23 Of The Weirdest Pokémon

The world of Pokémon is a strange land full of even stranger creatures, but some stand out among the others. Whether it’s because of their design, their name, or because they’re just unfathomably bizarre, some Pokémon just seem to have a little less creativity fueling their creation. It’s not a bad thing. The weirdest Pokémon are often the best.

These are the Pokémon – presented in alphabetical order – that we’re surprised made the cut into the final game, but we’re glad they did.

Buneary
Since Pokemon’s beginnings, the monsters have been based on real-world animals. The thing that makes Buneary feel like a creature that has been phoned in is its name. It’s the word bunny with the name of the animal’s most prominent feature (its ears) jammed in the middle.

Conkeldurr
Of all the Pokémon in the Durr family, Conkeldurr definitely wins the terrible name contest. He is the ultimate evolved form of his species, which is good because he needs strength to make up for his designation.

Cottonee
Another victim of its own name more than its artistic design, Cottonee doubles as both the Pokémon’s name, and a valid description of what it looks like. Probably what it feels like, too.

Drifloon
Drifloon’s description in the Pokédex tells the terrifying tale of a creature that attempts to drag children into the underworld, but it just looks like a purple balloon with poorly drawn eyes and a terrible hairdo. If I saw one of these chasing after a child, I don’t think I would feel any sense of danger.

Dugtrio, Magneton
These two get thrown together because their journey from young Pokémon to full evolution is exactly the same. Instead of gaining new appendages, or changing appearance, they just gather together in groups of three. For some reason though, they’re considered evolved.

Garbodor
Garbodor is a pile of trash. Also, his arm kind of looks like the nozzle you would use to put gasoline in your car

Girafarig
Another victim of uninspired naming. I’m guessing someone wanted to name this Pokémon Giraffe, while someone else wanted to name it Effarig (a bit like the Pokémon Ekans), and they decided to meet in the middle, and draw a line there.

Herdier
I’m pretty sure Herdier is just a dog wearing a blanket. This is basically a dog from a cold area of the world that somehow ended up in the world of Pokémon

Klefki
This list is in alphabetical order in the interest of avoiding playing favorites, but I openly admit that if this list were ordered by preference, Klefki would be on top. It’s a ring of keys that you use to fight other Pokémon. I’m not entirely sure it’s a Pokémon, to be honest. It could just be a trainer’s ring of keys that he throws at wild Pokémon.

Klink, Klang, and Klinklang
On their own, any one of the these Pokémon would be an admittedly strange, but average Pokémon. Taken as a group, however, they combine to become an impressively lazy naming convention.

Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure
Another creature from the kingdom of inanimate objects confusingly defined as Pokémon, Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure seem like creatures that would be more comfortable in the world of Harry Potter. Are we entirely sure they're not lighting fixtures with faces drawn on them?

Luvdisc
Luvdisc presents a Pokémon version of the chicken and the egg conundrum. During the design process, did the name come first? Or did the creature come first?

Mr. Mime
The only Pokémon to date with a title, I’m not entirely convinced Mr. Mime isn’t just a failed clown trying to disembark from the human species.

Noespass and Probopass
After the Easter Island statues – that appeared briefly in Super Mario Land on the Game Boy – came to terms with the fact that Mario didn’t want or need them anymore, they moved over to Pokémon series to become Noespass and Probopass. They’re basically gigantic noses and one happens to have an intimidating mustache.

Phantump
Phantumb looks like a ghost that accidentally got stuck in a tree and has basically been trying to play it off as an intentional fashion choice for the rest of its life. His name is also dangerously close to Phantdumb, which might have been more appropriate.

Scrafty
Scrafty can spit acidic liquid from its mouth like an Alien, but he can’t seem to figure out how a belt works or that Pokémon really don’t need to wear pants.

Stunky
Stunky makes this list because its name is ridiculous, and there is basically nothing to physically distinguish him from a real-world skunk.

Swalot
Swalot, or as I like to refer to it, that purple blob with a mustache, looks a bit like the imperceptible crayon sketch of a toddler.

Vanillish
Much like its brothers Klefki, Garbodor, Litwick, Lampent, and Chandelure, Vanilish might have powers and a personality, but it is basically an inanimate object. Vanilish can pretend all it wants, but there’s no denying that it is basically an ice cream cone.

For more the Pokémon series, check out our burning questions for the series with the creators and directors, as well as our Afterwords feature on Pokémon X & Y, hit the links. For more analysis of the Pokémon creature themselves, check out these breakdowns from Jeff Marchiafva on some of mine and his favorite Pokémon, as well as his thoughts on X & Y's mega evolutions.