"Shellbro: The Pokemon nobody talks about."

The Slowpoke family has always been one of my favorite families of Pokemon. Among Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking, and Mega Slowbro, there's a lot to love. But something always bothered me about them.The Pokedex entries, as well as the anime and other sources, claim that a Slowpoke evolves when a Shellder clamps onto its tail. Of course in the games you simply level up your Slowpoke to level 37, but that's gameplay and story segregation at its purest. But look at the thing on Slowbro's tail! That's clearly not a Shellder. So what is it?According to the episode of the anime "The Evolution Solution"*, this voracious bivalve is called a Shellbro, which we can assume is an alternate evolution of Shellder who don't become Cloyster. Shellder evolves into Shellbro by biting onto a Slowpoke's tail and remaining there.Naturally, there's a third branching evolution for Shellder in this mix--Shellking, which evolves from Shellder by biting onto a Slowpoke's head. This name has not been used anywhere in the Pokemon franchise, but it's a logical extension of Shellbro and Slowking.Why don't we learn anything about these dubious creatures in the games? Why was the term "Shellbro" abandoned after that anime episode and why has the Shellder's individual identity been ignored ever since? I don't know but I'd like that to change.Now, I'd like to posit something more controversial: Slowpoke is a Pokemon that does not evolve. Rather, the only changes that occur during evolution affect the Shellder. Slowbro is simply a Slowpoke that was forced to become bipedal after Shellbro put more weight on its hindquarters. Slowking is a Slowpoke whose brain was pierced by a hostile Shellder (now a Shellking). According to its Pokedex entry in Crystal and several other games, the Shellking injects poison into Slowking's brain, making it more intelligent. I'm sorry but this makes no sense--poison is a bad thing and the Slowpoke family does not have Poison Heal, so I believe that the Shellking has actually sucked all intelligence out of Slowpoke's brain and taken over its body in an evolution comparable to Paras-->Parasect.Now we'll talk about Mega Slowbro, or more appropriately, Mega Shellbro. According to its Pokedex entry in Moon, the Slowpoke is completely unaffected during this transformation. This adds more credibility to the theory that Shellbro is the only thing changing here, as it grows bigger and takes over Slowpoke's body physically rather than mentally. The Sun entry further implies that the Shellder is the one undergoing Mega Evolution, not Slowbro.So what can we conclude from all of this? Slowpoke is a weak Pokemon that does not evolve, but acts as a host to a parasitic Shellder. Shellder can evolve into Cloyster, Shellbro, or Shellking depending on what happens to it, and Shellbro has a Mega Evolution. This turns everything we know about the Slowpoke family on its head and paints Shellder in a much more sinister light.I would like to see this matter touched on more in the games or anime. It's about time we uncovered the secrets behind that naughty clam. Please tell me if I've made any errors in my reasoning, because I'm pretty sure this is aired tight and we need to get the Pokedex officially amended by a designated Pokemon Professor.*This episode also implies that a Shellder that bites onto a Psyduck's tail will cause Psyduck to evolve into a Psybro. This is definitely of note to the discussion, but I think Ash was just being a goofball. Regardless, I'd love to see what other potential evolutions Shellder has depending on what it bites and where. Could we see Shellizard? Shellpowdon? Shellmo-o? The answer is definitely maybe. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2nHEUGX