up being pretty strong, and others pretty weak. The only consistent thing is that none of them are going to be having legendaries. I'm imagining them as if they're normal people with full teams, and normal trainers don't have legendaries. Sorry, Tobias.
In this one, I'll be doing Mirabel and her side of the family.
Mirabel
Of course, where else do we start but with our main protagonist? Mirabel is smart, brave, and creative. Despite not having a gift of her own, she's practically an empath, getting her family members to open up about their own traumas and teaching them to be happier, healthier people. What sort of Pokemon suit her best?
- Gardevoir: The Gardevoir line is extremely empathic, and while Mirabel has no crazy powers of her own, she and this mon share a trait of loyalty, a willingness to risk it all to keep their loved ones safe, and a thing for hugs. I can see Gardevoir being her first partner, starting out as a Ralts and evolving with love and time.
- Eevee: Eevee is the Pokemon known for being able to transform into eight different types, depending on your method of evolution. However, the original Eevee is a relatively weak normal type. I think this Pokemon, kept as an Eevee intentionally or otherwise, symbolizes Mirabel and her unlocked potential.
- Togepi: Not only is Mirabel the youngest Madrigal besides Antonio, but she's stuck in the nursery, symbolic of how she isn't treated as an equal by the rest of her family. Togepi is a baby egg Pokemon that I think Mirabel would be suited for, not only because she knows how to care for kids, but because she's symbolically the kid of the family thanks to her lack of powers.
- Leavanny: Leavanny is a bug who likes to sew clothes out of leaves and grass. Similarly, Mirabel is skilled with a sewing machine, making not only dresses, but toys and decorations as well.
- Butterfree: Butterflies play a big role in Encanto, and aside from Abuela, Mirabel is the one most associated with them. Butterfree is the original and best-known butterfly Pokemon, evolving from a weak little Caterpie, another Pokemon I think Mirabel would befriend early on.
- Luxray: This intimidating Electric lynx isn't only known for being one of the coolest looking Sinnoh mons. Luxray has X-Ray vision, and I think this fits Mirabel perfectly. Her glasses fit the theme of "opening your eyes" and seeing things for how they really are, like how she's the only one who can see the cracks.
Luisa
Up next is Luisa. Given the gift of super strength, Luisa is the family's rock. She's strong, she's brave, she's hard working, but she's also sensitive and insecure, anxious about the inherent pressure of keeping her family and the Encanto safe. What would her team look like?
- Mudbray: The literal Donkey Pokemon, Mudbray fits right in with Luisa and her donkey backup dancers. These mons are known for having immense strength and stamina, something that fits Luisa well.
- Conkeldurr: A strong mon who deals with construction, carrying literal pillars of concrete around every day. We see Luisa help out with construction quite often, and symbolically, we see her carrying the house itself in her song.
- Galarian Rapidash: This may seem weird for her, but Luisa's actually quite feminine. She's seen riding a Donkeycorn in her song, so what better than a literal unicorn Pokemon to contrast the hard-working theme of Mudbray?
- Bonsly: This one might seem a little weird. A crying rock baby for Luisa of all people? But Luisa's the rock of the family, and she has to learn to accept her emotions throughout the film. She learns that you can cry and still be strong, and that tears aren't always a sign of weakness- Bonsly itself is merely regulating its moisture levels. Plus, Luisa cares for Mirabel, and I believe she'd care for this Bonsly as well.
- Lunatone: Another rock, and a really heavy one, at that. Luisa likes to lift weights, and I think she'd get a good work out from lugging around a 370 pound Lunatone. Plus, of all the heaviest Pokemon, it's the one that could most reasonably be caried around and kept in the Casita.
- Jigglypuff: Another Pokemon that fits her lesson at the end. She learns that she needs to relax and care about herself a little, so who could help more than a Jigglypuff who can put her to sleep when she's overworked and stressed?
Isabela
To cap off the main sisters, we have Isabela. Gifted with beautiful flowers, she's seemingly perfect, the family's golden child. However, she's secretly struggling from the pressure put on her by her family. Can we make a team to reflect this?
- Florges: Florges is a Fairy-Type Pokemon who adores beautiful flowers. While it can have multiple colors, the most famous is the red coloring, which suits Isabela's pink aesthetic.
- Maractus: Starting off right away with her development. Isabela first discovered her expanded powers when she accidentally produced a cactus, which Maractus is based on. When it moves, it sounds like maracas, which is a Latin American percussion instrument.
- Glameow: A pretty, but fickle and temperamental cat, fitting for Isabela's perfect-but-mean persona earlier in the film. This cat is popular with trainers in various regions, and when antagonized, it's surprisingly strong in battle.
- Tsareena: A Grass-Type known for being beautiful yet cruel. This is another Pokemon that better fits Isabela's persona rather than her true self, but the similarities are hard to ignore.
- Carnivine: During her song, one of the plants that Isabela seems most excited to make are the carnivorous sundew, which she proclaims she can't just have a tiny bit of. Carnivine, a living carnivorous plant, fits perfectly with this idea.
- Liligant: As much as I wanted to give her something that wasn't just another Grass-Type, its hard, given her whole deal. Interestingly, this graceful Pokemon has the best looking flowers when found in the wild, a good representation of the same duality Isabela herself suffers from.
Julietta and Agustin
Unlike their daughters, Mirabel's parents don't get a ton of screen time, so I'll be doing them as a pair, each owning half of their combined team. Julietta is the caretaker who cooks literally healing food, and Agustin is the accident-prone but well-meaning father who fell for her after needing to visit her for food several times over. Together, they're supportive of Mirabel and help her during the film. So what will their team look like?
- Combee: One of the running gags throughout the film is that Agustin keeps getting stung by bees. I think giving him a Combee would be a funny way of representing that, while giving him a cute, friendly bee, rather than a terrifying Beedrill.
- Slurpuff: For the master chef Julieta, what better than a sweet dessert mon that likes to help cook in the kitchen?
- Blissey: A compassionate nurse Pokemon who carries around a sort of magic food that brings happiness. Now, who does that sound like...? Additionally, the line seems to be based on mothers, and Julieta is the perfect mother archetype for the movie.
- Spinda: A spinning, confused red-panda that I think suits Agustin well. He's clumsy and tries to keep up with everyone else, much like a Spinda, who can't manage to walk in a straight line but keeps foes away just by being its wobbly, weird self.
- Meganium: Not only is it a flowery Pokemon, echoing Isabela's whole theme, but its sweet floral scent calms people down, revives plants, and can even make people healthy again. Expected for a mon on Julieta's team, isn't it?
- Herdier: A loyal, hard-working dog mon that not only helps its trainer loyally, but also cares for other Pokemon. The fur also protects it from too much damage, something rather ironic on a team run by Agustin.
Conclusion
So, those are the teams for Mirabel, her sisters, and her parents. I wasn't too concerned with team balancing, but I do want to take the time to see how each team would fare.
The most balanced so far is Mirabel's team. She has some strong mons like Luxray, Gardevoir and Leavanny, and some relatively weak mons, like Eevee, Togepi, and Butterfree. She has the most type diversity, though not the strongest team in stat total. That goes to Isabela, who has multiple fully-evolved or non-evolving Pokemon... But she'll be crippled by any fire type team. Thankfully for her, none of her other family members use fire, and Luisa herself is pretty weak to grass. As for Julieta and Agustin, the power is pretty condensed on Julieta's side, which makes sense considering she's the one with the gift. As a unit, their team is balanced similar to Mirabel's, however they have less overall type-diversity.
If you liked this, stay tuned for when I do Pepa's side of the family, as well as Abuela and Bruno. Thanks for reading!
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