Pokemon Evolutions that disappointed you?

Daylight

angels roll their eyes
is an Artistis a Contributor to Smogon
oh boy... Galarian Rapidash doesn't even look like Rapidash except that both are Unicorns... Honestly, they should have given it a completely different name if they make it look like that.
Persian looks ugly in its galarian form, but at least you can tell its a Persian.
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Yeah… I see what you mean. When they’re posed like this I kinda see what they were going for, but it doesn’t have the same charm that the OG Rapidash or it’s pre-evolution has. There’s this like… wild and untamed and powerful—but also pure and beautiful—uh… vibe. That both versions of Ponyta and Kantonian Rapidash have, but was kind of stripped from its Galarian form. Like I said before, I still like it! (Not as much as would if it looked like artsy-theo’s version but oh well lmao.) But you’re right in that it feels like a totally different Pokémon.

(Also agreed about Persian lol. And it’s too bad because I love sassy Meowth. I played through Sun with it unevolved the entire time.)
 
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Krabby is a fun little crab, it looks so jolly! Kingler looks like they tried to make a cool and edgy version of Krabby, but without going all out, leaving it half-finished. Plus, I have never liked how one of its claws is bigger than the other, I wish its sprite in R/B (or something similar) was its official design instead.
Like it or not, it's inspired by real-life fiddler crabs, where the males have one claw that is substantially bigger than the other. In their case, its primary use is attracting mates, not as a weapon (at least as far as I know), and if it falls off, the previously smaller claw grows to become the larger one (or am I confusing them with Kingler now? It's been a while since I've looked into crabs).

I guess I can see how this evolution is disappointing, but the girth on Kingler's larger claw helps to sell how much bigger it is than Krabby.

Side note, but we actually haven't had any other true crab Pokémon after this line. Corphish and Crawdaunt are crawdads, Dwebble and Crustle are the "not-technically-crabs" hermit crabs (also, they can't learn Crabhammer), Clauncher and Clawitzer are pistol shrimp, and Crabrawler and Crabominable are in the same "not-crabs" boat as the Dwebble line as coconut crabs and yeti crabs. G-max Kingler IS a separate species of crab, the Japanese spider crab, which makes me a little sad since I wanted a separate species to represent that one day.
 

Oh Coalossal, Game Freak did you dirty.

They had a nice thing going. Rolycoly looks great, and is based on a wheelbarrow of sorts. Carkoal, even though it looks like a Banjo-Kazooie enemy, I can still respect it.
With Coalossal, it's like they gave up and just decided to make a generic monster in the end. There's so much more they could have done with the design. An escavator, a dump truck, a bulldozer, a drill.
Nope, just rock monster. So tragic.
It's the Marge Simpson look that really kills this pokemon for me
 
Okay so honestly, someone mentioned Dubwool, but for another cutesy Galar Pokemon with a disappointing evolution, honestly, I'd have to say Boltund.

:yamper: :boltund:

Okay, so you take one of the more unique looking dog breeds, turn it into a Pokemon, and then it just becomes, a dog. I get its meant to be a Greyhound, but I don't think it leans into that enough. I know its a genetic defect and it causes health problems and all, but give me the stupidly long muzzle dammit. Also the eyes look kinda weird to me.

Another argument I hear is that its meant to just be a catch-all sighthound, but that doesn't really improve the design much for me.

:eldegoss:
Eldegoss gets an honorable mention because it just looks kinda plain to me. Gossifleur at least had the hairdo and pepper-ish shape going on.
 

Daylight

angels roll their eyes
is an Artistis a Contributor to Smogon
Okay so honestly, someone mentioned Dubwool, but for another cutesy Galar Pokemon with a disappointing evolution, honestly, I'd have to say Boltund.

:yamper: :boltund:

Okay, so you take one of the more unique looking dog breeds, turn it into a Pokemon, and then it just becomes, a dog. I get its meant to be a Greyhound, but I don't think it leans into that enough. I know its a genetic defect and it causes health problems and all, but give me the stupidly long muzzle dammit. Also the eyes look kinda weird to me.

Another argument I hear is that its meant to just be a catch-all sighthound, but that doesn't really improve the design much for me.
It’s meant to be a greyhound?! I feel kind of silly for not knowing because I actually grew up with greyhounds. But then again, real life greys have proportions that are much more exaggerated than Boltund’s. I never really made the connection. I’ve actually always thought of Suicune as the closest thing Pokémon had to a greyhound, with its much more dolichocephalic head and leaner more delicate limbs. I mean… comparing them now…

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Suicune lacks the deep chest to nipped waist that greyhounds and most sighthounds have, but Bolton’s doesn’t really have it either. And Suicune’s head and limb/paws match up a LOT better though. I think maybe they wanted to make Boltund “cute” and visually connected to Yamper—which is why it’s head is mesocephalic and it’s paws are large and round—but in doing so they visually diminished the greyhound connection to the point where I didn’t even recognize it until you pointed it out just now.
 
Okay so honestly, someone mentioned Dubwool, but for another cutesy Galar Pokemon with a disappointing evolution, honestly, I'd have to say Boltund.

:yamper: :boltund:

Okay, so you take one of the more unique looking dog breeds, turn it into a Pokemon, and then it just becomes, a dog. I get its meant to be a Greyhound, but I don't think it leans into that enough. I know its a genetic defect and it causes health problems and all, but give me the stupidly long muzzle dammit. Also the eyes look kinda weird to me.

Another argument I hear is that its meant to just be a catch-all sighthound, but that doesn't really improve the design much for me.

:eldegoss:
Eldegoss gets an honorable mention because it just looks kinda plain to me. Gossifleur at least had the hairdo and pepper-ish shape going on.
Definitely agree with Boltund. I love Yamper but hate how "sleek" Boltund looks. It also looks..."crazed" to me, for some reason.

Big disagree on Eldegoss tho, I think it's really cute
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
I already saw someone else mention Torracat (Litten's evolution) in this thread, but if I'm being completely honest, I think that Incineroar itself is what ruins the Litten family.

:sm/incineroar:

First, let's take a look at the base Alola starters, Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio. These three are a pretty decent Starter trio in my eyes. Their designs are cool, and there's a good mixture of stats to be found. Rowlet has good Attack and has a good mix everywhere else, Litten's the fast one of the three, and Popplio's over here doing its best Piplup impression boasting high Special stats and low Speed. Things stay largely the same as their evolutions of Dartrix, Torracat, and Brionne come into the picture. Not the best middle stages for Starter Pokémon we've ever seen, but you could absolutely do worse.

And then the final evolutions happened.

Let's address the elephant in the room first. The Gen 7 Alola Dex is notorious for having so many fully evolved Pokémon with low Speed. Some examples that come to mind include Toucannon, Vikavolt, Wishiwashi by virtue of keeping the same Speed in its Schooled form, and of course, the starters. Alola is the only region out there where all three of the fully evolved Starters have their Speed stat as one of their lowest stats. Every previous region had at least one Starter Pokémon whose highest stat was Speed, being Charizard and Typhlosion (those two are being considered as if Special stayed one stat in Gen 1), Sceptile, Infernape, Serperior, and Greninja. The next region, Galar, even had multiple options in Cinderace and Inteleon to compensate for this, and Rillaboom still clocked in with a base 85 mark.

(I'll be continuing this post later since I've got somewhere to be at 10 AM lol)
 

The Mind Electric

Calming if you look at it right.
Spr 4h 149.png

I feel bad about this one because I actually like Dragonite a lot, but it does not fit in with its two pre-evolutions at all. Dratini is a cute baby, Dragonair is elegant and graceful, and then Dragonite is...fat and derpy. Doesn't work for me. Dragonite on its own is cute, but I can't get over how different it is from the two things before it.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Spr 4h 149.png

I feel bad about this one because I actually like Dragonite a lot, but it does not fit in with its two pre-evolutions at all. Dratini is a cute baby, Dragonair is elegant and graceful, and then Dragonite is...fat and derpy. Doesn't work for me. Dragonite on its own is cute, but I can't get over how different it is from the two things before it.
Personally my way of justifying Dragonite is that I think of it like an amphibian. Like Dratini is a little Dragon tadpole that grows into an even bigger tadpole as Dragonair, then becomes a salamander-esque creature as Dragonite. I can understand the dissonance not just in the vibes it gives off but also the fact that it's not serpentine like its pre-evolutions but considering they're aquatic creatures I think thinking of them as amphibians is my personal way of internally justifying the dissonance and making it feel a little more cohesive to me.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Part 2 of my Incineroar post is finally ready. Let's get right into it.

:sm/litten: :sm/torracat: :sm/incineroar:

Let's take a look at their base stat yields, shall we?

Litten: 45/65/40/60/40/70
Torracat: 65/85/50/80/50/90
Incineroar: 95/115/90/80/90/60

One of these things is clearly not like the other. It's made all the worse by the fact that Alola is known for having a lot of slower Pokémon already, and Incineroar is actually the only Starter Pokémon evolution period to have any of its base stats decreased from its previous forms. I get what they were going for with Litten being the main physoical attacker of the three Alola starters, but the sudden transition from a speedy mixed sweeper to a slower, bulky physical attacker doesn't really sit well with me.

Now, let's look at the other reason I don't like Incineroar compared to the other two: its design. You already know: Game Freak was absolutely trying their hardest to make another Fire/Fighting Starter evolution after taking a break from the trend during the previous Generation via Delphox, giving Chesnaught the stray Fight-Type instead. Of course, this wouldn't have gone over too well with the fans, so what we ended up with is a decent Fire-Type option that turns into an overly masculine humanoid tiger thingy, which hot take, but I honestly don't like this design at all. Having a Fire/Dark starter is a nice change of pace, sure, but my whole point with this post is that Incineroar, at its core, is far too different from its other evolutionary forms. Even Torracat remains pure Fire as opposed to Combusken and co. gaining their secondary type early.

(Update: This doesn't have anything to do with the evolution process specifically, but I'm honestly not a huge fan of seeing Incineroar being spammed in competitive with Intimidate, Parting Shot, and/or Heavy-Duty Boots either. Weren't Contrary Serperior and Protean/Battle Bond Greninja enough to deal with? Heck, even Libero Cinderace stole this thing's spotlight in Singles, which is the one way I can ever feel bad for Incineroar.)
 
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Voltenso
Mega-Voltenso

I hope you guys don't mind mega evolution. I am not a fan of Dog Pokemon in general but Mega Manactric just looks hideous. Such an unoriginal design "Let's just turn him into a lightning bolt". To me it looks less speedy with that thing on it's back. How does it even move?
Skaraborn
Mega-Skaraborn

Mega Heracross however looks much uglier. A victim of overdesigned megas. Speaking of overdesigned megas...
Pinsir
Mega-Pinsir

I just can't get used to Mega Pinsirs design. The wings kinda don't get along with the rest of the design. And to me it looks artificial... more specifically mechanical.
Ironically when I first saw it, I thought it had a jetback on its back, not a shell where it's wings come out from.
Marikeck

So this doesn't feel "off topic" I think I will add this thing into the list... Primarina we can agree has a decent design and a massive improvement from Poplio. But Brionne lookss like an actual clown. And somehow it suppose to be the idol Pokemon?
It's a middle stage so it doesn't matter too much. And Primarina does redeem the evolution line unlike Incineroar.
 
Spr 4h 149.png

I feel bad about this one because I actually like Dragonite a lot, but it does not fit in with its two pre-evolutions at all. Dratini is a cute baby, Dragonair is elegant and graceful, and then Dragonite is...fat and derpy. Doesn't work for me. Dragonite on its own is cute, but I can't get over how different it is from the two things before it.
Yeah I can see that, but for me Dragonite is just so cool and adorable to where it doesn't bother me that much. I really want to know what the process was when they designed the evolutionary line
 
Voltenso
Mega-Voltenso

I hope you guys don't mind mega evolution. I am not a fan of Dog Pokemon in general but Mega Manactric just looks hideous. Such an unoriginal design "Let's just turn him into a lightning bolt". To me it looks less speedy with that thing on it's back. How does it even move?
Skaraborn
Mega-Skaraborn

Mega Heracross however looks much uglier. A victim of overdesigned megas. Speaking of overdesigned megas...
Pinsir
Mega-Pinsir

I just can't get used to Mega Pinsirs design. The wings kinda don't get along with the rest of the design. And to me it looks artificial... more specifically mechanical.
Ironically when I first saw it, I thought it had a jetback on its back, not a shell where it's wings come out from.
Marikeck

So this doesn't feel "off topic" I think I will add this thing into the list... Primarina we can agree has a decent design and a massive improvement from Poplio. But Brionne lookss like an actual clown. And somehow it suppose to be the idol Pokemon?
It's a middle stage so it doesn't matter too much. And Primarina does redeem the evolution line unlike Incineroar.
I think Megas are really cool and I want them back but there are certainly some "why the fuck?" designs

:sm/Aerodactyl-Mega:
This one is just bad. It ruins the cool, sleek look that Aerodactyl has and makes it all spikey and jagged, and it looks really dumb.

:sm/Mewtwo-Mega-X:
I hate this thing so much. You take the awesomeness of Mewtwo and...??? what were they even going for here? Weird arms that are attempting to look big and muscular but just look swollen? Legs that are just...huh?? This design sucks. Mewtwo Y is a lot better

:sm/Lopunny-Mega:
I don't hate Mega Lopunny at all. I think it's a pretty cool design. But i need to mention it because it has "ripped tights"...seriously Gamefreak?

:sm/Sharpedo-Mega:
Another "just give it spikes" design. Lame and boring. Looking over this post I thought I put the wrong sprite in because Mega Sharpedo is so similar to regular Sharpedo.

I hope that if they do bring Megas back they stay away from the "just give it spikes" type designs
 

The Mind Electric

Calming if you look at it right.
:sm/Mewtwo-Mega-X:
I hate this thing so much. You take the awesomeness of Mewtwo and...??? what were they even going for here? Weird arms that are attempting to look big and muscular but just look swollen? Legs that are just...huh?? This design sucks. Mewtwo Y is a lot better
Mega Mewtwo X looks like Mewtwo got a bunch of bad mosquito bites. I don't understand what the plan was here.
:sm/Lopunny-Mega:
I don't hate Mega Lopunny at all. I think it's a pretty cool design. But i need to mention it because it has "ripped tights"...seriously Gamefreak?
They knew what they were doing and didn't care at all.
 
If we're including Mega evo's, I honestly dislike most of their designs. I find them to be way overdesigned for the most part, though maybe that's on purpose I don't know. But in particular I dislike Mega Swampert:

Swole Swampert might sound cool in theory I guess, but in practice it falls woefully flat for me. The hunched over posture, the three fins on its forehead instead of two accentuating its eyes, the over the top cheek spikes, the extremely top heavy physique. It's just a mess in my eyes. And base Swampert is one of my favorite Pokémon ever which is why it's so disappointing. Compare the above to the sleek, streamlined design of the RSE sprite and I find the latter far more visually appealing in my opinion:

:rs/swampert:
 

Samtendo09

Ability: Light Power
is a Pre-Contributor
A common problem with Mega Evolutions is the fact that they tend to go overkill with the design, instead of putting emphasis on their well known trait(s) or looking more feral.

:ss/glameow: > :ss/purugly:
Purugly is a cumbersome execution all around, and the chubby design doesn’t reflect it’s rather fast 112 base Speed. The name also tells that this is the intention, which is… no, it’s not helping anything. While a deliberately ugly design do add design diversity, it had to be done carefully. Purugly isn’t the case.

:ss/goldeen: > :ss/seaking:
Goldeen is already pretty plain and is indistinguishable from a goldfish or whether inspiration it’s supposed to be, but Seaking did nothing to make it better. Being a mid-game or late-game Water-type so often, with middling stats, it’s design is often a bad sign that it’s not worth investing unless you are a completionist or you want to challenge yourself.

Now I‘ll do the inverse; the Disappointing New Pre-Evolution.

:ss/igglybuff: > :ss/jigglypuff:
I get Baby Pokémon given for rare or already strong Pokémon, but given for Pokémon in need of an actual buff, like the Jigglypuff line, really? Igglybuff isn’t even that cute at all for me, and shows a prime example that, in hindsight, Baby Pokémon in general is such a poor execution of a honestly interesting concept. It’s no wonder there’s no more Baby Pokémon for old gen Pokémon.

:ss/chingling: > :ss/chimecho:
Unlike the other three Pokémon that obtain a Baby Pokémon in Generation 4, Chimecho would direly benefit more an evolution than a pre-evolution, or even both as is the case of Roselia. For now, while cute, Chingling ultimately adds nothing of real value for Chimecho aside of three guaranteed IVs.
 
If we're including Mega evo's, I honestly dislike most of their designs. I find them to be way overdesigned for the most part, though maybe that's on purpose I don't know.
i agree, though i feel like megas being generally overdesigned is kind of an inevitability for the concept. taking a bunch of mons who already have a finalized design that was (presumably) not made with further evolutions or progressions in mind and going "yeah let's take this guy and make them look 3x as powerful" is likely to end in making a lot of busy-looking mons.


AMMS_91e63907189d6c03bf07d16c306f5a7b.jpg

speaking of megas, this one is probably among my least favorite. mray seems to be really popular with fans, and while i get that people have different tastes and all, i just can't stand this design. base rayquaza is really cool but his mega seems to have just vomited a bunch of random stuff onto him in a desperate attempt to make him look even moreso coolier: chains, fins, orbs, even freaking mandibles lol. it takes the simple concept of "cool serpentine dragon" and muddles that idea to the point where it hardly looks draconic at all imo. it's like some kind of demonic bug at this point.
 
If we're including Mega evo's, I honestly dislike most of their designs. I find them to be way overdesigned for the most part, though maybe that's on purpose I don't know. But in particular I dislike Mega Swampert:

Swole Swampert might sound cool in theory I guess, but in practice it falls woefully flat for me. The hunched over posture, the three fins on its forehead instead of two accentuating its eyes, the over the top cheek spikes, the extremely top heavy physique. It's just a mess in my eyes. And base Swampert is one of my favorite Pokémon ever which is why it's so disappointing. Compare the above to the sleek, streamlined design of the RSE sprite and I find the latter far more visually appealing in my opinion:

:rs/swampert:
Honestly I'm still not sure how Swampert's eyes work with the fins. Are they on top of them? Or do the fins stop above their eyelids? I assume the former because whenever it closes it's eyes the eyelids are grey, but I dunno

Anyway what I meant to say was Mega Swampert honestly does look goofy, but for me it's goofy in a funny way to where I like it. You can be stupid as long as you're funny about it
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
1630963920304.png


I'm well aware that Wyrdeer hasn't dropped yet, and it might well be the best Pokemon ever. Stantler is a longstanding favourite of mine so I'm glad it's getting the regional evo treatment, and the design is really neat.


but, with that said


I'm bummed that we've missed out on what would have been the ideal candidate for a Normal/Ghost Pokemon.

I know, I know, that Normal/Ghost in practice would be a horrifically overpowered type, immune to three different types at once and left with only a single 2x weakness. However, I'm firmly convinced we'll get every type combination in the book at some point, so I think that instead of being afraid to do it (as I suspect they might be) Game Freak should just bite the bullet and go ahead and do it.* With some careful stat design, it needn't be overpowered - Normal/Ghost isn't a tremendously good offensive combination in any case.

Normal/Psychic is conceptually fine for a Stantler evo, but it steps on Girafarig's toes (er... hooves) and Stantler learns as many Ghost moves as it does Psychic ones. And it suits the design more imo - the washed-out colour scheme looks kind of eerie to me. Though, as it's a snow deer, why couldn't it have been Normal/Ice? That's another as-yet unexplored combination.

I guess what I'm driving at is that Wyrdeer has all the makings of a great Pokemon, but it's let down by the fact it has such an uninspiring typing. It's admittedly not the most common combination, but with Oranguru, Girafarig, Indeedee, and Meloetta in the series so far, I'd say it's fairly well represented. I almost find myself thinking that pure Normal would have been more interesting than this.




*Although, if they want to eventually give us a Snorlax regional variant that's Normal/Ghost, I'm content to wait
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's thought of a Normal/Ghost Snorlax, although mine was a Mega Evolution concept

That being said I don't think Normal/Ghost would be that bad. It really depends on the Pokemon. Dark/Ghost also has 3 immunities and only one weakness, but really isn't that great of a typing because the only Pokemon with that typing suck. The exception is Mega Sableye, who has a few more admiral traits that make it good besides the typing, like it's great ability in Magic Bounce. Not to mention the type that hits both super effectively are common attacking types like Fairy and Dark, especially with Knock Off being everywhere. I think if done right Normal/Ghost could be a fine, not too strong typing

Regarding Wyrdeer I'm glad Stantler got an evo but compared to the other Pokemon shown off (Basculegion, H-Growlithe and Braviary) it's not that special looking to me.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Not to mention the type that hits both super effectively are common attacking types like Fairy and Dark, especially with Knock Off being everywhere. I think if done right Normal/Ghost could be a fine, not too strong typing
It's just Dark - Fairy is neutral against Ghost, so a Normal/Ghost type would be 2x weak to Dark and nothing else.

Regarding Wyrdeer I'm glad Stantler got an evo but compared to the other Pokemon shown off (Basculegion, H-Growlithe and Braviary) it's not that special looking to me.
I'm actually not that taken by Hisuian Growlithe or Braviary, but I'm reserving judgement on both for now.
 
Normal / Ghost might be the most overrated type combo ever. It doesn't really do anything besides "haha funny marshadow immunity" and getting cooked by Knock Off.
 

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