Hi there, I'm new to smogon, and I'm not much of a competitive gamer. I just use the pokemon I like and give them moves I like to imagine them using. For the past while, I've been compiling a personal headcanon pokedex made up of great fan-made pokemon around the internet (with artist links because none of the designs are mine). The pokedex is grouped together to coherently fit an island on the northern part of Nova Scotia, Canada, called Cape Breton, possibly merging with part of the mainland or Newfoundland. I'm also including a sound and gell type (a tanky mix of grass and water. Examples are gastrodon and goodra, maybe introducing a northern sea shellos/gastrodon form). I came across Smogon's CAP project, and cawmodore and malaconda struck me as designs fitting for a pokemon game (sorry for the others). Cawmodore looks like he'd be a part of my all-star team if he were real.
Now I know that CAP pokemon are carefully constructed, and I don't play the metagame, but I was a bit at odds with cawmodore's kit. He seems to me like a pokemon with 100% meta and 0% fluff. Why does he have volt absorb? Why is his HP 50? And how is he so speedy? Also, if some of his go-to moves are bullet punch and drain punch, why give him just those punching moves? Why not give him comet punch for a fun multi-hit move in early game? And since we're on topic with volt absorb and punching moves, why not give him charge and thunder punch as possible moves that cawmodore can learn through other means like breeding. It could synergize well with the volt absorb ability for fluff.
I compared cawmodore's stats to the Gen VII starters. Speed doesn't seem to be in the best interest of the starters, and I'd consider cawmodore to be about par with them in terms of speed, by how the design looks. Here's my totally unprofessional rearrangement of cawmodore's stats, for the sake of making sense to me (sorry if this is the wrong thread for this):
HP: 95
Atk: 95
Def: 128
SpA: 65
SpD: 75
Spe: 72
BST: 530
Now he's only slightly faster than the starters, since cawmodore could act like a boxing sailor captain. A 95 in HP seems much more fitting for his beefy design, which comes from his nerfed speed, and to even out the tankiness, his defense got nerfed a bit, and his attack went up a slight. Cawmodore is a more well-rounded pokemon with this stat set-up.
And also, personally, I would make volt absorb his hidden ability instead of big pecks.
Onto malaconda, I have no issue with his kit or stats. He kind of reminded me of dunsparce, though. What if malaconda was the evolution of a region's dunsparce form, like how Alola has its forms? I edited a dunsparce picture and compared them. Take a look. It's totally in my headcanon. :D
If this were done, a problem that would arise is the transition from dunsparce to malaconda, their moves, etc. Statwise, dunsparce has a 70 defense, while malaconda has 60. I could imagine malaconda with a 70 defense, but it might cost him some of his other stats, which are solid imo. Dunsparce's CAP form could be rearranged to fit malaconda, though.
Thoughts?