#079 - Slowpoke
Water/Psychic
Slowpoke is a Water/Psychic Pokemon, and is a pretty late-game Pokemon in Generation I, so it's another Pokemon I wonder how many people actually used during their original Pokemon adventure. Although it was available in both versions, the Gen III remakes made it exclusive to Leaf Green, opposite the Psyduck-line in Fire Red---in addition, another Pokemon who Slowpoke has a relationship with, Shellder, was also made exclusive to Fire Red. Slowpoke being part-Psychic sort of confuses me, the same reason Psyduck not being part-Psychic is a bit baffling. While Psyduck's PokeDex constantly mentions its psychic abilities, Slowpoke's PokeDex, on the other hands, makes no mention of it having any heightened mental senses, or really, any mental senses at all, so it's strange Game Freak chose it to make the Water/Psychic Pokemon. Honestly, until it got a new evolution in Generation II, Slowpoke's line had nothing explicitly Psychic about it outside of simply the moves it could learn.
Like our previous Psychic Pokemon Abra, Slowpoke is a strange creature who doesn't necessarily resemble any real-world animal---popular theories range from a pygmy hippopotamus, what I remember people saying it was supposed to be as a kid, even though it really doesn't look like one, and even a giant salamander, oddly enough, as Bulbapedia mentions. However, I think looking things over it's actually supposed to be a rather loose take on an otter, especially the sea otter. Nowadays, we have actual otter Pokemon that resemble the animal far better, but Slowpoke does have the basic body shape of one, and some of its traits bring to mind an otter---in particular, its ability to fish with its tail isn't based on anything an otter can actually do, but it means that Slowpoke is a Pokemon who's capable of using "tools", just like the sea otter is notable for its ability to use a rock to smash open shellfish. And of course the relationship between Slowpoke and shellfish seems to parody the relationship between otter and shellfish---the animal eats shellfish, the Pokemon is eaten by shellfish. It's really quite poetic if you think about it.
Slowpoke's most notable trait, as its name suggests, is that it's incredibly slow both physically and mentally. Unlike all the Gen I Pokemon we've seen who brag to be the fastest, yet don't live up to the hype, Slowpoke really was the slowest Generation I Pokemon, and even nowadays it's still one of the slowest only beaten out by a handful of Pokemon. Perhaps that's nothing to brag about, unless Trick Room comes into play and then Slowpoke is suddenly capable of moving at the speed of light. Most Psychic-type Pokemon are known to have quick and powerful brains, but Slowpoke is rather dull, so much so that it takes quite awhile for it to even register pain. Although perhaps Slowpoke isn't actually stupid, but just preoccupied---its powerful Psychic-abilities may suggest perhaps its lackadaisical life style is merely how it hones its mind's abilities to a level beyond human comprehension. One episode in the show went with this idea, in fact, with Slowpoke serving as the Pokemon-version of Buddha.
Its tail is Slowpoke's "charm point", and serves as a useful function as a makeshift fishing rod. The tail is said to have a very sweet scent and taste, perhaps a reference to how certain species of otter such as smooth-coated otter have special scent glands located at the base of their tail. Slowpoke's tasty tail is a mixed blessing, as why it does help it attract fish, it also makes their tails extremely tasty to passing-by Shellder (and we know what happens then...), and as shown in Generation II, humans, as slowpoke tail is considered a rare and expensive delicacy. This is another small element of Slowpoke that seems to be slightly based on otters---as far as I know people don't eat otters, but otters fur is considered a valuable commodity, and there's been a long history of otter poaching that has led to near extinction in some areas. Honestly, considering how cute Slowpoke, Buizel, Oshawott, and even USApyon are, the fact that someone would be cruel-hearted enough to kill a real otter for profit boggles the mind.
Slowpoke's first appearance in the show was rather silly and off-beat, playing a small part in the beloved "Island of the Giant Pokemon". Its role in the original Japanese version was slightly larger, as a cut scene has it running an oden stand where the Pokemon get, well, wasted. Doesn't surprise me they cut this since seeing Pikachu basically "drunk" seems like something that would scar impressionable American kids for life. Slowpoke has also had various focus-episodes throughout the show focusing on its unique evolution methods---I'm glad the show actually went through and tackled the weirdness of Slowpoke's evolution instead of just glossing over it and just having Slowpoke evolve like normal with the shell suddenly appearing. Fun fact: the episode Enlighten Up, featuring Slowpoke, was the final episode the original anime head writer Takeshi Shudo ever wrote---and the last one he ever will now unfortunately since his passing.
Oh, and The Pokemon Company recently declared August 10th Yadon (Slowpoke) day, as "8-10" can be read as "Yadon", I believe. This came complete with a bizarre reggae-style song celebrating one of Pokemon's cult-classic mascots.
#080 - Slowbro
Water/Psychic
Slowbro is the evolution of Slowpoke, and one of the most interesting Pokemon evolutions in the game---well, in terms of lore. In terms of gameplay, Slowpoke merely evolves into Slowbro by level, but its back-story states that Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro when Shellder bites down on its tail, and if you happen to remove the Shellder, it'll actually revert to a Slowpoke. This unique relationship between the two offers up a lot of questions, but unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, the games straight up ignore this and you don't actually need a Shellder for Slowbro to evolve. The big questions remains, though---will the unique evolution of Shellder seen on Slowbro ever become an actual Pokemon in its own right? I think it ties with Baby Kangaskhan for being the most requested "pseudo-Pokemon" to be made into a real Pokemon, and the former technically sort of happened in Generation VI, but not in the way that everyone wanted. Slowpoke's evolution gets ever weirder though in later Generations, as you'll soon see...
Although it is still basically an otter-like creature, Slowbro is known as the "Hermit Crab Pokemon", and unlike Blastoise being known as the "Shell Fish Pokemon", this isn't actually a localization error---its Japanese species is "Yadokari", which means hermit crab, although the Japanese word is a bit less specific than the American equivalent as it apparently can also mean "renting a house" or "tenant", so there's a word-play that's lost in the English's more literal meaning. While Slowbro isn't a crab, "hermit crab" is a pretty good equivalent though so I don't feel the species name is too out of place, although we of course later got a much more fitting hermit crab Pokemon in Generation V. The shell Shellder becomes is meant to resemble the shell of turban snail, which ties Slowbro together with a Japanese yokai known as the "Sazae-Oni", a monstrous mermaid-like creature known for having a giant turban shell (or "sazae") on its back, although the two really don't share much beyond the slight visual resemblance. For one thing, the Sazae-Oni is said to steal men's testicles in exchange for gold which, thankfully, Slowbro does not do.
Slowbro's actual body looks fairly similar to Slowpoke, except being larger and now having a striped belly, although that last part was originally seen on Slowpoke on some older art and sprites, but has since disappeared. I imagine because Slowpoke was usually depicted lying on its belly and thus obscuring the stripes, many folks didn't even realize it had said stripes, and Game Freak eventually just got rid of them altogether since they were a rather underutilized element of the design. As you can tell by its looks, Slowbro is just as dull as its pre-evolution, and because of Shellder's bite, is no longer able to feel pain. That's sort of sad, isn't it? However, it's also said that if the Shellder bites down hard enough, Slowbro briefly experiences a flash of inspirations---perhaps this is similar to how Psyduck's powers are heightened when its head is clamped?
The relationship between Shellder and Slowbro is parasitic, although not as disturbing as Parasect as Shellder doesn't seem to actually control Slowbro, and in fact Slowbro looks like it usually enjoys its new roommate. However, the relationship is extremely one-sided, as Slowbro is no longer able to use its tail for fishing and instead actually has to exert effort to catch food while Shelder enjoys eating the scraps without putting in any work on its own. Perhaps though if Shellder contributed a bit more, both of them would benefit by being able to catch more prey easily? At the very least, the two are able to assist one another in battle, although going by its moveset it seems that Slowbro still does most of the work, but Shellder should just be thankful Slowbro has never been able to learn Shell Smash...
Slowbro's first appearance in the show was a small cameo at the end of Island of the Giant Pokemon, which showcased its unique evolution method, and later on in Kanto it got an entire episode dedicated to it which focused on the mystery of its evolution, and introduced a conundrum---if a Slowpoke and a Shellder are owned by two Trainers, and they happen to come into contact with one another and evolve, who owns the resulting Slowbro? This episode seems to suggest it'd be the owner of Slowpoke since it's the "base Pokemon". We don't see the owner of Shellder argue because, well, she gets blasted off, but I wonder what would happen if you simultaneously recalled both Pokemon into their Pokeballs? Would Slowbro come apart? This episode also argues that Slowbro is a symbiotic relationship, allowing Slowbro to stand and thus use Mega Punch, and allows Shellder the ability to move on land, although I don't know why Slowbro would find Mega Punch particularly useful, and it's never been able to learn in naturally anyway, only learning it in Generation I through a TM and in the Generation III remakes through a Move Tutor.
#M080 - Mega Slowbro
Water/Psychic
Well, here it is...Mega Slowbro. Depending on how you feel about Mega Evolutions, Mega Slowbro is a ridiculous waste-of-space that goes to show how pointless a concept "Mega Evolution" is, or a cute idea that shows Game Freak isn't against having a bit of fun when it comes to designing Mega Evolutions. Me, personally, like most Mega Pokemon I don't really have strong feelings either way, although I was a bit disappointed in it because Kanto already had so many Mega Evolutions, giving it yet another one in ORAS that's somewhat of a joke as opposed to using that space to give a more deserving Pokemon a Mega feels pretty cheap. But Mega Slowbro certainly isn't a joke, though, as it takes an already powerful Pokemon and makes it better, and I believe it currently is a high-ranking OU Pokemon within the Meta-Game. But then again most Mega Pokemon seem to work well from a competitive point of view, although perhaps too well, it's just their implementation in the single-player campaign, and the overall lore, still feels a bit lacking and shoddily put together.
Perhaps it'd be better to call Mega Slowbro "Mega Slowpoke", because it basically is a Slowpoke being devoured by a Shellder. Or perhaps maybe you should call it "Mega Shellder", as the Mega Stone appears to specifically react to that part of Slowbro. As the story goes, which mind you isn't mentioned in the game since Mega Pokemon unfortunately lack a PokeDex, but instead comes from secondary sources such as the show and the official Pokemon ORAS website who may be considered slightly dubious, somehow Shellder ends up absorbing the energy given off by the Mega Stone flowing through Slowbro's body, and ends up growing massive and becoming extremely hard, seen by the Ability Shell Armor. Slowbro kind of just sits helplessly inside of Shellder now, but its tail is the one part ironically that's no longer covered by the shell, and acts like a spring or the point of a top and allows Slowbro to have slight control over its movement. I'm not sure what kind of relationship the two of them have now.
Mega Slowbro has only made a small cameo in the show during one of the Mega Evolution Specials. When I covered Mega Alakazam, I stated that the newest season of XY, XY&Z, would likely begin to incorporate Mega Evolutions more and more into the main series and this seems to be the case, as recently it's been revealed we'll have an episode focused on Mega Audino, and I imagine more Mega Evolution focus episodes are sure to come. Who knows, maybe the Kalos League will be filled with Mega Evolution Pokemon to really raise the stakes for once?
#199 - Slowking
Water/Psychic
You'd think given its name and appearance, Slowking would be the evolution of Slowbro, yet it's actually a branch-evolution of Slowpoke and the counterpart to Slowbro, a fact I myself have forgotten at times. Slowking evolves the same way as Politoed does, through the King's Rock, and thus how Shellder is involved is somewhat unexplained, although the show suggests that wearing the King's Rock somehow entices a Shellder to bite down on Slowpoke's head instead of its tail. It's unknown how having to trade Slowpoke with the King's Rock works into this, but hey, don't worry about it. Slowbro and Slowking are pretty close in terms of stats, Slowking trading some of Slowbro's Defense for Special Defense, but Slowbro has since jumped ahead thanks to its Mega Evolution---from my understanding Slowbro has always been slightly ahead of Slowking in the metagame, but even without a Mega, Slowking still has its niche. And hey, maybe it'll get a Mega Evolution next? Like Bellossom and Politoed, though, I can't say I really felt Slowking was needed or necessary, and it seems like giving Shellder the Branch Evolution would make more sense and having it resemble the "Turban Snail Shellder" would be the obvious route, but it's Game Freak's game.
Visually, Slowking has a much more regal look to it, wearing the Shellder as a crown (who also has grown to look a bit more like royalty with a gem embedded in its body), and seems to be in control now with the Shellder being the one serving it. It's said that when Shellder bites down into Slowpoke's head, a "switch" is hit, and Slowking's latent intellect suddenly bubbles to the surface. The more Shellder bites and injects poison into Slowking, the smarter it's said to become, but should Shellder ever fall off, Slowking will instantly revert to its previously dull Slowpoke self. Makes you wonder if it's really Slowpoke who is gaining the knowledge, or if Shellder's actually the genius and somehow is injecting its knowledge into Slowking's brain. Perhaps it's more of a mind-control parasitic relationship than it first appears, Shellder only tricking Slowking into thinking it's the one in control as it uses the Pokemon to further its knowledge in its bid to ultimately conquer the world? Who knows, but Slowking is said to be seriously smart, on the level of "award-winning scientists" and constantly searches to answer the mysteries of the universe. Unlike Slowpoke and Slowbro, who never struck me as Psychic-type Pokemon, Slowking is the first member of the line I think who truly lives up to its Type. Makes me wonder if the idea for Slowking was designed as far back as Generation I, and Slowpoke was always a Psychic-type Pokemon just to ultimately lead up to this evolution.
Slowking's first appearance was in the 2nd Pokemon Movie as a somewhat mystical character who was able to talk (in the same way Meowth can, as opposed to the usual "telepathy" most Legendary Pokemon are capable of) and knew a lot about the mythology behind the Legendary Birds. His character really wasn't explained, and it's interesting to note that only in the dub does Ash notice he's a talking Pokemon---I wouldn't be surprised if the intent of the original is that due to his appearance, Satoshi just figured he was some old wiseman living on the island and not a Pokemon at all! Did you know this Slowking actually had his own episode, although it never aired outside of Japan due to being only three-minutes long, that sheds a bit more light on his character? Despite being a Pokemon said to pursue the mysteries of life on a daily basis, Slowking's day-to-day activities are surprisingly mundane and simple suggesting that no matter how intelligent it becomes, it's still ultimately a Slowpoke. Slowking later had a focus episode in Johto showing how Slowpoke's evolution into it works, where it was shown to be a Sword-In-The-Stone situation, where only the bravest Slowpoke could become a Slowking as the rest of them were bitten in the tail by Shellder before they could reach the King Rock, turning into Slowbro. Here's another fun fact about this episode---it was the last traditionally animated episode as the show switched over to digital animation. I like many folks tend to prefer the older style, but I can't blame the animators because at this point basically every show on Earth had moved over to this style and Pokemon felt rather archaic when it was airing alongside shows such as Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh who had embraced the new style.