POTW Pokémon of the Week #35: Shellos & Gastrodon

Life · Feb 19, 2017

In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect. Every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. This week's Pokémon of choice is the Shellos line!

Although debuting in Generation IV, Shellos and Gastrodon were originally meant to appear in the Hoenn region in Generation III. Regardless, the line stands out for their useful Water-Ground typing, unique body shape, and appearance differences.

Shellos and Gastrodon live in tidepools around the Sinnoh region, not often coming up on land. As seen in the anime, they are fairly reserved creatues and travel in packs as Shellos. In East Sinnoh, the line has a green and blue color scheme, but in East Sinnoh their appearance changes to a brown and pink one. This is a direct example of allopatric speciation, although the two different forms can still breed in the game.

The line is based off of the sea-slug, which is where the idea for their fluid bodies comes from. In fact their bodies are so liquid based that if a part of it gets chopped of it will grow back! Another amazing feat of Gastrodon's body is it's ability to ooze purple slime when squeezed or pressured.

Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.

Do you like or dislike these Pokémon? Why?
How are thesePokémon in-game?
How are these Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Do you like these Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
How do you think these Pokémon would interact with our world?
If given the power to, would you change anything about these Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Do you prefer a certain apperance? If so, why?
Would you like to see more Pokemon with appearance differences based on location in the future?
Do you believe the two forms should have more differences than just appearance?

If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Zexy · Feb 19, 2017

Do you like or dislike these Pokémon? Why?
I like the design, typing, form differences and Storm Drain Ability of these Pokemon.
How are thesePokémon in-game?
Haven't used them.
How are these Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Haven't used them there either.
Do you like these Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
I don't remember much, I think there was an episode about them but it wasn't that remarkable.
How do you think these Pokémon would interact with our world?
Some people would like it while others would be weirded out by the fluid nature of their bodies.
If given the power to, would you change anything about these Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Just better stats and more focus on Special Attack over Attack.
Do you prefer a certain apperance? If so, why?
I prefer East Sea a bit more because I like the colors blue and green more.
Would you like to see more Pokemon with appearance differences based on location in the future?
Sure, why not?
Do you believe the two forms should have more differences than just appearance?
They could've had stat differences like Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist. In which case I'd also like them to have an explanation over why one would be bulkier/more offensive than the other.

Maniacal Engineer · Feb 19, 2017

Gastrodon, what a marvelous Pokemon.
Storm Drain as an ability, excellent coverage in moves like Scald, Earth Power, and Ice Beam, and access to Recover.
Definitely a Sinnoh favorite of mine, though more often than not, I'll end up using Empoleon as my water type.

I agree that they focus fairly heavily on the Attack stat, when a lot of Gastrodon's best moves are Special, but it could lend itself to a physical variety using the likes of Waterfall and Earthquake. Besides, Gastrodon is more of a defensive Pokemon.

I'm not really sure how I feel about Shellos and Gastrodon having two forms. On the one hand, it's great because it mirrors real life evolution. On the other hand, I sort of wish that the different forms actually had something different about them besides their physical appearances. Kind of like what Alolan forms would end up doing, three generations later.

All in all, though, Gastrodon is great and I like it a lot.

ocelotlrama jaguar · Feb 21, 2017

I can't say I dislike them. They're not exactly the mammalian and draconian Pokemon I love to use and collect, but they do have their uses. Their bulky HP with decent Special Defence makes it something difficult to counter if you do not have a Grass-type. Swampert does the job better in being a bulky Water/Ground-type, but he doesn't get access to Storm Drain, which is incredibly useful. If you don't have anything to counter Gastrodon and all you can do is chip away at its health, well, too bad, since it can also have access to Recover. It can easily go down with an Energy Ball, but Grass-types and their moves are so rarely used in competitive play that you can snake a Gastrodon in your team and wreak all sorts of havic.

The only thing I'd change is making beefing up the Defence stat just a tad. Not too much where it'll be a powerhouse, but just enough to where it'll be equal to its Special Defence. Also, I wanted West Sea Gastrodon in Sun and Moon since its my favorite of the two.

Yes, there should be North side Gastrodon and South side Gastrodon. =) I'd like to see this happen with stat differences from the East and West.

Zeb · Feb 21, 2017

I absolutely adore this line. Gastrodon mainly, but Shellos is cute enough. They have the right amount of weird, cute and interesting to tick all the boxes for me, and on top of that they are very usable in battle too. I've never actually used one in-game, mostly because I haven't played Gen 4 for years now and it's not present in every other game since then with the exceptio of SM where it comes right at the end of the game, which is too late for me.

Competitively Gastro is simultaneously an underdog and a beast. It's not super common but it's usable everywhere from VGC to Battle Spot to Smogon (and generally every tier in there). I have two, one is just a general specially defensive one and the other is the Curse set which is SO fun once it starts getting going. Maybe I'll breed some other sets like Choice Specs and physically defensive because it's so fun to use.

I don't know if I'd change anything about it. It's bordering on perfect in most ways to me. I guess I don't mind the idea of the two forms having differences other than appearance but I don't care too much that it's just aesthetic. More forms in the future I am totally fine with, it'd be great just to see how other regions have their own looks.

I love East Sea Gastrodon most out of the two. The green and blue is very calming and just pleasing to look at. I also prefer the backwards horns and frills on its body too. Also Gastrodon has one of the greatest cries in the game, it does a cute sound and then... squelches. Perfect.

Rainami · Mar 30, 2017

I somewhat like gastrodon. Slugs and snails are cool, for one, and it looks pretty nice with its decent color schemes and protrusions on its back which make the design more interesting. It's kind of derpy looking too. I don't really know why it has a third eye, but it adds even more weirdness to the design which I always appreciate, in addition to reminding me of my second favorite 2hou character. I'd say I prefer west sea gastrodon to east sea, for its color scheme and superior looking horns, though east sea's back fins look better than west sea's lumps. I should probs breed one sometime.

Camille · Aug 17, 2018

Shellos is pretty cute, regardless of the form, but Gastrodon doesn't appeal to me much at all, especially in its West Sea form. I just dislike the combination of brown and pink, and its cry is annoying, too. At least they are more interesting than the Slugma line as far as slugs/snails go, and I like Gastrodon better than the likes of Whiscash and Seismitoad. The access to Recover is always good, as is the buffed-up Storm Drain, so there's that.

Ruffimutt · Aug 17, 2018

I never really liked them. Shellos is kinda ugly and Gastrodon is okay I guess. But I mean it is cool how we got a pokemon based off of seaslugs, which are often pretty critters.

Phosphene · Jul 13, 2020

Do you like or dislike these Pokémon? Why?
Considering that Gastrodon is my favorite Water type Pokemon, I'd say I like it. I just really like how weird and interesting their design is--and they're also slugs, which is a plus. Shellos I also like, though nowhere near as much as Gastrodon.
How are these Pokémon in-game?
I used a west sea Gastrodon in Diamond, and I'd say it works fairly well.
How are these Pokémon in competitive play?
I used an east sea Gastrodon in ORAS Battle Spot Singles for a bit, and I'd say it's fairly good as a bulky wall. I used a Scald, Ice Beam, Recover, Stockpile set with Leftovers and Storm Drain. Probably not ideal, but it still worked fairly well.
If given the power to, would you change anything about these Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
I'd change their shinys so that each form's shiny has the coloration of the opposite sea form. Right now, Gastrodon's and Shellos's shinys are kinda... eh. They're very similar to the non-shiny form, and the west sea's shiny is kinda ugly.
Do you prefer a certain apperance? If so, why?
I prefer the west sea Gastrodon's physical appearance but the east sea's coloration. Overall, though, I prefer east sea Gastrodon because it of the coloration. As for Shellos, I prefer both the east sea's form and coloration.

POTW Pokémon of the Week #35: Shellos & Gastrodon

More options

Life

oh my

Zexy

Quaxly Boy

Maniacal Engineer

Mushy Emotionalist

ocelotlrama jaguar

Fluffy with 80% more spots!

Zeb

what is your spaghetti policy here?

Rainami

beseech the stars

Camille

Call of Fate

Ruffimutt

The Meme Queen

Phosphene

Formerly SpinyShell

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