When Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were announced for the Nintendo Switch, a few Pokémon were revealed ahead of the game’s release. One such Pokémon was Wiglett, which bore a striking resemblance to the Kanto Pokémon Diglett that we all know and love!
Most of you are likely familiar with the concept of Regional Variants, a special form of an existing Pokémon that hails from a region different to its counterpart. Diglett again serves as a great example, as it also has an alternate form hailing from Alola. People were understandably confused, as this new Pokémon had a different name altogether. There also exists Regional Evolutions, where an existing Pokémon evolves into a new form or a brand new Pokémon altogether. We’ve seen this with the likes of Koffing, which evolves into a different form of Weezing, or Farfetch’d, which evolves into Sirfetch’d. However, Wiglett didn’t appear to be an evolution of Diglett. So what exactly is it?
Warning: this article contains some lore spoilers for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet!
Convergent Pokémon
Wiglett is the first of a new classification of Pokémon officially known as Ecologically Similar Pokémon, but are better known as Convergent Pokémon. These Pokémon, while clearly related to their original Pokémon inspirations, are in fact completely new species of Pokémon. This is demonstrated further by their Pokédex entries. We’ll continue to use Diglett and Wiglett as examples. Diglett is Pokédex entry #50. Alolan Diglett is a different form of Diglett, and thus falls under the same Pokédex number of 50. Wiglett, on the other hand, is Pokédex entry #960. As you can see, it as treated as a different Pokémon entirely. While it is clearly inspired by Diglett and is meant to be a new way of giving older Pokémon some love, within the lore there is zero connection.
As of now there are only three known evolutionary lines of Convergent Pokémon. Let’s take a look!
Wiglett and Wugtrio
Type: Water
The previously mentioned Wiglett evolves into Wugtrio. I remember seeing memes joking about this prior to the game’s release, half hoping that its evolution would not be this simple to guess. However, Wugtrio is here to stay nevertheless. It is about as powerful as its namesake Dugtrio. It won’t be meta-defining by any means. It does get access to a new signature move called Triple Dive. However, this move likely will not make its way into the game, as it would be low on the priority list for signature moves to be introduced.
Toedscool and Toedscruel
Type: Ground / Grass
Next on the list was a surprise for sure. Tentacool and Tentacruel have kind of just existed for the entirety of the Pokémon series, so this new Convergent Pokémon gave them some much needed love. I saw this mushroom sprinting around the Paldea Region, and the last thing I expected was this jellyfish on land! Toedscool and its evolution Toedscruel can be found strolling around the forests of Paldea, often found next to big trees. I can’t wait to see this guy running around as my buddy in Pokémon GO!
Poltchageist and Sinistcha
Type: Grass / Ghost
The newest of the Convergent Pokémon made its debut in the Teal Mask DLC. They are variants of Sinistea and Polteageist, an evolutionary line of pure Ghost Pokémon from Generation 8 that haven’t made their way to Pokémon GO yet. Both Polteageist and Sinistcha are glass cannon attackers. They likely won’t outclass existing Ghost attackers, but could make nice budget options for newer players.
Convergent Pokémon are a relatively newer addition to the series, so as of now there are only 3 different evolutionary lines. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another line revealed for the Indigo Disc DLC later this year, as well as in subsequent generations moving forward. Now that we’ve covered the Convergent Pokémon, let’s get into the crazy stuff!
Paradox Pokémon
Reminder: some spoilers for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s story!
Upon becoming the champion and claiming all 18 badges in Paldea, you are granted access to Area Zero, where you find that Professor Sada/Turo had built a time machine that pulled Pokémon from the past/future to the present. These Pokémon appear to resemble species that we are familiar with, yet they are definitely not the same. These time travelers were dubbed Paradox Pokémon.
Design wise, these Pokémon are very similar to Convergent Pokémon. However, within the lore of the game, these Pokémon are ancient ancestors or future decendants of these existing Pokémon. The ancient Paradox Pokémon found in Pokémon Scarlet have a primal aura to them, whereas the future Paradox Pokémon found in Pokémon Violet are mechanical beings. Similarly to the Convergent species, these Pokémon are considered completely different species than their modern counterparts.
For more in-depth detail on these Paradox Pokémon, check out our article here. A full breakdown here would take far too long, so for this article I’ll just list off the current known species of Paradox Pokémon. Without further ado, let’s take a trip through in time!
Ancient Paradox Pokémon
| Name | Type | Modern Relative | |
 |
Great Tusk | Ground / Fighting | Donphan |
 |
Scream Tail | Fairy / Psychic | Jigglypuff |
 |
Brute Bonnet | Grass / Dark | Amoonguss |
 |
Flutter Mane | Ghost / Fairy | Misdreavus |
 |
Slither Wing | Bug / Fighting | Volcarona |
 |
Sandy Shocks | Electric / Ground | Magneton |
 |
Roaring Moon | Dragon / Dark | Salamence |
 |
Walking Wake | Water / Dragon | Suicune |
 |
Raging Bolt | Electric / Dragon | Raikou |
 |
Koraidon | Fighting / Dragon | Cyclizar |
It should also be noted that Koraidon, the mascot of Pokémon Scarlet, is technically considered a Paradox Pokémon, being the ancient form of Cyclizar. However, it is more commonly classified as a Legendary Pokémon instead, but was worth mentioning for this list.
That covers all of the past Paradox Pokémon. Now let’s take a look into the future!
Future Paradox Pokémon
| Name | Type | Modern Relative | |
 |
Iron Treads | Ground / Steel | Donphan |
 |
Iron Bundle | Ice / Water | Delibird |
 |
Iron Hands | Fighting / Electric | Hariyama |
 |
Iron Jugulis | Dark / | Hydreigon |
 |
Iron Moth | Fire / Poison | Volcarona |
 |
Iron Thorns | Rock / Electric | Tyranitar |
 |
Iron Valiant | Fairy / Fighting | Gardevoir/Gallade |
 |
Iron Leaves | Grass / Psychic | Virizion |
 |
Iron Crown | Steel / Psychic | Cobalion |
 |
Miraidon | Electric / Dragon | Cyclizar |
Similarly to Koraidon, Pokémon Violet’s mascot is a future version of Cyclizar. It is again more commonly classified as Legendary rather than Paradox.
Conclusion
And there we have it! These are all of the currently known Convergent/Paradox Pokémon. Of those we discussed, the ones I expect to be relevant in Pokémon GO would be Toedscruel, Sinistcha, Great Tusk, Flutter Mane, Roaring Moon, Iron Bundle, Iron Hands, Iron Thorns, and Iron Valiant, along with the Legendaries. However, all of them have significant Base Stat Totals in the main series, so each of them will hopefully find a niche. More and more Convergent/Paradox Pokémon are still being revealed, so there could be more additions as the next part of the DLC is released in December. Stay tuned!
