From the earliest days of Crimson and Blue, Pokemon has massaged a singular wrinkle into its elemental desk within the type of dual-typing. These creatures, carrying traits of a number of sides, can have extra benefits and weaknesses than your backyard selection ‘mon, making them particularly attention-grabbing on the battlefield.
Generally, it makes good sense. Lanturn is an anglerfish, and subsequently it’s water and electrical. Litwick, a haunted candle, is invariably ghost and hearth. Bungee Gum possesses the properties of each rubber and gum. Thus far, so good.
In different situations, nevertheless, it leaves you scratching your noodle a smidgen. Listed here are just some of the secondary typings that really feel tacked awkwardly on for causes past our comprehension. In case you can justify them to us, you then would possibly simply be a Pokemon Professor your self. We’ll assume you may have some form of tree-related surname.
1. Geodude Household (Floor)
Let’s get one thing out of the best way actual fast — this record goes to function a number of gen 1 critters. As a lot as we love these Sport Boy classics, they’re mechanically janky and competitively unbalanced. Sure, I’m going to hyperlink that article no person likes once more.
Geodude and its evolutions are among the less complicated Pokemon designs, consisting of a group of stones with various levels of disagreeable faces. Their Rock typing is educational, and but additionally they have the Floor typing chucked in there for some motive.
It’s not too egregious, till you uncover that Crimson/Blue/Yellow had completely zero pure Rock-type Pokemon in consequence. Its shut kinfolk, Onix, Rhyhorn and Rhydon, have been equally Rock/Floor hybrids, although they not less than have tunnelling facets that validate this notion.
How can a factor that may be a real rock be greater than that? It should have one thing to do with that crusty disposition, I suppose. He’s gonna put some dust in your eye.
2. Gengar (Poison)
In step with the identical theme, Ghosts are one of many rarest Pokemon typings in technology 1. It solely has a scant three members to its identify, all of them belonging to the Gastly household.
Once more, which means there could be no pure Ghost-types till Misdreavus reared its spooky head in Johto, and it didn’t appear all that mandatory by my estimation. Gastly, by its very nature, is gaseous, so it being Poison is sensible. To a level, Haunter additionally has some gassy traits that make it Poison-esque.
However Gengar? By now, it has remodeled into extra of a shadow-like determine, and amongst virtually 50 Pokedex entries, its poisonous traits have by no means as soon as been addressed. It’s been acknowledged the way it assaults folks within the night time, steals warmth from its environment, and as soon as “caught only one leg out of a wall” — making it sound extra like my eccentric grandfather than a pocket monster — however nothing in any way about something remotely toxic.
To be honest, dual-typing is usually awarded as a part of the evolution course of to indicate how far a lifeform has come, whereas eradicating one would appear counter-intuitive. However when somebody asks you to reel off essentially the most iconic Poison Pokemon in franchise historical past, how lengthy is it going to take earlier than this specter will get a point out?
3. Helioptile/Heliolisk (Regular)
Saying odor ya later to gen 1 for a second, we bounce throughout the ocean in direction of the tropical realm of Alola, the place we simply would possibly encounter these cute little reptilian fellas.
Utilizing their frills, they can generate {an electrical} present, and subsequently register as shoo-ins for the Electrical-type. However then, they’re additionally… Regular? As photo voltaic powered lizards usually are?!
Tangentially, the Regular typing is one thing of a curiosity on this sequence. Ought to a Pokemon not have any form of proclivity in direction of respiration hearth or conjuring ice or being a literal bug, then positive, it appears regular sufficient. As an illustration, I’d say that my cat, Lafayette, is regular (and lovely).
However as soon as it has a typing past that? That sounds fairly darned irregular to me, so how are the Helio’s not simply pure Electrical sorts? Like a number of of those entries, it certainly comes right down to gameplay components, providing us a singular typing mixture that’s in any other case remarkable.
By that logic, each time Lafayette drinks water from the faucet I’m going to proclaim that she’s a Regular/Water sort. In response, she’ll in all probability say “meow” or “purr” or “eat the wealthy”, as per standard.
4. Alolan Exeggutor (Dragon)
We’ll keep in Alola for one more entry to avoid wasting on airfare, and pay homage to some of the painfully intentional jokes in Pokemon historical past; the large, garish Alolan Exeggutor.
Shedding the Psychic-typing of its mainland cousins, the Alolan type inexplicably pairs its pure Grass-type with the excellence of being a Dragon. What about it’s dragon-like, I’m wondering, aside from the truth that it makes for an amusing jape? Nothing aside from Moon’s earnest try at justification in its Dex entry, declaring that “because it grew taller and taller, it outgrew its reliance on psychic powers, whereas inside it woke up the ability of the sleeping dragon.”
Evidently, elevated peak can yield draconic outcomes. In case your little one has a sudden development spurt, you’ll be able to shriek at them “you’re a dragon, Morgan McNeil!” (I needed to do some fast guesswork on their potential identify.)
Look, it’s only a little bit of foolish enjoyable, however it signifies that this tree is extra of a Dragon than Charizard, Aerodactyl, and a sure slippery buyer referred to as…
5. Gyarados (Flying)
One of many infuriating issues about Pokemon parts is that a few of them are a bit too literal. If it’s obtained wings on it, it’s in all probability going to be a Flying sort. The one exception is once they determine to tug a sneaky-pseudo third typing by giving it the Levitate means as a substitute — yeah, I see you hovering over there Hydreigon, don’t suppose I don’t know what sort of rip-off you’re pulling!
Because of this, a Pokemon that’s based mostly on Chinese language dragons, is a part of the dragon egg group, and has entry to the assault Dragon Rage shouldn’t be an precise Dragon in any respect. As a refresher, solely the Dratini household had the dignity of being true Dragons within the first technology, leaving different appropriate candidates scrambling for the scraps of the arbitrary Flying-type.
For the aforementioned Charizard and Aerodactyl? Certain, I get it. They’ve obtained wings which can be onerous to overlook. However for Gyarados, that sucker is sort of solely discovered within the ocean… not less than up till final 12 months’s Legends of Arceus once we lastly obtained to witness it majestically soar by means of the skies.
It was fairly terrifying, not going to lie, and I sacrificed my Rowlet companion in order that I might safely flee. Nature is merciless.
6. Birds (Regular)
Hey, I’m not fairly over this Regular stuff, so whereas Gyarados’ Flying facet is just an occasional function that it pulls out at historic events, avian Pokemon have a unique difficulty happening totally.
All through franchise historical past, practically each regional chook has been a Regular/Flying sort. If we have been making an attempt to ease youngsters into the nuances of typing, they have been maybe led awry by the false notion that they’d have simply been Flying and nothing else.
Oh, what’s that, birds are regular animals? Alright, so are bugs. Is Caterpie a Bug/Regular sort? Horses are regular too, so shouldn’t Ponyta be Fireplace/Regular? It’s a kind of bizarre issues that has simply form of caught, to the purpose the place Flying has turn out to be the last word secondary sort.
To today, there are nonetheless solely three pure Flying-type Pokemon: Tornadus, Rookidee and Corvisquire. In case you’re significantly keen on the skies, you’ll be able to’t discipline a complete workforce, or actually have a single absolutely developed non-legendary on the roster. Chook is, evidently, not the phrase.
7. Kartana (Grass)
Typically, the validity of Pokemon typing can solely be accepted in meme type, equivalent to that man who angrily shouts “I suppose” whereas throwing his arms into the air.
Working example is the Extremely Beast Kartana. Often known as the Drawn Sword Pokemon, this curious creation resembles an origami superhero. True to its delineation, it’s a Metal-type, however its main typing is in precise truth Grass.
If you wish to take into account issues in a roundabout method, paper is created from timber, and timber go hand in hand with grass. On this sense, Kartana is technically a useless tree, having cruelly been chopped down, processed and packaged as a paper product. When you apply that logic, you’ll be able to virtually really feel your self nodding with satisfaction.
…However wait, if it’s certainly a useless tree, then shouldn’t it’s a Ghost as properly? Aaaah, dammit! We have been so shut.
8. Drampa (Regular)
I promise that is the final time I’m going to harp on about this particular shoehorned typing. In spite of everything, they’re simply regular males. …They’re simply harmless males!
Up thus far, when glancing on the Pokemon who’ve been distinguished as Regular, you’ll be able to not less than glean a modicum of reasonability. A little bit man like Pidgey? Yeah, that’s Regular. A pleasant younger lizard equivalent to Helioptile? Okay, that’s Regular-ish. A Pokemon that might be finest described because the bootleg Falkor motion determine your kindly aunt purchased from the $2 retailer? This isn’t Regular, folks.
In each method, form and type, Drampa seeks to undermine all that we consider to be true. Even though it has been seen flying within the anime, it’s neither a Flying-type, nor has entry to Levitate. Even its Pokedex entries don’t alleviate the difficulty, claiming that it “seems in cities and performs with the youngsters”, or that “whether it is angered, it utterly destroys its environment with its intense breath.”
It appears to embody the phrase “unusual” to a tee, and I suggest that when gen 10 rolls round, Drampa be repurposed into the world’s first triple-typing: Dragon/Regular/However Actually Not Regular.
9. Stufful (Preventing)
Uninterested in me utilizing the Regular sort as a punching bag? Properly then, let’s observe a Pokemon whose typing would make it properly suited to go just a few rounds with an precise punching bag.
Stufful, a bear cub that has allusions towards being a stuffed animal, is called the Flailing Pokemon. What that entails, precisely, is that should you attempt to hug it and even contact it with out its specific written consent, it’ll go on a mood tantrum for the ages, sending close by civilians reeling with its unrestrained blows.
Because of this, it’s apparently worthy of being a fighter, inserting it alongside such luminaries as Machamp, who has 4 arms and 4 thousand muscle tissue, or Hariyama, a distinguished sumo wrestler who I swear is definitely saying its identify every time I summon it to the battlefield.
I can solely think about that Kubfu, whose diligence and dedication have led to it being a Preventing-type prodigy, could be downright offended once they see Stufful flailing about and claiming that they’re lower from the identical material. Get misplaced with that noise, Winnie the Pooh.
10. Practically Each Gen 1 Grass-Sort (Poison)
Pop quiz, rookie! What’s the one pure Grass-type Pokemon within the first technology of video games?
Did you say Bulbasaur, the emblematic mascot of Grass-types? Or did you say Bellsprout, the plant-like monstrosity? Perhaps you stated Oddish, who is sort of totally a weed? Maybe you stated Charmander, since you hate pop quizzes and simply need to see the world burn?
Flawed. Flawed. Flawed. Flawed, and a jerk.
These Pokemon are all Poison sorts, as properly. In Bulbasaur’s case, you may give it a cross, as its hybrid fauna resembles some form of toad, and positive, Oddish’s eventual vacation spot, Vileplume, is topped off with a poisonous rafflesia. However for one in every of Pokemon’s most necessary sorts, one of many three choices your journey begins with, to solely have a lone purebred consultant?
It simply looks as if an odd alternative, particularly relating to us courtesy of the lower than inspiring Tangela. Thanks for waving that grassy flag, I suppose. You seem like spaghetti, and sometime Imma eat you.
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