Characters / Pokémon: Generation IV - Turtwig to Bronzong

Main Character Index > Pokémon: Generation IV Families > Turtwig to Bronzong (387-437) | Chatot to Arceus (438-493)

Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra (Naetle, Hayashigame, and Dodaitose)

0387: Turtwig / Naetle (ナエトル naetoru)
0388: Grotle / Hayashigame (ハヤシガメ hayashigame)
0389: Torterra / Dodaitose (ドダイトス dotaitosu)

Turtwig

Grotle

Torterra

Turtwig is a small, green snapping turtle with a sprout on its head and a shell made of hard soil. As it evolves, its shell gets larger and gains more shrubbery. When it finally becomes Torterra, it gains the Ground-type and now has a tree and spikes, all of which resembles a mountainous scene. While it is very strong and very tough, it is also very slow; one of the slowest starters, in fact.

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• Critical Hit Class: They naturally learn Razor Leaf, which has a high critical hit ratio.
• Demoted to Extra: In Legends: Arceus they've been replaced as the starter in favor of the Rowlet line, and are only found in the wild.
• Discard and Draw: Grotle gains the Ground-Type when it evolves into Torterra, picking up useful Electric immunity and Rock resistance and giving it a useful way of beating Fire-types like Infernape. At the same time, it loses a valuable resistance to Water, and becomes horribly weak to Ice attacks.
• Disc-One Nuke: Turtwig reaches its final form the earliest of the three Sinnoh starters, with Grotle evolving into Torterra at Level 32. It also learns Earthquake upon evolving, an immensely powerful end-game move that you can get early as the fourth gym.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Upon evolving to Torterra, Torterra becomes part Ground-type.
• Earthy Tortoise: Turtwig and Grotle skirt the trope by having Grass as the primary Type and being particularly themed around trees. Torterra gains the Ground secondary Type, and carries around a full-grown tree and set of rocky spikes on its back that make it resemble a living hillock.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: In addition to the usual Grass-Fire-Water starter triad, the Sinnoh starters' final evolutions have secondary types that have varying relations with the other starters — in this case, Torterra's Ground typing lets it counter Infernape's Fire as well as Empoleon's Steel. The latter comes particularly in handy, as Empoleon's Steel typing negates the usual Grass weakness of Water types.
• Energy Ball: They can learn the Grass-type move of the same name via TM, but their poor Special Attack prevents them from using it effectively.
• Gentle Giant: One of the largest starter Pokémon (and the second heaviest after Skeledirge as of Gen IX), Torterra are said to let smaller Pokémon live on its back.
• Green Thumb: They're the first Grass-types in the Sinnoh Dex.
• Kill It with Fire: Being Grass-types, the line is weak to Fire-type moves.
• Kill It with Ice: Torterra's Grass/Ground-typing leaves it horribly vulnerable to Ice-type attacks.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Torterra has good physical attack, but its special attack leaves a lot to be desired. This is especially unfortunate, considering most Grass-type moves are classified as special. Fortunately Torterra was introduced in the same generation as the Physical-Special Split, and the array of physical Grass-Type moves has continued to expand since then.
• Mighty Glacier: The line has great Attack and Defense, but it is pretty slow (as expected from a line based on tortoises). Torterra is the slowest out of all the fully evolved starters thus far.
• Prehistoric Animal Analogue: As it evolves, it becomes more like an ankylosaur than a tortoise.
• Punny Name: Turtwig/Naetle is a turtle with a twig sprouting (nae) from its head, Grotle/Hayashigame is a turtle (kame) with a grove (hayashi) growing out of its back, while Torterra/Dodaitose is a tortoise whose back is large (dai) and earthy (terra, do) enough to act as foundation (dodai) for a small forest.
• Recurring Element: The Sinnoh Grass starter with a build similar to the Bulbasaur line.
• Secret Art: As a Grass starter, it can learn Grass Pledge and Frenzy Plant. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Torterra is the only Pokémon other than Ursaluna to be able to learn Headlong Rush, a Ground-type version of Close Combat.
• Starter Mon: The Grass starter of Sinnoh. Turtwig is good against most of the gyms.
• Status Buff: Torterra can use Rock Polish to help patch up its Speed, or Curse to make it an even bigger Mighty Glacier. The line gets Shell Smash as an egg move in Gen IX, boosting both of its offenses and speed by two stages at the cost of lowering both its defenses by one stage.
• Sturdy and Steady Turtles: They're typical Mighty Glaciers — they have very good Defense and HP coupled with respectable Attack, but their Speed remains very low. In point of fact, Torterra is one of the slowest Pokémon among all the fully evolved starters.
• That's No Moon: Torterra are often confused for walking forests and/or mountains. In Pokémon Detective Pikachu, this is made terrifying with gigantic mutant Torterra.
• Turns Red: Overgrow boosts its Grass attacks when its health becomes low.
• Turtle Island: Torterra carries a forest on its shell, and is even called the "Continent Pokémon".

Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape (Hikozaru, Moukazaru, and Goukazaru)

0390: Chimchar / Hikozaru (ヒコザル hikozaru)
0391: Monferno / Moukazaru (モウカザル moukazaru)
0392: Infernape / Goukazaru (ゴウカザル goukazaru)

Chimchar

Monferno

Infernape

A small, red monkey with a flame for a tail, Chimchar's evolutions could be summarized as getting bigger, gaining blue and white fur, growing golden adornments on its body, gaining a Fighting type, and growing a scalp that bursts into flame. As you can guess, this line eschews defense for pure Speed and offense, making it a valuable asset to any team.

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• Action Initiative: Monferno and Infernape naturally learn Mach Punch, and all three members of the line can be tutored Vacuum Wave. Both moves allow them to attack with increased priority.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: As Fighting-types, Monferno and Infernape are quite adept at hand-to-hand combat. They also get Iron Fist as their Hidden Ability, which expands on this concept, boosting the power on all of their punching moves.
• Boss Battle:
  • Infernape is Elite Four Flint's signature during Diamond and Pearl.
  • In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Infernape is used by Lavana during your first battle against her in the Boyleland Volcano.
• Character Select Forcing: Back in Diamond and Pearl, it is one of only two Fire-type Pokémon lines available in Sinnoh before acquiring the National Pokédex, the other being the Ponyta line.
• Confusion Fu: Infernape's versatility is something to be reckoned with; with several different stat-boosting moves and wide type attacking coverage, Infernape's movepool stretches into a massive move ocean^note The only types Infernape can't attack with are Water, Ice, Psychic, and Fairy. And it also has equally high Attack and Special Attack, so it can actually use just about anything from its movepool without running into any efficiency issues. You'll never know what it's doing until it does anything.
• Demoted to Extra: In Legends: Arceus they've been replaced as the starter in favor of the Cyndaquil line, and are only found in the wild. However, it does at least get the consolation prize of being featured in an early-game sidequest.
• Discard and Draw: Similar to Torchic, Chimchar gains the Fighting-type upon evolving, losing the Rock-type weakness as well as being able to beat Rock-types in return. It also loses a Fairy resistance as well as gaining weaknesses to Flying and Psychic.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: In addition to the usual Grass-Fire-Water starter triad, the Sinnoh starters' final evolutions have secondary types that have varying relations with the other starters — in this case, Infernape's Fighting lets it counter Empoleon's Steel.
• Farts on Fire: Chimchar's "tail" is actually lit gases.
• Flaming Hair: Infernape has a long strand of fire surging out of the top of its head.
• Fragile Speedster: It has the third-best Speed of all Fighting-types, beaten only by Pirouette Forme Meloetta and Hawlucha, but it still can't take hits well.
• Glass Cannon: While it isn't quite as strong as Blaziken, it still packs enough of a punch to seriously threaten most opponents.
• Heal Thyself: Chimchar and Monferno can learn Slack Off^note which heals the user for 50% of their HP, though you need to keep them from evolving for several levels to do so since Infernape can't learn it^note until Scarlet and Violet allowed it to learn the move via move reminder, and its utility is somewhat questionable given their frailty on both defensive fronts.
• Incendiary Exponent: Infernape's head is on fire. What more do you need?
• Magic Knight: Infernape has equal offensive stats (104) with the movepool to back them up. It can also learn Nasty Plot and Swords Dance to boost its attack stats.
• Monkey King Lite: Infernape is based on Sun Wukong/Son Goku.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite Chimchar and Infernape being named after apes, the presence of a tail makes the line based on monkeys.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: At a little over 3 feet tall, Infernape is the smallest fully-evolved starter in its normal stance; its size when standing erect is never specified.^note The way it is standing would make Infernape's full height around 6 feet or so.
• Playing with Fire: They're the first Fire-types in the Sinnoh Dex. In Diamond and Pearl, they were also the only Fire-types in the Sinnoh Dex besides the Ponyta line.
• Recurring Element: The Sinnoh Fire starter.
• Secret Art: As a Fire starter, it can learn Fire Pledge and Blast Burn. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Infernape is the only Pokémon other than Hisuian Arcanine to be able to learn Raging Fury, a Fire-type version of Outrage.
• Starter Mon: The Fire starter of Sinnoh. Much like Torchic before, Chimchar starts off at a disadvantage against the first gym unless it evolves and gains the Fighting type. Once it does so, it does very well against most of the gyms.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Chimchar and Monferno resemble Charmander and Charmeleon (complete with flaming tails), but as monkeys. Infernape shares its species name ("Flame Pokémon") with Charizard and gains a secondary typing like it does, but diverges completely in terms of design to the point of no longer having a flaming tail. Being a part Fighting-type Fragile Speedster, Infernape also very much resembles its predecessor from the previous generation, Blaziken.
• Turns Red: Blaze boosts its Fire attacks when its health becomes low.
• Unstoppable Rage:
  • When it activates Blaze in the anime. it goes into a fiery berserker rage and becomes very unstable.
  • In Legends: Arceus and The Teal Mask DLC for Scarlet and Violet, Infernape can learn Raging Fury, which results in Infernape dealing massive Fire-type damage for three turns before getting confused from the aftermath.

Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon (Pochama, Pottaishi, and Emperte)

0393: Piplup / Pochama (ポッチャマ pocchama)
0394: Prinplup / Pottaishi (ポッタイシ pottaishi)
0395: Empoleon / Emperte (エンペルト enperuto)

Piplup

Prinplup

Empoleon

A small blue penguin, Piplup's evolutions give it golden ornaments on its head and claws, as well as a darker shade of blue and the addition of the Steel-type. This starter's main strengths seem to be a resistance to a whopping 10 types, decent defensive stats, and high Special Attack.

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• Action Initiative: Learns Aqua Jet naturally, which makes sense given their horrible speed stats, since penguins are extremely fast swimmers, even if they can only waddle slowly on land.
• Balance Buff: In Generation IX, their Hidden Ability was changed from Defiant to Competitive, which better fits their stat spread as Special attackers.
• Berserk Button: Their Hidden Ability is Competitive (Defiant prior to Generation IX), which raises Special Attack if any stat gets lowered. In-universe, Empoleon are said to avoid unnecessary fights, but will become enraged at anyone that hurts its pride and attack them without mercy.
• Breakout Character: Piplup has become one of the most beloved Pokémon in Japan for its cute design, and as a result, it became one of the starring Pokémon in the anime during the Diamond and Pearl seasons.
• Classy Cravat: The white markings on Empoleon's chest certainly look like one, adding to its regal appearance.
• Coup de Grâce: Brine, which has a base power of 65 that doubles to 130 if the opponent is at or below half health.
• Crown-Shaped Head: Empoleon’s horns not only resemble a trident, but also a golden crown. Fitting for an emperor penguin.
• Cub Cues Protective Parent: While Prinplup live alone, Empoleon are very protective of Piplup chicks. Anyone messing with them gets attacked by an angry fully grown Pokémon with wings as hard as steel.
• Demoted to Extra: In Legends: Arceus they've been replaced as the starter in favor of the Oshawott line, and are only found in the wild.
• Discard and Draw: Empoleon's Steel typing gives it many additional resistances and nullifies its Grass weakness, but also nullifies its Fire resistance and gives it additional weaknesses to Fighting and Ground (though the latter of those is downplayed thanks to the line being Water-types).
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: In addition to the usual Grass-Fire-Water starter triad, the Sinnoh starters' final evolutions have secondary types that have varying relations with the other starters. Unfortunately, Empoleon doesn't have it as good as the other Sinnoh starters, as its Steel-typing renders it weak to Torterra's Ground and Infernape's Fighting. Steel does help against Grass, though, and Water lessens Steel's Fire weakness, so this is probably a Necessary Drawback to prevent Empoleon from fully breaking the balance of starter trios. Empoleon does have some consolation; Empoleon's Water is still effective against Infernape's Fire, Torterra doesn't resist Water too well due to being part-Ground, and Empoleon can learn Ice Beam, which can decimate Torterra.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Empoleon, the only starter Pokémon to be part-Steel and the only Pokémon with the Water/Steel type combo.
• Healing Factor: Can be bred to have Aqua Ring.
• Informed Ability: Zig-Zagged. While Empoleon's Pokédex entries claim it's a swift swimmer, it has a below-average base Speed of 60. This can be circumvented with Agility or Aqua Jet. This makes sense though, since in Real Life, penguins can't fly and are slow walkers on land, but are extremely swift in the water.
• Irony: The line has a reputation for being prideful, but their high special attack and mediocre physical attack mean that the most powerful specimens will have a Modest nature.
• I Work Alone: Prinplup are all loners. Mainly because they're such raging narcissists they're incapable of working together with anyone else.
• Making a Splash: Penguins and the Water-type starter in the Sinnoh Pokédex.
• Mighty Glacier: Empoleon actually has the fourth-highest Special Attack out of all the starters^note only Delphox (114), Inteleon (125) and Primarina (126) are higher, with nice bulk and plenty of type resistances to boot. It is only slightly faster than Torterra, though.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Piplup's Pearl Pokédex entry says that it can be found in northern countries, despite most penguins in real life being found in the Southern Hemisphere (and those that are found in the North live close to the Equator).
• The Napoleon: Piplup more so than its evolutions, despite their names. Its Dex entries suggest it is particularly pompous and prideful — perhaps it just mellows out as it grows up.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Empoleon/Emperte is quite clearly based on Napoléon Bonaparte, a famous French emperor (fittingly enough, as it's an emperor penguin). The two of them are even the same height.
• Picky Eater: Piplup's Diamond PokéDex entry says it hates accepting food from people. In Legends: Arceus, the sidequest "Poor, Peckish Piplup" involves making a Bean Cake for a famished Piplup that refuses to eat anything else. Truth in Television- penguins prefer to catch food on their own and won't eat food that’s just handed to them, and zookeepers often have great difficulty feeding them.
• Polar Penguins: They're based on the emperor penguin. While they're not Ice-types, they can learn many Ice-type moves and are found in cold places in spinoffs such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, and New Pokémon Snap.
• Pride: According to the Pokédex, most Trainers have a hard time fully befriending them because they're so stuck-up and full of themselves. Empoleon are more mellow about it, but they will fight for their honor if they feel it has been threatened.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Empoleon's beak has the shape of a trident. It also doubles as a Cool Crown of sorts.
• Pun-Based Creature: Empoleon is an emperor penguin modelled after an actual emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Recurring Element: The Sinnoh Water Starter, and the second one to be based on birds, but not part-Flying.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Piplup is an adorable little penguin, and it became a hit in Japan because of it.
• Royal Brat: Prinplup and Pottaishi include the words for prince and crown prince (kōtaishi) in their names, and quite appropriately Prinplup takes the strong pride of Piplup into full-blown narcissism, viewing itself as the greatest thing ever and almost incapable of respecting anybody else. Thankfully, evolving into Empoleon tames this attitude into the reasonable regality appropriate of an emperor.
• Secret Art: As a Water starter, it can learn Water Pledge and Hydro Cannon. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Empoleon is the only Pokémon other than the Basculin line to be able to learn Wave Crash, a physical Water-type move that has 33% recoil damage for the user, but also raises the user's action speed.
• Starter Mon: The Water starter of Sinnoh. Piplup does well against most of the gyms, especially when it evolves into Empoleon and gains the Steel typing.
• Status Buff: Learns Agility naturally to double its Speed. It also learns Swords Dance to boost its Attack, but that's low to begin with, so it would rather just use Special attacks.
• Stealth Pun: Empoleon has the same base height^note As in 5'7'', not the inaccurate 5'2'' or shorter as its namesake.
• The Stoic: Is one of the few Pokémon that stays composed no matter what if it's in Pokémon Amie.
• Turns Red: Torrent boosts its Water attacks when its health becomes low.
• Useless Useful Spell: Their old Hidden Ability, Defiant, worked off their underwhelming Attack stat and requires that it activates before they can hit hard. Generation IX replaces Defiant with Competitive, which boosts their Special Attack instead.
• Visual Pun: Empoleon is a literal emperor penguin.

Starly, Staravia, and Staraptor (Mukkuru, Mukubird, and Mukuhawk)

0396: Starly / Mukkuru (ムックル mukkuru)
0397: Staravia / Mukubird (ムクバード mukubaado)
0398: Staraptor / Mukuhawk (ムクホーク mukuhooku)

Starly

Staravia

Staraptor

Sinnoh's regional bird. The Starly family is a three-staged family, much like the Pidgey family, but it proves itself to be far stronger, gaining access to a number of powerful attacks such as Brave Bird and, even more unusually, Close Combat, a Fighting-type move which effectively covers its weakness to Rock- and Ice-types (and is also an immense help for beating Steel-types), which most of its feathered brethren have problems with.

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Pretty much Staraptor's motif. 120 Attack, 100 Speed, three moves that have 120 base power and two get STAB, low defenses. It's designed to hit hard and fast and go out fighting.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Staraptor has Close Combat in its arsenal.
• Blow You Away: They're Flying-types based on starlings. Staraptor has features from birds of prey.
• Boss Battle: Staraptor is the ace Pokémon of Larry, Paldea's Normal-type Gym Leader located in Medali; it already fits his type specialty, but he Terastalizes it anyway. It's still on his team as the Flying-type specialist of the Elite Four, but its role as the team ace is taken by Flamigo.
• Cast from Hit Points: Staraptor's specialty. Its strongest moves cause it to take recoil damage (or, in the case of Close Combat, make it even more frail than it already is), ensuring that it won't last long if the opponent survives a hit. This is especially true if it has its Hidden Ability Reckless, which makes recoil moves hit harder (which, given how recoil moves work, also increases the self-damage).
• Com Mons: As is expected of its designation, there are a lot of these birds in Sinnoh. Fortunately, they end up very good.
• Determinator: Some of Staraptor's Pokédex entries state that it never gives up, even when seriously injured or against a larger foe.
• Disc-One Nuke: Starly is catchable as early as the second route in Sinnoh, but it learns Wing Attack at level 9 and evolves into Staravia at level 14, giving you a fairly powerful Flying-type before the second gym. Later, once Staravia's power starts to taper off, it evolves into Staraptor at level 34, at which point it can brutalize most foes with high-powered Flying attacks and finish off Rock- and Steel-types with Close Combat. Not bad for a Com Mon.
• The Dreaded: Staraptor's default ability is Intimidate.
• Feathered Fiend: Staraptor, according to its Pokédex entry in Diamond, can be very aggressive. Its regular ability is Intimidate, to push it further.
• Flight: They're birds and can learn Fly.
• Fragile Speedster: Yes, they're fast, but their defenses are terrible.
• Glass Cannon: Its best attacks either damage it or reduce its defenses, defenses that are already so poor that even having Intimidate doesn't make up for their fragility, though this does have the upside of meaning they can use Close Combat without worrying about its downside very much. Its Hidden Ability, Reckless, increases the power of its recoil moves, which naturally increases the amount of recoil as well, furthering Staraptor's reputation as a "live hard, die young" kind of fighter.
• Heal Thyself: Before Gen IX, it could be taught Roost by TM, which restores half the Pokémon's HP while removing its Flying type for that turn. While next to useless in competitive matches, for regular playthroughs it was helpful for recovering at least some of the self-inflicted recoil from its attacks.
• Idiot Hair: Starly and Staravia; becomes a mohawk-pompadour upon evolution to Staraptor.
• Lost in Translation: Staravia and Staraptor have an M marked in their chests, an allusion to the first letter of their Japanese names. No other languages have their names start with an M.
• Magikarp Power: Combined with Crutch Character, of all things. This thing starts off useful (like most early birds), tends to become slightly inferior to the rest of the team in its 20s, but once it's fully evolved, it becomes a powerhouse. Staraptor also learns the very powerful Fighting-type move Close Combat when it evolves, which by itself puts it head and shoulders above all other Normal/Flying Pokémon, since they don't have a Fighting move of their own to break past Steel and Rock types that otherwise threaten fliers. ^note Toucannon is a partial exception, as it gets Brick Break... which doesn't hit nearly as hard as Close Combat. It's also slower, which sort of drags it down. Braviary is another partial example, as it learns Superpower, which is just as strong as Close Combat, but lowers the user's Attack and Defense with every use. It's also slower than Staraptor as well.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Staraptor is a starling, mixed with traits of several raptor birds, such as hawks, eagles, and falcons.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Staraptor vaguely looks like certain hawks and eagles.
• Non-Elemental: Normal-type birds.
• Recurring Element: Sinnoh's early-route bird with 2 evolutions.
• Retcon: In Generation V, Starly does not have its Hidden Ability until it evolves. This would make finding Starly with Hidden Abilities nearly impossible in Generation VI, as Starly only appear rarely in Horde Battles and Staravia does not appear in the Friend Safari. Starly was thus altered to actually have a Hidden Ability (Reckless).

Bidoof and Bibarel (Bippa and Beadaru)

0399: Bidoof / Bippa (ビッパ bippa)
0400: Bibarel / Beadaru (ビーダル biidaru)

Bidoof

Bibarel

A chubby beaver-like Pokémon. Bidoof is likely one of the first Pokémon to be encountered in Diamond and Pearl. While it isn't outwardly the coolest Pokémon, it's still extremely useful to have, since it can learn a lot of HMs — an extremely appropriate role, since it is based on a very industrious rodent.

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• Action Initiative: Can learn Quick Attack via breeding. Generation VII adds Aqua Jet to their arsenal.
• Ascended Meme: In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Bidoof and Bibarel handle all the field actions previously reliant on HMs except for Fly and Defog, in reference to their often fan parodied "HM slave" utility in the fourth generation games. It also gets parodied in the official animated short Bidoof's Big Stand.
• Boring, but Practical: Can learn most of the HMs^note 6 in Diamond and Pearl, Platinum and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, 7 in HeartGold and SoulSilver, 5 in Black and White and Black 2 and White 2, 4 in X and Y, allowing you to cover most of your field needs with one Mon. And being a Normal/Water type, it gets STAB on pretty much all of them, making for a decently powerful fighter.
• Breakout Character: Bidoof has gotten a surprising amount of attention from official and unofficial sources, likely thanks to memes surrounding its derpy appearance and status as a Boring, but Practical HM Slave. In addition to receiving a good amount of merch, for April Fools' Day 2021, Pokémon's social media pages became entirely Bidoof themed, and later that year they announced a new fandom holiday in the form of Bidoof Day! In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Bidoof and Bibarel take care of most field actions. Bidoof even starred in an official, original animation in January 2022, Bidoof's Big Stand. Not bad for a dingy little regional rodent.
• Busy Beaver: Bibarel are industrious workers, with rivers that are blocked off by their dams never overflowing.
• Com Mons: Found just about everywhere in Sinnoh.
• Fat Idiot: They're two tubby beavers, and if the "doof" in Bidoof's name is to be believed, they aren't exactly the brightest crayons in the box.
• Glass Cannon: With Simple, Bibarel can use Swords Dance to triple its Attack stat in a single turn, letting it inflict huge damage. Its other stats, however, remain at the level you'd expect from a Com Mon — that is to say, not very good.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Their Simple ability. Since it doubles all stat changes that affect the owner, both positive and negative, if Bibarel's opponent tries to reduce its stats, they're going to find that they'll have twice the effect that they expected, which can result in a very crippled Bibarel very quickly.
• Lethal Joke Character: In spite of their relatively low overall stats, they do have ground-breaking abilities. Unaware ignores the opponent's stat changes while Simple doubles any stat changes for them. And then there's their hidden ability, Moody. Moody lowers one of its stats, selected at random, in exchange for sharply raising another stat (also selected at random) at the end of each turn, meaning that even a Bidoof could potentially tear anything apart if luck is on its side.
• Making a Splash: Bibarel is part Water-type upon evolution.
• Non-Elemental: They're Normal-type beavers. Also, Bibarel is one of the few dual-type Normal Pokémon whose secondary type is not Flying.
• Recurring Element: Sinnoh's somewhat weak early-route mammal.
• Status Buff:
  • All of its abilities involve these somehow. Unaware causes any action Bibarel deals to or receives from an opposing Pokémon to ignore any stat boosts that Pokémon has. Simple causes any stat buffs or debuffs Bibarel receives to be doubled, and Moody causes one random stat to go up by two stages and another random stat to drop by one at the end of each turn.
  • It also has a few moves that involve these. It has Defense Curl in its level-up movepool, Generation V gives it Work Up, and Generation VII gives it Swords Dance.
• Utility Party Member: Its most popular role in a player's party is to carry HM moves to get them where they need to go.
• Weak, but Skilled: Their stats are unimpressive, but their abilities help them stand out. Unaware lets Bibarel stand strong against buffed opponents, Simple amplifies status buffs and allows it to hit hard after just a single use of Swords Dance, and Moody can potentially make it unstoppable if it stays on the field long enough.

Kricketot and Kricketune (Korobohshi and Korotock)

0401: Kricketot / Korobohshi (コロボーシ korobooshi)
0402: Kricketune / Korotock (コロトック korotokku)

Kricketot

Kricketune

Bug Pokémon based on crickets, Kricketot use their antennas as xylophones and knock them together to produce music. Once it evolves, it becomes more slender and gains markings that make it resemble a violin. Its arms also become blade-like, which it can use either as bows to produce melodies, or swords to slash opponents with.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Kricketot and Kricketune are giant crickets.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Kricketune, though said blades seem to be intended more for use as bows for violins than weapons. It gets a fair set of slashing attacks to go with them, at least.
• Brown Note: Learns Perish Song by level up. As of generation 6, this can be paired with Infestation for even better results.
• Cherry Tapping: It has access to Fell Stinger, an attack with a measly 50 BP that causes the user's Attack to increase by three stages if it knocks an opponent out with it. Kricketune has the distinction of being the only Pokémon that gets this attack and the Technician Ability to boost it.
• Counter-Attack: Kricketot can learn Bide, which deals twice the damage the Pokémon took for the last two turns.
• Crutch Character: Like the various caterpillars, Kricketot evolves quickly into Kricketune, which has good stats compared to the unevolved Mons you'll be using up to that point but gets outpaced very quickly when those start to evolve. However, it's fairly lacking in utility moves compared to the caterpillars' evolved forms.
• Gathering Steam: Rarely, they can be found holding the Metronome item, which increases a move's power when it's used consecutively. This pairs pretty well with Fury Cutter, which Kricketune naturally learns upon evolution.
• Glass Cannon: Kricketune has fairly decent Attack, can learn Swords Dance to boost it, and both of its abilities allow it to do more damage. However, both of its defensive stats are awful, and its speed isn't much better.
• Healing Factor: Kricketot's Shed Skin Ability, which has a chance to remove a status effect at the end of each turn.
• Instrument of Murder: Kricketune is essentially a walking violin.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Kricketot's Hidden Ability is Run Away.
• Make Some Noise: Goes hand in hand with Instrument of Murder and Musical Assassin, with Kricketune learning several sound-based attacks. It's the only sound-themed Pokémon to also get Bug Buzz (sadly, its Special Attack isn't very good, meaning it can't do much with these attacks anyway).
• Musical Assassin: Kricketune learns a variety of music-based attacks, such as Sing and Perish Song.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: Despite being a Bug-type that's based off the cricket, Kricketune has a magnificent mustache.
• Trap Master: One of the few lines with access to the move Sticky Web, which lowers opponents' Speed when they switch in.
• Turns Red: With Kricketune's Swarm Ability, it gets a boost to Bug-type attacks when at 1/3 total HP or less.
• Warm-Up Boss: An Alpha Kricketune appears as the first non-trainer boss encounter in Legends: Arceus, serving to officially introduce the Alpha Pokémon mechanic to the player.

Shinx (Kolink), Luxio, and Luxray (Rentorar)

0403: Shinx / Kolink (コリンク korinku)
0404: Luxio (ルクシオ rukushio)
0405: Luxray / Rentorar (レントラー rentoraa)

Shinx

Luxio

Luxray

Shinx is an electric lynx cub that can be found very early on in Diamond and Pearl. As it grows up, its fur grows into a mane that's thicker on the males. It is able to discharge electricity through its claws, fangs, and fur. While a bit slow for an Electric-type, its Attack and Special Attack are not too bad.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: Luxray ends up this as a whole; Luxray's base 120 Attack is impressive, especially if boosted by Guts, yet while Luxray was introduced in the Gen that brought the physical/special split, meaning in theory an Electric specializing in physical attacks shouldn't be a hindrance like it would be prior to Gen 4, Luxray just has never been given good physical Electric moves to take advantage of its Attack. With Game Freak insisting that Volt Tackle be kept exclusive to the Pikachu line, while not making a suitable alternative for other Electric-type Pokémon, there are no good physical Electric moves available, leaving poor Luxray stuck with Wild Charge (a 90 power move with recoil that's straightup inferior to the 120 power recoil move many other types get) and Spark (a middling 65 power move) as its only usable physical STAB moves. As a result, Luxray is a slow Glass Cannon in theory that isn't even much cannon in practice, leaving it to perpetually languish competitively with it doing nothing worthwhile over other Electric types.
• Boss Battle:
  • Luxray, being Volkner's signature Mon in Diamond and Pearl (eighth Gym Leader of Sinnoh).
  • A group of Luxio led by a Luxray are a boss fight in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness. They are replaced by a group of Electrike led by a Manectric in Explorers of Sky.
• Cast from Hit Points:
  • The Shinx line has Guts as its Hidden Ability, which boosts their Attack when they have a status condition.
  • They also naturally learn Wild Charge at high levels, which deals recoil damage to them.
• Cats Are Lazy: According to its Shield Pokédex entry, Luxray sleeps for long periods of time to store up energy, because its ability to see through walls uses up a lot of electricity.
• Com Mons: Shinx is quite common to find in Sinnoh's early routes.
• Crutch Character: In the games where it's available, Shinx can typically be found early on. It comes with the Intimidate ability to weaken foes, quickly learns decently powerful moves like Spark and Bite, and evolves at low levels. However, Luxray doesn't get much better than those moves in its debut generation, and even in later generations, the best physical Electric-type move it gets is the mediocre Wild Charge. Luxray's stats outside of Attack are also poor for a fully-evolved Pokémon, leaving it outclassed by other Electric-types available later in the game.
• Cute Kitten: Shinx is an adorable little lynx kitten.
• Cute Little Fangs: Shinx, helped by being a kitten.
• Determinator: Their hidden ability, Guts, boosts their Attack when they're affected by a status condition.
• Disability Immunity: Goes hand in hand with Cast from Hit Points above by carrying a Toxic Orb or Flame Orb. Since it afflicts itself with poison or a burn right away, that renders it immune to statuses like sleep or freezing that can pose even bigger problems to it.
• Disability Superpower: Its Hidden Ability is Guts, boosting its Attack when affected by Status Effects.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Learns Thunder Fang naturally and can be bred to know Fire and Ice Fang.
• Glass Cannon: Luxray has a high attack stat and fairly good special attack, but its physical and special defenses are equally low and its HP isn't any better.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Trying to burn a Guts variant is the last thing you want to be doing.
• Killer Rabbit: Shinx may be adorable but still has Intimidate, and in Legends: Arceus they're very aggressive, always attacking the player the instant they're spotted.
• Light 'em Up: Shinx's fur can glow with light when it's in danger.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Downplayed. While Luxray's special attack isn't bad, being at a base 95, its physical attack of base 120 is significantly better, and Guts will only boost its physical attack.
• Man Bites Man: They learn several attacks that involve biting, like the Elemental Fangs and Crunch.
• Mighty Glacier: Similar to Ampharos, Luxray is slow for an Electric-type. However, it has excellent Attack and good Special Attack with moves to abuse for both.
• Panthera Awesome: Particularly the latter two forms.
• Perpetual Frowner: Luxio is always seen scowling. Gets particularly amusing in Pokémon-Amie, where it gets this hilarious expression whenever you refuse to make faces with it. While others look sad and/or disappointed, Luxio is just all like, "Meh, I know you're that kind of person."
• Shock and Awe: They're pure Electric-type lynxes.
• X-Ray Vision: Luxray's Dex entry says that they can see through walls. This is finally shown in Detective Pikachu Returns, where Detective Pikachu can ride Luxray and use this ability to sneak around and find clues.

Cranidos and Rampardos (Zugaidos and Rampald)

0408: Cranidos / Zugaidos (ズガイドス zugaidosu)
0409: Rampardos / Rampald (ラムパルド ramuparudo)

Cranidos

Rampardos

Based on a Pachycephalosaurus, this dinosaur Pokémon has an extremely thick skull which it uses to smash things with. If there is a single thing that this Pokémon does well, it's definitely smashing things. Rampardos has an Attack stat higher than many (untransformed) Legendary Pokémon, but it is held back by its middling speed and defenses, which prevent it from steamrolling everything in its path. Its fossils are readily available for the digging in Diamond and for certain Platinum players^ConditionFor Platinum players, their Trainer IDs have to end in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9).

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• Boss Battle:
  • Cranidos, as it's Roark's ace, being the first leader of Sinnoh.
  • A Rampardos controlled by Team Dim Sun is a boss in Pokémon Ranger Shadows of Almia. It's likely to be the first boss to give players significant trouble.
• Cast from Hit Points: The family's best known for Head Smash, but they also have two other recoil moves in Take Down and Double-Edge. Conveniently, they have a pretty good HP stat to ensure that self-inflicted damage isn't too much of a problem.
• Crippling Overspecialization: One of the most extreme cases. Attack-wise, Cranidos' power exceeds many fully evolved Pokémon and Rampardos is up there with several Legendaries. On the downside, Attack is the only thing they are good at.
• Dishing Out Dirt: They're Rock-types based on the Pachycephalosaurus. Notably, they're just pure Rock types and not a type combination of Rock and something else, like other Fossil Pokémon.
• Dumb Dinos: A few of their Pokédex entries mention that these thick-skulled Pokémon had small brains.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: They can learn Fire, Ice, and Electric moves by TM^note They aren't that useful, since they are not Special Attackers, although move tutors can provide them with Fire Punch and Thunder Punch.
• Fossil Revival: Revived from a Skull Fossil.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite being often described to have thick and hard skulls, they don't get the Rock Head ability.
• Glass Cannon: Mega Evolutions and similar transformations aside, it has the fourth-highest Attack in the series after Black Kyurem, Attack Forme Deoxys, and Kartana, but everything else save its HP is rather lacking, and its good HP stat is really only good for absorbing recoil from its own attacks; its pathetic defenses don't let it take hits from opponents very well, even with a lot of Hit Points.
• Headbutting Pachy: Their Pokédex entries focus almost exclusively on their propensity for headbutting things, mentioning how their skulls were hard as iron and used for smashing inconveniently placed trees and taking down prey. Rampardos' entries claim it to have a foot-thick skull that shields it from any harm its headbutting may cause, although it also stifles the growth of its brain, and that a cloned specimen destroyed a skyscraper by headbutting it. This is reflected by their naturally learning most headbutting attacks in the games, such as Headbutt, Zen Headbutt, Iron Head, and Head Smash.
• Late Character Syndrome: Not so much in the original Diamond and Pearl, where Cranidos is restored from a Skull Fossil at a reasonable level 20, but present in full force in the remakes, where fossil Pokémon are restored at level 1. Better get to grinding if you want it to pull its weight.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Rampardos may have among the best Attack stats in the game at base 165, but it has a poor base 65 Special Attack stat. Averted with the Sheer Force ability, which boosts much of its surprisingly wide special movepool enough to make mixed attacking sets viable.
• Meaningful Name: Cranidos/Zugaidos is a dinosaur that uses its cranium (zugaikotsu) for attacking, while Rampardos/Rampald has an extra-hard head for ramming through ramparts.
• Not the Intended Use: Rampardos makes a decent HM user, capable of learning all the necessary physical HM moves and allowing it to hit hard with them if necessary in battle.
• Prehistoric Monster: Lived in jungles 100 million years ago.
• Recurring Element: It's part of Sinnoh's local duo of extinct Pokémon along with the Shieldon line.
• The Rival:
  • Rampardos to Bastiodon. Scientists have found their fossils next to one another, having apparently fought to the death.
  • Cranidos has a fierce rivalry with Aerodactyl, according to its Scarlet Pokedex entry.
• Signature Move: Thematically, the line is heavily associated with Head Smash.
• Too Dumb to Live: Rampardos' Ultra Moon dex entry theorizes that their stupidity resulting from its thick skull restraining their brain growth has led to their extinction. Legends demonstrates that some Rampardos were so fixated on fighting Bastiodon that they could wind up buried alive.
• Use Your Head: Iron Head, Headbutt, and Zen Headbutt are all learnable, but the family's most famous for Head Smash.
• Version-Exclusive Content: Cranidos and Rampardos are exclusive to Diamond/Brilliant Diamond, Alpha Sapphire, Sun, and Scarlet's Indigo Disk DLC.
• Yin-Yang Clash: Cranidos and Rampardos represent the unstoppable spear from the Han Feizi, with Shieldon and Bastiodon playing the unbreakable shield.

Shieldon and Bastiodon (Tatetops and Torideps)

0410: Shieldon / Tatetops (タテトプス tatetopusu)
0411: Bastiodon / Torideps (トリデプス toridepusu)

Shieldon

Bastiodon

Another hard-headed dinosaur Pokémon, much like Cranidos, it is revived from a fossil. But unlike its counterpart, this Pokémon uses its head for defense. In fact, Bastiodon's crest resembles a castle wall. Its defensive stats are really high, but it comes at the expense of its attack and speed stats. However, its defensive capabilities are hindered by its low HP. It is based on a ceratopian dinosaur. Its fossil is readily dug up in Pearl and for certain Platinum players^ConditionFor Platinum players, their Trainer IDs have to end in an even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8).

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• Attack Its Weak Point: Bastiodon is near-impregnable... from the front. It's quite weak to getting attacked from behind.
• Armored But Frail: Bastiodon has a fantastic 168 Defense and 138 Special Defense, but only base 60 HP. Shieldon has this sort of stat distribution as well.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Shieldon's head looks like a shield and Bastiodon's head looks like a castle wall.
• Black Bead Eyes: Bastiodon has black beady eyes.
• Boss Battle: Bastiodon is the sixth Gym boss of Sinnoh, being Byron's ace.
• Counter-Attack: Nautrally learns Metal Burst and also learns Counter through breeding.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Just like its counterpart line. While Shieldon and Bastiodon have pretty hefty defenses on both sides and a really good ability in the form of Sturdy, defenses are the only thing they're good at, with all of its other stats being garbage.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Like other fossil Pokémon, they're Rock-types based on ceratopsians.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Part Steel-types focused on defense compared to the Cranidos line's offense.
• Fossil Revival: Revived from an Armor Fossil.
• Last Chance Hit Point: Has Sturdy as its normal ability. It pairs very well with Metal Burst.
• Late Character Syndrome: In the Gen IV remakes, fossil Pokémon are restored at level 1 compared to the level 20 they were in the original Diamond and Pearl. Even if you restore Shieldon as early as possible, it'll take some serious grinding for it to keep up with your party.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shieldon's head resembles a shield and it has very high defenses.
• Meaningful Name: Shieldon/Tatetops is a dinosaur with a shield (tate) for a face (-ops), while Bastiodon/Torideps is a triceratops-like dinosaur with a face similar to a Bastille-type fortress (toride) that it can use as a defensive bastion.
• Nurikabe: Bastiodon resembles the early depictions of nurikabe, being a stocky dinosaur with a large, flat face that acts as a shield.
• One-Hit KO: Learns Fissure as an egg move.
• Prehistoric Animal Analogue: They're based on ceratopsian dinosaurs. Shieldon resembles Protoceratops, whereas Bastiodon specifically resembles Chasmosaurus.
• Prehistoric Monster: Lived in jungles 100 million years ago.
• Recurring Element: The Fossil Duo along with the Cranidos line.
• Shield Bash: Has a shield for a head and can learn moves that involve headbutting.
• Stone Wall: Expected for a Pokémon whose head is a shield, and whose evolution has a literal stone wall for a head. Bastiodon has extremely high defenses, but offensively, it's only slightly better than Onix. Downplayed in Scarlet and Violet where Bastiodon learns Foul Play and Body Press through TM, moves which calculate their power based off the opponent's Attack and Bastiodon's Defense, respectively, letting it act more like a Mighty Glacier despite its nonexistent attack stats.
• Use Your Head: Learns Iron Head.
• Version-Exclusive Content: Shieldon and Bastiodon are exclusive to "Pearl"/"Shining Pearl", "Omega Ruby", "Moon", and "Violet"'s Indigo Disk.
• Yin-Yang Clash: The immovable object to the Cranidos line's unstoppable force.

Burmy, Wormadam, and Mothim (Minomucchi, Minomadam, and Gamale)

0412: Burmy / Minomucchi (ミノムッチ minomucchi)
0413: Wormadam / Minomadam (ミノマダム minomadamu)
0414: Mothim / Gamale (ガーメイル gaameiru)

Plant Cloak Burmy

Sandy Cloak Burmy

Trash Cloak Burmy

Plant Cloak Wormadam

Sandy Cloak Wormadam

Trash Cloak Wormadam

Mothim

Burmy is an odd Pokémon with a strange way of evolving. It starts off as a simple worm that covers itself with whatever is around at the time, be it leaves, sand, or even building insulation. Once it evolves, female Burmy fuse with their current covering to become Wormadam, which vary by type depending on what it was covered with: leaves form a Plant Cloak and it's part Grass, gravel forms a Sandy Cloak and it's part Ground, while the building insulation becomes a Trash Cloak and it's part Steel. Male Burmy, on the other hand, cast off the cloak and grow wings to become Mothim, which is, naturally, a Flying type. ^note If hacked to be genderless, Burmy will not evolve.

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Unusually large bagworm larvae and moths.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female Burmy become Wormadam, males become Mothim.
• Blow You Away: Mothim is part Flying-type, but only learns a few Flying-type moves.
• Crutch Character: Like several other early Bug Pokémon, Burmy evolves early on (though a bit later than most). Wormadam and Mothim have decent stats for how early they're available, but pale in comparison to other, stronger Pokémon available later in the game. In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, the line gets Quiver Dance immediately upon evolution, letting Wormadam and especially Mothim tear through the earlygame, but they'll still eventually become useless.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Sandy Cloak Wormadam is part Ground-type.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Burmy is statistically homogeneous without regards to form or gender, but upon evolution, its stats change considerably depending on its gender and form.
• Elemental Powers: Each of Burmy's evolutions has a different secondary type.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Trash Cloak Wormadam is part Steel-type.
• Flight: Like real life bagworms, Mothim is the only one that can fly.
• Glass Cannon: Mothim is pretty good with both physical and special attacks, but its other stats are lacking.
• Green Thumb: Plant Cloak Wormadam is part Grass-type.
• Magic Knight: Mothim's Attack and Special Attack stats are the same, letting it use both physical and special attacks with equal effectiveness.
• Meaningful Name: Burmy/Minomucchi is a cutesy baby bagworm (minomushi), Wormadam/Minomadam is a bagworm madam, while Mothim/Gamale is himself a male moth (ga)
• Mighty Glacier: Plant and Sandy Cloaks Wormadam, in the special and physical sides respectively.
• One-Hit KO: Sandy Cloak Wormadam naturally learns Fissure.
• Power-Up Letdown: The Hidden Ability Overcoat used to be this for Sandy Cloak and Trash Cloak Wormadam until Gen VI^note it does protect them from Hail, which they're not immune to by virtue of their typing, but hail is significantly less common than sandstorms, where Overcoat also protects Sandy and Trash Cloak variants from powder and spore moves like Spore and Sleep Powder. The Plant Cloak variant has no use for this, since they're already protected from powders by their typing, but they still have the most to gain from Overcoat's original effect.
• Protection from the Elements: Burmy's and Wormadam's Overcoat ability protects them from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• Psychic Powers: Wormadam and Mothim naturally learn a few Psychic-type attacks.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Mothim's Hidden Ability is Tinted Lens, which doubles the damage done by resisted attacks.
• Shown Their Work: Their Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism is based on real-life bagworms, where females are immobile and encased in a cocoon, while males fly around.
• Stone Wall: Trash Cloak Wormadam, which is right in between the Plant and Sandy Cloaks in physical and special stats and has the best defensive typing.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Wormadam's Anticipation ability, which gives a warning when the opponent is packing either a super-effective attack or a One-Hit KO attack.
• Turns Red: Mothim's Swarm ability boosts his Bug-type attacks when his HP is low.

Combee and Vespiquen (Mitsuhoney and Beequen)

0415: Combee / Mitsuhoney (ミツハニー mitsuhanii)
0416: Vespiquen / Beequen (ビークイン biikuin)

Combee

Vespiquen

Combee is a small bee Pokémon that is comprised of three individuals arranged in a honeycomb like shape. They can stack on top of each other to form a hive at night. They are attracted to nectar and sources of honey, which makes them easy to find by slathering a tree with honey. Only females are able to evolve into Vespiquen, which is a queen bee with a beehive for an abdomen. They have the stats for tanking, but their typing leaves them with many weaknesses to exploit.

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• Bee Afraid: Vespiquen is a giant queen bee, capable of commanding hordes of Combee to do her bidding and attack her foes, although she looks more like a wasp^note the first part of their name is from the Latin word "vespa," meaning wasp, and their coloration and body structure is more on par with a wasp's than a bee's.
• Bee-Bee Gun: Vespiquen's Attack Order has her command Combee to attack foes.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Generally, a Vespiquen is docile unless something threatens her hive, and she goes out of her way to reward others who help her protect it. That being said, she's also essentially a massive wasp queen and she won't tolerate those who hurt her hive or children.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Combee is a foot-tall trio of bees, and Vespiquen is a four-foot-tall hive queen.
• Chain Lethality Enabler: Learns Fell Stinger starting in Gen VI, which increases Vespiquen's Attack by two stages (later increased to a whopping three in the next Gen) if used to knock out an opponent, enabling more knockouts.
• Critical Hit Class: Vespiquen's Attack Order has an increased critical hit chance, being an exclusive Bug-type variant of Leaf Blade.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Vespiquen/Beequen is indeed a bee queen.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Vespiquen can learn Power Gem, possibly related to the large gem-like marking on her forehead. An Alpha Vespiquen is also the holder of the Stone Plate in Legends: Arceus, for whatever reason.
• Flight: As Pokémon based on bees, they're part Flying-type.
• Heal Thyself: Vespiquen's Heal Order has her ordering Combee to heal her, and as of Gen IX can naturally learn Roost through leveling up, when before it was forced to use a TM to do so.
• Hive Mind: The Combee commanded by a Vespiquen are this.
• Insect Gender-Bender: Worker Combee are males instead of sterile females. Most likely because a more realistic hive of Combee would be a hassle for programmer and player alike.^note Imagine catching Combee and not being able to readily tell whether it'll ever evolve.
• Insect Queen: Vespiquen. They only evolve from female Combee, and have signature moves that involve ordering other Combee to attack, defend, or heal them.
• The Infested: Downplayed. Vespiquen's abdomen flares out in a ring of six hexagonal cells. These serve as nurseries for infant Combees, which shelter in these spaces in their mother's body until large enough to fly out on their own. They also presumably come out to help her when she uses her signature moves: Attack Order, Defend Order, and Heal Order.
• Item Caddy: Combee has the Honey Gather ability, which collects honey after a battle is over.
• Joke Character: Male Combee are not only incapable of evolving, they have absolutely horrible stats and only naturally learn four moves.
• Magikarp Power: You will get absolutely nowhere with Combee unless you find an elusive female.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Male Combee are... not great. Female Combees can evolve into a four foot tall death wasp.
• Multiple Head Case: Combee have three heads.
• One-Gender Race: Only female Combee become Vespiquen.
• Punny Name: Combee/Mitsuhoney is a honey bee (mitsubachi) that looks like three (mittsu) honeycombs combined.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Combee's rather cute for a bug.
• Ridiculously Small Wings: Whilst Combee's wings seem sizable enough, they don't increase in size very much when it evolves into Vespiquen, leading to small wings on top of a huge bee-like body. Doesn't stop it from flying though.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vespiquen is a queen bee, and while most of her attacks do involve her commanding her grubs to attack, buff her defenses or heal her, she's far from incapable of battling on her own. Her stat spread makes her a Stone Wall, and the dex entry in Legends: Arceus state that they personally deal with interlopers in the colony.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Female Combee have a red spot on the forehead of their lower face.
• Secret Art: Attack Order, Defend Order, and Heal Order for Vespiquen. As of Gen V, they're the only Pokémon with more than two unique attacks (until Zygarde joined them in Generation VII). However, Heal Order was cut from Sword and Shield for some reason. Legends: Arceus would compensate them with the functionally-identical Recover, but then inexplicably cut both Attack and Defend Order^note X-Scissor, which Vespiquen could always learn, received an increase to its critical hit chance and can serve as a slightly weaker substitute for the former, but no such replacement was provided for the latter. However, Scarlet and Violet returned Attack and Defend Order and added Roost to Vespiquen's level-up learnset to replace Heal Order.
• Status Buff: Vespiquen's Defend Order raises both her defenses.
• Stock Beehive: Vespiquen plays with this trope. Although they're giant bee-wasp hybrids, their abdomen is shaped like a wasp hive and contains a small pattern of hexagonal cells.
• Stone Wall: Vespiquen have high defenses, but their offensive stats, while not bad by any means, are just average. Their Speed is very low, at base 40. They also have the Pressure ability, which causes moves to use 2 PP instead of one, and have the choice of Heal Order and Roost to recover health, making them good stallers. However, they're hamstrung by the many defensive shortcomings of their type combination.
• Undying Loyalty: A hive of Combee will defend their Vespiquen leader with their lives.
• Zerg Rush: The "Order" moves from Vespiquen gather a bunch of Combee following their royal commands.

Pachirisu

0417: Pachirisu (パチリス pachirisu)

Pachirisu

A member of the widespread family of electric rodents, Pachirisu is a squirrel. It's pretty fast, but it doesn't exactly have much in the way of offense. Its best attack is Super Fang, which will cut the opponent's HP in half regardless of defense, which is always useful.

---

• Armor-Piercing Attack: Can use Super Fang to halve the opponent's current HP, regardless of defense.
• Draw Aggro: Can learn Follow Me through breeding, which forces opponents to target the user.
• Elemental Absorption: Its Hidden Ability Volt Absorb causes Electric-type moves to heal it.
• Fragile Speedster: It has good Speed, but its only other decent stat is Special Defense; the rest range from mediocre to terrible.
• Item Caddy: It can have the Pickup ability, which gives it a chance to find an item after a battle.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Meant to replicate Pikachu's success.
• Lethal Joke Character: Pachirisu might not have the best stats, but it can be surprisingly sturdy with proper training, with Volt Absorb to help it even further. With Super Fang to halve the opponent's HP and Nuzzle to paralyze them, it can also be a great supporter, especially in Double Battles where it famously was key to victory in the 2014 World Masters tournament, a feat remembered and celebrated since, even getting an official nod in the build up for the 2022 World Championships.
• Meaningful Name: Pachirisu definitely is an electric (pachipachi) squirrel (risu).
• Our Fairies Are Different: While not Fairy-type, it belongs in the Fairy Egg Group and can learn Baby-Doll Eyes via breeding in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
• Percent Damage Attack: Like other rodent Pokémon, it gets Super Fang, which halves the foe's HP.
• Recurring Element: The Pikaclone of Generation IV. It's also the only Pikaclone to be explicitly stated to be related to Pikachu.
• Secret Art: As one of the Pikaclones, it can learn Nuzzle, an Electric-type attack that is guaranteed to paralyze the target.
• Shock and Awe: An Electric-type like the other Pikaclones.
• Stone Wall: It has solid defenses — in fact, it has the best defenses of the electric rodents — but its offensive stats are abysmal. Luckily, it can get Super Fang, which cuts the opponent's HP in half, and Bide, which lets it soak up blows and then retaliate for twice the damage it took; as such, it doesn't have much need to rely on offensive stats.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: A male Pachirisu's forehead stripe is longer than a female's.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Berries, which it hides in electrified furballs and stores in tree holes to prevent other Pokémon from stealing them.
• Utility Party Member:
  • Pachirisu can learn some helpful field moves like Dig and Flash and Cut, and Pickup lets it find items, giving it a good role as noncombat support.
  • Due to learning moves such as Super Fang and various paralysis-inducing moves, Pachirisu is makes for a capable partner for catching Pokémon. However, if you are lucky enough to find one in a Hidden Hollow or from the Dream World, it'll have its Hidden Ability of Volt Absorb; this, coupled with its already impressive moveset for weakening Pokémon makes it invaluable to catching the Regi trio, of all things, in Black and White 2.

Buizel and Floatzel (Buoysel and Floazel)

0418: Buizel / Buoysel (ブイゼル buizeru)
0419: Floatzel / Floazel (フローゼル furoozeru)

Buizel

Floatzel

Water-typed weasels with forked tails and yellow rings on their bodies that can inflate to make makeshift life preservers and rafts. They are extremely quick, especially in the rain, but suffer from a low defense. It's not a bad choice for a water type.

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• Acrofatic: Floatzel might be a bit on the plump side, but with a combination of a high speed stat, Swift Swim, and rain, it can actually outspeed even Speed Forme Deoxys, and considering that Speed Forme Deoxys is said to move at hypersonic speeds, that's saying something.
• Action Initiative: Naturally learns Quick Attack and Aqua Jet.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: Buizel's English name is more or less the same reading of its original name in romaji, while Floatzel has an extra "t" added to its official spelling of its Japanese name.
• Boss Battle: Crasher Wake's signature, being the fourth (Diamond and Pearl) or fifth (Platinum) leader of Sinnoh.
• Crazy-Prepared: In Pokémon Black and White, wild ones have a chance of being found with a Wacan Berry, which reduces the damage taken by the first Electric attack used against it.
• Combat Pragmatist: Both of them can learn Pursuit, while only Floatzel can learn Crunch.
• Fixed Damage Attack: One of the few users of Sonic Boom, which hits for 20 damage every time.
• Fragile Speedster: Floatzel can outspeed anything in the rain if it has Swift Swim (and a lot of things even without Swift Swim bonuses), but its defenses are awful.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The line is capable of using their two tails to swim at incredible speeds. In addition to Speed being their highest stat, both of them have the ability Swift Swim which raises their speed even further in the rain.
• Glass Cannon: Floatzel hits as hard as Feraligatr, but can't take much in turn.
• Heli-Critter: While they don't fly, they can use their tails as propellers to swim at high speed.
• Making a Splash: Buizel and Floatzel are both pure Water-type weasels.
• Man Bites Man: Floatzel naturally learns Crunch.
• Meaningful Name: Buoyant and floating weasels.
• Multiple-Tailed Beast: They have two tails, which they can use as propellers.
• Playful Otter: They bear a resemblance to sea otters, and both of them are more than willing to play with you in Pokémon-Amie and similar modes in other games.
• Similar Squad: In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, this is The Rival's answer to the Piplup line if he doesn't have one.
• Status Infliction Attack: Unique in that has access to Water Veil and Switcheroo, allowing it to inflict burns onto opponents by passing a Flame Orb to them at no risk to itself. Helped by the fact that it learns Pursuit naturally, allowing it to chase down and strike the now crippled Pokémon as it inevitably tries to switch out.
• Weasel Mascot: Sea Weasels!
• You Will Not Evade Me: They both naturally learn Pursuit.

Cherubi (Cherinbo) and Cherrim

0420: Cherubi / Cherinbo (チェリンボ cherinbo)
0421: Cherrim (チェリム cherimu)

Cherubi

Overcast Form Cherrim

^{Sunshine Form Cherrim}

A Pokémon based on cherries, Cherubi is a cute Pokémon that has an undeveloped twin growing on its other stem. This twin contains the nutrients for Cherubi and when it's withering, it means it's close to evolving. When it does evolve, it becomes Cherrim and its appearance changes depending on the weather. Most of the time it remains in a closed up bud-like state, but when it is sunny, it changes into a more open form and it becomes more powerful. Unfortunately, in the same way that cherry blossoms symbolize the beautiful yet brief fragility that is life, Cherrim's stint on the battle field lasts just as long.

---

• Cherry Blossoms: Cherrim blossoms in sunny weather.
• Cue the Sun: Can learn Sunny Day by level up, and its ability is based around having it going.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Cherubi is a cherry with legs and a face. The cherry growing on the other stem is even edible and very delicious... But Cherubi needs the nutrients to evolve.
• Green Thumb: Grass-type cherry fruits and blossoms.
• Heal Thyself: Actually knows Morning Sun right out of the egg, which gets better when you realize said move is boosted while the weather is sunny, and Cherrim is built around the weather being sunny.
• Master of None: While its stats aren't equal, they're close enough together that they almost might as well be—and not one of them is particularly high. The biggest standouts among them are a fairly low physical Attack (though it's the stat boosted by Flower Gift), and somewhat higher Special Attack and Speed.
• The Medic: Cherrim can be equipped with Heal Pulse, Aromatherapy, and Healing Wish.
• Obvious Rule Patch: Due to the absence of Abilities in Legends: Arceus, Sunshine Form Cherrim gets an innate boost to Attack and Special Defense to compensate for not having Flower Gift.
• Our Fairies Are Different:
  • Not Fairy-types, but the line is in the Fairy Egg Group.
  • They also have access to Dazzling Gleam via TM and Flower Shield via breeding.
• Petal Power: Learns Petal Dance.
• The Power of the Sun: The sole abilities of both Pokémon are based on it, Cherubi with the speed-boosting Chlorophyll, and Cherrim with the ally-buffing Flower Gift, both of which are only active while the sun is out. In addition, it naturally learns Sunny Day, Morning Sun, Solarbeam, and Growth, the first of which brings out the sun, the second provides additional healing in the sun, the third being an attack that takes one less turn to use when the sun is out, and the last buffing both attack stats twice per use while the sun is out.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Both Cherubi and Cherrim are adorable, though Cherrim only shows it when the sun is out.
• Secret Art:
  • The Flower Gift ability is the sole property of Cherrim. Not even its pre-evolution has it.
  • Flower Shield (a move that raises the Defense of all allied Grass-types) in Sword and Shield. Not because Cherrim is the only one to learn the move, but because none of its other users are available.
• Squishy Wizard: Its Special Attack is its best stat, but it has a lot of weaknesses thanks to its Grass-typing, and not a lot of defensive prowess to help it deal with that. Fire especially shows this off, since the ability that Cherrim uses as part of its game plan also gives Fire-type moves a boost.
• Support Party Member: Is largely based around support for Double Battles, due to its ability, which grants its whole team Attack and Special Defense boosts as long as Sunny Day is going, and access to a number of Double Battle support moves like Helping Hand, Worry Seed, Lucky Chant, and Heal Pulse. Of course, since Flower Gift offers no real benefit to Cherrim itself, it's not going to be of much use in single battles, so you're definitely going to want to keep it in this role if you plan on using one. But pair it up with Groudon, Drought Ninetales, or Mega Charizard Y...

Shellos and Gastrodon (Karanakushi and Tritodon)

0422: Shellos / Karanakushi (カラナクシ karanakushi)
0423: Gastrodon / Tritodon (トリトドン toritodon)

West Sea and East Sea Shellos

West Sea and East Sea Gastrodon

Sea Slug Pokémon that are famous for coming in two forms: Long ago, the species was split into two populations by the mountain range going down the middle of Sinnoh. Each population developed its own characteristics: Those on the western side became pink while those on the eastern side became blue. This is a direct reference to nudibranchs, which also vary greatly in shape and color.

---

• The Artifact: Their dual forms were specifically tied to the Sinnoh region's division by Mt. Coronet. In later games, far from the Sinnoh region, they tend to appear in one form or the other, with the East Sea version being more common, though the West Sea version is often available via trade. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, their forms are version locked, with the West Sea version exclusive to Omega Ruby and East Sea to Alpha Sapphire.
• Balance Buff: In their debut generation, Storm Drain only meant Water-type moves would always target it, and given Gastrodon's part Ground-type, those moves could inflict a sizable chunk of damage. Gen V changed Storm Drain to confer an immunity to Water-type attacks and to boost Special Attack on hit, instantly making Storm Drain Gastrodon more consistent.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Gastrodon is part Ground-type.
• Dying Curse: In Gen VIII Gastrodon can learn Memento by level up, after originally only getting it as an egg move, which causes the user to faint but lowers the target's Attack and Special Attack stats by two stages.
• Elemental Absorption: Storm Drain not only negates damage from Water-type moves, it raises their Special Attack.
• Heal Thyself: They can know Recover.
• Making a Splash: They're Water-type based on sea slugs.
• Mighty Glacier: Gastrodon has high HP, decent Special Defense and Special Attack, with various other buffing moves available by breeding. Much like real sea slugs, it's quite slow.
• Pun-Based Creature: Gastrodon have appendages on their heads that resemble cattle horns, which may be a Visual Pun on 海牛 umiushi, the Japanese word for sea slug, derived from 海 umi (sea) and 牛 ushi (cow; cattle). To drive the point further home, in 2021, Gastrodon was featured alongside several bovine Pokémon, namely Tauros, Miltank, and Bouffalant, in multiple promotional artworks created to celebrate the Year of the Ox.
• Recurring Element: Serves a similar role in Sinnoh as the Wooper line does in Johto, as an early game Water/Ground type with Stone Wall stats.
• Shown Their Work: They're a rare example of real evolution in the Pokémon series. In this case, allopatric speciation.
• Status Buff: Storm Drain raises their Special Attack if they are hit by a Water attack. Their hidden ability, Sand Force, increases the power of Ground, Rock, and Steel moves by 33% in a Sandstorm.
• Stone Wall: They have high HP and decent defenses, but are very slow and have average-at-best offensive stats.
• Third Eye: Gastrodon has a third eye on its forehead.

Drifloon and Drifblim (Fuwante and Fuwaride)

0425: Drifloon / Fuwante (フワンテ fuwante)
0426: Drifblim / Fuwaride (フワライド fuwaraido)

Drifloon

Drifblim

A Ghost/Flying type that can only be caught on Fridays in its debut games. Despite its cute appearance, Drifloon is famous for trying to kidnap people by floating off with them, but being so lightweight, they don't really succeed in doing so. Drifblim can carry people, but it still can't fly where it wants since it gets picked up by the wind. Being balloons, they have a massive HP stat, but thin-skinned defenses.

---

• Action Bomb: Can learn Explosion naturally, and can also have the Aftermath ability.
• Armored But Frail: Inverted. They both have a ton of HP but low defenses, especially on the physical side.
• Balloonacy: Drifloon tries to pull it off with children to abduct them, but fail because they are far too light. Drifblim, on the other hand, is a hot-air balloon Pokémon perfectly capable of carrying humans on a whim, though it can't control its direction very well.
• Balloon of Doom: Both of them attempt to kidnap people.
• Blow You Away: Flying-type, and the line can learn Ominous Wind. Drifloon are also quite prone to being dragged away by the wind or by children, while Drifblim simply flies wherever the wind takes it most of the time.
• Casting a Shadow: Ghost types. They can also learn a few Dark-type moves.
• Com Mons: In contrast to how rare they are in modern Sinnoh, Drifloon (and to a lesser extent Drifblim) were extremely common in Hisui, appearing pretty much everywhere at night.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Wild Drifblim in B2W2 have a 1% chance of being found carrying an Air Balloon. Although it's already immune to Ground-type attacks due to being Flying-type, this is somewhat useful since this is the only way to obtain Air Balloons outside of a single gift on the overworld or in the Battle Subway.
• Determinator: Their Flare Boost ability causes them to fight even harder while they're burned.
• Flight: They're Flying-type balloons.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Ultra Moon hints that Drifloon does not just kidnap children to the world of the dead, but that it's also lonely and wants company. The Drifloon that tags alongside the ghost Preschooler in The Seven Mysteries sidequest is one such example.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Drifloon tries to kidnap children, but it's so light, the kids end up tagging it along like a common balloon. Drifblim, in contrast, can actually carry the kids off the ground.
• Infernal Retaliation: Burn these Pokémon at your own peril, as their Hidden Ability Flare Boost will make their Special Attacks hit harder while they're Burned. Drifblim can also be interpreted as a blimp; go figure.
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: One Pokédex entry states that they kidnap children (much like Hypno, without the hypnotism). In the Japanese version, it is outright said that they take children to the world of the dead.
• Kill It with Ice: They are weak to ice type attacks.
• Killer Rabbit: Drifloon is a tiny, cute looking balloon that tries to become this trope, but fails to take children to the world of the dead. One that succeeded appears in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, however.
• Meaningful Name: Drifting balloons and blimps.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Balloon-ghosts. Perhaps they're the lingering spirits of popped balloons...
• Psychopomp: An ongoing rumor states that if one grabs a Drifblim floating in the wind at dusk, the latter will carry it away into the afterlife.
• Punny Name: In Japanese, Fuwante is a floating (fuwa fuwa) unstable (fuantei) balloon (fūsen), while Fuwaride is a floating balloon ride that is rumored to cause people to blindly follow it (fuwaraidō) to the afterlife.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Drifloon is considered so cute that it's one of the few Pokémon allowed into Amity Square, which is otherwise very exclusive with what Pokémon can be brought in.
• Secret Art: Its Hidden Ability is Flare Boost, which gives it a 50% boost to its Special Attack while it's burned. In Gen IV, though, Unburden was its signature ability, meaning Drifloon and Drifblim were the first Pokémon to have had two signature abilities over the course of the series.
• Soul Power: Ghost-type based on balloons.
• Soul-Powered Engine: While it's been one of the most harmless and least horrific Ghost-types for three generations, Ultra Sun reveals that the raw material of the gas allowing Drifblim to fly is souls.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Whole groups of Drifblim have been known to disappear from sight.
• Support Party Member: One of the best Baton Passers in the game due to its access to Minimize, which quickly allows it to become extremely hard to hit. Other useful buffs it can use include Stockpile, Calm Mind, and Focus Energy. Also, Ominous Wind, which has a 10% chance of buffing five stats at once when it hits.
• Unique Enemy: In the Sinnoh games, Drifloon only appears once every Friday at Valley Windworks.

Buneary and Lopunny (Mimirol and Mimilop)

0427: Buneary / Mimirol (ミミロル mimiroru)
0428: Lopunny / Mimilop (ミミロップ mimiroppu)

Buneary

Lopunny

^{Mega Lopunny}

Mega Lopunny debuts in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Buneary and Lopunny are cute rabbit Pokémon with chocolate brown fur and a tan fuzz that covers the tips of their large ears, legs and other parts. This Pokémon is very fast and graceful. Buneary need to evolve with high happiness. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Lopunny gains a Mega Evolution that makes it a Normal/Fighting type with higher Attack and Speed, and the ability Scrappy.

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• Ass Kicks You: In Pokémon Battle Revolution, this is Lopunny's standard physical attack animation.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Gains the Fighting-type for its Mega Evolution. And even before getting a Mega Evolution, Lopunny could learn a surprising number of Fighting moves, ranging from Jump Kick and Low Sweep to more unorthodox options like Sky Uppercut and Circle Throw.
• Berserk Button: Lopunny ears are sensitive and they will attack anyone who treats them roughly.
• Blessed with Suck: Their ability Klutz prevents them from using held items. Thankfully, Mega Stones are exempt from this ability's effect.
• Braids of Action: Mega Lopunny's ears resemble braids, and it's much happier to fight than the shy Lopunny.
• Bunnies for Cuteness: They're the rabbit Pokémon, and both are quite cute, though in different ways.
• Charm Person: Lopunny can have Cute Charm as an Ability, which has a 30% chance of infatuating an opponent of the opposite gender that hits them with a contact move.
• Combat Medic: Mega Lopunny has a wide array of supporting moves in addition to formidable power.
• Cowardly Lion: Said to be cautious and timid, preferring to run or hide, but have enough punching or kicking power to break boulders.
• Crazy-Prepared: They have a small chance of holding Chople Berries in the wild, which weaken the effect of Fighting-type moves used against them.
• Cursed with Awesome: Bit of a mixed bag on this one. Klutz does allow for a few interesting strategies involving using Switcheroo to pass debilitating items onto an opponent, but those strategies are a little gimmicky. On the other hand, base form Lopunny isn't really good for much else, so players using one might as well go with it, as it's really the most notable thing about it in terms of battling.
• Cute Bruiser: Mega Lopunny still has most of its base form's cuteness, but packs much more of a punch.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Implied. One of their abilities is Klutz, which prevents them from using held items.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Buneary's base happiness is zero, an uncommon sight around non-Legendaries, and is the only Pokémon capable of naturally learning Frustration. The only way to make Buneary evolve is to completely overcome the extreme distrust it has for you at the start to become close friends.
• Escape Artist: Buneary can have the Run Away ability, allowing them to escape most battles easier, especially from Pokémon with trap or bind-based abilities.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Regular Lopunny is quite a weak Pokémon, with a generic Normal typing, unfocused stats, and abilities which range from situational to actively detrimental. Mega Lopunny is an extremely fast and powerful Normal/Fighting-type which can pulverize foes with Return and High Jump Kick, and its Scrappy ability means that not even Ghost-types are safe.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: In contrast to its normal persona, Mega Lopunny's sudden bursts of aggression can be quite the shock to its Trainer.
• Hartman Hips: Lopunny, to go with its Playboy Bunny motif.
• Jack of All Stats: Regular Lopunny doesn't have any overly notable strengths, but also no major weaknesses, with respectable speed, decent defenses, a passable physical attack stat, and a highly versatile movepool.
• Kick Chick: The official art of Lopunny's Mega Evolution gives this impression, though it can still be male. Mega Lopunny's personality also changes from docile to aggressive to match its new appearance.
• Killer Rabbit: A literal example here: Buneary is adorable but its ears have enough power to shatter boulders. Lopunny are supposed to be timid, but can display powerful moves... Not to mention its Mega Evolution.
• Lightning Bruiser: Mega Lopunny gains large boosts to its Attack and Speed, and it also gains a slight Defense boost; while not bulky by any means, it can shrug off a few hits and pulverize whatever tried to take it out in return.
• Meaningful Name: Buneary/Mimirol is a bunny with rolled-up ears, while Lopunny/Mimilop is a lop bunny. Pretty straightforward.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Mega Lopunny has a similar physical build to both Medicham and its Mega Evolved form - thin arms and stocky calves, but they can both hit hard.
• Non-Elemental: Normal-types. Interestingly, Lopunny is still part Normal for its Mega Evolution, the type combo of Normal/Fighting possessed only by Pirouette Meloetta along with Stufful and its evolution Bewear.
• Pink Means Feminine: Shiny Buneary and Lopunny have pink instead of tan fluff that looks rather like cotton candy.
• Playboy Bunny: Lopunny has the appearance of one but more in a shy girl way rather than a sexy bunny girl.
• The Power of Friendship: Needs to be leveled up with (near) maximum Friendship in order to evolve. This is evident by the fact Lopunny naturally learns Return and has very high base Friendship. Now, getting it to evolve is difficult, since Buneary has a base Friendship of zero, which is the lowest of any non-Legendary Pokémon. How fitting that a Buneary that hasn't evolved after so many levels can naturally learn Frustration...
  • In Generation VII, Lopunny can learn Return naturally and immediately after it evolves. A freshly evolved Lopunny will have the option to show its friendship with you in strength of this move in the next battle, it becomes nice if you replace Frustration with it.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lopunny, to itself. As its normal form, it's incredibly shy, and as Mega Lopunny it becomes much more aggressive.
• The Resenter: At the time of its debut, Buneary was the only Pokémon that naturally learned Frustration ("Angry Outburst" in Japan), a move that grows more powerful the less its user likes you. Notably, Buneary originally learned it at level 13, which is when a fully-evolved Lopunny would learn Return.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Buneary is a fluffy bunny that only evolves if it loves you enough.
• Secret Art: Despite being very widespread TM moves, they are the only ones capable of learning Frustration (Buneary) and Return (Lopunny) naturally.
• Shrinking Violet: The most likely reason why Buneary's base happiness is zero in the wild (makes sense since rabbits can be timid). Also, it tends to hide behind its thick, fluffy fur when it senses danger. Mega Lopunny is a very different story.
• Status Buff: As of Generation VI, the line can be chain bred to know Cosmic Power, which boosts their defenses.
• Stepford Smiler: A Buneary's cute smile and mannerisms hide the fact that at first it does not trust its trainer.
• Stocking Filler: Mega Lopunny's legs look like a torn pantyhose.
• Stone Wall: Lopunny has surprisingly good defenses, especially Special Defense, but its offensive stats are low.
• Super Mode: Lopunny got a Mega Evolution in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire that buffs its offensive stats.
• Support Party Member:
  • Building off of the Cute Clumsy Mon entry above, this is generally Lopunny's greatest strength, using Klutz to easily Switcheroo Choice Items, Flame Orbs, or Iron Balls onto opponents to shut them down, then using moves such as Encore, Entrainment, Healing Wish, and Baton Pass to either assist other party members or cripple the opposition even further.
  • Another possibility comes in Double/Triple Battles, where Lopunny can use the move After You to allow a slower ally to move immediately after Lopunny does. Mega Lopunny is actually the fastest Pokémon in the game with access to After You and regular Lopunny is the fourth fastest, only being beaten out by Swoobat and Cinccino in addition to its own Mega form; plus, those two are pure Fragile Speedsters, while Lopunny is sturdy enough to take a hit or two if you train it right. Can't really say Lopunny is useless when it's turning your Mighty Glacier into a Lightning Bruiser, eh?
• Took a Level in Badass: When Lopunny Mega Evolves, it goes from a weak Shrinking Violet to an aggressive Lightning Bruiser. They also gain the Scrappy Ability, allowing Normal and Fighting-type attacks to hit Ghost-types.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Mega Lopunny is known for bursting into fury with little prior warning.
• Wolf Whistle: Lopunny's cry sounds like the famed two-note whistle, as it visually evokes the Playboy Bunny.

Glameow and Purugly (Nyarmar and Bunyatto)

0431: Glameow / Nyarmar (ニャルマー nyarumaa)
0432: Purugly / Bunyatto (ブニャット bunyatto)

Glameow

Purugly

Glameow is a thin cat Pokémon with an extremely long tail that it keeps in a corkscrew position while its evolved form is far heftier and it keeps its forked tail clasped around its midsection to make it appear bigger. Appropriately enough, both Pokémon have a reputation for being extremely... catty. They're exclusive to Pearl.

---

• Acrofatic: Purugly improves its stellar speed after evolution despite gaining almost 90 pounds - its Speed is so high that Purugly is the fastest Pokémon with the Thick Fat ability.
• Berserk Button: Purugly's Hidden Ability is Defiant, which raises its Attack if any of its stats are lowered.
• Boss Battle: Commander Mars' signature Mon.
• Cats Are Mean: Glameow will claw the nose of its trainer if it isn't fed. Purugly often steals another Pokémon's nest.
• Cute Kitten: Glameow. Purugly, however, is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Fat Bastard: Purugly is very pudgy, and is generally extremely selfish and temperamental.
• Fragile Speedster: Surprisingly high speed of 112, but everything else is pitiful.
• Gonk: Purugly has "ugly" in its name and resembles a fat, stuck-up rich lady who slathers make-up on her face in a vain attempt to be beautiful. It's not supposed to be pretty.
• Hypnotic Creature: Glameow is able to put foes into a mild hypnotic state by staring into their eyes.
• Informed Deformity: While Purugly isn’t exactly gorgeous, it is far from the ugliest Pokémon out there.
• Jerkass: Their characterization is that of a spoiled cat.
• Kevlard: Unsurprisingly, Purugly has the Thick Fat Ability, which gives it resistances to Fire and Ice.
• Late Character Syndrome: In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Glameow learns Fake Out at Level 1 and Hypnosis at Level 13, which would make it a brilliant Crutch Character that helps the player capture Pokémon with better stats during the early portion of the game. Too bad that by the time the player can find wild Glameow, they're on their way towards the sixth Gym and have already captured or evolved Pokémon that completely outclass it.
• Mirror Character: The Glameow line serves as a contrast to the Skitty line from the previous generation. Both of them are feminine-looking, Normal-type cat Pokémon with a higher chance of being female, have Speed as their highest stat, learn a move which can induce Forced Sleep early on, and aren't particularly good in combat, but naturally learn lots of Cute moves for use in Pokémon Contests. Both of them also take a lot more effort to achieve their final forms than you'd expect for their general level of power, with Skitty requiring a Moon Stone to evolve and Glameow needing to get to level 38. However, while Skitty is straightforwardly adorable, Glameow has more of an edge to its design, and while Delcatty remains cute, Purugly becomes a lot uglier in its final form. Glameow's line is also a lot meaner than the playful Skitty and extremely passive Delcatty.
• Non-Elemental: Normal-types.
• Of Corsets Funny: The furred collar around Purugly's mid-section is actually its tail, which if removed will make its waistline drastically, uh... expand◊. It does this in both the anime series and Pokémon Battle Revolution, though the anime clip is the more well known one.
• Out of Focus: While they were prominent in Generation IV, they were only available in one main game (Pearl) at the time, and have never been in a regional PokéDex outside of any version of Sinnoh.

Stunky and Skuntank (Skunpuu and Skutank)

0434: Stunky / Skunpuu (スカンプー sukanpuu)
0435: Skuntank / Skutank (スカタンク sukatanku)

Stunky

Skuntank

Skunk Pokémon with weaponized stink glands. In addition to being extremely smelly, the chemicals that it produces also have explosive and flammable properties. Their typing leaves it with a single weakness to Ground attacks. They're exclusive to Diamond.

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• Action Bomb: Both Stunky and Skuntank can be taught Explosion and Self-Destruct, as well as having the Ability Aftermath.
• Boss Battle: Commander Jupiter's signature Mon in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Both of them are Dark-types, and the fact a villain team admin owning one further associates them with Evil Smells Bad. There's nothing "evil" about them otherwise and are perfectly normal-behaving Pokémon.
• Delinquent Hair: The tip of Skuntank's tail rests on top of its head, making it look like it has an impressive pompadour.
• Fartillery: Stunky sprays from its rear end, like a real skunk. Skuntank, however, sprays from the tip of its tail, which opens up to do this. It also shoots projectiles from its tail.
• Farts on Fire: It learns Flamethrower by level up, the only non-Fire or Dragon-type to do so.
• Jack of All Stats: Skuntank has relatively average stats other than HP, which is high.
• Playing with Fire: They learn Flamethrower by level up, despite not being Fire-types, which is implied to be a case of Farts on Fire.
• Poisonous Person: Poison-type skunks that can spray poisonous fluids from their tail.
• Smelly Skunk:
  • Stunky can spray like a normal skunk, and Skuntank sprays from its openable tail. Recent Pokédex entries claim Skuntank can't even handle the stench of its own spray, leading it to leave potential meals behind.
  • Besides the obvious "Stench", their Aftermath ability is based on the other annoying aspects of skunks, of the roadkill variety. They explode when hit, releasing all their musk in one shot. Thus why it can stink for days afterwards.
• Toilet Humor: Both of their cries sound like flatulence, and their faces are shaped like buttocks. Stunky's face looks like a pair of purple buttocks from the front. Skuntank's face has tan cheeks which resemble buttocks, and when viewed from below its chin also looks like a pair of buttocks. Additionally, Skuntank's Platinum sprite depicts it raising one of its hind legs as if to pass gas.
• Visual Pun: Their faces, particularly Skuntank's, resemble cats in addition to buttocks. Another name for a skunk is a Pole Cat.

Bronzor and Bronzong (Dohmirror and Dohtakun)

0436: Bronzor / Dohmirror (ドーミラー doomiraa)
0437: Bronzong / Dohtakun (ドータクン dootakun)

Bronzor

Bronzong

A bronze mirror and bronze bell respectively. They have amazing defenses; in addition to being Steel/Psychic types it can have one of 2 abilities which can neutralize damage or completely negate one of their common weaknesses. These tough defenses relate to the legend of a bronze mirror whose owner did not want to give it away which was melted (with great difficulty) down into a bronze bell, which later caused trouble for the temple it was for due to being haunted.

---

• Animate Inanimate Object: A living mirror and bell, respectively.
• Boss Battle: Bronzong is Elite Four Lucian's signature during Diamond and Pearl.
• Confusion Fu: It's impossible to know whether an enemy Bronzor or Bronzong has Levitate or Heatproof until you attack it, so taking one down can amount to a coin flip. Lessened in games from generation VI and on, where they have two guaranteed weaknesses in Ghost- and Dark-type moves.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Steel-types.
• Funny X-Ray: One of Bronzor's dex entries mentions X-Rays couldn't reveal anything about its internal structure.
• Kill It with Fire: Zigzagged. Depending on their abilities, they can be either weak to only Fire attacks, weak to another type instead or both of them are their weaknesses. No longer prominent in Gen VI, where they are consistently weak against Ghost and Dark attacks regardless of their abilities.
• Mighty Glacier: Bronzong has great defenses, a solid defensive typing, and high enough Attack to do some damage of its own. On the other hand, it's about as fast as you'd expect a giant bronze bell to be.
• Nerf: In Generation VI, Steel-type lost its resistance to Ghost and Dark, making it easier to take down knowing that they have two guaranteed weaknesses thanks to their Psychic-type.
• No Biological Sex: Both are Genderless.
• Power Floats: Can have the Levitate ability. Notable in that, before Generation VIII, Bronzor and Bronzong were the only Pokémon for whom Levitate was an optional ability, as every other Pokémon that had it was stuck with it.
• Psychic Powers: Psychic-types.
• Power-Up Letdown: Their Hidden Ability of Heavy Metal. It doubles their weight, with the only benefits being they take less damage from Heat Crash (already took minimal damage as Bronzong) and Heavy Slam (they resist it anyway so it's not doing much), as well as powering up their own Heavy Slam. This is in exchange for granting an immunity to Ground or turning their Fire weakness into a neutrality and halving burn damage.
• Secret Art: Until Rolycoly in Gen VIII (and even then, it loses the ability upon evolving due to becoming Fire-type), Bronzor and Bronzong were the only Pokémon with the ability Heatproof, which reduces the damage from Fire-type attacks and the burn status.
• Stone Wall:
  • Both have great defenses and can ignore or cushion one of their weaknesses depending on their ability. Especially true for Bronzor, which has over three-quarters of its base stats put into defenses; this makes it fairly durable for an unevolved Pokémon, but also means it struggles to do any actual damage or outrun anything.
  • In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon spinoffs in which these two appear, all Pokémon can use two abilities at once, giving them NO weaknesses to exploit unless Gravity is in effect.
• Weather Manipulation: While this species doesn't have weather-summoning as an innate ability, they still have access to both Sunny Day and Rain Dance by level-up, alluding to a Dotaku.

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