Characters / Pokémon: Generation I - Venonat to Cloyster

Main Character Index > Pokémon: Generation I Families > Bulbasaur to Parasect (1-47) | Venonat to Cloyster (48-91) | Gastly to Tauros (92-128) | Magikarp to Dragonite (129-149) | Eevee Line (133-136, 196-197, 470-471, 700) | Mewtwo and Mew (150-151)

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Venonat and Venomoth (Kongpang and Morphon)

0048: Venonat / Kongpang (コンパン konpan)
0049: Venomoth / Morphon (モルフォン morufon)

Venonat

Venomoth

A furry, purple bug-like creature with highly developed eyes that evolves into a moth with poisonous scales. They are nocturnal, but instinctively attracted to light. They’re not particularly strong or useful in their games of origin, apart from being more powerful Bug-type Pokémon than Beedrill or Butterfree (though they aren’t obtainable until much later).

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• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Venonat, at 3'03'', is a pretty big gnat. Venomoth is nearly five feet tall.
• Blow You Away: Venomoth can learn some wind-based moves, despite not being a Flying type.
• Boss Battle: Venomoth is the strongest Pokémon of Janine, who is a Kanto Gym Leader in Gold and Silver and HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: According to various Pokédex entries, Venomoth's scales are color coded to indicate what it does — dark for poison, light for paralysis. Of course, there's no way to tell in-game.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Its PokéDex entry in Ruby and Sapphire. "Venomoth is nocturnal—it is a Pokémon that only becomes active at night. Its favorite prey are small insects that gather around streetlights, attracted by the light in the darkness."
• Flight: Ostensibly Venomoth, in just the same way as Beedrill. However, since it's already filled up its typings with Bug and Poison, it doesn't gain the Flying-type, like Beedrill. It also doesn't have the Levitate ability, nor can it learn Fly.
• Fragile Speedster: Although it has a good Speed stat of 90, Venomoth's defenses are below average.
• Moth Menace: Venomoth is said to scatter poisonous powder when it flaps its wings while hunting at night.
• Out of Focus: While this is to be expected with the sheer number of Pokémon at this point, they're still notable for becoming the least represented Gen I family as the series went on, having never appeared in a Regional Pokédex and only being available in the postgame, via trade, or not at all in every game from when the idea was introduced in Ruby and Sapphire all the way up until their inclusion in Scarlet and Violet.
• Poisonous Person: Both of them are part Poison-type.
• Psychic Powers: They learn the 3 main offensive Psychic moves (Confusion, Psybeam, Psychic) via level up.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Venonat, being a purple fluffball with antennae.
• Squishy Wizard: Despite having good Special Attack, Venomoth's defenses are below average, and it has poor Attack.
• Status Buff: Generation V gave Venomoth the ability to use Quiver Dance, which boosts its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.
• Status Effects: They can learn Poison Powder and Sleep Powder.

Diglett (Digda) and Dugtrio

0050: Diglett / Digda (ディグダ diguda)
0051: Dugtrio (ダグトリオ dagutorio)

Diglett

Dugtrio

Alolan Diglett

Alolan Dugtrio

Alolan forms debut in Sun and Moon

Based on Whack-a-Moles, these are probably tied with Voltorb and Ditto for the Pokémon with the simplest design. Diglett appears to be only a half-buried brown nub with a bright pink nose. Dugtrio is the same, but multiplied by three. While Ground-types tend to be tanks, these guys are lighting-fast, but can't take a hit well. They also have the ability to trap land-based opponents.

In the Alola region, the volcanic environment they live in makes it hard for Diglett to find places to hide, so they developed metallic whiskers on top of their head to act as sensors so that Diglett doesn't have to expose itself above ground. As it evolves into a Dugtrio, their whiskers grow into marvelous golden hair. Because of how beneficial Diglett and Dugtrio are in regards to agriculture, the latter is held in great regard as being the incarnation of the god of land.

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• Angry Eyebrows: Dugtrio were semi-consistently depicted with a pair of these from Gens I to V, although they lacked them in Gen II. Starting with the Video Game 3D Leap in Gen VI, this aspect of their design seems to have been quietly dropped altogether.
• Balance Buff: Dugtrio (in both forms) got a substantial boost to its Attack stat in Gen VII, allowing it to hit even harder.
• Boss Battle: Alolan Dugtrio serve as the ace of Molayne.
• Com Mons: Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio are very common in caves, deserts, and the like.
• Convenient Weakness Placement: Can't defeat Lt. Surge because his Raichu is mopping the floor with your Squirtle? Don't worry; just go to the nearby Diglett's Cave and catch a Diglett (or a Dugtrio, should one happen to crop up), then proceed to destroy Surge with a well-placed Dig.
• Developer's Foresight: Game Freak really goes out of their way to ensure that the bottom half of Diglett and Dugtrio are never seen leaving the ground, to the point of giving them special animations for when any other Pokémon uses a non-animated hop (Pokéathlon, Poké Transfer) or just appears in mid-air. When you normally send a Pokémon into battle, they'll fall from the Poké Ball and onto the ground, but Diglett and Dugtrio will materialize on the ground immediately. The move Telekinesis (a move which involves lifting the opponent into the air) fails when used on them. The ground that conceals the bottom half of their body even follows them into the sky when they use a Flying-type Z-move!
• Disc-One Nuke: If you're very patient in the Kanto games, you can find a Level 29-31 Dugtrio in Diglett's Cave, at a time when your other Pokémon may be only Level 20-ish.
• Dishing Out Dirt: All of them are Ground-types.
• The Dividual: Dugtrio might be this trope due to the fact that it's impossible to tell if its three heads are connected to a central body or not. Either way, they're all counted as one Pokémon.
• Expressive Hair: Alolan Diglett's sensory whiskers position themselves based on its mood.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio are part Steel-type with metallic hair-like whiskers.
• Fragile Speedster: Dugtrio is the fastest Ground-type type Pokémon, but has painfully low HP with below-average defenses. Alolan Dugtrio are slightly slower, have slightly better Defense, and gain a fair number of resistances due to being half Steel-type, but their Defense is still low.
• Glass Cannon: Has become this as of Gen VII, since it was given a +20 boost to its physical Attack, bringing it from subpar to usable while its defenses and hit points remain sub-par.
• Hive Mind: All three of Dugtrio's heads think the exact same thoughts, according to the Hoenn games' Pokédex entries.
• Informed Attribute: According to the Pokédex entries in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and their remakes, Dugtrio are three Diglett triplets, separated at birth, who think the same. However, the breeding mechanic only produces one egg, and it's always a single Diglett that hatches from it.
• Informed Species: They're classified as the Mole Pokémon but much more closely resemble Whack-a-Moles in both appearance and behavior (going straight up and down their holes). Despite this, they can still learn scratching moves you would associate with actual burrowing animals, but no one's ever seen their claws.
• Invisible Anatomy: Diglett and Dugtrio don't appear to have any arms or legs, but they're perfectly capable of using many attacks that involve claws, such as Scratch, Slash, or even Aerial Ace.
• Multiple Head Case: Dugtrio has three heads. Because of the below Riddle for the Ages, it's unknown whether it's a case of this trope or The Dividual.
• No Mouth: Well, none that we can see, anyway.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Diglett is only 8 inches tall, but it's fast and able to learn powerful moves such as Earthquake to deal sizable damage to anything weak to Ground-type. Dugtrio is only slightly larger.
• Prehensile Hair: Alolan Dugtrio's Iron Head attack and Tangling Hair ability are used in this manner in the anime.
• Riddle for the Ages: We will likely never see what the rest of Diglett or Dugtrio's body looks like. They have claws, as indicated by their movepool (Scratch, Slash, Shadow Claw, etc), in the anime, a Diglett is small enough to fit inside of a man's hat, and in Mystery Dungeon a Diglett mentions it has feet, but that's all the clues we've been given.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Diglett's simple design makes it incredibly endearing. Even more so with Alolan Diglett, who has 3 tiny little hairs (whiskers) on its head! Dugtrio tries to be more intimidating with its Angry Eyebrows, but it's just as cute.
• Secret Art: Despite being a widespread move, prior to Generation III, they are the only ones to learn Dig naturally.
• Shown Their Work: The golden hair that Alolan Dugtrio has is based on Pele's hair, as is the legend that taking an Alolan Dugtrio's hair is seen as bad luck, referencing the curse that is supposed to be suffered by anyone who takes native rock from Hawaii away from the islands.
• Starfish Alien: Diglett and Dugtrio may be this. We just aren't sure. Given that Dugtrio has three heads from a one-headed Diglett, it's not out of the field of possibility.
• Stealth Pun: Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio "hair" is made of metal (which is why they're Steel-type), and is reminiscent of that commonly seen on heavy metal musicians and fans. Their battle animations are also reminiscent of headbanging. So basically, Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio are literally and figuratively metal heads.
• Super-Speed: In the anime, it's mentioned that Diglett is capable of moving at the speed of light to pull its head underground.
• Surfer Dude: Dugtrio's Alolan form evokes the image, what with all three of them having wavy platinum-blonde hair.
• Underground Monkey: Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio gain an additional Steel typing and whiskers on top of their head to survive the harsh volcanic environment in their region.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • Can learn Final Gambit through breeding. This is a move that sacrifices the user to deal damage equal to the user's HP, on Pokémon with some of the lowest HP in the game.
  • Alolan Diglett and Dugtrio have an ability unique to it known as Tangling Hair, which lowers the Speed of opponents who attack it with a contact move (similar to Goomy's Gooey ability). However, due to having low HP and defenses, they can't really stand up to repeated attacks to make full use of this ability.
• Wolverine Claws: Not seen, but definitely present on them, as they can learn moves that would require claws (Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Scratch, Slash, etc.). Also played more realistically than most, as Diglett is a burrowing animal and thus almost certainly uses its claws for digging.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Arena Trap prevents ground-based Pokémon from escaping.

Meowth (Nyarth), Persian, and Perrserker (Nyaikingu)

0052: Meowth / Nyarth (ニャース nyaasu)
0053: Persian (ペルシアン perushian)
0863: Perrserker (ニャイキング; nyaikingu)

Meowth

^{Gigantamax Meowth}

Persian

Alolan Meowth

Alolan Persian

Galarian Meowth

Perrserker

Alolan forms debut in Sun and Moon

Gigantamax Meowth, Galarian Meowth, and Perrserker debut in Sword and Shield.

These Pokémon are probably some of the most recognized Pokémon in the franchise after Pikachu, due to one individual being a main antagonist in the anime and because that particular one is unique in that it can speak human languages, something very few other Pokémon can do (and most of those use telepathy). It's only natural to have a cat Pokémon as an antagonist when your protagonist is a mouse. These cats are based on Maneki Neko, a lucky cat that's supposed to grant its owner wealth. Persian has a regal air to it and is quite fast, but nothing note-worthy about it otherwise. In their debut, they could only be found in Blue. A special Kantonian Meowth is capable of attaining a Gigantamax form, whose symbol on its coin is believed to be key to understanding the Gigantamax phenomenon.

Meowth were brought to Alola as gifts to the royal family from another region and they were treated as royalty themselves. Generations of living the pampered lifestyle made them conceited and prideful to the point that wounding that pride or dirtying their coins drive them to hysterics. They also become Dark-types in the process. However, at some point the monarchy collapsed and these Meowth turned feral and became regular Pokémon. Alolan Meowth naturally evolve into Alolan Persian with high friendship. Its face is a bit more rounded than regular Persian, but the people of the Alola region actually see this, and its fur coat as a source of pride. Not coincidentally, Alolan Persian gains Fur Coat as an ability.

Meowth in the Galar region descend from a population raised by a fierce seafaring people, toughening them up so much that parts of their bodies have turned into iron, by extension turning them into pure-Steel types. Instead of Persian, they evolve into Perrserker, a vicious Pokémon with retractable dagger claws.

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• Absurdly Sharp Claws: The line gets Fury Swipes, Hone Claws and the high critical-rate Night Slash and Slash. Perrserker gets Metal Claw, and also the Tough Claws ability, giving a 30% power boost to all its contact moves.
• Action Initiative: They can learn Fake Out and Feint, the former always cause the foe to flinch but only works on the first turn they're in while the latter lift the effect of protection move, with both moves having a higher priority than other priority attacks. They are also boosted by Technician.
• Always Accurate Attack: They learn Feint Attack, which never misses unless the opponent uses a move with a turn of semi-invulnerability like Fly or Dig, by leveling up. Persian also has Swift (which has the same effect) within its moveset.
• Armored But Frail: The ability Fur Coat makes Alolan Persian this. It halves damage from physical attacks, but its base HP and special defense are still only 65.
• The Artifact: Meowth is still one of the stars of the anime, but for a long while was hardly marketed at all outside of it. Sun and Moon features it more prominently than most previous games, as it's a common house pet and even the protagonist's mother owns one. It also gets regional forms in both Gen VII and Gen VIII, as well as a Gigantamax form and attack in the latter.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Alolan Meowth were bred and kept as pets by the Alolan royal family, and are Dark (Evil) types.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Meowth just loves round, shiny objects, especially coins.
• Beard of Barbarism: Galarian Meowth and Perrserker have thick beards, and happen to be more vicious than other Meowth.
• Berserk Button: Alolan Meowth hate having their pride wounded or getting their coins dirty.
• Blank White Eyes: Alolan Meowth sports this expression when angered in Pokémon Refresh. Whether it's Glowing Eyes of Doom or Meowth rolling its eyes isn't clear.
• Blood Knight: Perrserker is noted to have a thrill for battle. Due to Persian's more elegant nature, the two detest each other.
• Boss Battle: Regular Persian is Giovanni's signature in Yellow. Alolan Persian is Kahuna Nanu's signature.
• Breakout Character: Like Pikachu, Meowth became quite popular as a result of being a main character in the anime, and during its popularity was utilized a lot in spin off material, despite its species line being dropped out from every regional Pokédex between Gen II and VII. This seeped into the games afterwards, where it often gets treated to the regional forms and mechanics.
• The Bus Came Back: Meowth and its evolution Persian were completely dropped out from every regional Pokédex from Gen III to Gen VI in mainline games^note except Fire Red/Leaf Green and Heart Gold/Soul Silver, which were remakes of the first two generations, despite its prominent appearances in the anime. It was brought back to Gen VII's Alola Pokédex, albeit in Alolan forms. In the next Generation, Meowth gained its next regional form and Perrserker as its brand new evolution, with Persian also in the Galar Pokédex.
• Cats Are Mean: According to the Pokédex, Persian are difficult to raise as pets because of their inherent meanness. Meowth has no implications of such, though will likely never live down its villainous role in the anime. Played straighter with the Alolan variants, who are Dark-types and implied to have inherited a spoiled personality. Alolan Persian has an even worse attitude than its regular counterpart. True to their Viking inspiration, Galarian Meowth and Perrserker are savage and barbaric fighters that live for the thrill of battle and start fights at the slightest provocation.
• Cats Are Superior: Alolan Meowth were treated like royalty in the past, and still act like it in the present. Its half-closed eyes also give it a rather smug look.
• Combat Pragmatist: Their natural movepool is not one made up of orthodox moves. Alolan Meowth and Alolan Persian are pure Dark-type, rather than the Normal-type of Meowth and Persian native to Kanto and Johto, or the Steel-type of Meowth and Perrserker native to Galar. Alolan Persian's Shield Pokédex entry specifically says it isn't above fighting dirty.
• Commonplace Rare: In the rest of the world, Meowth are relatively common Pokémon. In Alola, they were so exotic and rare that they were reserved for royalty. They were turned loose when the monarchy was destroyed and became common in Alola as well.
• Confusion Fu: They've got a massive movepool. That's par for the course for Normal-types, but Meowth and Persian still get more options than most.
• Continuity Nod: The Pokémon Speak for Gigantamax Meowth in Pokémon Sword and Shield was recorded by the Japanese VA for Team Rocket's Meowth in the anime, Inuko Inuyama.
• Critical Hit Class: Back in Generation I, the chance of a move scoring a critical hit was dependent on Speed; Slash has an enhanced critical hit ratio, and Persian was already pretty fast, so Slash was virtually always a critical hit when used by Persian. Thanks to this, Hyper Beam also had a sizeable crit rate, making up for its low Attack and lacking stats.
• Crutch Character: Its great Speed stat and manipulation of Technician boosts and Fake Out combos can make it handy for early points of the game, with its Pay Day attack and Pickup ability also allowing you to nab costly power-up items. Unfortunately, it doesn't really get handed many powerful techniques later on, it loses Pickup when it evolves^note replaced with Limber for standard Persian, Fur Coat for Alolan Persian, and Battle Armor for Perrserker, and its low other stats cause it to struggle to hold on in later battles.
• Cuddle Bug: In the anime, Persian is depicted as fairly affectionate and pettable. Its Alolan counterpart also loves to have its chin scratched.
• Cute Kitten: One trainer in Pokémon Red and Blue (named Andrea in the Gen III remakes) has a team of three Meowth, which she finds adorable.
  Andrea: Meowth is so cute, meow, meow, meow!
• Disk One Nuke: Pay Day allows you to pile up on currency early on, and like trainer earnings, can be doubled or quadrupled through certain stipulations such as the Amulet Coin item. Especially apparent in early generations where Meowth could be caught and taught Pay Day rather early. It can also have Pickup, which can collect rare or expensive items for the trainer. Simply put, Meowth is good for your wallet.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In Generation I, Meowth were depicted as bipedal; however, their stance implies they don't walk well on two feet. Adaptations often portrayed them as quadrupeds as a result. In the anime, Team Rocket's Meowth is seen as an outright oddity for being bipedal, but later generations consistently portray Meowth as walking on their hind legs. The anime has even shown at least one other Meowth being bipedal without explaining why.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Galarian Meowth and Perrserker are pure-Steel type as a result of parts of their bodies being turned to iron from their tough lifestyle, and the latter's Hidden Ability Steely Spirit powers up the Steel-type attacks of their allies.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Interestingly, each variant correlates with this format.
  • Kantonian Meowth are the thief because they are obsessed with shiny coins and have a preference for stealth. Galarian Meowth are the fighter because they are eager to fight and look down on Kantonian Meowth for not sharing their eagerness to fight. Alolan Meowth are the mage simply because they are known for their intelligence.
  • The base stats for all the Meowth regional variants reflect this as well: Alolan Meowth have the highest special attack base stat, Galarian Meowth have the highest attack base stat, while Kantonian Meowth have the highest speed stat. Kantonian Meowth share the same speed base stat as the Alolan variant but Kantonians have a lower special attack base stat but a higher attack base stat. These base stats for Kantonian Meowth make it a fragile speedster in comparison to the Alolan variant.
    Meowth: (Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Pokédex entry) Meowth withdraws its sharp claws into its paws to slinkily sneak about without making any incriminating footsteps. For some reason, this Pokémon loves shiny coins that glitter with light.
    Alolan Meowth: (Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee Pokédex entry) Highly intelligent and prideful, it's famously difficult to handle–but that's also a reason for its popularity.
    Galar Meowth: (Sword Pokédex entry) Living with a savage, seafaring people has toughened this Pokémon's body so much that parts of it have turned to iron.
• Foil: To the Mankey line. They are version-exclusives in Red and Blue, Gold and Silver, and their respective remakes, and are version-exclusive trades in Black 2 and White 2. Meowth and Mankey both evolve at Level 28 into Persian and Primeape, respectively. Persian and Primeape are both well known for their aggressive, anger-driven temperament, albeit in slightly different ways. Persian is innately mean and fickle and will lash out and attack violently on a whim. Primeape meanwhile perpetually lashes out at anything that does so much as look at it and will chase and relentlessly attack those who anger it in a violent rampage.
• Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better:
  • Zigzagged with Meowth. It has always been depicted as bipedal in the games, but the anime usually depicts most Meowth as quadrupedal. The main exception is Team Rocket's Meowth, who learned to walk on two legs around the same time he learned to talk. Later on, most Meowth are also bipedal most of the time, making previous depictions an example of Early-Installment Weirdness for the anime.
  • Unlike Persian, which evolve from Kantonian and Alolan Meowth, Perrserker are also fully bipedal and in general, look like a bigger Galarian Meowth.
• Fragile Speedster: Both Persian have a very high Speed stat of 115... And their defenses sit at around 60-65 each. While Alolan Persian can potentially have a beefy physical Defense with the Fur Coat ability, its Special Defense remains paltry. Meanwhile, their offenses aren't much better; each Persian's highest stat is Attack or Special Attack, which sits at a pitiful 70 for Kantonian Persian and a slightly better 75 for Alolan Persian. Both Persian can potentially have the Technician ability, which powers up any move with a base power of 60 or below, but that can only do so much to boost their lackluster offenses.
• Guide Dang It!: Something Steely Spirit's in-game description fails to mention is that it also affects Perrserker's own Steel-type moves. This means that the ability is viable in Singles matches.
• Horny Vikings: Perrserker has hair on its head that resembles stereotypical Viking horned helmets, it has "berserker" as part of its name, and its species name is the "Viking Pokémon". Galarian Meowth's Sword Dex entry mentions that their pure-Steel typing is a result of being raised by "a savage, seafaring people", and in-game you can even find a Pokémon Camp on Route 7 where the Galarian Meowth are all named with Norse and Viking puns such as "King Cnat", "Mjorn", and "Mragnar".
• Item Caddy: Meowth can have the Pickup ability, allowing it to randomly obtain items. However, it loses the ability when it evolves into Persian or Perrserker.
• Last Disc Magic: The Alolan line boosts its Special Attack stat at the expense of physical Attack power, and yet Meowth only gets one Special attack in its natural moveset (Dark Pulse), and it's the final move they learn. Alolan Persian also gets non-STAB Swift and Power Gem upon evolving, though. Gen VIII worsens this by omitting Dark Pulse from its moveset altogether, requiring a very late-game TM to obtain it.
• Loot-Making Attack: You collect the earnings of a Meowth or Persian that used Pay Day if you win the battle, even if it was the opponent who used the attack. Gigantamax Meowth's G-Max Gold Rush gives you an even bigger haul after the battle, enough to put Pay Day to shame dozens of times over if you use it for all three Gigantamax turns.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Perrserker has an excellent base 110 Attack but a poor base 50 Special Attack.
• Maneki Neko: Based on these, hence the coin on their foreheads.
• Master of None: Aside from high Speed, all of its stats are roughly even. And all are crappy — for a point of reference, Persian's non-Speed stats are on-par with Castform. To compensate, some of the line's abilities like Technician and Fur Coat act as unconventional stat boosts. The Galarian line averts this by trading in its high speed for better HP and physical stats.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: In order to compensate for low stats and a terrible stat spread, Persian gets some niche, yet rewarding strategies to use. Kantonian Persian has the 2nd strongest Fake-Out in the entire game, gets U-Turn to remove itself from the battlefield, and also gets a lot of Dark-type moves that range from annoying to extremely useful. Alolan Persian gets Fur Coat as an ability, doubling its Defense, and also Parting Shot, making it an extremely useful pivot against physical attackers. Both of them can also turn the opponent's strengths against themselves with Foul Play, Punishment, and Snatch. Averted with Perrserker, which plays as a straight physical attacker/tank.
• Mighty Glacier: In contrast with Kantonian and Alolan Meowth and Persian, Galarian Meowth and Perrserker lack speed, but have higher Attack and Defense.
• Misplaced Wildlife: In-Universe example: Meowth and Persian were not originally found in Alola, but humans brought them over and pampered them, leading to their Dark-type affiliation. When the monarchy in Alola ended, the Meowth were released into the wild and became feral.
• Money Mauling: Meowth's Signature Move Pay Day has it throwing gold coins at its enemy. The move itself does damage, but also increases how much money you get at the end of the battle with each use of the move. Gigantamax Meowth's G-Max Gold Rush blasts enemies with a veritable fountain of gold coins, which naturally can be picked up after the battle for a huge cash boost.
• Mythology Gag: Not all Meowth are supposed to be bipedal and talk wisecracks like the main anime version. Many side games would make you think otherwise.
• Nerf: In Generation I, critical hit probability was based on Speed, and if you KO'd the opponent with Hyper Beam, you didn't need a recharge turn. This made Persian very dangerous; Slash was a critical hit 100% of the time due to its high Speed, and it could throw out STAB Hyper Beams to finish off opponents, Hyper Beam also having a high critical hit chance for the mentioned Speed reason. Generation II changed the critical hit mechanics and removed the Hyper Beam loophole so you always need to recharge even if you KO'd something.
• Non-Elemental: Kantonian Meowth and Kantonian Persian are Normal-type.
• Non-Indicative Name: Neither incarnation of Persian resembles an actual Persian cat. Regular Persian looks much more like a Siamese, while Alolan Persian resembles a British Blue Shorthair.
• No True Scotsman: Both the Galarian and Kantonian variants hate each other, Kantonians hate Galarians for being barbaric fighters, while the Galarians hate the Kantonians for having elegant and refined behavior.
• Panthera Awesome: Persian, a housecat, is the size of a leopard and resembles a generic big cat.
• Palette Swap: Alolan Meowth are dark grey in color.
• The Power of Friendship: Despite — or perhaps because of — their spoiled, sometimes cruel nature, Alolan Meowth only evolve if they are happy enough with their trainers.
• Pokémon Speak: Meowth does this when Gigantamaxed. This makes Meowth the third species to incorporate actual Pokémon Speak into their cry, after Pikachu and Eevee. Unlike those two, however, Meowth only does so when Gigantamaxed.
• Power Up Letdown:
  • None of Meowth's attacks (and very few of Persian's) exceed a 70 power rating^note Assurance and Fury Swipes can max up to 120 or 135 respectively, but under unlikely stipulations. This means that if you have one with the Technician ability, some later moves will actually do less damage than earlier 60 or lower ones which get a 50% boost.
  • Kantonian Persian's Hidden Ability is Unnerve. Persian's defenses are way too poor to take advantage of it, and it misses out on the power boost from Technician.
  • Alolan Meowth/Persian's Hidden Ability is Rattled. Nevermind the fact that Persian is already blazingly fast, the only thing allowing the line to take a hit is the Fur Coat ability.
• Punny Name: Perrserker is a Viking cat whose name is a combination of "purr" and "berserker".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Perrserker's eyes glow red while attacking, and it's known for being aggressive.
• Right-Hand Cat: In the anime Persian is this to Giovanni.
• The Rival:
  • Meowth to Murkrow; the two are said to constantly steal each other’s items that they hoard in their nests.
  • Also Meowth to Pikachu in the anime specifically, largely due to the heroes keeping a Pikachu out of its ball and the villains keeping a Meowth in the anime. They are a literal Cat-and-Mouse duo, with the antagonistic cat doing the chasing with a lot of zany schemes and contraptions, only to be outdone by the heroic mouse doing what comes naturally to survive (in this case shooting electricity). Their national Dex numbers, 25 and 52 are inversions of each other incidentally, and both lines had at least one Alolan form announced at the same time.
  • Kantonian members of the line are said to not get along with their Galarian counterparts, with their relationship being characterized by mutual disdain.
• Royally Screwed Up: Kind of. For Alola, these Pokémon were reserved only for the Alolan royal family. Years of this kind of isolation had dramatic changes to their typing.
• Seadog Beard: Galarian Meowth was said to live with harsh seafaring folk. Fittingly, it sports an impressive beard.
• Secret Art:
  • Pay Day for Meowth, to go with its Maneki Neko roots; the attack has actually been steadily limited to Meowth and only Meowth over the gens (even vanishing from Persian's learnset in Gen IV). However, in Gen V, Purrloin has this as an egg move, and in Gen III, you can get a Skitty with this through Pokémon Box, and in Gen I, it was a TM. It regained its TM status in Gen VIII before going back to being available only to Meowth, Persian and their Alolan and Galarian variants in Gen IX.
  • G-Max Gold Rush is inherently linked to Gigantamax Meowth in Pokémon Sword and Shield, and serves as the Gigantamax counterpart to Pay Day; it confuses its victims and provides a post-match payout. This used to be exclusive to players who got Sword and Shield shortly after its release date, but a Wild Area Event that ran from May 25, 2020 to June 2, 2020 allowed Gigantamax Meowth to be fought and caught in Max Raid Battles, succeeding two prior events, which allowed people to catch Gigantamax Pikachu and Gigantamax Eevee respectively.
• Shadow Archetype: Fittingly enough, the Alolan forms are this to the regular ones. Their entries even note that despite regular Persian's attitude problems, it's not nearly as badly behaved as its dark counterpart.
• Shown Their Work: Meowth and Perrserker's designs and Pokédex entries being inspired by Vikings is possibly a historical reference, given that Britain, which is Galar's real-life counterpart, was famously invaded by Vikings several times during the Middle Ages.
• Slasher Smile: Galarian Meowth and Perrserker continually bare their sharp teeth, emphasizing their barbaric tendencies.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: The elegant Kantonian Meowth and Kantonian Persian have a heated rivalry with their barbaric Galarian counterparts according to their Shield Pokédex entries.
  Meowth: It washes its face regularly to keep the coin on its forehead spotless. It doesn’t get along with Galarian Meowth.
  Persian: Its elegant and refined behavior clashes with that of the barbaric Perrserker. The relationship between the two is one of mutual disdain.
• Smug Smiler: The line's Alolan variants have half-lidded eyes and smiles as their default expressions. Fitting for Pokémon once treated like royalty.
• Spoiled Brat: The Alolan line is known for being very spoiled and unpleasant because of how the line was treated in ancient Alola - fittingly, it's a Dark-type due to its resultant bad attitude.
• Status Buff:
  • Kantonian Persian is able to boost all of its stats; it gets Amnesia, Defense Curl, Hone Claws, Nasty Plot, and Work Up.
  • Alolan Persian only keeps Nasty Plot, Amnesia, and Work Up.
  • Meanwhile, Perrserker improves on this by getting the stronger Iron Defense while dropping Defense Curl, Swords Dance to boost its high Attack, on top of having the rest of the boosting moves its counterparts get, and also getting Baton Pass to aid a teammate with its boosts.
• Stone Wall: Fur Coat turns Alolan Persian into this on the physical side by doubling its physical Defense, though its Special Defense and Attack stats remain poor.
• Super Mode: Certain Kantonian Meowth are capable of Gigantamaxing. Gigantamax Meowth are then capable of using G-Max Gold Rush, which not only causes damage and confuses the opponents, but also scatters coins, much like Pay Day.
• Super-Toughness: Alolan Persian's Fur Coat ability doubles its physical defense.
• Talking Animal: Team Rocket's Meowth in the anime is one of the most famous talking Pokémon of all (along with Mewtwo), to the point that it's most likely more well-known than its non-talking compatriots in the games.
• Underground Monkey: Meowth is notably the first (and so far only) Pokémon to have more than one regional variant.
  • Years of isolation from other Meowth populations and living in the lap of luxury have made Alolan Meowth and Alolan Persian Dark-types.
  • Years of living with harsh seafaring people have toughened them up (both figuratively and literally) and made Galarian Meowth Steel-types. Unlike Meowth of other regions, these ones evolve into Perrserker rather then Persian.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • The species' high speed means they usually attack first, making Assurance's double attack boost unlikely to achieve.
  • Alolan Meowth and Persian can have Rattled as a Hidden Ability (increase Speed when hit by a Bug-, Ghost-, or Dark-type attack), but the only type that opponents would use against the line is Bug, and Meowth and Persian couldn't take more than one hit due to their poor defenses.
• Weak to Magic: Perrserker's decent base 100 Defense is contrasted by its poor base 60 Special Defense, so special-based moves make short work of it.
• Weak, but Skilled: The stats of the line are pretty weak, but it has good speed and a decent range of strategic Normal and Dark type moves (almost all with perfect accuracy) and a great TM move pool, which makes it rather versatile and reliable. Finding one with the Technician ability also ensures that none of its moves are outright pathetic in battle.
• Wolverine Claws: Perrserker can extend its claws into a blade which it uses for slashing attacks.
• Wolverine Publicity: Not nearly as much as Pikachu, but the anime made Meowth one of the most recognizable Pokémon and thus the games are fond of making occasional Mythology Gags to its Team Rocket connection. Meowth even received two new forms in Gen VII (Alolan Meowth) and Gen VIII (Galarian Meowth) as well as a Gigantamax form and an extra evolution. Even its more modest role in earlier Generations didn't seem always from lack of interest, given some discarded ideas like a pre-evolution intended for Gen II.

Psyduck (Koduck) and Golduck

0054: Psyduck / Koduck (コダック kodakku)
0055: Golduck (ゴルダック gorudakku)

Psyduck

Golduck

One of the most recognizable Pokémon, Psyduck is an eternally confused yellow duck-thing (some call it a platypus, though). It's got a headache that can somehow enable it to tap into mysterious psychic powers. Golduck is less silly, though, having lost those headaches. Along with its psychic abilities, it's a fast swimmer that's occasionally mistaken for the Japanese monster, Kappa.

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• Action Initiative: Golduck has access to Aqua Jet, though it needs the move relearner to get at it.
• Confusion Fu: Has a decent array of both physical and special attacks to work with, and its attacking stats are close enough together that it can use either effectively. It even gets both Calm Mind and Hone Claws to boost whichever attacking stat you end up going with.
• Discard and Draw: Downplayed. Psyduck's dex entries consistently describe how it has mystical powers and that those powers overwhelm it. Golduck's entries rarely reference any of the psychic powers Psyduck has, favoring instead how good of a swimmer it is, and Silver was the first game to confirm it still retained said psychic powers.
• Jack of All Stats: All of Golduck's stats are around 80, except for its Special Attack, which is 95. Power Creep has made it more of a Master of None in later generations, however.
• Kappa: Golduck is heavily based on the Japanese mythical river spirit Kappa. The Pokédex even mentions that Golduck is sometimes mistaken for a Kappa.
• Making a Splash: They're both Water-types.
• Mundane Utility: They're the only Pokémon that can legally know both Soak and Pay Day (the former by level up, the latter via Gen I TM). Combine the two and you have a Mon that can defeat anything, even Ghosts, with nothing but Pay Day, making it a handy way to make some extra money.
• Non-Indicative Name: Switching around the first part of their names may seem a little more fitting.
• Not Completely Useless: Golduck got a little more use when it gained Synchronoise, a powerful Psychic-type move that only works on Pokémon that match the user's type. Thanks to Soak, it is the only Pokémon that can reliably take advantage of Synchronoise by turning opponents into Water-types first.^note Sadly, this is no longer possible in Pokémon Sword & Shield, due to Synchronoise being cut.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Psyduck's Pokédex entry in Red and Blue says that it's a wily Pokémon, and lulls its enemies with its vacant look while using psychokinetic powers. This aspect of its character seems to have been dropped in later games, however, with later Pokédex entries saying that it uses its powers without meaning to and has no memory of using them.
• Power Incontinence: Psyduck is plagued with headaches thanks to its out-of-control psychic powers.
• Psychic Powers: They learn a decent variety of Psychic moves like Confusion, Psyshock, and Zen Headbutt, and their dex entries describe their psychic powers. Despite this, they aren't actually Psychic-type for some reason.
• Recurring Element: In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Psyduck serve as a Pokémon roadblock that requires a certain item to move them away. Oddly enough, they don't attack the player, instead choosing to flee the spot in peace.
• Secret Art: Worry Seed, among Water-types. Not even the Water/Grass Lotad line gets it.
• Taking You with Me: Defied with its Damp Ability, which prevents moves like Explosion and the Aftermath Ability from working.
• Useless Useful Spell: Gets the Soak move, which changes the target into a Water-type. Unfortunately, despite its otherwise impressive movepool, it doesn't get any Electric- or Grass-type attacks to abuse this with, except the aforementioned Worry Seed, which doesn't do damage. See Not Completely Useless above for its best use of the move.
• Weather Manipulation: If they have the Cloud Nine ability, all weather effects (and abilities that require weather to activate) will be negated while they're on the field. In addition to this, they can also learn the weather generating moves Hail and Rain Dance.
• Youkai: Golduck is based on the Kappa.

Mankey, Primeape (Okorizaru), and Annihilape (Konoyozaru)

0056: Mankey (マンキー mankii)
0057: Primeape / Okorizaru (オコリザル okorizaru)
0979: Annihilape / Konoyozaru (コノヨザル; konoyozaru)

Mankey

Primeape

Annihilape

Annihilape makes its debut in Scarlet and Violet.

Mankey and Primeape resemble puff-balls as much as they resemble monkeys and apes. They're Fighting-types that always seem to be angry at something. In Yellow, this is the guy you want to use to fight against Brock, since Pikachu really cannot do squat against him. They were exclusive to Red in their debut generation.

After raging so hard that it transcends the limits of their physical bodies, Primeape evolve into Annihilape, a dual Fighting/Ghost-type that fights with fists imbued with the rage it holds in its heart.

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• Ax-Crazy: Their tempers are definitely nasty enough to cross into this territory.
• Attack Backfire: Anger Point and Defiant, two of their abilities, work like this. Anger Point maximizes their attack if they survive a critical hit, rare as that is, while Defiant merely doubles its attack if one of its other stats was dropped — like against Pokémon using Defog to clear entry hazards. Then there is Rage Fist, which gets more powerful the more times its user is hit, going from 50 to 350 power after six hits. This isn't too useful for Primeape due to its lack of bulk, but Annihilape can make great use of it.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Primeape's main fighting style.
• Berserk Button: They’re extremely ill-tempered to begin with, but eye contact pisses it off more than anything else. This is based on how real-life monkeys and apes interpret eye contact as a challenge.
• The Berserker:
  • If there's one Pokémon line that fits the archetype, it's Mankey, Primeape, and Annihilape. They're always angry, they're always violent, they never let up when provoked, and if you meet them on a good day, they'll settle for merely beating you senseless. Deconstructed, as the sheer rage of Primeape is revealed in Sun to have killed some of them.
  • Reconstructed as of Scarlet and Violet; Annihilape is born when a Primeape gets angry enough to die, but is able to control its rage to instead surpass its physical limitations. Think this means it's outwardly calmer than its prior forms? Nope; even with its newfound control of its anger, enough of it pours out into its facial expressions to give it a raging Nightmare Face.
• Boss Battle: Annihilape is the Signature Mon of Eri, the leader of Team Star's Fighting-type Caph Squad.
• Brick Joke: Pokémon Sun's Pokédex entry states that sometimes Primeape gets so angry that it dies. Come Scarlet and Violet and Primape got an evolution... which adds the Ghost-type.
• Catch-22 Dilemma: Annihilape is this to any mon that want to clear entry hazards. Rapid Spin is a no go, since Annihilape is a Ghost type and is immune to it. Defog is risky since a Defiant Annihilape will double its already high Attack stat. Mortal Spin will work, but it’s weak, only having a base power of 30 (and is resisted), will power up Annihilape’s Rage Fist, and the Poison will prevent it from being Burned or hit by Toxic, meaning that it will be harder to slow down or put on a reliable timer. Tidy Up is the least viable, since it will give Annihilape a free kill against its only two users, Maushold and Furret, with the possibility that the killing move was Drain Punch meaning that it may even set back what progress was done in the first place.
• Cephalothorax: All stages of the line have bodies that seem to consist of heads with limbs attached and no visible mouths.
• Confusion Fu: They can learn moves of every single type save for Fairy, and damage-dealing moves from 14 of them.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Primeape has a twitching vein on the side of its head, and that lets you know it always has a chip on its shoulder. However, Annihilape is royally stomping mad and has these veins all over its forehead and bulging on its arm muscles so much that its wrist shackles burst apart.
• Crutch Character: Mankey was made available outside Viridian City in Yellow to help with Pikachu's severe disadvantage against Brock. Having one can also help with getting through Mount Moon. After that, however, there are much better options for dealing with Rock and Ground types, as well as better Fighting types to choose from. Averted in Scarlet and Violet, where its new evolution Annihilape is far more useable.
• Disc-One Nuke: As of Sun/Moon, Mankey learns Cross Chop, one of the strongest Fighting-type attacks without a major drawback^note aside from shaky accuracy, at level 22. Annihilape is also disturbingly powerful for a mon that can be obtained as early as level 36, having stats that rival starters and a Signature Move that can bust down the sturdiest walls with ease.
• Dump Stat: Special Attack for the whole line. The discreprency between their attack and special attack gets worse as they evolve, with Annihilape having more than double the Attack stat of its pitiful Special Attack.
• Foil:
  • To the Meowth line. Both are mammalian fast and vulnerable Pokémon that are version exclusive in Red and Blue and said game's remakes as well as Gold and Silver and are gender-exclusive trades by Yancy or Curtis in Black 2 and White 2. Mankey and Meowth both evolve at Level 28 into Primeape and Persian, respectively. Primeape and Persian both share an aggressive and violent temperament, with Primeape being perpetually raging and attacking anything that does so much as look at it relentlessly, while Persian lashes out and attacks on a whim and is known for having a cruel demeanor.
  • To the Makuhita line in several games. They often share the role of early game Fighting-types that evolve relatively early on and are often found in the same locations as each other. Primeape is relatively fast and frail, while Hariyama is slower and bulkier.
  • Despite not being a starter itself, to the Mudkip line, especially Annihilape and Swampert. Both have amazing typing, great stats (Annihilape and Swampert even share the same BST) and an incredable movepool, both natural and TM based. However, Swampert slightly better defensive stats and typing (only being weak to grass, and uncommon attacking type), while Annihilape is better suited for offense (Ghost is only defensively handled by Normal and Dark types, which Fighting destroys).
• Fragile Speedster: Primeape is the eighth-fastest non-Mega Fighting-type^note after Mienshao, the Musketeers and Infernape, Hawlucha, Marshadow, Zamazenta, Pirouette Forme Meloetta, and first being Pheromosa, but it can only take a few hits before going down. No longer the case with Annihilape, whom, while slightly slower (dropping 5 points of Speed), can take far more hits by comparison. Additionally, Annihilape being introduced in Gen IX means that Primeape is no longer fully evolved and can use Eviolite, giving it a chance to unleash an Anger Point-charged rampage if things are timed right.
• Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Its Hoenn Pokédex entries state that Primeape become much less intelligent when sufficiently angered. Annihilape grow beyond this and remain focused despite being even more furious than their prior stages.
• Glass Cannon: Like most Fighting-types, Primeape has high-powered moves coming from a high Attack stat, but its defenses aren't great. Annihilape, on the other hand, gains enough of an increase in defenses and HP after evolving to become more of a Lightning Bruiser.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Mankey and Primeape and especially Annihilape spend most of their lives in perpetual fury, going aggro on anything that even looks at them sideways. Even crazier, if they live in a pack and just one of their kind goes ballistic, all of them do.
• Increasingly Lethal Enemy: Annihilape's Secret Art, Rage Fist, powers up after every time it gets hit in battle, capping at 350 base power. This, compounded with its great physical Attack stat and the fact that it gets STAB by virtue of being a Ghost-type move and Rage Fist retains its power increases even when its user is switched out or even faints, makes it imperative for opposing Trainers to take care of it as soon as possible.
• Informed Species: While they're called pig-monkeys, only Mankey has so much as a vague resemblance to an actual monkey. Primeape and Annihilape resemble nothing so much living balls of hair with shaved limbs attached.
• Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed in that Annihilape is slower than Primeape, but only by 5 speed, which is still as fast as most legendary Pokémon. Its health is nearly doubled, its defenses get a sizable boost, and its offensive capabilities are more dangerous than ever.^note Well, not its Special Attack, that's even lower than Primeape's, but its physical Attack is quite fearsome.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Annihilape has a high base 115 Attack but a poor base 50 Special Attack stat, not that it needs it since Annihilape has a better physical movepool anyway.
• Maniac Monkeys: Full stop. These primates are known for their aggressive nature and terrible temper.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Mankey and Primeape are described by the Pokédex as the "Pig Monkey" Pokémon due to their porcine features.
• Peaceful in Death: According to Primeape's Sun Pokédex entry, their faces actually look serene at their time of death. Annihilape is stated to keep its rage hidden in its heart, making this more of a Tranquil Fury in its case.
  It has been known to become so angry that it dies as a result. Its face looks peaceful in death, however.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Annihilape is the fully evolved form of Mankey and has long hair resembling that of a Super Saiyan.
• The Power of Hate: Annihilape is said to be so angry that its rage allows it to gain power unfettered by the limits of its physical body; in hindsight, it's literally the Pokémon equivalent of Akuma.
• Punny Name: Annihilape is a pun on "annihilate" and "ape". Its Japanese name, Konoyozaru, sounds like "kono yo wo saru", "to pass from this world".
• Rage Breaking Point: Annihilape is a literal example. It's the result of a Primeape becoming so mad that the anger in its soul cannot be contained by its physical body. After evolving, Annihilape has searing red eyes, the ethereal fumes of rage seeping from its forehead, and the shackles around its wrists have broken and shattered by muscles that grew too powerful to keep its devastating force in check.
• Recurring Element: Annihilape has a lot of similarities to Obstagoon from Gen VIII. Both are evolutions to a physically-oriented Fragile Speedster from an earlier generation, and both slightly tone down the speed of their previous form in exchange for a modest improvement to their Attack and a dramatic improvement to their defenses. Both of them also gain a Secret Art that involves them taking hits — Obstruct for Obstagoon, and Rage Fist for Annihilape.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Annihilape's eyes are completely red, and it is so full of rage that its power exceeds the limits of its body.
• Secret Art: Annihilape and Primeape are the only Pokémon that learn Rage Fist, a Ghost-type move that increases in power based on the amount of attacks the user has already suffered. It's also required to be used 20 times in order to evolve Primeape into Annihilape.
• Serial Escalation: The highest base power move normally is Explosion, at a whopping 250 Power, which can pack quite a punch at the cost of the user's life. What can really pack a punch, however, is Rage Fist, this line's signature move. It starts at a paltry 50 Power, but it increases in power each time the user gets hit... by another 50. It'll just keep increasing, so if you get hit several times, you'll eventually have a move that can reach a max of 350 Power, well beyond Explosion's power and with no drawback.
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: An odd case of integration with the abilities. Swapping Anger Point for Inner Focus shows that Annihilape has gained mastery of its anger, wielding it as a fierce weapon instead of letting it get the better of it.
• Soul Power: Annihilape is part Ghost-type and is said to have gained power unfettered by the limits of its physical body.
• Status Buff: Two of its abilities. Anger Point maxes out its Attack if it gets hit by a critical attack (though it loses it upon evolving to Annihilape, who gets Inner Focus instead), and Defiant increases its Attack by two stages if one of its stats gets reduced by the opponent, including Attack — a great way to turn Intimidate users' strategy on its head.
• Suicide Attack: Annihilape, appropriately, has a niche with the otherwise overlooked move Final Gambit, which faints the user but deals damage equal to its remaining HP. Most Pokemon with the move have subpar base HP, making it a Useless Useful Spell for them, but Annihilape's great 110 base HP (a bit higher than previous Final Gambit record holder Victini's 100) means it can do heavy damage or knock out an opponent in a sacrifice play.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: If their rage ever gets too out of control, they may just suddenly die. Primeape evolves into Annihilape if you use Rage Fist enough times, meaning this trope applies as well if you don't keep track of how many times you've used the move.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Primeape's default mentality towards anyone that angers it. Which is to say, anyone that comes within twenty feet of it.
• Tranquil Fury: Normally, when a Primeape's rage grows too strong, its body is overwhelmed and it can die on the spot. However, a rare few gain enough control over their fury to channel it into a force so powerful that they transcend the limits of their physical bodies and evolve into the ghostly Annihilape. Downplayed, as Annihilape still looks pretty mad, but what you see is far from the extent of its anger and they're far more deliberate in unleashing their fury than their previous stages.
• Uniqueness Decay: Annihilape (introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet) is a Fighting/Ghost type, a type combination previously held only by Marshadow.
• Unstoppable Rage: Hoo boy. Mankey is very prone to this, and this is pretty much Primeape's default mood. Once it's gotten riled up at something, Primeape will never stop chasing the offending party until it has caught up and beaten the everloving crap out of it. And then there's Annihilape; the fact that it's part Ghost implies not even death could stop its furious rampage.
• Useless Useful Spell: Anger Point maximizes its Attack stat when it's been hit by a critical hit, but Primeape's Glass Cannon status meant that it can't fully take advantage of the ability. Upon evolving to Annihilape, Anger Point gets replaced by Inner Focus, which would have otherwise been an unstoppable force with its increased bulk ensuring that most critical hits won't overwhelm Annihilape that easily.
• Zero-Effort Boss:
  • A trio of Mankey serve as the third-to-last boss fight in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team. They are completely identical to the already underleveled regular Mankey enemies you've already fought in the dungeon and deal pitiful damage while most likely dying in one hit. Averted in the remake, where they are much tougher and more of a proper boss fight, though still much easier than the preceding Articuno and following Groudon fights.
  • Utterly defied when facing Team Star Leader Eri in Scarlet and Violet; Annihilape is the ace of the strongest member of Team Star for good reason, and if you are not overleveled or prepared properly, it WILL get your party wiped.

Growlithe and Arcanine (Gardie and Windie)

0058: Growlithe / Gardie (ガーディ gaadi)
0059: Arcanine / Windie (ウインディ uindi)

Growlithe

Arcanine

Hisuian Growlithe

Hisuian Arcanine

Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine debut in Legends: Arceus

These Fire-type dog-like Pokémon are based on Shisa. They vaguely resemble lions and tigers along with their more canine features. Arcanine has one of the highest stats for a non-legendary (though its species name is "Legendary") and access to a wide variety of moves, making it one of the best choices as far as Fire-types are concerned. They were exclusive to Red in their debut generation.

In the Sinnoh region, back when it was known as Hisui, the local Growlithe grew longer, harder fur, and gained the Rock typing, while also living in pairs and becoming warier of humans. They evolved into Hisuian Arcanine, a slower but stronger variety of Arcanine. The Hisuian forms would eventually vanish from the wilds of Sinnoh, but at the very least captive populations continued on unchanged, albeit rarer than typical Growlithe.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Hisuian forms will be decimated by Ground- and Water-type moves.
• Acrofatic: Hisuian Arcanine are noted to be very bulky but extremely nimble. While substantially heavier due to their rocky fur, they are notably only 5 points slower than their modern Kantonian counterparts.
• Action Initiative: Arcanine is one of the few Pokémon that learns Extreme Speed, a +2 priority Normal-type attack with 80 Power.
• Asian Lion Dogs:
  • Growlithe and Arcanine resemble stout, maned, and tiger-striped canines, and are based off of Japanese iterations of the temple lion statues such as the shisa and komainu. They're noted to be very brave and extremely loyal to their trainer, and very territorial in the bargain; Growlithe in particular will fearlessly face down anyone threatening their territory or trainer, regardless of their strength or size. In earlier generations, which tend to be more cavalier about referring to real-life places and things, Arcanine is also described as being from China; later generations change this to "the East".
  • Hisuian Growlithe more directly resembles a lion dog with its long fur, Rock typing, and singular horn. They also live in pairs like how lion dog statues are paired together. Its easily broken horn is even a reference to older lion dog statues and why newer lion dog statue designs tend to not bother having a horn. Namely that the horn that characterized older designs was often the first part of the statue to break and need repairing. As time passed and the statues began being built in larger and larger numbers, designers began opting for no horn for the sake of decreasing maintenance. Hisuian Arcanine continues this motif with a more prominent horn and jaws and a more stylized mane.
• Boss Battle:
  • Kantonian Arcanine is Blaine's, the seventh gym leader of Kanto, strongest Mon.
  • Hisuian Arcanine serves as a Noble Pokémon in Legends: Arceus.
• Big Friendly Dog: Arcanine is almost always benevolent, and is well over six feet tall.
• Canis Major: Arcanine is 6'03" and weighs 341 lbs/155 kgs.
• Confusion Fu: In a complete reversal of its earlier appearances, Arcanine now has a rather expansive movepool, consisting of Fire, Normal, Dark, Fighting, Electric, Dragon, Ground, Grass, Dark, Flying, Steel, and Fairy-type moves.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Has access to a lot of them. Take Down, Double-Edge, and Flare Blitz all have recoil damage, while Overheat and Close Combat both lower its stats after use and Thrash and Outrage cause it to become confused after attacking for 2-3 turns. The Hisuian variety can be bred to know Head Smash, though it can also have the recoil preventing Rock Head ability.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Shield, Growlithe can be caught as soon as you have access to the Wild Area, and evolved into Arcanine immediately after if you're able to make it to a part of the Wild Area with a Fire Stone and can be compounded by going a little further to a Daycare Center to breed. The usual issue stone-evolved Pokémon have of learning no moves after they evolve no longer applies, since Arcanine learns all of the moves it would've otherwise gotten as a Growlithe at level 1, so you can have an Arcanine with Flamethrower, Crunch, Play Rough, and Extreme Speed before you've started the Gym challenge.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine are part Rock-type with a horn made of stone.
• Eyes Out of Sight: Hisuian Growlithe's hair always covers its eyes.
• Heal Thyself: Has access to Morning Sun to help mitigate the damage from its recoil moves.
• Heroic Dog: Growlithe is faithful and loyal to its trainer, barking at anyone who approaches the trainer unexpectedly. Arcanine is one too, albeit with a more regal, mystical air.
• Informed Ability: Despite all the Pokédex entries rambling on about how Arcanine's probably the fastest Pokémon in existence (even being the ace of Marley's Speed-focused team), it's really not that hard to find something with a higher base Speed stat, even among the other original 151 Pokémon. It's worth noting, however, that Extreme Speed was its Secret Art in Gen II, so it held SOME merit.
• Jack of All Stats: No stats are particularly weak or strong aside from Arcanine's Attack, which is pretty decent. That being said, Arcanine has the second highest base stat total among all non-Legendary and non-Mega Pokémon of the first generation, which puts it above many other Pokémon. Its Hisuian counterpart is similarly well-rounded, though it trades off a bit of Special Attack and Speed for extra HP and Attack.
• Magic Knight: Arcanine's Attack and Special Attack are almost equal, though its Special movepool isn't as good as its Physical movepool.
• Magikarp Power: Growlithe has average stats for an un-evolved Pokémon, but when you evolve it, Arcanine's base stats are far above average. With the exception of Archaludon, its stat total is beaten only by legendaries, pseudo-legendaries, Mega Evolutions and fully evolved Pokémon that have detrimental abilities hampering their usefulness^note Slaking has stats on par with Kyogre and Groudon, but its Truant ability prevents it from attacking every other turn. Archeops is only slightly stronger than Arcanine overall, but plays the role of ultimate Glass Cannon by having poor defenses and HP and an ability that halves its potent offensive stats when its HP drops below 50%, Wishiwashi, with Schooling allowing it to become a Mighty Glacier with attack stats comparable to legendaries and megas, but reverting back to the weakest Pokémon stat-wise after dropping to 25% HP, and Palafin's Hero Form, which has a stat total only slightly less than most box legendaries, but its Zero form needs to switch out first to gain those stats..
• Metal Slime: Though not as bad as other Pokémon of this nature, Growlithe can be difficult to obtain for one or more of these reasons: it's almost always version exclusive ^note Specifically, it's exclusive to Red, the original Japanese version of Blue, Yellow, Gold, Crystal, FireRed, HeartGold, and Let's Go Pikachu, it knows Roar which can cause opposing Pokémon to flee and thus ending the battle, and it often has some sort of requirement in order to even find one^note for example, in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, you must have the FireRed GameBoy Advance cartridge inserted into the original Nintendo DS console.
• Non-Elemental: If you breed them with the Cyndaquil line in Gen VII, they can possibly get the move Burn Up, a powerful Fire-type move which strips them of their Fire-typing after use. Since they don't have a secondary type, they will become outright typeless.
• Panthera Awesome: They're dogs with characteristics of lions and tigers.
• Playing with Fire: Both of them are Fire-types, with Arcanine's internal flame being the fuel that allows it to go so fast.
• Policeman Dog: Law enforcement officers typically use the doglike Growlithe and Arcanine to assist them in solving crimes.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: In the first several generations of the franchise, Arcanine was well-known for having incredibly high stats for a non-legendary... and also for having a debilitatingly small movepool. Later generations have helped it out immensely in this regard.
• Precious Puppies: Growlithe. Just look at it! Even moreso with its Hisuian form, thanks to its bangs.
• Signature Move: Fire Blast was heavily associated with Arcanine, especially in Gen I, even though it doesn't learn the move naturally. Extreme Speed is also associated with Arcanine, being the first Mon to learn it, and is still a pretty rare move to this day.
• Similar Squad: It's the non-starter counterpart to the Charmander line for The Rival in the Gen I games and their remakes, and the strongest non-legendary Fire Type of its generation.
• Secret Art:
  • Extreme Speed for Arcanine, in Gen II only.
  • Hisuian Arcanine is one of the only Pokémon that learns Raging Fury, a Fire-type move that does damage but it either leaves the user fixated on their last target (in Legends Arceus), or locks the user into using the move for a few turns before succumbing to confusion similarly to Outrage (in Scarlet and Violet and onward).
• Spear Counterpart: To the Vulpix line. While they can be either gender, they have a 75% chance of being male, while the Vulpix line has a 75% chance of being female.
• Super-Speed: Although its Speed stat actually isn't all that high, lorewise Arcanine are renowned for their speed. It can learn Extreme Speed however, making up for its middling Speed stat.
• Undying Loyalty: Growlithe, to its Trainer. It won't even move until it's been given a command by its Trainer.

Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, and Politoed (Nyoromo, Nyorozo, Nyorobon, and Nyorotono)

0060: Poliwag / Nyoromo (ニョロモ nyoromo)
0061: Poliwhirl / Nyorozo (ニョロゾ nyorozo)
0062: Poliwrath / Nyorobon (ニョロボン nyorobon)
0186: Politoed / Nyorotono (ニョロトノ nyorotono)

Poliwag

Poliwhirl

Poliwrath

Politoed

Politoed debuts in Gold and Silver

These water Pokémon are based on tadpoles and frogs. They also happen to be Satoshi Tajiri's favorite Pokémon, and as such, they get plenty of showcasing. They're blue in color and have swirling bellies (actually the Pokémon's intestines) that can make their opponents sleepy by simply undulating it. Upon evolving into Poliwrath with the help of a water stone, it becomes part Fighting-type and gains more bulk. Politoed is very different in that it's a fully mature green frog.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: No less than three Poliwrath have been depicted as being under the ownership of arrogant trainers.
• Advertised Extra: Despite its ubiquity in early merchandise, Poliwhirl has never been prominent in the games or the anime — in fact, it took a few seasons to make more than a background appearance in the anime.
• Amphibian Assault: Poliwrath is a tadpole with the fighting skills of a boxer.
• Amphibian at Large: Though not large by franchise standards, Politoed and Poliwrath are about the heights of human children.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: The player needs a King's Rock (shaped like a crown) for evolving Poliwhirl into Politoed.
• Balance Buff: In Generation V, Politoed got the Drizzle ability, allowing it to hit harder with Water-type attacks. Poliwrath got a slight boost in Attack in Generation VI, raising it from 85 to 95.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Poliwrath, which is part Fighting-type.
• Boss Battle:
  • Poliwrath is the fifth gym boss of Gen II and the Gen IV remakes as Chuck's signature.
  • Three Poliwrath (and one Poliwag minion) serve as the third boss fight in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.
• Brown Note: Politoed can learn Perish Song, which knock out all Pokémon that were in the battle at the time of its use after three turns.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Poliwhirl was originally given four-fingered hands in its sprites (With the exception of Yellow, as its appearance in the anime lacked fingers). Starting with FireRed and LeafGreen, it was decided it wouldn't have fingers.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Poliwrath's Dex entries make note of its great strength and stamina. In-game, being a Jack of All Stats, its attack stat doesn't truly stand out when compared to the more specialized physical powerhouses.
• Hypnotic Eyes: The swirl pattern they show is perfect for making opponents fall asleep.
• Hypnotic Creature: Poliwag, Poliwhirl, and Poliwrath all have bellies with a spiral pattern on them (actually their intestines seen through transparent skin). They can presumably use their spiral patterns to disorient would-be attackers, much like the spiral pattern used to put characters to sleep in pop culture. Politoed averts this as its belly is no longer transparent, but it still has a spiral pattern from when it was a Poliwhirl.
• Informed Species: Played straight with Poliwhirl and Poliwrath, who don't look at all like tadpoles. Averted with Poliwag and Politoed, who do look like tadpoles and frogs/toads respectively.
• Jack of All Stats: Poliwrath and Politoed have relatively rounded stats. Poliwrath has higher Attack and Defense while Politoed has higher Special Defense and Special Attack.
• Making a Splash: Water-type tadpoles and frogs.
• Magic Knight: Poliwrath has access to plenty of moves that are enhanced by its typing, as well as other moves such as Psychic and Ice Beam.
• Master of None: Poliwrath has very generalized stats and a wide movepool, but it doesn't particularly excel in any one category, aside from speed if it has Swift Swim. Politoed is more the same way, but its Drizzle ability is very useful.
• Power Nullifier: They can have the ability "Damp", which renders moves like Self-Destruct and Explosion unusable. They also have Water Absorb, which lets them recover HP if hit by a Water-type move, though it was already going to resist those anyways.
• Series Mascot: Poliwhirl was very heavily utilized in marketing way back in the Red & Blue days. It was featured in many tie-ins and promotional items. The Special Manga even had the main character, Red, have one as his very first Pokémon before getting Bulbasaur and Pikachu later on. This might be attributed to Poliwhirl being the series creator's favorite Mon.
• Socialization Bonus: Poliwhirl needs to be traded while holding a King's Rock to evolve into Politoed. Politoed can be fished up sometimes, but this means you'll miss out on good moves and Drizzle.
• Stone Wall: By Fighting-type standards, Poliwrath is impressively bulky on both its Physical and Special ends, with a unique set of resistances from its additional Water typing. However, its Attack is below standard for Fighting-types (especially before its Balance Buff in Generation VI), and its Special Attack is overshadowed by Magic Knights such as Lucario and Mienshao. It doesn't fare too much better in comparison to other Water-types offensively, either. From its debut, it was heavily overlooked by the likes of Gyarados on the Physical side and especially Starmie on the Special side. Power Creep has only left it further behind the curve. However, its Water Absorb ability can let it take more attacks than you'd think.
• Super-Scream: Politoed can learn Hyper Voice.
• Truth in Television: For some real-life tadpoles, their swirling intestines are visible through their underside's translucent skin.
• Weather Manipulation: Politoed's Hidden Ability is Drizzle, which summons Rain for the entire battle (pre-Gen VI) or for 5 turns (Gen VI onwards).
• White Gloves: Poliwhirl and Poliwrath have these, making them resemble old cartoon characters.

Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam (Casey, Yungerer, and Foodin)

0063: Abra / Casey (ケーシィ keeshii)
0064: Kadabra / Yungerer (ユンゲラー yungeraa)
0065: Alakazam / Foodin (フーディン fuudin)

Abra

Kadabra

Alakazam

^{Mega Alakazam}

Mega Alakazam debuts in X and Y

The first Psychic-type you might encounter, Abra and its kin were one of the best Pokémon in the game in the days of Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow, mainly due to how broken Psychic Pokémon were at the time. Abra was notable for teleporting away as soon as it appeared, so you only had one chance to catch it before it ran. Once caught, though, it's lightning fast and hits very hard with its special attacks. They are common across multiple generations, commonly appearing in the wild and most regional Dexes. Alakazam received a Mega Evolution in X and Y, in which it's even faster and hits even harder with special attacks.

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• Adaptational Badass: Abra only naturally learns one move, Teleport, which only switches it out with another Pokémon, and that was only granted to it in the Let's Go games. Previously it was completely useless in Trainer Battles and only good for fleeing wild Pokémon. In anime and comics, however, Abra is able to get a fair bit of combat utility out of the technique by using it as a Flash Step.
• Boss Battle:
  • The fifth (or sixth) gym boss, being Sabrina's strongest Mon.
  • Then there's Blue's Alakazam, which is an incredibly tough boss in the Gen I games.
• Brain Critical Mass: Alakazam is a Psychic-type that is described to be as intelligent as a supercomputer.
• Brains and Brawn: The Psychic-type Brains to the Machamp line's Brawn, being Squishy Wizards that use telekinesis more than their muscles.
• Cartoon Creature: It's hard to figure out exactly what these Pokémon are based on. They have a mix of traits from goats and foxes along with humanoid features. At the same time, their bodies appear to be segmented like an insect's exoskeleton.
• Cowardly Mooks: The Psychic type Abra naturally only knows the move "Teleport", meaning it will always flee from battle the moment its turn comes. Lower-leveled Kadabra retain the move and may also use it to flee from battle, but are at least capable of fighting back.
• Critical Hit Class: Kadabra and Alakazam are among the few Pokémon that can learn Psycho Cut, a physical move with a high critical-hit ratio. Downplayed in that they both have horrible physical attack stats.
• Cutting the Knot: Abra has only Teleport in its natural moveset, though it has a huge breeding and TM movepool, meaning even if you want to keep it as-is, you can often still grant it most of its evolutions' movepool anyway.
• Disc-One Nuke: Abra is found early in several of the games. It only naturally learns Teleport until it evolves, but can be beefed up with TMs to give it some other moves and take advantage of its high Special Attack for a first stage Pokémon. It evolves at the relatively low level of 16 into the even more powerful Kadabra, at which point it can be traded to gain its extremely powerful final form in Alakazam without negatively impacting its level-up movepool. All at level 16.
• Eyes Always Shut: Abra. The only glimpse of an Abra eye is the Gold sprite, where its left eye is half-open.
• Fantastic Foxes: The line looks like a weird hybrid between foxes, goats, and psychics.
• Foil: The line has three parallels to three other lines, and they all evolve by trading.
  • They have a foil in the Gastly line:
    • They're Psychic types to the Gastly line's Ghost/Poison type, resulting in both sides having an advantage against the other. Both are powerful Squishy Wizard types, with Gengar having a bit less Sp Atk and Speed than Alakazam in exchange for slightly less horrible HP, Atk, and Def, though it's still not great. Both Alakazam and Gengar also received a Mega Evolution in Gen VI, retain their similar stat distribution through them, and Alakazam even had its Sp Def increased to match Gengar's base stat total of 500, while Mega Alakazam received a Sp Def increase in Gen VII to match Mega Gengar's base stat total of 600. Even their Dex entries contrast each other, as the Abra line is described as being intelligent but benign, while the Gastly line is described as mischievous, preying on unsuspecting victims.
    • Outside the main series, the anime has Ash recruiting a Haunter to battle Sabrina's Kadabra, while another episode has an ancient Gengar battle with an ancient Alakazam. Gengar and Alakazam's original cards in the TCG both have 80 HP, one attack that required three Psychic energy, doing 30 damage with an extra effect, and both had an ability that let them move damage counters around, with Alakazam's moving the player's damage counters and Gengar's moving the opponent's damage counters.
  • They also have a foil in the Machop line. Both Machamp and Alakazam are complete opposites in role, as Machamp is a Mighty Glacier on the physical side, and Alakazam is a Fragile Speedster on the special side. Their types are opposite as well, with a Brains and Brawn dynamic, Alakazam being the brains with its Psychic type and Machamp being the brawn with its Fighting type. While Alakazam received a Mega Evolution in Gen VI, Machamp received a Gigantamax form in Gen VIII. Both Machamp and Alakazam are also used by some of the strongest trainers in Kanto, particularly used by Red and Blue in the Let's Go games.
  • The Abra line also has a foil in the Geodude line. Both Alakazam and Golem possess min-maxed statlines in opposite manners, with Alakazam having high Special Attack and Speed and modest Special Defense, but poor HP, Attack, and Defense, in contrast to Golem having high Attack and Defense and modest HP, but poor Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Both also received a +10 stat increase in Generation VI, with Alakazam gaining +10 in Special Defense, and Golem gaining +10 in Attack. Abra and Geodude can both be found relatively early, but Abra is difficult to catch and takes a while to become powerful, while Geodude is easy to catch and useful early on, with its usefulness dropping later in the game.
• Glass Cannon: The entire line is minmaxed to the extreme: stellar special attack, amazing speed, decent special defense and garbage everything else. For reference, Abra, the baby of the line, has 105 special attack, more than Mew, a Mythical Pokémon, and Kadabra, a middle stage, has a special attack that already matches that of Arceus. Meanwhile, Alakazam has less Defense than Bulbasaur, a baby Pokémon. They will absolutely melt anything in their way, but a single priority move, especially a Shadow Sneak or a Sucker Punch, will break them in half.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal:
  • The entire family seems to resemble this, as their torsos resemble brown chest-plates, but their pelvises are still yellow like the rest of their bodies, giving them a pantsless look. This is also in opposition to the Machoke and Machamp, who resemble the shirtless variant with their speedo-like patterns on their pelvises.
  • Mega Alakazam resembles a Barefoot Cartoon Animal, though, since it gains pelvic armor.
• Handicapped Badass: If the Pokédex is to be believed, Alakazam's muscles are so badly atrophied that it needs to use its psychic abilities to move its limbs. That doesn't stop it from simultaneously kicking ass with said psychic abilities.
• Heal Thyself: Can learn Recover ^note restores up to half of their maximum HP and are notorious for using it.
• Heavy Sleeper: Abra spends most of the day asleep, and can teleport away from danger even if sleeping.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Synchronize, one of their abilities, passes on poison, burn, or paralysis to the Pokémon which inflicted it. Its Mega Evolution gets the ability Trace, letting it copy beneficial abilities for itself and turn an opponent's ability against them. Naturally, Mega Alakazam can have it turned on itself if it copies an ability that's useless for it.
• Immune to Flinching: Inner Focus, one of their abilities, makes them completely immune to flinching.
• Improbably High I.Q.: Not the first (or last) time that the Pokédex is hilariously inaccurate, but given the way the IQ scale works^note 300 is considered to be "super-genius", and the scale is constantly adjusted so that 100 is the average intelligence of the world population; furthermore, this constant adjustment means that an IQ of 150 from 10 years ago might be something more like 135 now, Alakazam's stated intelligence of over 5000 IQ just breaks it into tiny whimpering pieces. Why they haven't taken over as the world's dominant species hasn't been explained.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Mega Alakazam's stomach is thinner than its shins. This may be one of the most extreme examples of this trope ever.
• Inexplicably Tailless: Kadabra's fennec like tail disappears after it evolves into Alakazam.
• Informed Flaw: Downplayed. A lot of Alakazam's Pokédex entries mention how its body is so weak and frail that it has to resort to telekinesis just to move its body. While its pitiful health, physical attack and defense definitely fit for a withered, atrophied body, it has a fearsome 120 speed, on par with literally God and not what you'd expect from a physically pathetic creature. Then again, considering speed mainly just determines who goes first in combat, one could simply assume that Alakazam's supercomputer brain and precognitive powers grant it an incredibly quick reaction time, rather than actual breakneck speed.
• Levitating Lotus Position: Mega Alakazam's default stance.
• Magikarp Power:
  • Zig-Zagged. Good luck evolving Abra, as it lacks damaging moves. It has a decent move pool through TMs, breeding or tutoring however, especially since Abra's Special Attack and Speed are pretty high at the point you are able to first get one.
  • Poor Kadabra ended up suffering this early in Pokémon Sun and Moon's release; whereas before it would learn Confusion at level 16 (when Abra evolves into it), Kinesis is now an Evolution Move that originally overrode any other move learned at the level it happens to evolve at, Confusion included. This means that outside of teaching/breeding it moves, the poor thing was still just as useless as Abra was until it learned Psybeam at level 21. Thankfully, the version 1.1 patch fixed this, rendering this a non-issue to those who got the patch.
• Missing Secret: Their Secret Art, Kinesis, was impossible to obtain in Red and Blue because Kadabra and Alakazam didn't even have it in their level-up moveset (the move appeared only via Metronome). Fixed in Yellow when it was added in their movepool and you could find wild Kadabra at a low enough level.
• Metal Slime: Good luck catching an Abra! Aside from the fact they tend to be uncommon in the wild, their only attack is Teleport, which removes them from the battle. Unless you have something to put them to sleep, or a Pokémon that knows Taunt, you really only have one turn to throw a Pokéball at them and hope they stay inside, with the introduction of breeding beginnging in Gen II, you're better off catching a Kadabra and breeding it.
• My Brain Is Big: Alakazam's brain never stops growing, eventually forcing it to rely on psychic powers to keep its head upright. It's also one of the most intelligent species of Pokémon.
• Nerf: The line was hit quite hard by the changes made in Gold and Silver — in addition to the Dark- and Steel-types being added to resist their Psychic-type attacks, all of them lost a considerable amount of special defense, and their speed no longer translated to a high chance of landing a Critical Hit.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kadabra is based on Uri Geller (its Japanese name is even a corruption of his name), particularly on his famous spoon-bending ability. Geller was not impressed, and sued Nintendo over it. As a result, Kadabra stopped appearing in the TCG and the anime (outside of a movie cameo) until November 2020, when Geller announced he was changing his mind.
• Out of Focus: Kadabra didn't make an appearance in any form of media outside of the games from 2006 until 2021, likely to dispel any lawsuits from Uri Geller (see No Celebrities Were Harmed above). The card game also stopped printing Kadabra cards until the release of the 151 set in 2023; it let Abra evolve directly into Alakazam, and Alakazam has been printed as a Basic Pokémon four times.
• Power Floats: Abra's 3D model makes it clear that it's floating above the ground. It loses it when it evolves into Kadabara and Alakazam, but regains it as Mega Alakazam.
• Power Up Letdown: Big time with the line's signature move, Kinesis, an 80% accuracy move that merely lowers the opponent's accuracy by 1 stage. That's right, this exclusive move is completely and utterly outclassed by the humble Pidgey's mighty technique of throwing sand in the enemy's eyes, as Sand Attack has the same effect with 100% accuracy. Thankfully, the line is still extremely powerful otherwise.
• Protection from the Elements: Their Magic Guard ability protects them from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• Psychic Powers: One of the most well-known Psychic-Type Pokémon families in the franchise, being based on the commonly known concept of psychokinesis.
• Punny Name: Abracadabra and Alakazam are stock magic phrases, which fits this line of Squishy Wizards.
  • Their Japanese names are bad Japanese transliterations of Edgar Cayce, Uri Geller, and Jean Robert-Houdin and/or Harry Houdini, all famous magicians.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When encountering an Abra, it'll quickly teleport out of the battle before you can do anything. This is primarily a result of its speed, which is higher than most Pokémon. Your best bets are to either toss a Great Ball at it and hope it stays inside or win one in the Celadon Game Corner at the prize counter. When you do get it, though, it'll still have Teleport unless you train it or provide with a compatible TM.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Female Kadabra and (when not Mega Evolved) Alakazam have shorter mustaches than males.
• Secret Art: Kinesis for Kadabra and Alakazam. ^note Hilariously, the line couldn't learn the move in Red and Blue, as Kadabra could only be found in the wild at ludicrously high levels and the Move Reminder didn't exist. The only way to use Kinesis was to get lucky with Metronome. This was patched in Yellow.
• Socialization Bonus: Needs to be traded to evolve fully. However, Black 2 and White 2 has a postgame in-game trade that gives you an Alakazam for a Hippowdon (a rare swarm encounter in the Desert Resort in that game).
• Spoon Bending: Kadabra holds a bent spoon and Alakazam holds two bent spoons (levitating five when it Mega Evolves), both in reference to Uri Geller's spoon-bending performance. Also, their signature move Kinesis is represented as a spoon being bent.
• Squishy Wizard: One of the best examples in Pokémon, with very high Special Attack and decent Special Defense, but low HP, physical attack, and defense. Alakazam's Pokédex entries reflect this, stating that it must use PSI just to move its muscles and lift its own head. This trope is more evident in Pokémon Red and Blue, as the lack of a Special split meant Alakazam's excellent Special also gave it good resilience against special attacks, leaving it weak only on the physical side.
• Super Mode: Alakazam gets a Mega Evolution from Pokémon X and Y onward. Its already high Special Attack and Speed go even higher, plus it gets the Trace ability to copy the ability of its opponent.
• Synchronization: The Synchronize ability inflicts the opponent with the same status that this Pokémon gets. Mega Alakazam has Trace.
• Teleport Spam: Abra, especially in Spinoffs, although this is more of a case of When All You Have Is a Hammer….
• Theme Naming: Even the pre-production names of Abra and Kadabra (Hocus and Pocus, respectively) have a theme.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • The line learns Psycho Cut naturally, but it runs off its abysmal physical attack stat. That being said, it could be bred on to other Pokémon in its egg group with a better attack stat, like Medicham.
  • The line also gets a really excellent support/defensive movepool — Reflect, Light Screen, Recover, Taunt, Encore, Thunder Wave, and the ability Magic Guard which prevents all indirect damage. It's downplayed a bit because these are still nice tools to have, but they would be much better-appreciated on a Stone Wall.
• Use Your Head: All of them can get Zen Headbutt from the move tutor, though it isn't useful, as it runs off their pathetic physical attack stat.
• Was Once a Man: According to the Pokédex, a boy with psychic powers transformed into the first Kadabra. This was a detail Lost in Translation from an official guide book, as it was actually a Shout-Out to The Metamorphosis.
• Wizard Beard: Mega Alakazam spontaneously grows a bushy white beard, presumably to indicate its heightened power.

Machop, Machoke, and Machamp (Wanriky, Goriky, and Kairiky)

0066: Machop / Wanriky (ワンリキー wanrikii)
0067: Machoke / Goriky (ゴーリキー goorikii)
0068: Machamp / Kairiky (カイリキー kairikii)

Machop

Machoke

Machamp

^{Gigantamax Machamp}

In the same way that the Abra kin represents brains, the Machop line represents brawn. These Pokémon are fantastically strong and use their muscles very effectively when it comes to manual labor. In order to get the four-armed Machamp, you need to trade it into another game. Like the Abra line is to the Psychic type, they are the standard Fighting-types recurring across multiple generations, appearing in the wild and all regional Dexes except in the fifth generation. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, its immense strength can be put to use as a Poké Ride, enabling the player to shove enormous blocks around.

A special Machamp caught in a Raid Battle in Galar has the ability to Gigantamax, giving it access to the Fighting-type move G-Max Chi Strike, which raises the chance of critical hits.

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• Always Accurate Attack: Any move becomes this if they have No Guard, even if the target is in a semi-invulnerable stage. Unfortunately, that also applies to any move against them as well.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: A family of Fighting types, especially with four fists as Machamp.
• Blank White Eyes: Gains them in its Gigantamax form, denoting its immeasurable strength.
• Boss Battle: Machamp is Bruno's signature, with him being the second (in Gen I) or third (in Gen II) Elite Four of Indigo Plateau.
  • Gigantamax Machamp is Bea's signature and final Pokémon in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
• Brains and Brawn: The Fighting-type Brawn to the Alakazam line's Brains, being muscular Magically Inept Fighters.
• Bridal Carry: In Sun & Moon, Machamp is the final Ride Pokémon and it uses its lower arms to carry the player in this manner while it uses its upper arms to push giant rocks.
• Clothing Appendage: The black "briefs" on Machoke and Machamp are actually just markings on their skin that resemble briefs; the only clothing they wear are the belts.
• Foil:
  • The line has two parallels to two other lines, and they all evolve by trading, namely, the Abra and Gastly lines. Machamp is a physical Mighty Glacier in contrast to Alakazam and Gengar's special Squishy Wizard roles, and its Fighting type is disadvantageous against Alakazam's Psychic and Gengar's Ghost types. All three are used by some of the strongest trainers in Kanto, including Bruno, Agatha, and Blue in the Gen I games (and their remakes), as well as Red, Blue, and Green in the Let's Go games. The foil to the Gengar line wasn't as apparent until Sword and Shield, where both Machamp and Gengar received a Gigantamax form and was used by one of the version exclusive Gym Leaders, namely Bea for Machamp and Allister for Gengar.
  • The Machop line also has a parallel in the Geodude line, both of which also evolve by trading. Both possess physically oriented Mighty Glacier stat builds, with Machamp focusing more on Attack and Golem focusing more on Defense. While Machoke gains a pair of arms upon evolving into Machamp, Graveler loses a pair of arms upon evolving into Golem. Both lines possess a direct mirror counterpart introduced in Generation V, with the Timburr line mirroring the Machop line and the Roggenrola line mirroring the Geodude line, respectively.
• Gag Lips: Machamp has what appear to be thick lips in place of Machoke's reptilian snout, although they could just as well be a beak.
• Hu Mons: The Machop line resembles bodybuilders with grey-blue/purple skin, and appear to be wearing black briefs and championship belts. They have also been shown helping with construction projects and moving boxes.
• Lizard Folk: While Machop and Machoke are mostly humanoid in appearance, they do have some reptilian features in them, such as Machop's tail and Machoke's reptilian-shaped head. Machamp has Gag Lips that appear to be a birdlike beak in some representations.
• Meaningful Name: Machamp's Japanese name "Kairiky" is a Punny Name based on the word "Kairiki", which is the Japanese name of the move Strength. Machamp is the replacement of the HM move Strength in Generation VII.
• Mighty Glacier: They're not that fast, but their defenses are solid and they hit hard.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Machamp has four arms to hit you with.
• Mundane Utility: They're regularly used in house-moving and construction work thanks to their strength.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: As the quintessential example of muscular Pokémon, all three of them have their strength and muscular resilience stressed out in their Pokédex entries. Furthermore, Machamp held the title of the Fighting-type Pokémon with the highest base Attack stat until Generation V introduced Conkeldurr.
• One-Hit Kill: The line could learn Fissure by TM in Generation I. However, it isn't possible to have a Machamp with No Guard and Fissure because Pokémon transferred from the Generation I Virtual Console games always have their Hidden Abilities, which can't be changed. Hidden Abilities are able to be changed to regular ones from Scarlet & Violet onward... if Machop and its pre-evolutions were able to be transferred into it. ^note And even then, it's highly likely Pokémon HOME's move-deletion system would make it unable to bring Fissure over.
• Pec Flex:
  • Machoke is shown flexing in its Crystal sprites.
  • In Legends: Arceus Machop and Machoke, unlike most other Pokémon in the game, don't run from or attack the player on sight, but rather come over to show off their muscles.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: All three of them, believe it or not. Even Machamp is only 5'03", six inches shorter than the average adult human male.
• Power Limiter: According to the Dex, Machoke's belt keeps its strength in check.
• Power Up Letdown: Gigantamax Machamp get access to G-Max Chi Strike, which increases its critical rate on top of dealing damage. However, this is a poor boost when compared to the normal effect of Max Knuckle, which deals damage but also increases its physical attack by one stage.
  • The line has Steadfast as a hidden ability, which gives Machamp a speed boost when flinched. On top of being inferior to the line's two other abilities, flinching is also rather situational^note Unless you are battling a Togekiss or Jirachi user, both of which can hit Machamp super-effectively and easily take it out before it accumulates enough speed boosts to outpace them anyway.
• Power Up Mount: In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Machamp is Poké Ride's replacement for Strength, carrying the player with its lower pair of hands and pushing boulders with the upper pair.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Machamp can throw 1,000 punches in two seconds. That's 125 per second, per hand. It can also learn Bullet Punch.
• Secret Art:
  • The only ones to learn Submission naturally in Generation I.
  • In Pokémon Sun and Moon, due to HMs being replaced with Poké Ride, Machamp is the only Pokémon that can learn Strength. Machamp itself is also the replacement for Strength.
  • G-Max Chi Strike is a Fighting-type move that is exclusive to Gigantamax Machamp. It increases the critical hit rate of Machamp and its allies by one stage.
• Smarter Than You Look: It's said that Machop is actually quite intelligent. Whether or not this applies to its evolutions is unknown.
• Socialization Bonus: Machoke needs to be traded to another game in order to evolve into Machamp.
• Super Mode: Gains the ability to Gigantamax in Pokémon Sword and Shield, giving it Blank White Eyes and changing its Fighting-type damaging moves to G-Max Chi Strike.
• Super-Strength: Machop's muscles never tire and can hold a sumo wrestler aloft on one finger, Machoke can lift dump trucks without effort, and Machamp can punch a man with enough force to send him flying away and move mountains using only one hand.
• Status Buff: One of the Battle CDs in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness gives the player a Machamp with the attack-boosting Swords Dance, which Machamp is unable to learn without hacking.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Machamp can move mountains with one arm, but will tangle all four if it has to do anything delicate.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Machoke and Machamp, which gets a bit awkward as they can be both female and male. Taken further when one considers that their "speedos" are actually markings, so they're also naked except for the belts.
• The Worf Effect: Machamp is mentioned in Grimmsnarl's Pokédex entry in Sword, but only to say that Grimmsnarl can overwhelm it with the strength of its Prehensile Hair.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Machoke and Machamp even have a sumo belt.

Bellsprout, Weepinbell, and Victreebel (Madatsubomi, Utsudon, and Utsubot)

0069: Bellsprout / Madatsubomi (マダツボミ madatsubomi)
0070: Weepinbell / Utsudon (ウツドン utsudon)
0071: Victreebel / Utsubot (ウツボット utsubotto)

Bellsprout

Weepinbell

Victreebel

This family of carnivorous plants were exclusive to the Green and Blue versions of the original games, in place of the Oddish family. Much like them, they're Grass/Poison-types. You need a Leaf Stone to get a Victreebel; just be careful because it is capable of swallowing a fully grown human (which explains why explorers who stumble upon the secret jungle society of Victreebel never come back).

---

• The Artifact: Much like Feraligatr, Victreebel's name is obviously shortened, missing the second "l" that Weepinbell had due to the Character Name Limits of the early generations. Despite Gen VI onwards allowing for longer names, Victreebel remains unchanged.
• Balance Buff: It received a 10 point buff to its Special Defense in Generation VI, helping alleviate its frailty.
• Big Eater:
  • It can digest pretty much everything it can swallow, except for itself.
  • Comes into play with their Hidden Ability of Gluttony, causing them to eat certain health- or stat-boosting berries at half health instead of the normal quarter remaining health.
• Character Name Limits: Victreebel is missing the second "l" that Weepinbell had room for.
• Combat Tentacles: They can use their vines to attack and trap opponents with Wrap.
• Critical Hit Class: Back in Generation I, it was capable of getting 100% critical hit rate on Razor Leaf due to its good Speed stat.
• Glass Cannon: They have pretty decent physical and special attack stats, but their defenses are pitifully low.
• Green Thumb: Grass-types based off of carnivorous plants, specifically pitcher plants.
• Hidden Elf Village: Apparently, they live in huge colonies in jungles.
• Life Drain: They can learn Leech Life via breeding, but not via TM for some reason.
• Magic Knight: Victreebel has decent Attack and Special Attack, leaning towards Attack.
• Man-Eating Plant: It's implied that Victreebel have eaten any and all explorers who stumble upon their secret society in the jungles.
• Poisonous Person: All three are Poison-types.
• Power Nullifier: Bellsprout and Weepinbell naturally learn Gastro Acid, allowing them to remove a target's Ability.
• Power of the Sun: Gets the Chlorophyll Ability, giving it a doubled Speed when the sun is out. In addition, it can learn Growth, Synthesis, Solarbeam, and Weather Ball; the first gets a doubled effect in the sun, the second does additional healing in the sun, the third loses the usual charge-up turn when used in the sun, and the last becomes a Fire attack with a 100 Power when used in the sun.
• Status Buff: Chlorophyll doubles their Speed during harsh sunlight caused by Sunny Day, Drought, or Desolate Land.
• Super Spit: Victreebel learns the Stockpile/Swallow/Spit Up trio naturally.
• Vine Tentacles: Can use Vine Whip and Power Whip.

Tentacool and Tentacruel (Menokurage and Dokukurage)

0072: Tentacool / Menokurage (メノクラゲ menokurage)
0073: Tentacruel / Dokukurage (ドククラゲ dokukurage)

Tentacool

Tentacruel

Whenever you go surfing on the seas of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, you're bound to encounter these Jellyfish Pokémon. Lots of them. Luckily for you, you could handle these guys in the same way one handles Zubat: Electric and Psychic moves will normally do the job.

---

• Anti-Regeneration: Can have the Liquid Ooze ability, which causes Pokémon that use Life Drain moves against them to take damage instead of getting healed.
• Badass Arm-Fold: Tentacruel's Red and Blue sprites have it do this with two of its tentacles.
• Combat Tentacles: They can trap the opponent with Wrap.
• Com Mons: Exceptionally common in bodies of water outside of Unova, but like Crobat, Tentacruel is a respectable fighter.
• The Dreaded: If there's an outbreak of Tentacruel, any fish Pokémon around flee the scene immediately. In the original Pocket Monsters Encyclopeda and Pokémon: The Original Series, Tentacruel even has the nickname "Gangster of the Sea". Tentacruel is also one of the few species Professor Laventon advises caution with in its Legends: Arceus Pokédex entry:
  Legends: Arceus Pokédex entry: "It has 80 tentacles, each with a venomous tip. These tentacles are also extendible, lengthening when Tentacruel attempts to catch prey. Use caution."
• Growing Up Sucks: A minor example in Tentacruel's Sun Pokédex entry; as it grows older, it loses its tentacles.
• Healing Factor:
  • They will restore some HP at the end of each turn during Rain if they have their Hidden Ability of Rain Dish.
  • In addition, they can be bred to know Aqua Ring.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Liquid Ooze variant can inflict this on users of Life Drain moves, as it causes them to drain the user's health instead of restore it.
• Holding Out for a Hero: Tentacool is forced to do this if it ends up beached. Pokédex entries advise that you throw a beached Tentacool into the ocean if you want to revive it.
• Informed Attribute: Tentacruel is said to have 80 tentacles, though at most only 14 can be seen. Justified in that it can retract its tentacles, so it's probably just keeping most of them tucked away.
• Making a Splash: Both are Water-types.
• Poisonous Person: As they're based off of jellyfish, they're Poison-types.
• Squishy Wizard: Tentacruel has a high Special Defense stat but its Defense is below average.
• Stone Wall: Tentacruel has high Special Defense but its attacking stats range from below average to barely usable.
• Tentacle Rope: Presumably uses their tentacles for attacks like Bind and Wrap.
• Trap Master: Naturally learns Toxic Spikes, and can be bred to know Rapid Spin.

Geodude, Graveler, and Golem (Isitsubute, Golone, and Golonya)

0074: Geodude / Isitsubute (イシツブテ ishitsubute)
0075: Graveler / Golone (ゴローン goroon)
0076: Golem / Golonya (ゴローニャ goroonya)

Geodude

Graveler

Golem

Alolan Geodude

Alolan Graveler

Alolan Golem

Alolan forms debut in Sun and Moon

Simple in design, Geodude and its kin look like your typical rock monsters. Geodude itself is a brownish-gray rock with arms. As it evolves, it gets bigger and gains more limbs, like legs. They have high physical attack and defense, but terrible speed and special stats. They're useful in the early game, but fizzle out later on. In order to get a Golem, you need to trade your Graveler to another game.

In the Alola region, the Geodude family are made out of a special magnetic rock, which grants them electrical abilities and a unique Rock/Electric type. Similarly to Probopass, their magnetic properties also attract iron filings to parts of their bodies, giving them what appears to be facial hair.

---

• Achilles' Heel: Regular Geodude gets easily flattened by Grass- and Water-type moves. Ground type moves will destroy the Alolan form's line.
• Action Bomb: They learn Self-Destruct and Explosion naturally. Golem is said to use its own explosive power to leap from mountain to mountain. With their Alolan forms' hidden ability Galvanize, Alolan Golem has the honor of having the strongest potential Explosion in the game.
• Action Initiative: If you get a specially Move Tutored one from Gen IV, it can have Sucker Punch.
• Armored But Frail: Geodude and Graveler both have the high physical defense you'd expect of a Rock-type, but their HP is low, giving them a weakness to Fixed Damage Attacks and special moves. Golem's HP still isn't amazing, but it's high enough for it to no longer qualify.
• Be the Ball: Aside from naturally being shaped like rolling boulders, Golem is able to withdraw its limbs into its body to become a rolling sphere. This is likely how the line performs their Rollout attack.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Alolan Geodude has a pair of thick eyebrows of iron filings due to the amount of magnetic stone it contains.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: As it evolves into Alolan Graveler, the eyebrows it has as a Geodude turns into a giant unibrow.
• Cephalothorax: Or maybe Waddling Heads.
• Com Mons: You can find Geodude in almost any cave, tunnel, or mountain. Graveler becomes similarly common later in the game.
• Crutch Character: Early on, Geodude's resistance to Normal, Flying and Poison attacks coupled with high Defense lets it easily tank hits from most common early route Pokémon, while Rollout and Magnitude are pretty effective. Later on, though, the line's major problems (middling Special Defense, poor Speed, a very mixed bag defensive typing which includes two double weaknesses, inability to evolve Graveler without trading) will seriously drag them down.
• Death from Above: The Pokédex warns that Graveler and Golem have a habit of rolling down mountainsides like boulders in an avalanche.
• Defend Command: Can be bred to have Wide Guard, which protects the user and their allies from Herd Hitting Attacks in Double/Triple Battles.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Gold and Silver and their remakes, you can get one before the first Gym and they have positive/neutral matchups against most of Johto's Gym Leaders, can easily deal with most of the Pokémon that Team Rocket carries, and naturally learn the hard-hitting Magnitude at Level 16 (originals) or 15 (remakes).
• Dishing Out Dirt: Most of them are Rock- and Ground-types. The Alolan forms are Rock- and Electric-types.
• Earthy Tortoise: Golem is a Rock/Ground turtle-like monster with a shell made out of stones. Its Alolan regional variant is made out of magnetic rocks, and uses the large magnets on its back as a sort of built-in railgun.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap: They mostly feed on rocks. Kantonian Graveler prefer mossy rocks, while Alolan Graveler are noted to have a particular liking for dravite, presumably for its magnetic qualities. As a result, dravite deposits will grow all over its body.
• Fastball Special: Geodude seem to be used as ammunition by several other Pokémon. Either unwillingly in the case of Rhyperior or willingly by Alolan Golem.
• Foil:
  • To the Machop line. Both are physically oriented with a Mighty Glacier statline, and reach their final forms via trade. While Machamp is a Fighting-type with focus on Attack, Golem is a Rock/Ground type with a focus on Defense. Graveler loses a pair of arms upon evolving into Golem, while Machoke gains a pair of arms upon evolving into Machamp. Both lines have a direct mirroring evolutionary family introduced in Generation V. The Geodude line is mirrored by the Roggenrola line, while the Machop line is mirrored by the Timburr line.
  • The Geodude line can also mirror the Gastly line. Both Geodude and Gastly evolve once at Level 25 and evolve again via trade, and are both dual-typed. Golem is a physical Mighty Glacier which is most useful early on, while Gengar is a special Squishy Wizard which takes a while to become strong.
  • Also a foil to the Abra line. Both are min-maxed in terms of statlines in opposite areas, with the Geodude line possessing high Attack and Defense, modest HP and poor Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed, contrasting the Abra line which boasts high Special Attack and Speed, modest Special Defense, and poor HP, Attack, and Defense. While Geodude is useful early on and its usefulness drops later, Abra is useless early on and becomes more powerful and useful later on. Both Golem and Alakazam received a +10 stat increase in Generation VI, with Golem receiving a +10 increase in Attack and Alakazam receiving a +10 increase in Special Defense.
• In a Single Bound: Golem's above-mentioned ability to travel from mountain to mountain by riding the blast waves of its explosions.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: The standard Geodude line has a nasty double weakness to Water and Grass-type attacks, which is less than ideal, seeing as two-thirds of all Starter Pokémon use either of those two types. The Alolan Geodude line, which ditches the Ground-typing for Electric, takes on a double weakness to Ground, but in exchange, just has a regular weakness to Water and Grass-type moves and is damaged normally by Steel and Ice-type moves.
• Last Chance Hit Point: Come Gen V, its Sturdy Ability allows it to survive any attack with 1 HP remaining, so long as it was at full health when it took that hit. A handy trick, considering its unfortunate and easily exploitable weaknesses.
• Long-Lived: Golem's Ultra Sun Dex entry implies that they can live for a very long time, as it mentions that after a while, Golem stop shedding their shells and that particularly old ones have shells colored green from moss.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Decently powerful on the physical side, but its Special Attack is greatly lacking.
• Magnetic Weapons: Alolan Golem's back protrusions essentially work like a railgun.
• Mighty Glacier: Slow, but can tank most physical hits. It can become more of one by being bred with Curse, which boosts its Attack and Defense even further, at the cost of sacrificing what little Speed it has.
• Missing Secret: Nobody in the original Gen I games has a Golem in their teams and Graveler only evolves via trading. This means that Golem's spot in the Pokédex will forever remain empty unless you have a second console to trade with. The Gen III remakes rectified this by including a trainer with a Golem, albeit they're only encountered in the post-game.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Graveler has four arms. It reverts back to two upon evolution.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • Despite having the word "dude" in its English name, Geodude can be female.
  • Golem doesn't bear much of any resemblance to the Golems of Hebrew legend (or for that matter, the Legendary Titan Pokémon — Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Regieleki, Regidrago and Regigigas).
• Piñata Enemy: There is a section in the Team Rocket HQ in Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes where you can very easily grind a large number of Geodude, Voltorb, and Koffing, all of which know (and will usually use) Self-Destruct, which is a Normal-type move. Take them on with any Ghost-type Pokémon (immune to Normal-type moves) and watch as it gains free experience from No Selling their explosions.
• Playing with Fire: Oddly, it can actually learn several Fire attack TMs, though the only Fire attack it gets that it can use well (in other words, the only physical one) is the Move Tutored Fire Punch.
• Rail Gun: The protrusions on the backs of Alolan Golem allow them to fire boulders at high speed. Similarly to Rhyperior, they have been known to fire Geodude instead if they need more ammo.
• Rock Monster: The Geodude family is probably the most famous examples in the Pokémon franchise.
• Rocket Jump: While it can't actually do this in a battle, Golem's Dex entry in Violet says it deliberately blows itself up to propel itself across mountains.
• Rolling Attack: In addition to the obvious Rollout, it's also the only Pokémon outside of the Scolipede line to learn Steamroller. It’s good against Grass-types, assuming that Golem actually gets the chance to use it.
• Secret Art: The Alolan variants have Galvanize as their Hidden Ability, turning Normal-type moves into Electric attacks as well as boosting those attacks by 20%.
• Shock and Awe: Unlike most of the world's Geodude, instead of Ground types, Alolan Geodude, Graveler, and Golem are Rock/Electric Pokémon with power over magnetism. This line's Hidden Ability, Galvanize, converts Normal-type attacks to Electric-types as well.
• Silicon-Based Life: They're all living rocks.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Alolan Geodude and its evolutions were the only Alolan Forms not revealed before Sun and Moon's release.
• Socialization Bonus: Graveler will evolve into Golem if traded to another game cartridge. In the Generation I games, this is the only way to see a Golem, as no enemy trainer has one.
• Status Buff: Naturally learn Defense Curl and Rock Polish, and can be bred to have Curse and Autotomize.
• Suicide Attack: Naturally learn Explosion and Self-Destruct, which knock them out in exchange for dealing a large amound of damage to their opponent.
• Too Dumb to Live: During a Horde Battle in X and Y, they might decide to use Magnitude and potentially knock out their allies (unless they have Sturdy or the Random Number God decides to make Magnitude weak).
• Underground Monkey: Alolan Geodude and their relatives are magnetically-charged Rock/Electric types.
• The Unfought: In the Generation I games, Golem is the only trade evolution Pokémon that is never fought in battle, and due to this, they're also the only ones that can never be seen in the game unless if you trade a Graveler with someone.
• Useless Useful Spell: Their Rock Head ability. The only recoil-inducing move it learns is Double-Edge, which is pointless to let Golem learn, as it can do more damage with a STAB-boosted Earthquake or Stone Edge. The Alolan forms could have gotten more use out of it with STAB Wild Charge, but they don't have access to the ability — they get Magnet Pull instead ^note while not useless as it can trap and eliminate opposing Steel types with Earthquake or STAB Thunder Punch.
• Weak to Magic: Golem has an excellent 130 base Defense, but will lose most of its HP if a neutrally effective special attacker so much as sneezes at it due to its poor Special Defense stat of 65. This also makes its Water- and Grass-type weaknesses even more troubling, as those two types tend to have large amounts of special-based moves.

Ponyta and Rapidash (Gallop)

0077: Ponyta (ポニータ poniita)
0078: Rapidash / Gallop (ギャロップ gyaroppu)

Ponyta

Rapidash

Galarian Ponyta

Galarian Rapidash

Galarian forms debut in Sword and Shield

These equine Fire-types didn't really get much use when they were first introduced back in the Gen I games; they could only be encountered once the player got to Cinnabar Island (they were found in the Pokémon Mansion in Gen I, but relocated to the Sevii Islands in the remakes), and by then, most players had a better Fire-type. The trend continued for the Gen II and III games, but it changed with Diamond and Pearl, when it was literally the only other Fire-type for those who didn't pick Chimchar. Later on, Platinum introduced the Magmar, Houndour, and Flareon lines to the region, but Ponyta is still the first Fire-type you can catch in Sinnoh.

Ponyta in Galar live in the dark forest of the Glimwood Tangle and have since ancient times. As a result, they are Psychic-types rather than Fire-types. They also possess the ability to store life energy in their manes, which they use to prevent themselves and their allies from being poisoned via the Pastel Veil ability. Upon evolving, they awaken further mystical powers, gaining the Fairy-type in the process.

---

• Animesque: Galarian Ponyta's facial features, particularly the eyes, look more cartoonish than regular Ponyta.
• Badass Adorable: Ponyta is an adorable little foal… with one of the highest base stat totals of any Pokémon that's still capable of evolving. Its Galarian form is even cuter.
• Bioluminescence Is Cool: Galarian Ponyta can make their manes light up. They can also use it to prevent itself and allies from being poisoned.
• Boss Battle: Rapidash is Blaine's strongest Pokémon in the Johto games.
• Cast from Hit Points: Naturally learn Flare Blitz and can be bred to have Double-Edge, which deal recoil damage whenever used.
• Character Select Forcing: Didn't choose Chimchar in Diamond and Pearl and need a Fire-type? These guys are all you'll get before the credits roll.
• Cool Horse: They're horses that are on fire. Galarian Ponyta and Rapidash are Psychic-type unicorns with a glowing manes.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Assuming it wasn't a case of Off-Model, the line's Shiny counterparts are different in Gen II; Shiny Ponyta has brownish-grey colored flames, whereas Shiny Rapidash has lavender colored flames. From Gen III onwards, Shiny Ponyta has blue colored flames while Shiny Rapidash has silver colored flames. Interestingly, Shiny Rapidash goes back to having lavender flames in Legends, likely as a Mythology Gag.
• Feed It with Fire: If regular Ponyta have Flash Fire, trying to hit it with Fire attacks just makes their own Fire attacks stronger.
• Flaming Hair: Standard Ponyta and Rapidash will only allow those they trust to ride with them. Anyone else will get burned by their mane (as seen in the early seasons of the anime). (And, yes, this means that they have enough control over their flames to be able to consciously choose not to burn people who touch them.)
• Foil: Ponyta and Rapidash are frequently compared and contrasted to Blitzle and Zebstrika from Unova. Both are fast and hard-hitting, but frail equine Pokémon, with the main difference being that the Ponyta line are Fire-types while the Blitzle line are Electric-types (though Rapidash can learn a few Electric-type moves and Zebstrika can learn a few Fire-type moves).
• Fragile Speedster: Pretty fast with 105 Speed, but not completely durable.
• Glass Cannon: Rapidash has a solid base 100 Attack, but its defenses are poor.
• Heal Thyself: Can be bred with Morning Sun, which heals them depending on what weather condition is currently active.
• Horn Attack: Though it oddly doesn't learn Horn Attack itself, Rapidash learns Fury Attack naturally and can get Poison Jab and Megahorn from the Move Relearner.
• In a Single Bound: Ponyta is said to be so fast, it can jump over France's Eiffel Tower and Australia's Ayers' Rock in one leap — or so their Dex entries say. This explains why they learn the move Bounce in the later Generations.
• Informed Ability: Despite being said to have extremely hard hooves, a stomp attack from them is still as ineffective against Rock-types as when used by any other Pokémon.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: One of their Abilities is Run Away, letting them escape from higher-level and/or faster wild Pokémon easily.
• Magic Fire: The only Fire-type move the part Fairy-type Galarian Rapidash can learn via TR is Mystical Fire, which lowers the target's offensive stats.
• Mundane Utility: The Galarian line make use of psychic energy stored in the fur on their fetlocks to aid them in running with airily light steps.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Galarian Rapidash is part Fairy-type.
• Playing with Fire: Standard Ponyta and Rapidash are Fire-types.
• Poisonous Person: Rapidash can be taught Poison Jab if taken to the Move Relearner.
• Power Glows: Galarian Rapidash's mane, tail, and horn glow and outright pulsate with multicolored light when it uses attacks.
• Power Up Letdown: Galarian Rapidash's hidden ability is Anticipation. Pastel Veil is limited in use, but it is a thousand times more usable.
• Psychic Powers: Oddly, they can be bred to have Hypnosis and Ally Switch. Galarian Ponyta take this a step further by being Psychic-types. While this gives them access to conventional Psychic attacks like Psychic itself, their stats mean they get more out of the physical Psychic-type moves they learn, like Psycho Cut and Zen Headbutt. They also get a wide range of utility Psychic moves like Healing Wish, Imprison, Trick Room, Wonder Room, etc.
• Pun: Instead of "Fire Horse", Galarian Ponyta is categorized as the "Unique Horn" Pokémon (for those who somehow don't get it, just say the new classification five times fast).
• Rearing Horse: Ponyta's Platinum sprite.
• Retcon: In the original Red and Blue, the only place to find Ponyta is in the Pokémon Mansion. There's not the slightest explanation of why fire horses would be making their home among the ruins of Pokémon Mansion (besides it being the dumping ground for miscellaneous Fire-types). In Yellow, they were relocated to the open plains of Cycling Road, but in Generation III, they were re-associated with volcanoes and moved to Kindle Road and Mt. Ember in the Sevii Islands.
• Shout-Out: The Galarian forms look straight out of My Little Pony with Galarian Rapidash, in particular, resembling Princess Celestia.
• Shown Their Work: The unicorn aspects of regular Rapidash don't really affect its lore or behavior beyond it learning horn-related attacks. However, the Galarian line make heavy use of unicorn lore, including:
  • The poison curing and general healing effects of the Pastel Veil ability point to how unicorn horns were believed to be capable of rendering poison harmless with a touch.
  • Galarian Ponyta are noted to "read the contents" of people's hearts, and to flee from them if evil is found. This is in reference to how in mythology, only the "purest" of people, i.e. typically virgin maidens, were able to easily get near unicorns.
  • Galarian Rapidash is noted to be "brave and prideful" and to use physical attacks, their stats all being the same as the physical-focused regular Rapidash. In mythology, unicorns were not sweet-natured magical horses, but supernaturally strong, fierce, and dangerous creatures who readily gored or trampled anything that threatened them. Virgin maidens were used to hunt them because it was pretty much the only way to render one docile enough to not slaughter its attackers.
• Similar Squad: In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, this is The Rival's answer to the Chimchar line if he doesn't have one. It also helps seeing how in Diamond and Pearl, it's the only other Fire-type available in the Sinnoh region pre-National Dex.
• Technicolor Fire: Shiny Ponyta's flames are blue, while Shiny Rapidash's flames are gray.
• This Is a Drill: Can be bred to have Horn Drill, while Move Tutors gave them Drill Run.
• Underground Monkey: The Ponyta and Rapidash of Galar aren't fire types, due to years of living in deep dark mystical forests, but instead greatly resemble pop culture's ideas on what a unicorn is.
• Unicorn: Rapidash, though it's not immediately obvious since its horn is the same color as its skin/fur and blends in. Galarian Ponyta is one even before evolving, having a small black horn and being capable of healing poison via its Pastel Veil ability. It is even categorized as the "Unique Horn" Pokémon.
• Version-Exclusive Content: Galarian Ponyta and Galarian Rapidash are exclusive to Pokémon Shield.
• Wreathed in Flames: Regular Ponyta and Rapidash have manes that are made of fire. Also, their Hidden Ability is Flame Body, which can inflict burns on foes that physically strike them.

Slowpoke, Slowbro, and Slowking (Yadon, Yadoran, and Yadoking)

0079: Slowpoke / Yadon (ヤドン yadon)
0080: Slowbro / Yadoran (ヤドラン yadoran)
0199: Slowking / Yadoking (ヤドキング yadokingu)

Slowpoke

Slowbro

^{Mega Slowbro}

Slowking

Galarian Slowpoke

Galarian Slowbro

Galarian Slowking

Slowking debuts in Gold and Silver, Mega Slowbro debuts in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Galarian Slowpoke, Slowbro, and Slowking debut in Sword and Shield

It's kinda hard to pinpoint the exact inspiration behind this family of Pokémon; Slowpoke look vaguely like hippos, but they have a number of bizarre attributes, the most distinguishing one being their extreme stupidity. Slowpoke spend their days dipping their inexplicably sweet (and regenerative) tails in the riverside in a lazy attempt to fish. They only seem to get Shellder to bite their tails, and apparently this triggers its evolution into Slowbro, who walks on two legs, but is still as dim as ever. Slowking, by contrast, is said to possess intellect on par with human geniuses as a direct result of having Shellder bite its head instead of its tail. Slowbro gets a Mega Evolution for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire where its shell ends up engulfing most of its body, granting it defensive boosts and the ability Shell Armor.
In the Galar region, Slowpoke's diet mainly consist of eating the seeds of Galarica plant, causing particles from the seeds to build up within Slowpoke over multiple generations, causing their foreheads and tips of their tails to turn yellow. The particles seem to sometimes stimulate their brains, but they seem to forget whatever they thought up immediately. If a Shellder bites one in the arm, they evolve into Slowbro who gain a Poison-type thanks to the chemical reaction set off by the venom of the Shellder mixing with the internal spices that have built up inside the Slowpoke from the Galarica seeds. When in battle, Galarian Slowbro suddenly gets a jolt of stimuli, giving them super-fast reflexes as they use the Shellder as a poison-shooting cannon. If the Shellder bites them in the head, the part-Poison type Slowking's Shellder gains impressive intelligence and psychic power, as they attack and communicate using incantations.

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• Action Initiative:
  • Galarian Slowbro's Quick Draw ability gives it a chance to move first against attacks of similar priority, not unlike a Quick Claw.
  • The three fast Galarian Slowpoke in the Isle Of Armor DLC will attack first despite not having any special abilities that do so.
• Arm Cannon: Galarian Slowbro has a Shellder, which shoots poison from its tip, biting on its arm rather than its tail. If it targets the opponents' Special Defense, Shell Side Arm is treated as a Special move and the animation becomes a blast of poison from it.
• Artifact Title: Downplayed. Slowpoke used to have the lowest base speed of any Pokémon. Slower Pokémon have since been introduced, but it's still down there, with Slowpoke still being the slowest of all Psychic types.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning:
  • Like getting Poliwhirl to evolve into Politoed, the player needs the King's Rock to evolve Kantonian Slowpoke into Johtonian Slowking via trading.
  • Galarian Slowpoke evolves into Slowking from wearing a Galarica Wreath on its head.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Galarian Slowbro are considered dangerous because they can fire poison indiscriminately as a result of their Shellder reflexively biting down on their arm.
• Boss Battle: Galarian Slowbro will act as Klara/Avery's Dynamaxed ace in your final battle against them on the Isle of Armor DLC story.
• Brain Critical Mass:
  • Slowpoke and Slowbro avert the trope due to being known as some of the least intelligent Pokémon despite their Psychic-typing.
  • Played straight with Slowking, which is a Psychic-type that is famed for its intellect.
• Breakout Character: Fittingly enough, while they were never the most popular Pokémon during the height of the Pokémania of the late 90s, the Slowpoke line has proven to be consistently popular in the years since, and started to be highlighted from Gen VII onward. The Slowpoke line is one of the few lines to have appeared in every generation since their introduction, as well as being the only line to date to have both a Mega Evolution and regional variants.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Generation 9 gives Slowking the unique move Chilly Reception, where it tells a joke that gets such a cold reception that it summons a snowstorm and gets switched out.
• Cartoon Creature: At first glance, it's difficult to figure out what the heck these Pokémon are based on. Are they giant river otters? Hippopotami? Salamanders? And then there's the Shellder added on and you might as well give up on trying to figure it out. Though their relationship with Shellder might make them more akin to otters.
• Confusion Fu: The family has a great movepool, able to learn Ghost, Flying, Ground, Poison, Rock, Fighting, and even Fire-type moves on top of their STAB Water and Psychic.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Slowpoke and Slowbro are incredibly stupid, but that doesn't mean they can't fight. It's explicitly stated that this happens with Galarian Slowbro, who is just as dopey as its Kantonian counterparts but gains a rush and becomes very competent when faced with a strong opponent.
• Crown of Power: Played with regarding Slowking, who evolves by holding the King's Rock, but in the lore it evolves from a Shellder biting a Slowpoke's head, releasing toxins that increase its intelligence significantly upon evolution. The Shellder atop its head strongly resembles a crown, and taking it off a Slowking's head will apparently cause Slowking to revert to low intelligence.
• Delayed Reaction: It takes Slowpoke five seconds to feel pain when under attack, and in a few of the 3D games, a Slowbro merely stands there after losing all of its health, only fainting when the Shellder indicates that it should. According to the Pokédex, if something bites Slowpoke's tail, it won't even notice for a whole day.
• Disability Immunity: Slowpoke's low intelligence gives it Own Tempo, which makes Slowpoke immune to confusion, and Oblivious, which makes them immune to taunts and infatuation.
• Disability Superpower: Both Slowbro and Slowking owe their power to the toxins of a Shellder. They numb Slowbro's ability to feel pain and somehow improve Slowking's intellect (because apparently Slowpoke are so incredibly stupid that pumping their brain full of poison is an improvement).
• The Ditz: Slowpoke is known for for being slow-witted in addition to slow-paced. Slowbro isn't known for its intellect, either, but the same isn't true of Slowking.
• The Dividual: Slowbro and Slowking are technically a Slowpoke and a Shellder, but their relationship is so symbiotic that they act as one individual Pokémon.
• Double Meaning: Galarian Slowbro's signature move, Shell Side Arm, has two different animations, both of which fit the move name; either Slowbro bashes the opponent with its shell-covered arm, or it uses the shell to shoot poison, like a sidearm.
• Dumbass No More: Thanks to Shellder toxins in its brain, Slowking is far more intelligent than its evolutionary relatives. Despite this, it doesn't always remember the ideas it comes up with, according to the Pokédex.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In Sword and Shield a catchable Galarian Slowpoke was released several months before the Isle of Armor DLC came out. Unlike Kantonian Slowpoke, which a free update released alongside the Isle of Armor DLC made available via Pokémon HOME, Galarian Slowpoke cannot evolve without items exclusive to the Expansion Pass.
• Easy Amnesia: Slowking forgets everything it has learned if the Shellder on its head comes off.
• Friendly Rivalry: In Alola, Slowking get into matches of wits with Oranguru, another Psychic-type known for extreme intelligence.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although Generation IV introduced Mantyke, which evolves by having a Remoraid in the party, Kantonian Slowpoke still evolves at a specific level with no party requirements.
• Genius Serum: For reasons unknown, Shellder's poison actually greatly stimulates Slowpoke's brain when bitten on the head, benefitting its intelligence instead of harming it and turning it into Slowking.
• Heal Thyself: They can restore their HP and/or status conditions with Rest and Slack Off.
• Healing Factor: They can have Regenerator as a hidden ability from Generation V and on, and can grow back their tails if they get cut off.
• Heavy Sleeper: As "The Slowpoke Song" puts it: "Each morning you're the one who dreams of waking with the sun, but you sleep in till noon".
• I'm a Humanitarian: In Sword and Shield, you can feed Slowpoke a curry made with smoked Slowpoke tail as an ingredient.
• Improvised Armor: The spiral shell that Slowbro has on its tail has now taken up Mega Slowbro's body.
• Informed Flaw: Supposedly, pulling the Shellder off Slowbro and Slowking reverts them back to Slowpoke, but there's no way to do that in-game.
• Informed Species: The Shellder on Slowbro and Slowking look nothing like any other Shellder found in the games. In the Pokémon Gold beta, it was revealed that the Shellder was supposed to become its own species called Turban, while the In-Universe explanation is that the Shellder metamorphosed into its cone-shaped form to better latch onto Slowbro's tail.
• Lazy Bum: Slowpoke is so lazy that it even evolves lazily!
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Slowbro drops its air-headed expression in exchange for a much angrier-looking one when performing a Z-Move.
• Lighter and Softer: Mega Slowbro is this compared to other Mega Evolutions. Most Mega Evolved Pokémon have Pokédex entries that describe the harmful and outright painful effects the transformation is causing their minds and bodies, but Mega Slowbro doesn't seem to mind Shellder taking over its entire body during Mega Evolution. Its Ultra Moon Pokédex entry says that it actually feels quite comfortable in there.
• Magic Knight: Galarian Slowbro has base 100 Attack and Special Attack, making both physical and special moves perfectly viable.
• Making a Splash: Kantonian Slowpoke and its evolutions are part Water-type. Galarian Slowpoke lacks this trait, so it's pure Psychic-type.
• Mana Burn: Galarian Slowking's Secret Art Eerie Spell drains 3 PP from the last move of the target if it hits.
• Mighty Glacier: Slowbro has good Defense while Slowking has good Special Defense, and they both have respectable Special Attack and HP. Of course, they're some of the slowest Pokémon in the game, though they can use Trick Room to lessen that problem. Slowbro's Mega Evolution ramps up its Defense (it's on par with Cloyster) while also giving good boosts to Special Attack.
• Oblivious to Love: Can have Oblivious as their ability, which makes them immune to infatuation. Not because they're strong-willed, mind you, but because they're just that dumb.
• Only a Flesh Wound: While Gen II establishes that Slowpoke tails do grow back eventually, Gen VII Pokédex entries indicate Slowpoke lose their tails painlessly and with some frequency.
• Perpetual Smiler: They're almost always seen smiling.
• Perpetual Frowner: Mega Slowbro is always seen frowning.
• Pistol Whip: If the move Shell Side Arm targets the target's Defense, Slowbro resorts to smacking them with the Shellder.
• Playing with Fire: For some reason, and against logic, they can be taught Flamethrower and Fire Blast. Given one of their possible inspirations is the giant salamander, a creature associated with the element, it makes more sense.
• Poisonous Person: Galarian Slowbro and Slowking are part-Poison type due to their Shellder's venom having a chemical reaction with the Galarica spice built up inside a Galarian Snowpoke's body, and their tails, limbs, and heads even turn partially or fully purple upon evolving.
• Power Fist: The Shellder on Galarian Slowbro's arm also functions fine as a spiked club, one which it tends to use when Shellder's biting makes its arm itch. If it targets the opponent's Defense, Shell Side Arm becomes a physical move whose animation is a clubbing motion.
• Psychic Powers: Psychic-types, but unlike most examples, Slowpoke and Slowbro are incredibly dumb.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Similarly to Parasect, Galarian Slowking is controlled by the Shellder on its head. This is because, unlike with normal Slowking, the Shellder becomes more intelligent when the Galarian variant evolves, allowing it to hijack the body of its host.
• Quick Draw: Galarian Slowbro has a new ability in the hidden slot that's outright called this. It functions like an inbuilt Quick Claw, occasionally making Slowbro move first.
• Regal Ruff: Slowking gains one upon evolving. No explanation is given as to how it got there, though.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: There's something incredibly endearing about Slowpoke, being a pink, pudgy, not too bright something-or-other who's always wearing an airheaded smile.
• Secret Art:
  • Galarian Slowbro:
    • Shell Side Arm, which poisons the opponent and does either physical or special damage depending on which one would do more damage. Its animation changes depending on which defensive stat Shell Side Arm targets^note If Shell Side Arm targets Defense, Galarian Slowbro hits the opponent with its Shellder, splattering poison everywhere; if Shell Side Arm targets Special Defense, Slowbro fires poison from its Shellder's tip..
    • In addition, Galarian Slowbro has an exclusive ability, Quick Draw, which gives a chance to move first even if the opponent is faster, similar to a Quick Claw.
  • Slowking:
    • Generation 9 adds Chilly Reception, a move exclusive to Slowking where the user tells a chillingly bad joke, causing the weather to change to Snow and switching the user out.
  • Galarian Slowking:
    • Eerie Spell, which does damage and makes the opponent lose 3 PP from the move it last used.
    • Galarian Slowking is the only Pokémon with the Ability Curious Medicine, which resets the stats of all ally Pokémon.
• Socialization Bonus: Kantonian Slowpoke needs to be traded while holding a King's Rock in order to evolve into Johtonian Slowking.
• Super-Intelligence: Slowking is said to have intelligence comparable to that of award-winning scientists.
• Super Mode: Slowbro gains the capacity to Mega Evolve from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire onward. It gains a large boost to its already good Defense stat, a smaller boost to Special Attack, and its new Shell Armor ability grants it immunity to critical hits.
• Super-Speed: While most members of the line are very much the opposite, the three Galarian Slowpoke involved in Mustard's first trial are lightning-quick — both on the overworld and in battle. Their Speed is also fully boosted by six stages as shown in the in-battle information tab.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Slowking tends to lead Slowpoke and Slowbro groups. Contrast their intellects.
• The Symbiote:
  • With Shellder after Slowpoke evolves. The former gets a tasty tail snack while the latter gains intelligence. In the case of Galarian Slowking the reaction between the Shellder's poison and the Galarica spice boosts the Shellder's intelligence to the point that it gains psychic powers of its own, and controls the body.
  • If the trailer for Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby is to be believed, Mega Slowbro's Shellder effectively becomes an extra set of eyes for it, too — it's shown warning its host of an oncoming attack in the trailer.
    • In Pokémon Amie/Refresh, you can feed a Slowbro through the Shellder on its tail.
  • Galarian Slowking's Shellder grows large enough to cover its eyes, and it's implied that the Shellder does most if not all of the seeing since its eyes are where the Slowking's would be if they weren't covered.
• Technicolor Toxin: Galarian Slowking's poison oozes green out of the Shellder's horn-like protrusions.
• Too Dumb to Fool: With their Oblivious ability, they will never fall for taunts.
• Underground Monkey: Unlike most of the world's Slowpoke, Galarian Slowpoke, which are native to the Isle of Armor, aren't Water types. When they evolve into Galarian Slowbro, the Shellder clamps onto its arm instead of its tail and Slowbro can now use it as an Arm Cannon that shoots the same brain-numbing toxins. Galarian Slowking on the other hand have their Shellder serve as their eyes as they mutter incantations and use their prodigious psychic power.
• Unique Enemy: The three Fast Galarian Slowpoke in Mustard's trial in the Isle of Armor. There are only three of them that are not fought again, and unlike most other members of the line, are insanely fast by virtue of Action Initiative.
• Uplifted Animal: Slowking, thanks to being bitten on the head instead of the tail, gains super intelligence.
• Youkai: They may be inspired by the sazae-oni, a turban snail youkai with a shell on its head (represented by Slowking) and lower body (represented by Slowbro).

Magnemite, Magneton, and Magnezone (Coil, Rarecoil, and Jibacoil)

0081: Magnemite / Coil (コイル koiru)
0082: Magneton / Rarecoil (レアコイル reakoiru)
0462: Magnezone / Jibacoil (ジバコイル jibakoiru)

Magnemite

Magneton

Magnezone

Magnezone debuts in Diamond and Pearl

Magnemite and its kin are robotic lifeforms that use electromagnetism to float through the air. In the Gen I games, they were pure Electric-types, but later generations made them part Steel-types as well. A Magnemite evolves by simply forming a cluster of three to make a Magneton. In Gen IV and later games, it evolves further by being exposed to a special magnetic wave that's given off in certain locations. But don't try to evolve Magnezone further by forming clusters of other Magnezone. It doesn't work. With the addition of genders for all Pokémon starting in Gen II, they are also the first Pokémon to be genderless in National Dex order, and can therefore only breed via a Ditto.

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• Achilles' Heel: Ground-type moves are the entire line's bane.
• Animate Inanimate Object: The entire line are living magnets.
• Boring, but Practical: Once Generation IV gave the line another evolution stage and more tools to play with, they can handle most of the game's enemies with their sheer amount of resistances and advantages. Later games would make them easily available early on, too.
• Boss Battle: This family line shows up in a few boss fights throughout the series.
  • Magnemite and Magneton are commonly used by rivals in early generations, with Blue (only in Yellow version and only if he doesn't evolve his Eevee to Jolteon), Silver, and Wally all having one on their teams.
  • Magneton is Wattson's Signature Mon in the Hoenn games (barring Emerald, where it is Manectric instead). It's also used by Colress in Black 2 and White 2.
  • Magnezone is used by Colress in Black 2 and White 2, as well as Kukui in the Alola games.
  • Magnezone is a lategame boss sicced on you by Heath in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
• Competitive Balance: Magnezone's double weakness to Ground-type moves and its limited moveset makes it a risky choice in battles, but its sheer offensive capability and bulk allows it to pretty much power through everything it goes up against.
• Counter-Attack: Magnezone can learn Mirror Coat to reflect Special moves. This can be pretty handy, as it can have Sturdy as its ability.
• The Cracker: In the Trading Card Game canon, Dark Magneton is famous for being used to hack computer systems.
• Cyber Cyclops: Magnemite only has one eye.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, they are very common encounters, available in the third town,^*where they are immune to the local gym's specialty type and resistant to most else that the leader uses; something an NPC outright tells you and have great Special Attack even for being unevolved. Once you catch one, congrats! You have a Mon that can carry you through just about every Gym and Elite Four member (except Clay and Marshall) thanks to Electric/Steel giving 13 resistances and the buff to Sturdy letting them always survive at least one hit.
• The Dividual: Magneton is made up of three separate Magnemite, as seen in some of its attack animations. When evolving, they fuse together to form Magnezone.
• Eating Machine: They can eat Poké Puffs, Poké Beans, berries, curry, and sandwiches despite not having any visible mouths.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Retroactively, they are the first Steel-type Pokémon in the series (although not pure Steel). However, they couldn't learn any offensive Steel-type moves until Generation IV, as none of the Steel-type attacking moves introduced before that generation that weren't Secret Arts ^note Metal Claw, Iron Tail, and Steel Wing matched their physical bodies.
• Faceless Eye: Magnemite and Magneton are basically steel eyeballs with magnets. Magnezone has more proportionate eyes, but still no face.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Magneton can learn Tri Attack, which is one of the line's best options for supplementing their STAB moves.
• Flying Saucer: Magnezone has the circular body plan of a flying saucer, with various Pokédex entries mentioning stuff like how some people have mistook it for an actual UFO and it receiving and sending transmissions to outer space. Legends: Arceus even has Magnezone naturally spawn in Coronet Highlands when the rest of the line isn't available akin to Ancient Astronauts.
• Fusion Dance: The three Magnemite that form Magnezone are fused together.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The whole line is seen levitating above the ground, but they are still vulnerable to Ground-type moves, unless they learn Magnet Rise.
• Last Chance Hit Point: Can have Sturdy as their ability, which will let them survive any hit if they are at full HP from Pokémon Black and White onwards.
• Lethal Joke Character: A level 1 Sturdy Magnemite holding Berry Juice with the moves Recycle, Toxic, and Protect can be this if against an unprepared opponent.^note Sturdy prevents it from getting OHKO'd at full health, Berry Juice restores all its health if it gets low, Recycle will restore the Berry Juice, Toxic for Damage Over Time, Protect is useful for stalling, and its last moves can help it survive further (Endure, Magic Coat, etc.).
• Magnetism Manipulation: Befitting Pokémon that are based on magnets, they utilize magnetism-based abilities a great deal, as they move around via manipulating electromagnetic forces around them, have moves based on such a premise (e.g. Magnet Rise, which uses electrically-generated magnetism too allow them to stay afloat high above enough to No-Sell Ground-type attacks), and one of their Abilities is Magnet Pull, which prevents Steel-type Pokémon from switching out.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: They're robotic creatures that have magnets for appendages and No Biological Sex.
• Mighty Glacier: Magneton has a good Special Attack stat and decent Defense, but its Speed is nothing to write home about. Magnezone is even stronger with higher Defense and decent Special Defense, but it's also slightly slower.^note To be fair, it doesn't need much more than Body Press to hit almost everything for neutral or better damage, and Body Press doing Physical damage based on Magnezone's defense means it hits hard on both sides of the defensive spectrum.
• No Biological Sex: They're genderless due to their mechanical nature, though this doesn't stop them from being able to breed with a Ditto.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: The only damaging moves they learn are STAB attacks, Normal, and only one move from Bug and Fighting^note specifically the moves Signal Beam (which was removed starting in Gen VIII) and Body Press.
• Retcon:
  • These were the first Pokémon to have their typing changed between generations, from Electric in Gen I, to Electric/Steel in Gen II.
  • In Gen VIII Evolving Magneton into Magnezone was updated to use a Thunder Stone instead of a location with a strong magnetic field, making it far easier to acquire it. Go still allows Magneton to evolve with a Magnetic Lure Module as neither exists in the game.
• Shock and Awe: Electric-types. With their high Special Attack, they are able to fire off powerful electric-based attacks said to be powered by magnetism.
• Stealth Pun: Trying to pet Magnezone's left (the negative side of its magnets) will prompt it to get angry, whereas petting its right side (the positive) will make it happier. In other words, it wants you to pet its good side.
• Unreliable Expositor: Magneton is said to be created whenever three different Magnemite fuse together, yet, in the games, it simply evolves from Magnemite once it hits level 30, and catching three of them won't get you jack (unless you want more Magnetons). Even in the anime, when Magnemite is shown evolving the other two spawn from nowhere. In fact, Pokémon Snap is the only time in the entire franchise that they evolve this way.
• Walking Techbane: According to their Pokédex entries, Magneton have a tendency to fry any electrical equipment they come near, what with being living magnets and all.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Their Magnet Pull ability prevents Steel-type Pokémon from switching out, making the Magnemite line perfect for trapping and eliminating opposing powerful Steel-types who attempt to wall it^note unless the Steel-type in question happens to be Heatran (who is Fire/Steel and is also a legendary that is also quite faster), or Steelix and Excadrill (whom are both Steel/Ground, the former being a sturdy Mighty Glacier with access to Mega Evolution that gets its Steel, Ground, and Rock-type attacks increased via Sandstorm and the latter being a powerful Lightning Bruiser of a Glass Cannon, who gets even faster or evades attacks via Sandstorm) meaning Magnet Pull can very easily lead to Magnezone getting its own Ability turned against it if it traps the wrong Steel-type that can outright counter it.

Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd (Kamonegi and Negigaknight)

0083: Farfetch'd / Kamonegi (カモネギ kamonegi)
0865: Sirfetch'd / Negigaknight (ネギガナイト negiganaito)

Farfetch'd

Galarian Farfetch'd

Sirfetch'd

Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd debut in Sword and Shield

Farfetch'd is essentially a duck that carries a leek stalk wherever it goes. It is a dual-type Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon that appears to be inspired by a Japanese proverb lampshading Contrived Coincidences. As far as its base stats go, they are all pretty mediocre — better than most baby and basic Pokémon, but considerably worse than most fully-evolved Pokémon — making Farfetch'd a Crutch Character for the most part.

Within the Galar region, the larger and thicker leeks found there have caused the local Farfetch'd to lose both their typings in favor of becoming pure Fighting-type, stated as being brave warriors and bearing surlier, more serious expressions.

Sirfetch'd is the evolution of Galarian Farfetch'd, achieved only by Farfetch'd in the Galar region who have survived many harsh battles. A pure Fighting-type as opposed to the Kantonian Farfetch'd's dual Normal- and Flying-typing, it is a noble Pokémon who fights its battles fair and square. When its treasured leek lance finally withers, it will permanently retire from combat. Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd are exclusive to Pokémon Sword; thus, before the introduction of Sirfetch'd, Farfetch'd was the first Pokémon in the National Dex not to have any other evolutionary stages. This trait has since been passed on to Kangaskhan.

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• Action Initiative: They can learn First Impression, the most powerful move with increased priority (although it only works on the first turn it is in battle). Sirfetch'd can learn it by level-up, while both Farfetch'd forms can only learn it through breeding (in particular, Kantonian Farfetch'd required a complex breeding chain that included Smeargle to learn the move in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon).
• Balance Buff: In addition to the changes in Gen VI to make it more of a Critical Hit Class, Gen VII boosted its attack stat to a decent base 90, making it a bit more viable.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Galarian Farfetch'd and its evolution Sirfetch'd are pure Fighting-type.
• BFS: Both Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd are around three feet tall; its lance is more than twice as tall and towers over Sirfetch'd in comparison.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Farfetch'd has a black marking on its forehead that resembles a unibrow, a comparison which is made much more obvious and direct with its evolution into Sirfetch'd, making the marking more prominent in its design and giving it a sort of perpetually knowing, smug look. Galarian Farfetch'd also have this thicker marking, which makes their serious looks appear even surlier.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Kantonian Farfetch'd is not good at battles, but it's an excellent HM user and Kantonian Farfetch'd can use False Swipe to help you catch other Pokémon more easily. Additionally, if you're going for 100% Completion in your Pokédex, you're required to obtain it in some way or another, or at the very least see it.
  • Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd are pure Fighting-type with a high attack stat, and you can get a Sirfetch'd as soon as you catch a Galarian Farfetch'd. They're not particularly flashy compared to other Fighting-types, but quickly gaining a Pokémon that hits hard similar to other heavy hitters like Machamp and Conkeldurr means it will still pull its weight in battle.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Later generation games describe the stalk it wields as a "plant stalk" or, at best, "the stalk of an unidentified plant" or "a stalk from a plant of some sort". It is only directly referred to in-game as a "sprig of green onions" in its Pokémon Red and Blue Pokédex entry. Averted with Sirfetch'd, as its weapon is directly described as a leek in promotional material. Generation VIII also corrected the translation of the Stick item (which was introduced in Generation II and boosts Farfetch'd and later Sirfetch'd's critical hit rate) to Leek; the item's in-game description from Generation III onward already described it as a leek, despite calling it a stick in item lists.
• Confusion Fu: Farfetch'd's moveset is quite varied compared other Flying-type Pokémon based on birds. Through various means, it is possible for Farfetch'd to obtain moves that other common bird-based Pokémon cannot have legitimately, such as Leaf Blade, Revenge, Poison Jab, and Knock Off. Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd are pure Fighting-type, meaning that it combines Kantonian Farfetch'd's already diverse movepool with a vast array of Fighting-type attacks.
• Contrived Coincidence: In the early-game of Pokémon X and Y, a Farfetch'd is available for trade from an NPC residing in a city that has a Bug-type gym. It's level 10, so it just happens to have already learned Aerial Ace, which just so happens to be super effective against Bug-type Pokémon. The Pokémon that this NPC is asking for in return? A Com Mon that you would have most definitely have encountered (and maybe even caught) in the route just before entering the city for the first time. You can also find wild Farfetch'd in the grass patches on the route just east of the city, which just happen to be the only areas where you can naturally encounter Farfetch'd. There is no in-universe justification for any of this. This entire scenario plays into the other meaning of Farfetch'd's Japanese name — an unlikely but fortunate coincidence, just like finding a duck walking through a forest with a green onion would be.
• Critical Hit Class: A Farfetch'd or Sirfetch'd holding a Leek (known as Stick prior to Generation VIII) has its Critical Hit ratio increased by two stages. The boost given by the Leek stacks with moves that have an increased critical hit ratio, and changes to the critical hit mechanic from Generation VI onwards means that Farfetch'd will always land critical hits using said moves while holding a Leek. It also learns three moves with an increased critical hit ratio just by leveling up, and it can have a fourth such move via breeding. Getting its affection high enough through Pokémon-Amie/Refresh also increases critical hit ratio outside multiplayer and battle facilities, which, combined with the Leek, ensures that every attack is a critical hit, essentially multiplying its attack by 1.5 and letting it completely ignore boosts to the target's defense. In fact, to evolve Galarian Farfetch'd into Sirfetch'd, you must let it score three Critical Hits in the same battle.
• Crutch Character: Its base stats are pretty good as far as the early-game goes and still somewhat serviceable in the mid-game, both of which are usually the only parts of the games where the player will encounter it. In Red and Blue, it's also obtained through a trade, meaning its EXP gain is boosted enough for it to overlevel its opponents and pick up useful moves like Swords Dance. Farfetch'd being a Critical Hit Class from Generation VI onwards also extends its usefulness in battle somewhat. Against most fully-evolved Pokémon, however, all of Farfetch'd's base stats are well within the bottom end of the average range, and because Farfetch'd doesn't evolve up until Gen VIII (and even then, it's only its regional variant that gets to evolve), it is stuck with the same base stats throughout the entire game, whereas other bird-like Com Mons that the player encounters throughout the entire course of the games will usually get better base stats from evolving. These factors more or less rob Farfetch'd of any usefulness near the end-game except as an HM slave or tool to capture other wild Pokémon (At least in Kantonian form).
• Determinator:
  • Kantonian Farfetch'd's Hidden Ability, Defiant, makes Farfetch'd's Attack raise sharply when one of its stats is lowered.
  • The Galarian Farfetch'd line's Hidden Ability, Scrappy, makes them immune to Intimidate by being too brave and bold to be scared out.
• Disc-One Nuke: Sirfetch'd can be obtained very early in Sword, immediately after catching Farfetch'd if the Farfetch'd you catch is holding a Leek. All you have to do is score three critical hits in a single battle — easily done since the Leek boosts its critical hit chance.
• Discard and Draw: Galarian Farfetch'd and its evolution trade their old Normal/Flying type for being Pure Fighting types, courtesy of having built beefier muscles by wielding the Galar region's longer, thicker leeks.
• Edible Bludgeon: Most of Farfetch'd's animations have it beat its opponents with a leek stalk.
• Endangered Species: In Red and Blue, it's stated to be exceptionally rare. The Yellow Pokédex entry states that the population of Farfetch'd is decreasing, while the Crystal Pokédex entry states that people are breeding Farfetch'd to prevent them from going extinct. The first anime's Pokédex entry for it gives a reason why Farfetch'd is endangered in the first place; people found it to make a delicious meal, especially when cooked with leek, and Farfetch'd was subsequently overhunted. Sirfetch'd are also not terribly common as a result, as only Galarian Farfetch'd that have overcome many harsh battles may evolve into them — something very difficult for an endangered species to do.
• Feather Fingers: Farfetch'd's wings resemble really big hands and it can easily hold its stalk with either wing. Played straighter with Sirfetch'd, who wields both a lance and shield with great dexterity using its hand-like "wings".
• Flight: Farfetch'd is Flying-type Pokémon and can learn Fly to ferry the player between towns and routes.
• Foil: Sword and Shield sets it up as one to Corsola. Both of them are very weak single-stage dual-typed Pokémon, and they gained a significantly stronger single-typed Galarian form, with an evolution on top of that. Galarian Farfetch'd is a bulky, muscular Fighting-type, and is a Glass Cannon which evolves into the Mighty Glacier Sirfetch'd, while Galarian Corsola has withered away into a Ghost-type, and is a Stone Wall which evolves into the Squishy Wizard Cursola. Both of them have a Secret Art, but Sirfetch'd's is a signature move, while Cursola's is a signature ability. They're also Version-Exclusive Content, with Farfetch'd only being in Sword and Corsola only being in Shield.
• Guide Dang It!: In order to evolve Farfetch'd into Sirfetch'd, it must land three critical hits in one battle. Not only it is not mentioned anywhere in the game, it's very difficult to evolve Galarian Farfetch'd by accident if you don't get one with a Leek equipped.
• Honor Before Reason: Sirfetch'd are chivalrous creatures that battle with a sense of pride and honor. If their leek is ever broken, they will immediately retire from battles regardless of age or injury. They would rather walk into the sunset in shame than face the dishonor of attempting to replace their weapon.
• I Will Fight No More Forever: According to the Pokédex, once a Sirfetch'd's leek wilters, it will retire from combat.
• Improbable Weapon User: Kantonian Farfetch'd uses an edible, cylindrical plant stalk as a sword, while Galarian Farfetch'd's leek is too big to conveniently use this way, instead keeping it slung over its shoulder and using it to beat its opponents. Taken even further with Sirfetch'd, who uses a long leek as a lance and a shield made of leaves to competently attack and defend itself.
• Joke Character: The Kantonian form, at least. Though a Crutch Character in some games, by the time it's catchable in other games, it's far too weak to stand a chance without severe grinding. Its entire name and concept being based on the idea of Schmuck Bait shows that the developers are entirely aware of this. Not so with Sirfetch'd, which is an impressive Pokémon and a competent battler. Its name still humorously references its pre-evolution while tacking on the more gallant-sounding "Sir" at the front, though.
• Jousting Lance: Sirfetch'd has a long leek it uses like a lance, and its signature move, Meteor Assault, has it charge forward into the enemy leek-first.
• Knightly Sword and Shield: Considering its gallant demeanor, Sirfetch'd's weapons certainly qualify as this. Considering the fact that it debuts in Sword and Shield, this choice of weapons was likely deliberate on the part of the developers.
• Light Is Good: Sirfetch'd is a noble, brave knight duck with white plumage.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Sirfetch'd's high base 135 Attack is contrasted with its poor base 68 Special Attack, on top of its natural moveset being entirely physical-based.
• Master of None: The Kantonian form, prior to the release of Sun and Moon, had base stats that were a mere 13 points apart from each other at the most, but they were all very low compared to the average base stats for fully-evolved Pokémon — its highest base stat, Attack, was 65, 10 lower than the global average among all Pokémon. Other Pokémon with a similar base stat total generally have one or two base stats that are noticeably higher than Farfetch'd's. Generation VII creates a double subversion; Kantonian Farfetch'd's base Attack stat was increased to 90, giving it the same base Attack as the global average for all fully evolved Pokémon prior to Generation VII, but it is only slightly higher than the base Attack of most (physically-oriented) Pokémon that are in the middle of their evolutionary chain, and none of Kantonian Farfetch'd's other stats are increased, so it's still ultimately a master of none.
• Meaningful Name: Its Japanese name is very likely based on a shortened version of a proverb about a duck that appears holding a green onion, which itself means an unexpected and convenient event (a meal with its own seasoning). Unfortunately for Farfetch'd, said proverb also means that people initially value it as food, nearly driving the Pokémon to extinction. The proverb is also used to describe a sucker, such as anyone who takes that trade in Red and Blue.
• Mighty Glacier: Sirfetch'd has a very high Attack stat, alongside a colourful variety of strong physical moves, and respectable defenses, but its Speed is subpar.
• Mundane Utility: Farfetch'd will sometimes use its leek as nesting material or an emergency food source when not using it as a weapon, though it will seek a new one the minute it uses it up.
• Muscles Are Meaningful:
  • A downplayed case with Galarian Farfetch'd. It clearly looks more muscular than its Kantonian form, courtesy of wielding the Galar region's thick, long leeks, and is more than twice as heavy. As a result, it's slightly slower, but its Attack is a little higher, and it's a pure Fighting-type Pokémon, instead of Normal/Flying-type.
  • Sirfetch'd is exactly the same height as Farfetch'd, but its weight increases over sevenfold after evolving compared to its Kantonian form (almost three times as heavy as Galarian Farfetch'd). Given that it becomes a pure Fighting-type and its Attack gets a significant boost, this may imply that the drastic weight change is due to its increased muscle mass, especially since the the weapons it wields are modified onion leeks, thus adding very little to its overall weight.
• Non-Elemental: The Kantoian Farfetch'd is part Normal-type based on ducks.
• Oral Fixation: Prior to Generation IV, Farfetch'd's in-game sprites almost always show it holding its stalk between its beak instead of with one of its wings. Its very first sprites, from the Japanese Red and Green (whose back sprite is shared with other Generation I games), are the only exceptions to this. In the Stadium games, Farfetch'd usually carries its stalk in its wings, but puts it in its mouth while taking flight.
• Perpetual Frowner: Unlike both the happy-looking Kantonian Farfetch'd and the heroic-looking Sirfetch'd, Galarian Farfetch'd has a perpetually pissed-off look.
• Pun-Based Creature: Farfetch'd resembles a duck always holding a stalk of green onion, and is a joke on a Japanese saying where a fortunate but unlikely coincidence is compared to a duck holding a leek — that is, a meal walking by while carrying its own seasoning. Farfetch'd embodies both the literal aspect of this saying, as it's noted to be a very popular food in-universe, and the metaphorical one, as in a few games it turns up precisely at a point where it's the kind of Pokémon the player would find it useful to have.
• Punctuation Shaker: The Farfetch'd line are unique for being the only Pokémon with an apostrophe in their names.
• Punny Name: Sirfetch'd's Chinese name is "葱游兵", which roughly means "Onion Ranger". But when you twist its pronunciation, you will find it sounds like "葱油饼", a kind of snack mainly made of green onions, flour, and fried in cooking oil.
• Razor Wind: As an avian Pokémon, the line can naturally learn some Flying-type moves relevant to the trope, such as Air Cutter and Air Slash.
• The Rival: Are rivals with Escavalier, with the latter's Shield Dex entry mentioning a portrait detailing one of their duels.
• Roar Before Beating: Mixed with some acrobatics. In the console games, when Farfetch'd emerges, it'll flip its leek into the air, catch it with its tail, and quack at the opponent.
• Rule of Three: In order to evolve, a Galarian Farfetch'd must land three Critical Hits in a single battle.
• Schmuck Bait: Farfetch'd is based on a proverb with a Double Meaning, one of said meanings being more or less "a fool and his money are soon parted." Just like how a duck walking through a forest with duck soup ingredients is just begging to be eaten by someone, anyone who believes that such a ridiculously favorable-sounding trade has no strings attached is kind of just begging to be swindled.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: The Galarian Farfetch'd line's hidden ability is Scrappy. It goes handidly with their newfound Fighting-type, letting them damage Ghost-type Pokémon with moves of said type.
• Shout-Out: The whole pose of Galarian Farfetch'd, complete with its angry face while carrying a weapon more massive than itself, gives a nice homage to Guts.
• Signature Move: Sirfetch'd is the only Pokémon able to learn the Fighting-type move Meteor Assault. The move has so much power behind it that after using it to drill through the opponent, Sirfetch'd needs to catch its breath for a full turn afterwards. In addition, Farfetch'd's non-Galarian form is the only Pokémon that knows Cut in Sword and Shield.
• Status Buff:
  • Farfetch'd's Hidden Ability is Defiant, which causes its Attack to double when one of its stats is lowered.
  • Through a slightly convoluted process, a Farfetch'd from Generation VI onwards can be taught the move Simple Beam. In battle, using this move causes Farfetch'd to change the ability of the Pokémon it targeted to Simple, causing status buffs and debuffs to have double the effect on the target Pokémon.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Pokémon X and Y took its gimmick and turned it on its head — in that game, being traded a Farfetch'd is an extremely lucky occurrence, as you're basically being handed a Pokémon that can sweep the first gym with minimal effort.
  • Gen VII increased its base attack from a paltry 65 to a respectable 90. It's probably not going to be sweeping any teams, and its other stats are still well below average, but it can finally put its decent movepool and Critical Hit Class tendencies to some use.
  • Gen VIII threw Farfetch'd not just a bone, but a whole spine in the form of a new evolution, Sirfetch'd. The catch is that said evolution is locked to its new Galarian forme, so Kantonian Farfetch'd is still stuck as the laughable weakling it's always been. The anime follows suit, with Goh catching a Kantonian Farfetch'd and Ash catching a Galarian one.
• Took a Level in Badass: In most of the world, Farfetch'd is just a Duck Pokémon that walks around with a leek just begging to be hunted. Galar's Farfetch'd subspecies is much more serious and brave and, while still a duck, has mastered the Death Glare and generally acts like a Guts impersonator. Then it evolves into the gallant and proud Sirfetch'd, who will spend its entire life fighting until its leek gives out. It also gains much more muscle and power, what with the Galar region's leeks being more imposing and all, being the only Pokémon able to use the powerful Fighting-type move Meteor Assault.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Unsurprisingly, Farfetch'd loves leeks.
• Trial by Combat: According to the Pokédex, only Farfetch'd who have persevered in many battles can evolve into Sirfetch'd. Indeed, in order to obtain a Sirfetch'd, a Galarian Farfetch'd must land three Critical Hits in a single battle.
• Underground Monkey: Due to the sheer size of the leeks found in Galar, the native Farfetch'd have become much stronger to compensate. They've effectively become flightless Fighting-types. They're also capable of evolving into Sirfetch'd, which other Farfetch'd cannot.
• Utility Party Member: Not only is Farfetch'd, like nearly all bird Pokémon, capable of learning Fly, it is also capable of using Cut and False Swipe, making it not only a good HM user but also an excellent catching Pokémon.
• Version-Exclusive Content: Galarian Farfetch'd and its evolution Sirfetch'd are exclusive to Pokémon Sword.

Doduo and Dodrio (Dodo and Dodorio)

0084: Doduo / Dodo (ドードー doodoo)
0085: Dodrio / Dodorio (ドードリオ doodorio)

Doduo

Dodrio

Doduo and Dodrio are an intriguing species. Their most famous attribute are their multiple heads. Otherwise, they mostly resemble ratites^note any of a diverse group of flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, such as ostriches, emus, cassowaries, kiwi birds, rheas, etc. Like ostriches, they excel at running rather than flying… although, they can still somehow fly without visible wings.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Whereas other bird Pokémon spin their whole bodies when using Drill Peck, Doduo and Dodrio spin only their beaks. Of course, given their anatomy, it would be… difficult for Doduo and Dodrio to spin their bodies.
• Armless Biped: No visible arms, unless they using the extra head(s) for the same thing. Granted, if they're anything like their real-world inspiration, they may have very small, underdeveloped wings underneath their fuzzy feathers.
• Balance Buff: In Gen VII, they received a small increase in their Speed. They also gained access to Jump Kick, making for a nasty surprise for any Steel-types in their way.
• Blow You Away: One of the weirdest ways to pull this one off, since they have no visible wings. They can still be taught Air Cutter by one of the Move Tutors in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Body Horror: Where did Dodrio get that third head? According to the Pokédex, one of Doduo's heads actually splits in two when it evolves.
• Characterization Marches On: Early games repeatedly made mention in the Pokédex that Doduo can't fly very well and makes up for it by running fast. This is despite the fact it's been able to learn Fly since day one, allowing it to fly trainers across the world. The developers seemingly took notice, and later games have their Pokédex entries focus more on the Multiple Head Case and fast running speed aspects, with little mention of their weak flying abilities. Albeit, the Let's Go games reiterated their poor flying ability.
• Depending on the Writer: Their entries in the main games state that they have short wings, while the anime and New Pokémon Snap state that they can jump so high that it's like flying.
• Drunken Master: Their Hidden Ability is Tangled Feet, which makes it more evasive if it's confused. Dodrio can even activate the Ability on its own using a STAB-boosted Thrash attack.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: One of the few Pokémon that can have Tri Attack, which has a chance to either freeze, burn, or paralyse the opponent.
• Flight: They can learn Fly, despite having no visible wings to fly with. Some of the 3D games portray them as running in midair in order to achieve this.
• Flying Flightless Bird: They are based off of ostriches which are known to be unable to fly, yet they can learn Fly as stated above.
• Fragile Speedster: Good Speed and Attack, but any decently strong move will faint it in short order.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Both have the Flying-type immunity to Ground-type moves, despite being unable to actually fly.
  • Dodrio's Violet Dex entry says that it can't run as fast as Doduo, though it can run for longer stretches of time. Of course, being Doduo's evolved form, it has a much higher Speed stat in-game.
• Glass Cannon: Again, Dodrio is decently strong but can't take too many hits.
• In a Single Bound: Apparently, they both "fly" this way. Remember that these guys can take you from Lavender to Cinnabar if needed. The anime takes this interpretation (to Ash's dismay, Falkner's Dodrio is trained to do this), but not remotely as exaggerated as the implications of the Fly mechanic.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: One of their Abilities is Run Away, letting them easily escape from Random Encounters.
• Multiple Head Case: Two as a Doduo. Three as a Dodrio. As a Dodrio, they think and sleep separately.
• Non-Elemental: Both of them are Normal-types.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite being named after dodos, they look more like ostriches or kiwis.
• Not Quite Flight: They don't have any obvious way of flying due to no visible wings, so they may just jump really far and high when using Fly. This is how their flight was explained in the anime at one point at least.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: Slightly. Males have black necks, females have brown necks. Interestingly enough, before the introduction of gender differences, all Doduo had black necks and all Dodrio had brown ones. This also makes Dodrio one of a handful of Pokémon to have their female variant the default representation of the species even today.
• Single-Minded Twins: Played straight with Doduo; averted with Dodrio, as they have three heads and three distinct minds and personalities, despite sharing a body.
• This Is a Drill: Both Doduo & Dodrio have access to the move Drill Peck.

Seel and Dewgong (Pawou and Jugon)

0086: Seel / Pawou (パウワウ pauwau)
0087: Dewgong / Jugon (ジュゴン jugon)

Seel

Dewgong

These pinniped Pokémon kinda resemble harp seal pups. They seem to prefer frigid marine environments best. Dewgong is named after a real sea mammal called a dugong (which isn't a seal, but a kind of sea cow). Seel is probably notable for being the only Pokémon whose name can be spelled on a calculator. Like the Spheal line, they are also capable of having the highest possible resistance to an attack type, taking only one-eighths damage from Ice-type attacks if they have the Thick Fat ability.

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• Action Initiative: They learn Ice Shard and Aqua Jet naturally, and can be bred with Fake Out.
• An Ice Person: Dewgong, though Seel is also strongly associated with cold areas and naturally learns some Ice moves.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Seel is a seal.
• Healing Factor:
  • Their Hidden Ability is Ice Body, which heals them at the end of each turn during Hail.
  • One of their normal abilities is Hydration, which cures Status Effects at the end of each turn during Rain. This can be combined with Rest to fully heal themselves with no drawback.
  • They naturally learn Aqua Ring, which steadily restores HP over time.
• Ice Magic Is Water: Dewgong is a Water/Ice type.
• Kevlard: Can have the Thick Fat ability, giving it additional resistances to Fire and Ice attacks.
• Making a Splash: Both are Water-type pinnipeds.
• Master of None: All-around average stats with nothing that stands out save their Hydration ability when combined with Rain Dance and Rest.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Despite their Pokédex entries repeatedly mentioning Seel and Dewgong love the cold (the colder the better), they show up in Alola in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. Nobody's quite sure why, as lampshaded by Seel's Ultra Sun Dex entry.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: They are seals with elements of narwhals(horn), walruses(tusks), and mermaids(tail).
• My Nayme Is: Seel (seal) and Dewgong (dugong).
• Non-Indicative Name: Dewgong doesn't really look much like a dugong, looking more like a seal. It doesn't help that it becomes Water/Ice-type upon evolving; real dugongs mainly live in tropical waters.
• One-Hit KO: Can be bred with Horn Drill and naturally learns Sheer Cold, both move that instantly faint an opponent upon connecting.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Both Seel and Dewgong are just begging to be cuddled.
• Sweet Seal: Seel and Dewgong resemble harp seals with little tusks!
• Use Your Head: Those horns on their heads are used for smashing through icebergs. Strangely enough, they can't learn any horn-based moves besides Horn Drill and other moves that don't specify.

Grimer and Muk (Betbeter and Betbeton)

0088: Grimer / Betbeter (ベトベター betobetaa)
0089: Muk / Betbeton (ベトベトン betobeton)

Grimer

Muk

Alolan Grimer

Alolan Muk

Alolan forms debut in Sun and Moon

Poisonous blobs that seem to appear wherever pollution is. They were born from toxic sludge that were exposed to either X-rays or moonbeams and are now living. Despite being hazardous to Pokémon and human health, these creatures may in fact be useful by absorbing poisonous material from the environment and putting it into their own bodies.

As the population of Alola grew, waste disposal became a big problem. The solution was to import Grimer from other regions to deal with the garbage. They've since changed to Alolan Grimer and Muk. What appears to be teeth are in fact, a toxic material that crystallized. Alolan Muk has these same toxic crystals not only in its mouth, but all over its body. Waves of color constantly move down Alolan Muk's body. They are also not as smelly as Grimer and Muk from elsewhere, as unlike them they store their toxins within their bodies.

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• Action Initiative: They can be bred to have Shadow Sneak to get around their low Speed. Especially useful since one of its abilities, Stench (which can cause opponents to flinch), requires it to attack first to get any mileage out of it.
• Animate Inanimate Matter: They are living piles of purplish toxic sludge.
• Anti-Magic: In the early Trading Card Game, its Fossil card had the Pokémon Power Toxic Gas, which allowed it to ignore all Pokémon Powers. In later releases, this was renamed the Poké-Body Stench, like its in-game ability.
• The Artifact: Fitting its amorphous, toxic body, Muk's movepool is filled with sludge-based Poison attacks. This was fine for the first three generations as all Poison moves were physical and Muk had a good Attack stat. Unfortunately, Gen IV introduced the Physical/Special split, which reclassified these as special moves, meaning that most of Muk's natural movepool now ran off its terrible Special Attack. Most Pokémon in this situation were given updated moves and/or stats to adjust, but Muk wasn't so lucky. Alolan Muk gained an appropriately physical movepool when it was introduced, but its Kantonian counterpart is stuck with a thematically appropriate, but distinctly outdated set of level-up moves
• Bequeathed Power: Alolan Grimer and Alolan Muk have the Power of Alchemy as a hidden ability. In double battles, if an ally faints, they'll take on the ability of the defeated ally.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Alolan Muk's Moon entry states that while it's unexpectedly friendly and quiet, it will smash up their Trainer's furnishings and eat the fragments if they aren't fed any trash for a while.
• Big Eater: The appetites of Alolan Grimer are enough to drive them to eat other objects that aren't garbage. Alolan Muk go berserk when hungry and won't calm down until it eats something within reach. They even have Gluttony as an ability.
• Blob Monster: Made of toxic sludge.
• Body to Jewel: Although "Jewel" isn't an accurate descriptor to describe the toxic crystals that form on Alolan Grimer and Muk's bodies.
• Bright Is Not Good: Their Alolan brethren are a lot more colorful, but a lot more dangerous and poisonous.
• Combat Pragmatist: Unlike Grimer in other regions, the Alolan Grimer is a part Dark-type.
• Cute Little Fangs: Alolan Grimer sports a pair of tooth-like crystals.
• Damage Over Time: Muk's Attack stat is quite good, and its moveset includes DoT effects such as: Acid Armor and Poison Gas, with it learning Toxic via TM at Generation II.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being even more poisonous than their vanilla brethren along with being Dark-type Pokémon, Alolan Grimer and Muk are helpful to the environment due to eating large amounts of garbage. That said, they're still dangerous due to how toxic they are.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Non-Alolan specimens naturally learn Mud Slap and Mud Bomb, but neither are very useful since they work off their lower Special Attack stat.
• Endangered Species: On the giving and receiving end in Alola. Grimer and Muk were imported to Alola to handle garbage. Problem is, the Trubbish and Garbodor were already doing so, and the Grimer and Muk began to muscle them out. Then the Alolan forms developed and the originals went on the decline.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Can learn the three elemental punches via move tutor.
• Foil: Primarily to the Koffing and Weezing line.
  • The liquid sludge Grimer and Muk have high HP, good Attack and Special Defense, which contrast with the gaseous Koffing and Weezing, who has lower HP but higher Defense and better mixed attacking stats.
  • In Alpha Sapphire and Ultra Sun and Moon, Muk is given to Team Aqua's Archie to further contrast Team Magma's Maxie, who uses a Weezing.
  • Both lines were given a regional variant where they acquire a different type. In this case, Alolan Grimer and Muk acquire the Dark type, which contrasts with Galarian Weezing's Fairy type.
  • Rounding out the two lines is the land based pollution Pokémon in Garbodor, introduced in Gen V, which is more balanced in terms of its stats.
• Informed Ability: Despite their alleged toxicity, you can send them out in the middle of tall grass and nothing happens to the grass, you can send them out underwater and nothing happens to the water, and you can pet them freely in Pokémon-Amie and nothing happens to your character. Their Stench ability will drive Pokémon away, however.
• Lunacy: Certain Pokédex entries states that Grimer are sludges brought to life by x-rays from the moon.
• Mage Killer: Muk, with its high attack and special defense, seems well-suited to dealing with Squishy Wizard Pokémon (as long as they’re not Psychic-types in regular Muk’s case).
• Man Bites Man: Alolan Grimer and Muk gain Poison Fang and Crunch to go along with their tooth-like projections.
• Mighty Glacier: Takes hits well with high HP, but it's slow. Taken even further if it knows Focus Punch via Gen IV TMs or Payback. The former always hits last anyway, and the latter actually gains power if it attacks last.
• Muck Monster: They smell so bad that it's dangerous to get close to them. Plants don't grow after they leave behind their germs. Their smell is so bad that it's their actual Ability: Stench repels wild Pokémon in Generation 3 and 4, and in 5 and on, it adds a potential Flinch factor in combat. The Alolan forms don't produce a nasty smell, but they do produce crystals of pure toxins that are extremely dangerous.
• Palette Swap: Regular Grimer and Muk are purple while their shiny forms are green. Alolan Grimer and Muk are mainly green, but shiny Alolan Grimer and Muk are purple.
• Poisonous Person:
  • While other Poison-types just produce a poisonous material or are merely venomous, these Pokémon are actually made of hazardous waste. If a Grimer slides along some grass, expect the soil to be so contaminated that not even weeds will grow there for anywhere between three years and forever. Muk's toxicity is more extreme than that; one drop of its essence can turn a pristine lake into a stagnant cesspool in minutes, and touching it causes immediate illness (and, in some cases, death). Both variants can have the ability Poison Touch, which gives all of their contact moves a chance of poisoning the target.
  • Alolan Grimer and Muk are even more poisonous than anywhere else, as they eat even more toxic waste than their brethren. The excess toxins form crystals all over their bodies; said crystals are extremely dangerous if knocked loose. Still, they don't smell as bad.
• Recurring Element: Although not until Generation V; Grimer forms a Poison-typed parody of the Land, Sea, Sky triumvirate with Koffing and Trubbish, in that they represent three distinctive forms of pollution. Grimers, specifically, are the Water Pollution Pokémon, representing the fouling of oceans and rivers with oil (in the case of Alolan Grimer and Muk) and chemical run-off.
• Resistant to Magic: Both Kantonian and Alolan Muk have higher special defense than physical defense, so they have a much easier time shrugging off special attacks if they haven't set up Acid Armor.
• The Rival: To the Trubbish Line, whose population they lowered upon being introduced to Alola via competition.
• Secret Art: Alolan Grimers and Muk get the unique ability Power of Alchemy, which lets them receive the ability of a fallen ally in a double battle.
• Shout-Out: Their Alolan forms, Muk's especially, bear some resemblance to the Goop from Super Mario Sunshine.
• Status Buff: One of the rare Pokémon to learn Acid Armor naturally, which helps patch up their iffy physical Defense. They can be bred with Curse, which only gives one stage to Defense, but also boosts its Attack, at the cost of reducing its Speed.
• Status-Buff Dispel: Can be bred with Haze, which eliminates any Status Buffs that are on any Pokémon in play.
• Stone Wall: If a player isn't using it as a strong glacier, Muk can be used in this way. It has a very high special defense stat, and while its defense stat might not be as good as its special defense, it naturally learns Acid Armor, which greatly increases its defensive stat in battle.
• Super Spit: Via breeding, they can learn the Stockpile/Swallow/Spit Up trio, as well as Acid Spray.
• Technicolor Toxin: Normal Muk and Grimer are dark purple, while their colorful Alolan counterparts emphasize the "Technicolor" aspect.
• Underground Monkey: In Alola, members of the line are more colorful and have toxic crystals on their bodies.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • The Stench ability has a 10% chance to make the opponent flinch. However, the flinch effect only works if you attack first — their subpar Speed prevents them from inflicting a flinch on most opponents unless it uses Shadow Sneak.
  • Alolan Grimer and Muk's signature ability, Power of Alchemy, allows them to gain the ability (with a few exceptions) of a fallen ally in a double battle. However, it is completely useless in single battles.
• Walking Wasteland: They are so poisonous that a drop of their essence renders bodies of water rancid and kill plant life just by moving over it. Their Alolan brethren are even more toxic, to the point that the crystals made of pure toxins formed over their bodies are extremely dangerous. Ironically, the food source for the Alolan variants is literal garbage, making them simultaneously good for the environment.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Can learn Mean Look and Block (the former via breeding, the latter via Move Tutor).

Shellder and Cloyster (Parshen)

0090: Shellder (シェルダー sherudaa)
0091: Cloyster / Parshen (パルシェン parushen)

Shellder

Cloyster

Cheeky bivalve Pokémon with extremely sturdy shells. Shellder starts out as a pure Water-type, but exposing it to a Water Stone makes it evolve into the Water/Ice-type Cloyster. Their best stat has always been their Defense, which is ludicrously high for Cloyster (it has to, being a huge clam and all).

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• Achilles' Heel: While Cloyster's Defense stat is ridiculously high, its Special Defense happens to be ridiculously low. So don't expect Cloyster to survive from most special attacks, especially with its low HP.
• Action Initiative: Naturally learns Ice Shard.
• Armor Is Useless: Downplayed. Cloyster's shell is tremendously strong... against physical attacks. But practically any special attack will cause it to bite the dust.
• Armored But Frail: Cloyster has a solid base 180 Defense, but its poor base 50 HP means that any attacks that bypass said defense make short work of it.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Cloyster, like Gengar, has always sported one. It maintains it even if it is annoyed or angry in Pokémon-Amie.
• Clam Trap: Shellder and Cloyster, which look like scallops and oysters respectively, can do this with the Clamp move.
• Crafted from Animals: Shelder's Sun Dex entry mentions that people used to make shields out of their shells, while Cloyster's Moon Dex entry mentions that tombs have been found containing spears tipped with spikes that had fallen off its shell.
• Cycle of Hurting: A Skill Link Cloyster holding a King's Rock. Since each hit has its own individual chance of flinching, the already monstrous Icicle Spear also receives a significant 41% chance to flinch — which means that simply surviving the move (already an impressive feat) is no guarantee that you'll get to fight back against it.
• Foil: To the Staryu line, being sea-dwelling invertebrates that evolve into dual Water-types by use of a Water Stone, having some of the highest stats of the Water type (Defense for Cloyster, Speed for Starmie), and having a chance of holding valuable sellable items. In addition, Shellder is exclusive to FireRed and Y while Staryu is exclusive to LeafGreen and X.
• Healing Factor: Can be bred to know Aqua Ring, which restores 1/16 of their maximum HP at the end of every turn.
• Informed Ability: Despite what some of its Pokédex entries state, it still takes damage from Explosion. However, its exceedingly high Defense stat gives it a better chance to survive the attack compared to most Pokémon that aren't Rock or Steel type.^note which was particularly notable in earlier generations when Explosion halved the opponent's Defense
• An Ice Person: Cloyster is part Ice, while Shellder learns several Ice attacks naturally.
• Making a Splash: Both are Water-types.
• Mighty Glacier: Cloyster has the highest defense of all Gen I Pokémon and has decent offensive stats, but it is relatively slow.
• Overly-Long Tongue: Shellder. Even with its shell closed, it still sticks out.
• Perplexing Pearl Production: Cloyster has a blackish-purplish pearl for a head.
• Piñata Enemy: Starting in Generation II, they have a chance of holding Pearls and Big Pearls.
• Poisonous Person: Pokédex entries for Slowbro and Slowking state that Shellder is venomous. Despite this, Shellder is not Poison-type, nor can it learn any Poison-type moves.
• Protection from the Elements: Their Overcoat ability protects them from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• Punny Name: Shellder shelters itself in a shell, while Cloyster is an oyster that cloisters (synonym for sheltering) itself in its shell.
• Reality Is Unrealistic:
  • Cloyster's Ice-typing might not seem to make sense at first, given that bivalves are normally associated with tropical waters. It's actually based on polar bivalves, which are "the most numerous group of mollusks in the Arctic deep-sea".
  • As for that Overly-Long Tongue on Shellder? Real life bivalves have these "tongues" as well, which are actually their equivalent to feet.
• Secret Art: Shellder's Icicle Spear, before Generation IV. Also Clamp, before Generation III.
• Spam Attack: Their specialty. The Skill Link Ability ensures that these moves always hit the full five times instead of leaving the number up to the Random Number God, and they can learn Icicle Spear, Rock Blast, and Spike Cannon to take advantage of it.
• Status Buff: One of the few Pokémon to get Shell Smash, which turns it into a Glass Cannon by doubling its offenses and Speed in exchange for lowering its defenses. Or should we say a Lightning Bruiser, considering that even after a Shell Smash drop, Cloyster's physical defense remains respectable enough to tank a couple hits. Just don't get hit by special attacks.
• Super-Toughness: Shellder's shell can allegedly repel any attack. Not even high explosives can shatter Cloyster's shell.
• The Symbiote: Shellder is required to bite on a Slowpoke's tail/head to allow it to evolve into Slowbro/Slowking. At least, that's what the Pokédex says.
• Trap Master: Cloyster naturally learns Toxic Spikes and Spikes, and they both can have Rapid Spin bred onto them to remove entry hazards.
• Weak to Magic: Cloyster's high base 180 Defense is contrasted with its poor base 45 Special Defense; combined with its meager HP, it won't take many Special attacks to bring it down.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Naturally learns both Clamp and Whirlpool, Water-type attacks that prevent the target from switching out during the multiple turns that it remains going.

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