![](https://www.bogleech.com/pokemon/sprites/090.gif)
Shellder and Cloyster
![](https://bogleech.com/pokemon/allpokes/090Shellder.png)
There's Slowbro's symbiotic pal! I didn't realize until doing these reviews how far apart they were in the pokedex, or that Slowbro is the one that comes first. That kinda seems like a bit of an oversight, doesn't it? Reading the 'dex in order would just make a lot less sense.
Anyway, a wild-type, free living Shellder takes on a water/ice bivalve form, rather than a gastropod, and what a lovable bivalve it is! Its shell is just so pleasantly designed, it has those spooky circular eyes I love so much, and it has a comical pink tongue representative of a bivalve's tongue-like "foot." Like many other cartoon mussels, it gives the impression of having a face inside of a mouth, which I just got done saying is one of my favorite design features wherever it comes up.
Anyway, a wild-type, free living Shellder takes on a water/ice bivalve form, rather than a gastropod, and what a lovable bivalve it is! Its shell is just so pleasantly designed, it has those spooky circular eyes I love so much, and it has a comical pink tongue representative of a bivalve's tongue-like "foot." Like many other cartoon mussels, it gives the impression of having a face inside of a mouth, which I just got done saying is one of my favorite design features wherever it comes up.
![](https://bogleech.com/pokemon/allpokes/091Cloyster.png)
You can guess, then, why I'm not quite as fond of Cloyster's smug mug. I really am a total sucker for cute, and especially weird-cute, like Shellder, Grimer, Psyduck and Magnemite. Actually, I guess I'm just a sucker for those perfectly circular eyes with little dot-pupils. They're basically the eyes Mizuki Shigeru gave to 90% of his monsters.
Still, Cloyster is an interesting creature. You can interpret its "head" as its own black pearl, and that rugged, multi-layered shell is one of the most elaborate yet organic designs in the original 151. Whether its notorious resemblance to a certain part of the human anatomy detracts or enhances the appeal is up to you, but it does make the pearl-head look like a demonic shadow-baby emerging into the world, and that's pretty funny.
Still, Cloyster is an interesting creature. You can interpret its "head" as its own black pearl, and that rugged, multi-layered shell is one of the most elaborate yet organic designs in the original 151. Whether its notorious resemblance to a certain part of the human anatomy detracts or enhances the appeal is up to you, but it does make the pearl-head look like a demonic shadow-baby emerging into the world, and that's pretty funny.
![](https://bogleech.com/pokemon/sprites/091old.png)
My only gripe, besides the drop in cuteness, is that the pokedex claims nobody knows what Cloyster really looks like, and coupled with its original sprites, I get the feeling it actually wasn't supposed to have a black sphere for a head. Its original concept was clearly more of an oyster with a dark, shadowy hole in the middle, eyes and teeth leering out of the darkness. This, I could definitely get more behind than the rather underwhelming pearl-baby-orb.
To go on a side-rant here, people have been quick to say in many of these reviews that the pokedex is only semi-canon hyperbole, but 1), I don't care, and 2), it's still the most insight we're ever given into these creatures. Reflected by their play mechanics and used as a springboard for their anime and manga appearances, Pokedex entries are consistently treated like the setting's highest authority. I've always considered them canon, and for reviewing purposes I always will, excepting only where numerical data is impossibly absurd, like when a pokemon burns hotter than a million suns and can bench-press the moon.
To go on a side-rant here, people have been quick to say in many of these reviews that the pokedex is only semi-canon hyperbole, but 1), I don't care, and 2), it's still the most insight we're ever given into these creatures. Reflected by their play mechanics and used as a springboard for their anime and manga appearances, Pokedex entries are consistently treated like the setting's highest authority. I've always considered them canon, and for reviewing purposes I always will, excepting only where numerical data is impossibly absurd, like when a pokemon burns hotter than a million suns and can bench-press the moon.
![](https://bogleech.com/pokemon/pr4.png)
It may look like more of a douchebag once it evolves, but I still love the idea of a pet battle-monster that's just a big, nasty scallop with ice powers.