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Weekly Article – Mistaken Evolutions

(Image from Bulbapedia)

WARNING: Attempting to evolve the Pokémon listed here into the other mentioned Pokémon will result in failure, wasted time and a lack of productivity.

In Pokémon, evolutions are a vital process, so that is why a lot of them have evolutions, whether it’s one in the same Generation or one in a later time. Some of them are quite straightforward, but some are not obvious that would surprise you. On first impression, we might link certain Pokémon to another similar Pokémon, and at attempting to evolve them through whatever means, we would find out that it didn’t work. In other words, what seems like a straightforward evolution turned out to be a not-so-obvious one.

In this article, I will list down twelve examples of mistaken evolution based on what is pointed out by some fans. It will be listed by the PokéDex order of the one that should “evolve”. If you want to know what those misconceptions are, please continue.

The first example is also a mistake made by official media. In the English version of the anime, there is a segment called “Trainer’s Choice”, which is a two-part short segment with commercials in between. The question is basically asking trivia that is Pokémon-related, usually type advantages. The first part is a question with multiple-choice answers, and the second part reveals the answer to the question. It’s not always perfect, as this example show.

One of the questions is Arbok’s evolution, found in the episode “A Fan with a Plan”. If you know how the evolutions work, you will know that Arbok doesn’t evolve at all. The answer, according to the company, is Seviper. It could cause some viewers to learn that misinformation and try to do it, only to learn that it doesn’t when they either do more research or fail to do it.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if someone mistakes this despite not watching that “Trainer’s Choice”. When Generation 3 was new, nobody would know that the trend of evolutions of old Pokémon doesn’t necessarily continue to the next Generation. There weren’t a lot of snakes at that time, so the connection could be easily made. After all, both are snakes and look venomous.

It’s a fine example of a mistaken evolution for its notability.

The next example is not quite obvious. After all, Slowbro and Slowking are indeed related. However, it’s not immediately obvious to some people that Slowpoke is the one that is supposed to evolve into Slowking, explained as a Shellder that bit a different part.

That is because between the three of them, the progression isn’t clear. Slowpoke is most definitely the first of the line because it lacked a shell, but the next two isn’t clear. It could very well be that Slowpoke is the middle or the final stage, while Slowking could most definitely be the final stage. In short, Slowbro is how the confusion came about.

Now that you know how the evolution is done, be sure not to evolve Slowpoke if you want a Slowking, and remember that it’s an item trade evolution with a King’s Rock.

This is a mistaken evolution that has an interesting reason behind it. You see, in the PokéDex, Farfetch’d is marked as #83, while Doduo is at #84. To the unaware, if an evolution is done in the same Generation, they will always be next to each other. This makes it one of the very, very few misconceptions that occur in the same Generation.

It’s an evolution that, as time passes, nobody will see it because either both Pokémon will exist on completely different parts of the PokéDex or there will only be one of them at a time. Indeed, on the Johto PokéDex, Farfetch’d is #160 and Duduo is in #204, while in Kalos, Farfetch’d is #61 (Central) and Duduo is #94 (Central).

In essence, here’s a mistaken evolution that was mistaken when Pokémon was starting out.

When Generation 2 arrived, there are two new powerful Bug-types: Scizor and Heracross. Scizor, as you all know, is an evolution of Scyther. Heracross, however, is not an evolution of Pinsir. Perhaps when knowledge that Scizor evolved from Scyther was revealed, some might have thought the same for Pinsir and Heracross. Instead, they are played up as counterparts.

Both Pokémon are beetle-related, and they have horns, albeit different types of horns. Another similarity between them is their body type, with a fighter-type of body. Heracross looks to be more armoured and buff than Pinsir, so that could be a possible reason some would mistake them in the first place. Evolutions sometimes have an extra type, which could be another reason there might be a mistake there.

When it comes to battling, Heracross is usually better for its extra Fighting-type and a bit of Special Defence, even though Pinsir and Heracross has the same Attack and Speed. Most of the time, evolutions are better than their pre-evolutions. However, thanks to the magic of Mega-Evolution, Mega Pinsir found a way to become quite dangerous, sometimes moreso than Mega Heracross.

Gyarados is a pretty strong Pokémon by itself, so it would be strange to consider that it could evolve into a Milotic, a Pokémon that doesn’t suggest strength by brute force. There are people who did think so, because both are serpentine and have considerable strength in different areas. Like with Pinsir and Heracross, both are counterparts, though there are some differences between both lines.

There is not much to comment on this one, since this mistake stems from only the similarity in body type and appearance in strength level.

We are not done yet with Generation 1 Pokémon! There are two examples of a pre-release Pokémon that is thought to be an evolution of a past Pokémon. This one is not the most well-known of the two, but it is still somewhat related. Bouffalant is a Pokémon that doesn’t follow the same species as Tauros, who is itself a bull (as in a cow), while Bouffalant is a buffalo, a different species. Since Pokémon have evolutions of different species, this doesn’t seem to faze people into not seeing them as potential evolutions.

There is a good reason Tauros would not be related to Bouffalant, mainly the gender. Tauros is a male-only species, while Bouffalant is either male and female. Gender change isn’t known in Pokémon, save for Azurill to Marill. While the relation between Tauros and Bouffalant isn’t there, that doesn’t stop them from being compared, since they are quite good at Physical attacks in different ways.

Torkoal have always been an odd Pokémon because it looked like it could both be a final evolution or a Pokémon waiting for an evolution. In terms of seeing Hoenn as a new region without past access, here’s another misconception. They don’t look related, but some thought that Magcargo could potentially evolve into a sturdy Torkoal. They do have something in common, that is having a shell.

It’s difficult to determine how this connection is made in the first place, besides the shell. I suppose they are volcano-related, as you find Torkoal and Slugma in the volcanic area. Not only that, some could see a logical transition between Magcargo and Torkoal, in which its shell could harden and it gained a body.

Still, it doesn’t seem to make too much sense if you think about it. One is a snail-like Pokémon and the other is a tortoise, and reptiles are not known to evolve from or to other types of animals. You would hardly see people thinking about this connection, but there are people out there who did.

At that time, Plusle and Minun’s debut was confusing. While they are supposed to be original Pokémon, nobody knew this. Known as Pikachu clones, they are the “cute Electric-types” that are loved for their cuteness or hated for their lack of originality. It should be noted that despite the arrow pointing from Plusle and Minun to Pikachu, this is meant to say they’re related in some way. Maybe some people saw them as being related to Pichu instead.

They do look very similar to Pikachu in that they are electric rodents, though like Pikachu before them, they don’t have incisors to mark them as rodents. They are known as Pikachu clones, but they are more of Pichu clones because they are small. Due to this, some might say that both could evolve into Pikachu in some way, or that Pichu would evolve into them. Either way, it wouldn’t work since they are original Pokémon.

When trends aren’t established, it’s easier to mistake evolutionary lines for original Pokémon.

Here, we have an example of two Pokémon that have obvious connections, but they don’t have any relation at all, starting from their types. It confounds any fan who never played a Pokémon game before, but those who did could gather that Garchomp has its own evolution line, since you could encounter Gible and Gabite before this.

If you don’t see the connection, let me elaborate. Both Pokémon are sharks, have a notable dorsal fin and are blue. That’s not forgetting their yellow cross on their forehead. Those similarities would suggest that they are related, right? Not really. It’s an evolution that confounds the average fan, but there is a worse example than this, which comes next.

Alomomola’s first reveal excites Luvdisc fans the most, because its body shape and colour suggests that it is related to the largely-unloved discus fish. There were hype to be had that unfortunately didn’t pay off. Not only was Alomomola its own Pokémon, Alomomola is a really useful battler, unlike Luvdisc.

Unlike the Sharpedo and Garchomp connection, this one was hit the worst because at least Sharpedo could stand on its own with Speed Boost, giving it something to stand up against several threats. If Luvdisc could have a connection with Alomomola, it could inherit some of the useful moves Alomomola learns. Still, Alomomola’s stats are distributed in a wildly different manner compared to Luvdisc.

It was a disappointing time, but if you are a Pokémon fan, getting your expectations unmet happens every so often that it’s best that you prepare for it than to be constantly disappointed.

Here, we have yet another unique mistake: a form of a Pokémon relating to a past Pokémon. Both Shellos have a different colour, but East Shellos’ blue colour most resemble Lapras’ blue hue. Their body type and posture are very similar, which is the source of the confusion.

Lapras had always been a Pokémon that looked like it should have a pre-evolution, so Shellos might look like it could be it. It’s most likely a mistake made if you don’t know anything about Generation 4 (but know anything in Generation 1). Since Generation 4 has both pre-evolutions for past Pokémon and Pokémon that requires a specific trait to evolve, this suggestion won’t be too unusual.

This is another mistake I haven’t heard of before, but at least I could see where they’re coming from with this one.

Much like the Pikachu example above and to a lesser extent, the Tauros and Bouffalant one, both Pokémon were thought to be related, since they are electric squirrels. Emolga is also special since it is the first Electric/Flying to be introduced, so Zapdos’ position as the sole Electric/Flying is out. This new typing does have some hoping they would be related in some way.

Unlike with the Pikachu one, it took less time to figure out that they weren’t related, since they learned about that mistake, and everybody learns from mistakes.

These are some of the examples of evolutions that players thought were true, but weren’t. Do you have any evolutions that you thought were true, but isn’t? If you have, please sound them off in the comments below! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.

Thanks for reading.