Characters / Pokémon: Generation V - Minccino to Volcarona

Main Character Index > Pokémon: Generation V Families > Victini to Zoroark (494-571) | Minccino to Volcarona (572-637) | Cobalion to Genesect (638-649)

This page has the tropes for Pokémon numbered 572 to 637 in the National Pokédex.

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Minccino and Cinccino (Chillarmy and Chillaccino)

0572: Minccino / Chillarmy (チラーミィ chiraamii)
0573: Cinccino / Chillaccino (チラチーノ chirachiino)

Minccino

Cinccino

Adorable chinchilla Pokémon that have soft gray fur. They are neat freaks that like things to be spotless, so they often clean things with their tails. Cinccino also possess long white fur that resembles a feather boa and has fur coated in a special oil that repels dust and static electricity.

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• Adorable Fluffy Tail: It has a fluffy, grey tail with a white tip at the end. Its White Pokédex entry states the following:
  These Pokémon prefer a tidy habitat. They are always sweeping and dusting, using their tails as brooms.
• Badass Adorable: One of the cutest Pokémon of the fifth generation, and so pretty in its own fur! And with the right set-up and a bit of luck, it can take down some nasty Pokémon... by slapping them with its tail.
• Balance Buff: Gen IX gave them the very potent Tidy Up via breeding, which synchronizes well with its already good Attack and Speed, and allows it to clear entry hazards at the same time.
• Bullet Seed: One of the few non-grass Pokémon who can learn the move... and one of only three that gets it who can have the Skill Link ability (the others are Mega Heracross and Toucannon). Also synergizes nicely with Technician.
• Confusion Fu: Aside from having stats and abilities that let it specialize in multi-hit attacks, its movepool grants it access to 4 different types of such moves, including Tail Slap (Normal), Rock Blast (Rock), Bullet Seed (Grass), and Triple Axel (Ice), giving it very good type coverage.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Black And White 2, you can catch these critters as early as Route 5, just before taking on the 4th Gym. You're also Railroaded into finding a Hidden Ability Minccino at Route 5's Hidden Grotto right when you enter the route, so you can freely choose between abilities. Shiny Stones and the Move Relearner aren't much further down the road either.
• Glass Cannon: At 95 Attack, Cinccino can put out some surprising pain, and 115 Speed means it can outpace a lot of Pokémon. Its HP and Defenses, however, aren't nearly as impressive.
• Killer Rabbit: Don't mistake them for Com Mons. These adorable chinchillas' moves will hurt. Both evolutionary stages come with a STAB Spam Attack that takes heavy advantage of regular ability Technician and hidden ability Skill Link, and Cinccino also gets access to a Grass- and Rock-type Spam Attack as well as a very impressive base Speed. An enemy weak to any of its moves is going to say goodbye to either most or all of its HP.
• Making a Splash: They can learn Aqua Tail.
• Neat Freak: Minccino's obsession with cleaning dirty stuff. It even evolves with a Shiny Stone!
• Non-Elemental: They're Normal-type Pokémon based on chinchillas.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Cinccino's one of the smallest fully-evolved Pokémon, but still just as strong.
• Pretty in Mink: Cinccino. Subverted and justified in that it's its own fur.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Both of them. Which justifies their Cute Charm ability.
• Secret Art: Tail Slap, basically a stronger version of the multi-hit Fury Attack or Fury Swipes.
• Series Mascot: For the fifth generation games. Game Freak certainly tried to push Minccino (alongside Emolga) as the Pikachu equivalent for the 5th generation (similar to Marill in the 2nd). Both forms were fairly prominent in most Black & White related material as well as the opening cutscene for both the base games and their sequels.
• Spam Attack: Cinccino's modus operandi. It can get Rock Blast and Bullet Seed to go along with Tail Slap if you have a couple of Heart Scales to spend, giving it access to the three best multi-hit moves in the game. And with the Island of Armor expansion in Sword and Shield it can also learn Triple Axel. Its abilities also compliment them nicely: regular ability Technician applies a 1.5x multiplier to every hit (since their Power is low enough to proc it), and hidden ability Skill Link lets the spam moves always hit the maximum five times.
• Tail Slap: Its signature move.
• Useless Useful Spell: One of their abilities, Cute Charm, has a 30% chance of infatuating an opposing Pokémon that hits it with direct attack. Even discounting that it only works on Pokémon of the opposite gender, infatuation also requires the user to be alive and stay on the field, which is problematic because taking hits is not their strong suit.

Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle (Gothimu, Gothimiru, and Gothiruselle)

0574: Gothita / Gothimu (ゴチム gochimu)
0575: Gothorita / Gothimiru (ゴチミル gochimiru)
0576: Gothitelle / Gothiruselle (ゴチルゼル gochiruzeru)

Gothita

Gothorita

Gothitelle

A family of deep woods dwelling Psychic Pokémon with a gothic lolita motif. Its formative years will see it periodically stake out roads, while its middle stage infiltrates human settlements in search of puppets to play with, but the final form is a recluse appearing only to potentially worthy companions...or opponents. They appear to possess a number of different, unsettling psychic abilities and seem to to be inspired by both the Abra family and the Ralts family. They are exclusive to the Black version.

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• Boring, but Practical: Gothitelle is nothing spectacular offensively, doesn't have a diverse offensive movepool, and its stats aren't the highest in the world, but its powerful Shadow Tag ability and wide array of support moves makes it a very capable fighter. Trapping and wearing down an opposing Pokémon isn't the flashiest role to fill in battle, but it's a very useful one all the same.
• Boss Battle: Gothitelle is Elite Four Caitlin's strongest Mon, though it tends to be replaced by Metagross many times (Black and White and Black and White 2 Normal Mode's rematches and all her battles in Black and White 2 Hard Mode).
• Depending on the Writer: Gothitelle's legs are subject to differing character design depending on which medium it appears in. In the 3D games, its model reveals that it has proportionally long legs underneath its dress. The anime depicts its legs as short and stubby and a disproportionately long body.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle have a gothic lolita design, along with having pale faces, and all three have creepy and disturbing habits, such as looking at something not being there, kidnapping kids at night and knowing when everything will die.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: It's based on this outfits typical of the subculture, sporting the signature bows and frills with a black and white colour scheme.
• Foil: The Black version counterpart to the Solosis line.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Gothita are described as "still only babies" in their Sword Pokédex entry. While this is true of their baby-like appearance and them being the first in their evolutionary line, Gothita are not baby Pokémon by definition, as they can still breed with other Pokémon.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: They're Psychic-types dressed in gothic lolita.
• Hearing Voices: Gothita seem to hold conversations with themselves when no one is around, or whisper to unseen creatures when someone is.
• The Hermit: While Gothita is unsubtly curious about other species and Gothorita is an active mischief maker, wild Gothitelle dislike crowds and conflict, so they rarely make their presence known.
• Hu Mons: The Gothita line appears to wear Gothic Lolita fashion, as their bodies resemble black dresses and are adorned with bows.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: According to the Black and White 2 Pokédex entry, Gothorita kidnap people and Pokémon out of a desire for friends.
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Just like Drowzee and Hypno, wild Gothorita steal people and Pokémon during the night with hypnotic powers. Its Hidden Ability is Shadow Tag, which prevents foes from fleeing. Unlike Drowzee, it doesn't have the excuse of needing some nice tasty dreams to eat. But it can anyway... and while there are numerous tales of Gothorita leading travelers astray, it specializes in sleeping children.
• Mayfly–December Friendship: Implied in Gothitelle's Black 2 Pokédex entry; Gothitelle are said to cry when they learn from the stars how long their trainers are going to live, suggesting that they naturally outlive their human trainers.
• Mighty Glacier: Has good defensive stats and decent Special Attack, and a wide array of supporting moves, but below-average Speed.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Gothitelle does a similar pose when it's happy in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh.
• Power Floats: Gothorita and Gothitelle walk on their legs like normal, but instead of running, they use their psychic powers to fly.
• Psychic Powers: Psychic-types with astral powers.
• "Psycho" Strings: Gothitelle's cry is a pair of ethereal stings which sounds suspiciously similar to the infamous musical cue from the shower murder scene from Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho. Pleasant dreams.
• Purple Is Powerful: All three have lavender faces, and Gothitelle's hands are, too. The shiny versions replace the black with dark purple, and their eyes become purple.
• Reality Warper: Gothitelle can distort space to view starry skies thousands of light-years away. It also naturally learns Psyshock, Future Sight and Magic Room, while Trick Room can be taught to it via TM.
• Recurring Element: Like the Abra and Ralts lines before it, the Gothita line is a family of humanoid Psychic-type Pokémon.
• Retcon: For some strange reason, the line could learn Dark Pulse, but not through move tutor or TM. It could only learn the move through breeding. Fixed in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, where the TM became compatible with the line.
• Seers: Gothitelle can see the future through the movement of the stars. When it learns its trainer's lifespan, it cries.
• Shadow Pin: Its Hidden Ability is Shadow Tag, which prevents non-Ghost-types from switching out of battle normally.
• Stalker without a Crush: Intently observing other Pokémon and people is a Gothita's natural instinct.
• Star Power: They can tell the future by using stars, and Gothitelle in particular can project the images of starry skies of planets lightyears away to observers.
• Status Buff: From X and Y onward, one of their possible abilities is Competitive, which grants them a two-stage boost to Special Attack whenever any of their stats are reduced.
• Telekinesis: Gothorita learns Telekinesis by level up, and it instinctively hones its psychic powers by levitating rocks and using them to duplicate the positions and orbits of the stars it can observe.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Subverted. Both males and females have dresses, makeup, and hair ribbons.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Their Hidden Ability is Shadow Tag, which prevents opponents from switching out unless they use U-turn, Volt Switch, Baton Pass, are holding the Shed Shell item, or are a Ghost-type (X and Y onward).

Solosis, Duosion, and Reuniclus (Uniran, Doublan, and Lanculus)

0577: Solosis / Uniran (ユニラン yuniran)
0578: Duosion / Doublan (ダブラン daburan)
0579: Reuniclus / Lanculus (ランクルス rankurusu)

Solosis

Duosion

Reuniclus

Psychic Pokémon that resemble a giant splitting cell, embryo, and fetus respectively. Their bodies are suspended in a green fluid and encapsulated in a thin membrane, which protects them from the elements and allows them to thrive in nearly any sort of environment. They possess a high special attack and HP stat, and their sluggishness makes them excellent Trick Room users. They are exclusive to the White version.

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• Badass Adorable: Duosion and Reuniclus are incredibly soft and adorable, but their Special Attack stats are very high.
• Black Bead Eyes: The whole family has these eyes.
• Blob Monster: Their inner bodies are encased in slime.
• Brain Critical Mass: Reuniclus are highly intelligent Psychic-types.
• Confusion Fu: Disregarding Hidden Power, the types in their movepool include Psychic, Electric, Rock, Bug, Grass, Steel, Ghost, Fighting, Fire, and Ice. Several of those may only consist of one or two moves that run off the line's subpar Attack stat and/or be obtained exclusively from B2W2's Move Tutors, but it's still quite the pool.
• Elite Tweak: Their horrible speed makes them a Special Attack force to be reckoned with when Trick Room is involved, and they are indeed among the best Trick Room abusers in the game, as most Trick Room setters are too frail, too fast, or can't hit hard.
• Foil: The White version counterpart of Gothita's line. While both are Mighty Glaciers, Gothitelle leans towards a more defensive role while Reuniclus leans towards a more offensive one.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The White Pokédex entry mentions that Reuniclus's arms can grip with "rock-crushing power." Its apparent newfound physical strength granted by its new arms is exemplified by it learning Dizzy Punch upon evolution. However, its physical Attack is actually poor, especially in comparison to its very high Special Attack stat.
• Gelatinous Encasement: The body of this family is surrounded by a thick layer of green cytoplasm.
• Glass Cannon: Although it becomes bulky as it evolves, Solosis is actually rather frail with its only good stat being its Special Attack — a bad combination with its very poor speed unless you have Trick Room, which, because it only learns Trick Room by TM, which is one obtained in the postgame in Black and White, you probably don't have access to it. This makes Solosis a bit hard to train in-game since it evolves into Duosion surprisingly late at level 32.
• Healing Factor: They have Regenerator as a Hidden Ability, restoring 1/3 of their total HP whenever they switch out.
• Heal Thyself: They can use Recover to heal themselves at will, and can be taught Drain Punch via Move Tutor.
• Meaningful Name: Reunite + Nucleus.
• Mega-Microbes: Well, cells/developing embryos.
• Mighty Glacier: Reuniclus has great Special Attack and HP, but horrible speed. It's still very powerful thanks to its combination of bulk and offensive muscle, however, and its excellent selection of Abilities doesn't hurt either. Teaching it Trick Room will give it 5 turns where it can move ahead of normally faster opponents and remove its one shortcoming. Alternatively, it can use Calm Mind to make itself even more of a Mighty Glacier by boosting both of its special stats, allowing it to hit even harder and tank hits even better.
• Our Homunculi Are Different: They look like a developing embryo.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: They're something between an embryo and a giant single-cell organism.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Barely more than three feet tall, Reuniclus hits harder than Arceus in regards to its Special Attack, and can either use Calm Mind to make itself hit even harder (as well as take hits even better), or use Trick Room to make its low Speed work for it. (Or it can do both, but that veers into Awesome, but Impractical.)
• Protection from the Elements: Their Overcoat and Magic Guard abilities protect them from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• Psychic Powers: This entire line is Psychic-type and can naturally learn Psychic attacks.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: You wouldn't expect a developing embryo to pull it off, but they do.
• Split-Personality Merge: During its time as Duosion, it has two brains that can disagree with each other. When they become Reuniclus, however, they merge together into one personality again.
• Synchronization: Although it can't be achieved in the games, nor does the line have the ability Synchronize, two Reuniclus can join hands and form mental networks that amplify their psychokinetic prowess.
• Telepathy: Solosis's Pokédex entries mention that it communicates with others using telepathy.
• Useless Useful Spell: Overcoat was this during Generation V, in which its sole purpose was to prevent damage from Hail and Sandstorm. However, weather protection was already a part of Magic Guard's many boons as an indirect source of damage. Generation VI updated Overcoat to include an immunity to powder- and spore-based moves, something that Magic Guard does not protect against, making it slightly less redundant.

Ducklett (Koaruhie) and Swanna

0580: Ducklett / Koaruhie (コアルヒー koaruhii)
0581: Swanna (スワンナ suwanna)

Ducklett

Swanna

Making their homes near lakes, rivers and seas, these waterfowl are a common sight along the many bridges of the Unova region, where trainers gather for the feathers they occasionally drop even if they are not interested in catching one. While Ducklett is a bit gawky, it becomes much more graceful when it evolves into Swanna, but like other Water/Flying dual types, electricity will ruin its day.

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• Action Initiative: They're able to learn Aqua Jet starting from Sun and Moon, which is an increased priority move that almost always hits first.
• Blow You Away:
  • Notably, it's a prominent user of the move Hurricane, since the attack gains perfect accuracy in the rain, which Swanna can take additional advantage of with its STAB Water attacks and its Hydration ability. The only Pokémon that can boast similar credentials is Pelipper, which Swanna has a significant speed advantage over (although Pelipper is able to setup its own rain with Drizzle).
  • It can also blow away wind (and entry hazards) with Defog, a highly coveted move due to its Gen VI buff. You can only find one Defog user in X and Y without transferring from an earlier game or Friend Safaris: Ducklett.
• Boss Battle: Swanna is Skyla's strongest Mon.
• Flight: Flying-type.
• Foul Waterfowl: Much like real swans, Swanna is portrayed as being fairly aggressive.
• Glass Cannon: Higher-than-average offenses and Speed, but horrible defenses.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Swanna are noted to be rather aggressive, just like real swans.
• Heal Thyself: Learns Roost via level-up.
• Healing Factor: Learns Aqua Ring via level-up. In addition, its Hidden Ability is Hydration, which heals Status Effects placed on it while in the rain.
• Magic Knight: Both of their attacking stats are high enough - 87 - to pull off mixed sets with moves like Brave Bird, Liquidation, Hydro Pump and Hurricane.
• Making a Splash: They're Water-type Pokémon based on waterfowl.
• Mundane Utility: Swanna can learn Surf, Fly, and Dive, making it a viable choice for an HM slave.
• Organic Bra: They have tufts of feathers on their chests that invoke the image of a ballerina's costume.
• Shout-Out:
  • Swanna's physical appearance, name (a portmanteau of "swan" and "ballerina"), and its Pokédex entries mentioning that groups of Swanna dance at dusk are all references to Swan Lake.
  • The fact that the duck-like Ducklett evolves into a swan may be a reference to The Ugly Duckling.
• Shown Their Work: Swans are commonly portrayed as peaceful birds in media. Swanna, however, is highly aggressive, like a real swan.
• Swans A-Swimming: Unlike most depictions, Swanna is depicted as being rather aggressive, which is how swans act in real life.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ducklett loves peat moss, which it dives underwater to eat.

Vanillite, Vanillish, and Vanilluxe (Vanipeti, Vanirich, and Baivanilla)

0582: Vanillite / Vanipeti (バニプッチ banipucchi)
0583: Vanillish / Vanirich (バニリッチ baniricchi)
0584: Vanilluxe / Baivanilla (バイバニラ baibanira)

Vanillite

Vanillish

Vanilluxe

A family of pure Ice-types that hang around Cold Storage and bear a striking resemblance to ice cream desserts^note Vanillite looks like a soft-serve cone from the kids' menu of a Dairy Queen, Vanillish looks like a typical ice cream cone, and Vanilluxe brings to mind an ice cream sundae with a rolled-up wafer stuck in it or, if you think the protrusion on its head is a straw, then a milkshake or a root beer float. Don't let their appearance deceive you. For one thing, their heads are solid ice◊ underneath a layer of snow and they aren't milk-based. For another, they do have high stats, although their typing and movepool hold them back.

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• Action Bomb: Like Trubbish and Garbodor, the entire line can learn Explosion (though, unlike Trubbish and Garbodor, they learn Explosion through TMs).
• Action Initiative: Can be bred to know Ice Shard.
• Anthropomorphic Food: Subverted; they may look like ice cream, but they're just icicle creatures with fluffy snow on their heads. In-universe, it's inverted — Castelia City's Casteliacones are ice cream based off Vanillite.
• Badass Adorable: They're cute floating ice cream cones with dopey smiles, but they're tougher than they look and have very good stats.
• Barrier Warrior: Vanilluxe can learn Aurora Veil in Gen VIII, which can work in conjunction with its newly acquired second ability, Snow Warning, which it has been able to have since Gen VII.
• Beware the Silly Ones: According to Sun & Moon, Vanillish has a fondness for freezing its enemies solid, then smashing them apart with a vicious headbutt.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Don't let the fact that they resemble ice cream cones fool you. Vanilluxe is tied with Lapras for the highest base stat total of non-Legendary Ice-types. It also has a higher physical Attack stat than some tough-looking Pokémon such as Steelix, Scrafty, and Ferrothorn, even though its highest stat is Special Attack.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Though not a Steel-type, they learn a lot of Steel attacks such as Flash Cannon, Mirror Shot, and Autotomize. They are also in the Mineral Egg Group.
• Eyes Always Shut: One of Vanilluxe's heads will always have its eyes closed, while the other one's will always be open.
• Fragile Speedster: With its Hidden Ability of Weak Armor, which allows it to gain Speed whenever it's physically struck, at the cost of losing Defense as well.
• Healing Factor: In Hail, they gain back HP thanks to Ice Body.
• An Ice Person: Ice-type Pokémon that look like ice cream.
• Making a Splash: Can learn Water Pulse through breeding. You'll need a Snorunt or Glalie for it.
• Meaningful Name: Vanillite/Vanipeti is a mini vanilla cone, Vanillish/Vanirich is a vanilla cone that looks delish/rich, and Vanilluxe/Baivanilla is a deluxe serving/double scoop of vanilla.
• Mighty Glacier: All of its stats are pretty good, especially Special Attack, although its Speed is about average.
• Multiple Head Case: Vanilluxe has two heads, and its Ultra Moon Dex entry mentions that Vanilluxe can be formed from two Vanillish getting half-melted during the day sticking to one another and getting frozen together at night. In-game, however, it's subject to Gameplay and Story Segregation.
• Mundane Utility: Vanilluxe's Ultra Sun Dex entry mentions that its ability to create snow and blizzards everywhere makes it popular with skiers and snowboarders.
• Older Than They Look: A species-wide example. Though they look like ice cream, they've been around since one of the Ice Ages.
• One-Hit KO: Naturally learns Sheer Cold, a Ice-type move that can instantly faint any target with a lower level than the user.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Gained the new Freeze Dry attack in Gen VI, giving them a more effective means of dealing with Water-types than they had in Gen V.
• Shout-Out: According to its designer James Turner in a series of now-deleted tweets, Vanilluxe's design is meant to evoke American food mascots such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, and the fictional Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.
• Status Buff: Can be bred to have Autotomize, which doubles their Speed. It also learns Acid Armor naturally to boost its Defense further, and it can be bred or tutored to know Iron Defense. Vanilluxe can also learn Aurora Veil starting from Gen VIII, which it can use immediately once its newly acquired in Generation VII Snow Warning ability activates.
• Theme Naming: The entire line in both Japanese and English have "vanilla" in their names.
• Weak to Fire: Being living icicles, they're naturally weak to Fire-type moves and general heat, and Vanillish's Ultra Sun Dex entry mentions that Alolan Vanillish tend to be smaller on average compared to those living in other regions due to it being much hotter.
• Weather Manipulation: In Generation VII, Vanilluxe gained the Snow Warning ability, making it the first Snow Warning user to not have a x4 weakness.

Deerling and Sawsbuck (Shikijika and Mebukijika)

0585: Deerling / Shikijika (シキジカ shikijika)
0586: Sawsbuck / Mebukijika (メブキジカ mebukijika)

Deerling

Sawsbuck

Unlike the regions of games past, Unova experiences seasons, each one lasting a month in-game. This Pokémon changes its appearance depending on which season it is currently. As a Deerling, its scent changes and its coat changes color. As a Sawsbuck, its antlers grow and shed leaves much like a deciduous tree. Its signature move is Horn Leech, which works like Giga Drain except it works off its physical attack.

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• Animal Gender-Bender: Male and female Sawsbuck share the same model, despite (with some exceptions) only male deer having antlers in real life.
• The Artifact: Seasons did not become a mainstay of the Pokémon franchise after Gen V, leaving them a remnant of the feature. Averted in Pokémon GO, as they automatically change with the real-life seasons. Scarlet and Violet include Deerling and Sawsbuck in the Paldea Dex, but change how their forms function by being based on what province you're in when you load the game with them in your party.
• Bambification:
  • Deerling looks so much like the Disney character Bambi, it's unbelievable. Sawsbuck, on the other hand, looks more or less like a deer would in real life.
  • Subverted by Summer Deerling's Scarlet Dex entry, which states that they are considered pests to farmers, who use Lycanroc, their natural enemy to keep them out of their fields.
• Crafted from Animals: Sawsbuck leaves can be used to make black tea, as shown in Summer Sawsbuck's Violet Dex entry.
• Fragile Speedster: Even moreso in the sun if it has the Chlorophyll ability.
• Fun with Acronyms: Sawsbuck. (Summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring)
• Glass Cannon: Sawsbuck has a great Attack stat, but mediocre defenses that leave it vulnerable to hits.
• Green Thumb: Grass-type, but Deerling isn't as good due to its lack of usable Grass-type moves until it evolves into Sawsbuck.
• The Marvelous Deer: Sawsbuck is a deer Pokémon whose antlers change throughout the seasons.
• Non-Elemental: One of the few Normal-types with a second type that isn't Flying.
• Palette Swap: Deerling's seasonal forms are color coded.
  • Spring Form has a pink color in reference to the Cherry Blossoms that symbolize Spring in Japan.
  • Summer Form is green due to the plants having the most sunlight to thrive.
  • Autumn Form's orange coloration refers to the color of the falling leaves.
  • Winter Form is a dirt brown as all the leaves fall off and leave only the bark and dirt.
• Planimal: Sawsbuck antlers change with the seasons like a tree's branches.
• Power-Up Letdown: Gets Serene Grace as its Hidden Ability, which doubles the likelihood of any attack's secondary effect. Unfortunately, Sawsbuck only has five moves that apply the bonus: The first being a widely distributed but lackluster move (Rock Smash), the second being a relatively inaccurate move that executes in two turns (Bounce), the remaining three (Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, Snore) being moves utilizing its awful Special Attack, not to mention the last one cannot be learned in Pokémon X and Y and is weaker than Tackle.
  • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have somewhat rectified this as it now gains access to Headbutt^note a 70 base power Normal-type attack with a 30% chance to flinch, which is doubled with Serene Grace via breeding. Scarlet and Violet give it another boost by letting Sawsbuck learn Body Slam, Play Rough, and Zen Headbutt via TM.
• Pretty in Mink: Winter Forme Sawsbuck looks like it's wearing a fur coat with white trim.
• Seasonal Baggage: Changes looks depending on the season. They don't actually change until you load the game with them in your party.
• Secret Art: Horn Leech, until Generation VI.
• Stealth Pun: A fawn with a flower, influenced by the season? Hey, it's Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.

Emolga (Emonga)

0587: Emolga / Emonga (エモンガ emonga)

Emolga

It seems like every region has its own kind of electrical rodent. Emolga is Unova's. Unlike its relatives, it is able to glide using a thin membrane called a patagium. This membrane is electrically charged. It isn't encountered that often, so consider yourself lucky if you do find one (or unlucky if you are using a Water-, Flying-, or Grass-type to battle it).

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• Blow You Away: It doesn't learn many Flying-type moves apart from Acrobatics, but it does get Air Slash as an Egg move.
• Elemental Absorption: Its Hidden Ability, Motor Drive, not only gives it an Electric immunity, but also boosts Emolga's Speed when hit by such attacks.
• Flight: Part Flying-type with limited Flying-type moves.
• Fragile Speedster: Pretty fast and has decent attacking stats, but is very brittle.
• Green Thumb: Its return with the Isle of Armor made it be able to learn Solar Beam and Energy Ball, giving it new toys to help it deal with Rock- and Ground-type foes.
• Heal Thyself: It can learn Roost via TM.
• Power Incontinence: According to its Sun Pokédex entry, it doesn't entirely control how much electricity it gives off while flying. However, since this drives off bird Pokémon that might steal its food, Emolga's not bothered.
• Recurring Element: The resident Pikaclone. However, it happens to be the first to be a dual type. In this case, Electric and Flying.
• Scunthorpe Problem: Emolga's name was changed from its Japanese name Emonga, presumably because "mong" is a slur in the UK for someone afflicted with Down's Syndrome.
• Secret Art: Only Pokémon to learn Volt Switch naturally.
• Shock and Awe: As a Pikaclone, it is part Electric-type.
• Sweet Tooth: Loves berries, so much so it'll gorge itself and become unable to fly.
• Switch-Out Move: In addition to Volt Switch, Emolga can be taught U-Turn by TM and Baton Pass by breeding.

Karrablast and Escavalier (Kaburumo and Chevargo)

0588: Karrablast / Kaburumo (カブルモ kaburumo)
0589: Escavalier / Chevargo (シュバルゴ shubarugo)

Karrablast

Escavalier

Karrablast is a strange beetle Pokémon that is only capable of evolving with another Pokémon. It seeks out this Pokémon and presumably uses its horn like a can-opener. It then steals the unlucky Pokémon's "can" and uses it as armor. Similar to Scizor, it becomes a dual Bug/Steel type; its attack and defenses are cranked up, but its speed suffers because of the armor.

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• Armored But Frail: Escavalier has great defenses, but its base HP stat leaves it vulnerable to Fire-type moves.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Karrablast is a 1 foot tall Bug-type while its evolution is 3 feet tall.
• Cool Helmet: Escavalier's stolen Shelmet shell resembles a knight's helmet and it's a powerful Pokémon with a 135 base Attack stat.
• Cute Little Fangs: Although they're not as cute on Escavalier.
• Dual Wielding: Escavalier has two jousting lances for arms.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Escavalier is part Steel-type from its stolen armor.
• Foil: Escavalier to Accelgor. Accelgor is an extremely fast special attacker while Escavalier is a very slow physical attacker.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite the Black entry saying that Escavalier can fly around at high speeds, it has a pathetic Speed stat of 20.
• Jousting Lance: Escavalier has them for arms. This allows it to use Twinneedle, which was previously Beedrill's signature attack.
• Kill Streak: Escavalier can learn Fell Stinger, which raises its Attack by two stages if it lands the finishing blow on an opponent.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Ironic, given that armor was stolen...
• Lightning Can Do Anything: According to various Pokédex entries, it and Shelmet can evolve in the wild upon receiving electrical energy at the same time.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Escavalier has great physical Attack, but a poor base 60 Special Attack.
• Mighty Glacier: Great attack and defenses, but 20 speed makes Escavalier one of the slowest Pokémon ever, allowing it to become a Lightning Bruiser if a Trick Room is in effect.
• Not Completely Useless: Escavalier's Hidden Ability is Overcoat. Its ability to block Sandstorm damage is redundant because of its Steel-typing, but it's immune to Hail and Powder moves.
• Protection from the Elements: Escavalier's Overcoat hidden ability protects it from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• The Rival: In Galar they're known to duel with Sirfetch'd.
• Socialization Bonus: Needs to be traded for Shelmet in order to evolve.
• Weak to Fire: As Bug-types, both Karrablast and Escavalier don't take well to fire, but Escavalier is especially vulnerable since Fire deals quadruple damage and is the only type that is super effective against it.

Foongus and Amoonguss (Tamagetake and Morobareru)

0590: Foongus / Tamagetake (タマゲタケ tamagetake)
0591: Amoonguss / Morobareru (モロバレル morobareru)

Foongus

Amoonguss

When you're traveling through the grassy fields or brush under the woods in the Unova region and spot what seems to be a Pokéball, beware! It might actually be this Pokémon. However, instead of exploding like Voltorb and Electrode might, this Pokémon might spray spores that may cause paralysis, poison, or sleep.

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• Boring, but Practical: Compared to the other options for Grass-types in the Unova Dex, they're not the first choice offhand. However, their movepool is much greater than the others, who mostly have one or two options available. Not to mention their dizzying array of self-healing moves and Spore, which lets them reliably put opponents to sleep.
• Chest Monster:
  • Did that Item Ball just bounce? Oh, son of a—
  • Humorously, there's an old woman in Accumula Town who thinks the item in front of her is a Foongus instead of the other way around.
• Fungus Humongous: Subverted: they're not that big, if Dex measurements are to be believed. Foongus is eight inches tall, while Amoongus is two feet tall.
• Gonk: Amoonguss is a strange looking Pokémon with dreary lidded eyes and a small mouth with bright pink lips.
• Green Thumb: Part Grass-type based on mushrooms.
• Healing Factor: Has Regenerator as its Hidden Ability.
• Mighty Glacier: Huge health, decent defenses, tons of self-healing moves, can hit back with Foul Play or Giga Drain, and among the slowest Pokémon in the series.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Amoonguss's Pokédex entry says it tries to use its appearance to lure in prey. Most Pokémon aren't fooled, though. Especially since Amoonguss's colors are a little off.^note Interestingly, it appears that its disguise is most reliable when used on prey that have a birds-eye view. This could suggest that it preys on Flying-types, or...
• Poisonous Pokémon: Part Poison-types that can naturally learn Poison type attacks.
• Punny Name: There's a Foongus Amoonguss!^ExplanationThere's a fungus among us.
• Recurring Element: Of both the Paras and Voltorb lines. The former by being a mushroom-based Pokémon that learns Spore, and the latter through their resemblance to Poké Balls.
• Riddle for the Ages: Zigzagged. For the first four generations of its dex entries there is a recurring statement that no one knows why Foongus has a Pokéball-like pattern or what it means. Then, in its Scarlet Dex entry a theory is proposed that the developer of the modern Pokéball was simply very fond of Foongus, and that's why the two resemble each other. However, it is likewise noted that this theory lacks any confirmation.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Foongus can be cute in some people's eyes. Like Trubbish, it's based on something that, in real life, wouldn't be considered cute at all (in this case, a mushroom).
• Secret Art: Being one of the few families based on mushrooms, they can learn Spore.
• Support Party Member: Amoongus is an exceptionally good support Pokémon in Doubles; while it is not the most varied Pokémon in existence, the combination of Spore to sleep opponents, Rage Powder to redirect enemy attacks, and enough of an offensive punch to be notable makes it extremely reliable. Just so long as none of the enemy Pokémon are wearing Safety Goggles.
• Vocal Dissonance: Amoonguss's cry might make sense to be ridiculously high-pitched since it's only about two feet tall, but it still doesn't fit its facial expression at all.

Frillish and Jellicent (Pururill and Burungel)

0592: Frillish / Pururill (プルリル pururiru)
0593: Jellicent / Burungel (ブルンゲル burungeru)

Male and Female Frillish

Male and Female Jellicent

Floating in Unova's seas are these intriguing Pokémon. They spend their lives floating in the water waiting for prey to amble into their vicinity. Jellicent is said to be the reason why a lot of ships and their crews have gone missing (the fact that it also feeds on "life energy" and has underwater castles made of the ships it attacked just add to how scary it is and how true the claims are). They may also take a more active approach and drag their prey downward into their underwater caves several miles below the surface. Unusually, male and female individuals are shaped and colored very differently from each other. The reason for this is unclear. With high HP and special defence, alongside its protective abilities, they serve as effective water-based tanks.

---

• Boss Battle: In Black and White 2, Jellicent is the strongest Mon of Marlon.
• Cute Is Evil: Anyone familiar with the ocean, or even nature in general, would be cautious during their first Frillish encounter, but even those well acquainted with the Pokémon world tend to be surprised to learn how devious the things really are. They are more "mercilessly predatory" than "evil" however.
• Electric Jellyfish: Subverted; like Tentacool and Tentacruel, they aren't Electric-type, but they can learn Shock Wave, an Electric-type move.
• Elemental Absorption: Can have Water Absorb as an Ability, which allows them to recover HP when hit with a Water-type move.
• Flying Seafood Special: In Sword and Shield, wild Jellicent can be encountered floating through tall grass.
• Foil: To Alomomola, which is found on the same routes as Frillish in their native region, is based on a predator of the animal Frillish is based on and is as benevolent as Frillish is malevolent.
• Gag Lips: Female Jellicent have a heart-shaped marking that resembles large lips, but it seems to be nothing but ornamental, as it doesn't change at all in Amie.
• Ghostly Animals: They're Ghost types which resemble jellyfish.
• Giant Squid: They are jellyfish, but their tentacles and reputation for sinking ships bring to mind the classical idea of this type of Sea Monster.
• Heal Thyself: Frillish and Jellicent are two of the three Ghost-types that can learn Recover, the only other one being Sableye.
• It Only Works Once: One of its abilities, "Cursed Body", does this to an opponent — if the opponent uses an attack on Frillish/Jellicent, there is a chance that said attack gets disabled for a few turns.
• Kraken and Leviathan: As giant tentacled monsters infamous for attacking and destroying ships, they definitely qualify as the "Kraken" variety.
• Making a Splash: They're jellyfish, and are fittingly part Water-type, with bodies comprised mostly of seawater.
• Manly Facial Hair: Used as Tertiary Sexual Characteristics. Both male (blue) and female (pink) Jellicent have white lining underneath their eyes; in females this resembles a puffy collar, but in males it resembles a moustache.
• Mighty Glacier: Has good bulk, a move to help it recover damage, Cursed Body to potentially seal the enemy's super-effective move out of repetition territory, and has a high enough Special Attack that prevents it from being helpless. Its Speed, however, is below average.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Jellyfish ghosts that look innocent, but are really the cause of many a sunken and missing sea vessel.
• Perpetual Frowner: Male Frillish frown as their default expression, but smile when happy in Pokémon-Amie.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Quite literally. Females are pink while males are blue.
• Regal Ruff: Frillish has a natural frill around its neck that resembles a ruff, regardless of what gender the Frillish is. However, when Frillish evolves into the royal-looking Jellicent, it only has a ruff if it is female. Male Jellicents' ruffs are replaced by giant mustaches.
• Requisite Royal Regalia: All Frillish and Jellicent appear to wear crowns, and their tentacles resemble robes. Frillish and female Jellicent will also have a ruff around their neck.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Both genders of Frillish and Jellicent have a crown on their heads and are based on royalty. And they aren't half bad in battle.
• Secret Art: Before Generation VII gave it to Gengar and Alolan Marowak, Frillish and Jellicent were the only Pokémon to get Cursed Body as a non-Hidden Ability.
• Soul Power: Part Ghost-type, and known for feeding off life energy, with a Jellicent's crown increasing in size as it absorbs more life energy.
• Status Effects: Jellicent loves throwing around burns, thanks to having access to both Scald and Will-O-Wisp.
• Technicolor Eyes: Inverted depending on gender (male have blue sclerae and red pupils; females have red sclerae and blue pupils).
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Males have angular features, are blue, and sport what appears to be a mustache as a Jellicent. Females have lipstick, frills, and are pink. Additionally, female Frillish have their eyelashes pointed downwards and are curled, while males are pointed upward and have no curls. Female Jellicent have more eyelashes than the males.
• Useless Useful Spell: Their hidden ability, Damp, prevents moves that already don't affect it and even eliminates a popular doubles strategy.
• Was Once a Man: In Male Frillish's Shield Dex entry:
  "Legend has it that the residents of a sunken ancient city changed into these Pokémon."
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Their favorite food is life energy, which they are said to get from the crew of ships who cross their territory.

Alomomola (Mamanbou)

0594: Alomomola / Mamanbou (ママンボウ mamanbou)

Alomomola

Alomomola are sunfish Pokémon with a very caring personality. If it spots a drowning person or Pokémon, they readily embrace it using their top and bottom fins and bring it to shore. Boasting the fifth highest HP rating of all Pokémon, Alomomola is a Pokémon of great bulk. Despite looking very similar, it is unrelated to Luvdisc.

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• Action Initiative: Naturally learns Aqua Jet, a move with +1 priority.
• Cardiovascular Love: It's vaguely heart-shaped, to the point where some people thought it was an evolution to Luvdisc.
• Common Place Rare: For a while, it will be the only rare encounter on sea routes.
• Foil:
  • Its behavior and design heavily contrast Frillish, which appear on the same routes. Mola mola do eat jellyfish, after all...
  • Alomomola is based partially on the same animal as Sharpedo, but where Sharpedo represents the predatory traits of a sunfish, Alomomola represents their friendly, inquisitive, playful behaviors.
• Fun with Palindromes: Its name is one of the few palindromic Pokémon names, along with Girafarig, Eevee, and Ho-Oh.
• Healing Factor: Has Hydration and Regenerator as its abilities. The former heals any Status Effects it has been afflicted with while in the rain, and the latter restores HP when it's switched out. It also learns Aqua Ring naturally.
• Healing Shiv: It learns Heal Pulse, which heals a target other than the user.
• Making a Splash: Water-type. It also gets the move Soak, which turns the target into a Water-type as well.
• The Medic:
  • It gets the Healer Ability, which gives it a chance at the end of each turn to heal Status Effects on its allies in Double or Triple Battles. In addition, it gets several moves that add to this, including Heal Pulse, Wish, and Healing Wish.
  • It and Audino are the only two Pokémon that can heal themselves (with Regenerator) and an ally (with Wish) at the same time.
• Recurring Element: Another Heart Symbol themed pink fish Pokémon based on the concept of love. At a quick glance it looks to be what an evolved Luvdisc might be like, but a longer glance makes one realize they are based on two different animals and sure enough they're unrelated. Luvdisc serves entirely different niches in game and in story. Luvdisc is encountered in the shallows while Alomomola is a deep sea creature. Alomomola is a fairly slow Stone Wall to Luvdisc's Fragile Speedster. Luvdisc seek out and celebrate loving couples at sea, while Alomomola is an instinctive lifeguard seeking out those who need help. Luvdisc is associated with romantic love and thus learns "romantic" moves like Attract, while Alomomola is associated with unconditional charitable love and learns supportive moves like Heal Pulse.
• Stone Wall: Alomomola's HP is incredibly high; this, combined with its average Defense, means that knocking it out with physical attacks can be quite challenging. On the other hand, Alomomola's offensive stats aren't that great and its Special Defense is pretty low.
• Team Mom: There's a reason why it's called Alomomola. They're known to have a caring personality, and naturally learn a number of support and healing moves.
• Weak to Magic: Alomomola has a low base 45 Special Defense stat, though its somewhat mitigated by its gargantuan HP stat.

Joltik and Galvantula (Bachuru and Dentula)

0595: Joltik / Bachuru (バチュル bachuru)
0596: Galvantula / Dentula (デンチュラ denchura)

Joltik

Galvantula

Joltik is a bug and electric type that is endemic to a cave known as the Chargestone Cave, where the magnetized rocks float and give off electricity, although some have been known to go into cities and feed from electric sockets. It is a tiny Pokémon and it makes use of it by clinging to larger Pokémon and feeding off their static electricity. It evolves into the unsettling Galvantula, a fast Pokémon that uses electrically-charged webbing to ensnare unlucky prey.

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• All Webbed Up: They learn Spider Web, Electroweb, and Sticky Web. The first prevents the enemy from fleeing, the second does damage while simultaneously lowering the enemy's speed, and the third is an entry hazard that lowers grounded Pokémon's speed.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Averted with Joltik, which is actually the size of a real tarantula and the smallest Pokémon so far, although it is massive when compared to a real-life tick, the animal it's based on (10cm compared to 3-5mm). Played straight with the dog-sized Galvantula.
• Cute Little Fangs: Joltik, as if it wasn't cute enough.
• Cuteness Proximity: The only possible explanation for why Unnerve works for Joltik is that enemies are too distracted by the tiny fuzzy yellow plushie spider to think about eating.
• Extra Eyes: Both of them have multiple eyes, similar to real life spiders. It also justifies their Compound Eyes ability.
• Four Legged Spiders: If their legs were doubled, they'd be slightly more scientifically accurate.
• Fragile Speedster: Galvantula's base Speed is a great 108, which is compensated by the fact that its HP, Defense, and Special Defense are cripplingly below average.
• Giant Spider: In terms of proportion, Galvantula is huge compared to a regular tarantula.
• Glass Cannon: Galvantula has high Speed and respectable Special Attack, STAB with several already strong Bug and Electric attacks along with Grass attacks from TMs and move tutors to give it good coverage, and its ability Compound Eyes raises the 70% accuracy of Thunder to 91%. But its Bug typing makes it fodder for anything packing a Fire or Rock attack, and its defenses and HP are horrible, so it'll quickly be KO'd even if its opponent lacks those types.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Joltik is what happens when you design a spider that looks like a hamster. Galvantula, despite being somewhat more accurate, still looks like a candy-colored plush toy. May be justified, as the line is at least partly based on jumping spiders, many of which are notably cute and "plush" as spiders go.
• Secret Art: Used to be the only line to naturally learn Electroweb before it became tutorable in Black 2 and White 2.
• Shock and Awe: Part Electric-type. Notable as such for its Compound Eyes ability that raises accuracy, giving the normally Awesome, but Impractical Thunder a much better chance to strike.
• Shown Their Work: The line learning Bug Buzz may seem odd at first, as the move is mostly associated with Bug-types that have wings. However, the flavor text for Bug Buzz itself only describes it as a vibration, and a number of real jumping spiders can produce vibrations for communication by drumming on surfaces (there are also some spiders that can produce audible buzzing sounds). Likewise, the Compound Eyes ability is likely a reference to how jumping spiders have the best vision of all spiders (though they don't have compound eyes).
• Spiders Are Scary: These Pokémon are based on spiders and have the Unnerve ability, which makes their opponent too nervous to eat. Galvantula plays this straight, but Joltik seems too adorable for this trope!
• The Symbiote: Joltik will latch onto the hindquarters of Pokémon like Yamper and Jolteon to feed on their static electricity.
• Turns Red: Has Swarm as its Hidden Ability, which boosts the power of Bug-type attacks when at low health.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: This is how their Unnerve ability (makes opponent too nervous to eat berries) presumably works. Joltik, though, just seems too cute to be unnerving...

Ferroseed and Ferrothorn (Tesseed and Nutrey)

0597: Ferroseed / Tesseed (テッシード tesshiido)
0598: Ferrothorn / Nutrey (ナットレイ nattorei)

Ferroseed

Ferrothorn

Another Pokémon that is native to Chargestone Cave. These Pokémon eke out a living by leeching minerals from the surrounding rock walls. It is covered in thick metal armor that is reinforced with iron spikes. It is very defense-oriented, sporting only two weaknesses, one of which (Fighting) is risky due to its spikes. The other, fire, burns it to a crisp, though.

---

• Action Bomb: Naturally learns Self-Destruct and Explosion.
• Bilingual Bonus: Their names are derived from the Latin word "ferrum," which means "iron".^note "Ferrum" is also why iron is referred to as "Fe" on the periodical table of elements and why the word "iron" in many languages — specifically Italian [ferro], French [fer], and Portuguese [also ferro] — is spelled similarly.
• Ceiling Cling: Ferrothorn can hang onto the ceiling with its spiked feet. It's even depicted doing this in its Gen V sprites.
• Epic Flail: Ferrothorn sports three, and puts them to good use with moves like Gyro Ball and Power Whip. May be a reference to Conkers, seeing that they may be based off horse-chestnuts.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Part Steel-type Pokémon with the ability Iron Barbs.
• Green Thumb: Part Grass-type Pokémon based off chestnuts.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Notably subverted, as their secondary Steel typing leaves them with only two weaknesses, though one of them is a 4x weakness.
• Meaningful Name: Their English names reference the fact that they're both plants (seed/thorn) and made of metal ("Ferro" meaning "iron"). They're also able to breed with both the "plant" and "mineral" groups.
• Mighty Glacier: Ferrothorn has a great typing that cancels a lot of weaknesses, wonderful defenses, and a great ability that makes physical attackers think twice before striking it. However, it's one of the slowest Pokémon in the game. Its attack is passable at 94, and it can use attacks with high Power like Power Whip and Gyro Ball (which hits very hard on most opponents, since Ferrothorn is so slow with Base 20 speed).
• No Mouth: Which doesn't stop them from eating Poké Puffs.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Ferroseed's model in X and Y is implanted in the ground during battle, and they have very little idle animation. It's a little weird watching one being traded while the platform it's standing on lies in its midsection. When they are engaged in Pokémon-Amie, they remain fully unearthed.
• Oxymoronic Being: The Grass/Steel-type in itself — plants are organic and metal armor isn't.
• Power-Up Letdown: Ferrothorn gets Anticipation as its Hidden Ability in Gen VI, which is not as useful as Iron Barbs for helping the line build up residual damage and discourage physical attackers. Unfortunately, Ferroseed does not have Anticipation, so it's impossible to know if the Ferroseed you caught in the Friend Safari will have a less useful Ability until it's too late.
• Secret Art: Prior to Generation VII, Iron Barbs. Like Rough Skin, it causes attackers who make contact to lose 1/8th of their health. Give them a Rocky Helmet to boot and watch the fun begin. ^note With damage from Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs combined, a Pokémon loses 7/24 of its max HP per contact attack. That's nearly 30%. (29.166, specifically.) If Ferrothorn switches in on an opponent using a contact-making Spam Attack, it is quite possible for the enemy to OHKO itself.
• Spectacular Spinning: Ferroseed spins in its Gen V animation. Both of them also learn Gyro Ball naturally, which does a lot of damage due to their very slow speed. Ferroseed cannot learn Rapid Spin since that move is about shaking things off, but presumably wouldn't work here because of the thorns.
• Spike Balls of Doom: Ferrothorn pretty much fits all the descriptions on the page — it hangs from ceilings, is alive, spins via Gyro Ball, and its tentacles act as chains.
• Spikes of Doom: Its ability is even called Iron Barbs.
• The Spiny: Best known for its Iron Barbs ability, which reduces the HP of a Pokémon that uses a contact move on it. This does mean they're difficult to pet in Pokémon-Amie, though.
• Status Buff: Curse, which raises Attack and Defense while making it even slower, and Iron Defense, which only raises Defense.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Its Hidden Ability is Anticipation, which makes it "shudder" when it's sent out against an opponent that knows a Fire- or Fighting-type move or a One-Hit KO move.
• Trap Master: Can be bred to know Spikes and Stealth Rock.
• Vine Tentacles: Ferrothorn learns Power Whip using its vines.

Klink, Klang, and Klinklang (Giaru, Gigiaru, and Gigigiaru)

0599: Klink / Giaru (ギアル giaru)
0600: Klang / Gigiaru (ギギアル gigiaru)
0601: Klinklang / Gigigiaru (ギギギアル gigigiaru)

Klink

Klang

Klinklang

Another odd Pokémon found in Chargestone Cave and the P2 Laboratory, this gear-inspired Pokémon has actually only been documented for about 100 years or so. Where they came from is a mystery. Its spinning generates its lifeforce, and as it evolves, it gains more interlocking gears and more power. It has good stats, and even one of the best setup moves in the game, but its moveset often has difficulty synchronizing with this.

---

• Balance Buff: Later generations brought two new status moves into the line's movepool that help their non-hidden abilities become more practical to use, especially in single battles.
  • Gen VI introduced a new move called Magnetic Flux, which raises the Defense and Special Defense of all allies with Plus or Minus as their ability. The Klink line learns the move naturally, giving them a way to buff their defenses with it. They're the only line aside from the Mareep family to learn Magnetic Flux while having the Plus/Minus abilities themselves.
  • Gen VII brings the move Gear Up into their movepool, which functions similarly to Magnetic Flux, only boosting offense stats instead of defense stats. The move is only learnable by two Pokémon, Klinklang and Magearna, and considering Magearna doesn't have the Plus or Minus ability, it's pretty clear which Pokémon the move was really meant for.
• Blessed with Suck: They get the Plus and Minus abilities. These are not only useless unless they are paired up with another Pokémon with the opposite version in a double battle, but the boost they get from it is to their special attack, when they are focused much more heavily on the physical attack stat-wise. While this can be covered in later generations with use of Gear up and Magnetic Flux (which can be used without needing a partner, boost both specially and physically, and are learned by Klinklang upon evolution), it's more likely in a competitive setting to see them with their hidden ability, Clear Body.
• Boss Fight: Colress in Black 2 and White 2 uses this family line, with Klinklang being his strongest Pokémon.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Klink + Klang = Klinklang.
• Clockwork Creature: It's made up of gears that become progressively more complex as it evolves.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Klink's Japanese name is literally just "Gear", which is what it is.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Notably, the only pure Steel evolutionary line for a few years; no other pure Steel-type Pokémon had evolutionary families. This eventually ended when Meltan, Galarian Meowth, and Cufant were introduced in later generations, all of which have evolved forms.
• Ground by Gears: One of the Klink family's signature moves is Gear Grind, a Steel-type move that hits twice.
• Lightning Bruiser: Unusually, Klinklang is decently fast, especially compared to other fellow Steel-type Pokémon. It also has nice Attack and Defense stats.
• Meaningful Name: Their Japanese names involve just adding more G's to "gear", reflective of its evolutions involving just adding more gears.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: By virtue of being creatures made from gears that as far as anyone knows were not artificially made.
• Multiple Head Case: As Klink, it has two identical gears, and the larger gears in Klang and Klinklang also have a face.
• No Biological Sex: They have as much gender as you'd expect a floating amalgamation of gears to have.
• Out of Focus: The Klink line is notably one of the most obscure lines in the entire anime, with Klink and Klinklang only appearing in a single episode of Black and White, and Klang not having appeared once outside of cameos in a few of the movies.
• Recurring Element: Of the Magnemite and Beldum families: a family of one-eyed Steel-types that have magnetic properties and its evolution pattern consists of adding on to the previous evolution.
• Retcon: A minor case, but in Black and White, the Wild Charge TM is incompatible with the Klink line. In the sequels, the line can now utilize the Wild Charge TM, presumably to make up for Klinklang's pitifully small list of options for physical attacks.
• Scunthorpe Problem: For a while, unnicknamed French Klinklang, or Cliticlic, couldn't be traded on the GTS.
• Secret Art: Gear Grind, a Steel-type move that deals damage twice. Shift Gear used to be one of their signature moves as well, but it lost such status after Magearna (and then Toxtricity, and then Cyclizar and the Varoom line) gained access to the move by level up.
• Shock and Awe: Learns several Electric moves despite being pure Steel.
• Spectacular Spinning: Being made entirely out of gears, everything in its body is constantly spinning.
• Status Buff: Shift Gear raises its Attack and sharply raises its Speed by rotating its gears.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: It lacks the physical movepool to make proper use of its high Attack and its Shift Gear status buff. However, Gear Grind is still a good move on its own, so once you've gotten a couple Shift Gears up, it can plow through anything that doesn't resist Gear Grind, and what does, it can get Return or Wild Charge for. Gear Grind also has the benefit of ignoring Sturdy and Focus Sash, since it's a multi-hit move.
• Wingding Eyes: One of its eyes is X-shaped.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: That's a lot of K's.

Tynamo, Eelektrik, and Eelektross (Shibishirasu, Shibibeel, and Shibirudon)

0602: Tynamo / Shibishirasu (シビシラス shibishirasu)
0603: Eelektrik / Shibibeel (シビビール shibibiiru)
0604: Eelektross / Shibirudon (シビルドン shibirudon)

Tynamo

Eelektrik

Eelektross

If you are lucky enough, you might encounter this rare creature that's unique to the Chargestone Cave system. Tynamo resembles a fish fry no longer than a finger. One by itself doesn't have a lot of power. But if you are patient enough with its training, it'll evolve into a much larger and more intimidating eel Pokémon that can do far more damage. The best part is that its ability eliminates its typing's only weakness. A Thunderstone evolves it further, and it gains arms with rasping suckers on them — a terrifying sight to behold.

---

• Big Eater: Eelektrik is stated to have a big appetite.
• Bioluminescence Is Cool: The yellow parts on their bodies can glow.
• Confusion Fu: As of Gen IX, Eelektross is capable of learning offensive moves from 16 out of the 18 types^note missing only Ice and Fairy.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Can be tutored Magnet Rise... which has the exact same effect as their only ability, Levitate. The only advantage it has is that it's not nullified by Mold Breaker.
• Flying Seafood Special: It's found in a cave. Not the water inside a cave, but the cave itself, and they happen to have Levitate as their sole Ability. Elesa's Tynamo is one of the few fish Pokémon shown floating in the anime. Subverted as of Scarlet and Violet where wild Tynamo and Eelektrik can only be found swimming in the oceans of Paldea, suggesting their inhabitance of Chargestone Cave despite its complete lack of water is due to its unique magnetic fields. ^note That being said, the Teal Mask DLC in Scarlet and Violet has Tynamo flying in the (admittedly moist) Chilling Waterhead, as well as Eelektrik popping up on land in the Timeless Woods of the same DLC, suggesting they may be amphibious. Also subverted for Eelektross, despite also possessing the ability to float like its pre-evolved forms, its rare appearances in the wild are found exclusively on land where it can make more use of its new "legs," although a Tera Eelektross can be found floating above a sandbar in Scarlet and Violet.
• Lamprey Mouth: The whole family has these, but Eelektross have them on their arms as well.
• Life Drain: Despite being based on a bloodsucking lamprey, Eelektross couldn't learn any of these moves in Black and White. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, it can now learn Giga Drain and Drain Punch.
• Magic Knight: Eelektross has great offensive stats on both the physical and special side, and a wide movepool to abuse both.
• Magikarp Power: Tynamo has weak stats and learns no more moves than the 4 it starts with. Eelektrik is an all-around usable Pokémon, but Eelektross is a good Pokémon with no weaknesses, a good offensive type, and good attacking stats.
• Mighty Glacier: Eelektross has good offensive stats, no weaknesses (usually), and decent defensive stats, but the same can't be said for its speed of 50.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: They combine elements from lampreys and electric eels.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Eelektross' French name is Ohmassacre.
• Power Floats: Its ability Levitate makes it have no weaknesses, unless an attack is coming from a Mold Breaker, or if its airborne status is removed (such as by Gravity or Smack Down). Despite this, in Generation V it clearly lands on the ground when it is sent out but as of Generation VI its in-battle model clearly shows it floating.
• Power Glows: Eelektrik and Eelektross's sprites show the yellow spots along their bodies light up.
• Psycho Electric Eel: Though based on lampreys, they also have elements of electric eels.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Tynamo is a very tiny and cute electric eel.
• Shock and Awe: They are pure Electric-type eel Pokémon.
• Shown Their Work: The line being partially based on electric eels may be the reason that they are pure Electric-types rather than Water-types; a little known fact about electric eels is that they're actually obligate air-breathers, as in they need to breathe air.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Some of the C's are replaced with K's.

Elgyem and Beheeyem (Ligray and Ohbem)

0605: Elgyem / Ligray (リグレー riguree)
0606: Beheeyem / Ohbem (オーベム oobemu)

Elgyem

Beheyeem

These big-headed Pokémon were discovered in the desert five decades before the events of Black and White, but they've since moved elsewhere. They seem to have a knack for winding up in areas filled with Pokémon who have type advantages over them, and as such aren't terribly common, most being cramped up near the top of a tower by Route Seven.

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• Aliens Steal Cattle: Implied in Sword and Shield — Beeheyem's Pokédex entry in the former mentions that whenever it visits a farm, a Dubwool goes missing. (However, it is worth mentioning that Dubwool is a sheep, not a cow.)
• Crippling Overspecialization: Beheeyem's learnset is heavily skewed towards Double and Triple Battle support, and its mixture of ponderous Speed and generally bad defensive stats^note it does have 95 base Special Defense, but its bad HP and horrendous Speed takes the wind out of those sails mean that it's not going to be able to reliably support in singles.
• Crop Circles: Beheeyem is an alien-based Pokémon noted to linger around wheat fields, implying that it may be responsible for crop circles.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Oddly enough, starting in Pokémon X and Y, the line can learn Steel Wing via TM51.^note This is possibly due to a developer oversight, since TM51 in Gen V was Ally Switch, but the fact that it hasn't been corrected in any following game suggests it may be an intentional gag.
• Forehead of Doom: Elgyem has a very large forehead.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Beheeyem's Pokédex entry in Ultra Sun states that “you, too, may have already had your memories rewritten.”
• Fun with Acronyms: Elgyem is actually LGM (Little Green Man) spelled phonetically, and Beheeyem is the same for BEM (Bug-Eyed Monster).
• The Greys: Subverted. Even though they look like the kind of aliens that would be gray, Elgyem is green and Beeheyem is a sandy-peach color.
• Hand Blast: In X and Y, the majority of Beeheyem's attacks are projected from its right hand, where its hypnotic communication lights are located.
• Humanoid Aliens: They're vaguely human-shaped aliens. They're also in the Human-Like egg group.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: They apparently have the ability to rewrite and erase memories, according to their Pokédex entries.
• Lightning Bruiser: If Trick Room is in effect.
• Little Green Men: Played straight with Elgyem, who stands at only 1'7" and is green.
• The Men in Black: Beeheeyem. Trenchcoat, check. Shades, Check. Amnesia ray, check.
• Mighty Glacier: Very high Special Attack, with great Special Defense and decent Defense, but it's slow.
• My Brain Is Big: They're Psychic-types whose heads are bigger than their bodies.
• Not So Harmless: When it is serving its intended purpose as a Double or Triple support, it can do some really, really nasty things that can make life hell for any team going up against it.
• Power Floats: They're often depicted as floating in the air, presumably using their psychic powers to do so.
• Psychic Powers: Both have the ability to wipe memories and cause headaches using psychic powers (at least according to the Pokédex).
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Elgyem is pretty cute compared to its evolved form.
• Roswell That Ends Well: Their Pokédex entries imply that they're the aliens said to have crash-landed at (the Pokémon equivalent of) Roswell, New Mexico in the late 1940s.
• Sdrawkcab Name: The French names for Elgyem and Beheeyem are "Lewsor" ("Roswel" backwards) and "Neitram" ("Martien", French for Martian, backwards).
• Telepathic Spacemen: They're Psychic-type aliens.
• Theme Naming: Both of them have Punny Names in all languages using synonyms for their size, with Elgyem punning on "little" and Beeheeyem punning on "big".

Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure (Hitomoshi, Lampler, and Chandela)

0607: Litwick / Hitomoshi (ヒトモシ hitomoshi)
0608: Lampent / Lampler (ランプラー ranpuraa)
0609: Chandelure / Chandela (シャンデラ shandera)

Litwick

Lampent

Chandelure

A feared species of Ghost/Fire Pokémon that resemble light sources. Their method of hunting changes as they evolve, but their preferred prey remains consistent. In battle, they have both hard hitting special attacks and a few grinding tactics. They aren't particularly hard to run from, though, which might explain their Hidden Ability, at least until Gen VI when it was replaced.

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• Armor-Piercing Attack: Gen VI gave it Infiltrator as a Hidden Ability (now actually obtainable unlike in Gen V).
• Armored But Frail: Chandelure has decent base 90 Defenses, but a poor base 60 HP stat.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Litwick pretends to be a helpful guide with its light, but it's actually leeching the life force of anything that follows it.
• Boss Battle: Elite Four Shauntal's ace.
• Breakout Character: Unexpectedly, Chandelure became this. It proved to be one of the most popular Unova Pokémon both in Japan and worldwide in popularity polls, and even became the only Pokémon of its generation to be playable in Pokkén Tournament.
• Casting a Shadow: They're part Ghost-type.
• Dark Is Evil: Ironic for a light-giving source, but the color of Lampent and Chandelure is black outside the face and flame, and their flames consume living souls.
• Deceptively Cute Critter: Litwick is a cute little candle Pokémon that appears to lost travelers in the darkness and pretends to guide their way with the flame on its head. It is actually absorbing their life energy.
• Dem Bones: Chandelure's face evokes a simple skeleton motif.
• Fate Worse than Death: All three of their Pokédex entries have nightmarish facts and implications about them: Litwick pretends to be a guide in the darkness with its light, then steals the life force of those who follow it. Lampent lurks around hospitals looking for people on the verge of dying just so they can use their spirits as fuel. Chandelure steals people's spirits and burns them^note the spirits, not the physical bodies, leaving their victims a lifeless, soulless husk.
• Feed It with Fire: They can have the Flash Fire ability, which nullifies any Fire attack used against it to increases the power of its own Fire-type attacks.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: An Trainer NPC located in Celestial Tower in Black/White 2 has a single Litwick as her Pokémon. After the player battles her, she retreats to the Pokémon Center, complaining of fatigue, a clear reference to Litwick's dex entries that say that its flame steals the life force from Pokémon and people.
• Glass Cannon: Chandelure has a Special Attack stat that can be compared to most Olympus Mons, but it has average speed, and while its defenses are respectable, they're held back by a low HP stat.
• Hitodama Light: The Litwick family of Pokémon possess a flame powered by draining the life energy of the creatures around them. Their purplish flames increase as they lead living creatures to the ghost world.
• Infernal Retaliation: The Flash Fire ability. If Chandelure is hit by a Fire-type move, this ability activates, immunizing it to further Fire-type attacks and boosting its own Fire moves by fifty percent.
• Informed Ability: Litwick's flame is said to steal life energy from living things, and Chandelure's flames consume souls. You can freely touch their flames in Pokémon Amie, and nothing out of the ordinary will happen.
• Killer Rabbit: Litwick might look cute, but it feeds on people's life force after acting as a helpful guide.
• Light Is Not Good: Not when that light is fueled by people's souls.
• Magic Fire: The purple flames of Litwick and its evolutions don't burn the body (Unless they happen to be using a Fire-type attack), but do burn spirits and life force, which also serve as the fuel for their flames.
• Magikarp Power: Litwick evolves into Lampent at level 41, which means you have to bear dealing with its flimsy defenses and even worse Speed for 8-15 levels before it can evolve and be given a Dusk Stone (unless you leave it at a daycare where it can level up). Afterwards, the effort will pay off in the form of a monstrous special attack stat. Less problematic in Pokémon X and Y, where it's found at level 37 or 38.
• Mundane Utility: With one of their standard abilities being Flame Body, you can use the super-powerful Chandelure or its relatives as an aid in hatching Pokémon eggs.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: These ghosts are haunted light sources.
• Playing with Fire: They're part Fire-type that naturally learn Fire moves.
• Recurring Element: Of the Gastly family. Both families are a trio of primarily purple ghost dual-types that inhabit towers in the generation where they are first introduced. They also have a tendency to stalk victims and drain their life force for sustenance.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Litwick was drawn to be cute, despite that being a manipulative, soul-stealing candle ghost.
• Squishy Wizard: Chandelure has world-class Special Attack (the second-highest barring Legendaries and Mega Evolutions), and its defenses are actually decent, but its HP is too low for it to matter and it moves at the speed you'd probably expect a ghostly chandelier to move at.
• Technicolor Fire: All three of them have purple fire, which adds to their supernatural nature. This is averted by Shiny Chandelure, which has more realistic orange flames.
• Wreathed in Flames: One of its abilities, Flame Body, may burn an opponent using a physical contact move on it.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Litwick's ghostly flames are fueled by the souls of people and Pokémon who were tricked into following it, Lampent consumes the souls of people who are on their deathbeds in the hospital, and Chandelure steals souls and burns them so they have no chance of returning inside the victim's body or crossing over to the afterlife.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Their Hidden Ability in Gen V was Shadow Tag (which was never released), which prevents switching out.

Axew, Fraxure, and Haxorus (Kibago, Onondo, and Ononokus)

0610: Axew / Kibago (キバゴ kibago)
0611: Fraxure / Onondo (オノンド onondo)
0612: Haxorus / Ononokus (オノノクス ononokusu)

Axew

Fraxure

Haxorus

A family of extremely powerful Dragon-types, they are generally gentle creatures but are slow to make friends and territorial disputes between them can be exceedingly violent. You can tell when you are in one's territory by the gashes in the surroundings made by their tusks, which they excessively sharpen while heading towards evolution. However, if you do befriend one, you've managed to make a very powerful and dependable ally indeed.

---

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Haxorus' tusks can easily slice through steel beams without dulling.
• Berserk Button: According to Haxorus' Violet Dex entry, they become hostile if anyone touches their tusks.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The Haxorus in PokéPark 2 is one of Darkrai's evil minions. Subverted in that this particular Haxorus isn't that nice; kindness is probably more a general trait of his species than of the character himself. It's also the Champion's strongest Pokémon in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.
• Blood Is the New Black: Fraxure has red markings on its tusks and its body that resemble blood splatter. Which is appropriate, given its reputation of being highly aggressive and territorial.
• Boss Battle: Haxorus serves as the strongest Mon of both Iris and Drayden in every Unova game.
• Confusion Fu: Superpower, Earthquake, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Iron Tail, Night Slash, Shadow Claw, Rock Slide, Aqua Tail, and of course, Dragon-type STAB. Haxorus can pick up a move for just about anything it might face.
• Crafted from Animals: People used to use Axew tusks as cooking knives in ancient times, according to its Violet Dex entry.
• Delightful Dragon: Axew is a precious tiny dragon, and while its evolutions are fearsome, they're still friendly, if territorial.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The line is based on plant-eating dinosaurs, making them Dragon-type dinosaurs similar to the Tyrunt line.
• Disc-One Nuke: In X and Y, you can catch an Axew while en route to Coastal Kalos — in other words, before your second Gym badge. It doesn't need to be babied quite as much either, since it will immediately know Dragon Rage, which deals 40 damage regardless of type resistances (but not immunities). The introduction of Fairy-types means that it's not quite as unstoppable as it was in Gen V, but Haxorus can still flatten pretty much anything — it can even learn Poison Jab and Iron Tail to clobber any Fairies trying to stop it.
• Foil: To the Litwick line. Both are 3-stage evolutionary lines that are right next to each other, they're both fantastical beings (Litwick and its evolutions are ghosts, while Axew and its evolutions are dragons), and they're both offensive powerhouses that sacrifice bulk for damage. However, the Litwick line are Squishy Wizards that specialize in Special Attack at the cost of Attack and HP, whereas the Axew line are Fragile Speedsters that specialize in Attack and Speed at the cost of Special Attack and Special Defense. Also, the Litwick line are malevolent ghost Pokémon that feed on the life force of people and Pokémon alike, whereas the Axew line are kindly dragon Pokémon that only lash out when their territory is disturbed.
• Fragile Speedster: Its stat spread lends to this, as Attack and Speed^note 147 and 97, respectively are both its highest stats.
• Final Boss: Of Black and White 2, as it's Champion Iris' most powerful Mon. Haxorus is also a member of Leon's team.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Haxorus is described as kind, but in the Wild Area, they're among the more aggressive wild Pokémon. However, it is Subverted when taking into account that Haxorus are relentless when defending their territory, so it might assume that the players are invading their territory and attacks.
• Gentle Giant: Haxorus's Black entry seems to suggest that despite their size, they're not particularly ill-tempered:
  Pokédex: They are kind but can be relentless when defending territory. They challenge foes with tusks that can cut steel.
• Glass Cannon: More like a glass nuke. It has a colossal 147 attack^note 4th highest of non-Legendary, non-Mega Evolved Pokémon and enough speed to put that attack to good use. However, it has middling defenses and its most powerful attacks carry enough drawbacks to enable counterplay from any competent player.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Haxorus can learn only a few special attacks, and its unimpressive Special Attack stat (its lowest stat, at base 60) means it can't make good use of them anyway.
• Mundane Utility: Haxorus having access to Mold Breaker and Earthquake makes it useful for Stat Grinding on weaker Pokémon, since it can one-shot almost any horde in X and Y. Special mention goes to Geodude hordes, which are the best source of Defense but usually require two attacks since they often have Sturdy, which Haxorus ignores thanks to Mold Breaker. It also learns Cut, Strength, Rock Smash, and Surf, making it useful for traveling through routes and caves.
• Natural Weapon: Haxorus has effectively a double-sided ax for tusks.
• Our Dragons Are Different: These dragons resemble dinosaurs with axe tusks and are generally friendly creatures but can get territorial.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Axew was promoted in the anime as small cute monster tied to the female protagonist to hang out with Ash's Pikachu, like Togepi, Torchic, and Piplup.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: Axew is a 2-foot tall dragon that weighs about 40 pounds.
• Status Buff: Gets both Dragon Dance and Sword Dance by leveling up.
• Theme Naming: All of them have the word "ax" in their names. Iris and Drayden have an underleveled Haxorus in Black and White while Drayden has one in the sequels if you're playing on Easy Mode. You could only get a Haxorus like that through hacks.
• Weak to Magic: Haxorus' Attack is pretty enormous at 147 — one of the highest for non-Legendary Pokémon — with decent speed to tear almost everything apart, and it can learn Dragon Dance to increase that attack and speed even further. While its Defense is actually quite decent, its Special Defense and HP are on the low side.

Cubchoo and Beartic (Kumasyun and Tunbear)

0613: Cubchoo / Kumasyun (クマシュン kumashun)
0614: Beartic / Tunbear (ツンベアー tsunbeaa)

Cubchoo

Beartic

The second Pokémon to be based on bears, Cubchoo doesn't seem well suited either for the cold areas where it's found or for the Ice-type attacks it naturally learns, if its perpetually running nose is anything to go by. Beartic doesn't seem to have that problem. Unlike North America's bears, these guys hide in caves during the warm months and come out during winter.

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• Acrofatic: They're both pretty plump and they can have the Slush Rush ability, which boosts their speed in a hailstorm.
• Action Initiative: Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 added Aqua Jet to Beartic's natural movepool, though, like Superpower, the Move Relearner is needed to get at it.
• Balance Buff: Beartic got a nice boost to its Attack in Gen VII — going from an already good 110 to an amazing 130.
• Bears Are Bad News: Powerful polar bears, especially Beartic (Cubchoo is too cute to be considered "bad news"). Beartic is also Brycen's strongest Pokémon.
• Boss Battle: Beartic during Black and White is Brycen's strongest Mon.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Beartic derives its name from "bear" and "arctic". The word arctic derives from the Greek arktos, which means bear.
• Expy: Of the Teddiursa line, except they are Ice-types rather than Normal-types.
• Frozen Body Fluids: Beartic's ice beard is essentially this trope, being made from its previous evolution Cubchoo's Snot Bubble turned ice fixture.
• An Ice Pokémon: They are Ice-type Pokémon and are based on polar bears.
• Meaningful Name: Cubchoo/Kumasyun is a sneezing bear, while Beartic/Tunbear is an artic/tundral bear.
• Mighty Glacier: Downplayed. It has high attack, decent defenses, and low speed, but being a monotyped Ice Pokémon means that it lacks key resistances to put its bulk to good use. This places it more on the Glass Cannon end of the spectrum.
• Power Incontinence: Cubchoo seems to suffer this, and is evidently uncomfortable with the cold its own ice abilities produce.
• Recurring Element: Another family of bears that start out cute and turn scary, serving as the Ice-type counterpart to Teddiursa.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Cubchoo's large ears, stubby limbs, and rounded tail make it resemble a teddy bear.
• Shown Their Work: They are able to learn several water moves, including Dive. Makes sense, knowing that the scientific name of polar bears is Ursus maritimus and they are fantastic swimmers. This also reflects in its hidden ability, Swift Swim.
• Signature Move: Is strongly associated with Icicle Crash.
• Status Buff:
  • Able to learn Swords Dance to boost its Attack even higher.
  • Doubles its speed if it has Slush Rush when there's a hailstorm, or if it has its Hidden Ability Swift Swim while it's raining, making it play akin to a Fragile Speedster.
• Snot Bubble: Cubchoo have a frozen one dripping from their noses.
• Stout Strength: They're both pretty fat, given that they're polar bears, and their best stat is Attack.
• Walk on Water: Beartic is said to freeze its breath to make roads to walk over oceans.

Cryogonal (Freegeo)

0615: Cryogonal / Freegeo (フリージオ furiijio)

Cryogonal

These bizarre, scowling snowflake of a Pokémon have a hard time sustaining themselves in the heat and are thus a rare sight in the wild. Sometimes, one can be seen hunting in the mountains with its ice crystal chains, but they are usually restricted to the skies. Those able to catch a Cryogonal can look forward to a swift, non-physical specialist that's more than capable of tanking a special attack or two. Just try not to let it take a direct punch.

---

• Action Bomb: Can learn Explosion by TM. Yes, this game has an exploding snowflake.
• Action Initiative: Can learn Ice Shard.
• Animate Inanimate Object: This one is a giant snowflake.
• Balance Buff: Got a boost to both its HP — 10 points — and Physical Defense — 20 points — in Gen VII, taking the edge off its squishiness.
• Confusion Fu: For a giant, floating snowflake, it has a very absurd movepool, such as Slash, Night Slash, Poison Jab, Acrobatics, Explosion, Solarbeam, and Bind. Also noteworthy is its ability to be the only Pokémon besides Mew that can use Attract without a gender.
• Fragile Speedster: Has pretty good Speed, but its physical Defense is pretty poor.
• Heal Thyself: It can learn Recover.
• An Ice Person: It's a giant living snowflake.
• Light 'em Up: Can learn a few light-based moves like Aurora Beam, Flash Cannon, and Solar Beam.
• No Biological Sex: It's genderless, yet it can still be taught Attract.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: It's a giant, floating snowflake.
• Perpetual Frowner: Cryogonal is always seen with a seemingly permanent frozen frown.
• The Power of the Sun: Despite being an Ice-type and its Pokédex entries stating that sunlight sublimates it, it's able to learn Solar Beam. Well, snow does reflect a lot of sunlight…
• Punny Name: Cryogonal is cryogenic and hexagonal, while Freegeo is freezing geometry.
• Required Party Member: You need to have a Cryogonal in your party in Sword and Shield's Crown Tundra DLC in order to access the ruin containing Regice.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Can learn Freeze-Dry, which does super-effective damage on Water-types which are normally resistant to Ice-type moves.
• Sizable Snowflakes: A 3'07" one to be precise.
• Spectacular Spinning: Learns Rapid Spin, which when combined with its Levitate ability, allows Cryogonal to work as a fantastic hazard control mon.
• Squishy Wizard: It's fast, has absurd Special Defense, and a decent Special Attack stat to utilize. However, it isn't very good at handling physical attacks, both defensively and offensively.
• Useless Useful Spell: Attract. While it would be hilarious or amazing to see this silly snowflake infatuate other genderless Pokémon (namely Legendaries), Attract does not work if the user is genderless itself.
• Was Once a Man: According to Scarlet's Pokédex entry, Cryogonal are said to be born from humans and Pokémon who die on frozen mountains.

Shelmet and Accelgor (Chobomaki and Agilder)

0616: Shelmet / Chobomaki (チョボマキ chobomaki)
0617: Accelgor / Agilder (アギルダー agirudaa)

Shelmet

Accelgor

Bug Pokémon based on gastropods. Shelmet usually hides near wetlands, where it's protected by a shell that resembles a knight's helmet. Unfortunately, in order to evolve, it needs to be traded with a certain beetle Pokémon that steals that precious shell away from it. To compensate, it wraps its now-naked body in membranes to prevent itself from drying out. No longer held back by its shell, Accelgor can now move much faster than before.

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• Action Initiative: Accelgor can learn Water Shuriken, a priority move that hits 2 to 5 times in a row.
• Badass Armfold: Accelgor's default pose.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Both of them are large snails/slugs.
• Cool Helmet: Shelmet's shell resembles a knight's helmet. Accelgor, on the other hand, instead resembles racing helmets.
• Critical Hit: Shelmet can negate these with its Shell Armor ability. For obvious reasons, Accelgor doesn't retain this ability.
• Foil: Accelgor to Escavalier. While Escavalier is a bulky physical attacker with low speed, Accelgor is a fragile special attacker with high speed. This is also reflected in their design aesthetics, an armored jousting knight and a shadowy unarmored ninja.
• Fragile Speedster: Accelgor has very high Speed, but low defenses. It can become even more of one with its Hidden Ability of Unburden, which doubles its speed when it uses up its held item. Add in usage of Agility, and it actually becomes physically impossible to outspeed.
• Heal Thyself: Naturally learns Recover.
• Healing Factor: Through the Hydration ability, which lets it heal Status Effects when it's raining.
• Irony: Accelgor is one of the fastest Pokémon in the franchise despite being a snail.
• Life Drain: Learns Leech Life, Mega Drain, and Giga Drain naturally.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: According to various Pokédex entries, it and Karrablast can evolve in the wild upon receiving electrical energy at the same time.
• Ninja: Accelgor's mask resembles ones used by ninja in pop culture, and it has a shuriken-like marking on its forehead, has great Speed, and can learn Water Shuriken from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire onwards. In what is like a big coincidence, albeit a very convenient one, being a ninja slug (or shell-less snail) brings to mind the slug-associated Tsunade, the wife of folklore hero Jiraiya, who popularized the Frog Ninja trope.
• Poisonous Person: Known to lob poison at foes, and it learns Acid and Toxic via-level up.
• Protection from the Elements: Shelmet's Overcoat hidden ability protects it from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Accelgor sports one made of strips of the membrane that covers its body.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: When traded for a Karrablast, Shelmet loses its shell-helmet and goes from a Stone Wall to a Fragile Speedster.
• Socialization Bonus: Needs to be traded for Karrablast in order to evolve.
• Squishy Wizard: Accelgor has great Special Attack, but poor Defense.
• Stone Wall: Shelmet has high Defense and Special Defense stats.
• Taking You with Me: A variant, at least, in that Accelgor's final naturally learned move is Final Gambit. Unlike some other similar moves in Pokémon, it's best to use this one early, since it only deals damage equal to the HP Accelgor has left when it uses the move, so it's not going to do much if you wait until the last minute.
• Took a Level in Badass: Shelmet is a snail, whose shell is stolen by a Karrablast to evolve. What does it do? Become a Ninja.

Stunfisk (Maggyo)

0618: Stunfisk / Maggyo (マッギョ maggyo)

Stunfisk

Galarian Stunfisk

Travelers passing through Icirrus City had best watch their step, as these Pokémon are likely hiding in the trails they walk through, waiting for an excuse to strike. Known to find humor in the injuries of others and for their tendency to shield their weaknesses with camouflage, these fish annually retreat to deep water when the grounds freeze over during winter.

In the Galar region, Stunfisk primarily live in caves, especially the national mines. Their new lifestyle of hiding in mud vastly richer in minerals has given them the Steel type, losing their electric powers in exchange for a tougher body shaped like a Bear Trap. Needless to say, stepping on them is still a bad idea.

---

• Barrier Change Boss: Galarian Stunfisk's Mimicry ability changes Stunfisk's typing depending on what kind of Terrain is at play. Though on its own, Stunfisk can only can set up Electric Terrain normally or Grassy Terrain if it uses Max Overgrowth.
• Bear Trap: Galarian Stunfisk resemble one and are part-Steel type to reinforce it. They even have a Secret Art called Snap Trap which latches onto the enemy and prevents escape while dealing damage for a few turns.
• Chest Monster: Galarian Stunfisk has markings on its body resembling footprints, and a mouth colored like a Poké Ball. However, they don't actually act as a proper Chest Monster in the game and their lips just indicate where they are hiding.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Yes, it looks silly. If it's trained right, it can catch unsuspecting trainers off-guard thanks to high defense and HP stats.
• Dishing Out Dirt: All Stunfisk are Ground type.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Galarian Stunfisk exchanged their Electric-type for a Steel-type due to living in iron-rich mud.
• Gasshole: Its "prrrrrfffftttt" battle cry combined with its trollish nature.
• Gonk: Look up "derpfish" on Google Images and there's a good chance you'll see this guy's mug. Its appearance is actually toned down compared to its inspiration.
• It Amused Me: A lot of their behavior can be explained by simply enjoying causing people misfortune.
• Making a Splash: Not a Water-type, despite being a fish, but can learn several Water moves and is classified in the Water 1 Egg Group.
• One-Hit KO: Naturally learns Fissure, a Ground-type move that can instantly faint any target with a lower level than the user.
• Oxymoronic Being: It's an Electric-type paired with Ground, the Electric-type's only weakness.
• Psycho Electric Eel: While technically a flatfish, it loves to mess with people by shocking them.
• Shock and Awe: Regular Stunfisk are part Electric-type, which its Sword Dex entry says is the result of a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria it shares mud flats with.
• Status Effects: Its Static Ability can inflict paralysis onto opponents that physically strike it, which is helpful considering how slow it is. It can also naturally learn Discharge and Bounce, attacks that both have a high chance of inflicting paralysis. This also befits its reputation as a Troll. It can also be bred with Yawn.
• Stone Wall: Has high HP and Defense stats, but very low speed.
• Toilet Humor: Like Stunky and Skuntank, its cry sounds a lot like flatulence or a whoopie cushion.
• Underground Monkey: The Stunfisk in Galar exchanged their Electric-typing for a Steel-typing. This is contrast to most of Alola's regional variants, where instead of the original typing being common and the regional variant's typing being much rarer, the typing of Galar's Stunfisk was changed from a unique type combination to a more common one.
• Useless Useful Spell:
  • Unovan Stunfisk's Limber ability became useless in Generation VI outside of Camouflage games, since Electric-types can no longer be paralyzed.
  • Galarian Stunfisk has a really hard time utilizing its Mimicry ability on its own, as the only Terrain move it can learn is Electric Terrain. Even when taking Dynamaxing into account, Stunfisk only has access to one Grass-type move (Snap Trap) and learns no Psychic-type or Fairy-type moves to set up any further Terrains.

Mienfoo and Mienshao (Kojofu and Kojondo)

0619: Mienfoo / Kojofu (コジョフー kojofuu)
0620: Mienshao / Kojondo (コジョンド kojondo)

Mienfoo

Mienshao

Elusive mustelid martial artists whose fur seems to resemble a monk's clothing. They can't take much punishment, but they can sure dish it out, and work well supporting those they fight side by side with.

---

• Action Initiative: Naturally learns Fake Out.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: With plenty of martial arts techniques.
• Boss Battle: Mienshao as Marshal's ace, though only in his very first battle of Black and White, as it's replaced by Conkeldurr in all subsequent battles.
• Cloth Fu: Mienshao uses the long fur on its arms as whips.
• Death or Glory Attack: One of the few Pokémon with access to Jump Kick and High Jump Kick, which will either dish out a harsh attack, or crash and have half of that damage done to the user instead. Taking this even further, their Hidden Ability is Reckless, which allows them to hit even harder with these moves (a strategy only Hitmonlee can imitate).
• Fragile Speedster: It has a high Speed of 105, but its defenses leave a lot to be desired.
• Glass Cannon: It can do quite a lot of damage with High Jump Kick (especially if it has the ability Reckless), but its defenses are low.
• Healing Factor: Can have Regenerator as an ability, which allows it to recover up to a third of its health when switched out. Combined with U-Turn (attacks and switches out the user, which it naturally learns), it is a very useful ability. Drain Punch can take this even further, as it causes damage to the opponent and restores Mienshao's own HP by half that amount. These factors help make up for its frailty.
• Immune to Flinching: Can have Inner Focus, which prevents flinching.
• Ki Manipulation: Notably learns the move Aura Sphere. It's the only Fighting-type to learn it via level-up besides Lucario, though their noticeably weaker Special Attack makes them less proficient with it than their Gen IV brethren, but it's still high enough to be usable.
• Life Drain: One of two Pokémon lines that can learn Drain Punch naturally (the other is Seismitoad).
• Loophole Abuse: Using Reckless alongside Jump Kick or Hi Jump Kick, as, while Reckless boosts the damage of both moves, it actually does not increase the damage taken when the move fails.
• Magic Knight: Mienshao actually has a usable base 95 Special Attack and Calm Mind to boost it further. Unfortunately, it doesn't really have much in the way of Special attacks other than Aura Sphere and Grass Knot, so it's probably better off using its much better base 125 Attack.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Mienshao has a fairly subdued one in Poké-Amie.
• Not Completely Useless: Inner Focus becomes very helpful in Double Battles when combined with Fake Out^note a rather high-priority move that causes the target to flinch if it hits, which runs rampant in the Doubles metagame. This combination allows it to reliably prevent the target from setting up without having to worry about faster Fake Out users.
• Switch-Out Move: Naturally learns U-Turn, plus they get the Regenerator ability, allowing them to regain health when they switch out, thus giving the move even more utility.
• Wolverine Claws: At least Mienfoo has them, as seen in Pokémon-Amie. Sadly, they're never seen in combat.

Druddigon (Crimgan)

0621: Druddigon / Crimgan (クリムガン kurimugan)

Druddigon

A red-faced creature whose rock-hard hide is reminiscent of a gargoyle's. It is not as fierce as its appearance would suggest, and it is often left immobile by the dark and the cold. Despite this, it is still usually dangerous to touch one, and it can make up for its lack of speed with a glare that halts foes in their tracks.

---

• Action Initiative: Can be bred to have Sucker Punch, which is handy for getting around its lousy speed.
• Boring, but Practical: In Black and White, Druddigon becomes available at roughly the same late-game point as Axew. While Axew will eventually become the (in-game) Lightning Bruiser Haxorus, it can only be found in the optional Mistralton Cave, and since it isn't fully evolved, it'll be The Load for a while. Druddigon, on the other hand, is a fairly competent Mighty Glacier with a surprisingly diverse movepool, does not need to evolve, and is found in the plot-required Dragonspiral Tower.
• Combat Pragmatist: Learns a lot of Dark attacks by level-up, as well as some of the more underhanded/overkill Fighting attacks, such as Superpower and Revenge.
• Confusion Fu: It can learn moves from 13 out of the 18 types. On top of its colorful physical movepool, it learns enough powerful special attacks to surprise would-be-counters, and also has a rich support moveset with options like Stealth Rock, Taunt, Glare, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Dragon Tail, and Roar.
• Death Glare: Can learn Glare via breeding and Scary Face through level-up.
• Mighty Glacier: In stark contrast to most dragons. It has high Attack and good defenses, but pitiful Speed.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: It's a dragon with elements of a gargoyle, can learn Glare (otherwise exclusive to snakes), and can have the ability Rough Skin (otherwise exclusive to sharks).
• Our Dragons Are Different: An ugly, unintelligent, bestial brute with very medieval characteristics and an appearance that's somewhere in between a classic Western dragon and a gargoyle.
• Spikes of Doom: Which can come into play with its Rough Skin ability.
• Status Buff: Interestingly, it can't learn Dragon Dance or Swords Dance like nearly all other Dragons, but it naturally learns Hone Claws, which raises Attack and accuracy by one level, which is especially helpful to patch up the accuracy problems of many of its moves such as Iron Tail and Rock Slide.
• Status Effects: Can be bred to have Glare, and is the only Pokémon that can learn it that doesn't appear to be based on a snake.
• Switch-Out Move: Naturally learns Dragon Tail, which hits the opponent before forcing it to switch out, albeit at the cost of attacking last. Of course, there's a bonus when you remember that it can be tutored to have Stealth Rock.
• Tail Slap: Learns several of these moves, including Dragon Tail, Iron Tail, Poison Tail, and Aqua Tail.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Invoked by Sheer Force, which increases the power of attacks with a chance to inflict secondary effects, but removes said secondary effects.
• Weak, but Skilled: This is Druddigon's claim to fame among Dragon types. Although not "weak" in the grand scheme of things, it lacks the raw statistical power of the pseudo-legends, Haxorus, and many other dragons. To compensate, Druddigon has a wildly varied level-up movepool full of diverse attacks and status moves. It also has three different abilities that completely change its playstyle.
• Wings Do Nothing: According to the Pokédex, it uses them to take in sunlight for warmth, but they will do you no favors in gameplay.

Golett and Golurk (Gobit and Goloog)

0622: Golett / Gobit (ゴビット gobitto)
0623: Golurk / Goloog (ゴルーグ goruugu)

Golett

Golurk

Humanoid Ground/Ghost Pokémon that are made out of clay and brought to life by an unknown method. They're best known for their strong attacks, especially their punching moves. They are also capable of performing some other feats, such as flying. The seal on their chest keeps their power controllable and shrinks upon evolution.

---

• Always Accurate Attack: Their Hidden Ability of No Guard makes everything into this — both for them and against them, which can be fairly nasty with moves like Dynamic Punch. They also naturally learn Shadow Punch, which does this anyways.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Their Iron Fist ability boosts the power of punching attacks like Shadow Punch and Hammer Arm.
• Blessed with Suck: One of their abilities is Klutz, which prevents them from using or benefiting from held items. This can potentially become Cursed with Awesome as of Gen VIII, where it can be taught Trick, which can let it take its opponent's items and give them a hazardous one like the Flame Orb.
• Confusion Fu: Golurk has a pretty diverse movepool, learning all three elemental punches and a good selection of physical Fighting, Psychic, Rock and Dark-type attacks, in addition to Ghost and Ground.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Part Ground-type, as they're made of clay.
• Flight: Golurk is one of the very few Pokémon that can learn Fly despite not being of the Flying-type or having the Levitate ability.
• Gentle Giant: Despite being a massive clay statue, it's still probably the least malicious Ghost-type and actually protects people. In Sword and Shield, Golett and Golurk are among the Ghost-types that don't aggressively chase you in the wild upon being spotted.
• Golem: Not to be confused with the Gen I Pokémon named Golem. It's more based on the mythical creature in Jewish folklore (specifically, the Golem of Prague) made of clay or mud and brought to life usually by a scroll with a written command on it.
• Humongous Mecha: It towers over most Pokémon, though it comes up a bit short when compared to actual mecha. Apart from that, it's basically the Pokémon equivalent of a Super Robot.^note It has a Transformation Sequence and grows in size (once, when it evolves), it's sentient, it responds to voice commands from its trainer, it's powered by magic (being a Golem created by unknown means), and its name begins with the letter G.
• Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: For a series that's mostly composed of creatures based on animals, you wouldn't expect one to be based on a mecha.
• Living Statue: It's a clay statue possessed by a ghost.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Ghost-type Mons usually have high Special Attack in contrast to a low Physical Attack. In Golurk's case, it's the other way around.
• Magitek: An empowered clay figure that looks and acts like a robot.
• Mighty Glacier: Very good Attack with a wide movepool, average bulk, and low speed.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Especially the zombie robot part. It's a Humongous Mecha Golem possessed by a ghost... and it can fly and transform into a cannon too!
• No Biological Sex: No gender.
• Older Than They Think: An in-universe example. Porygon was lauded in some of its Pokédex entries as the first artificial Pokémon; turns out Golurk and Golett had it beat by a few thousand or so years.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: They're clay golems/robots powered by an unknown energy source. Golurk at least is also one of the less malicious Ghost-types, as it protects others from harm.
• Power Limiter: The seal wrapped around Golett's body acts as one of these. It's reduced to a single strap on Golurk's chest, and if it's somehow removed, its internal energy goes haywire.
• Soul Power: Both are Ghost-types powered by a ghost-like force within the body.
• Transforming Mecha: Golurk can tuck its arms and legs into its body to fly, and pull its legs into its body while standing on its hands to turn into a cannon, as shown in the spinoffs.

Pawniard, Bisharp, and Kingambit (Komatana, Kirikizan, and Dodogezan)

0624: Pawniard / Komatana (コマタナ komatana)
0625: Bisharp / Kirikizan (キリキザン kirikizan)
0983: Kingambit / Dodogezan (ドドゲザン dodogezan)

Pawniard

Bisharp

Kingambit

Kingambit makes its debut in Scarlet and Violet.

These strangely humanoid beasts have sharp, metallic blades jutting out of their bodies (hence their Steel typing), which they would just love to use on opponents and prey (hence their Dark typing). They typically live in hunting packs led by Bisharp, who do little work but get the last say in just about everything. Despite having English names associated with chess (the pawn and the bishop), this Pokémon is actually based on Japanese bandits, the ashigaru (foot soldiers employed by the samurai class in feudal Japan), and kaijin (the vaguely human villains in Japanese monster movies), which explains their Dark typing. The Steel typing is a reference to the katana and other bladed Japanese weaponry.

A leader Bisharp who has risen through the ranks can evolve further into Kingambit, which commands multiple groups of Bisharp and Pawniard.

---

• Action Initiative: Can be bred to have Sucker Punch, which will attack before the opponent if the target uses a damaging move.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership:
  • According to Bisharp's Black Pokédex entry, "It battles to become the boss, but it will be driven out of the group if it loses."
  • A Bisharp can only evolve into a Kingambit by proving itself stronger than all competitors in a colony. In-game, Bisharp evolves upon defeating three other Leader's Crest bearing Bisharp leading packs of Pawniard.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: According to Kingambit's Violet Dex entry, their strategy is based less on complex tactics and more on overwhelming force.
• Audible Sharpness: Their cries sound like a blade being unsheathed. More prominent from X and Y onward.
• Balance Buff: While Bisharp was good in Gen V, it became excellent in Gen VI, as it benefitted greatly from the buff to Knock Off, Defog becoming used to clear entry hazards and setting off its Defiant ability, and above all else, the nerf to Steel's resistances and the addition of Fairy-types made both of its typings even better offensively and defensively.^note It didn't even suffer the consequences of the Steel nerf much, as its Dark type already resists Dark and Ghost Come Gen IX, and the newly introduced Kingambit means Bisharp can now use Eviolite.
• Barbarian Longhair: Kingambit has hair so long it can sit on it.
• Berserk Button: If they have the Defiant ability, their Attack increases by 2 stages whenever an opponent inflicts a stat drop.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Pawniard's hands are knives, while Bisharp's wrists have retractable blades.
• Boss Battle: Bisharp is Elite Four Grimsley's signature Mon. In Paldea, Pawniard is the signature Pokémon of Giacomo, the leader of Team Star's Dark-type Segin Squad, and it evolves into Kingambit for rematches. Kingambit is also the ace of Paldea's Top Champion, Geeta during her rematch battles in the Indigo Disk DLC.
• Chess Motifs: What the localization gave them with their naming scheme. Pawniard are gregarious and gang up on the enemy (similar to pawns in chess), Bisharp (the bishop) deal the finishing blow, and Kingambit (the king) lead the army, but are not very mobile.
• Combat Pragmatist: Dark-types, and their battle strategy involves ganging up on an opponent. Bisharp's 'dex entry in Violet specifically mentions that they'll do whatever they think is necessary to win a fight. Kingambit's Secret Art takes this even further, being a Pose of Supplication meant to let the foe's guard down before attacking.
• Counter-Attack: One of the few Pokémon with the Metal Burst move.
• Critical Hit Class: They learn Night Slash naturally, and can be bred with Psycho Cut (they can learn it via TM in Gen VIII), both moves having increased critical hit ratios.
• Evil Counterpart: To Ralts and Gallade, in particular. They have similar designs, notable blades/horns on the body, and a humanoid shape. Ralts is timid and sensitive to emotions while Pawniard is a vicious swarm hunter. While Gallade is honorable and protects the weak, Bisharp delivers killing blows to those weakened by Pawniard. The Pawniard line's Steel-type counters Ralts' Fairy-type (prior to this, its Dark-type would also have been an ideal counter to their Psychic type), but when a male Kirlia evolves into Gallade, his protective nature manifests into a Fighting-type that is very effective against Bisharp and its final form Kingambit.
• Extra-ore-dinary: They're part Steel-types, blades and all.
• Finishing Move: Bisharp reserves the right to perform the killing strike after the Pawniard in its command have sufficiently weakened the prey.
• Guide Dang It!: Out of the new cross-gen evolutions introduced in the Gen IX games, Kingambit's evolution requirements can be quite tedious and troublesome to perform as leader Bisharp leading packs of Pawniard are quite rare spawns at times, even with the Teal Mask DLC making Kingambit available in the wild (so that players don't have to farm for said leader Bisharp). However once the requirements are met, you have a powerful Dark/Steel leader who can easily avenge your team with Supreme Overlord.
• Hu Mons: At first glance, Bisharp looks like a cartoonish soldier. Then you notice that it has hooves rather than feet, and the blades on its torso are a part of its body. Kingambit's face looks more humanoid, but the more inhuman aspects remain.
• Immune to Flinching: One of their abilities is Inner Focus, which prevents flinching.
• Irony: To a comical degree. Kingambit's Violet Pokédex entry reveals it prefers to win through sheer brute force over strategy. Not what you'd normally expect from a Pokémon who's a) an acting general leading a small army and B) named after the king in chess and designed after a shogun.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Kingambit's Secret Art in Kowtow Cleave is a Dark-type move which has them perform a Pose of Supplication to let the opponent's guard down, before striking with the huge blade on their head for a high power attack that never misses.
• Late Character Syndrome: Often times:
  • Pawniard are found in Pokémon Black and White between the seventh and eighth Gyms in the low 30s. It won't evolve into Bisharp until level 52 — for point of reference, that's two levels lower than the Final Boss's strongest Pokémon.
  • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are a lot kinder; though rare, you can find fully-evolved Bisharp on Route 17, and it can be taught Iron Head via Move Tutor long before it naturally learns it.
  • Averted in X and Y and Sword and Shield, as they can be found in mid-game locations and both games have higher level curves.
  • Downplayed slightly with Scarlet and Violet as they are found a little earlier in the game, though they can't evolve into Kingambit until they reach Fury Falls where leader Bisharp leading packs of Pawniard become available, which is a bit later in the game if you're not sequence breaking.
• Light 'em Up: Can learn Psycho Cut through breeding and TM (Generation VIII).
• Magically Inept Fighter: Kingambit may have a massive Attack stat, but its base 60 Special Attack is nothing to write home about. Not that it really needs it, anyway, as the entire line learns no Special moves by level-up.
• Mana Drain: Their Hidden Ability is Pressure, which increases the opponent's Power Point usage.
• Manly Facial Hair: Kingambit has two long blades on its face for a mustache.
• Man of Kryptonite: Kingambit can absolutely destroy Pecharunt with its immunity to Poison, resistance to Ghost, and its signature move, Kowtow Cleave, is super-effective and never misses, meaning that Pecharunt will be destroyed before it can really do anything.
• Mighty Glacier: Great Attack, good Defense, two immunities, and lots of resistances thanks to being Steel-types. Not the fastest things in the world. Taken further with Kingambit, who sacrifices its Speed for even more power and defense.
• Monster Lord: Kingambit lead a massive army of not only Pawniard but Bisharp as well.
• Mooks: A group of Pawniard hunt for a leader Bisharp. Incorporated nicely in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where wild Pawniard only appear when summoned by Bisharp as backup, which is exaggerated in Scarlet and Violet where leader Bisharp are always seen with groups of Pawniard.
• Nerf: The line is unable to learn Knock Off via TM in Gen IX's The Teal Mask DLC despite Pawniard and Bisharp being able to learn Knock Off via move tutors in previous generations, making them one of the few Pokémon that lost access to Knock Off.
• One-Hit KO: Naturally learns Guillotine, a Normal-type move that can instantly faint any target with a lower level than the user.
• Orcus on His Throne: Kingambit's Supreme Overlord ability invokes this, giving it a slight power boost for every ally that has already fainted. Fittingly, it's always sitting on its hair like a throne.
• The Pawns Go First: Encouraged by Kingambit's Supreme Overlord ability, which works best when its allies go in first and soften up the enemy. Once they've gone down, Kingambit can come in to clean up whatever's left of the opponent.
• Pose of Supplication: Kingambit's Kowtow Cleave has it perform one to make the opponent lower their guard, before slashing them with the huge blade on their head. Its Japanese name even contains "dogeza", the Japanese term for this pose.
• Powerful, but Incompetent: Although Kingambit is a capable leader of armies of Pawniard and Bisharp, it is not skilled at coming up with complex plans, preferring to use brute strength in order to keep ahead.
• Prehensile Hair: Kingambit is capable of shaping its Barbarian Longhair not only to form its seat, but also to form protruding spikes from the sides from it.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their designs invoke this motif, being based on monster movie villains and being primarily red and black, and though they themselves aren't inherently evil, they are vicious pack hunters.
• Revenge: A Kingambit with the Ability Supreme Overlord will have its power raised by 10% for each fainted Pokémon in the player's party once it enters a battle, making it ideal as a last line of defense and the one to avenge its allies.
• Samurai: Kingambit's design brings to mind a shogun with its constant sitting, helmet-esque head, and the fact that it acts as a general.
• Secret Art:
  • Kingambit has the exclusive move Kowtow Cleave, an 85 base power Dark-type attack that never misses.
  • Kingambit is the only Pokémon with the Supreme Overlord ability, despite the description mentioning raising its Attack and Special Attack, it gives a 10% power boost to its moves for every ally that has been fainted beforehand.
• She Is the King: The line has a 50% chance of being female, which are just as capable of becoming Kingambit as the males.
• Spikes of Villainy: They're covered in jutting metal blades, and are ruthless Dark-type hunters.
• Status Buff: Their Defiant Ability causes their Attack to increase by 2 stages if any of their stats are lowered by an opponent.
• Stealth Pun: Kingambit's Supreme Overlord boosts its power by 10% for every fainted ally. This works best when Kingambit is the only Pokémon left. In other words, it's a literal King's Gambit.
• Too Important to Walk: Kingambit is always seen sitting, even when moving, as it can somehow scoot around while remaining seated on its hair.
• Tough Beetles: The Pawniard line bear resemblance to rhinoceros beetles, most notably Kingambit. This goes hand-in-hand with the line's theming around Japanese warriors, and their Steel-typing makes them literally tough with high attack and defense stats.
• Unskilled, but Strong: According to its Violet Pokédex entry, Kingambit isn't skilled at devising complex strategies despite leading armies of Pawniard and Bisharp. Instead, it prefers to crush its foes with brute force.
• Use Your Head: Naturally learn Iron Head. The large blade growing out of their head must make it hurt. Kingambit takes this further with Kowtow Cleave, where it enters a Pose of Supplication to stab the enemy with the even bigger blade on its head.
• Weak to Magic: Their lacking HP and Special Defense do no favors against Special Attacks, downplayed somewhat with Kingambit who has higher Special Defense overall but not by much compared to Bisharp, but has a very high HP stat to compensate.
• You Will Not Evade Me: They can be bred to have Pursuit to deal a heavy hit if the opponent is trying to switch out, or can use Mean Look to simply prevent said opponent from switching out at all.

Bouffalant (Buffron)

0626: Bouffalant / Buffron (バッフロン baffuron)

Bouffalant

A bison Pokémon with an unusually large afro and huge horns. It can't exactly move as fast as its cousin Tauros, but it can sure take hits and deal out severe damage. Its afro cushions the damage from slamming its head into anything (like, say, a speeding train it's trying to run off the tracks). It also loves its veggies, so sending a Grass Pokémon after it isn't a good idea.

---

• Afro Asskicker: Bouffalant has a huge afro and its charges have enough destructive force to run a train off its tracks. The Bouffalant with the biggest afros tend to have higher positions in the herd.
• Bowdlerize: The "Head Charge" attack was originally called "Afro Break" in Japanese. The word "afro" was consistently censored in Gen V due to fears of being racist, especially regarding Bouffalant itself. By the time Gen VI rolled around, TPCi realized how silly this was and began using the word in other contexts, but for Bouffalant, the damage had already been done.
• Brutish Bulls: Its Pokédex entries describe it as prone to charging and headbutting anything it sees. It can apparently charge with enough force to derail a train.
• Cast from Hit Points: Bouffalant's movesets such as its Secret Art, Head Charge, and its TM move, Wild Charge, can cause recoil damage upon damaging an opponent and both of them can be boosted by its Reckless ability.
• The Coconut Effect: It's as slow as it looks. Meanwhile, real bison are much more agile than what a typical player would assume, being able to run up to 40mph and jump 6 feet high.
• Death or Glory Attack: Head Charge. Its Reckless Ability can boost it even further.
• Fantastic Racism: An episode of the anime features a herd of Bouffalant that attack anything that doesn't sport an afro.
• Fartillery: Fittingly, as a bovine Pokémon, it can learn Belch via breeding.
• Fat Bastard: Bouffalant's got a plump physique and it's a really aggressive Pokémon.
• Funny Afro: Its afro is nearly half the size of its body.
• Horn Attack: Learns a few horn based moves, like Fury Attack, Megahorn, and Horn Attack itself.
• Kevlard: It's a fairly tubby-looking buffalo with a large, presumably fatty hump on its back, and its Defense, Special Defense, and HP are tied for its second-highest stat.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Its high base 110 Attack is contrasted by its poor base 40 Special Attack, and the few Special-based moves it can learn are only via TM/TR, breeding, or tutoring.
• Mighty Glacier: Great Attack, with defensive stats that are all equal and quite high. Its drawbacks are low Special Attack (which it has no need for), and, unfortunately, Speed.
• Punny Name: Bouffalant is a buffalo with a bouffant.
• Recurring Element: The Gen V answer to Tauros.
• Secret Art: Head Charge (known as Afro Break in the Japanese version). It's basically Double-Edge, but inflicts slightly less recoil due to the afro absorbing some shock.
• Stout Strength: It's fairly chubby and its best stat is Attack.

Rufflet and Braviary (Washibon and Warrgle)

0627: Rufflet / Washibon (ワシボン washibon)
0628: Braviary / Warrgle (ウォーグル wooguru)

Rufflet

Braviary

Hisuian Braviary

Hisuian forme debut in Legends: Arceus

An eagle Pokémon that's caught fairly late in the game (for those playing Pokémon White) and takes a very long time to evolve, but once he does, he's a powerful Pokémon. This majestic Pokémon is strong enough to carry a car while soaring through the air. He can also do the same for Pokémon in the form of the attack Sky Drop.
In the past, Rufflet who lived north of the Hisui region would evolve into a different species of Braviary that move in to main land during winter periods. They possess psychic powers that they can use to power up their screeches to weaken their foes and can even unlock their sixth sense to enter a trance that boosts their physical abilites.

---

• American Eagle:
  • Braviary is an eagle Pokémon with feathers in the color of the American flag and a feathered crest reminiscent of a Cheyenne feathered headdress. Its personality is based on the over-the-top warrior ideal common in American military culture; it's referred to as "the hero of the sky", fights for its friends without any thought of its own safety, and the more scars it has, the more respect it gets from its peers.
  • Subverted with Hisuian Braviary, which takes more after the Steller's sea eagle with its black and white feathering.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The more scars a Braviary has, the more he's respected among his clan. This only applies to scars on their frontside, however, as being scarred on the back will get a Braviary mocked by his flock, presumably because they think of him as a coward.
• Badass Adorable: Rufflet. He's small, cuddly, fluffy... and his attack power is pretty damn good for an unevolved Pokémon.
• Berserk Button: His Hidden Ability causes him to become enraged whenever he's hit by a stat lowering move, doubling his attack.
• Blood Knight: Rufflet challenge just about anything they see to a fight, no matter how tough it is.
• Braids, Beads and Buckskins: Their head feathers are styled after the archetypical Native American headdress.
• Disc-One Nuke: In White 2, you can catch a level 25 Braviary with his Hidden Ability on Route 4, if you're playing on Monday. Getting around the drawback of its evolution level entirely, Braviary's sky-high attack stat will rend a lot of the non-resistant foes in its path at such a point, especially if Defiant gets triggered in battle, and it's even quite fast at this point too on top of having a mighty HP stat.
• Eagleland: He's red, white, and blue, his plumage resembles Native American headdresses, and he's an eagle, to match the U.S.A. style world of the video games. Rufflet's Japanese name sounds like Washington (as in George Washington, America's first president, or Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, or even the Washington state).
• Flight: All members of this line are Flying-type.
• Giant Flyer: Braviary is 4'11"/1.5 meters tall and his Hisuian counterpart is larger at 5'7"/1.7 meters tall.
• Hot-Blooded: Braviary has been described as courageous, and will throw itself in harm's way to protect those it cares for, but it's also described as an aggressive hothead by its Shield Pokédex entry.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Can have the Defiant ability like the Pawniard line as a Hidden Ability, increasing their Attack stat for every stat debuff inflicted by an opponent.
• Late Character Syndrome: Games from Gen VIII onward tend to withhold Rufflet until fairly late in the game for areas where the level curve is more suited to its evolution level of 54 (it can outright spawn at levels as high as 58 in Legends: Arceus and be able to evolve for free). The result is that Braviary still functionally takes about as much time to obtain as in previous games, albeit for much less effort.
• Magically Inept Fighter:
  • Unovan Braviary has a great base 123 Attack, but a poor base 53 Special Attack.
  • Inverted and downplayed with Hisuian Braviary, who has base 123 Special Attack but an okay 83 base Attack.
• Magikarp Power: One of the more extreme cases in the series: Braviary is a strong Pokémon, but you're not getting one without a lot of coddling. This is very prominent in Pokémon Sun and Ultra Sun, where Rufflet appears as early as Route 3 and potentially as low as level 11 - 43 levels before it can evolve - and its initially respectable stats quickly become lackluster given how many other Pokémon can evolve long before it. After enough pampering, it'll finally evolve at level 54 and be able to hold its own again as Braviary, but by that point you are about to challenge the Elite Four, meaning there is not much left to do for it.
• Mighty Glacier: Average speed, good HP and Attack. While they're not that slow, they can easily be outsped.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Based on bald eagles, and Braviary is known as the "soldier of the sky" due to its fearless nature and willingness to fight for its friends.
• Non-Elemental: Rufflet and Unovan Braviary are part Normal-type.
• One-Gender Race: They're always male.
• Power Up Mount:
  • Hisuian Braviary are the main Pokémon used for sky travel in Pokémon Legends Arceus.
  • Its regular form was once considered for the role in Galar for the taxi service, but its belligerent nature meant that the role was given to Corviknight instead.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: They like to fight a lot. Rufflet will pick fights with anything that catches its fancy, and Braviary almost never runs from a fight, not even in the face of death. Ones that do run end up being ridiculed by others within its flock.
• Psychic Powers: Hisuian Braviary are part Psychic-type and can enhance their Psychic powers by entering a trance to unlock their sixth sense.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Braviary's Shield dex entry paints it as the Red to Corviknight's Blue: Because this Pokémon is hotheaded and belligerent, it's Corviknight that's taken the role of transportation in Galar.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Rufflet is small, furry, and has adorable wide and innocent eyes. He's often ignored compared to other cute Pokémon, though.
• Secret Art: Hisuian Braviary is the only Pokémon with Esper Wing, a Psychic-type attack with a high critical ratio that raises the user's action speed.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Hisuian Braviary on the official website is said to travel to Hisui during the winter. Real-life Steller's sea eagles are most often seen in Hokkaido (Sinnoh/Hisui's RL counterpart) during the winter as they migrate from their more northerly breeding grounds.
  • Hisuian Braviary is larger than its Unovan counterpart to reflect Steller's sea eagles being larger than their bald eagle cousins.
• Spear Counterpart: Of Vullaby and Mandibuzz. Both are one-stage bird Pokémon that evolve at level 54, are only available as one gender, and are often found as version-exclusives.
• Super-Scream: Hisuian Braviary can create powerful shockwaves by imbuing its screeches with psychic power, and is also known as the Battle Cry Pokémon.

Vullaby and Mandibuzz (Valchai and Vulgina)

0629: Vullaby / Valchai (バルチャイ baruchai)
0630: Mandibuzz / Vulgina (バルジーナ barujiina)

Vullaby

Mandibuzz

Vulture Pokémon that have a habit of dressing in the bones of presumably their meals. These Pokémon are only found in Black (and we mean "only found", as no player in White has it nor is there any way of seeing it unless you trade with someone who's playing with Black). They are fairly bulky, and their makeshift bone armor helps with that.

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• Bad with the Bone: Naturally learns Bone Rush.
• Casting a Shadow: Can learn Dark Pulse via level up.
• Combat Pragmatist: Using your enemies' bones as clothing and even diapers sure sounds like something a dishonorable Dark-type would do.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Black 2, you can catch a Level 25 Mandibuzz on Route 4 with its Hidden Ability on Thursdays. This isn't quite as much of a 'Nuke' as the opposite-version equivalent Braviary due to Mandibuzz's defense-based stat distribution, but its fully-evolved stats are darn impressive for an early point in the game, and at the least its lower base attacking stats aren't such a drawback when most of what you have available still isn't fully evolved. Most notably, at Lv. 25 this Mandibuzz comes already knowing Nasty Plot, meaning it has a lot of room to become a formidable asset on any team with a little work and patience.
• Distaff Counterpart: Of Rufflet and Braviary. Both are one-stage bird Pokémon that evolve at level 54, are only found in one gender and are often version-exclusives.
• Evil Counterpart: Given her typing and behavior, she can be considered one to the heroic Rufflet line.
• Feathered Fiend: A Dark-type vulture that wears bones for armor is not very pleasant.
• Flight: Flying-types based off of vultures.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite Vullaby's Pokédex entries claiming its wings are too small for it to fly, it is capable of learning Fly and Brave Bird.
• Harping on About Harpies: Being gross, Always Chaotic Evil and exclusively female vultures, the motif is definitely there. They aren't as anthropomorphic as harpies are, but they do wear clothes (well, sort of) despite not needing to.
• Heal Thyself: Can be taught Roost through breeding, move tutor, or TM.
• Improvised Diaper: Vullaby generally wear broken skulls as diapers.
• Late Character Syndrome: It takes an extremely long time to get a Vullaby to evolve; it can be found on Route 3 in Moon and Ultra Moon, but won't be ready to evolve until you reach the site of the Pokémon League.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: For them, the sound of a Cubone weeping over its dead mother is basically a dinner bell.
• Mama Bear: Mandibuzz are quite protective of Vullaby. This is demonstrated in-game in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Indigo Disk DLC, wherein one can find a static encounter for both parts of the line in the Terrarium as a mother Mandibuzz guarding her baby Vullaby in a nest.
• Magikarp Power: Vullaby has slightly higher stats then its version counterpart Rufflet, but they only evolve at level 54.
• Missing Secret:
  • Yes, you can trade them over to Pokémon White, but if you don't have anyone to trade with, their Pokédex spots will never be filled, because they're unobtainable AND no trainers in White use them. They remain the only example of an entire line of Pokémon missing entirely from one of their generation's primary games. The whole situation may stem from Vullaby and Mandibuzz being added to Black and White relatively late into development.
  • White 2 players don't have it any better. Vullaby is, along with the first and final form of the unchosen starter, the only Pokémon you need to trade to see everything in the New Unova Pokédex (Black 2 players will at least see Braviary in Alder's team).
• One-Gender Race: Both are always female. Apparently they dress in bones to attract males, but none have ever been found.
• Pet the Dog: As unpleasant as they are, a Mandibuzz will still take lost Vullaby under its wing and care for them until they're ready to leave the nest.
• Protection from the Elements: Their Overcoat ability protects them from the residual damage of Sandstorm and Hail.
• The Rival: According to the Alolan Pokédex, Mandibuzz prey on Cubone, and Marowak consider them their natural predators and are out for vengeance on them.
• Scavengers Are Scum: A classic portrayal of a known scavenger (in this case, vultures) being depicted as Always Chaotic Evil. For one thing, Vullaby's diaper appears to be a hollowed out human skull.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Used as bows, skirts, and even diapers. According to the Alolan Pokédex, Mandibuzz apparently does this to attract males, though no male Mandibuzz have ever been found. According to their Shield Dex entry, Mandibuzz appear to have fashion trends as different bones will fall in and out of popularity.
• Stone Wall: Mandibuzz has great bulk all around, but isn't going to be hitting her opponents back hard. She can use Foul Play to get around this if the opponent has high Attack, at least.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Mandibuzz in particular has a whole array of these, all made of bones. Apparently they dress this way to attract males, but no male Mandibuzz have been documented.
• Trademark Favorite Food: They like to eat Cubone.
• Vile Vulture: A menacing vulture that wears the bones of its prey.

Heatmor and Durant (Kuitaran and Aiant)

0631: Heatmor / Kuitaran (クイタラン kuitaran)
0632: Durant / Aiant (アイアント aianto)

Heatmor

Durant

An anteater and an ant in a predator-prey relationship. Heatmor is a Fire-type that appears to be a cross between an anteater and a machine of some sort, if the claws that resemble a radiator and a tail that resembles a muffler is of any indication. Said muffler tail is also how it gets oxygen for its Fire-type attacks. Durant is a colonial Pokémon that has steel armor and steel jaws which it can use to carry off and process food. They are so efficient that their numbers would expand greatly if they weren't kept in check somehow.

Luckily, Heatmor's Fire typing so happens to be the Bug/Steel Durant's only weakness, but it's a massive weakness. As such, Heatmor has little problems cooking Durant from the inside with its tongue. Heatmor can be found outside of where Durant gather and presumably stop them from spreading across the region. Durant is far from defenseless against the anteater, though; they attack Heatmor in mass numbers. In the Galar region, they also have to deal with Sandaconda trying to steal their eggs.

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• A.I. Breaker: A Durant with the Truant ability^note the owner is only allowed to attack every other turn and Entrainment^note replaces the target's ability with the one of the user can cripple AI opponents in the Battle facilities. Since the AI will refuse to switch out to remove Truant, you can use Protect to avoid every other attack while setting up Status Buffs to allow your next Mon in line to solo their team.
• Animal Jingoism: Anteater vs. ant.
• Ant Assault: Durant is a Bug/Steel-type ant Pokémon which has the highest Speed of all Steel-types that aren't Mega Evolutions, with similarly high Attack and Defense stats, plus is has 0.3 m in height and large mandibles.
• Armored But Frail: Durant has high Defense, but a poor base 58 HP.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Durant is massive compared to a regular ant (30cm^note around 11 inches vs 1cm^note around 0.3 inches), though on the smaller end for a Bug-type Pokémon. All the same, you wouldn't want either of them near your picnic lunch.
• Blessed with Suck: What's Durant's bonus Hidden Ability? Slaking's ability: Truant.
• Boring, but Practical: Entrainment Truant Durant + Setup isn't the most showy or interesting strategy and is a bit dull, but is effective at setting up a sweep in a Battle Facility.
• Combat Pragmatist: Apart from Bite and Crunch, Durant can learn Beat Up via level up as of Gen VIII, which has it and the rest of the team beat up an opponent at once.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Durant is part Steel-type.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Durant's fate at the hands of Heatmor, as the Dex puts it: Using their very hot, flame-covered tongues, [Heatmor] burn through Durant's steel bodies and consume their insides.
• Feed It with Fire: Flash Fire Heatmor gets a boost to its own Fire attacks when struck with Fire in addition to taking no damage from it.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: In Pokémon X and Y, you can run into horde battles with four Durant and one Heatmor. As is the case with Zangoose and Seviper, the four team up on the Heatmor and ignore you.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: According to Durant's dex entries, their steel armor is supposed to help protect against Heatmor. In gameplay, however, its resultant Steel typing makes it even more vulnerable to Heatmor's fire than it would be without.
• Glass Cannon: Heatmor has 105 Special Attack and 97 Physical Attack, but everywhere else? Not that good.
• Lightning Bruiser: Durant has the highest Speed of all Steel-types that aren't Mega Evolutions (and is actually pretty good when compared to everything else) and has above average Attack and Defense. With the Hustle ability, its Attack becomes even better at the cost of lowering the accuracy of all of its physical attacks by 20%.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Durant sports very good Attack, Defense, and Speed stats, but its Special Attack and Special Defenses stats are terrible. Its special frailty is further emphasized by its low HP stat.
• Magic Knight: While primarily a special attacker as Heatmor has a good base 105 Special Attack, it also has a decent base 97 Attack.
• Master of None: Heatmor suffers from this. Both its attacking stats are merely above average as opposed to having one good attacking stat, while its speed is too low for it to get in a hit, and its defensive stats are too low for it to take one, despite all its abilities seemingly being keyed towards defense. It's even more obvious compared to Durant, which has an identical base stat total, but due to heavy Min-Maxing ends up being a Lightning Bruiser instead.
• Not Completely Useless: With the Entrainment move, a Durant with Truant can make its target have the same ability. This is not very useful against human players since the effect is negated by switching out, but it's very effective against AI-controlled trainers, since they almost never switch out Pokémon.
• Obsessed with Food: While not outright stated in Dex entries or other descriptions, Heatmor's name in English, Japanese (Kuitaran), and French (Aflamanoir) all include terms relating to constant hunger: Eat more, kuitaran (has not eaten enough), and affamé (starving). Though given how ants like Durant aren't known for having much individual meat, even as Big Creepy-Crawlies, a Heatmor being constantly hungry for more Durants to eat is just a natural part of being based on an anteater.
• Obvious Rule Patch: Durant was running wild at one point in the Trading Card Game. To remedy this, a Heatmor card was released a few sets later with an attack that, for one Energy of any type, inflicts 10 damage plus 50 if the target is specifically a Durant.
• One-Hit Kill: Durant learns Guillotine by level up, a Normal-type move that can instantly faint any target with a lower level than the user.
• Playing with Fire: Heatmor is a Fire-type.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Durant packs a serious punch despite being only 1 foot (0.3 meters) tall.
• Rare Random Drop: In Black 2 and White 2, wild Heatmor have a 1% chance of holding a Flame Orb.
• Recurring Element: A predator and prey duo like Zangoose and Seviper.
• The Rival: Heatmor is Durant's primary predator, but the Shield Dex reveals they also have to protect their eggs against Sandaconda.
• Secret Art: In Generation VII, Heatmor gains Fire Lash as a signature move, though starting in Gen VIII Salazzle and the Sizzlipede line can also learn it. Fire Lash deals damage and has a 100% chance to lower the target's Defense, thus giving them some advantage against Durant.
• Skill Gate Characters: Durant with the Truant ability^note Causes the bearer to skip every other turn and Entrainment^note Makes the target's ability the same as the user's can be a powerful weapon against the AI or a novice player, letting you stick their active Pokémon with a crippling ability, then switch in another Pokémon to get the advantage. Against an opponent who knows how to switch Pokémon themselves, however, it's easily countered, leaving Durant as dead weight.
• Smoke Out: Heatmor can have the same ability as Torkoal, White Smoke, which prevents its stats from being lowered by other Pokémon.
• Strong Ants: Durant. Again, only 1 foot tall, yet nearly as strong as Aggron and Lucario.
• Turns Red: Durant's Swarm ability powers up its Bug-type attacks when its health is at 1/3 total or less.
• Weak to Fire: Fire deals quadruple damage against the Bug/Steel Durant and is the only type that is super-effective against it. Naturally, its predator Heatmor is Fire-typed.
• Weak to Magic: Durant's good 112 base Defense is betrayed by its base 48 Special Defense, which combined with its double weakness to Fire means that special-based Fire-type moves make very short work of it.
• Zerg Rush: Durant's standard attack strategy. In Pokémon X and Y, you may actually encounter a Horde Battle with four Durant and one Heatmor. The four Durant will gang up on the Heatmor and attack it.

Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon (Monozu, Dihead, and Sazandora)

0633: Deino / Monozu (モノズ monozu)
0634: Zweilous / Dihead (ジヘッド jiheddo)
0635: Hydreigon / Sazandora (サザンドラ sazandora)

Deino

Zweilous

Hydreigon

The non-Legendary Infinity -1 Sword for Gen V, this line of multi-headed dragons is possibly best known for being the signature Pokémon of Ghetsis Harmonia, notorious leader of Team Plasma. While Deino is a simple one-headed baby dragon with a Beatle haircut, Zweilous' two heads hate each other and constantly compete for food. Hydreigon only has one brain despite having three heads (two serving as hands), but it is by far the most savage member of the line and among the most vicious Pokémon of all, attacking anything that moves and devouring anything in sight. Thankfully, Hydreigon caught and raised by the player turn out to be far more agreeable, like with any Pokémon. Unlike past pseudo-legendaries, Hydreigon focuses on Special Attacking power rather than physical. It also evolves at a much higher level, making it unlikely that you'll have a fully evolved Hydreigon before you beat the Unova Elite Four, though they can be found lurking above Kalos' Victory Road if you're lucky.

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• Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted. While the Pokédex entries for Hydreigon make it sound like one of the nastiest Pokémon around, it's more of an Informed Attribute, as it's not shown to be any worse than a lot of other species on the instances where it is given personality and characterization. Ironically, it also behaves in a manner that's much friendlier than that of numerous other Pokémon in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh, though it's not afraid to show off its ugly side if you decide to tick it off on purpose. Its Violet Dex entry justifies this as being because in the past people used to attack it on sight under the assumption it was evil, to which the species developed a violent and aggressive personality in response, so in the hands of a caring trainer their repressed gentleness resurfaces.
• Artistic License – Biology: Hydreigon has elbows, and while its secondary heads lack many of its main head's functions, it has been established that it uses them to eat and presumably digest. Joints such as elbows would make it harder for esophagi to properly function in its arms.
• Ax-Crazy: Outdoes even Gyarados in this regard. Gyarados just has an incredibly destructive case of Hair-Trigger Temper, while Hydreigon is in that frame of mind at all times and will level and devour anything and everything in sight.
• Big Eater: Every member of this line; Zweilous in particular has a very large appetite and will eat just about anything.
• Bilingual Bonus: Their names contain the German words for one (ein^note masculine form; the feminine spelling is "eine," though that's only used if you're using "ein" and "eine" as indefinite articles or if you're a female German speaker), two (zwei), and three (drei).
• Black Eyes of Crazy: All three heads have black sclera in their eyes (with the main head adding magenta pupils) and is a vicious Pokémon.
• Body Horror: Hydreigon's secondary heads are very underdeveloped, being unable to act, think or even blink and mostly just acting as extra sets of eyes or mouths. Considering that it evolved from a two-headed creature with full-on Multiple Head Case, the implications aren't pretty. Also consider that its arms - which are also necks and can digest food - now have elbow joints.
• Boss Battle: In Black and White 2, as it's still the strongest in Ghetsis' team, though it's easier to deal with now, as it uses physical moves off of its lower (albeit still pretty good) Attack stat.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: In Pokémon X and Y, there are several Pokémon that can swoop down on you in Victory Road. Normally they're Fearow and Skarmory... but rarely, it'll be a Hydreigon.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Slightly. Zweilous evolves so late that you won't likely get a Hydreigon until the post-game if you try training one in the main story.
• Breaking Old Trends: Hydreigon breaks a few old trends compared to its fellow pseudo-legendaries:
  • Hydreigon is the first pseudo-legendary to have Special Attack as its highest offensive stat, as opposed to the ones prior which focused more on Attack.
  • It's also the first to have well balanced stats overall, with no base stat reaching below 90, while every other pseudo-legendary have a stat that's very high but a Dump Stat in another stat in exchange.
  • It's the first Dragon type pseudo-legendary to not have a 4x weakness to Ice, although it picked up a 4x weakness to Fairy one generation later.
  • Hydreigon is the first pseudo-legendary to be used by a villainous team leader, serving as Ghetsis's ace in every Unova game.
• Bullying a Dragon: Ghetsis's Hydreigon knows Frustration, a move that does damage depending on how much a Pokémon dislikes their Trainer and how poorly they've endured while in their company. That Hydreigon does a severe amount of damage with Frustration, which indicates it is repulsed by its own Trainer for being so cruel and abusive. And Ghetsis more than lives up to that reviled reputation.
• Casting a Shadow: Played Straight at first as it can learn Dark Pulse; however, due to it being called “Evil” Pulse in Japanese, this is Subverted.
• Combat Pragmatist: Well, biting the enemy (hopefully not eating it) isn't a very fair combat maneuver...
• Confusion Fu: Can learn a damaging move of every type except Grass and Fairy, and can get a Hidden Power for the former.
• Dark Is Evil: Ghetsis uses a Hydreigon as his trump card. Also in PokéPark 2, where it's one of Darkrai's minions.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Carlita's Hydreigon, in contrast to Ghetsis' more (in)famous specimen. In Black 2 and White 2, the champion, Iris, also has one, as does Lance from the Kanto/Johto games, the latter of which would reappear years later in Pokémon Journeys: The Series. Pokémon Conquest has it as a signature Pokémon of Oda Nobunaga, who is the game's antagonist but turns out to be an Anti-Hero. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, Hydreigon is Good All Along, saves the player's party, and is arguably one of the most heroic characters in the game! Come Gen 6 and Pokémon-Amie, and Hydreigon proves to be one of if not the most affectionate Pokémon in the game. Their Violet Dex entry strongly implies that Hydreigon as a whole are naturally friendly 'mons, and they earned their monstrous reputation because people attacking them based on their appearance pushed them into embracing their reputation, with their true personalities resurfacing under the care of a loving trainer.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Hydreigon is a three-headed Dark/Dragon type that is described as being willing to attack and devour anything in its path, has a rather evil-looking appearance, and also happens to be the strongest Pokémon of Ghetsis, the Unova duology's main villain.
• The Dreaded: Hydreigon, as one of the most ferocious and intimidating Mons in the series. It's a three-headed dragon based on the legendary Yamata no Orochi of Japanese myth, it has an incredibly versatile movepool and the stats to use it, and it's famous for being a psychotic and destructive Omnicidal Maniac.
• Extreme Omnivore: They are able to eat virtually anything, and have no problem doing so.
• Eyeless Face: Deino and Zweilous both lack eyes. Averted with Hydreigon, who at last gains eyes on its main head, while its secondary heads have simple eyes that can't even blink.
• Face of a Thug: Hydreigon is an extremely affectionate Pokémon despite its Obviously Evil appearance. Its Violet Dex entry states that all of its evil and violent behaviour is simply it acting how everyone expects it to.
• Final Boss: Of Black and White, being Ghetsis' most powerful Mon. Champion Iris also uses a Hydreigon in the sequels, with nearly if not exactly the same moveset as Ghetsis's Hydreigon from the prequels.
• Foil: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet casts this line as a version-exclusive counterpart to the Dreepy line. Like Deino, Dreepy has a Casting a Shadow typing in addition to its Dragon type, and goes from one to two to three entities as it evolves. However, the Dragapult line is a case of The Dividual rather than the (temporary) Multiple Head Case of the Hydreigon line; Dragapult is comprised of three fully distinct and independently sentient Pokémon (by counting the Dreepy in its horns) while Hydreigon's secondary heads are connected to its main body but are unthinking and non-sentient, acting as extensions of the main head. Furthermore, Dragapult isn't particularly vicious or violent by nature (and in fact is a caretaker by default for its Dreepy, which actually enjoy being launched), but Hydreigon is.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Hydreigon is constantly referred to as a vicious and terrifying Pokémon. Playing with it in Poké-Amie or feeding it high quality cuisine in camp shows it to be downright happy-go-lucky. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet implies that this is because Hydreigon's maliciousness is due to it reacting to people treating it badly, so if a trainer treats it well...
• Genius Bruiser: According to its Pokémon Scarlet Dex entry, Hydreigon is very intelligent but focuses solely on destruction. This ties in to its ability to learn Nasty Plot, which boosts the Sp. Atk stat that it specializes in.
• Glass Cannon: Deino and Zweilous can actually deal a lot of damage with physical attacks thanks to their ability, Hustle. That is, assuming those attacks hit... and with them being slow and having low defenses, it's not easy for them to even get the opportunity to try to hit the target.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Allegedly, this is why Hydreigon is so vicious. It spends most of its life blind, so once it sees the world for the first time, it's terrified. Its only response? To view literally everything in sight as a potential threat... a potential threat that must be eliminated...
• Green and Mean: The line's Shiny variants come in spooky shades of green and purple.
• Hand Puppet: Hydreigon's secondary heads are organic versions, as they have no autonomy, are controlled by the main head, and are located on its arms.
• Jack of All Stats: Only when compared to its fellow pseudo-legendaries. None of Hydreigon's base stats dip below 90, and its highest stat is a base 125 Sp Atk. Most of the other pseudo-legendaries all have a main stat that reaches base 130 or higher (usually Atk, Sp Def in Goodra's case, Spd for Dragapult), but have one or two Dump Stats that dip much lower than their other stats. The only other exception is Kommo-o, who also has mostly well rounded stats aside from average HP.
• Late Character Syndrome: Hoo, boy. Deino won't appear in Pokémon Black and White until Victory Road, and it won't evolve into Zweilous — just its second stage — until level 50. You want Hydreigon? Grind it up until level 64. Realistically speaking, you're not using Hydreigon in any game's main story with how late it comes and the absurd amount of attention it needs to get there. Even as a rare wild encounter in Pokémon X and Y, it only shows up when you're nearing the Elite Four's doorstep. Pokémon Sun and Moon finally averts this... if you know how to work Island Scan (although finding Deino becomes easier in subsequent games). But then you have to deal with Deino's low stats and mildly hindering ability for most of the game.
• Light 'em Up:
  • Hydreigon can learn Flash Cannon, which helps it somewhat with fighting Fairy-types.
  • It can also learn Signal Beam, which allows it to break through other Dark-types.
• Lightning Bruiser: When compared to most Pokémon in general, Hydreigon is this, and only seems average statwise when compared to the other pseudo-legendaries. The fact remains that it has all-around great stats.
• Logical Weakness: Deino and Zweilous having the Hustle ability (which raises Attack but reduces accuracy) is a consequence for their lack of eyes.
• Magic Knight: Not as much as fellow pseudo-legendary Salamence, but Hydreigon's Attack stat is still high enough that it can use it effectively.
• Magikarp Power: Not only is Deino required to reach level 50 before it can evolve into a Zweilous, Zweilous doesn't evolve into Hydreigon until level 64. Even worse, Deino and Zweilous have Master of None stats, a shallow movepool, and a rather unfortunate ability in Hustle, which boosts their Attack at the cost of a hefty accuracy penalty, making them whiff their attacks all the time.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Deino in Greek mythology was one of the Graeae, the three goddesses who had one eye and one tooth between them. 'Deino' means 'dread', and it can't see, so evidently one of the other siblings has the eye — and Deino's evolved form is pretty dreadful.
  • Zweilous' original Japanese name, Jihead, is also a clever one. Not only is it a portmanteau of "ji" (one of the Japanese words for "two") and the English word, "head", it's also a reference to the Arabic word, "jihad", which is used to refer to either a person's internal conflict, such as a crisis of faith, or — if you're more familiar with fundamentalist Islam and The War on Terror — a war against an enemy people based on either ethnicity or religion. The "jihad" pun is a more apt name, given that it's a creature that squabbles with itself and lays waste to others.
  • As mentioned below, their names all contain the German word for the number of heads they have (D-EIN-o, ZWEI-lous, and Hy-DREI-gon).
• Multiple Head Case: Starts at one, then two, and finally three. Oddly for this line, Zweilous is the only member that plays this straight, as its Pokédex entry even mentions its heads arguing. Despite multi-headedness being its entire design gimmick, Hydreigon averts this trope; the heads on its arms don't have brains, so the center head controls them. In 3D games Hydreigon's main head is the only one that reacts and emotes, while its secondary heads are inactive and don't even close their eyes, appearing completely lifeless except when it uses them to help it devour food at an alarmingly high speed. Appearances such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity have it speak as a singular entity.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Hydreigon is a darkness-aligned hydra-dragon that was originally designed as a Cyborg with physical elements from military tanks. Its possible future relative, Iron Jugulis, is an actual robot.
• Numerical Theme Naming: Ein, zwei, and drei are German for one, two, and three. While this isn't the first time that English Pokémon names have used foreign words for one, two, and three, the naming scheme for this line is notable because it's present in the original Japanese version, and is maintained in all translations. Their Japanese names are Monozu, Dihead, and Sazandora.^note From Japanese for three, "sa"/"san".
• Obviously Evil: Red Eyes, Take Warning? Check. Mighty Roar? Check. Dark-type? Check. The Big Bad's strongest Pokémon? Check!
• Omnicidal Maniac: Hydreigon's Pokédex entries state outright that it lives to destroy anything and everything it sees. Zweilous is a slightly more moderate version — after it consumes all the food in its territory, it moves on to a new area to claim and repeats the process there.
• Orochi: Said to be based on one, although it looks more like a Hydra. The fewer heads and tails compared to Orochi normally were likely to make the design less confusing.
• Our Dragons Are Different: In this case, they're three-headed creatures of darkness. While multi-headed dragons are nothing new in mythology (and were long overdue for Pokémon representation), Hydreigon is one of the few depictions to be depicted as a single-minded creature rather than being a true Multiple Head Case, in a similar vein to Auditio Fortitudo.
• Our Hydras Are Different: Between its name and three heads, Hydreigon is highly reminiscent of the mythical Hydra.
• Power Floats: Hydreigon has the Levitate ability (presumably because it hovers). Its implied descendant, Iron Jugulis, retains this by ditching its Dragon typing for a secondary Flying type.
• Psycho Pink: The line has magenta highlights on their body, and the final evolution Hydregion is a dangerous and rampaging dragon.
• Punny Name: Hydreigon sounds a lot like "Hydra" and "Dragon".
• Recurring Element: The draconian pseudo-legendary. Fittingly, it's the third (and last) pseudo-legendary in a row to be a blue, vicious Lightning Bruiser Dragon-type with flight capabilities, after Salamence and Garchomp.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Hydreigon's main colors are blue, black and magenta, and it's a brutal and vicious Pokémon (at least in the wild).
• Robosexual: According to the magazine "Occulture", the Paradox Pokémon Iron Jugulis was allegedly formed when a Hydreigon fell in love with a robot.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Hydreigon's arms have brainless heads of their own? That's basically just the logical extension of how octopus tentacles work in real life, where they have nerve clusters that function similarly to brains and are assigned functions to take some pressure off the main brain, but don't grant the tentacles enough autonomy to function as separate individuals.
  • A blind creature going crazy after being allowed to see is a documented real-life occurrence, just as Zweilous evolves into the Ax-Crazy Hydreigon.
  • Some multi-headed animals in Real Life, such as Janus cats, have heads that are all controlled by one brain (like Hydreigon). Others, such as multi-headed reptiles and Conjoined Twins of various species, have heads that each have their own personality (like Zweilous).
• Split-Personality Merge: Zweilous's heads are noted to not get along at all. It's never confirmed if Hydreigon's brain is a merger of both of theirs, like Reuniclus, if it grew a new brain and the others lost their brains and became its arms, or if one mind finally overcame the other.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Hydreigon's Violet Dex entry posits that ancient humans assumed it was inherently evil (most likely due to its appearance) and would attack it on sight. In response, it decided to become the monster that everyone saw it as.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Deino and Zweilous are the only Pokémon to have Hustle as their only ability rather than merely a possible ability. This means that they get a 50% boost to the power of all their physical moves, but said moves' accuracy is cut to 80% of what it should be.
• Unstoppable Rage: Hydreigon. According to the Black 2 and White 2 Pokédex, it sees every living thing as a target and will destroy and devour everything in its path. Fittingly, it can learn Outrage.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: If you count the the two extra heads as legs/arms, Hydreigon has ten limbs — four legs (or two legs and two arms) and six wings.

Larvesta and Volcarona (Merlarva and Ulgamoth)

0636: Larvesta / Merlarva (メラルバ meraruba)
0637: Volcarona / Ulgamoth (ウルガモス urugamosu)

Larvesta

Volcarona

Moth Pokémon believed to have a connection with the sun. Larvesta is said to have been born from the sun, while Volcarona is able to harness the sun's power, even being able to act as a replacement. Like the Deino line, Larvesta takes a long time to evolve into Volcarona, but when it does, it becomes a powerful special attacker to be reckoned with. As a matter of fact, and rightfully so, Volcarona is also the signature Pokémon of Alder, Champion of Unova in Black and White.

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• Acrofatic: Volcarona is kinda pudgy, yet it is quite agile, with a Speed stat of 100.
• Beware the Cute Ones: Larvesta looks downright adorable and Volcarona looks no less cute with how big and fluffy it is. Don’t let this distract you from the fact that Volcarona is a devastating special attacker worshipped as a god for its ability to wield the power of the sun itself.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: While not necessarily creepy, it’s still big by insect standards. Volcarona is 5'3" feet; its size in comparison still doesn't stop it from being able to replace the Sun.
• Big Eater: Larvesta in Sword and Shield eats a lot of curry in comparison to its size, whereas Volcarona inverts this by eating roughly a spoonful of curry. Notably, many real moths have no mouthparts and don't eat at all after reaching their adult stage, their only function being to reproduce before they starve to death.
• Blow You Away: Volcarona's penultimate level-up move is Hurricane, and it's one of the two non-Flying-types that can learn the move.
• Boring, but Practical: Volcarona's two abilities aren't too exciting, but they're good enough. While Volcarona is a Squishy Wizard, it's able to at least take a weak resisted hit on the physical side and have a decent chance of burning the opponent with Flame Body. Its other ability, Swarm, only activates when Volcarona is at low health, but it could either safely reach that threshold through Substitute, or it could boost up with Quiver Dance and tank a few hits from a special attacker to get it to the HP threshold.
• Boss Fight: Serves as Alder's strongest Pokémon in the Unova games. In the sequels, it's also the strongest Pokémon on Benga's team, who is Alder's grandson.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: In Black and White's postgame, the player can fight a wild Volcarona at Level 70 in the Relic Castle, and in Ultra Sun and Moon, it can rarely appear in SOS Battles against Larvesta in the Lush Jungle's cave section.
• Bragging Rights Reward:
  • In Black and White, you can only obtain the Volcarona in Relic Castle after beating the game.
  • Zig-Zagged in the sequels. You can catch a Volcarona much earlier in the game — you just need to beat Clay to open the Relic Passage leading to its chamber — but its level-up movepool is so awful^*Its movepool, when you catch it, consists of moves most Pokémon start with: String Shot, Gust, Leech Life, and Fire Spin; it won't learn another damaging move until level 50 and teachable moves are so scarce that training it up to usable levels is too much of a headache in the story. You can get around this by using the free Red Shards you get in Driftveil to teach it Signal Beam from the local Move Tutor, which is a decently powerful STAB attack for it to utilize until you can buy the TM for Fire Blast later in the game.
• Dance Battler: Its signature Fiery Dance, and it's also a user of Quiver Dance, which serves it well.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Using the Lv 35 Volcarona in Black 2 and White 2. While it has incredible stats for a Pokémon at that part of the game, it has an awful level-up movepool with moves like Gust and Leech Life, although it can learn Signal Beam from a Move Tutor. It is also unfortunately weak to the remaining Gym Leaders^*Its Bug type is weak to Skyla's Flying-types (and her ace, Swanna, is a Water/Flying-type, slamming Volcarona's Fire-type as well), its Fire type doesn't do much against Drayden's Dragon-types, and its Fire-type leaves it weak to Marlon's Water-types. Stick with it however, and you'll eventually be able to teach it moves like Fire Blast and Flamethrower, and it gets its powerful Quiver Dance. It also holds up well against half of the Elite Four with its Bug type beating Caitlin's Psychic types and Grimsley's Dark types.
  • Raising a Volcarona in general has quite a few hurdles, as it evolves very late, has a crippling 4x Rock weakness (which means Stealth Rock would cut its health in half), but it has one of the best stat-boosting moves in the entire game in Quiver Dance, and it has really good stats all around except on the physical side. If it can set up a few Quiver Dances and avoid Rock-type and physical attacks, it can be pretty hard to stop.
• Discard and Draw: Oddly, while Larvesta's stat distribution is geared towards being a fairly slow physical attacker, Volcarona's stat distribution is geared towards being a fast special attacker, even losing 25 base Attack points after evolving. The moves they can learn by level-up also show this, with almost all of Larvesta's level-up moves, and most of Volcarona's low-level moves, being physical, while nearly all of Volcarona's late-level moves are special.
• Heal Thyself: Can learn Roost and be bred to know Morning Sun.
• Infinity -1 Sword: It's not a Legendary Pokémon, but it has very high stats and can be found in a special chamber beneath Relic Castle, complete with an overworld sprite like most Legendary Pokémon.
• Lightning Bruiser: Can become one on the special side with Quiver Dance, which will boost its Sp Atk, Sp Def, and Speed all at once, making it a juggernaut to deal with if you only have Special attackers and/or you can't outspeed it.
• Long-Lived: Implied, as if the Relic Castle is not one of the few places in Unova where Larvesta live and multiply, then that means both of the Volcarona worshipped in ancient times have been down there for a really long time.
• Magikarp Power: Larvesta has so-so stats except for attack, and it evolves at the really high level of 59. Once it evolves into Volcarona, it’s all worth it. And in Generation V, it only learns its Secret Art Fiery Dance at level 100. Gen VI made it available earlier via a move relearner. In addition, the only way to get one prior to the postgame in Black and White is to go to an optional area that can't be reached until about two-thirds of the way through and hatch it from an egg.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Volcarona is a mixture of a moth, seraph, and tiger lily.
• Moth Menace: Unless one wants to end up burnt to ashes, one ought to be careful when encountering a Volcarona: this humongous moth scatters burning flames when flapping its wings. Volcarona's Ultra Sun Dex entry mentions that ancient people (At least in Alola) feared and referred to it as "the rage of the sun".
• Mundane Utility: Volcarona can learn Fly (one of the few non-Flying-types to learn the move) and has the Flame Body ability, making this solar-semi-deity insect a perfect egg hatcher.
• Olympus Mons: According to the Pokédex. It is capable of causing enormous, widespread fires with one flap of its wings, and while its ability to serve as a substitute for the sun is technically just a legend, there is nothing that exists that would suggest that it's at all incapable of actually doing such a thing. Furthermore, the fact that it can be encountered in a special chamber that seems to have been devoted to its worship at one point is yet another reminder that Volcarona, while not a Legendary, is still monstrously powerful and capable of things that could certainly make it appear to be a god.
• Our Angels Are Different: Volcarona has some elements of a seraph, a powerful six-winged angel of fire who must keep its face covered or else it will incinerate all who make eye contact with it. Due to its status as an Olympus Mon, despite not being Legendary, this most likely isn't a coincidence.
• Oxymoronic Being: It's a moth, most being nocturnal insects, with a sun motif. It's also a bug that has fire powers, and Bug-types don't like fire.
• Person of Mass Destruction: One flap of its wings is stated to be enough to set huge areas of land on fire.
• Playing with Fire: Part Fire-type.
• The Power of the Sun:
  • Volcarona's called the "Sun Pokémon", and the Pokédex says it has the power to replace the sun when the skies are darkened by volcanic ash. This probably explains why it has a chamber with an image of its likeness on the wall dedicated to it, despite not even being a Legendary Pokémon.
  • It can also learn Solar Beam via TM/TR, and Morning Sun via breeding.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Volcarona in all languages references a deity related to heat, most referencing either Vulcan or another fire god, while French and German reference Ra the sun god, all of which relate to how it was worshipped as a fire-controlling sun god-like Pokémon along with being a Olympus Mon possessing power comparable to one.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Larvesta is a fuzzy and cute little larvae who still remains cute even as Volcarona, where it resembles a fuzzy and huggable plush toy.
• Secret Art: Fiery Dance, which has a 50% chance to boost the user's Special Attack each time it's used.
• Shock and Awe: For some bizarre reason, they get Magnet Rise as an Egg Move. It is possible that, due to Volcarona's sun motif, it refers to the Sun's powerful magnetic field.
• Squishy Wizard: Massive Special Attack and high Special Defense and Speed — that can all be boosted with Quiver Dance — but average HP and low Defense. Bug/Fire is also a notoriously terrible defensive typing, cutting its health in half when it switches in while Stealth Rock is in play.
• Status Buff: Quiver Dance, which boosts its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed all at once.
• True Final Boss: Of Black and White, as you finally battle it on Alder's team.
• Turns Red: Swarm, their Hidden Ability, boosts the power of Bug-type moves when it's low on health.
• Unique Enemy: You get a Larvesta egg in Black and White (it being this game's Togepi analogue), and can catch one (and only one) Volcarona in a certain area. Black 2 and White 2 drive this even further by removing the Larvesta egg option, with the Volcarona in Relic Castle being the only one you can get in the game.
• Visual Pun: "A moth to a flame" has never been quite this literal — and this moth takes the flame to you.
• Wreathed in Flames: Despite not actually being enveloped in fire, they do get Flame Body, which may burn physical contact attackers. In addition, the flavor text on Fiery Dance is that Volcarona cloaks itself in flames before flapping its wings to burn its enemy.

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