944: Shroodle

Shroodle was probably one of this gen's best weird surprises. When Grafaiai was revealed pre-release, it seemed like it could be the the first stage of something. Or another odd little one-off like Gen 2 was fond of that merely existed to fill out the dex's biodiversity. Sure as heck didn't expect it to have a pre-evolution that... was a mouse?

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Given the name, it may be most in particular based on the treeshrew, a small mammal that's closely related to primates. Which will be relevant in just a sec. Though despite the name, treeshrews are not actually shrews. So turns out Shroodle could just be lying to us.

The thing's actual design is funky. An odd little rodent-shaped creature with a snout that has nothing but a couple of buck teeth sticking out of it, which looks pretty funny. Also notable are its massive eyes and markings that all look like a big black mask over its face. Shroodle is such a weird little THING of somewhat indeterminate species, which it feels like there's more of those in this Gen than there has been in a while and we're living for it.

Kid named "Finger"

945: Grafaiai

Shroodle becomes Grafaiai, and wait a second. Aren't aye-ayes primates? How does a weird rodent thing become a primate? WELLLLLL, way back when, aye-ayes were long thought to be rodents, especially thanks to their rodent teeth that never cease growing. Further studies were conducted and it was found out that it was actually just a small primate, a type of lemur to be specific. So it's fun to have a Pokemon that references an animal's taxonomic history as an evolutionary line itself!

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Aye-aye's most prominent features are their extra long, extra-dexterous middle finger that they use to dig into the tiny hidey-holes insects make in trees, tapping away until they hear a hollow spot. They then dig into the bark with their teeth before jabbing their freaky finger into the hole to dip into grub guts and lick them off its finger.

The Pokemon adaptation of this becomes a little stroke of genius, actually. Grafaiai eat berries, using some of the juices to create a toxic saliva that it then licks onto its extra-long finger, creating a toxic paint-like substance that it uses to mark its territory onto trees with. Turning the aye-aye into a finger painter has got to be one of the single cutest ideas in all of Pokemon. It even comes with spray-paint breath for good measure, aww!

The design itself is super cool too! It has a mostly muted color scheme, but then has the brighter colors come in for its main attraction; its hands. It also has fur that makes it look like it's wearing a hoodie, and even has face markings that resemble a gas mask! Complete with big, pupilless eyes! It's about time a Poison type wears a "gas mask"!

It's also cool how, even if it's very blatantly an aye-aye now, it still has a lot of vaguely monstrous features that make it feel very much its own thing. Most notably the clawed feet that look nothing like primate's feet, and an oversized, bushy tail that looks more at-home on a skunk and the huge bug-eyes. Pokemon's really turning around its primate roster to be a lot cooler!