Here's what I think about Steve Guthrie's Top 10. My comments are written
<this way>:

10. Sabrina's Haunter (Gym Heroes)
Comments: Sabrina's Haunter has no retreat, no weakness, fighting
resistance, and an attack, Night Spirits, which can be really solid.  No
reason why this one shouldn't be where it
is.
Rating: 6.5

<Why should a Pokémon you give a 6.5 belong into your Top 10? With all 8
series (including Promo) there has to be at least 10 cards you really love,
and give more then a 6.5.
I agree with all you said, no retreat, no weakness and all is great, but it
shouldn't belong to your list. >

9. Electabuzz
Comments: I dislike haymaker Pokemon (or as I like to call them, GAYmaker
Pokemon), but 'Buzz is okay, and 'Chan is great.  Thunderpunch isn't bad
with the 70HP, but the
double retreat is bad.  He's a solid attacker and a bad retreater.
Rating: 6.7

<A solid attacker and a bad retreater. You're right there, but all good
attackers are bad retreaters! What about your own 1st place Pokémon,
Blastoise? Electabuzz is the only Basic Pokémon in the world who can do 40
for 1 color and 1 colorless Energy and even has 70 HP. If he had less
retreat too, he would had absolutely no drawbacks! Electabuzz has no
problems with resistance, except little 50 HP Wooper, so he's definitely
better then 'Chan in today's enviroment.>

8. Misty's Golduck
Comments: I love Electrobeam.  Even if you have to discard Energy cards
with it.  Attach a water energy and a psychic energy to power both attacks
at once, and then fire away.
Wonderful Pokemon.
Rating: 7.3

<You're right, Electrobeam IS great. It's the perfect Magmar killer. But it
has grass weakness, so Scyther hurts it. Meganium also has advantage over
this card. And as we all know, Meganium and Scyther are far more popular
today then  Misty's Golduck is, and that makes it a risk to use.
It shocks me that Scyther or Meganium not are in your list, but this one.>

7. Dark Blastoise
Comments: In a Rain Dance deck (my favorite deck), Rain Dance the four
water energy cards here and KO the hay Pokemon each in one hit.  I love
this Pokemon.
Rating: 7.6

<Now you're up on 7th place, and you still only gave it a 7.6.
Dark Blastoise is a nice Pokémon, but the fact that he's got 70 HP makes
him faint from only one single Thunderpunch. He's a Stage 2, too, making
him difficult to get out and making his 70 HP really bad.>

6. Dark Raichu
Comments: Surprise Thunder is great.  One heads for 10 each to your
opponent's bench, and if you're really lucky, two heads for 20 each to your
opponent's bench.  70HP and a
low retreat are good too.
Rating: 7.8

<Dark Raichu? He's good if you want a fun deck, but...
He's got only one expensive attack, he's extremely weak to Energy Removal,
and he's got only 70 HP.
He's a Stage 1 Lightning Pokémon with bad attacks and 70 HP. 'Buzz is a
Basic Lightning Pokémon with good attacks and 70 HP. So why did this one
get 1.1 more points?>

5. Dark Wartortle
Comments: Doubleslap kinda sucks, but I love Mirror Shell.  It protects the
wimpy 60HP and weakness to lightning, making Dark Wartortle a solid
Pokemon.
Rating: 8.1

<Mirrol Shell is NOT good. It's a bad Metronome, that makes you have to
take a lot of damage before you can do any. Clefable's not on your list,
and it's got better HP, an his metronome is much cheaper (1 Colorless) and
much better.
Rocket's Hitmonchan has an attack very similar to Dark Wartortle's too, and
crosscounter is also much better.
Think before you give a card like this a 8.1.
It has even got Lightning weakness, the most dangerous weakness of all,
since everybody (almost) uses Lightning.>

4. Hitmonchan
Comments: In my definate opinion, he's the only solid hay Pokemon.  Jab for
a first turn 20 (40 to a Jiggly or Clefairy), and Special Punch is solid
too.  Bad retreat cost, but he's a
wrecking ball until death.
Rating: 8.5

<Which century do you live in? Hey, 'Chan was good in Base Set, but now,
with both Rocket's Zapdos, Scyther and Gligar out there, he's almost
useless. I haven't seen a single deck without Fighting resistent Pokémon
for months now. He was great, but 'Buzz is far better today. Special Punch
is too expensive, and Jab isn't that special, we've got Rocket's Zapdos.>

3. Gengar
Comments: Gengar has been a favorite of mine for quite a while now.  Curse
is great, and Dark Mind is wonderful.  Excellent bench killer.
Rating: 9.5

<9.5? You know what kind of rating that is? 9.5 is what you give a card
that's almost so good it should be banned. If you gave Wiggly or Rocket's
Zapdos a 9.5 I would still disagree, but not as much as with Gengar.
Gengar is good, I've used him in several decks, but he's a bit slow and not
tournament worthy.
He's a Stage 2 too, and I think that Stage 2s never should get such a high
rating (not even the ultra-broken Meganium)>

2. Squirtle (Team Rocket)
Comments: Why Squirtle?  'Cause he's broken!  Think about it.  One retreat
is solid, 50HP, and an all colorless Shell Attack.  He's fits into pretty
much any deck (I even used him as
a starting Pokemon in my Alakazam deck once), and he works really well with
a first turn Lass and DCE.  I simply love this Pokemon!
Rating: 9.6

<Squirtle??? 9.6? He's a lightning weakness 50 HP Basic with a standard
20-for-two-colorless attack!
Ever heard of Gligar? He does 20 for 1 Colorless too!
Ever heard of Jungle Electrode, Base Ponyta, Dark Charmeleon, Steelix,
Blaine's Ponyta, and so on? An attack like that is nothing special! Lass?
What has lass to do with this one? I can't see any combos with Lass and
Squirtle. You could just use Lass and one of the Pokémon in my list.
When you see your opponent take out Squirtle first turn with Plasma and a
Plus Power, you'll change you mind about that crazy 9.6 rating.>

1. Blastoise
Comments: Why on earth would anyone ask me for a reason of why I think
Blastoise is the game's best Pokemon?  Rain Dance is totally broken, and
Hydro Pump is wonderful.  Not
to mention, a full 100HP and this guy's really the best Pokemon ever.
Rating: 10.0

<Blastoise is a very powerful Pokémon, and he is one of the best Stage 2s
ever. In fact, he and Meganium are the king of Stage 2s. But a 10.10? That
equals 100%! I would never give any card that rating!
There are so many cards you didn't even mention in your list, but this one
gets 10.0! What about:
-Rocket's Zapdos
-Scyther
-Wigglytuff
-Sneasel
-Gligar
-Meganium
They should all be in your list, but Blastoise is the only Pokémon you
think about.
You should've seen the face of the kid I beat at the EC STS when I used
Thunderpunch and did 80 damage to his Blastoise. "Oh... does it really do
that much damage?" he asked.
"Yes" I answered.
Blastoise is good, but still easy to beat. And a 10.0 Pokémon should not be
easy to beat. It should be as good as impossible to beat, and no Pokémon
is. Especially not Blastoise. >

Sorry if I maybe bashed your list to much, but disagreed so much with some
of your choises, I just had to tell.

Tell me what you think.

Eskil Vestre
methusa@vestre.net