this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Gengar is the only Pokémon that comes to mind as not being a clear aesthetic upgrade over its previous evolutionary stage.
Gengar is a recoloured Clefable.
Are you serious!? First of all, Haunter is indeed S-tier design, but so is Gengar???
Here’s a list of a FEW middle evos who have far better designs than their first/last evos: Wartortle, Dragonair, Arctibax, Dolliv, Rhydon, Dottler — I could go on….!
Am ready, willing, and able to fight to the death over these opinions, so come at me!!!
Going from Haunter to Gengar, they added arms and legs and big square teeth. All of which are functionally unnecessary for a ghost. And the overall aesthetic went from "scary" to "goofy".
Goofy kinda makes sense, if you go by their highlight episode they premiered in (not counting ep.1 for Gengar).
But they're so cute ♥️
Yes!! Cute purple snake-dragon > elegant purple snake-dragon > doofy orange off-brand Charizard. 😭
I love the Dratini line, and thus Dragonite by default (and glad it’s popular because we get some great Dratini/Dragonair cards) , but COME ON!!
Hermesturtle is a worse design than Blastoise IMO. Looks like water/flying
There’s a fight here now thanks to you. I just want you to know though, I’m on your side… blastoise > hermesturtle
There is no way you just said that
Wartortle only makes sense to me if Blastoise was water/flying imo
Isn't that an issue with blastoise, though? Why doesn't it follow the direction of wartortle and squirtle?
Maybe it is, but I think Blastoise is a way cooler third evolution than Wartortle is a second evolution
I'm not saying it sucks or anything, I just think it's the "worst" of the 3
It's hard to beat those cannons and smug face knowing how powerful it is. All that fluff comes out of nowhere on Squirtle>Wartortle then....disappears again on Blastoise?
Yeah, why doesn't blastoise resemble wartortle more?
Apparently Wartortle's fluffy tail is based on a mythical turtle with a seaweed tail, for having lived a thousand years. Not sure about his ears. (Also some promo artwork miscolors the fluff AS ears, but theyre supposed to be the same off-blue as his tail)
Not sure why artistically he loses that moving up to Blastoise, but it follows the evolutionary theme of consuming the tail for energy (kind of like tadpoles and their tail) and using that energy to create his pressure washers. If anything, Squirtl show have a more apparent tail to convey the presence of such, to intentionally draw attention to its consumption later.
Rhydon has got to be cheating here. Most of the ones that got evolutions in future generations look worse (see also: Magmortar and Electivire).
Uh, Dragonite exists. Cool blue dragon-snake, cooler blue dragon snake, then bam! Derp the Orange Dragon with a gut, out of nowhere...
I like a lot of middle evolutions better than final, Charmeleon included. Wartortle with those wing-ears, the Nidoran middle forms are pretty good. Zubat is better than Golbat. Meowth has more going on than Persian which is just any regular cat from Earth. Voltorb is better than Electrode, but in fairness they're both just Pokéballs--I always thought Electrode should have been modeled after a Great Ball or something.