207: Gligar

We're really hitting on Gen 2's strangest Pokemon lately! Gligar is another peculiar one seeing how out-there it is in general premise, most notably in looking like a cross between a scorpion and a bat with the tail and claws, plus wings between its arms and legs. It all has such a chaotic design energy to it that makes the whole thing endearing, especially with the mischievous face it has. While Pokemon definitely loves to chimera-itize Pokemon, very rarely does it bash two totally unrelated creatures together in such an unashamed way to where the design itself almost kinda highlights how little scorpions and bats have in common.

And yet Gligar manages to fit everything together really well! We think what does it the most is that single little "finger" down the middle of the wing. Of course it's not a finger because it's not a traditional bat wing, but what it DOES look a bit like is as if a scorpion's legs are filling in for a bat's finger along its webbed wings. We almost wish this was more upfront and obvious, especially since Gliscor kind of forfeits this trait for more traditional wings. But either way, Gligar itself is adorable and so RAD and recognizable that there's no way to mistake this weirdo bat-pion for anything else.

And we think one of the cooler things about this thing is how it almost looks like Gamefreak wanted to invent their own cryptid. Cause Gligar has some general cryptid vibes, doesn't it? What with a lot of cryptids being described as weird hybrid animals, and this one even having some Chupacabra in it. We don't think it's purposefully a Chupacabra Pokemon, but it definitely has the same energy.