These Are the Worst Pokémon in the History of the Franchise

Over the last nearly 30 years, hundreds of Pokémon have been designed and released across nine generations of the franchise. From the humble Bulbasaur to the mischievous mythical Pecharunt, 1025 Pokémon in total have graced our screens, in video games, anime series, movies, and trading cards.

But not all Pokémon are made equal. While everybody has their favorites throughout the series’ long and storied history, some Pokémon are just downright bad. Not everyone will agree on which ones are bad, but everyone, at least, agrees that there are some real stinkers.

From ugly Pokémon to useless Pokémon and Pokémon that just plain shouldn’t exist, we put together this list of the worst Pokémon ever made in the history of the biggest media franchise on the planet.

Barbaracle

Barbaracle is supposed to look like a goose barnacle, but instead it looks more like a loose collection of Mr. Potato Head parts stuck into a couple of stray rocks. There are essentially no redeeming features to its design — its hand-like head looks goofy, its arms look fake, and its colors are largely unappealing. Overall, it’s a terrible design and I wouldn’t shed tears if it disappeared tomorrow.

Enamorus

The Forces of Nature Pokémon – known by many as the elemental genies – have long been some of the most interesting Pokémon in the series’ history. While they’re typically seen as a bit goofy in their Incarnate Formes, Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus are beloved by fans all over the world. Pokémon Legends Arceus added another Pokémon into the mix, though, with Enamorus, and just about everybody hates it. Its weird, snake-like scarf, over-emphasized lips, and slender body don’t do it any favors, but its turtle-like Therian Forme with its extended snout and lumpy neck make this Pokémon ugly no matter which form it takes on.

Gothita

Baby Pokémon usually walk the line between cute and hideous, with Pokémon like Elekid, Magby, and Smoochum all landing on various parts of that scale. Gothita, on the other hand, is clearly designed like a baby Pokémon, but it’s actually just a regular first-stage Pokémon, and it’s 100% hideous and 0% cute. Its uncomfortable pouted lips are super weird on a Pokémon like this, and its wide, eyelash-lined eyes make its glare inescapably terrifying. This whole line of Pokémon definitely errs toward the ugly side, but Gothita takes the cake.

Toxel

Speaking of baby Pokémon — why is Toxel literally wearing a diaper? This is a Pokémon, and Pokémon have never been seen to need a bathroom in the main series, so that design element just isn’t hitting quite right. It also appears to have a bib, and if not for the horns, purple skin, and lightning bolt on its head, this thing would just be a regular human baby. There’s nothing wrong with human babies, but we also don’t typically send them into combat against giant dogs and bears. Toxel is just weird.

Crabominable

If we want to talk about ugly Pokémon, Crabominable is probably at the very top of the list. Its horrific, segmented arms are frankly terrifying to look at, its haircut is incredibly goofy, and its large maw lined with two cartoonish teeth all make it look terrible all the time. It’s made even worse by the fact that its pre-evolved form, Crabrawler, is one of the coolest designs in the series’ history, with its large, boxing glove-like hands and slick hairdo.

Inteleon

Players who picked Sobble as their first partner Pokémon in Pokémon Sword and Shield were likely delighted when it evolved into Drizzile, a cute and cool chameleon with a bit of an angsty teen vibe to it. Then it evolved into Inteleon, and everything got a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes, fully evolved Pokémon end up looking a little too anthropomorphized, and Inteleon is one of them. It’s wearing pants and a top, it’s got eye makeup on, and it has large, humanoid hands that are just way too human for anyone’s liking. It’s made slightly better by its sniper tower Gigantamax form, but there’s no saving this humanoid weirdo of a Pokémon.

Iron Jugulus

Honestly, half of all future Paradox Pokémon could probably be on this list, but Iron Jugulus gets a place on the list not because it’s the ugliest or even the worst in combat, but because it’s such a disappointment. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a futuristic, robotic version of Hydreigon. It looks really cool, right? Well what we got instead with Iron Jugulus was almost just a low-poly version of Hydreigon, with very little to separate its future design from its original design. It could have been so much more, but instead it’s just plain boring.

Phione

Phione, why do you exist? Manaphy is a perfectly good Mythical Pokémon, it doesn’t need a baby form, and it especially doesn’t need one that can’t evolve into Manaphy. Phione is one of the strangest Pokémon ever to exist, and maybe that’s enough for some people. Maybe its uniqueness is its major selling point. But for me, that’s just not enough.

Claydol

How many eyes should a Pokémon have? If you answered any more than two, you probably love Claydol. If you’re normal, you should fear this monstrosity. It has way too many bulbous eyes, weird, nipple-shaped cannon arms, and a gigantic, circular monobrow that is frankly just weird. Also, are those beaks in between its eyes? You know what, I don’t even want to know.