Okay, I started this discussion, time to contribute my 0.1643 NOK:
I think the main contenders for being part of three-stage evolutionary lines (outside of Pikipek and Grubbin, of course) are Salandit, Cutiefly, Wimpod, and Turtonator. I'm kind of unsure about Minior and Drampa for the time being.
Okay, reasoning time:
I think the main contenders for being part of three-stage evolutionary lines (outside of Pikipek and Grubbin, of course) are Salandit, Cutiefly, Wimpod, and Turtonator. I'm kind of unsure about Minior and Drampa for the time being.
Okay, reasoning time:
- Salandit gives me a bit of a Sandile vibe. It is explicitly described as "not a very powerful Pokémon", which, unless they're giving us another Farfetch'd situation, indicates an evolution or even two. I'm not sure if Salandit could be a pseudo-legendary, but it'd probably fit right in next to Axew and Sandile.
- Cutiefly is small, cutesy and with quite poor abilities. It is such a tiny and weak creature that it would be strange for it not to evolve. Klefki is a similar, tiny Pokémon, but is backed up by decent stats and a great ability. The designers put it in a mid-late-game area, where it could feasibly replace a fallen-behind team member, and pull some weight for the rest of the game. Cutiefly is not helped by its abilities, and appears too small to have good stats either. It seems like you'll either encounter it very early in the game, and it will fall behind fast, or it has an evolution or two, like Flabébé, which help it progress as the game gets tougher.
- Wimpod, for reasons stated by others. Although it could be another Stunfisk in that it's a mud-crawling Pokémon with a quirk, Wimpod seems like the kind of Pokémon that would grow strong upon evolution. It's described as cowardly, yet curious. Would an evolution lose its cowardice and become tougher? It could end up with only one evolution, though, or even none at all. The way it behaves sounds like an overworld encounter mechanic (stay still to attract Wimpod, if you move you scare them away), and the flavour blurb about "storing anything, including garbage from the sea" suggests a wild variety of natural hold items. It has enough gimmicks to make it on its own, and an evolution might disturb those gimmicks too much.
- Unlike the three others, Turtonator seems to be a final evolution, and a rather powerful one at that. It has nearly unresisted STAB, only losing out to certain Fairy combos (Water/Fairy, Rock/Fairy, Fire/Fairy and Dragon/Fairy), and its design and signature move suggest a tanky build. The tough design and relatively rare Dragon typing could be a sign of pseudo-legendarity, although the same could be said about Druddigon, and we all know how that one turned out in the end. Still, though... after four generations of Attack-focused pseudo-legends, then Hydreigon (Sp.Atk) and Goodra (Sp.Def), could we be seeing the first Defense-focused PL?
- As for Minior, it has a design that lends itself to evolution, and a gimmick that suggests it'll remain standalone. Shields Down involves a mid-battle Form change, which would clash a little with a possible evolution. We've had evolution chains with changing Forms before, but usuall only at the end of the evolution chain (Aegislash, Cherrim, Darmanitan... and every Mega ever, I guess). The exception is Burmy, so I guess there is some presedence...
Also, the "Mini" prefix suggests the possibility of bigger evolutionary cousins. - I can't really see Drampa being standalone. One of Drampa's design bases is its age. It's right in the name, it's a grandfather of dragons. If it's standalone, it means it is bred and hatched old. Okay, we can breed Chansey with an egg ready on its stomach and even Kangaskhan with a freakin' kid in its belly pouch, but a Pokémon of old age from the moment it leaves the egg? It would be far out, at least, although I won't write it off as impossible.
In short, I could see Drampa having at least one pre-evolution. Possibly even two. It's hard to imagine it as the pseudo-legendary, but... still not totally impossible, I guess...