Politoed is a green, bipedal, frog-like Pokémon with yellow hands, belly, throat, and toes. Unlike its pre-evolutions, its head is distinct from the rest of the torso and its mouth is visible. It has a long curled hair on top of its head and pink cheek spots which are smaller on a female than on a male. Politoed has a green and yellow swirl typical of its evolution family on its belly. Its legs are well developed for jumping.
Politoed acts as a leader to Poliwag and Poliwhirl, which gather from afar upon hearing its cry. Politoed likes to expand its throat and sing. When three or more assemble, they sing in a chorus with a loud, bellowing voice. The curled hair on Politoed's head is considered proof of its status as a king. The longer and curlier Politoed's hair is, the more it is respected by other Politoed. Politoed lives by the water's edge.
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 Ampharos Amore, Silver borrowed Gold's Polibo in exchange for his Seadra. Due to the effects of the King's Rock Polibo was holding along with the trade between Silver and Gold, Polibo evolved into a Politoed. Later, he was returned to his original Trainer.
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.
Politoed has the smallest level-up learnset of all Pokémon who evolve by trading.
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 polliwog and a corruption of toad. It may be a play on the phrase 'poly-toed', meaning 'possessing toes' (the feet were digitless as Poliwhirl).
Nyorotono may be a combination of ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro (the sound of slithering) and 殿 tono (lord). This is possibly inspired by the トノサマガエル tonosamagaeru (dark-spotted frog), whose name literally means lord-frog in Japanese.
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ニョロトノ Nyorotono
From ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro, 殿 tono, and トノサマガエル tonosamagaeru
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.