With just shy of 900 Pokemon officially created for the franchise, there are bound to be a handful that aren't up to the standards of the rest. For one reason or another, there are Pokemon out there whose designs haven't clicked with the majority of players, and are seen as badly designed Pokemon.
However, looks can be deceiving. Many of these Pokemon have incredible strength hidden behind their lackluster appearance. As the theme song says, a Pokemon's strength is all about "the power that's inside." The ugly outside has nothing to do with it. If players can look past these Pokemon's flawed exterior, they may be in for a treat in the form of a powerful team member.
Updated April 26th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: There have been a lot of terribly-designed Pokemon over the years. While a lot of them are subjective, as there will always be fans that find a special place in their hearts for these "less than visually desirable Pokemon," it's hard to say that some of the Pokemon featured on this list are Game Freak's best designs. That said, just because a Pokemon looks questionable doesn't mean it lacks power. In fact, some of the goofiest designs pack a powerful punch. To better outline some of the "ugliest Pokemon" with the best stats, abilities, and movesets, the following list has been updated with more entries.
13 Electivire
There are some who would consider Electabuzz a pretty poorly-designed Pokemon, as it sports a rather strange appearance, but things get much worse when it evolves into Electivire. The yellow tiger-striped bipedal creature looks rather silly, with two pom-pom like antennae atop its head, which gives it a rather alien-esque design. The strange tentacle-like wires that jut from its back look out of place and its scruffy, furry body is accentuated with a pretty sinister-looking, creepy grin.
But as strange as Electivire looks, it actually packs some pretty impressive base stats at 540. It sports high Attack, solid Speed (which it will raise if hit by an Electric-type attack thanks to its ability) and has the hidden ability Vital Spirit, which keeps it from falling asleep.
12 Dracovish
Pokemon Sword & Shield introduced players to an interesting and unique Fossil-melding mechanic that allowed them to bring some truly bizarre creations to life. Although some of them looked fairly neat, Dracovish stands out as one of the weirder designs. Although it boasts a weird Frankenstein-style appearance, it's actually a pretty solid Pokemon in terms of its abilities and base stats. It's a Water/Dragon-type, with solid coverage (and only weakness to Fairy and Dragon) that has a 505 Base Stat total.
With well-rounded stats (aside from a lower Speed and Special Attack), Dracovish can make use of a Water Absorbing ability that will turn Water-type moves into HP, or a Strong Jaw ability which will increase the power of its Bite moves.
11 Alolan Muk
Although some Generation I players remember Muk fondly, the same can't be said for its Alolan variant, which is an identical design shape-wise, with a new multi-color scheme and some strange crystal-like objects jutting from random spots on its body. In this form, it gains the Dark typing, which is a bit strange considering its bright and vibrant appearance. Overall, the Alolan Muk design is a bit of a miss, but that doesn't mean it's a weak Pokemon.
Its dual Poison and Dark typing gives it one weakness in Ground-type Pokemon and it has 500 total Base Stats, with a high HP and Attack. Its Speed leaves a lot to be desired, but diligent trainers can make up for the shortcoming to give themselves a Pokemon that is capable of dishing out pretty solid Poison and Dark moves.
10 Garbodor
In Unova, the region where Garbodor was introduced, the dense urban environments cause a lot of trash to pile up. In a world where children's discarded toys become sentient beings, it's no surprise that all that garbage would form into a Pokemon sooner or later.
While it may make sense from a lore perspective, a big garbage ball is not an appealing Pokemon design. It has an off-putting color scheme, and the gormless look on its face throws off any cute qualities it may have had. That said, with a Gigantamax form and an above-average Base Stat Total of 474, it has potential for some powerful Poison-type attacks.
9 Beartic
Ice-Types have some of the greatest variety in their design. While there are many Ice Pokemon that do look vaguely icy, others like Weavile or Mamoswine have more layers to their look. Not Beartic, though.
Beartic is a Polar Bear that stands on its hind legs. Other than that, it has some icicles on its chin which are supposed to look like a beard, but really look like drool that's frozen over. However, with a Base Stat Total of 505, Beartic has some impressive strength behind it, including a powerful Attack Stat of 130.
8 Electrode
Electrode is largely overlooked when people talk about bad Pokemon designs, as Generation I nostalgia protects it. However, it has to be said how boring & simplistic this sphere is. Not only that, but it's not a good progression of Voltorb. It just gets a bit bigger and flips the colors.
Despite the underwhelming appearance, it is a memorable Electric-type Pokemon that has stood the test of time in the franchise. It has a Base Stat Total of 490, which is spread fairly evenly among its stats. Its biggest strength is its whopping 150 Speed. Combined with extraordinarily powerful moves like Explosion, Electrode can be a devastating (if fragile) force.
7 Sawk
There are plenty of humanoid Pokemon in the franchise, many of whom are fan favorites. Sawk, however, crosses a line, and its design feels too human. It has plenty of unnatural features, but its basic size and shape is that of a regular person.
On top of that, it wears clothes as standard. If the games' logic is to be believed, it is born wearing these clothes. Are they a part of its body? What would happen if someone tried to take them off? These questions, and more, should never be answered. Sawk's 125 Attack goes some way to make up for it, though. It'll fit any team in need of a hard-hitting Fighting-Type.
6 Klinklang
When Pokemon evolve, their evolved form is meant to feel like a logical progression of that Pokemon's anatomy. The best examples of these are the three-stage evolution Pokemon, which get two opportunities to change their form and grow. Klinklang, however, distills this essence to its most basic elements and proves that just adding more gears to a gear Pokemon isn't interesting.
Klinklang has a lot going for it, though. Electric/Steel is a brilliant type combination that gives it a massive amount of resistances. Paired with 100 in Attack and 115 in Defense, players have a Pokemon that can hit hard and stick around in battles.
5 Mr. Mime
It's difficult to put into words exactly what makes Mr. Mime such a creepy Pokemon. Mimes in real life are somewhat unsettling in their silent act, and Mr. Mime seems to accentuate all their worst traits. Its design hits the uncanny valley of looking quite human, yet also looking very wrong. The huge head and unbroken smile are horrible to look at.
However, it has great utility on the battlefield. It has an incredibly wide movepool that makes it great in a supporting role. Additionally, this Psychic-type can bring some pain with 100 Special Attack and 125 in Special Defense.
4 Vanilluxe
The poster child for the "everyday item with a face" school of Pokemon design, most fans don't look upon Vanilluxe favorably by Pokemon fans. Generation V is often maligned for Pokemon designs like Vanilluxe, where the desire to add over 150 new Pokemon led to scraping the bottom of the barrel in some places.
The whole evolution line feels uninspired. A little ice cream turns into a bigger ice cream, which turns into two ice creams, all of which have somewhat unnerving smiles. However, it carries an impressive Base Stat Total of 535, the highlight of which is a 110 in Special Attack.
3 Probopass
One of the first examples when fans talk about bad-looking Pokemon, Probopass is full of odd design choices. Nosepass is an odd but decent-looking Pokemon, and an evolved form accentuating its better features would've been welcome.
Unfortunately, Probopass accentuated the worst features of Nosepass. It lost its legs, gained a weird-looking hat, its nose grew to a massive size and...grew nose hair. These baffling choices can be overlooked, though, if players focus on its stats. A Base Stat Total of 525 is impressive. Plus, with 145 in Defence and 150 in Special Defence, this Rock-type can stay on the battlefield as long as it wants.
2 Stakataka
In one way or another, Ultra Beast Pokemon are designed to feel different from the rest; they're strange and alien from the world trainers are used to. With this in mind, who thought a brick wall would feel alien?
The Pokedex says that this Rock/Steel type is, in fact, many life forms stacked together (hence the name). However, that doesn't change the fact that it's a commonplace object in the normal Pokemon world. It has some ridiculous strength, though. An Attack Stat of 131 is good enough on its own, but pair it with an astronomical 211 in Defense, and Stakataka is near-unstoppable in battle.
1 Thundurus, Tornadus & Landorus
Legendary Pokemon often have a lot more effort put into their designs than others, due to the nature of how they feature in the games. Generation V had quite a few Legendary Pokemon, which may explain why seemingly so little effort went into the of The Forces of Nature trio. Essentially the same Pokemon with slightly different color palettes, these Pokemon are underwhelming visually. Their Therion Forms help somewhat, but even those designs don't quite fit the old-man faces all three of them have.
That said, they are some of the strongest Pokemon out there. With unique type combinations and Base Stat Totals of 580, these Pokemon have all seen very heavy usage in the competitive scene over the years due to their astounding power.