999: Gimmighoul

And almost seemingly at complete random, the last normal Pokemon of the 'Dex this time around is Gimmighoul and its evolution. And while Pokemon already has a couple mimics in the form of Voltorb and Foongus, it's still yet to have a much more traditional mimic! And the way it pulls one off is by, rather than making the treasure chest alive, it makes it possessed by a ghost! The actual body of the chest moves up and down like a clam shell would, but inside it buried in a bath of gold coins is our actual Pokemon, Gimmighoul. And what a cute idea for a mimic creature! Plenty of fantasy media has played with the ideas of treasure chests simply being the hiding places for creatures that get called mimics, but I really love this take where the chest is home to a gold-loving ghost that then just possesses the treasure chest by proxy. It's protecting its stash!

Penny for your thoughts?

Roaming Form:

And the way it acquires a stash is by going out of the safety of its home and grabbing coins for the grind! Though this form is actually unobtainable ingame, rather annoyingly. And I specifically mean that because it IS a form that's obtainable, but only in Pokemon Go. Boo. I just think it would've been cooler if they committed to the idea that Gimmighoul like this is simply so tiny and elusive that it's virtually impossible to catch. It just feels like a way to dupe Pokedex completionists into installing a skinnerbox mobile game.

But that's beside the design itself, cause Gimmighoul itself is an adorable little guy! It has a grey body that makes it more subdued compared to the gold coin it lugs around. It has a tail that keeps a coin on its back and eyes that cartoonishly look like gold coins themselves! And I like the dousing rod antenna, a feature fitting an apparition of insectoid scale.

Gimmighoul is part of one of the more pain-in-the-butt evolutions club, because Gimmighouls in their roaming form are dotted around the landscape and will drop their coin if you spot them. And good luck with that, cause these guys are itty bitty. But if you somehow managed to scrounge up nine hundred and ninety-nine coins, your reward for using them to evolve a Gimmighoul is...

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🏆🎆⭐🪙1000🪙⭐🎆: Gholdengo

By god, they did it! They made it! Many said it wasn't possible! Many others mocked the very concept! But Pokemon has finally, actually made it to the quadruple digits and now has its 1000th Pokemon! So yeah, despite the irony at the beginning, Gholdengo here is rather blatantly a big celebration Pokemon specifically made to be the cap to the momentous milestone. Pokemon handing itself a gold medal for making it this far. And honestly, yeah, it is a bit of a big deal. It feels like it's been a long time coming, and it's felt delayed a little bit thanks to the past few generations being on the smaller side, in terms of raw new Pokemon numbers. But hey, we made it now! Now to wait until they make it to Pokemon 10000.

Anyways, Gholdengo itself is far from a throwaway, the idea here being it's a Gimmighoul, but succumbing and becoming the very avatar of avarice. It is a cute idea for a mimic creature's ultimate form to be a body made of solid gold, though. It's meant to look like it's actually MADE of gold coins, and for the most part I'd say the look is achieved without making it look like a gribbley nightmare. The only part I don't like in that regard is the hair, I feel like it tapers a little too small off the head to operate under the convincing illusion. But other than that, I like the little "gold tooth" it gets! And I especially love that it still has its chest, just slung around its waist like a fanny pack! Aww!

As if that wasn't enough weird 90s-2000s mascot vibes for ya, it also forms a surfboard made of coins when performing certain actions, like moving over water. It also comes with a signature move "Make it Rain", which is rather appropriately a really souped-up version of Pay Day that does a lot of damage to everyone and scatters collectible Poke-money on the ground.

I mainly think it's a lot of fun that a Pokemon that's off-kilter and goofy like this gets to be The Big One that gets to be the mascot of The Big Milestone. This weirdo, Steel/Ghost objectmon that fans are so eager to dunk on because it's not a cool canid or something. If anything, I think it'd be funny if Gholdengo just became the mascot of all of Pokemon's big milestones! Getting a new form or evolution for each 1000 gets added to the Pokedex. So I guess see you in like, another 30 years when we get to Pokemon #2000.