Strange ways that Pokémon evolve

[isthatyoudan]

Is this enough to be a thread?
I want to talk about Pokémon that don't actually do anything when they evolve, or strange ways that Pokémon evolve. How does that work? Does it count as a new Pokémon?
Examples:
Karrablast just steals shelmet's shell.
Burmy's cloak becomes a part of wormadam. eww.
Slowpoke gets bitten be a shellder to evolve.
OR THE WEIRDEST OF ALL...
When Inkay gets flipped upside down!

 

[moon]

Certainly! Let me know if you want the title changed ;)

I think Slowpoke and Shellder are a strange example. In the anime, Shellder bit Slowpoke and Slowpoke just stood up... The shell changed form... And voila, Slowbro. I guess the main change is that it can stand on two legs and fight with its fists. Mega Punch was used by it in the anime, if I remember correctly.

Still, it's really strange that it needs a Shellder to evolve in the anime. Good thing they didn't require that for the games; poor Shellder trainers could have their pokémon run away and bit an Slowpoke accidentally. Who owns the new pokémon? The Slowpoke's owner or the Shellder's owner? O.o

Same thing with three Magnemites fusing into Magneton, or two Beldums becoming Metang.


Haha, I never thought of that, but it's true; Inkay gets flipped upside down when it becomes Malamar xD

 

[TheRestlessSoul]

I think Shedinja's is pretty cool.. though i'm not sure if it is technically considered an evolution considering its the Nincada evolving into a Ninjask that causes it to appear in the empty party slot.. either way, it's certainly a weird way for a new pokemon to come about :P

Also had no idea about Inkay's evolution, thats actually really cool!

 

[Christopher]

I'd day anything that requires an Evolutionary stone is kinda weird. Touch an Eevee with a magic rock and BAM t evolves. What if the Trainer's just out for a walk with his Eevee in the mountains and the poor thing just happens to step on a Thunder Stone? Now he's stuck with a Jolteon.
Oh and Mantyke needing a remoraid or Pancham needing a Dark pokemon those are weird too.

 

[isthatyoudan]

Yeah, pancham needing a dark type is quite odd. It's like, "I don't want to evolve alone! Oh look a (insert dark-type here)! Now I can evolve!"
Also, Pokémon that are possessed objects. Banette is a possessed marionette that becomes possessed when someone abandons him. When was there time for it to be a shuppet?

 

[Pacifist]

Hmm i think that Pancham needs a dark type to evolve because Pancham has a kiddish look so its like a kid that turns into a dark type when older because of the "dark" influences next to him

 

[isthatyoudan]

That makes sense. He needs help from a grown-up to evolve. How cute :D

 

[Sonatron]

I really likes Shedinja and Escavalier/Accelgor for their weird evolutions, trade evolutions are quite standard for specific requirement evolutions but usually they just need to be holding an item or just traded, not traded for a specific Pokémon. Shedinja has that weird thing where you need an extra place in the party and a Pokéball which I actually kinda like.

I personally find the trading ones annoying (except Karrablast/Shelmet) because I like to trade with somebody who is trustworthy otherwise I probably wouldn't get my Scizor back or something XD but I do like it when Pokémon evolution methods are explored and made unique.

 

[Juno]

I don't know if this counts since I'm not sure about the "how", but Remoraid -> Octillery's kind of weird. I can follow a certain trend with most evolutionary lines, but this one just seems so random to me.

I've heard that their evolution is based on weaponry though - Remoraid is supposed to resemble a handgun though, and Octillery is like a tank, so essentially Remoraid evolves from a gun to tank.

Also, it's kinda strange how female Azurills can evolve into male Marills.

 

[Brendino]

I've always found the evolutions of Pokemon like Magnemite, Diglett and Klink odd, as they just seem to be a group of the previous evolution bunched together rather than an entirely new Pokemon. That, and how exactly did my Magnemite combine with two others to evolve when I only had one to begin with? These unsolved mysteries, I tell ya...

 

[Tsutarja]

I've always been curious about the evolution between Staryu and Starmie.. only because Starmie only appears to be two Staryu attached to one another, just with a different color.

 

[Hiatus]

I always wondered how Shelmet and Karrablast evolved, as one loses its armor while evolving while the other gains it. Don't really understand the evolution of Inkay, either. I mean, why do you have to hold your 3DS upside-down while evolving it?

 

[Mega Missingno]

I always wondered how Shelmet and Karrablast evolved, as one loses its armor while evolving while the other gains it. Don't really understand the evolution of Inkay, either. I mean, why do you have to hold your 3DS upside-down while evolving it?

Yeah, when I heard about Inkay's way of evolution, I was dumbfounded. Like, "who in their right mind would require the DS to be flipped, for it to evolve?" And, since no information was out, when the game was released, more importantly, "how on earth did the person who discovered that evolution method, at the time, with no info available, even get their Inkay to evolve, when it did?" It's just , like, why would there be any reason to flip your game? Ugh....

 

[Hikamaru]

I always wondered how Shelmet and Karrablast evolved, as one loses its armor while evolving while the other gains it. Don't really understand the evolution of Inkay, either. I mean, why do you have to hold your 3DS upside-down while evolving it?

Well, there is an explainable reason why the 3DS has to be flipped upside down to evolve Inkay - it well, turns upside down when it evolves into Malamar. Take a look at both their appearances, as shown by their X/Y sprites here.

Notice how the "top" of Inkay's head becomes Malamar's body? Same goes with the tentacles ending up on Malamar's head. It'd be fitting they based its evolution method around the whole "reversing" thing that it has going for it.

And I do admit that we have had loads of weird evolution methods, like Karrablast and Shelmet who need to trade with each other to evolve. I guess that when those two are evolving, Karrablast steals Shelmet's shell when it evolves into Escavalier while Shelmet evolves into the ninja-like Accelgor which lacks a shell (and that explains Accelgor's very low defensive stats). Plus, who could ever forget the massive change when Magikarp, Feebas and Remoraid evolve?

 

[isthatyoudan]

Imagine trying to evolve an Inkay in real life!
"Okay, buddy, I'm just gonna flip you over now... C'mon! It's for your own good! Hey! Don't attack me!"
Also, he sometimes flips over when he attacks! if you have an inkay past level 30 wouldn't it accidentally evolve?

 

[Dreg]

When Nincada evolves to become Ninjask, it sheds it's skin (I think?) and that becomes Shedinja. Or even Voltorb to Electrode; "let's switch the 2 colors around and give it a mouth"

 

[isthatyoudan]

I never understood when they add a new evolution in another region. I mean, why couldn't Seadra evolve into kingdra earlier? Or evee into umbreon, espeon, etc.
"your scyther can only evolve in the Johnto region or later!"
What the hey?

 

[Hikamaru]

When Nincada evolves to become Ninjask, it sheds it's skin (I think?) and that becomes Shedinja.

I have to say, that was very clever. Shedinja is literally the shed of a Nincada. But yeah, definitely one of the more interesting evolution methods we've seen in later generations.

Another one worth mentioning is Burmy. The fact that females evolve into Wormadam and males evolve into Mothim is based on the fact that when bagworms grow up, females remain in a cocoon-like state while males become moths. Interesting but very true.

And there's Pancham, which needs a Dark-type in the party to evolve. I guess this might be because Pancham needs to be embedded with rebellious thoughts just to evolve, according to something I read on Tumblr. Man loads of people have strange reasonings behind evolution methods.

 

[Morning Sun Espeon]

It's always interesting to think of pokemon's quirks. Giving stones to them, or like the few Eeveelutions that depend on day/night or even Glaceon and Leafeon. I think Slowbro and Sloking's have to be the oddest to me

 

[isthatyoudan]

I get weirded out by slowbro because the thing biting his tail doesn't look like a shellder anymore! It looks different, and appears more gray than purple.