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This question actually originated from the games, but it applies to the
anime/manga as well.

Water is strong against fire because water can extinguish fire. Electricity is
weak against Grass because grass is grounded, which nullifies electricity.

What is the reasoning for Bug to be effective against Dark type?

> And I've already heard about the Malaria in Africa joke, it's not funny!


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2012-12-15T16:41:20.247
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2019-10-04T09:24:05.843
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pokemon
Why are Bug type attacks effective against Dark type Pokemon?


If I had to guess, it was because of game balance more than logic.

There are only two types that are super-effective against Dark.

  * Fighting
  * Bug

Neither of which make much logical sense. But it would be fairly safe to say
that Dark would be overpowered if it only had one or no weaknesses.

Another argument to support the game-balance motivation is that bug types
would otherwise be considered weak since they are super-effective against few
other types.

So in short, they probably needed to keep Dark in check and make Bug more
competitive.

* * *

This sort of balancing isn't particularly new. Psychic is a good example.

In the first generation of games, Psychic had only one weakness - Bug. Despite
ghost also being super-effective against Psychic, there weren't any "real"
ghost attacks in generation 1 (and only a couple of bug attacks).

So generation 2 added Dark types to keep Psychics in check.


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2012-12-15T16:53:03.480
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Dark types are weak to (and resisted by) fighting because most types of
fighting emphasize discipline; many of them put themselves in painful
situations to strengthen themselves.

However, the dark type doesn't train much, and tend not to do well in fair
combat because they are physically weaker than a given fighting type, and not
tough enough to withstand them, either.

Now, as for bugs, one of their attributes is that they tend to be cooperative,
and their attacks are nothing but direct to the goals they instinctually show.
Dark types are super effective on psychic types because psychic types have the
same indirect tricks, but the intimidation of dark types put fear into psychic
types, and you can't really reason with a psychopath using psychology tricks
or casting uncertainty or confusion into their minds because of their strong
will. For bugs on dark, it's the same thing as fighting on dark. The dexterity
and organization bugs naturally develop overpower the dark type's battle
coordination, because their specialty is fighting unfair, but if a group of
insects attack you, there's no backup plan one can use to get them off of you,
short of maybe jumping into water, setting yourself on fire, or otherwise
cloak yourself in something which keeps the bugs from continuing to attack
you.


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2016-10-21T21:39:42.210
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Dark was 100% a balance to Psychic in Gen II, Psychic dominated the typing
tree and what little multiplayer competition there was during Gen 1 (this was
also due to the fact that there was no separate "Special Attack" and "Special
Defense" in Gen 1, only "Special" which covered both and made Psychics who
normally excelled in the stat both powerful AND bulky).

BUT one can see reasoning behind the chosen typing beyond convenience of
balancing the types.

A key thing to note is that the Japanese name for the "Dark" type is more
closely translated to "Evil" or "Sinister." This is why dark types have many
underhanded or villainous move names like "Quash," "Sucker Punch," "Fake
Tears," "Torment," and "Nasty Plot." Also why the Fairy type, which embodies
goodness or purity, has a type advantage.

Alternatively, Fighting type embodies heroism or, as Beetle said, discipline.
If you consider the culture of classic Japanese action films, the heroes who
take down EVIL are usually adept and disciplined in martial arts.

On the Bug side, insects obviously aren't know to be the undoing of evil, but
if you consider what people associate with bugs, things become more clear:

  * From one angle, we can again refer to Japanese culture. To quote TvTropes.org: "Japan loves bugs, and they're everywhere. Not only is Bug Catching one of the oldest pastimes in the country, but much of their pop culture includes or is influenced by them." Beetles and bugs are regularly the costume theme designs of fictional heroes or mechs in Japanese series. In Gen II, they introduced Heracross a Bug/FIGHTING hercules beetle, a wildly popular beetle, alongside the Dark type to perfectly counter the new type. This is the "Hero" angle cropping up again.
  * The second angle to consider is on the other end of the spectrum of how Evil is vanquished. Bugs are known to swarm or cooperate in numbers that overwhelm the target (think endless mosquitos on a camping trip or a synchronized colony of ants). Similarly, if one wants to overthrow a great evil, an army or a cooperative society can collaborate to take it down with sheer numbers. Evil may strike one or a handful down, but the movement will overwhelm eventually.

So ultimately, Evil (Dark) is framed as being bested by discipline/heroism
(Fighting), the collective effort of the masses (Bug), or pure goodness
(Fairy).

Now if only somebody could explain why exactly it is that Ghost type is weak
against Dark type...


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2016-11-26T08:55:21.597
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The answer is simple: Kamen Rider.

Kamen Rider was (and probably still is) an insanely popular Power-Rangers
style action show in Japan where the hero is insect-themed. An insect themed
hero (as "Goosh" mentioned vaguely) who fights against the forces of EVIL
(Dark Types).

So you can bet Bug > Dark is purely the result of Kamen Rider.


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2016-12-11T06:54:30.390
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The Dark type is an embodiment of dirty tactics. The original Japanese
translation is 'Evil' type, and this is shown as giving the Pokemon of this
type underhanded or sneaky ways of fighting. Examples of this are shown in
various Dark type moves:

Pursuit : Dealing more damage on an enemy trying to retreat

Sucker Punch : Attacking before the enemy is ready

Fake Tears: Pretending to cry to put an enemy off guard

Beat up: Attacking with the whole team in an unfair 6v1 fight

Culturally in Japan, the villainous dark character must be beaten by the
virtuous hero character. That is why Fighting types are super effective. They
embody this heroism trait.

So why also Bugs? This is probably a reference to the series Kamen Rider, a
show that has existed continuously from the 1970s to the present day and is a
cultural phenomenon large enough that every child in Japan would know it. In
this series, the usual premise is a Masked Hero riding a motorcycle fights the
forces of evil with the Main character always using an Insect themed costume.

In fact, the Bug type move Signal Beam(シグナルビーム) is pronounced as English in
the original Japanese versions, reminiscent of many Kamen Rider 'special
moves'.

This insect association with heroism actually goes back further, with stag
beetles representing the honourable samurai and becoming the basis for many
real samurai helmet designs.

Another hint towards this connection exists before the Dark type was ever
introduced. In generation 1, the villains often used Poison types. This is the
only Generation where Bug types were super effective against poison!


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2017-09-27T17:58:30.357
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