969: Glimmet

And we're finally at it - probably our system-wide favorite Pokemon out of the whole gen - Glimmet and Glimmora! This one creates such a flawless vibe to it that is so picturesque for what we love out of creature design.

Glimmet itself is a Poison/Rock type, being a cave-dwelling creature that resembles a blue flower-shaped crystalline formation, with a big shield-like bulb around its face, seemingly composed of nothing but a black void with bright yellow dot-eyes peering out of it. Dangling from this head is an oddly bulbous and actually a bit hair-like part of its body, which is surprising for a Rock type.

Of course, pinning down Glimmet's ore of origin (oregin) is a little difficult, since there's plenty of minerals that are toxic to conventional organisms. Though it could most in particular be based on copper(II) sulfate, a toxic compound that forms into blue crystals.

But at the same time, let's not forget that body that's drawn as if it's a little hair-like. There's a few minerals that are fibrous and powdery, and the Pokedex even goes out of its way to state Glimmet spreads poisonous powder like as if pollen. Is this... an ASBESTOS Pokemon?!?! A Pokemon based on one of the most notorious toxic substance scares is certainly a bold move, if true. In fact, that could also explain why it's got a big dome around its face. It's just wearing PPE! Certainly an unhinged choice for our first Rock/Poison type that isn't an alien jellyfish made of glass.

Don't breathe this!

970: Glimmora

Glimmet evolves into the even more elegant Glimmora, making itself look a bit more like a complete flower. This is a more idle "budded" form, with it unfurling during battle and while using moves.

Its body still looks quite fibrous, but still very crystalline, but trades that little bulb of a body it had for an inner circle of petals so that its backside more looks like a crystal formation. In fact, you can find some wild ones inserted into the wall with their back ends pointed out, like flowers growing out of the cave wall! What a cute idea!

The asbestos/poisonous mineral-powder thing also manifests into their ability! They have "Toxic Debris", which has them dropping a layer of Toxic Spikes each time they get hit!

On top of this, it's also implied to have deeper connections to The Lore. For more outright stated things, the Pokedex suggests that it is made of Terastallizing jewels, or something very similar to Tera Jewels. Meaning it could have some connections with either the disc legendary or even a Pokemon yet to be seen in a somewhat similar vein to Carbink and Diancie. Though we probably won't know for sure until the DLC is out.

And we suppose it's worth mentioning that there's definitely a resemblance between Glimmora and the Ultimate Weapon from X and Y, which was shaped like a giant flower made of jewels. Though we feel like this one could be chalked up to coincidence at worst, and at best there IS an intended connection, but it'll never be something outright stated. Kinda like how a Legends Arceus character implies Bertha and Agatha are sisters, but never outright confirms it.

But back to Glimmora itself, it's just such a slick, clean design with so little needless fluff on it. Perhaps it somehow looks like it's got a little LESS going on that its prevo, since it doesn't have a proper body; just a flowing head thing. But it's nonetheless so cool.

...And all that makes these two wonderful and all, but it all honestly kind of pales in comparison to Glimmet and Glimmora's immaculate VIBE. What we've talked about so far is certainly enough to be in our A-listers of Pokemon designs, maybe even A+listers, but what elevates them to be up there with some of our tippy top favorites-like, our top 30 here-is how these two capture such a wonderfully unique aesthetic not just among Pokemon, but among cave monsters in general.

These two float about, attach themselves to the cave's walls and what have you, but what's so cool about that is how it ties in with how much like undersea life they are! They don't seem to be based on any one sea creature in particular, but they perfectly catch the feeling of a sea polyp; like anemones or coral, or otherwise maybe even a seastar.

And that is such a WONDERFUL idea for a cave-dwelling creature, equating the depths of the earth to the depths of the sea. The "desert is an ocean" look is great and works for a lot of Pokemon, but now we want more of this "deep underground is deep undersea" style of creature SO BADLY. Like we CAN'T overstate how frigging COOL that is!!!

Heck, that gives another layer to their dome-heads! It's like diving gear!