Karrablast is a round, bipedal Pokémon with a primarily blue carapace that comprises a horn at the tip. Its black face has a teal patch on its forehead, a fanged mouth, and eyes with orange pupils and yellow sclerae. Its ridged underbelly, or plastron, is yellow, and its stubby arms and legs are black.
When it senses danger, it spews an acidic liquid from its mouth. It targets its rival Shelmet, so it can evolve through electrical-like energy. Shelmet is also the preferred prey of Karrablast, as it eats the inside after melting the shell. It resides in forests and fields, and it often hides in trees or grass if threatened.
Karrablast, the Clamping Pokémon. Karrablast live in forests and fields, and often hide in trees or grass when threatened. They can also defend themselves by spitting acid.
In Cold Storage Battle, a Karrablast was stolen from an executive member of the Autumn Choir Tournament in Castelia City. The thieves were part of Team Plasma's new faction, who ran into the Castelia Sewers. Karrablast was later abandoned at the sewers, along with the rest of the Pokémon that had been stolen.
Karrablast and Shelmet are the only Pokémon that have to be traded for a specific Pokémon to evolve, having to be traded for each other.
Origin
Karrablast's name, its capacity of producing corrosive substances as a method of protection, and its penchant for attacking Shelmet suggest it is inspired by a ground beetle. In an interview, Ken Sugimori confirmed that the original idea for Karrablast, as suggested by Atsuko Nishida, was a snail-eating beetle based on the Carabus smaragdinus species.[1] Its horn, which may have also been inspired by rhinoceros beetles, somewhat resembles an escargot fork.
Karrablast and Shelmet's relationship may be a reference to coevolution, where the evolution of one species is influenced by changes in another species; in this case, the relationship between predator and prey.
Name origin
Karrablast may be a combination of Carabus (genus of beetles belonging to the ground beetle family), κέρατο kérato (Greek for horn), or carapace (the upper half of a shell, which is commonly, albeit incorrectly, associated with beetles), and blast (referring to its defense mechanism) or plastron (French for chestplate). It may also be derived from Carabus blaptoides, a species of ground beetle endemic to Japan.
Kaburumo may be derived from 蝸牛被 maimaikaburi (Carabus blaptoides) and 甲虫 kabutomushi (beetle).
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.