060 - Poliwag
Water
It's time for another episode of "Pokemon Myth Busters", today's topic---Satoshi Tajiri's favorite Pokemon. It's been claimed that either Poliwag, or sometimes Poliwhirl, is his favorite Pokemon, but I've never seen a source on this. In fact, it seems to have come from an interview with TIME back during the initial Pokemon hype, in which he simply brought up Poliwag as one Pokemon who was based on childhood memories, but never explicitly implied he liked it more than any other Pokemon. The Poliwag/Poliwhirl confusion stems from the fact that Tajiri used Poliwag's Japanese name, but TIME erroneously gave its name as "Poliwhorl". Furthermore, Poliwhirl was prominently featured on the cover of that issue, likely furthering the confusion. But all in all, I don't believe Poliwag is actually Tajiri's favorite Pokemon, and I'm going to assume people simply saw he mentioned Poliwag in the TIME article and missed the context it was mentioned in.
UPDATE: Loptous answered this for me, it was Poliwag, and the source was Game Center CX. Thanks!
But while Poliwag may not be Tajiri's favorite, it's still the first stage of a pretty popular Water family that's a great representation of how Pokemon evolution works, since it's based on a real-life example of metamorphosis. Poliwag is based on a tadpole, or "polliwog" as they're sometimes known, and naturally has the common elements of a tadpole, mainly their armless bodies and long tail, although it has already grown legs at this point. That swirl on its belly is what Tajiri mentioned in the TIME article, and is actually Poliwag's curled-up intestine that's visible through its stomach. Kind of gross, but that's a real thing---google it! I played with tadpoles as a kid, however, and don't remember them having transparent bellies like that, so I believe that it's a trait only certain types of tadpoles have. Poliwag's swirl is normally oriented with its swirl beginning from the left and moving inward, and this is how it appears in all of its official artwork within the games, although in Gen II and Gen III its swirl was smaller than usual, likely due to graphical limitations. A lot of fan-artists, as well as the anime a couple of times, forget this fact and draw Poliwag with the swirl reversed, which is incorrect. The PokeDex mentions, however, that Poliwag's swirl is actually reversed in some places, and apparently this has to do with the equator. I imagine this is a reference to the Coriolis Effect, where the rotation of certain things will be different depending on if they're above or below the equator. We've never had a Region that took place "below the equator" (taking in account what real-life location it was based on), and if we ever do, I'd hope that Game Freak remembers this fact and makes sure to reverse Poliwag's swirl.
Despite being a fairly popular Kanto Pokemon, Poliwag didn't get much focus during the Kanto League, and really didn't come into play till the Orange Islands where Misty caught one. Poliwag was Misty's most important capture since Psyduck (fuck Togepi), and once it evolved in Johto, quickly became her primary battling Pokemon for much of the series. Considering Gold and Silver was right around the corner when the Orange Islands were airing, most people assume Poliwag was given to Misty due to having a new evolution right around the corner, but it could simply have been a coincidence. However, it worked out quite nicely that one of Misty's Pokemon and one of Brock's Pokemon got new evolutions in Generation II so the show was able to advertise these new forms in a fairly organic way, rather than suddenly giving them old Pokemon to evolve.
061 - Poliwhirl
Water
Poliwhirl is a very odd Pokemon due to how "popular" he was back during Generation I, but this popularity seemed oddly manufactured. People liked Poliwhirl, but he wasn't exactly anyone's favorite Pokemon, and had very little presence in the show, yet popped up on a ton of merchandise. As I mentioned before, he was on the cover of TIME's Pokemon issue---and not simply on the cover, front-and-center and bigger than Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo. I remember the promotion they had at Kentucky Fried Chicken gave out a Poliwhirl plushie, he was one of the variant boxes for Pokemon Macaroni & Cheese, in Pokemon Special he was Red's first Pokemon, and he was even on the Pokemon Center Tokyo sign! Where the hell did this popularity come from? This strange popularity is probably one of the reasons so many people believed the rumor that Poliwhirl was Satoshi Tajiri's favorite, as the strange focus on him during the early days look odd in retrospect considering how he sort of fizzled out compared to many of the Generation I Pokemon who remain beloved today. Go ask a non-Pokemon fan if they remember Pikachu, Charizard, or Mewtwo, then ask them if they remember Poliwhirl. I bet most of them will have trouble remembering him.
Poliwhirl evolves from Poliwag, and although he loses his tail and grows arms, and thus in real-life would be considered a "frog", he still resembles a tadpole somewhat and is still referred to as one. Furthermore, although his legs have developed, he still prefers the water. In addition to his tail, Poliwhirl also loses his mouth for some reason. The location of his mouth has been disputed...in most media, it's implied to basically be within the swirl as that's where he fires off his Water Gun. However an old piece of concept art showing an x-ray image of Poliwhirl seems to imply his mouth is right above his stomach, we just can't see it. Another theory, and possibly one Game Freak planned but never really got a chance to show off as the show popularized the idea of the "swirl mouth", is that the top of his belly is his mouth, and it opens up. If you look at Poliwhirl for a bit, you can easily imagine how this would work, can't you? I certainly can! Also, Poliwhirl now sports some gloves for whatever reason which gives him an old-school feel. The gloves are non-sensical, and I can't imagine what "biological" part they're supposed to represent, but as far as Pokemon wearing clothes go, they're very quaint and you probably forgot he was wearing gloves till I brought it up, so it isn't an intrusive design decision.
While Poliwag's swirl begins on the left and moves into the center, Poliwhirl's swirl is the opposite of that, and like Poliwag, many artists, some working for the Pokemon Company included such as the Pokemon Special artist, tend to forget this and draw it the other way. The fact that Poliwhirl's intestine switches like that gives us an interesting idea that Pokemon evolution is quite a drastic change to the point that internal organs rearrange themselves, which seems like it'd be extremely painful for the Pokemon. Poliwhirl's swirl is said to cause a hypnosis effect if you stare at it long enough, the classic "hypno swirl" seen in many classic cartoons and mail-in catalogs, but it's unknown if Poliwhirl does this on purpose as the result of actual psychic powers, or if it's an unintentional quality of his swirl he's unaware of.
As I mentioned before, Poliwhirl was a very late Kanto Pokemon to really make it big in the show, which is surprising considering how much early merchandise he was on. However when he came to the show as part of the main cast, evolving from Misty's Poliwag, he did make a considerable splash and his appearances were rather numerous considering he was owned by a side-character, was an older Pokemon (mostly...), and belonged to post-Togepi Misty who had been pushed into the background a bit due to her character losing some of her initial spunk and charm. Poliwhirl was the only thread keeping Misty alive, perhaps?
062 - Poliwrath
Water/Fighting
Poliwrath is the final evolution of Poliwhirl, and evolves through the use of the Water Stone, the last of the classic Elemental Evolution Stone Quartet. I actually like Poliwrath personally, but it's easy to see how he might've been a bit of a disappointment to some folks. You'd expect Poliwhirl to naturally end up evolving into a frog, yet instead he simply gets a bit bulkier and meaner. Now, small incremental evolutions in Generation I is nothing new, there are plenty of Pokemon who don't change much, but most of them are based off animals that don't change much in real life and thus there wasn't too many options for Game Freak to go with except "going bigger". With Poliwhirl, on the other hand, creating a line that begins with a tadpole and becomes more frog-like gives a certain impression of what the evolutionary line will entail, and Poliwrath comes in and blows that out of the water. Poliwrath is really odd to me---I feel the majority of Generation I Pokemon families have a great sense of "balance" between their evolutions, where if you line them up side-by-side, there's a nice flow in their designs. I don't feel that way with Poliwrath, as he's too similar to Poliwhirl that I feel it greatly offsets that balance, and the evolution between Poliwag and Poliwhirl feels more dynamic in comparison when it should usually be the final evolution where the biggest change occurs in my opinion. That being said, I think most people have gotten over it as Poliwrath is a unique Type (unmatched till Gen V), we eventually got a frog-based evolution for Poliwhirl, and honestly, nowadays we have so many frog Pokemon that one staying as a tadpole feels oddly refreshing.
Poliwrath's design doesn't change much as I mentioned---its main gain in this evolution is muscle mass, particularly in its arms while its legs are comparatively skinny looking, although they're still implied to be rather muscular as well. In Poliwhirl's PokeDex, it mentions that although Poliwhirl has legs, it still prefers to swim, and I imagine this constant swimming strengthened his arm muscles considerably. Poliwrath is a Fighting-type Pokemon now, which always felt sort of off. I mean, he looks the part certainly with the muscles, but there are plenty of pretty powerful looking Pokemon who aren't Fighting-type, and Poliwhirl of all Pokemon turning into a Fighting-type always felt like a weird addition. Part of me wonders if originally Poliwag and Poliwhirl were just going to be a two-stage line, and Poliwrath was sort of thrown in there near the end of development---there's an old sprite on one of GameFreak's defunct websites that shows a Poliwhirl-like Pokemon wearing a crown, which seems to suggest making him evolve into a muscle man wasn't originally in the cards. Most Fighting-type Pokemon tend to specialize in a certain martial art as I've said before, and Poliwrath kind of does as it's skilled at competitive swimming, and I guess athletics are sort of like martial arts, right? But come to think of it, isn't Poliwrath basically copying Golduck's "top-class" swimmer gimmick here? It seems like while Golduck is built for speed, Poliwrath is built for endurance, and it'd be interesting to see who'd win in a race between the two.
Poliwrath actually has a pretty high-honor in the show, as he was one of the first Pokemon to deal Ash's Charizard a defeat, which ultimately led to Charizard mellowing out and becoming one of Ash's most loyal and powerful Pokemon. Thanks for your sacrifice, Poliwrath! Misty's Poliwhirl didn't evolve into Poliwrath, it went the other way, so unfortunately he never got to be part of the main cast, and hey, who needs them? He beat Charizard.
186 - Politoed
Water
Politoed is another Generation II Branch-Evolution who evolves from Poliwhirl via a new Hold Item known as the "King's Rock". However, for some reason, Game Freak felt they needed to throw in an extra step for most Hold Item evolutions, so you also have to trade Poliwhirl as well. I don't really get the point of making you do both steps, when they could just have the Pokemon hold the item and win a battle. I guess the idea is it'd be annoying if you were using the item, and after each fight you got bugged to evolve the Pokemon, but honestly, the only reason you'll probably give these Pokemon their Hold Items is if you plan to evolve them. Politoed, like Bellossom, is another Branch Evolution given to a family who was already complete in Generation I. My opinion of Branch Evolutions are mixed---when it comes to Cross-Gen Branch Evolutions, I don't really care for them, as they often feel like a needless addition to a family that was already pretty tight and I'd rather Pokemon who haven't evolved yet get those new Evolutions instead. Why Gloom and Poliwhirl instead of Farfetch'd and Pinsir? On the other hand, I think when they're introduced in the same Generation alongside one another, Branch Evolutions are cool, and it's a shame we haven't got more of those types of Branch Evolutions. Generation V was huge, yet every Pokemon was part of a linear-evolution line...that really bugged me.
Unlike Bellossom, who I felt was the odd-one out in its family and was a bit "pointless", I actually feel like Politoed was a more logical addition. As I said before, Poliwhirl not evolving into a frog always felt like an obvious missed opportunity, and Politoed fixes that. If anything, Poliwrath is the one who feels like he wasn't ultimately needed, not Politoed. That Poliwhirl with the crown I mentioned back makes me wonder how Politoed was conceived---was it planned early on, but held off till Gen II so they'd have a new evolution to introduce? Or did Game Freak realize how disappointing Poliwrath was, and decided to give Poliwhirl an actual frog evolution? Either way, it feels like Bellossom was designed after its other family members were created, but I could believe Politoed was developed alongside Poliwag and Poliwhirl and its dramatic change in appearance would fit well in representing the metamorphosis between tadpole and frog. Still, though, I like Poliwrath quite a bit while I rarely think about Politoed and he's just another Water-type to me.
There's actually a frog known for its transparent stomach showing off its organs known as the Glass Frog, which looks a lot like Politoed, but I don't feel like Game Freak were aware of that creature necessarily when creating the Pokemon, especially as Politoed's swirl seems to just be decoration in this stage, and not actually its intestine visible though its stomach like in its past evolutionary stages. It seems Politoed is simply supposed to be a regular, colorful pond frog like his pre-evolutions are simply tadpoles. Since he evolves with the King's Rock, he's the "king" of the Tadpole Pokemon, and although he lacks a crown as he perhaps should have evolving with the King's Rock, the curl on his head is his symbol of status and like we all know, the longer and curlier it is, the more desirable he is. The PokeDex mentions Poliwag and Poliwhirl follow Politoed, but the relationship between Politoed and Poliwrath are unclear. Are Poliwrath those Poliwhirl who shirk their noblesse-oblige to become competitive swimmers? Do the rest of the Poli Pokemon look down on the life choices of Poliwrath? Are there regular conflicts between Poliwrath and Politoed over leadership? Sometimes I wish Game Freak created an official Pokemon documentary or something to explain some of these things.
As you'd expect from Branch Evolutions, Politoed and Poliwrath have some statistical differences, with Politoed specializing in the Special Stats, whereas Poliwrath specializes in the Physical Stats. Furthermore, Poliwrath learns mainly Fighting-type moves, while Politoed given its love of singing learns moves that belong to the Sound pseudo-type. They were once equal in Base Stat Total, but Generation VI messed that up by giving Poliwrath 10 extra points in Attack while Politoed got no such stat boost. Despite this, currently Politoed easily outranks Poliwrath thanks to playing an important role on Rain Dance Teams with its Drizzle Ability, while Poliwrath is seen as an average Pokemon with a neat Type Combination. Well, Politoed is the king, so him being the strongest makes sense.
Misty's Poliwhirl evolved into Politoed in the show, and after that its role sort of decreased greatly as it took a backseat role, much like Misty did herself towards the end of Johto when it was obvious she was about to be dumped and replaced by a new girl. Politoed loved to clap and dance around, even getting a filler episode involving it joining a cheer squad (and not the cool Japanese kind, the boring American kind) and spent the Johto League cheering on Ash from the bleachers, its final hurrah before it ended up stuck with a character who was no longer relevant. My favorite Politoed moment in the series though didn't even involve an actual Politoed, but another frog Pokemon dressing up as it as part of a cosplay contest.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone actively dislike Arcanine while plenty of people roll their eyes and Charizard at Pikachu. I certainly find him extremely cool and he probably has no haters.
