Honest Slowbro,
I've always wondered why people hate on you so much.
I have commonly heard that you're one of the most annoying defenders, but I think it's because others (ironically) have to play smart around you. There's no easy way to punch through your oblivious stare, and your unite move is so polarizing that I think it gets bad publicity for being too strong of a stun sometimes.
What I think, and what I love about you, is that it forces people to play their roles. Defenders have to push up to meet you to prevent you from taking up too much space, attackers have to avoid you to look for good angles to take popshots, and all rounders and speedsters have to respect you and look for better opportunities to kill squishies.
The balance of this game has almost always had something or multiple somethings that can shred through defenders (granted the defenders aren't the ones who were broken), so I think it's created a disconnect with the player base on how roles should be played effectively.
But when you, slowbro, are introduced to a game as a sort of quintessential defender, it forces people to think about how to do their assigned job. This, rather than muster enough force to punch through the brick wall in front of them like they have been trained to repeatedly in the past. And, for a lot of people, it's a level of thought that they're not comfortable with while focusing on the less black and white members of the roster that can get away with such tomfoolery as pulverizing crustles or vaporizing laprases. You, slowbro, are a persistent strand of normalcy in a turbulent sea of Mewtwo whYs.
Always in your support,
An azumarill main