Let's Talk About Pokemon - The Spheal Family

Optimal shape

363: Spheal

It seems odd to give us another Ice/Water seal Pokemon, even in a Gen that had a handful of call-backs to Gen 1, but we think we'll simply take Spheal over the terribly forgettable Seel and Dewgong. Spheal's managed to ascend to meme status thanks to being comically perfectly round and really cute. And while we're not super fans of Spheal, we do definitely see the appeal! (Aspheal!)

Its lovable roundness is an obvious catching point, even made a point with, with how it's movement animations usually feature it rolling around like a ball rather than even the goofy seal waddle, or flop. That's admittedly almost all there is to say about Spheal. That's its whole shtick. It's a spherical seal, and it does that very well! And its hard to not like a goofy Pokemon's success as a design even a little bit.

Personal Score: 7.5/10

The seals demand a refund

364: Sealeo

And then Sealeo runs into the same kind of pit of forgettable doom Seel and Dewgong do. Why are seal Pokemon cursed this way?!?! It's probably predictable that Spheal's evolution drops the spherical thing, but cmon. It'd be funny if Spheal just evolved into an even bigger ball of sea lion.

Personal Score: 5/10

He protects the secret weapon which lies inside the snow base

365: Walrein 

Thankfully Walrein brings it back to being cool, where we go from seal to walrus, a welcome addition to Pokemon's roster of bio-diversity. And Walrein isn't a half-bad Walrus Pokemon either! Its teeth could've stood to be bigger, but the big mustache/whiskers made of some sea foam-looking stuff is a clever little thing. It's otherwise a "what you see is what you get" kinda Pokemon, so its mileage ends up varying on how much you feel like it satisfies your walrus-based needs. And for our money, while not mind-blowing, we don't find Walrein's overall demeanor disappointing either.

Personal Score: 7.5/10

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