One of the wonderful aspects of the Pokemon franchise is the sheer variety of the creature designs. Some Pokemon are so small they could fit in the palm of a trainer's hand, while others could tower over the roofs of buildings. And, thanks to the in-game Pokedex, there is no question about how gargantuan some of these Pokemon can grow. Well, almost no question, that is.

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The Pokemon anime is known for taking liberties in altering the size of particular Pokemon, shrinking many a beast down to fit within the show's artistic vision. Unfortunately for a few particular creatures, this means their large appearances in the games winds up cut down to fit within Ash Ketchum's adventures.

10 Fletchling

pokemon grace fletchling

Fletchling is one of those Pokemon that everyone can agree seems pretty tiny. The actual scale of the Pokemon, however, has become a source of disagreement between the games and the anime. This Normal/Flying-type Pokemon stands in-game at a respectable 1'00" height.

While not particularly impressive (at least not compared to other Pokemon in the Pokedex), this is still significantly taller than its appearance in the anime. Fletchling stands only a mere 4" in the anime, barely a third of the size of its in-game counterpart.

9 Rapidash

Rapidash Pokemon Anime Flashback Ash

One of the memorable staples of Gen 1's 150 Pokemon, many fans would shrug off Rapidash's specific height as roughly "horse-sized". However, the exact height of the horse seems to be disputed.

While the in-game Pokedex lists this pure Fire-type as 5'07", the anime often shows Rapidash to be a mere 3'03" tall. For comparison, this is no taller than Ponyta, the lowest stage in Rapidash's evolutionary tree.

8 Noctowl

pokemon

Noctowl are a surprisingly large Pokemon in-game, almost rivaling human height with their 5'03" frame. The anime cut these Normal/Flying-types down to size, with the resized Noctowl finding itself to be barely 2'00".

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Even if it's assumed that Ash's Noctowl is unusually small, other Noctowl that appear in the anime barely approach 4'00" Perhaps the creators of the anime didn't like the idea of a man-sized owl creeping about at night.

7 Whismur

Whismur Pokemon Anime Jigglypuff

Whismur are small Pokemon to begin with, with the in-game Pokedex clocking the species at around 2'00". Once again, however, the anime proves that there is no short Pokemon that it won't make shorter.

In its first animated appearance, this Normal-type Pokemon stands at 1'00" flat, barely half the size of its in-game counterpart. It seems that making Normal-types consistently smaller is a habit for the show's animators.

6 Hitmontop

pokemon hitmontop

As one of the three possible evolutionary paths of baby Pokemon Tyrogue, the in-game version Hitmontop stands a proud 4'07" tall. This is a fairly respectable height, especially compared to its Fighting-type 'brothers', which both stand at roughly the same height.

However, it seems that animators wanted to shrink Hitmontop down closer to the height of its baby Pokemon ancestor, with the animated version of the Pokemon standing at roughly 2'11". Ironically, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan kept their respective heights in the anime. It seems Hitmontop drew the short straw in the family.

5 Golduck

Golduck in the Pokemon Anime

Another mainstay of the original 150, this Water/Psychic-Type Pokemon stands at a proud 5'07", making it comparable to average human height. Perhaps the idea of a duck that large was a bit too terrifying of an idea for Pokemon animators – which, to be fair, is understandable.

Unfortunately for Golduck, though, this means that his anime appearances cut him down to a mere 3'03", shrinking him down from "terrifying man-sized duck" to "slightly-less-terrifying child-sized duck".

4 Glalie

pokemon glalie ash

Glalie, one of Snorunt's final evolutionary forms, floats at about 4'11" (at least, according to the in-game Pokedex). When Ash managed to acquire one in the anime, however, that height ended up slashed in half. Ash's Glalie, surprisingly small for the species, barely clocks in at 2'00", making Glalie one of the smaller Ice-type evolutions in the show.

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This may be an oddity of the individual, of course. The characters in the anime even discuss how unusually small Ash's Glalie seems. Perhaps this particular case is simply due to Ash raising a small Glalie, and not the animators changing the species as a whole.

3 Croagunk

Pokemon Anime Croagunk

A dual-type Poison/Fighting Pokémon, Croagunk (despite its hunched stature) manages to reach 2'04" in height according to the in-game Pokedex. Perhaps if it had better posture, it might have reached greater heights in the anime, but alas.

In its animated appearances, Croagunk was cut down to a mere 1'04", just barely above half its original height. However, it still packs a punch as always.

2 Beartic

Beartic Pokemon Anime Unova Ash

Clearly styled after the massive polar bear, pure Ice-type Pokemon Beartic roars in at a staggering 8'06" in-game. In its inevitable anime appearance, however, the lumbering ice bear found its height cut down to 6'07".

While still an imposing height (after all, 6'07" still allows it to tower over most of the child-sized cast), dropping a solid two feet of height is a heavy loss for the creature. Perhaps the change was needed just to ensure that packs of Beartic would still fit in-frame with the tiny protagonists.

1 Clefairy

Clefairy Jigglypuff Pokemon Anime

A Normal-type turned Fairy-type, Clefairy is one of the Pokemon that's been around since the very beginning (and was even briefly considered for mascot of the franchise instead of Pikachu). Unfortunately for Clefairy, not only did it lose the chance to be the face of the series, it also lost nearly a foot of height in its appearances within the anime.

Although the Pokedex clocks it in at 2'00", the anime shrinks the Pokemon down to roughly 1'04". This size reduction brings it to the same height as series mascot Pikachu. Losing the position as franchise face already stings, but being reduced to the winner's height must really rub salt in the wound.

NEXT: Pokemon That Should Be Legendary But Aren't