Nonambulatory Pokemon

[Mobile Tsk]

Hey,

There are some Pokemon that are designed in a way in which it makes no sense that they are able to move. For instance Metapod, Kakuna, Silcoon, Cascoon are obvious ones. But then there's also the Regis, which being golems you'd think they'd be far too heavy to move themselves with any kind of internal force. Snorlax hardly moves as it is, but it looks fairly bed-ridden. And how exactly does Rotom move?

What are some similar Pokemon that you have noticed would be difficult to move assuming normal physics/gravity? Feel free to provide explanations from the anime/manga/games/whatever.

 

[Mab]

A lot of them, haha. I'm not exactly sure how Grimer or Muk would be able to get around... there's nothing in their bodies that could generate any momentum or anything of the sort. Crustle would definitely be crushed under the mass of the giant rock on its back so I don't understand how it continues to be alive let alone move.

 

[Venia Silente]

Given what the anime has shown us about the context of how Metapod / Kakuna and their evolutions live in the wild, I'd expect Metapod and Kakuna to at least be able to Spidey it around, if with limitations of reach / directionality. After all, spider silk and similar natural compounds are pretty good precisely for that kind of stuff. But yeah, physiologically speaking, pretty much forget about "limbed" mobility.

Depending on how rigid the innards of Grimer / Muk / Ditto are, they should be able to move around via the same general principle by which amœba move, only better because Pokémon™.They should be able to stretch and "stick" parts of their bodies so that they can reach to places and then literally pull themselves to the place.

The general mobility of a species like Lileep/Cradily would also be severely constrained when on land, though if I udnerstand their IRL inspirational species, that was kind of the point. Monopods like Lileep likely move via a mixture of tensile miniappendages at the base of their trunk + ventoses or similar mechanisms, maybe vacuolas. This would make sense because when underwater, they are intended to mimic seaweed and marine vegetation and enjoy the same protections as they do, namely being difficult or near impossible to pull up off the seafloor (Ingrain). If / when they need to move long distances they can likely use their tentacles and stretchy structure to propel themselves around and basically "glide" underwater. I wrote an entire article about them, even, but that's another matter.

Now, for a Pokémon that might have a difficult time moving what about the new anchor-thing?Same basic difficulties as Metapod, only now amplified by both body shape and mass.

 

[Mobile Tsk]

Given what the anime has shown us about the context of how Metapod / Kakuna and their evolutions live in the wild, I'd expect Metapod and Kakuna to at least be able to Spidey it around, if with limitations of reach / directionality. After all, spider silk and similar natural compounds are pretty good precisely for that kind of stuff. But yeah, physiologically speaking, pretty much forget about "limbed" mobility.

Depending on how rigid the innards of Grimer / Muk / Ditto are, they should be able to move around via the same general principle by which amœba move, only better because Pokémon™.They should be able to stretch and "stick" parts of their bodies so that they can reach to places and then literally pull themselves to the place.

The general mobility of a species like Lileep/Cradily would also be severely constrained when on land, though if I udnerstand their IRL inspirational species, that was kind of the point. Monopods like Lileep likely move via a mixture of tensile miniappendages at the base of their trunk + ventoses or similar mechanisms, maybe vacuolas. This would make sense because when underwater, they are intended to mimic seaweed and marine vegetation and enjoy the same protections as they do, namely being difficult or near impossible to pull up off the seafloor (Ingrain). If / when they need to move long distances they can likely use their tentacles and stretchy structure to propel themselves around and basically "glide" underwater. I wrote an entire article about them, even, but that's another matter.

Now, for a Pokémon that might have a difficult time moving what about the new anchor-thing?Same basic difficulties as Metapod, only now amplified by both body shape and mass.

Hmm, yeah you would think Dhelmise and for that matter Corsola would be stuck in place. Corsola does have tiny feet, but it's rock solid.

 

[Unownzone]

There are a lot of Pokemon that come to mind, namely Bronzor, Solrock, Rayquaza and many more.

But I'd like to shed light on some of the Pokemon that have inefficient body shapes but are often overlooked. A lot of the Pokemon like Charmander, Tyranitar or anything that walks upright but drags around a thick tail is probably influenced by the early illustrations of theropod dinosaurs and the pop culture (e.g. godzilla) created around it. However, this image was created before scientists realized that dinosaur tails are used for balancing the upper body, so it was later revealed that theropods should actually walk with their body leaning forward and tail in the air, like the velociraptors in Jurassic park. We can even see that the none of the animals that exist today have body shapes like Aggron, Rhydon or Sceptile.

 

[Unownzone]

I was confused to how Regice moves until I saw Movie 11. Guess it makes sense that it kinda floats and levitates cause otherwise I think getting around would be a huge *****.

Registeel and Reigrock walk normally, they're just really slow at walking.

One thing I'm wondering is exactly how Lilligant moves. It doesnt have any visible feet or anything, unless it's under the leaves-like "dress" that it has.

Did you mean Movie 8? Lucario and the Mystery of Mew?

I think Lilligant has these yellow things visible under its "dress." Yeah maybe those are what let it move around....


Now that you mention it, the regis have awfully difficult-to-understand bodies too... What allows material like ice, rock and steel to move on its own? There can't be muscles underneath them right?

 

[Mobile Tsk]

There are a lot of Pokemon that come to mind, namely Bronzor, Solrock, Rayquaza and many more.

But I'd like to shed light on some of the Pokemon that have inefficient body shapes but are often overlooked. A lot of the Pokemon like Charmander, Tyranitar or anything that walks upright but drags around a thick tail is probably influenced by the early illustrations of theropod dinosaurs and the pop culture (e.g. godzilla) created around it. However, this image was created before scientists realized that dinosaur tails are used for balancing the upper body, so it was later revealed that theropods should actually walk with their body leaning forward and tail in the air, like the velociraptors in Jurassic park. We can even see that the none of the animals that exist today have body shapes like Aggron, Rhydon or Sceptile.

Thats really interesting, and I never thought about that before. But you would think that a lot of the bipedal mons with huge dragging tails would be pretty unbalanced. I think Bronzor and Solrock supposedly levitate, though Bronzor doesn't much look like it would levitate well. I think Rayquaza may be able to slither a little, but probably flies more than anything.