Ooooooh boy! I've been flip-flopping around on deciding exactly which new Pokemon (not counting Alolan Forms) I would consider to be my favorite of the whole bunch. I think Game Freak really outdid themselves with Gen VII. There are so many Pokemon this time around that I just fell in love with, whether due to design, concepts and/or battle capabilities; Pallossand, Dhelmise, Salazzle, Golisopod, Bewear, Vikavolt, Tsareena, Lurantis, Passimian & Oranguru, Drampa, Ribombee, the mascot legendaries, the three starters, the Ultra Beasts, the four Tapus, and Necrozma...all to name just a few from the top of my head!
But...after soaking 100+ hours into completing the Alola Pokedex on my Moon copy (a goal which I finally achieved yesterday), I ultimately managed to determine which new Pokemon takes my top spot.
Yup! Minior rocks out (excuse the pun) as my #1 favorite Alola Pokemon. For me, no other Gen VII Pokemon quite tops this stellar little fella, and for good reason. A Pokemon made from mutated nanoparticles in the stratosphere, you say? What a spectacular, and surprisingly credible, origin! If that wasn't good enough, it comes in seven different colors and shields itself with debris it collected from its descent to earth. I'm a sucker for cosmic-themed things, and this guy just screams "I'm perfect for you!!!".
Not to mention how good it is in battle. Bulky and slow at first with an immunity to status conditions while armored, but then flips to offensive and gets its speed
doubled once the shield comes down: sort of reminds me of Aegislash, however it requires more care and planning to work with than said possessed sword. You have to manage HP to get the best results while avoiding potential one-shots. But if you use it right, then holy be-jeezus is the reward insane! With a move-pool including Shell Smash, Acrobatics, Power Gem, Earthquake, Stealth Rock, and Explosion...you can be damn near unstoppable if you get set-up. Obviously it has things that'll check and counter it like anything else, but that's what a team of five other members is for, right?
Also, I know I've blabbed on about this thing enough already, but can I please give a mention to Shiny Minior?
Black with a shard of each of its seven non-shiny colors in the body. The immaculacy and detail put into this is just unmatched by any other shiny re-color to date (unless there's another I'm not thinking of), and this definitely ranks as my favorite Shiny Pokemon of all time. And now that I have my Shiny Charm, you can be certain I will spend as long as I have to in order to breed me a Shiny Minior I can EV/ Hyper-Train for battle.
...Sorry that I've dragged on gushing over this guy. It's just....auuuuugh! I love this Pokemon so much!!!