Characters / Pokémon: Generation I - Magikarp to Dragonite

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)

The character sheet for the first generation's Pokémon got so big that it had to be split. For the rest, go here, here, here, and here.

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Magikarp (Koiking) and Gyarados

0129: Magikarp / Koiking (コイキング koikingu)
0130: Gyarados (ギャラドス gyaradosu)

Magikarp

Gyarados

^{Mega Gyarados}

Mega Gyarados debuts in X and Y

Magikarp is infamous for being completely useless, so many don't bother to use it. Many others do bother, though, because it evolves into Gyarados, a notably powerful Pokémon. Patience really does pay off. With an awesome Attack stat, Intimidate, powerful physical STAB, respectable Speed, good Special Defense, and a solid movepool, Gyarados is perfectly capable of wrecking anything in its way. Electric-type attacks are your best bet to take down this leviathan. Gyarados is capable of Mega Evolving in X and Y, where it swaps its Flying typing for a Dark typing. Truly terrifying.

Things aren't so bad for Magikarp, though, as it has its own mobile game Magikarp Jump, which allows you to raise Magikarp to be the best jumpers possible.

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• Always a Bigger Fish: Even the ruthless, violent, and terrifying Gyarados flees from Wishiwashi's school form.
• The Artifact:
  • In a similar case to Charizard, despite being based on a Chinese dragon and being in the Dragon egg group, Gyarados is not Dragon-type, since the Dragon type was restricted to the Dratini line. Despite the type having become more widely distributed since then, Gyarados wasn't retconned to be part-Dragon, nor did it gain the type for its Mega Evolution. However, Gyarados is still freely referred to and treated as a dragon in official material just like Charizard.
  • Hyper Beam was practically Gyarados's Signature Move (but not Secret Art) in the first three generations, and for good reason — it was the last move it learned by level-up and the strongest move that its Attack stat could feed. This led to anime Gyarados using Hyper Beam more often than any other move (and more often than any other Pokémon used Hyper Beam^note 14 different Gyarados have used Hyper Beam in the anime, second place are Ursaring and Tyranitar which are tied with 7 different ones) and Boss Battle Gyarados in the games almost always running Hyper Beam... but when Generation IV brought with it the physical-special split, Gyarados's ace-in-the-hole suddenly ran off of its much weaker Special Attack instead. As a result, Gyarados's anime usage of Hyper Beam slowed to a trickle and Boss Battle trainers started replacing it with the physical equivalent, Giga Impact. Even though certain Pokémon such as Aerodactyl and Tyranitar received Giga Impact by level-up alongside Hyper Beam with Snorlax fully replacing Hyper Beam for it, Gyarados hasn't, and Hyper Beam remains the last move it learns by level up.
• Ax-Crazy: Infamous for flying into destructive rages at the drop of a hat that result in the destruction of entire cities. Mega Gyarados' only instinct is to kill and destroy everyone and everything. Downplayed in that careful reading of its Dex entries (especially the one in Legends Arceus) indicate this city-destroying reputation is based on a ancient event recorded in old literature where what is believed to have been a Gyarados (the record itself only refers to the creature as a "dragon") destroyed a village.
• Balance Buff: The physical/special split in Gen IV allows Gyarados to take advantage of Water-type moves again as in Generation II and III, Water-type moves used its inferior Special Attack.
• The Berserker: Mega Gyarados is driven solely by its instinct to destroy everything in the surrounding area. Fittingly, the very first move in Gyarados's level-up learnset is Thrash, although you'll need the Move Reminder to get it most of the time.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Magikarp may look harmless and cute, but don't ever say the same for its evolution.
• Blow You Away: Upon evolving, Gyarados gains the Flying type as its secondary type, a reference to the Chinese myth involving carps becoming flying dragons after leaping a waterfall and its koinobori inspiration. Gyarados is also able to learn the Dragon-type Twister and Hurricane from Pokémon Sun and Moon onwards.
• Boss Battle:
  • Gyarados is a staple on boss teams — it's been used by Blue^*if he doesn't have Blastoise, Clair, Lance, Wallace, Wake, Cyrus, and Lysandre (the last of whom also uses its Mega Evolution).
  • A Gyarados is the boss of the Miracle Sea dungeon in the post-game of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
• Butt-Monkey: Most Pokémon get very flattering dex entries, such as Pidgeot flying at Mach 2 and Magcargo's given body temperature being hotter than the surface of the sun. Meanwhile, here are some excerpts of Magikarp's dex entries:
  Yellow: "Famous for being very unreliable."
  (Heart)Gold: "An underpowered, pathetic Pokémon."
  Ruby/Omega Ruby: "Magikarp is a pathetic excuse for a Pokémon..."
  FireRed/X: "It is the most weak [sic] and pathetic Pokémon in the world."
  Diamond: "No one knows why it has managed to survive."
  Sun: "They exist in such multitudes, you'll soon grow tired of seeing them."
  Sword: "It is virtually worthless in terms of both power and speed."
  Legends: Arceus: "A feeble, pitiful imbecile of a Pokémon that is nonetheless very hardy."
• Combat Pragmatist: Gyarados learns a variety of Dark-type moves, most of which are related to intimidation, dirty tactics and brutality and run off its higher physical Attack. It loses its Flying type upon Mega Evolving and gains Dark to replace it, giving it STAB on those moves. Its Pokédex entries state that it grows even more savage from the transformation.
• Com Mons: Fish in a body of water, and you'll find a Magikarp (excepting Gen V, where it's Basculin). Became egregious when in DPPt, any body of water that yielded Magikarp could also yield Gyarados if using a better rod. Including ponds smaller than it.
• Commonplace Rare: Inverted. In Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, Magikarp is probably the most common Pokémon ever. But in Unova, it's so far findable only in a B2W2 exclusive location (besides the Magikarp salesman).
• Cool Crown: Magikarp's dorsal fins resemble crowns. Fitting given it's Japanese name is koiking.
• Dark Is Evil: Mega Gyarados is part Dark-type, matching its nasty behavior. It is also Lysandre's signature Pokémon.
• Dark Is Not Evil: In contrast to the species' purported nature and usage by Kalos' Big Bad, Mega Gyarados is also one of Misty's ace Pokémon for her brief return in the Sun & Moon anime.
• A Day in the Limelight: Magikarp is made the subject of the mobile game Pokémon: Magikarp Jump, a lighthearted virtual pet game where you train generation after generation of Magikarp to jump good... But even here, they can't catch a break, as your poor fish can get "Forcefully Retired" in ways such as them unexpectedly being made into Pidgeotto food.
• Disc-One Nuke: Gyarados can be evolved early in-game, and wreck anything that isn't Electric-type or have Electric moves. Especially true in Generation I, as he can be gained before Misty, and is actually the best option to combat her Starmie^note The supposed type advantage of whatever available Grass-types at that point in the game (Bulbasaur, Paras, and Oddish/Bellsprout) are more of an Informed Ability as their Specials are generally too low to tank Starmie's Bubble Beams without overgrinding to the mid-20s at least. Furthermore, Gyarados' Bite is a much more effective move against Starmie's low Defense, whereas the only Grass-type moves available, Vine Whip and Absorb, deal too little damage anyway, since they also ran on the Special stat. Pikachu has the same problem, even in Yellow. Leech Seed and Thunder Wave don't help all that much either. Gyarados' 100 Special and being Water-type, however, means that it can considerably tank the Bubble Beams for much longer even immediately after evolving at 20.
• Discard and Draw: Mega Gyarados has considerably different strengths and vulnerabilities compared to normal Gyarados. In addition to trading in its Ground immunity for a Psychic one, Mega Gyarados becomes weak against the Bug and Fighting-type attacks that it used to resist and gains weaknesses to Fairy and Grass. In return, it loses its Rock weakness, becomes resistant to Ice, Ghost, and Dark-type attacks, and, most notably, reduces its crippling double weakness to Electric to a standard weakness.
• The Ditz: Magikarp is noted to not be particularly bright, and usually spends its days aimlessly floating around and waiting to either be eaten by its many predators or be caught by trainers. Gyarados isn't noted to be particularly bright either despite its greater power, but at least it has both that and ferocity to its name.
• Dragons Are Demonic: While not Dragon-type, Gyarados is a titanic monstrosity infamous for its temper and violence, and Mega Gyarados ups the ante by invoking Dark Is Evil, on top of being in the Dragon egg group.
• The Dreaded: Gyarados's vicious temper makes it highly feared throughout the series. This is reflected by its default ability Intimidate, which lowers the opponent's Attack when it enters battle.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Due to palette limitations, Gyarados' Game Boy-era sprites depict it with a blue tongue instead of the red one it has everywhere else.
• Explosive Breeder: Probably the reason why Magikarp isn't extinct despite being so ill-equipped to compete in the wild. They are among the most common encounters when fishing in most regions and they have the shortest hatching time of any Pokémon.
• Expert in Underwater Basket Weaving: In the original games, Magikarp was the only Pokémon that could learn the useless Splash. It takes considerable patience to train it to the point where it can learn a useful move like Tackle.
• Fiendish Fish: Gyarados is a ferocious, serpentine fish so powerful that it can supposedly level cities, and is renowned for its extremely bad temper. Gold/Silver/Crystal features a Red Gyarados (most are blue) rampaging in the aptly-named Lake of Rage. In the game a red Gyarardos evolves from a golden Magikarp. Mega Gyarados is Water/Dark-type, making it a literal demonic fish.
• Flying Seafood Special:
  • In order to accentuate how much of a Joke Character it is, Magikarp averts this and usually flops about on the ground, rather than swimming gracefully in the air. Subverted when it floats about like most fish Pokémon in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh/Camp.
  • Zig-Zagged. Gyarados is part Flying-type and floats in midair, but the only Flying-type move it could learn for generations was Bounce. It gained access to Hurricane starting in Generation VII.
  • In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, if you walk with a Gyarados on the cliff route before the Safari Zone, it will "fly through the air with grace!" as do all Flying-types.
  • Being part Flying-type, it can participate in Sky Battles in Pokémon X and Y and fly as part of its Spectacular Talent in a contest in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
  • Despite such examples, you'd be hard pressed to find Gyarados actually being depicted flying or explicitly stated to be able to fly in any official media (generally it is shown swimming or slithering), making it easy to disregard its floating animation in the games as being no different from that of any other Water type with such an animation that no one thinks can actually fly, with its inclusion in Sky Battles being a joke. It wasn't until Pokémon Legends: Arceus that a NPC would confirm that, yes, Gyarados is able to fly. Said game would also feature a Gyarados that literally flies around a large area of the map (most of them in the game still just swim though). How exactly it is able to fly is as yet not stated.
• Foil: They gained one in the shape of the Feebas line. Both of them have base forms that are well known for a certain flaw, namely Magikarp's weakness and Feebas' ugliness. They then evolve into Pokémon that are the exact opposite of their previous forms, as Gyarados is extremely powerful while Milotic is considered one of the most beautiful Pokémon in the world. They also have the same base stat total, and their stat spreads mirror each other. Magikarp and Feebas are also known for their hardiness in the wild, but while Feebas are extremely rare, Magikarp are extremely common.
• Fragile Speedster: In spite of its pathetic stats, Magikarp's Speed excels compared to other unevolved Pokémon, and both of its abilities exploit that for further boosts. Given Gyarados' Speed is only 1 point higher, it's about the one element it risks downgrading by evolving.
• Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: Magikarp is 3 feet long, while Gyarados is a whopping 21 feet long.
• Goomba Stomp: In Gen V, Magikarp can learn Bounce via Move Tutor. Bounce is a Flying-type move, and it can be kept when Magikarp evolves. Nothing says "Same Type Attack Bonus" better than a five-hundred-pound dragon dropping down from above.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Gyarados is easily enraged.
• Hidden Depths: Magikarp is frequently stated to be pathetically weak, useless and generally unreliable, but they are also hardy creatures capable of surviving in any body of water, no matter how polluted, which their Ultra Moon dex entry ascribes to a "strong hold on life".
• An Ice Person: Gyarados can learn Ice Fang and Ice Beam, which are useful against Dragon-types or any Electric/Flying-types.
• Infinity -1 Sword: In Generation I, Gyarados was this to Dragonite's Infinity +1 Sword among non-Legendary Pokémon. It has one of the highest overall stats around, the ability to learn powerful TM moves such as Fire Blast, Blizzard, and Thunderbolt while having high offensive stats to take advantage of these moves, and a ubiquitous pre-evolution that only needed to reach level 20 to evolve (while obtainable Dratini and Dragonair started forty levels away from evolving into Dragonite). Its only major problems stemmed from its crippling Electric weakness and the vast number of Pokémon with access to Electric moves. In essence, Gyarados could do most of what the pseudo-legendary Dragonite could, being capable of carrying a player's team through the Pokémon League while being easier to raise and obtain early on. This is downplayed in the later generations, as Gyarados' Special stat became its Special Defense while gaining merely 60 Special Attack.
• Informed Ability: The Moon entry for Mega Gyarados states that it can streak above the water surface at supersonic speed by jetting water from the orifices on its side. Not only is its Speed stat not altered upon Mega Evolving, none of Mega Gyarados' animations suggest that it can do that either.
• Informed Flaw: Despite its overwhelmingly negative Pokédex entries often proclaiming that it is "weak" or "virtually useless in battle", Magikarp isn't the weakest Pokémon in terms of base stat totals or movepools, nor does it even place in the bottom five^note it currently sits ahead of ten Pokémon and ties with Feebas, Scatterbug, and Cosmog. In particular, its base Speed stat is a relatively decent 80 (before factoring in Swift Swim), which means it outspeeds a considerable number of Pokémon despite its FireRed/X entry proclaiming that it, "is virtually worthless in terms of both power and speed." Even its Defense stat, while unremarkable, is durable for a "weak" pre-evolution, and due to exclusive use of the Eviolite, can actually be boosted higher than Gyarados'. Its useless moniker generally stems from its inability to attack much at all, though even then, with patient raising, Magikarp can at least do some damage, especially in later generations where its movepool is raised shrewdly.
• Ironic Name: Magikarp lacks any magic abilities.
• Joke Character: Magikarp, of course, was intended to be as weak as possible before getting some Magikarp Power.
• Kill Streak: Gyarados can have Moxie as its Hidden Ability, which boosts its already high Attack when it takes a Pokémon out.
• Legendary Carp: Double Subverted: Magikarp is by no means legendary, but when it evolves into Gyarados...
• Lethal Joke Character: Magikarp in the card game. More specifically, Giovanni's Magikarp, which has a chance at rivaling the original Base Set Gyarados in terms of power.
• Magic Knight: In the Generation I games, Gyarados has a pretty decent Special stat and the movepool to abuse it.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Post Gen I, Gyarados still has its great base 125 Attack but a poor base 60 Special Attack.
• Magikarp Power: Trope Namer, and played as straight as possible. Magikarp is absolutely worthless in battle until level 15, when it learns Tackle, and even then it's pathetically weak, and on top of that, it requires more EXP than average compared to other Pokémon available at the same time, making it a mostly worthless EXP sponge in the early game. Magikarp also cannot learn TMs or inherit moves from parent Pokémon to give it a better head start, though does learn one decent tutor move, Bounce. However, Magikarp evolves into Gyarados at level 20 — 12 levels earlier than the earliest-evolving starter in Red/Blue. It has a base stat total of 540, higher than any of that generation's starters — not to mention any starter in general. Gyarados is also tied with Milotic (a Pokémon similar to Gyarados in concept) for the largest gap in base stats compared to its pre-evolution.
• Making a Splash: Both are Water types based on the chinese legend of the asian carp.
• Mighty Glacier: Leaning toward Lightning Bruiser. Gyarados has a high Attack stat, great defensive stats, and just short of great Speed. It also naturally learns Dragon Dance, boosting its Attack even higher while also making it much faster. Mega Gyarados emphasizes this, keeping the same Speed and gaining buffs to Attack and its defenses.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Mega Gyarados downplays the serpentine elements of its appearance in exchange for more obviously piscene elements such as its bulkier build and large spiny dorsal fins, essentially making it something akin to a fish-dragon and tying it more to its pre-evolution.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • One way of interpreting Gyarados's name is a portmanteau between Gyakusatsu and Dosu; Gyakusatsu means massacre, and Dosu is a Japanese onomatopoeia of the sound of piercing flesh.
  • Gyarados's beta name in English was Skulkraken.
• Nerf: From Generation II onwards, Gyarados' Special stat (a respectable 100) becomes its Special Defense while its Special Attack was set to a meager 60, rendering it unable to take advantage of special moves like it used to. It doesn't help that a majority of Water-type moves are classified as special. It wasn't until Generation IV's physical/special split that it finally got access to Water-type moves that ran off its Attack.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: While Mega Gyarados is not Dragon-type, Gyarados' lore and appearances still make it clear that it's a dragon, making its Mega a 21-foot darkness-aligned sea dragon.
• Not Completely Useless: Magikarp's signature Splash attack infamously has no effect whatsoever in battle; however, as of Gen VII, it can be powered up with a Z-Ring, and Z-Splash now has the effect of boosting its Attack by 3 stages (2.5x).
• No-Sell: In its base form, Gyarados can't be hit with Ground-type moves. Once it Mega Evolves, it trades this in for immunity to Psychic-type moves and its Ability becomes Mold Breaker, letting it ignore opposing Abilities that could interfere with its attacks.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Although not a Dragon-type per se, Gyarados is a sea serpent resembling an Eastern dragon, learns several Dragon-type moves by level-up, and is in the Dragon egg group; like with Charizard, its design is officially cited as being inspired by dragons, but its pre-evolution Magikarp is basically a Com Mon while the Dragon type was (and largely continues to be) an Infinity +1 Element. Gyarados is interesting in that while its appearance is pretty obviously Eastern with some slight Western motifs^note it's a bit more bestial-looking than the average Eastern dragon, particularly its Mega form and it's more piscine than reptilian like some dragons in Japanese mythology, its behavior is exclusively Western, being largely unintelligent, extremely violent, and generally lacking anything so much as resembling benevolence, instead being a perpetually-berserk beast.
• Playing with Fire: Many of Gyarados' Dex entries mention that it leaves places in flames through its rampages, and it can learn Flamethrower and Fire Blast via TM, though it doesn't have much use for them, as they work off its lower Special Attack stat.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Gyarados's most powerful Flying-type physical move is Bounce, which is at least marginally better than Mega Gyarados's Bite, Dark Pulse, and Payback. Gyarados's Special Attack is too low for them to make use of Dark Pulse, and their relatively OK Speed tends to nullify Payback's boost. Thankfully, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire alleviated the problem a little by giving it Crunch. The Gen VII games granted base Gyarados the powerful Hurricane as a second Flying move. The move is rarely used as even though it's powerful enough to do damage even running off Gyarados' low Special Attack, its low accuracy of 70% makes it too unreliable to choose most of the time.
• The Power of Trust: As stated by its Pokédex entry from Let's Go, even as a creature of mass destruction whose only instinct is to raze anything that moves and should thus be nigh-uncontrollable, Mega Gyarados will still follow its Trainer's commands if it truly trusts them.
• Prongs of Poseidon: The three-prong crest on Gyarados's forehead is designed to resemble a classic trident.
• Purple Is Powerful: At least twice in the anime has Gyarados been depicted with purple eyes. They're also shown to be dangerous Pokémon.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Mega Gyarados gains the Dark type, and gets red and black scales along its sides and belly to match.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: An averted example with Magikarp, which doesn't have red eyes and isn't dangerous nor villainous. Played straight, however, with Gyarados; they're vicious, powerful, and red-eyed Pokémon.
• Red Is Violent: The Shiny colour for already aggressive Gyarados is red, and the introduction to the Shiny mechanism is with Red Gyarados, who is a Magikarp who prematurely evolved into Gyarados due to Team Rocket's radio broadcasts.
• Retcon:
  • Along with others, its Mega Evolution's Pokédex entry was toned down in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee compared to its entries in the earlier Generation 7 games. Instead of being completely governed by an urge to destroy, the entry clarifies that it still hears and listens to the voice of a Trainer if it really trusts them.
  • Its supposed habit of destroying cities when enraged has steadily been clarified and toned down over the generations to be more about a single legendary event of questionable authenticity rather than a recurring behavior. In Generation III, a Pokédex entry casually refers to its city-destroying abilities, whereas in generation four, it is stated these are based on ancient records of a single event where it destroyed a village rather than a city. The Let's Go games would return to mentioning the species' supposed city-destroying past. Pokémon Legends: Arceus further clarifies that the professor merely suspects a Gyarados to be the identity of the "dragon" claimed in ancient texts as having razed a single village.
• Sea Monster: Gyarados's appearance is a mix of a Chinese dragon and a carp. Add in its Hair-Trigger Temper, and it averages out to one of these.
• Sea Serpents: Gyarados is a ferocious, destructive and entirely fishlike sea serpent that can level cities.
• Secret Art: Splash; Magikarp was the only Pokémon able to learn it in Gen I.
• Signature Move: Splash is strongly associated with Magikarp and Hyper Beam with Gyarados. Ironically, after Generation I (where it was indeed a viable pick due to Gyarados's respectable Special stat and the move's unique quirks in that generation), the special split turned Gyarados into a Magically Inept Fighter, removing any reason to run Hyper Beam on it, even discounting its Awesome, but Impractical nature.
• Sixth Ranger: Gyarados isn't Dragon-type in any of its forms, but can often be grouped with Dragon-types, is part of the Dragon egg group, and is found on many Dragon trainers' teams; most notably, Lance and Clair use it on all of their teams except for the Pokémon World Tournament, where type specialists strictly adhere to their types. The Dragon-type Team GO Rocket Grunt in Pokémon GO also uses it on some teams, making it the only "off-type" Pokémon on the Grunts' teams.
• Similar Squad: The Rival's answer to the Squirtle line in the Gen I games and their remakes. Like the other members of its trio^note Arcanine and Exeggutor, it has the highest base stat total for its type of its generation.
• Simple, yet Awesome: Magikarp can usually be obtained anywhere while fishing in the game, and while it takes a bit to evolve the weakling Magikarp, Gyarados is generally a very powerful Pokémon that you can't go wrong with, with its high Attack, good moves like Dragon Dance and Aqua Tail, and a great ability in Intimidate to give it more bulk.
• Stock Ness Monster: Gyarados is primarily based on legends about magic carp jumping over the dragon gate and becoming dragons, but its abode being in lakes seems to be inspired by lake monster myths.
• Super Mode: Gained a Mega Evolution in X and Y, granting it extra stats, the Mold Breaker ability, and a new Dark type (replacing the Flying type).
• Superpowered Evil Side: Gyarados isn't particularly nice as it is, but when it Mega Evolves, its destructive tendencies get amplified and it gains a Dark-type to go along with this.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Magikarp is finally allowed to float like the other fish-like Pokémon in Pokémon-Amie and Refresh.
• Took a Level in Badass: As of of generation 8 Magikarp is now capable of learning a single TM move. The move in question? HYDRO PUMP.
• Unstoppable Rage: When it gets enraged, said rage may last for a month and leave everything around it destroyed.
• Useless Useful Spell: Begining in Pokémon Sun and Moon, Gyarados is able to learn Hurricane. But it doesn't hit particularly hard due to Gyarados's terrible Special Attack stat, and becomes even less useful when it Mega Evolves, due to losing STAB.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: According to the Alolan Pokédex, when Gyarados Mega Evolves, its brain is affected, leaving nothing but its destructive instinct to burn everything to cinders. Its Let's Go dex entry would downplay this as still being controllable if it truly trusts its trainer.

Lapras (Laplace)

0131: Lapras / Laplace (ラプラス rapurasu)

Lapras

^{Gigantamax Lapras}

Gigantamax Lapras debuts in Sword and Shield

A gentle plesiosaur that ferries people and other Pokémon on its back, and was once endangered due to overhunting. In fact, only one was available in the original games, given to you by a grateful worker in Silph Co. One is available every Friday in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and their remakes. By Generation 7, a movement started where they became more cherished, and people generally stopped hunting them. This not only caused the species to go out of endangerment, but ended up making them overabundant as well. In the Alola region, they're often employed as a Ride Pokémon because there's plenty of them to go around. You can even fish from them.

A special Lapras caught in a Raid Battle in Galar has the ability to Gigantamax, giving it access to the Ice-type move G-Max Resonance, which halves the damage received by the user's team for five turns.

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• Action Initiative: Naturally learns Ice Shard.
• Badass Adorable: A Gentle Giant with an absolutely adorable design... and it can learn a great load of moves to cover its weaknesses, plus three of the four One-Hit Kill moves (the only one it can't learn is Guillotine). Ever since Snorlax received a baby form, it also has the highest base stat total among non-Legendary Pokémon who only have a single stage of evolution. For a comparison, it's the same total that Swampert, Crobat, and Rhyperior all have.
• Barrier Warrior: Gigantamax Lapras's G-Max Resonance will set up Aurora Veil on hit, halving all damage its team takes for five turns. Unlike regular Aurora Veil, G-Max Resonance does not require hail to be active.
• Boring, but Practical: It's one of the few Generation I Pokémon that is still standalone with no evolutionary relatives and it hasn't gotten many new tricks aside from new TM moves and Abilities that everyone benefits from, although it did receive a Gigantamax form in Gen VIII. However, it has huge HP and all-around good stats save for Speed, good type coverage with Electric, Psychic, and Dragon moves on top of STAB Water and Ice, and a good variety of status moves. Lapras may not be the best Water-type out there, but it's a solid choice if you need one. Although as far as Ice types are concerned, Lapras is overall the better of the three Kanto Water/Ice dual types stat-wise (Cloyster and Dewgong), so it does have that going for it. It's also very available in runs of Kanto games, as it's given as a gift as part of the story by a guy in Silph Co.
• Boss Battle:
  • Lapras is Elite Four Lorelei's Signature Mon.
  • Red replaces his Espeon with a Lapras in HeartGold and SoulSilver. You better have a Pokémon that resists Ice-type moves, because that Blizzard it's packing will always hit since you battle him in the hail.
  • Iris, the Champion of Unova in Black 2 and White 2, also uses a Lapras on her team. While not a Dragon type, it is based on a dinosaur like some of her other Pokémon.
  • Gym Leader Melony also has Lapras as her Signature Mon, and she Gigantamaxes it.
• Brown Note: Lapras is known for its singing, and can learn Perish Song.
• Elemental Absorption: With Water Absorb, getting hit by Water attacks just heals it.
• Endangered Species: It's been over-hunted to near extinction. However, more of them appear in the wild in later generations, implying that the population is slowly recovering. Indeed, by the time of the Alola games, the population has recovered immensely... to the point where the Pokédex states that the excessive preservation of Lapras means there are now too many of them.
• Gentle Giant: How the Pokédex describes it, nature aside. It is docile enough that it is willing to let anyone ride around on its back.
  • Gigantamax Lapras can now house about 5,000 people on its shell all while using its newfound strength to clear any hazards that may come about during transportation, and it's a comfy ride too, no shaking or swaying!
• Gone Horribly Right: In Gen I, it was a rare and endangered Pokémon that was prime game for poachers. Preservation efforts over the years have benefited the population greatly... so much so that there's an overabundance by Gen VII, with fish populations lowering in areas with too many Lapras.
• Healing Factor: Its Hidden Ability of Hydration lets it heal Status Effects on it while it's raining, allowing it to use Rest freely until the rain stops. Its Water Absorb Ability can also count as this.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Their friendly nature meant that hunters were able to over-hunt the species to near extinction. While more of them are appearing in the wild, this lapse in judgement cost them dearly.
• An Ice Person: Ice-type. Surprisingly, it has a warm personality.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Gigantamax Lapras has blue eyes and happens to be an Ice-type.
• Intellectual Animal: The Pokédex states that it has intelligence and can understand human speech.
• Magic Knight: Its Attack and Special Attack are equal at 85, so it can hit off of either stat just as easily as the other.
• Making a Splash: It's part Water-type.
• Mighty Glacier: Its offenses and defenses are fair and it has excellent HP, along with the abilities Shell Armor or Water Absorb to make it immune to critical hits or let it recover HP when hit with a Water attack. Its Speed is subpar, though. Gigantamax Lapras invokes this even harder, with G-Max Resonance setting the Aurora Veil condition, halving special and physical damage for five turns.
• One-Hit KO: It's capable of learning Horn Drill, Fissure, and Sheer Cold, all of which can knock out an enemy Pokémon in one shot if they connect.
• Power-Up Mount:
  • Lapras is the only Pokémon in Pokémon X and Y that is actually visible when using Surf, instead of the generic model every other Pokémon uses. Its descriptions always point out its ability to ferry people on its back, and is used for this purpose at some point in every adaptation. Its species category is even listed as "The Transport Pokémon".
  • In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Lapras is a Ride Pokémon that allows players to travel on water, like the HM move Surf. Its main advantage over Sharpedo is it allows the player to fish while riding it.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Can be bred Aurorus's Secret Art Freeze Dry, an ice move that's super-effective on Water-types (normally less effective). Considering that the only Pokémon that can resist its STAB combination are other Water-types (as well as Dry Skin Jynx and Shedinja), this is pretty useful.
• Secret Art: Gigantamax Lapras has G-Max Resonance, a powerful Ice-type move that reduces incoming damage for five turns.
• Signature Move: Lapras is strongly associated with the move Surf. In the Generation II games, the generic surfing sprite depicted Lapras, even.
• Status Buff: Can learn two opposing ones through breeding. Curse can make it even more of a Mighty Glacier, boosting its Attack and Defense at the cost of what Speed it has. Dragon Dance, on the other hand, gives it a shot at being a Lightning Bruiser via boosting its Attack and Speed.
• Stock Ness Monster: Its general shape (a long-necked sea-going reptile with fins) brings Nessie or other lake monsters to mind. Lapras's original English dub name was even going to be "Ness".
• Stone Wall: Lapras' attack stats are balanced at a mediocre 85, but its decent defense stats combined with a whopping 130 HP means that it has more than enough bulk to wear down most opponents before they can break it.
• Stupid Good: Apparently, its gentle nature makes it a very easy target for hunters.
• Super Mode: Gains the ability to Gigantamax in Pokémon Sword and Shield, which makes its shell big enough to carry 5000 people and also evokes a musical notes theme with crystalized ice floating around it.
• Timed Mission: Trying to catch it after it uses Perish Song. You have three turns, otherwise it'll be knocked out by its own attack and take your Pokémon down too.
• Unique Enemy: Only one appears every Friday at the bottom of Union Cave in Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes.
• Uniqueness Decay:
  • What was once a Pokémon only obtained as a gift from a Silph employee has become easier to find in the wild. Even in-universe, the work of conservationists has lead to the once-endangered species suffering from over-population by the time Pokémon Sun and Moon/Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon occurs.
  • Lapras's Pokédex entries and supplementary materials repeatedly emphasize how Lapras can understand human speech due to its intelligence, which implies that less intelligent Pokémon can't. However, in later gens (as well as in the anime and various manga), all Pokémon are capable of understanding humans perfectly well.

Ditto (Metamon)

0132: Ditto / Metamon (メタモン metamon)

Ditto

Ditto is a pink-purple blob creature with not much of a shape or form to speak of... what can it do? What can't it do.

Ditto has the ability to transform into any other Pokémon and use all of their moves just as effectively as the real thing. It's also amazing at bypassing all the complications of breeding. With a Ditto's help, nearly anything can be bred to produce another of that Pokémon. The only things it can't breed with are Legendaries, (almost all) Mythicals, baby Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, Unown... other Dittos for some reason (since Gen III)... and Nidorina and Nidoqueen, for strange reasons.

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• Achilles' Heel: Ditto can't transform into something hiding behind a Substitute or an Illusion. Since Transform is all Ditto has, it's effectively helpless against both of the above.
• Armored But Frail: If it transforms into a Stone Wall or Mighty Glacier, since it retains its poor base 48 HP.
• Black Bead Eyes: If you ever see another Pokémon with such small eyes like these, it's almost always a dead giveaway that it's really a Ditto... Unless it's a Pokémon that also has the same kind of eyes, like Quagsire, in which case the disguise is perfect.
• Blob Monster: In its natural state, it resembles a small wad of pink chewing gum.
• Boss Battle: A Ditto is one of the three penultimate bosses in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs. It transforms into Raikou, Entei, and Suicune throughout the fight.
• Breakout Character: You would be very hard-pressed to find someone who hates Ditto. As a result, it's been consistently available in every game bar Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (it was even made available in Emerald). Its popularity is a result of a combination of cuteness, its fascinating power to transform, and its usefulness in breeding. Pokémon Co. adding more merchandise through 2016-17 for Ditto also helped catapult its popularity even more so.
• Competitive Balance: Ditto retains its relatively low HP stat when Transformed, only gets 5 Power Points for each move copied, and reverts back to normal when switched out.
• Depending on the Writer: The extent of Ditto's ability to transform itself varies between media. In the games, it only transforms into other Pokémon in battle. In the anime and various manga, it can transform into any object, including inanimate objects such as books, cannons, or even as a makeshift mask. Ditto's ability to perfectly mimic what it wants to transform into also varies, as it’s sometimes depicted as getting various details wrong, such as the face or the size of the object/Pokémon they're copying. The most consistent limit on its ability is that it needs a subject to be physically present in order to copy it; it can't do it from memory alone and even pictures of the subject don't work. It has also never been shown to perfectly transform into a human until Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and even then, they can't speak human language... Hopefully, that is.
• Ditto Fighter: Trope Namer. Upon Transforming, you copy the opponent's stats (outside of HP), Ability, get to use their moves, and any Status Buffs they have.
• Dump Stat: As Impostor allows Ditto to Transform immediately after it enters the battle, all of its stats sans HP are (generally) never a factor. They only become relevant when the transformation fails. IVs, however, are not copied, so if the Pokémon Ditto Transformed into has Hidden Power, the move's type (and base power, prior to Pokémon X and Y) will depend on Ditto's IVs (which, by the way, is not told by the Hidden Power checking NPCs because Ditto cannot learn Hidden Power on its own).
• Emoticon: The creators have stated that Ditto's smiling face is based off the ":)" emoticon.
• Extreme Omnisexual: It breeds with male, female, and even certain genderless Pokémon to make eggs. The only Pokémon they cannot breed with are ones in the Undiscovered Egg Group and, weirdly, other Ditto.
• Eye-Dentity Giveaway: Ditto merchandise depicts the Ditto transformed into other Pokémon but keeping its regular face like Duplica's Ditto did in its first appearance.
• Fatal Flaw: Ditto could theoretically match any opponent in battle by replicating their strengths alongside their appearance. In practice, it usually doesn't thanks to several inherent problems with its power. First, Ditto copies all of its opponent's stats, except for HP. Since Ditto naturally has a puny base 48 HP, it will always be extremely fragile in battle no matter what form it takes. Second, it can't copy Abilities. If it transforms into an opponent whose main strength comes from their Ability (like users of Huge Power or Wonder Guard) Ditto will only become a much weaker version of them. Third, Ditto replaces its move with the target's move set when it copies them. Since this removes its own Transform and is highly unlikely to be facing anything else with the move, Ditto is effectively trapped in the first form it takes in battle until it's switched out, making it very easy to exploit so long as the opponent has other team members to counter its copied form.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • According to the Pokédex, Ditto can't keep its transformation if it starts to laugh. In-game, using the move Tickle doesn't un-transform a Transformed Ditto.
  • Other Pokédex entries claim that the quality of its transformation varies from individual to individual, and that it can transform into objects. Neither of this has any impact on gameplay, although they have been depicted in other media.
• Hive Mind: Presumably what happens when a Ditto copies dividual Pokémon like Exeggcute or Falinks.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Omnipresent in the Pokémon universe - the series is the trope namer after all - but Ditto is the most extreme example of them all, being able to breed with every Pokémon species that is capable of breeding (ie everything except legendaries, babies, Nidorina and Nidoqueen). This ability is so useful that most trainers seek out Ditto specifically to breed their team. As the breeding system produces eggs from the mother's species, Ditto are especially prized for their ability to reproduce rare Pokémon from male-dominated species like the starters, fossils, or the Eevee line. In cases of male-exclusive or genderless species, Ditto is usually the only method of breeding more of them at all. Ironically, the only Pokémon capable of breeding that Ditto can't breed with is another Ditto.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Just because Ditto can copy anything doesn't necessarily make it an Instant Expert. Any move copied only has 5 PP, and Ditto can't use certain species-exclusive abilities, like Zygarde's Power Construct, Aegislash's Stance Change, and Minior's Shields Down, nor does its transformation fool the restrictions on certain species-exclusive moves, like Darkrai's Dark Void and Hoopa Unbound's Hyperspace Fury.
• Inconsistent Coloring: It's been depicted as either pink or light purple.
• Informed Flaw: According to its Pokédex entries, Ditto's transformation will fail if it's made to laugh. However, using the move Tickle on it does nothing except lower its stats.
• Kill and Replace: Fortunately they can't do this, as Ditto's disguises break down easily and they can't mimic human language. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon implies that some Ditto may actually be capable of impersonating humans effectively, but it's left ambiguous as to how effective their impersonation is.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • When transforming, Ditto ignores all kind of restrictions set to obtain the Pokémon it's transforming into. This allows Ditto to transform into Giratina's Origin Forme without a Griseous Orb (or outside the Distortion World), the various Arceus formes without a Plate or a Z-Crystal, the various Silvally formes without a Memory, Mega Evolved Pokémon without a Mega Stone (or even when one of Ditto's teammates has already Mega Evolved), and a large etcetera. Ditto only has two restrictions to this ability: if it copies a Mega Evolved Pokémon while holding a Z-Crystal, it will still be unable to use Z-Moves, and it can't make use of Abilities that change their user's form mid-battle (like Darmanitan's Zen Mode, Aegislash's Stance Change, and Minior's Shields Down), meaning that if it transforms into such a Pokémon, it locks itself into whatever mode is currently in until it switches out and reverts to its own base form. The loophole on Max Raid Battles is closed tight, however; you can copy the base Pokémon the Max Raid is derived from, but all those fancy perks are completely denied to you.
  • Certain Pokémon have a gender ratio of seven males to one female, such as starter Pokémon, Fossil Pokémon, and Eeveelutions. Given that a bred Pokémon inherits its species from its mother, making females rare is intended to make it difficult for the player to breed more of them. Players can easily bypass this restriction by breeding any males of such Pokémon with Ditto and thus obtain more of them.
• Luck-Based Mission: Because Transform/Impostor copies the opponent's stats exactly, Ditto now has the same Speed as them and has to win a speed tie, which is random. It can get around this with a Choice Scarf, but that locks it into one move, meaning that it'll be forced to use Struggle after its fifth turn on the field (or less if it finds itself dealing with Spite, Grudge, or Pressure... and then there's Torment...)
• Master of All: Interestingly, it has the highest possible potential in Pokéathlon — five stars on all stats.
• Master of None: Its stats are all the same, and quite low. Fortunately, Ditto's entire point is that it doesn't need stats (except HP, which it retains after transforming).
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: There's really nothing else in the series quite like Ditto. It is incapable of really doing anything itself, and any contributions it makes are completely dependent on the opponent, making it difficult to build a team around. It can simultanously be a one-Pokémon answer to nearly every set-up sweepers, threatening to countersweep the opponent on a dime or at least deter them from setting up, but can be complete dead weight against more passive opponents. It ultimately occupies a very unique niche that renders it a viable threat in nearly every metagame, but is simultaneously too niche to see a lot of use.
• Morphic Resonance: Some Ditto, as seen in the anime and in Snap, tend to retain their signature eyes and smile when transforming. It has kind of become a visual shorthand that it's indeed a Ditto that has transformed into something else, as seen in some Ditto-related merchandise. In Gen II they also retain their original colors.
• Mundane Utility: When sleeping, it transforms into a rock so it won't be attacked.
• No Biological Sex: Genderless, but it can breed with almost any non-Legendary or Mythical Pokémon.
• No-Sell: Its standard ability, Limber, makes it immune to being paralyzed.
• Non-Elemental: In its base form. It takes on the elemental attributes of whatever it transforms into.
• Object Shifting: It can turn into inanimate objects as well as Pokémon. According to the Pokédex, it turns into a rock while sleeping to avoid being attacked.
• Really Gets Around: Since breeding was introduced, Ditto has basically been demoted from battler to breeding mon, leading to this trope. Ironically, it seems to not get along with other Ditto, implying this is the reason Ditto can breed with practically every other Pokémon... but not with its own species.
• Ret-Canon: In the anime, a Ditto owned by Breakout Character Duplica notably retained its face and expression when transformed; while it was presented there as a problem to be overcome, various Ditto-faced Pokémon began appearing in many other Pokémon adaptations, including Pokémon Snap and the trading card game. There even now exists a whole line of merchandise (most notably the plush toys) of Ditto-faced Pokémon.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • Ditto has a lot of interesting connections with Mew, as the only two Pokémon who naturally learn Transform; the two also share the same height, weight, color (including their shiny forms), and Pokéathlon potential. While a source for much speculation by fans from the earliest days of the franchise, it's never been pointed out in any game.
  • If Ditto cannot breed with other members of its species, and breeding a Pokémon of another species with a Ditto results in the offspring being of the other species, then how do Ditto reproduce? It is known certain Pokémon like Latios and Latias, Solgaleo and Lunala, Nihilego, etc. can reproduce, just not within the environment of a daycare, but whether Ditto is another has not yet been revealed.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Ditto's simplistic design is quite cute and endearing. In 2016, an entire line of plushies was released featuring Pokémon with Ditto faces.
• Secret Art: Impostor, an ability that allows Ditto to instantly transform into a random opponent when it switches in. It also is the only Pokémon apart from Mew who can learn Transform, the only case of a move being exclusive to two unrelated Pokemon.
• Signature Move: Transform, as it is the only move it learns, and the whole concept behind it.
• Situational Sword: Because its main shtick is being a Ditto Fighter, its usefulness in battle is based entirely on what it copies.
• Tricking the Shapeshifter: Can morph into anything and any Pokémon, which also means that if the player tricks it into transforming into something useless (i.e. a low-level Magikarp), it'll be stuck in a useless form unless it can switch out.
• Unstable Genetic Code: Reorganizes its genetic code to transform.
• Voluntary Shapeshifter: Transform, though it's Ditto's only move. By using Transform, it can morph into anything and any Pokémon, only retaining its eyes in the anime.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Ditto struggles to retain its form if it is made to laugh. Too bad Tickle doesn't do anything special in regards to that.

Eevee and Eeveelutions

See their page for full details.

Porygon, Porygon2, and Porygon-Z

0137: Porygon (ポリゴン porigon)
0233: Porygon2 (ポリゴン２ porigon tsuu)
0474: Porygon-Z (ポリゴンＺ porigon zetto)

Porygon

Porygon2

Porygon-Z

Porygon2 debuts in Gold and Silver, while Porygon-Z debuts in Diamond and Pearl

Porygon is an artificial Pokémon created by Silph Co. As such, it can be upgraded to its Porygon2 model, which was created for space exploration but became unable to fly. Porygon2 itself can further be "upgraded" to Porygon-Z, a model created for interdimensional travel, though a glitch in its program allowed it to gain emotions. Unfortunately, neither upgrade succeeded in their intended purposes.

This line is especially notable for two reasons. The first for being banned from the anime due to the Porygon-centric episode "Electric Soldier Porygon", in which flashing lights from an explosion (caused by Pikachu, not Porygon) caused viewers (most of which were children) to have seizures. As a result, the episode is banned worldwide (including its home country of Japan) and Porygon and its line are rarely mentioned in the anime series (except in the Pokérap at the end of season one's episodes). The second is for being one of the only two families whose evolution method allows for having a third-stage Pokémon at Level 1. Since both evolutions require trading while holding an item, you can hatch a Porygon and immediately evolve it twice.

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• The Artifact: Porygon's Pokédex entries make a point of it being an artificial Pokémon, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl calls it "The world's first artificially created Pokémon." Baltoy, Claydol, Golett, Golurk, and Magearna were all chronologically created much earlier. Possibly in response to this inconsistency, more recent Pokédex entries have been reworded to specify that Porygon was the first man-made Pokémon using computer programming.
• Artificial Human: An artificial Pokémon created by Silph Co. This means you will never see Porygon in the wild, you always have to purchase them from a vendor or receive them as a gift. The one exception is that wild Porygon can appear in White Forest and several Mirage Spots, which are special unique locations.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Invoked with the ability Download, which raises Attack if their opponent's Defense is lower than Special Defense or raises Special Attack for the inverse. The boost is given when they enter battle and stays even if the opponent switches out.
• Bragging Rights Reward: While the Porygon family are not weak Pokémon, they aren't really worth the tens of thousands of dollars and/or hours you need to spend at the Game Corner to be able to buy one. It's at its worst in Red and FireRed, since you need to exhaust a full Coin Case to buy one and its evolutions weren't around yet to make it more worthwhile.
• The Cameo: Thanks to a certain incident in Porygon's anime debut, the only appearance of the Porygon lines there are small bits in the intro of the later Pokémon movies.
• Company Cross References: The line's ability to freely travel between the physical world and cyberspace brings Pulseman to mind.
• Copy Protection: In-universe example, it is stated in the Emerald Dex to be why it can't be duplicated. Not that it manages to stop anything using Transform from copying it, not to mention that the only way to breed one is with a Ditto and not with its own species.
• Cursed with Awesome: Porygon-Z is essentially a Porygon2 which has become infected with a computer virus, but somehow this makes it stronger in battle.
• Epic Fail:
  • The geniuses behind Porygon2 programmed it to be capable of exploring space, but didn't program flight into it.
  • The Ultra Sun Pokédex blames Porygon-Z's unusual behavior on the incompetence of the engineer that updated its programming. Considering how badly they glitched it up, they had to be outstandingly terrible at their job.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: All three are among the few Pokémon that learn Tri Attack, a move that visually involves this. They also have STAB and high Special Attack to make good use of it.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: In Legends: Arceus, Porygon and its evolutions can appear via space-time distortions in a time that takes place decades before any kind of modern technology. The people of Hisui are completely mystified by them.
  Porygon's Pokédex entry, written by Professor Laventon: It has no discernible heartbeat and does not seem to draw breath, and yet it appears to function without issue. I cannot even begin to explain this utterly bizarre anomaly.
• Floating Limbs: Porygon-Z's head is usually seen levitating.
• Flying Flightless Bird: Despite the Pokèdex claiming that Porygon2 (and by proxy other members of the line) can't fly, in 3D games they are shown to float off of the ground.
• Game Mod: In-universe. Porygon2 is stated to be an upgrade by the developer, but Porygon-Z is clearly an unauthorized hack that increases power but causes huge graphical glitches.
• Glass Cannon: Porygon-Z has very high Special Attack, but isn't going to be taking many hits — its defenses are actually lower than Porygon2's.
• Glitch Entity: Literally with Porygon-Z, who became internally and externally glitched due to poor and illegal programming efforts through the Dubious Disc.
• Gone Horribly Wrong:
  • Porygon2 was designed to be able to achieve space exploration, but Silph Co. failed to update its flight capabilities, which left it just as able to levitate as Porygon. Its emotive capabilities, however, are believed to be working a little too well.
  • Similarly, Porygon-Z can supposedly thrive in alien dimensions, but then again, this trope is pretty much Porygon-Z in a nutshell. "Seems there might have been an error..."
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: The Pokédex entries for Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, in particular, imply that they are at least able to do this. For example, Porygon2's entries note that it sometimes displays unprogrammed behaviors, and is able to learn new ones on its own.
• Heal Thyself: The Porygon line can learn Recover to heal itself.
• Late Character Syndrome:
  • In Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes, Porygon can't be obtained until Kanto, and comes at a very low level for that point in the game. It can at least be evolved right away with the Upgrade in Saffron City a short walk away, but it'll still need a lot of babying to be up to snuff with a player's Champion team.
  • Despite being in the middle of the Ula'ula Pokédex in the Alola games and needing multiplayer functions to evolve, the player can't get a Porygon until after becoming the Champion, leaving no room for it in the main campaign outside of trading one in early. It gets worse in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where you have to wait until defeating Team Rainbow Rocket to get it, so it misses out on the post-game as well!
• Living Program: This entire line started as artificially created sentient program-turned-Pokémon that can emote, battle, and eat like natural Pokémon do.
• Living Toys: Porygon and Porygon2 have shades of this, with the former resembling an origami crane and the later resembling a drinking bird. They also have stiff toylike movements in the 3D games though this could also be alluding to their bird-like appearance.
• Luck-Based Mission: Because they have an almost non-existent physical movepool and their Attack stat is below average, Download will only be useful if they get the Special Attack boost. You literally have no control over this outside of knowing the stats of pretty much every Pokémon ever so you know what to send them against for the boost, and even then, your opponent might have min-maxed in such a way that you don't get the Special Attack boost.
• Master of None: Porygon's stats are relatively close together, but none of them are that high, especially its Speed.
• Mighty Glacier: Porygon2 has nice Defense and Special Defense with good Special Attack, and it can take advantage of Eviolite to boost its defenses even more due to being a Pokémon that can still evolve. However, Porygon2 is quite slow (and even this can be taken advantage of with its hidden Ability Analytic).
• Multiform Balance: Each Porygon has different roles due to their stats. Porygon2 can serve as a Stone Wall with its high Eviolite-boosted defenses and access to Recover, or a Support Party Member with Trick Room; meanwhile, Porygon-Z is a Glass Cannon.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Feeding most Pokémon? Tedious, yet cute and pleasing. Feeding Porygon-Z? Erratic and hilarious.
• Mythology Gag: Sun's Porygon Pokédex entry mentions that Porygon was first created around 20 years ago. Sun and Moon were released on the year of the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise.
• No Biological Sex: Given the fact that they are manmade, the Porygon line is genderless.
• Non-Elemental: They are Normal-type, unless they use one of their Conversion moves.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Porygon looks very out of place among the original 151 Pokémon, looking more like a 3D model than an organic creature or sprite. And as Satoshi Tajiri explained, that's the point. As Porygon's existence was a jab at people telling him that he was too late with making sprite-based games for the Game Boy and should instead move onto 3D polygon-based ones for the next console generation, so he created a low-poly Pokémon in a sprite-based game.
• Not Completely Useless: Hyper Beam turns into a deadly Death or Glory Attack in the hands of Porygon-Z thanks to the raw power behind it — Porygon-Z has the highest Special Attack among Normal-types and the boost from Adaptability or potentially Download will crank up the power of Hyper Beam even further. This will obliterate pretty much anything short of a Ghost-type or Blissey, Regice, Bastiodon, or Stakataka that's Min-Maxed and even the non-Ghosts won't survive if Porygon-Z has a chance to use Nasty Plot first. It's still Hyper Beam, so whatever comes in next has a free turn to set up in Porygon-Z's face or outright smack it down, but this isn't much of an issue if Porygon-Z is already on its last legs or if Hyper Beam is enough to finish off the opponent's last Pokémon. If Hyper Beam is powered up with Normalium Z, then Porygon-Z will be able to fire off a 200 base power STAB special move without needing to recharge, but like any Z-move, It Only Works Once.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: Porygon-Z has a tendency to spaz out doing just about anything, really.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Porygon-Z is just an inch shy of three feet tall, but has the highest Special Attack stat out of all Normal-types.
• Retcon: It was the first manmade Pokémon created on purpose until Generation V added Golett and Golurk (two man-made robot-like golems possessed by ghosts and created to protect ancient villages from outside danger) and then Generation VII further added Magearna, a robotic lifeform powered by a Soul Heart. It is, however, still the first manmade Pokémon undeniably created purely through scientific methods, compared to how Golett and Golurk have to be possessed by ghosts, while Magearna's Soul Heart created from Pokémon Life Energy may or may not be purely scientific.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Despite being a manmade computer program, the Porygon line possess the same abilities as natural Pokémon.
• The Scapegoat: The infamous Porygon episode prevented it from having a major role in the anime ever since. And it wasn't even its fault.
• Secret Art: Conversion and Conversion 2, which change their types to the first move in their move list or to resist the last move that hit them respectively, are unique to the Porygon line. Sharpen, which raises Attack by one stage, was also exclusive to them before Generation V.
• Shout-Out: Its cry is very similar to the cries made by Tamagotchi pets. Given Porygon's status as a literal virtual pet in-universe, this was most likely intentional.
• Socialization Bonus: Needs to be traded in order to evolve not once, but twice, each time while holding an item.
• Squishy Wizard: Porygon-Z has immensely hard-hitting special attacks, but its low defenses do it no favors.
• Starfish Language: Porygon2 are said to speak in a language that only they understand.
• Stylistic Suck: Porygon's design resembles a low-poly model produced by early computers.
• Take That!: An interview with Satoshi Tajiri in 1997 revealed that Porygon's existence was a jab at people telling him that he was too late with making sprite-based games for the Game Boy and should instead move onto 3D polygon-based ones for the next console generation, so he created a low-poly Pokémon in a sprite-based game.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The line's been doing a lot better as of 2019 such as Porygon getting a Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the player using a Poryphone in Pokémon Masters and Hyde giving you one in The Isle of Armor in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
• Useless Useful Spell: Conversion and Conversion 2 allows it to change its own type, allowing it to get STAB or gain resistance against anything, but usually takes too much effort to set up to be useful. Averted with Pokémon Sun and Moon, where a Conversion powered by a Normalium-Z boosts all its stats, in addition to providing the usual effect of changing the user's type to the move at the top of the move list.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Because each stage was considered fully-evolved at different points in time, all of them can learn Hyper Beam, and Porygon-Z is one of the few Pokémon who might actually bother to use the move in a playing-to-win context due to being able to reliably One-Hit Kill nearly anything it might face with the move (see Not Completely Useless above).

Omanyte and Omastar (Omnite and Omstar)

0138: Omanyte / Omnite (オムナイト omunaito)
0139: Omastar / Omstar (オムスター omusutaa)

Omanyte

Omastar

A previously extinct Pokémon and its evolution, based on ammonites. Although they died out because their shells grew too large, they have seen a revival in the modern day thanks to fossil restoring technology. Since the fossil that allows Omanyte's restoration is exclusive from the one which allows the restoration of Kabuto, and they have many overall similarities, they are often considered foils to each other. The Omanyte line is a hard-hitting special attacker with very high physical defense.

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• Achilles' Heel: Their Rock and Water typing leaves them with a particular weakness to Grass-type moves. This is especially true during the first three generations, where all Grass-type attacks were special attacks, since Omastar's Special Defense is far lower than its Defense.
• Breakout Character: Unintentionally, but it gained a boost in popularity in 2014 due to Twitch Plays Pokémon. Certain localizations have played with referencing it, making for very subtle Ascended Meme status.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As fossil Pokémon, both are part Rock-type.
• Fossil Revival: Revived from a Helix Fossil.
• Informed Ability: Downplayed. Almost every single Pokédex entry emphasizes Omastar's use of tentacles and fangs to attack its prey. It does learn Bite and Constrict, but its actual Attack stat is very lacking, so those are some of its worst moves.
• Informed Flaw: Downplayed. Many of its Pokédex entries mention that it became extinct because of its overly large shell hindering movement. While it is not very fast in normal conditions, one of its possible abilities is Swift Swim, and that's without even getting into Shell Smash and Weak Armor, which allow it to remove its own shell to improve its Speed stat.
• Introduced Species Calamity: According to its Sword Pokédex entry, some Omanyte are either escaping their Trainers or being set free, and this is starting to become a problem.
• Late Character Syndrome:
  • In Pokémon Red and Blue, the player can't revive the Helix Fossil into an Omanyte until surfing to Cinnabar Island (home of the penultimate Gym), and if they can do that, odds are they already have a strong Water-type with them. It's even worse in FireRed/LeafGreen, where the revived Omanyte comes out not at Level 30 (a few levels below those of the Pokémon and Trainers at that point), but Level 5. Thankfully, this is (for the most part) averted in Let's Go; upon completing a series of mandatory quests, ^note getting the silph scope from the Team Rocket Hideout, rescuing Mr. Fuji from the Pokémon Tower, awakening the Snorlax blocking either Routes 12 or 16, and finally gaining access to Sea Skim upon reaching Fuchsia City. the player can not only get ahold of Omanyte with just three badges, but it'll come out at Level 44.
  • Although the player can collect Helix Fossils in HeartGold as early as the Ruins of Alph, they won't be able to revive them until they can visit Kanto; a task that forces players to beat the Elite Four first, with poor Omanyte having little room on a player's team by then.
• Making a Splash: They're Water-types that are based on ammonites.
• Mighty Glacier: Packs one of the highest Special Attack stats of both of its types, but it's pretty slow. Good Defense helps it somewhat. It can be promoted to a Lightning Bruiser with Swift Swim doubling their Speed in rain.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Omastar has six tentacles in addition to its four limbs. Ultra Sun even claims it to be a distant ancestor of Octillery.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Due to its typing, it has the expected Water, Rock, and Ice-type attacks, but it doesn't learn much else in terms of special attacks besides Earth Power. Furthermore, while it learns many Rock-type attacks, most of them run off its shoddy physical Attack; there were only two special Rock attacks in the entire game, and Ancient Power, despite the chance to boost all of its stats, doesn't hit that hard even with a STAB boost. This leaves Omastar with a limited set of moves it can actually make use of. It wasn't until the release of the Crown Tundra update in Pokémon Sword and Shield that the family got access to another special Rock attack: Meteor Beam.
• Prehistoric Monster: Originally lived a long time ago as a deadly predator.
• Rain Dance: It learns the move, and it pairs greatly with Swift Swim, allowing it activate the ability on demand.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Their Hidden Ability, Weak Armor, lowers their Defense and raises their Speed each time they're hit by physical attacks. They're also one of the few Pokémon with Shell Smash.
• Status Buffs:
  • One of their abilities is Swift Swim, which doubles their speed during Rain and turns them into Lightning Bruisers.
  • One of the few Pokémon with Shell Smash, which doubles their offenses and Speed and the cost of lowering their defenses.
  • It is also able to learn the move tutor move Meteor Beam, which lets them charge up their Special Attack on the first turn before firing it on the second. It’s pretty potent when combined with Swift Swim, Weak Armor or Shell Smash.
• Trap Master: The Omanyte line was capable of setting every entry hazard prior to Generation VI (as it didn't get Sticky Web), getting Spikes and Toxic Spikes through breeding and Stealth Rock through TM or tutoring.

Kabuto and Kabutops

0140: Kabuto (カブト kabuto)
0141: Kabutops (カブトプス kabutopusu)

Kabuto

Kabutops

Another previously extinct Pokémon and its evolution, they have seen a revival in the modern day thanks to fossil restoring technology. However, much like the horseshoe crabs they're based on, some can rarely be found, virtually unchanged in hundred of millions of years. While Kabuto may be helpless if it's flipped over, Kabutops is definitely not. Kabutops is a ruthless predator that slices its prey apart with its huge scythes, and evolved an amphibious lifestyle. Since the fossil that allows Kabuto's restoration is exclusive from the one which allows the restoration of Omanyte, and they have many overall similarities, they are often considered foils to each other. The Kabuto line is a physically-oriented Glass Cannon.

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• Armored But Frail; Despite its Defense stat being second only to that of its Attack, its physical durability is negated by its low HP, rendering it a Glass Cannon.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Kabutops is a four-foot tall bipedal trilobite with scythes for hands.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As fossil Pokémon, both of them are Rock-type.
• Evolutionary Stasis: Though very rare sights, living Kabuto still exist in the present day, but they haven't changed at all in 300 million years. It seems they can't even evolve into Kabutops in the wild, as the latter's Ultra Sun Pokédex says that it went extinct because its body didn't adapt to land in time.
• Extra Eyes: Kabuto has two pairs of eyes: Black Bead Eyes on its shell, and larger red ones on the underside.
• Fossil Revival: Revived from a Dome Fossil.
• Fragile Speedster: In rain, thanks to its ability Swift Swim.
• Giant Enemy Crab: A Giant Enemy Horseshoe Crab/Trilobite in this case.
• Glass Cannon: Fairly high Attack, above average Defense, and decent Speed (especially for a Rock-type), but has several weaknesses and low HP.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Kabuto has glowing red eyes peering beneath its shell.
• Late Character Syndrome: Just as with Omanyte, the Generation I games (and the Gen II remakes) give the Dome Fossil to the player very early on, but they can only revive it at a point much farther in, to the point where they'll likely already have a good Rock and/or Water-type with them. The level they start out at doesn't help much, either. Let's Go averts this by allowing players to reach Cinnabar Island with only a mere three badges, although this requires completing a rather long series of main story quests first.
• Life Drain: Naturally learns Absorb and Mega Drain, and it can also learn (by breeding or tutoring) Giga Drain.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Kabuto's high base Attack is contrasted with its low Special Attack.
• Making a Splash: Water-types that are based on horseshoe crabs.
• Not So Extinct: Though extinct in much of the world, living Kabuto still exist in a few areas.
• Prehistoric Monster: Originally lived a long time ago as a deadly predator.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Their Hidden Ability Weak Armor lowers their Defense and raises their Speed each time they're hit by a physical attack.
• Sinister Scythe: Kabutops's arms end in ferocious sickle-like claws. Neither trilobites nor horseshoe crabs have those kinds of appendages, but sea scorpions sure did (albeit not quite as massive).
• Status Buff: Learns Hone Claws, Harden, Iron Defense, Rock Polish and Swords Dance. They also have Swift Swim, which doubles their Speed in rain.
• Weak Against Magic: Kabuto has high Defense but its Special Defense is only decent at best, giving it a weakness to special-based attacks.
• Xenomorph Xerox: Though mostly based on trilobites, they have some features that suggest Xenomorph inspiration as well, namely Kabuto's "facehugger"-like shape and Kabutops's large head and body posture.

Aerodactyl (Ptera)

0142: Aerodactyl / Ptera (プテラ putera)

=

Aerodactyl

^{Mega Aerodactyl}

Mega Aerodactyl debuts in X and Y

Yet another previously extinct Pokémon, Aerodactyl is a Rock/Flying-type pterosaur/Dragon/Wyvern. Unlike nearly every other Rock-type of the first generation (and most later ones), it's extremely fast, once one of the fastest (equal to Jolteon and Mewtwo). Upon Mega Evolving from X and Y onwards, it gains rocky spikes all over its body and the ability to deal more damage with contact moves.

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• Blow You Away: Part Flying-type, yet to this day remains one of the few Flying-type Pokémon to not get a powerful, no-strings-attached STAB move. Until it gained Dual Wingbeat in Sword and Shield, its most powerful and consistent Flying-type move was the middling Wing Attack.
• Came Back Wrong: According to Sword, the Aerodactyl we see isn't how the creature actually looked, but no scientist has yet managed to successfully bring one back as it should. Its Mega Evolved form is stated to be much closer to its real appearance in prehistoric times.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: It's actually based on a pterosaur, but it's used to the same effect. It can learn various Dragon-type and Fire-type attacks, and it is used by the Dragon specialist Lance. Not actually a Dragon-type, though, although just like Charizard and Gyarados it's referred to as a dragon on occasion (such as with a man in Pewter City's Museum).
• Disc-One Nuke: In Pokémon X and Y, Old Amber can be obtained from smashable rocks in Glittering Cave where you get the Sail/Jaw Fossil, and can be immediately revived in Ambrette Town's lab. While Aerodactyl doesn't have a good match-up against Grant, it does have a good match-up against Korrina and Ramos, can be taught Bulldoze (which you can buy in Lumiose City) for Clemont, and has stats on par with the fully evolved starters at a point in the game when you don't have anything nearly as powerful. Oh, and you get its Mega Stone for free if you talk to one of the scientists in the lab.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Aerodactyl is part Rock-type, yet strangely it didn't learn any Rock-, or Ground-type moves in Gen I. It was immediately rectified in GSC, which gave it Ancient Power, Rock Throw, and Earthquake.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Aerodactyl's generation II sprites depict it with a noticeably different colour palette, showing it as brown and grey instead of its current light purple.
• Expy: A giant, flying, draconic monster derived from a Pteranodon but looking nothing like one? Now who does that remind you of?
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Naturally learns all the elemental fang attacks, as of Gen IV.
• Flight: It's part Flying-type and based on pterosaurs.
• Fossil Revival: It's often revived from an Old Amber.
• Fragile Speedster: It has the highest Speed stat out of every Rock-type Pokémon, and it's also a fairly powerful attacker, but its defenses are below average, and it has a large pool of weaknesses.
• Informed Attribute: Its Shield Pokédex entry says Aerodactyl's jaws are capable of shredding Steel-types. Not a good mix with its typing.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Aerodactyl's typing leaves it with a total of 5 weaknesses, specifically Water, Steel, Ice, Rock, and Electric.
• Late Character Syndrome: Like the other two fossils, Aerodactyl cannot be obtained in the Kanto games until it is revived at Cinnabar Island's Pokémon Lab, seven badges in and after the player has likely already found a good Flying-type (such as Articuno, who is found en route to Cinnabar via the Seafoam Islands). It's at its worst in FireRed/LeafGreen, where it arrives at a paltry level 5. Once again, Let's Go averts this by allowing players to revive the Old Amber with just three badges, albeit only after obtaining Sea Skim which requires completing the Pokémon Tower quest.
• Our Dragons Are Different: It rounds out Charizard and Gyarados as part of the trio of Gen I "dragon" Pokémon that nonetheless lack the typing. Unlike those two, however, Aerodactyl has a tangible real-world animal (pterosaurs) that it closely resembles as well.
• Our Wyverns Are Different: The original wyvern-like (albeit not Dragon-type) Pokémon, mixing draconic and pterosaurian traits.
• Painful Transformation: Aerodactyl's skin turns partially to rock in its Mega Evolution. According to its Dex entries, this hurts Aerodactyl a lot, and as a result its infamously bad mood has turned worse.
• Plot Hole: It's one of the few Pokémon able to Mega Evolve, despite being extinct when Mega Evolution was originally discovered. According to the official Pokémon website, its Mega form is theorized In-Universe to be its original appearance before it became fossilized (though that raises even more questions).
• Prehistoric Monster: A deadly creature that lived a long time ago.
• Recessive Super Genes: Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon suggests Mega Aerodactyl is an early version of the species was covered in sharp rocks, which still exist in revived specimens as dormant genes reawakened via Mega Evolution.
• Super Mode: Gains a Mega Evolution in X and Y. Mega Aerodactyl is stronger, faster, and has Tough Claws as its Ability, boosting the power of contact moves by 33%.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • It gets Rock Head (which prevents recoil damage) as an Ability, but the only moves it learns that get recoil damage are Take Down (by level up) and Double-Edge (exclusively via Generation III move tutor). This is in spite of the presence of Brave Bird and Head Smash, two moves of its types that have recoil.
  • Its other main Ability, Pressure, isn't much better, as making good use of it requires that both Aerodactyl and its opponent be out for an extended length of time, which isn't likely to happen with Aerodactyl being the Fragile Speedster that it is. There's one Aerodactyl build that can persist a while...but it still runs into this, as it requires regular use of flinching, which (Random Number God willing) prevents opponents from using any move (and thus not subject to Pressure).
  • Its Mega Evolution Ability Tough Claws is often considered this by a few, because while it does give a great buff to the damage of its coverage moves like the Elemental fangs, Aqua Tail or Pursuit it hardly benefits its STAB options of Flying and Rock as the best moves for the former are either too weak^note In the form of Wing Attack or Aerial Ace which both share 60 Base Power or require a turn before you can attack^note In the form of Fly and none of the Rock type moves it learns are contact moves. So while it's not a bad ability it's held back pretty significantly. Made even worse in Pokémon Sword and Shield where the move Dual Wingbeat exists and is the perfect move for it^note Being a move with a Base Power of 40 that hits twice for the equivalent of 80 Base Power, but isn't available until the Crown Tundra Expansion as it no longer gets its Mega Evolution.
• Weird Beard: Mega Aerodactyl has a stony protrusion under its chin that resembles a rather long goatee.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: It's a Flying-type pterodactyl Pokémon with Whirlwind as a move, which blows opposing Pokémon away from a battle. In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, it can use Whirlwind to send Pokémon flying across the room.

Munchlax and Snorlax (Gonbe and Kabigon)

0446: Munchlax / Gonbe (ゴンベ gonbe)
0143: Snorlax / Kabigon (カビゴン kabigon)

Munchlax

Snorlax

^{Gigantamax Snorlax}

Munchlax debuts in Diamond and Pearl

Gigantamax Snorlax debuts in Sword and Shield

Snorlax is a large, gluttonous, and lazy Pokémon, and because of that combination, it tends to be responsible for the Broken Bridges in the games by falling asleep in the middle of roads. Of course, this may have been a good thing, since solving said Broken Bridges gave the chance to catch one for yourself. Despite its lazy persona, it's actually quite powerful in battle. It got a pre-evolution in Generation IV in the not quite as large but still gluttonous and lazy Munchlax, who was notably harder to catch since it could only be encountered via Honey Slathering.

A special Snorlax caught in a Raid Battle in Galar has the ability to Gigantamax, during which the small seeds and rocks stuck in its fur grow with Snorlax, causing a small ecosystem to appear on its stomach. During Gigantamax, Snorlax gets access to the Normal-type G-Max Replenish, which restores eaten berries for the active Pokémon and its allies.

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• Achilles' Heel: Although Munchlax and Snorlax have both high HP and high Special Defense, their physical Defense stats are lackluster, meaning that a powerful physical Fighting-type move is often enough to do them in, even with that high HP. Worth noting among physical fighting type moves is Low Kick because its base power depends on the opponent's weight. Snorlax weighs well over the amount that makes Low Kick its maximum base power of 120.
• A Day in the Limelight: Snorlax serves as the lead Pokémon for Pokémon Sleep, appropriately enough.
• Acrofatic: When Snorlax uses Pulverizing Pancake, its signature Z-move, it runs at top speed towards the opponent before jumping up and crushing them beneath its weight.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: One of Snorlax's abilities is Immunity, owing to their tendency to try to eat anything that's edible, even if off the ground or rotten.
• Action Bomb: From Generation V onward, Munchlax could be bred to know Self-Destruct, which does a large amount of damage at the cost of making the user faint. Even before Generation V, there were ways to acquire a Snorlax knowing Self-Destruct, including by TM in Generation I and Move Tutor in Generation III. Munchlax knowing Self-Destruct was also obtainable by Pokéwalker in Generation IV.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Both of them learn the move Chip Away by level up, which is an attack that ignores changes to defense (both increases and decreases) as well as evasion.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The sleepy Snorlax, especially when it lies down on its back, strongly resembles a bed. Its expansive belly serves as the mattress, and its head has the unmistakable silhouette of a pillow.
• Badass Adorable: Munchlax has the highest stat total out of all baby Pokémon — the same level of power as some middle-stage evolutions. Snorlax is also considered to be kind of cute as well, basically being a giant plush toy appearance wise.
• Bears Are Bad News: Snorlax has similarities to hibernating bears, because like a bear, it is very strong and will attack you if you wake it up. They are also harder to catch than most Pokémon. Munchlax is also likened to a bear due to it being obtained in Generation IV using honey, and is very powerful for a first-stage evolution, having the highest HP and Attack stats of all baby Pokémon.
• Berserk Button: Wake up a sleeping Snorlax and it will attack you.
• Big Eater:
  • What the two of them are best known for. Snorlax must eat 880 lbs of food a day to be satisfied, but Munchlax eats (proportionately) even more than Snorlax because it needs to eat its whole weight in food a day, 231 lbs, while Snorlax eats around 87% of its weight. Munchlax is even called "The Big Eater Pokémon". In general, the line is thought to be based on the concept of a food coma; Munchlax being the overeating stage and Snorlax being the subsequent coma stage.
  • Aptly, their Hidden Ability is Gluttony, which lets them eat stat-boosting or health restoring berries at half health instead of the normal quarter remaining health. Combine this with the move they also have access to, Recycle, which lets the user regain a consumed held item. With this combination, they can continuously restore their health with berries.
• Boss Battle:
  • While no major trainers for the first seven generations have Snorlax as their Signature Mon, it does appear on several endgame boss fights throughout the series, like on Red's team in the Johto games, Barry's team in the Sinnoh games, Kukui's team (who serves as the Final Boss of Sun and Moon) in the Alola games, and Veteran Shaun's team in the Unova games.
  • Snorlax finally becomes the Signature Mon of a trainer in Legends: Arceus, wherein it's the ace of Kamado in both of his battles.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Snorlax, of course, spends much of its time only eating and sleeping. Its entry in Ultra Sun, however, states that when it makes an effort, it displays awesome power. Indeed it does, and anyone would know that if they've ever used one on their team.
• Broken Bridge: Whenever you find a Snorlax, it's usually asleep and blocking a vital passageway, requiring you to take a detour to find an item that can wake it up.
• Brown Note: Waking Snorlax up yourself is nearly impossible, unless you have a Pokéflute and know how to play it. Why only this instrument can do the job isn't explained at all.
• Cartoon Creature: Both are vaguely bear-like for the reasons mentioned under Bears Are Bad News above, with maybe a little cat thrown in for Snorlax and rabbit for Munchlax (judging by the shape of their ears), but the specific animal or creature that the line is based on was never confirmed. Although judging by the trainer clinging to Snorlax's belly when ridden in Let's Go being a clear Shout-Out to My Neighbor Totoro, Snorlax and Munchlax might be based on Totoro and the little Toroto respectively. Munchlax even shares its ear shape and coloration with little Totoro.
• Confusion Fu: As with many Generation I Normal-type Pokémon, Snorlax has a massive movepool, consisting of Normal, Dark, Steel, Ground, Rock, Ghost, Fire, Ice, Electric, Water, Fighting, Poison, Grass, Ghost, and Psychic attacks. Sadly, it can't use many of those moves effectively due to its poor Special Attack. They're also capable of learning Metronome naturally, which allows them to draw from any move in the game at complete random, as well a Sleep Talk, which lets them use a random move from their current arsenal if they're asleep.
• Creator Cameo: According to Game Freak, Snorlax's appearance and behavior were directly inspired by one of the Pokémon devs, Kōji Nishino.
• Cute Little Fangs: Both Munchlax and Snorlax sport little fangs on their lower mouth, adding to their doofiness.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Snorlax has the eighth-highest HP stat in the franchise at 160, while Munchlax is tied with Melmetal for having the seventeenth-highest at 135.
• Dishing Out Dirt: The line can learn Earthquake and Bulldoze through TMs, Stomping Tantrum through move tutor, and Snorlax has access to High Horsepower through level-up.
• Does Not Like Spam: Despite their reputation for eating anything and everything, in Legends: Arceus, they won't eat Springy Mushrooms or Cake Lures made with them.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Munchlax appeared in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and Pokémon Dash before Diamond and Pearl were released.
• Elemental Punch: The line can learn all of the elemental trio Punches.
• Extreme Omnivore: Both Munchlax and Snorlax can eat spoiled and rotten food without any adverse effects. Pokédex entries for Munchlax outright state it will eat anything that merely just seems like it may be edible to it, which most likely also applies for Snorlax. This aligns gameplay-wise as Snorlax's possible Ability Immunity grants it immunity to being poisoned as its Pokédex entry states that Snorlax does not get food poisoning.
• Eyes Always Shut: Snorlax's eyes are usually closed to reflect its nature as a Heavy Sleeper, only opening them (briefly) when performing its signature Z-move, Pulverising Pancake. Snorlax also opens its eyes when hit or knocked out in the 3D home console games.
• Eye Beams: How it uses certain Special-based moves, primarily Hyper Beam.
• Finger Gun: G-Max Replenish works via Gigantamax Snorlax firing an energy blast from its finger.
• Foil: To Stufful and Bewear—both lines vaguely resemble bears and/or bear-related paraphernalia (i.e: teddy bears, mascot costumes), are Mighty Glaciers that hit hard from the physical side, and their stat distributions being remarkably similar when Fluffy is taken into account (with Snorlax tanking hits from special moves, and Bewear physical). Likewise, they're both infamous in their own native regions; Munchlax and Snorlax for being total gluttons and being absolutely lazy to the point of blocking paths, and Stufful and Bewear for their somewhat feisty nature or being absolutely dangerous to handle due to their lack of awareness and control of their own strength, respectively.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Many Pokédex entries say that Snorlax can consume food no matter how old or rotten it is. Sure enough, in Legends: Arceus, throwing a spoiled apricorn will have no effect on a Snorlax whatsoever.
• Gentle Giant: Being that it's on average 2.1 meter (6'11'') tall and weighing 460 kg (over 1000 lbs), as well as being described as docile in various Pokédex entries, Snorlax has shades of this as long as you don't interrupt its nap.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Snorlax has glowing eyes when it wakes up to perform its signature Z-move, Pulverizing Pancake.
• Growling Gut: Snorlax's Pokédex entry in Gold says that the sound of its cry may really be "the rumblings of its hungry belly."
• Hammerspace Hair: Hammerspace Fur, rather. Munchlax hoards food in its fur. Unfortunately though, it tends to forget that it's hidden the food, which causes a "stinky disturbance" in the words of its Ultra Sun entry.
• Heavy Sleeper: Whenever Snorlax isn't eating, it's sleeping. The only way to force it to wake up is with a Poké Flute.
• Implacable Man: Nothing can stand in the way of a Snorlax's appetite; the only way for it to stop is when it's time to sleep.
• Item Caddy: Munchlax can have the ability Pickup.
• Jabba Table Manners: Apparently Snorlax eats so messily, that it gets berries, seeds and pebbles stuck to its fur, which grow to huge sizes with Gigantamax energy.
• Jiggle Physics: Snorlax's model in the 3D games such as Stadium and Generation VI onward when it's attacking or being hit, as well as its walk and run animations.
• Keet: Munchlax, in stark contrast to when it evolves. Ironically for such a temperament, Munchlax is completely incapable of outrunning anything.
• Kevlard: Both of them are fat, obviously, and have very high HP and Special Defense. They both can also have the "Thick Fat" ability, which halves the damage of Fire and Ice-type attacks.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: While performing its Z-Move, Pulverizing Pancake, Snorlax opens its eyes and literally sprints towards the unlucky chap it's targeting.
• Luck-Based Mission: Munchlax was near-impossible to obtain in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. It could only be encountered by using Honey on special trees and then waiting 6 hours. The Pokémon encountered is determined at the moment you slather the Honey, meaning that you cannot perform Save Scumming for it. If that didn't sound bad yet, Munchlax is found on just four specific trees that are determined at random by the player's Trainer ID and Secret ID. Even if you know which trees can spawn a Munchlax in your game, its encounter rate is still only 1%.
• Mage Killer: With its high HP, and impressive Attack and Special Defense, Snorlax is a perfect answer to Physically-weak Special attackers.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Snorlax has a good Attack stat, but has a poor Special Attack stat.
• Metal Slime: In games where they can be encountered in the wild, they are very hard to find due to the circumstances of how they appear (Honey Trees for Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, SOS Battles for Sun and Moon).
• Mighty Glacier: Has very good HP, Special Defense, and Attack, but is one of the slowest Pokémon out there—especially as Munchlax, which is in a tie with Shuckle and Pyukumuku for the lowest Speed stat, period.
• Missing Secret: In Gold and Silver, Snorlax has the move Charm listed as a possible Egg Move, but it's impossible to learn legitimately since its only eligible breeding partner to have it is Nidoran female, and mother Pokémon can't pass down Egg Moves prior to Generation VI. This was fixed in the Generation III games, where it can learn it from breeding with the Bulbasaur family.
• Non-Elemental: Both of them are Normal-types, with the moveset to match their typing.
• Obsessed with Food: Both, obviously, to the point of One-Track-Minded Hunger. Snorlax's Pokédex data in Ultra Moon states that "It has no interest in anything other than eating." As for Munchlax, it has a tendency to store food in its Hammerspace Fur, but it's so obsessed with trying to fulfill its quota of consuming its weight in food a day, that it forgets that it puts food right there in its fur.
• One-Hit Kill: They can be bred to learn Fissure, which can knock out targets that aren't immune to Ground if it connects or have a higher level than the user.
• Permanently Missable Content: Upon the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon, players were able to receive a Munchlax along with its own exclusive Z-Crystal, the Snorlium Z. As Z-Crystals cannot be traded from game to game, there's no way to get one without the event, and restarting the game means that you can't get another one, since the event is over. Luckily Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon includes an NPC who will give you the Snorlium Z, along with two other event-exclusive crystals, if you approach him with a Snorlax in your party.
• The Power of Friendship: Munchlax will evolve into Snorlax if it has a high enough friendship rating when it levels up.
• Psychic Powers: They can be taught Psychic and bred Zen Headbutt.
• Random Effect Spell: Munchlax naturally learns Metronome, which will call upon a random attack when used. Snorlax could learn it as well by TM and move tutor in Generations 1 and 3 respectively.
• Really Fond of Sleeping: Snorlax is so fond of sleeping to the point that, under most circumstances, the only time it's only willing to wake up is to eat.
• Secret Art:
  • When holding its Z-Crystal, Snorlium Z, Snorlax can use Pulverizing Pancake.
  • Only Gigantamax Snorlax can use the move G-Max Replenish, which on top of doing damage restores any Berries it or its allies have consumed during battle.
• Shout-Out: To Kirby, of all things. According to a 2019 interview by Game Informer, Junichi Masuda stated that Snorlax's Japanese name of Kabigon is a pun on Kirby (Japanese: カービィ Kābī), since Snorlax's primary inspiration (Game Freak employee Kōji Nishino) was nicknamed "Kirby" by the other Game Freak staff thanks to his large appetite. Even Snorlax's Chinese name, 卡比獸, literally translates to "Kirby beast".
• Status Buff: They naturally learn the stat boosting moves Defense Curl, Stockpile, Belly Drum and can be bred to have Curse.
• Stout Strength: Despite its tubby appearance and not doing much besides eating and sleeping, it's very strong physically. Gigantamax Snorlax, in particular, is known as one of the strongest Gigantamax Pokémon despite only being able to move its arms and legs.
• Super Mode: Gains the ability to Gigantamax in Pokémon Sword and Shield, giving it access to the Normal-type G-Max Replenish, increasing its size to that of a mountain, with the Gigantamax energy affecting seeds and pebbles stuck to Snorlax, giving it the appearance of a hill... only to return Snorlax's model back to its original sleeping pose.
• Too Desperate to Be Picky: Munchlax's Pokédex entries mention that because it's so desperate to consume its entire weight in food every day, it is completely indifferent to flavor. It and Snorlax's tendency to eat rotten and moldy food (from desperation in Munchlax's case), is more than likely what resulted in them being completely immune to the ill effects of even doing such.
• Trampoline Tummy: Snorlax, according to the Pokédex, is so docile that it lets human children play on its big belly.
• Tummy Cushion: The Pokédex likewise states that if you were to climb onto Snorlax's stomach while it's sleeping for this purpose, it doesn't mind unless you wake it up.
• Turtle Island: Okay, Gigantamax Snorlax isn't exactly a turtle, but it's big enough to double as a small landmass with an entire ecosystem growing on its belly.
• Unique Enemy:
  • There are two in Red and Blue, one in Gold and Silver, and one in X and Y; all four blocking routes. That's all the Snorlax you'll find in the wild so far.
  • Sun and Moon finally averts this thanks to the use of SOS battles. A wild Munchlax may occasionally call a Snorlax into battle. Additionally, in Sword and Shield, both Munchlax and Snorlax can be found in the Wild Area's overworld during normal weather.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Snorlax naturally learns Block, which prevents the target from switching out or fleeing. It can also be bred to know Pursuit, which deals extra damage to targets that attempt to switch out.

Legendary Birds: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres (Freezer, Thunder, and Fire)

0144: Articuno / Freezer (フリーザー furiizaa)
0145: Zapdos / Thunder (サンダー sandaa)
0146: Moltres / Fire (ファイヤー faiyaa)

Articuno

Zapdos

Moltres

Galarian Articuno

Galarian Zapdos

Galarian Moltres

Galarian forms debut in Sword and Shield

A trio of birds who are the very first Legendary Pokémon to appear in the series, they represent ice, lightning, and fire, respectively. Due to the fact that they're rarely encountered by people, little concrete information about their biology or habits are known. They appear to influence the world's weather, though: Articuno's icy wings can create blizzards, Zapdos's electric wings can cause thunderstorms, and Moltres's fiery wings can cause spring to arrive early.

In the Galar region, the three legendary birds have variants that appear every several decades in the Crown Tundra, that are far more aggressive in nature, and have different primary typings and Abilities. Galarian Articuno is known for being a cold and callous partial Psychic-type, the part Fighting Galarian Zapdos isn't very good at flying but is an amazing runner and jumper and very aggressive in its desire to fight worthy opponents, and the part Dark Galarian Moltres is haughty and works according to its own whims.

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• Adaptational Badass:
  • While the trio are no slouches in the games, there's no indication that they're anything more than rare, stronger-than-average Pokémon. Pokémon 2000 depicts them (or at least one group of them, given that continuity's willful ignorance of Single Specimen Species) as borderline Physical Gods.
  • An Articuno that Ash, Gary, Goh and Horace to battle with in a Max Raid Battle in Battle in the Freezing Raid! is incredibly powerful, being able to beat most of the group's Pokémon, even though Goh's Darmanitian and Cinderace and Ash's Lucario and especially Gary's Tyranitar all have a type advantage (in the games, Tyranitar can take Articuno all by itself and win thanks to its part Rock-typing being quadruple effective against Articuno's Ice/Flying-typing)
• Adaptation Expansion: Pokémon: The Movie 2000 gives them a connection to Lugia that is never mentioned in the main games (but is occasionally referenced in spin-offs, such as the Mystery Dungeon games).
• Ambiguous Situation: At present there is no official lore as to why the Galarian forms developed/diverged from the original forms, in stark contrast to the lore available for almost every other regional variant.
• Artifact Name: Their names become this when applied to their Galarian forms, as they lose their Ice, Electric, and Fire-typing in favor of new ones. Downplayed in that the characterization of some of their moves and abilities are described like ice, thunder, and fire, allowing them to keep their original names.
• Attention Whore: Galarian Moltres has a large ego, hence why getting in front of it causes it to attack you.
• Beak Attack: Zapdos can learn Peck and Drill Peck.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Galarian Zapdos is part Fighting-type, with its own exclusive Fighting-type move; Thunderous Kick.
• Blood Knight: Galarian Zapdos can't resist challenging Pokémon that it senses may be stronger than it.
• Blow You Away: All three birds. While only Zapdos started out having a decent Flying-type move - Drill Peck -, in Gen IV all birds got Aerial Ace, Tailwind and Roost, with Moltres getting Air Slash in the same Gen, Moltres and Articuno getting Hurricane in Gen V, and all of them getting Brave Bird in Gen VIII. All of them were also updated to share Air Slash and Hurricane in Gen VIII.
• Boss Battle: All three of them are fought as bosses during the main story of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team. They can be rematched during the postgame. They also appear as postgame bosses in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.
• Breath Weapon: Moltres breathes fire while Articuno shoots ice beams from its mouth.
• Casting a Shadow: Galarian Moltres is part Dark-type, and rather than the usual Combat Pragmatist focus this type gets, it's described as being purely malevolent, consuming the spirits of its victims and only leaving empty husks behind. It also learns a Dark-type exclusive move; Fiery Wrath.
• Char Clone: Galarian Articuno's facial feathers/skin form a mask-like structure not too dissimilar to one of these. Furthermore, it being a Psychic-type is a reference to Char Aznable himself being a Newtype, who have Psychic Powers.
• Combat Pragmatist: Despite emphasis being placed on its malevolence and calm behavior, Galarian Moltres learns Sucker Punch, Assurance, Payback and Foul Play.
• Combo: Articuno can learn both Mind Reader, an attack that guarantees that the next attack will hit, and Sheer Cold, a highly inaccurate attack that One-Hit KOs any opponent of equal or lower level to the user. Since Gen III, Articuno and Smeargle have been the only Pokémon capable of this combo.^note Two one-hit KO moves, Horn Drill and Fissure, were found in TMs in Generation I. While Mind Reader didn't exist until Generation II, a Poliwrath that had been taught Fissure in Generation I could then be traded to a Generation II game and taught Mind Reader. Since Generation III doesn't allow for trading with the first two Generations, however, Mind Reader/Fissure Poliwrath were impossible to have legally in any later generation until Generation VII.
• The Corruption: Shadow Chill (Articuno), Shadow Bolt (Zapdos), and Shadow Fire (Moltres). Just too much for Greevil to pass up.
• Darker and Edgier: The best way to sum up the Galarian trio, who are crueler and more malevolent (or at least more self-serving) than their normal counterparts. For bonus points, Galarian Moltres is now a part-Dark type.
• Dark Is Evil: Galarian Articuno and Galarian Moltres have purple/red and black color schemes and are categorized as the Cruel and Malevolent Pokémon respectively. While Galarian Zapdos doesn't have a similar category (it's the Strong Legs Pokémon), it has a darker palette than its mainline form and Blood Knight tendencies.
• Depending on the Artist: The exact way Moltres' flames are depicted varies. In some styles (like the one pictured) it's red and yellow like other fire type Pokémon. In other styles, the flames are an alternating mix of red and white.
• Disc-One Nuke: If one is dedicated, Zapdos can be obtained in Gen I and its remakes with as little as three badges (since Cut and Surf are required to reach the Power Plant). To reach Articuno, four badges are needed (since Strength is necessary to progress through the Seafoam Islands). Either way, be ready to sweep the rest of the pre-Elite Four game away with at least one level 50 Legendary Pokémon.
• Divine Birds: They have immense power over climate and the weather, and are given the same semi-divine nature as other Legendaries. Articuno, the bird of ice, leaves snow falling in its wake and appears before travelers lost in the mountains; Zapdos, the bird of thunder, summons storms and lightning and inhabits thunderclouds; and Moltres, the bird of fire, ends winter and begins spring with its arrival.
• Doppelgänger Spin: When found roaming the Crown Tundra, Galarian Articuno will force players to play a shell game using two illusionary duplicates of itself. Choosing the wrong one leaves it to fly away to some other area.
• Dub Name Change: They are one of the few Legendary Pokémon to have their name changed in different languages.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Moltres' sprite in Red portrays it with feathers on its wings instead of flames, when it has the latter it all other appearances.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Unlike later "minor" Legendaries, the three had uneven base stat totals in Gen I, with Articuno's being 485, Zapdos's 490, and Moltres's 495. All three were boosted to an even 580 following Gen II's division of the Special stat (which became the gold standard base stat total for their successors until the Tapus).
  • Pokémon Snap features eggs of all three of the birds, before Gen II would properly establish Pokémon eggs and the notion that most Legendary Pokémon — including the birds — don't lay eggs (at least not under daycare conditions).
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: The Kantonian versions of the trio have this with their main types before shifting to their secondary typing in the last segment; starting with Moltres it goes Fire->Ice->Flying before switching to Electric->Flying between Zapdos and Moltres. The Galarian variants are more straightforward, following their main types of Dark->Psychic->Fighting entirely.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Their rather boring Japanese names: Freezer, Thunder, and Fire. Guess which bird has each name.
• Extremity Extremist: Galarian Zapdos attacks using kicks.
• Eye Beams: Galarian Articuno shoots beams of psychic energy from its eyes.
• Faux Flame: Galarian Moltres has dark energy in place of its flames.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: The birds are the first "minor" Legendary trio in the series. They even provide the page image.
• Flight: As their birdlike appearances and Flying-type designation indicate, they are all capable of flight. They spend the whole second movie flying around and can learn Fly in the games.
• Flying Firepower: All three Kantonian Birds are Flying-type Pokémon with high Special Attack stats. Subverted with Galarian Zapdos, as it has a higher physical attack stat instead of Special Attack like with Galarian Articuno and Galarian Moltres.
• Fragile Speedster: Zapdos' lowest stats are its Defense and Special Defense at 85 and 90 respectively, while having the highest Speed stat of the birds. It's only a Fragile Speedster when compared to the stats of its brethren, though.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The Galarian variants of the Legendary Birds do not have the move Roost in their move list; this makes sense, as all three of the birds have aspects of their behavior that don't fit with the move:
  • Galarian Zapdos is a poor flier, so being on the ground is its default.
  • Galarian Articuno doesn't really fly, but levitates, so resting its wings wouldn't really mean much to it.
  • Unlike regular Moltres (which has an animation for it standing on the ground) Galarian Moltres does not seem willing to touch the ground at all unless it has fainted.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss:
  • In Platinum and X/Y, the three are roaming Pokémon. In the latter, however, only one appears based on the chosen starter, and it must be hunted down several times before it settles in the Sea Spirit's Den and can be battled properly.
  • In The Crown Tundra, their Galarian variants are found at Dyna Tree Hill engaging in a fight before scattering across Galar when alerted to the player's presence by the ringing of their Rotom Phone. Galarian Zapdos runs laps in the Wild Area, Galarian Moltres soars around the Isle of Armor, and Galarian Articuno remains in the Crown Tundra to roam. Subverted in the end with Galarian Moltres, as while Galarian Zapdos tries to outrun them and Galarian Articuno tries to elude them with illusionary clones, Galarian Moltres will charge the player on sight.
• Giant Flyer: All three of them are huge elemental birds.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: In Pokémon Red and Blue, you're likely to stumble upon at least one of them with no clue as to why a bird is standing in the overworld. The only foreshadowing given to them are from two (optional) Trainers who allude to them, and a set of binoculars on Route 15 that lets you see Articuno^note in a lack of Developer's Foresight, this still happens even after you've defeated or caught it. Moltres stands out the most, as it simply perches in Victory Road and can't be missed as a player travels through it.
• Glass Cannon: Moltres. High offensive stats, lower defenses and speed. This is only compared to the other birds, though, as Moltres' defenses and speed aren't that bad at all at 90 each.
• Heal Thyself: All three birds can learn Roost to restore their HP, at the cost of their Flying-type being ignored for a turn. Galarian Articuno can’t learn Roost, but it can learn Recover. Galarian Zapdos and Moltres subvert this, as they no longer learn Roost.
• Hellfire: Leave your Water, Rock, Dragon, and even Pokémon with Flash Fire at home; Shadow Fire burns (all of) them down the same. It has less to do with Shadow Fire being an exception and more with it not actually being a Fire-type attack.
  • Galarian Moltres is part Dark-type instead of Fire, but it still has a flaming body. Fiery Wrath evokes this trope, being a Dark-type move that channels its malevolence into a flaming aura.
• An Ice Person: Articuno is part Ice-type. Its Pokédex entries mention that it can freeze the moisture in the air to make it snow or use to attack opponents.
• Infinity -1 Sword: They're strong, but not quite as powerful as Dragonite or Mewtwo.
• Jerkass Gods: The Galarian versions are all significantly more dangerous and are often outright malevolent. Galarian Articuno is an arrogant, selfish showoff who is prone to delivering brutal psychic assaults on anything that disturbs it, Galarian Zapdos is a violent Blood Knight who is constantly spoiling for a fight, and Galarian Moltres is a sadistic bully who enjoys crushing enemy Pokémon with overwhelming power.
• Late Character Syndrome: As the first Legendary Pokémon encountered, they start as they mean to go on by being unavailable until rather late into the adventure. In Pokémon Red and Blue, Zapdos actually averts this with some Sequence Breaking, allowing the player to get a Level 50 Pokémon when they're around the mid Level 30s, but Moltres plays it dead straight by being absent until Victory Road.
• Lightning Bruiser: All three of them have quite high all-around stats. Special mention goes to Zapdos (a literal Lightning Bruiser); it's the fastest of all three, while still having pretty good defensive stats and a high Special Attack. It's also the only member of the trio that has only two weaknesses with its type combination, without the crippling double-weakness against Rock that the other two suffer from. Galarian Zapdos takes this even further, as it's a fast, powerful physical bruiser with solid defenses all around.
• Mighty Glacier: Articuno when compared to the other two, with a beefy 125 Special Defense and fairly high 100 defense. Being an Ice-type makes it literally this. Galarian Moltres is this compared to the other Galarian birds, with the highest stat it has being Special Defense.
• Nerf: In Generation I, Articuno is a Mighty Glacier that can take some powerful special hits before going down while being able to retaliate back with a powerful Ice-type attack. The special split in Generation II affects its damage output, as Articuno's 125 Special stat becomes its Special Defense while it gains a 95 Special Attack stat.
• Mundane Utility: In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where eggs are found at picnics and produced by Pokémon within your party, Moltres with its Hidden Ability of Flame Body can be extremely useful since it is one of only two egg hatching Pokémon (the other being Heatran with its Hidden Ability, which is also Flame Body), that can be at a picnic with any Pokémon and not accidentally produce any eggs itself.
• No Biological Sex: They are all genderless and can't breed, at least in daycare centers.
• Noble Bird of Prey: All of them are deadly birds and great in combat.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Galarian versions trade their Ice, Electric, and Fire types for Psychic, Fighting, and Dark respectively, though they still keep the characteristics of their older types. In relation to this, they also get signature moves that have names and appearances that reference the typings that they lost while actually being attacks that match their new typings.
• Numerical Theme Naming: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.^note If you don't get it, uno, dos and tres are Spanish for one, two, and three respectively, and that's the order that you'll be meeting the three.
• Olympus Mons: They are the very first examples in the series, with Articuno and Zapdos being available in Gen I and their remakes as soon as the player can use Strength.
• One-Hit KO: Articuno can learn Sheer Cold. It also learns Mind Reader, allowing it to use Sheer Cold with no chance of it missing (provided the opponent isn't at a higher level than it).
• The Paralyzer: In lieu of using ice, Galarian Articuno instead channels its psychic powers into eye beams to freeze targets with its Freezing Glare attack.
• The Phoenix: Moltres, in a different myth. This is best exemplified in Pokémon Sun and Moon, where a new move it learns at level 99 is a move called Burn Up. This move has 130 base power and — unusually for a move of that strength — is 100% accurate, but Moltres loses its fire typing upon using it. Said move also can't be used by a non-Fire-type, so It Only Works Once. That said, if Moltres Terastallizes into a Fire-type, it can use Burn Up as many times as it wants, as Terastallization will make it remain a Fire-type at all times.
• Playing with Fire: Moltres is a Fire-type. Through Move Tutors, Zapdos can also learn the powerful Heat Wave, and its Galarian counterpart can learn Blaze Kick with the right TM.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Articuno's movepool outside of STAB attacks is very shallow compared to its counterparts. While Zapdos can learn Heat Wave and Moltres can learn Solar Beam to get around opponents with a type advantage, the best Articuno gets is Freeze-Dry to hit Water-types super effectively.
• Psychic Powers: Galarian Articuno is part Psychic type, with its own exclusive Psychic-type move; Freezing Glare.
• Pun: In the original [Japanese] version, Shadow Pokémon are called Dark Pokémon (the Dark-type is called Evil), the birds are called Freezer, Thunder, and Fire, and the attacks are Dark Freeze, Dark Thunder, and Dark Fire. Dark THUNDER used DARK THUNDER.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Downplayed in that Galarian Zapdos is merely incredibly belligerent instead of evil, but its coloration is mostly reddish-yellow and black, and it happens to be a highly aggressive Pokémon. Galarian Moltres plays it straighter, being a red and black Dark-type with magenta flames, and it's also classified as the Malevolent Pokémon.
• Red Baron: A Trainer in FireRed/LeafGreen refers to the three as the "winged mirages", though this name is rarely, if ever, used elsewhere (and fans often stick with "Legendary birds" instead).
• Red Is Violent: Galarian Zapdos has a reddish coloration, and is much more belligerent in comparison to its Kantonian counterpart.
• Retcon: Although the trio's Hidden Abilities weren't available until February 2016, Zapdos's one was changed from Lightning Rod to Static in the transition from Gen V to Gen VI.
• Scissors Cuts Rock:
  • Starting with Gen VI, Articuno can learn Freeze-Dry to hit Water-types (which normally resist Ice-type attacks) super effectively.
  • Even though rain weakens its Fire-type attacks, Moltres can abuse its Awesome, but Impractical Hurricane attack in it thanks to rain removing the accuracy check for the move.
• Seasonal Baggage: Articuno is associated with winter, Zapdos summer, and Moltres spring.
• Secret Art:
  • Moltres can learn Sky Attack naturally, but only in Generation I.
  • In XD, each of them has a Signature Shadow Move; Shadow Chill, Shadow Bolt, and Shadow Fire for Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres respectively.
  • Their Galarian counterparts each have a signature move: Galarian Articuno gets Freezing Glare (a special-based Psychic-type move that has a chance of freezing its opponent), Galarian Zapdos gets Thunderous Kick (a physical Fighting-type move that lowers the Defense of the opponent it hits), and Galarian Moltres gets Fiery Wrath (a special-based Dark-type move that can cause an opponent to flinch).
• Secret Test of Character: It's implied that Galarian Articuno and Galarian Zapdos are testing the player's observation skills and endurance, respectively, rather than truly fleeing. Galarian Zapdos will stop running and face them, waiting for them to approach if they keep up with it long enough, while Galarian Articuno will teleport right on top of the player to fight after they manage to find its real self amongst illusionary doubles.
• Single Specimen Species: Historically, you can only catch one of each of the birds in a given playthrough of a game, which gave the impression that there is only one of each. However, the fact that they've made multiple appearances over the years suggest that this may not actually be the case. This is brought to a head in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, where it is entirely possible to encounter flocks of these birds in one area. Then in Pokémon Sword and Shield, the idea that there are more than one of of them, is further developed with regional forms of the birds being revealed.
• Shock and Awe: Zapdos is an Electric-type, with all the powers and moves that typing entails.
• Shout-Out: Moltres's entry in the original Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia states that drinking its blood allows one to become immortal. This is directly lifted from the Osamu Tezuka manga Phoenix.
• Shown Their Work: Between it being relatively poor at but still capable of flight, running with its head and tail parallel to the ground, and even having a patch of bare skin behind its eye; Galarian Zapdos shows much inspiration from the behavior and appearance of the greater roadrunner of the American Southwest.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Moltres is only an Optional Boss in the Kanto games, but a Trainer in the Cinnabar Gym reveals that Moltres saved Blaine's life when it guided him out of a dangerous freezing mountain range he was lost in, subsequently inspiring him to train Fire-types.
• Stone Wall: Articuno, due to an odd handling of the Special stat split in Gen II, got Special Defense as its highest stat. Meanwhile, its Special Attack is an average 95 while its Physical Attack is a below average 85
• Super-Speed: Galarian Zapdos is described as being capable of moving so fast that it resembles a bolt of lightning while leaping down cliffs and mountainsides. Fittingly, it's the fastest of the Galarian birds.
• Theme Naming: Each of the three contains a Spanish number in its name: Articuno (one), Zapdos (two), Moltres (three).
• Thunderbird: Zapdos, a powerful Electric-type that lives inside thunderclouds and can create powerful storms by beating its wings, in addition to the usual selection of electric attacks.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed. Galarian Articuno and Galarian Moltres are described as being cruel and malevolent, but Galarian Zapdos is merely a belligerent Blood Knight.
• Turns Red: While their normal forms are united by the Pressure ability and have Hidden Abilities relating to their elemental typings, their Galarian forms are united by abilities that increase one of their offensive stats in response to a stat being lowered (Competitive, Defiant and Berserk, respectively; Berserk does not boost a stat when one has been lowered and instead boosts Special Attack by one stage at half health or lower).
• Weather Manipulation: All three birds affect the weather: Articuno's wing flaps freeze moisture in the air to create snow, Zapdos creates thunderstorms, and Moltres brings an early spring to cold areas. Fittingly, they each learn Hail, Rain Dance, and Sunny Day at level 57.
• Underground Monkey: All three have Galarian forms, making them the first legendaries to have this honor.
• You Are Number 6: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres (Spanish equivalents for the numbers one, two, and three).

Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite (Miniryu, Hakuryu, and Kairyu)

0147: Dratini / Miniryu (ミニリュウ miniryuu)
0148: Dragonair / Hakuryu (ハクリュー hakuryuu)
0149: Dragonite / Kairyu (カイリュー kairyuu)

Dratini

Dragonair

Dragonite

A group of serpentine dragons, and the original Dragon-types. Dragonite was meant to be one of the Infinity Minus One Swords of the original pair of games due to its rarity, type, and having the highest Attack at the time. Later games made them more readily available and Power Creep made Dragonite's Attack stat less overwhelming (but still very good). Later generations would give it some new toys to play with such as the Multiscale ability, which greatly helps its defenses, or the move Extreme Speed, which helps its speed. They also set the trend for the "pseudo-legendaries": lines of 3-stage Pokémon with the same Base Stat Total and EXP curve that eventually become very powerful.

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• Acrofatic: Dragonite is quite chubby, but isn't the slowest dragon around and learns Extreme Speed. Multiple Pokédex entries state it can circle the globe in 16 hours, which would make it faster than sound assuming the Pokémon world is the same size as Earth.
• Action Initiative: They can learn Aqua Jet and Extreme Speed via breeding.
• Balance Buff: The physical/special split allowed Dragonite to finally take advantage of its powerful Dragon-type STAB Outrage, which on top of becoming physical, gained a base power boost.
• Badass Adorable: All three of them, especially Dragonite. Don't let its cuddly appearance fool you; it's one of the toughest Dragon-types around, especially with Multiscale, and the Final Boss's most powerful monster in Gen II.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do not make them angry; their strongest move is called Outrage for a reason. In fact, this was the line's Secret Art in Generation II. Dragonite's Moon Pokédex entry in particular states if angered, it will destroy anything in its path until it calms down.
• Big Damn Heroes: When not angered, Dragonite's a kindhearted altruistic Pokémon with human-like intelligence. It circles the world's oceans looking for humans to save from drowning, and lead ships in distress to safety.
• Blow You Away: Part Flying type, and learns moves like Hurricane and Tailwind which it can put to great use.
• Boss Battle: Lance's signature Mon every time he appears, including his role as the final member of the Elite Four in Red, Blue, Yellow, and their remakes (where he's not the Final Boss).
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Pokémon Black and White has a location where there is a very small chance of fishing up one. A wild Dragonite appeared!
• Confusion Fu: In addition to Dragon-type moves, the line can naturally learn a mix of Ice, Fire, Electric, and Water-type moves to cover their weakness to Ice (and later Rock). With TM and HM moves, these weak spots have even more counters.
• Cute Giant: Despite being the youngest in its evolutionary line, Dratini is nearly 6 feet long.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Dragonite's Hidden Ability Multiscale halves the damage it receives from an attack while its health is full. It's already enough that it's a Mighty Glacier, but throw Roost into the mix and it has the potential to become a pain to knock out.
• Darker and Edgier: Official media from Generation V onward frequently depicts Dragonite's "tougher" side, giving it angrier facial expressions and showing off its strength, such as with Iris' Dragonite in the anime. That said, its cuddly depictions aren't entirely gone (especially in the main series games, and especially in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh).
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Skeletons of Dragonite can be seen in museums in some games, implying they've been around even back in the time of the dinosaurs.
• Disc-One Final Boss:
  • It's Lance's Signature Mon, who seemingly serves as the Final Boss of Kanto, being the last Elite Four member, but there is still one more trainer to fight after him in Blue.
  • Happens again in the Johto games, as Lance becomes the Champion of Johto. Doubles as a Wolf Pack Boss because he uses three of them. However, here Lance is only the final opponent of Johto, and afterwards, there is still Kanto to explore.
• Flight: Dragonite gains wings and the Flying-type upon evolution. Dragonair too, in their Fire Red Pokédex entry and in Pokémon adaptations.
• Gentle Giant: Dragonite is both one of the strongest Pokémon and one of the nicest, although annoying it is still a bad idea.
• Heal Thyself: Can learn Roost via TM or Move Tutor, which goes very well with Multiscale.
• Immune to Flinching: Dragonite has Inner Focus as its ability, which prevents this.
• Infinity -1 Sword: Started the pseudo-legendary trend: base stat total of 600, three evolutions, difficult to encounter and catch, tough to level up and evolve, and extremely powerful once fully evolved, to the point Dragonite has higher stats than the Legendary birds even in Gen I, being second just to Mewtwo itself, and on par with Mew.
• Infinity +1 Element: They were the only Dragon-types back in Gen I, where Dragon was intentionally made to be an Infinity +1 Element.
• Infinity +1 Sword: In Red and Blue. Dragonite has the highest Attack stat in the game and Mewtwo is the only thing with a higher Base Stat Total.
• Informed Ability:
  • Dragonair is said to be able to change the weather at will, yet it needs to be taught the weather-changing moves via TM.
  • A more extreme example is with Dragonite. It is said to circle the globe in 16 hours, but its speed is nothing to write home about.
• Jack of All Stats: In early generations, as its lowest stat was Speed at 80, which is still higher than some early Pokémon's highest stats (for example, Beedrill's highest stat is Attack at 80). These days it's more of a Mighty Glacier due to Power Creep.
• Living Relic: Fossils of Dragonite can be seen in some museums, implying that it's an ancient species that persists even to the modern day.
• Making a Splash: Despite not being Water-types, these Pokémon are usually encountered in bodies of water via fishing, they naturally learn several Water moves via level up, and they're in the Water 1 Egg Group.
• Metal Slime: In the Generation I games, Dratini and (very rarely) Dragonair can only be encountered in the Safari Zone by fishing. Even in the Generation II games, they had a chance of running away from wild battles.
• Mercury's Wings: Dragonair has these wings on its head. Sometimes they're used for flight, sometime it flies without them.
• Mighty Glacier: Faster than the normal standards of this trope, with 80 base speed, which was great in early generations but has gradually become average due to Power Creep. However, Dragonite has always had a great Attack and decent defenses; the additions of Roost and Multiscale in later generations cemented Dragonite's role as a powerful Pokémon able to shrug off most hits that aren't super effective.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Dragon-type. The first two stages are Eastern in both appearance and lore, while Dragonite is Western in appearance but retains the Eastern water motif.
• Power Gives You Wings: Dragonite gains wings after evolving.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: These guys are some of the cutest Dragon-types around and, along with the similarly adorable Goomy line, they are the only pseudo-legendaries without threatening appearances.
• Ridiculously Small Wings: Dragonite's wings are tiny compared to its bulky body, but this doesn't seem to stop it from being able to fly around the world or use the move Hurricane. Its pre-evolution Dragonair has been described as being capable of flight as well in spite of its wings being even smaller and located on the sides of its head, although this is usually Handwaved through a combination of levitation and being capable of making them bigger.
• The Rival: Kingdra's Isle of Armor Sword Pokédex entry mentions that it and Dragonite will fight on sight upon meeting in the wild.
• Sea Serpents: Dratini and Dragonair, due to being snake-like and often found in or near water, though they're much friendlier than most examples.
• Secret Art: In Gen II only; while Charmander and Larvitar could learn the move via breeding, the Dratini line were the only Pokémon that could naturally learn Outrage.
• Status Buff: Learns Dragon Dance, which increases its already high Attack and patches up its average Speed. Famously, Lance's Dragonite in Red and Blue knows Barrier, a move that increases its Defense by 2 stages and a move that Dragonite is never able to learn. It wasn't until February of 2016 that players were able to actually get their hands on a Dragonite that knew Barrier. Whose OT is Lance.
• Stock Ness Monster: Dragonair is a serpentine mon said to live in pristine lakes as well as oceans.

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