Politoed Ya!

Apologies for the late post. It made more sense to start the POTW on a Sunday rather than a Tuesday! I’ve taken the time to write many of these posts ahead of time during the week break.

Oddish, also known as Oddium Wanderus (FRLG Entry) made its debut in Pokemon Red and Green and is the 43rd Pokémon in the National Pokedex.

If you’d ask any ol’ Joe on the street to describe Oddish you’ll probably hear this description:

“Oddish? It’s a blue armless ball with leaves growing on its head. It has small round feet, small red eyes and a generic smile.”

And they wouldn’t be wrong.

Pictured: Oddish drawing made by yours truly. Based on the description above. Credit: PolitoedYa

Just like art, Pokemon designs vary. There’s simple Pokemon such as Ditto, Grimer, Voltorb, Koffing, Jigglypuff, etc., who have simple shapes and designs. Then there’s Pokemon with a little more complicated features like Rhyhorn, Dragonite, and Magmar. While their designs vastly differ, they’re all still great in their own way. Simple designs can be just as beautiful as complicated ones and such is the case with Oddish. Despite Oddish’s simple design, its been shown (at least in the anime) to be capable of doing a variety of different movements by uusing the leaves on its head as limbs!

Pictured: Oddish crossing  the Galar border.

Oddish’s design also excellently reflects what its based on, which are Mandrakes, the roots of plants from the genus “Mandragora”. These plants’ roots contain alkaloids which make the roots poisonous, explaining Oddish’s Grass/Poison typing. Its Pokedex entries also support the Mandrake origin, as it is said to scream loudly if it is yanked from the ground. This is like the real-life legend where it is said that the plants let out deadly screams when pulled. Mandrakes also often have roots that sometimes end up looking like bodies with arms and legs as pictured below. While Oddish aren’t human shaped, it does have some inspiration as Oddish are often seen hiding in dirt.

Anyway, I hope you learned a little bit about Oddish. More facts and things are coming throughout the week for the little Blueberry, so make sure to follow!

Not a fact but just wanted to show Politoed hitting a dab. Also PSA (Politoed Service Announcement), Politoed says: "Littering is wack."

  Politoed having the Hidden Ability known as Drizzle may be based on the Mayan rain deity known as Chaac who had amphibian qualities. Rituals to bring rain involved children chanting as frogs. *ribbit*

Did you know that Politoed have gender differences? Male Politoed have larger cheeks than their female counterparts.

Interestingly a similar difference is seen in some species of male and female frogs, where a male's Tympanum ("cheek") is larger than a female's. 

For the inaugural Pocket Monster, there is no other one to showcase than the blog’s mascot Pokemon - Politoed!

Credit: YourAFoo (DeviantArt)

First Impressions

Okay, let’s get the Donphan out of the room. I know you’re saying,

“Hey Mr. PolitoedYa Sir! That’s clearly a frog!”

To that I say, yes.

Yes it is.

But Polifrog doesn’t sound as cool as Politoed. And the new name would throw off this blog’s title! PolifrogYa makes no sense! Also, it’s possibly named Toed because it’s the only one in its evolutionary family to have toes (or any digits for that matter).

             Pictured: A depressed Poliwhirl contemplating its digitless existence.

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to talk about Politoed! Where’s the beauty in this thing? Well, let’s discuss!

Politoed is one of those Pokemon that looks silly at first. When it evolves from Poliwhirl, its design drastically changes from its color scheme to physical features as it deviates from the usual evolution changes seen in the previous games. For example, one could easily follow the changes for Pokemon such as Geodude or Zubat. Geodude naturally evolved into a bigger rock and Zubat evolved into a bigger (but lovable <3) annoyance. Polliwhirl on the other hand goes from being a cute mouthless, emotionless, and digitless freak of nature to being a green, bean shaped curly haired goofball. That’s what makes it so special. It goes away from the norm yet still retains minor details such as the spiral theme that each of the Poli have going on. Pokemon such as Dragonite also have a similar thing going on, but Dragonite doesn’t retain any of its preevolution’s design traits or themes. Politoed remains the same, but at the same time doesn’t.

Now there’s its evolutionary counterpart, Poliwrath. These two Pokemon could not be any more different. Poliwrath follows the “traditional” evolution path that most Generation I Pokemon follow. Like Geodude, you can follow Poliwag’s evolutionary journey into it. While Politoed shows and enforces the idea that evolutions can have different styles but same themes. Octillery similarly does this with it being based on weaponry like its preevolution Remoraid. Pokemon like Politoed and Octillery rarely exist. And for that they have a special place in the Pokemon world and in my heart.

Angry because it will forever remain an oversized tadpole.

Now, I hope you gained a little bit more appreciation for Politoed. It’s about time I take a snoozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz