Have you ever levelled up yourPokemon, saw what it evolved into, and thought, “…Huh?” While most Pokemon evolution lines are fairly consistent in terms of design, there’s a select few that make pretty much zero sense. It’s like the designers had two ideas for two different Pokemon and smushed them together, just for the fun of it.
I’m sure there’s some rhyme or reason, no matter how small, for the reason these evolutions don’t make sense, but I’ve yet to find out what that rhyme or reason is. These are the strangest Pokemon evolutions, even by Pokemon standards.
8Dragonair - Dragonite
Dratini to Dragonair makes perfect sense. They’re bothblue, serpentine dragonswith a mythical air about them. Dragonair is basically the cooler Dratini, and that’s what an evolution should be. Dragonite, however, throws a humongous wrench into this evolution line.
Dragonite has almost no physical resemblance to its two previous evolutions. The blue and white colour scheme? Gone. The whimsical, wing-like ears? Also gone, replaced with stringy antennas, for some reason. The only thing that’s consistent is the ‘Dragon’ prefix in the name.
Ironically, just after I finished writing this very article,Mega Dragonite was revealed, which has white wings on its head. Game Freak heard me talking smack, huh? Regular Dragonite still doesn’t have them though, so checkmate.
7Flaaffy - Ampharos
Have you ever seen a completely bald sheep? Take a look at Ampharos, and now you have. Mareep and Flaaffy set a percent with this line - fluffy wool. Flaaffy is even called the Wool Pokemon.
Ampharos, however, takes a completely different direction. Don’t get me wrong, Ampharos is easily one of my favourite Pokemon, largely because of its design, but the sleek look just comes out of nowhere.
Mega Ampharos fixed this and gave Ampharos back its luscious wool, but the issue with its base design still stands.
6Remoraid - Octillery
Ah yes, a fish turning into an octopus. That thing that happens all the time in nature. Seriously, what was Game Freak thinking with this evolution line? At least have there be some sort of throughline between the designs, instead of two completely different, distinct Pokemon.
Apparently, Remoraid and Octillery are both based on sea creatures that have suckers, which is why they’re part of the same evolution line. By that logic, we’ll get a bird that evolves into an octopus next, since they both have beaks.
5Carvanha - Sharpedo
You’ve heard of a fish turning into an octopus, but have you heard of a piranha turning into a shark? Let me introduce you to Carvanha and Sharpedo. I guess the ocean in the Pokemon world just doesn’t follow real-world logic.
One thing I can give this evolution line is that there’s at least some cohesion between the two designs. They use similar shades of blue, they both have a star-shaped marking, and… uh, they have very sharp teeth. Other than that, though, I’d have thought these were both one-stage Pokemon.
4Tandemaus - Maushold
Can you even call Maushold an evolution of Tandemaus? It seems like a trainer left their Tandemaus at the Pokemon Daycare one day, came back with a couple of extra baby Tandemaus, and decided that was good enough for an evolution.
The two big mice don’t even change slightly in the ‘evolved’ form. Also, do the two baby mice grow up, find another pair of baby mice, and become their own Tandemaus? Do the two big mice left behind become a Tandemaus again when the babies leave the nest?I have so many questions.
3Shroodle - Grafaiai
I had to look up what animal Shroodle was based on, because I sure as hell couldn’t figure it out from its design. It’s a shrew, in case you didn’t know, so at least the name Shroodle makes sense. It evolving into Grafaiai, an aye-aye, though? A bit less sense, if you ask me.
The visual synergy is there, though, with the same colour scheme and big green eyes used for both Pokemon, so Game Freak has learnt to do that, at least.
Some fans think the evolution line is a reference to the aye-aye being mistakenly classified as a rodent in the past, but that seems like a very deep-cut reference to me.
2Flittle - Espathra
When I first saw Flittle, I had literally no idea what it was. In-game, it looks like a tiny yellow ball. Apparently, it’s supposed to be a chick, but it looks more like a sea creature to me with its ruffles.
Its evolution, Espathra, couldn’t look any more different. That’s a whole ostrich. Take a look at a real-life ostrich chick, and you’ll see that Flittle looks absolutely nothing like one. At least the colour scheme and triangle motif are consistent, eh?
1Togepi - Togetic
I’ve never seen anyone mention that Togepi evolving into Togetic doesn’t make sense, but now that I’ve realised it, I’m never going to be able to unsee it. Togepi is hatching out of the white egg, right? The yellow face is the Pokemon?
…So why is Togetic fully made up of the shell?! The shell seems to have grown and taken over poor Togepi’s real face. This is either an oversight, or a completely tragic evolution that I’m only just noticing.
