There is a theory that Machoke and Graveler’s evolutions are the result of errors in the trading process. When the two were traded Machamp got Graveler’s extra arms and wide mouth, and Golem got Machoke’s reptilian face. If they had came out in a later gen they would have probably been a special trade evolution like Karrablast and Shellmet.
That’s a cool theory, I hadn’t heard that one. I think it makes sense for Machoke to gain another set of arms, because they needed to make the already strong Machoke even stronger, so what do you do? Give it another set of buff arms! But it makes less sense to me that Graveler would lose its arms, and Golem’s reptilian face does seem to come from nowhere.
The Karrablast/Shelmet comparison seems pretty accurate. I googled the theory and an old reddit thread came up with this image, to help illustrate it for others.
Is there a similar theory for Gengar and Alakazam?
Cool theory, thanks for sharing it with me!
@theriomancer That’s true, good point! If you want to extend this idea, there’s several Gen 1 lines where the final evolution resembles a different Pokemon line, like the Butterfree/Venomoth theory, or the Gyarados/Dragonite theory.
@1128-nesecret Theories like these are discussed for the fun of it. The Machamp, Golem, Haunter, and Alakazam lines are often grouped together because they’re the four trade-only evolutions from the first gen. If two of the four could have a theoretical link, is there anything linking the other two? That’s the idea. I asked for the sake of fun, interesting discussion.
@skullroom I didn’t have any ideas, but some other people do!
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