Politoed are very different physically from the rest of their evolutionary family as they now resemble a frog much more than previous forms. They are now green with yellow hands, belly, throat, and toes. Their legs have become well developed for jumping and they now sport pink cheek spots similar to those of Pikachu. Their head is now distinct from the rest of their torso and their mouth is now visible. They also have a long curled hair on top of their head, which is used as a status symbol among their kind. For all these differences, there's one feature that Politoed still posses: the swirl that the rest of their family has, though now in green and yellow.
Gender differences
The pink spots on a female's cheeks are smaller.
Special abilities
Politoed have the standard Template:Type2 abilities, but also gain impressive vocal abilities which can be used in battle in the forms Perish Song and Hyper Voice. They have also gained hopping abilities.
Behavior
Politoed lure other members of their evolution family near to them by croaking. They form a group of Poliwag and Poliwhirl with their self as the leader. When more than three Politoed assemble, they begin to sing in a chorus. Although rarely displayed, Politoed are capable of stretching out their tongue to some length in a similar manner to actual frogs. It is unknown if they use it to hunt in the wild.
Misty's Poliwhirl evolved into a Politoed in Outrageous Fortunes. This Politoed is very cheerful up to the point where it would occasionally lose focus in a battle and start clapping.
Other
Tammy, a young girl who used Pokémon for cheerleading, mistook Misty's Politoed for her own in I Politoed Ya So. She asked Misty to lend it to her for a while since she and her Politoed were angry at each other; later, they make amends and Tammy gives Misty's Politoed back to her.
In the 9th volume, Silver "borrowed" Gold's Poliwhirl in exchange for his own Seadra. Due to the effects of the King's Rock Poliwhirl was holding, plus the effects of both Gold and Silver's communication devices, Poliwhirl evolved into Politoed, and Seadra evolved into a Kingdra. After its Whirlpool defeated the Rocket Grunts that surrounded them, the two Pokémon were then returned to their rightful owners.
The curled hair on Politoed's head is proof of its status as a king. It is said that the longer and more curled the hair, the more respect this Pokémon earns from its peers.
The long curled hair on Politoed's head is blue in the anime and stock art, but black in the games.
This was corrected in Generation V.
Politoed has the smallest level-up learnset of all Pokémon who evolve by trading.
Politoed's swirl is the same direction as Poliwag's, but opposite direction to Poliwhirl's and Poliwrath's.
In Generation V, Politoed can have the hidden ability Drizzle. This makes it the only non-legendary Pokémon to have this ability. Previously the only Pokémon to have this ability was Kyogre.
Politoed is a combination of the word polliwog and a corruption of the word toad. The misspelling may be a a play on the term 'poly-toed', meaning 'possessing toes' (the feet were digitless as Poliwhirl). Its Japanese name may be a combination of ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro, the sound of slithering, and 殿 tono, lord. This name is possibly inspired by the トノサマガエル tonosamagaeru, dark-spotted frog, whose name literally means lord-frog in Japanese.
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.
For other sprites and images, please see Politoed images on Bulbagarden Archives.
