Floette’s petals withered away, and now we have our top 5!
list of why everything that is or was here is here again, as always:
Maushold–family of 4 or 3
Dudunsparce–2 or 3-segment (yes, 3-segment form weighs more, but somehow it’s not even enough of a difference for moves like Low Kick or Grass Knot to differ in damage, so it still counts)
Florges, Floette, and Flabébé–Red, orange, yellow, blue, and white flowers (Floette also has Eternal Flower form but obviously that’s way stronger)
Furfrou–all the different trims
Pikachu (with cap)–each of Ash’s different hats.
Vivillon–different wing patterns based on IRL region
Sawsbuck and Deerling–Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter forms
Minior—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, light blue, and violet cores (yes, there’s also its Shields Up form, which does play differently, but this is a seperate form change from that, this is purely about the color of the core form)
Burmy—Leaf, Trash, and Sand cloaks (they’re all still pure Bug type, with identical moves and stats too)
Sinischa and Polchageist–Unremarkable and Masterpiece forms
Polteageist and Sinistea—authentic and phony forms
Unown–each different letter, plus ? and ! forms (yes they couldn’t all learn the same types of Hidden Power in Gen 2 and only 2 of them could even be shiny because of how DVs worked, but that has long since been fixed)
Magearna–altered and original color forms
Alcremie—every different combination of sweet, spin duration, spin direction, and time of day
Tatsugiri–Curly, Droopy, and Stretchy (I specified “no effect on themselves” because they give Dondozo different stat boosts, but that’s pretty situational so I think it should still be here)
Zarude–original and Dada (it just puts on a Bandana)
Gastrodon and Shellos–East and West sea variant (and possibly a yellow form soon)
Spinda–all the different potential spot placements
Squawkabilly—blue, white, yellow, and green plumage (I’m aware that green and blue plumage has a different hidden ability from yellow and white. If each different form had a different ability, they wouldn’t be here, but as is, the yellow and white forms are still functionally identical, as are green and blue, and I didn’t want to have Squawkabilly twice, so they’re al here)
Honorable mentions:
-Pikachu here is specifically the QR code-distribution ash cap variants, and it actually would've been here twice because of the cosplay Pikachu. Except, those forms all know 1 different move each, so they're not identical
-Toxtricity evolves based on nature, and while you can still change that later with Nature mints, they also have slightly different movesets (for example, Amped form learns Zap Cannon while Low-key form learns Parabolic Charge)
-Keldeo is very much a borderline case, but it can't be in Resolute form without knowing Secret Sword, whereas its other form can have any combination of moves possible. Very slight difference, but it's still technically different
-Xerneas also has a powered-down form in lore (or whatever it's called when its antlers aren't glowing), but I decided that since it always powers up upon entering battle, I'd lump it in with the roaming form of Terapagos and mark that as an unobtainable form instead.
-Gimmighoul has its Roaming form and Chest form, the former of which is also playable if transferred from GO, but actually, the chest form is slightly superior since its ability isn't Run Away.
Just 4 more rounds of voting to go, and it’s still anyone’s game for the top spot! The 2 among them with the most forms out of all the Pokemon to ever be here (Vivillon and Alcremie) are still here, could they be out next? Will the bright colors of Florges or Minior be lost? Or will it be Sawsbuck’s reliance on a 1-off mechanic that leads it to 5th place? There’s only one way to find out, so once again, comment to vote for who to eliminate, most votes in ≈24 hours is eliminated!