Watching a Pokemon evolve through its various evolutionary stages is arguably one of the most rewarding elements of the Pokemon games. It's seen by many as a sign of progress and can sometimes completely change not just the power of a Pokemon, but also its appearance too. With some Pokemon, however, the experience can be a lot more tragic than magic.

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Not all Pokemon were designed equally and there are some whose second stage forms are particularly awkward when compared to those which precede and follow them. Thankfully though, this damage is not always permanent, with many of their final stage evolutions righting a lot of those wrongs.

10 Quilladin

Chespin, Quilladin and Chesnaught (Pokemon)

Quilladin may have a cool name, but that's about all that the Pokemon really has going for it. Its monobrow makes it look as though its parents were related to each other, while the strange fur pattern on the front of its body gives the impression that its tail has been drawn onto the wrong side of its body.

Even without its strange green shell, the Pokemon would still look like a dwarf from the Lord of the Rings franchise. With the shell included though, it somehow manages to make a terrible design look considerably worse, which is quite the achievement given the circumstances.

9 Pignite

Tepic, Pignite and Emboar (Pokemon)

The sixth generation starter Pokemon aren't the only ones with questionable designs, as evidenced by the gen 5 starter Pokemon, Tepig. Granted, its base form is incredibly cute and its final stage evolution Emboar is totally badass. Sadly though, Pignite leaves an awful lot to be desired.

While transitioning from a cute first form into an intimidating monster isn't always easy, the idea of a pig in a leotard just doesn't work. As a result, Pignite is neither cute nor intimidating and instead falls squarely into the category of strange.

8 Gloom

Oddish, Gloom and Vileplume (Pokemon)

Although Gloom is often shown to be happy in the anime, the sprites used in the majority of Pokemon games typically show the Pokemon to have a somewhat spaced out look on its face. This is in stark contrast to its two other forms, which always seem to be incredibly happy.

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Some may wonder whether its name may have something to do with its sullen appearance, but as the Pokemon's Japanese name, Kusaihana, loosely translates to "stinky flower," this seems somewhat unlikely. On top of this, the large purple lips and signature dribble make Gloom look like a bit of an idiot rather than the powerful poison-type Pokemon that it actually is.

7 Nidorina

Nidoran, Nidorina and Nidoqueen (Pokemon)

While Nidorino gets the benefit of a large horn on its head to soften the transition from Nidoran to Nidoking, the female version, Nidorina is not so lucky. It instead takes the appearance of a plague-infected rat and there are also some pretty interesting things going on with its color palette.

Having started out as a faint shade of purple, Nidoran suddenly develops a pale blue coloring upon evolving into Nidorina. It also develops a lighter patch on its underbelly, which, while in keeping with certain other Pokemon designs, doesn't really match up with the pattern of either its pre or post evolution forms.

6 Combusken

Torchic, Combusken and Blaziken (Pokemon)

Sometimes, writers and designers like to sneak adult humor into their work. This is particularly evident in a lot of the older episodes of The Simpsons, although can also be found in many other children's games, movies and shows. Whether this was the intention with Combusken's phallic design is unclear. Either way though, it really isn't appropriate for a game that's primarily marketed towards kids.

It's the kind of thing that isn't immediately obvious at first glance, but, once seen, it can be incredibly difficult to ignore. What's worse, apart from the comb on the top of its head, the design bears very little resemblance to either Torchic or Blaziken, making it a poor transition as well as a poor attempt at humor.

5 Golbat

Zubat, Golbat and Crobat (Pokemon)

Prior to Pokemon Gold & Silver, the Zubat evolutionary line contained only two Pokemon. Following the introduction of Crobat though, Golbat was pushed from a final stage evolution to a second stage form in the blink of an eye. One thing that didn't change, however, was its bizarre appearance.

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Its large, gaping mouth just doesn't look right, nor do the oddly-shaped feet sprouting out of its lower jaw. This wasn't helped by the sprites used for the Pokemon in some of the earlier Pokemon games, which somehow managed to make these characteristics appear considerably more ridiculous than even the Pokemon's official artwork.

4 Pupitar

Larvitar, Pupitar and Tyranitar

Tyranitar is one of the most powerful Pokemon from the second generation of Pokemon games. Unfortunately, however, obtaining one of them typically requires players to endure a somewhat ridiculous 25 levels of the hard shell Pokemon, Pupitar.

As well as being poorly designed, it is also an incredibly underwhelming Pokemon in battle. As such, reaching level 55 in order to evolve it can be quite the ordeal. The same thing happened again in gen 3 with another of the pseudo-legendary Pokemon, Salamance. Thankfully though, Shelgon evolves at level 50, making it a little easier to tolerate.

3 Kakuna

Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill (Pokemon)

While Shelgon and Pupitar can be pretty ineffective in battle, neither are anywhere near as bad as Kakuna and its fellow gen 1 Pokemon, Metapod. These cocoon type Pokemon only have access to Harden and String Shot in certain games, making them incapable of dealing even a single point of damage.

Granted, they can usually survive one or two hits which should give players enough time to swap them out for a better Pokemon, but that doesn't make the design choice any less infuriating. The only saving grace is that both Kakuna and Metapod evolve at level 10, so players won't have to endure their awfulness for too long.

2 Marshtomp

Mudkip, Marshtomp and Swampert (Pokemon)

Mudkip is cute. Swampert is powerful. Marshtomp is the kind of thing that haunts the nightmares of children and should be burned with fire as soon as possible. Sure, it is easy to see the transition from Mudkip to Swampert in the Pokemon's design, but that doesn't make it any less derpy.

One of the things that makes zero sense about the Pokemon is the decision to change its color from blue to emerald green, as, like Mudkip, Swampert is once again blue. It's also a little odd that Marshtomp is typically depicted as being bipedal when both its first and third stage forms are usually shown to move around on all fours.

1 Loudred

Whismur, Loudred and Exploud (Pokemon)

Aside from the gaping mouth and color palette, there's very little to link together the three Pokemon belonging to the Whismur evolutionary line. That needn't really be an issue though were it not for the bizarre nature of Loudred's questionable design.

The strange eye-like antennas on the top of its head make very little sense, while its mouth covering almost the entire length of its body is just downright ridiculous. Granted, the latter is also true of Exploud, but the final stage evolution at least manages looks genuinely scary rather than just flat out stupid.

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