Unexpected typings

[VisionofMilotic]

I think we have all been there at some point, looking at certain species of pokemon for the first time, trying to figure out what type they are, and being dead wrong.

When I first saw Lucario I thought it was a dark type, because the design made me think of Anubis, the Egyptian jackal-headed God of the underworld. My belief that it was a dark type got reinforced by my fighting type move being super-effective against it.

I also thought Luxray was at least part dark at a glance. The sleek black and midnight blue nighttime tones it has often appears on dark types, so I was getting Umbreon, Sneasel and Absol vibes, and it looks quite deadly and intimidating with the glowing yellow eyes.

The Flabébé line looks more like a grass type than anything, and the big flower seems like an intimate part of the pokemon, described as the source of their powers in the pokedex, not just something it's using decoratively. A fairy typing is fine for it to also have, but it should at least be a dual grass fairy type, especially as Florges, who appears to have fused with the plant, and isn't just manipulating the flora, but is literally a flower.

Falinks tricked me. To me it looked like a big caterpillar, and was using bug type moves, and like with Lucario I thought I knew for sure when my Corvisquire's flying type moves were super-effective that it was a bug. My jaw dropped when I captured it, and read the summary to see it's stats and it said "fighting" type. I would not have guessed had my life depended on it.

 

[ReKoil]

Spoiler:

I don't really agree with Galarian Zapdos being on there though.

Electivire & Zeraora are somehow not Electric/Fighting, yet these two are:

Spoiler:

Electivire & Zeraora not being Electric/Fighting will never make sense to me.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

Lugia

King of the sea; is a psychic/flying type

 

[Palamon]

I thought Lucario was a psychic type and a legendary Pokemon, actually. Aura sounded very psychic type & the fact it could communicate through telepathy made my kid brain think psychic.

Elgyem and Beheyem... I always have to tell myself they're not Rock/Psychic types. It having the word "gem" in the name didn't help at all.

Used to mistake Mienshao as a Psychic type because she's purple. I know that's a bit silly, but still.

Beforehand, I thought Falinks was supposed to be a Bug because of the way it looked, but they're just covering their faces and are a troop of six and not Bugs at all, but appearance wise, I was confused at first!

The many non water Pokemon that are based off water creatures: Crabrawler, Clobbopus, Stunfisk. Stunfisk is... kind of a weird case. It was originally conceived as a Water type, but they changed it for balancing the dex, iirc.

 

[Hashimi]

Florges has a wide grass type movepool and even ability - I would've expected it to be a fairy and grass Pokémon.
Milotic looks a lot like a dragon and even needs an item called prism scale to evolve from Feebas - I would've expected it to be a water and dragon Pokémon.
Accelgor's characterized by a certain mysterious appearence - I would've expected it to be a bug and dark Pokémon.
After noticing certain Pokémon from Kalos having a normal type smashed into them (Diggersby, Heliolisk, etc...), I think Swalot would not dislike it as well.
Cursola feels like a missed opportunity for a ghost and rock Pokémon.
I see Sceptile as a grass and bug Pokémon, reason why I always run it with x-scissor as a learned move.
Give Clefable the same type combination of Wigglytuff. It'll never make sense to me that this Pokémon once suffered from fighting type moves and now all of a sudden it doesn't.

 

[Sheep]

I definitely mistook Luxio and Luxray for part dark - was odd when I realized they didn't have that typing. Definitely would've made for a cool mon.

Zeraora absolutely needs to be electric/fighting too, another missed opportunity.

Feraligatr could have been a really neat water/dark type.. but I see why it wasn't done also, Johto starters all had a single type and it does make a decent enough water type as well. But if it were created in the modern day I could definitely see it having that type combo. Psyduck/Golduck fall in a similar boat haha. They probably didn't make it water/psychic since psychic types were overpowered back then but man would it have been neat.

 

[Devalue]

Flabebe for a Grass/Fairy type. Clearly revolves around plants.

Veluza as Water/Dark. Gave off the same vibes as Sharpedo.

Slither Wing as Fire/Ground. Retained its fiery-looking wings. Grounded it. Should have been one of those types. (Considered Bug/Ground next.)

Espathra as Fire/Flying. Sports very sunny colors. Found it in the desert. Was a bird (albeit a flightless one).

Roaring Moon as Flying/something not Dark. Expects something with wings, in the air, to be a Flying type. Attacked with Psychic instead of Flamethrower (in case of somehow staying Dragon).

Grapploct as a Water type. Encountered it in that icy lake/sea.

Stufful as part Fairy (probably). Fits the aesthetic.

Goomy as part Poison (probably). Notes Weepinbell and Skorupi as the two most common encounters in Route 14 (combined 40%). Bears Poison's purple color too.

 

[ChristineLvX89]

I don't have much to say other than I didn't expect for Flamigo to turn out part fighting. You'd think it would've probably been secondary-type water...

 

[Harmonie]

I always forget that Psyduck and Golduck are not part Psychic. Lol.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Altaria's typing was unexpected to me when I first battled it. I wasn't expecting it to be part Dragon-type at all. Instead, I assumed it was Flying/Normal like its previous evolution. In Pokémon Sun, Nihilego's typing was unexpected at all. For example, when I play through the game for the first time, I don't look up the types of Pokémon I encounter. I prefer to be surprised instead. For the life of me, I couldn't grasp what Nihilego's type was, even after hitting with super-effective moves and watching it use moves such as Power Gem, which isn't unusual for a coverage move. I was shocked to learn it was Rock/Poison. I felt the same way about Iron Bundle, the Paradox version of Delibird. I would have never guessed it would be part Water-type. I was also surprised to learn that Palkia was part Water-type as well when encountering it for the first time. My first time encountering Palkia was actually in Ultra Moon when it was used by Cyrus in the post-game Team Rainbow Rocket story. In Pokémon Platinum, I never got the chance to use Palkia, and in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, I used Dialga. I didn't get the chance to actually use it until I got it from a trade on PokéCommunity on Pokémon HOME when I was rather new here, and I transferred it to Pokémon Sword. When I faced it, I was surprised to learn that it was partially Water-type. Also, in Generation VII, I was shocked to learn that Fomantis and Lurantis weren't Bug-type Pokémon. When I encountered Drapion for the first time, not only did its appearance take me by surprise, but I also thought it was at least part Bug-type. I was surprised to learn it was part Dark-type instead, as I already assumed it was part Poison-type. Lastly, the Inkay and Malamar line, which is among my favorites regarding evolutionary families, surprised me when I learned they were Psychic/Dark instead of being at least part Water-type. That's all I can really think of for now. I'm sure there are more, but these are the main ones that came to mind.

 

[Corveone]

Gligar/Gliscor: Flying creature that's somehow Ground type.
Lugia (Psychic)
Azurill (Normal)
Vibrava: Dragon out of nowhere.
Bibarel: Nothing on its design hints that it gained the Water type.
Drapion: Bug that's not Bug anymore when it evolves.
Stunfisk: Literally lives underwater. It's weak to Water because it's Ground type for some reason.
Golett/Golurk (Both, I honestly have no clue where the typing criteria of this thing comes from since it's supposed to be some kind of robot, looks awfully random)
Swords of Justice: Because Fighting types were all bipedal back then.
Nihilego: Rock type that has actually nothing to do with Rocks.
Skeledirge (Ghost)
Clobbopus/Grapploct: Not Water
Falinks
Great Tusk, Slither Wing and Koraidon (Fighting)

 

[Adam Levine]

I sometimes forget that Shellos and Tympole are pure Water-types, and that Galarian Ponyta, Hatenna, and Hattrem are pure Psychic-types. The decision to add types to them as they evolve, instead of them being Water/Ground or Psychic/Fairy feels particularly arbitrary. Sometimes Zacian and Zamazenta's types don't register to me, either.

The newer generations are definitely full of Pokémon whose types can come off as unexpected, case in point the multitude of aquatic Pokémon that aren't Water-types (although I do agree with the idea that not everything that lives in the water needs to be a Water-type, it is a little strange) and most of the Paradox Pokémon.

 

[Ninetales]

The fact that Lurantis is a a grass type as opposed to a bug type has always puzzled me. Pheromosa being a fighting type is also a bit odd in my opinion, I certainly wouldn't assume it to be a fighting type if I didn't know otherwise. Another one is Azurill being part normal, I've never quite understood why it isn't Water/Fairy like the rest of its evolutionary family.

I also am just realizing that Shellos and Tympole are pure water types.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

The fact that Lurantis is a a grass type as opposed to a bug type has always puzzled me. Pheromosa being a fighting type is also a bit odd in my opinion, I certainly wouldn't assume it to be a fighting type if I didn't know otherwise. Another one is Azurill being part normal, I've never quite understood why it isn't Water/Fairy like the rest of its evolutionary family.

I also am just realizing that Shellos and Tympole are pure water types.

I agree with all of these. Fomantis and Lurantis definitely had me fooled too. Pheromosa definitely doesn't look like a fighter either, but when you think about it, a lot of new Fighting-type Pokémon don't these days.

 

[Lavender]

I first thought that Corviknight was dark/flying

 

[Lavender]

I agree with all of these. Fomantis and Lurantis definitely had me fooled too. Pheromosa definitely doesn't look like a fighter either, but when you think about it, a lot of new Fighting-type Pokémon don't these days.

The reason lurantis is grass and not bug is because of a bug called the orchid mantis, a mantis that mimics an orchid. But instead the orchid mimics the mantis. Also in one of lurantis's entries it says that lurantis mimics a bug type pokemon to make bug type pokemon let down their guard so it can attack.

 

[Rock_Salazar]

I thought Electivire would be part fighting after seeing its design the first time around. Still disappointed it never got the fighting type. I wish Luxray was part dark because it really would have benefited from it. I know this is somewhat common, but Charizard not being part dragon until its Mega in gen 6 puzzled me. It looked more like a dragon than flying. Speaking of pokemon that looked more like a dragon than flying, Gyarados. I understand that water/dragon would have been too broken in gen 1 given that the only dragon move deals fixed damage, but there could have been some typing changes. In gen 1 fire did not resist ice, maybe a water/dragon would have been weak to ice, grass and electric given how weaknesses worked before gen 2?

Last two pokemon that confused me with their typings: Drapion and Gliscor, especially Gliscor. I thought Drapion would remain bug/poison but then I hit it with a fire type move and was surprised I did not hear the super-effective sound. Not really complaining because dark/poison is an amazing typing and it carries Drapion. Gliscor to me always looked like a poison type. Its design is literally a scorpion with wings. It even has giant pincers and poison heal as an ability. Perhaps the biggest reason was because it had access to several poison moves: Cross Poison, poison tail, poison sting, poison jab, sludge bomb, toxic, and venoshock.

 

[AuroraVulpix]

Some for me.

I was convinced Palafin was Water/Fighting for most of the time I knew of its existence.

Subconsciously, I see every future Paradox mon as part Steel or Electric, and in Iron Valiant's case, I constantly think it's Psychic.

I always feel like Tsareena should have been Grass/Fighting. Doesn't help that we got a Fighting type with strong legs in the same gen (Pheromosa) and a Grass/Fighting type with strong legs the next gen (Hisuian Lilligant)

I thought Stakataka would be Rock/Ghost because all the other version exclusive UBS shared a type.