Pinsir is a bipedal Pokémon that has a brown body with a large pair of white horns/pincers that are dotted with small spikes. Pinsir has short legs with three toes each and skinny, three-clawed arms. Its mouth has long, flat teeth that are arranged horizontally rather than vertically. Pinsir is cold-blooded.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Pinsir's horns/pincers have enough crushing power to shatter thick logs and allow it to lift things twice its own weight. Its horns are very flexible, and are capable of being launched downwards.
Behavior
Pinsir's movements are more sluggish when exposed to cold weather, so they hide in burrows, treetops or tree roots during chilly nights. Pinsir are known to dig holes with their horns to sleep in. However, when they are fully awake, they can be quite aggressive.
Much like Heracross, Pinsir seem to enjoy tree sap. As a result they often compete with Heracross over trees with the best sap. Pinsir also eats prey, gripping it with its pincers until the prey is torn in half.
In A Sappy Ending, Pinsir were being driven into a forest that was Heracross' territory because Team Rocket was stealing the sap from the trees that were in their territory.
Pinsir makes its first appearance as the Pokémon Pika fought and lost against due to the uselessness of the fake items Red bought from Green, which fired up the boy to confront the scamming con artist and get his money back, losing his Badges this time, in the process.
After making many appearances that were not worth noting, Pinsir made another major appearance as one of the rental Pokémon Emerald used in the Battle Factory in his challenge against Noland, defeating the Factory Head's Mawile before losing to his Golem's Rock Slide.
Pokémon Stadium 2: Pinsir stars in a mini-game alongside Scyther called "Clear Cut Challenge." Each player chops a falling log for each round of the game. The score for each player is determined by how close the player is to the white line on the log. Cut anywhere above the log will cause the player to lose points.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation I.
Pinsir is astoundingly strong. It can grip a foe weighing twice its weight in its horns and easily lift it. This Pokémon's movements turn sluggish in cold places.
Pinsir has a pair of massive horns. Protruding from the surface of these horns are thorns. These thorns are driven deeply into the foe's body when the pincer closes, making it tough for the foe to escape.
Although Pinsir was introduced in Generation I as a pure Bug-type, it could not learn any Bug-type attacks by level-up until Generation IV, and even then it could only learn one (X-Scissor).
The only Bug-type move it could learn before then (and only in Generations II & III) was Fury Cutter.
Pinsir is currently the only non-Fighting-type Pokémon to learn Vital Throw.
Additionally, Pinsir can also be seen as a counterpart to Heracross. Both are Bug-type Pokémon based on beetles who lack an evolutionary family. Unlike Heracross, Pinsir is not part Fighting type, however, it learns several Fighting-type moves by leveling up. They are both also version exclusives in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.
Before the release of Gold and Silver, it was speculated that Heracross would be a pre-evolution or evolution of Pinsir.
Pinsir is a corruption of pincer, referring to the claws on its head. It could also involve the title sir.
Kailios may be a combination of the Greek letter Χ (カイ kai) and cross (referring to its scissor-like horns). Alternatively, it may be a combination of 傀 kai (large), 魁偉 kaii (brawny), or 刈 kai (cut) combined with κοριός korios (Greek for bug).
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
カイロス Kailios
From Χ, 傀 kai, 魁偉 kaii or 刈 kai combined with κοριός korios
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.