Crobat (Liked): There's not a lot to go on from Golbat. The major change between Zu' to Gol' is that it gained eyes and (usable) feet (and I guess a bigger mouth that not takes up most of its body. So they just continued adding body parts, notably a second pair of wings and little hands on its top pair of wings (and more developed eyes). Oh, and for some reason reversing its color scheme, guess it does make it stand out more.
Annihilape (Liked): Design-wise there's little difference between it and Primeape, but of course that was on purpose. Building off Primeape's lore, notably that dark Pokedex entry about it dying if it got too angry... well, it happened, and it became a vengeful Ghost-type! It doesn't need to look that much different, just a gloomier palette, its wrist bands damaged, and hair flowing because its ethereal now.
Magnezone (Liked): First Magneton is three Magnemites magnetically "stuck" together, and Magnezone is now them literally stuck together. It not resembling a flying saucer isn't too out there are the Magneton species always did look a bit alien, or at least sci-fi machine drone being.
Steelix (Liked): Rock snake becomes steel/diamond snake.
Lickilicky (Disliked): Now, it's not that Lickilicky is that big of a departure from Lickitung, BUT it's not a direction people were expecting. It goes from a chameleon with emphasis on its tongue to a rotund bipedal with aristocrat-like body designs. And, while the tongue is still present, the rotund body is the first thing that draws your attention. Now, I don't know what direction I would have gone with a Lickitung evo, but I feel keeping the tongue as the center of attention rather than inflating its bland body would be the starting point.
Rhyperior (Disliked): Before Gen IV the thing with the Rhyhorn family had always been the horn. It's a rock rhino, as a Rhyhorn it charges horn first and when it evolves the horn becomes a drill. It's all about the horn... so obviously Rhyperior focuses on body armor and arm cannons. Yeah, it's horn drill is still there, but while Rhydon you can see being flexible enough to headbutt its horn down onto an opponent (possibly grabbing them before doing so). But Rhyperior looks too bulky to do that, making it horn drill feel just decorative.
Blissey (Liked): For having to work with a REALLY simple design like Chansey, they did the best they could in a logical direction of a nurturing Pokemon become a nurse (possibly inspired by Chansey's role as signature assistant to Nurse Joy in the anime, which just gives it further bonus points).
Tangrowth (Neutral): It's just a bigger Tangela with arms now. While certainly not "ruining" the design or theme, also doesn't really push it forward either. If anything, and in my opinion, it makes it look less interesting. Tangela was just this random bundle of detailed tangled vines with a pair of red shoes. Tangrowth simplifies the vines by having the "visible" ones just hanging threads and the "shoes" becoming stubbed feet attached to black legs; and despite the legs looking part of Tangela's "hidden" body, the arms are vines? So are they its actual arms or just vines its controlling like arms, and why do they have red tips? Yes, I know it's supposed to look like a shaggy caveman, but even on that front I feel it fails. Croconaw looks like a caveman, this just looks like a relative of Cousin Itt but without the funny hat and glasses.
Kingdra (Liked): Just taking the seahorse's relations to dragons to its most logical conclusion.
Mr. Rime (Liked): Granted its an evolution of a Regional Variant, BUT it does start out as a normal Mime Jr. so I'll count it. If anything it being an evolution of a Regional Variant helps it. Had it been an evolution to normal Mr. Mime might have felt a bit jarring for it to go from a mime to a vaudeville tap dancer, but G-Mr. Mime sets up for it nicely and expands the theme of the entire family to being "entertainers" than just mimes & clowns.
Scizor & Kleavor (Liked): I'll let this one be a two-fer. Scyther's key feature is its blade arms, so its evolutions also focus on a weapon-based arm.
Electivire (Liked): Electabuzz is based on an oni (with Elekid just being a smaller, simpler 'Buzz with a funny prong head, which could be seen as horns which kept with the oni theme). While oni are a specific kind of Yokai, their depiction can vary. Thus, while Electivire may take additional design inspirations from apeman cryptids like Sasquatch and the Yeti, there are also hairy oni like the Namahage.
Magmortar (Disliked): Magmar for all intents and purposes is a magma duck. Magmortar is a big-lipped fat guy (already often associated with "ugly" designs). Just, every aspect of Magmar's design that made it cool (haha, temperature joke) they just went wrong with Magmortar. Yes, people made fun of Magmar's head bumps, but it kept it looking like a duck (I know, odd as ducks don't have that kind of head) as well as having a protruding bill (Magby would cement these traits as part of the family). It's fire pattern was simple yet recognizable, and while having normal hands it had a long tail with a flame tip. Magmortar goes all in on the cannon arms that is de-emphasizes everything else. The head is made more simple and the beak is shoved so close it looks like a giant lip you'd seen in old racist cartoons, the fire detailing it made very abstract with a sudden out-of-place inclusion of pink leg joints, and the fire tail is just made with wavy red blob that is supposed to look like fire. How this got approved I don't know.
Porygon2 & Porygon-Z (Liked): Another double, though this time it's two evos one after the other. And makes sense, being its Porygon, the computer program Pokemon. And following the theme, on-going programs need updates & improvements which is what Porygon2 demonstrates (among some other themes like an evolving AI and also technology become smaller & lighter as it progresses). Porygon-Z can be seen as a departure of that set up theme, though I would say that's due to Porygon2 demonstrating it perfectly they wanted to highlight another idea concerning updates: when it goes wrong (and possibly the idea of a rogue AI). And Porygon-Z does just a good job of it as Porygon2 did with Porygon. Whereas 2 is just a smoothed out version of Porygon, Z is 2 but twisted around; it's legs are now arms and its neck is now a horn/antenna resulting in the head just floating unconnected to the body. It's pretty brilliant.
Togekiss (Liked): Honestly the Togepi family is already a strange one. Togepi is an ambiguous creature hatching from an egg which evolves into a fairy. There's really no "rules" that Togekiss had to follow aside being a flying creature, and so it went with that: it became bird-like. And, while hard to explain, it works. If I had to try to put it in words, I would say Togekiss "bookends" the family with its design evolving it further into a flying animal (though still remains amorphous you could say it resembles a stylized spirit or even angel) but its round shape relates to Togepi being a hatchling which wears its egg shell as a protective pajama (and also birds lay eggs, obviously).
Ambipom (Disliked): Well, we were bound to get to one that went against my suggestion. Ambipom is not a departure from Aipom, it's the logical progression: It goes from a monkey with a tail hand to a monkey with TWO tail hands. But maybe that is the issue: Ambipom just didn't change enough. Because aside from the two tail hands, what else changed about it? It got longer? If anything that works against it, Aipom is at least cute cause its small, Ambipom is approaching an uncanny valley that I would compare to "Ugly Sonic". And what does Ambipom do with its two tails that is any different from Aipom? Ambipom feels like a middle stage, one that's designed to be a connection between the simple basic stage and the complex final stage that explains why it needs all those tail hands. Maybe one day Ambipom you'll evolve out of your awkward teenage phase you're stuck in at the moment.
Yanmega (Liked): A common joke with Pokemon who evolution stages are similar to one another is that you can tell them apart because the basic stage has cute eyes and the final stage has angry eyes. While there is body change between Yanma and Yanmega, in the end they're both still giant dragonflies. The difference is that Yanma looks friendly (not sure if cute is exactly the right word in this case) while Yanmega looks like it wakes up everyday choosing violence. And this works, Yanma as a solo Pokemon never had the looks (or the stats) to be a Pokemon you'd have on a serious team; Yanmega does (both appearance and stats).
Honchkrow (Liked): And here's another going against what I suggested, maybe. Before Gen IV many assumed part of Murkrow's design took from witches, such as having a pointy hat and it's tail looking like a broom's bristles (and idea further supported by the anime where Ash & co. encountered a witch-in-training who's Pokemon partner was Murkrow). So you'd think an evolution of Murkrow will go along a witch or magic route. But instead it became a mob boss. Odd at first, but then again, Murkrow's hat could also resemble a gangster's fedora (and a common decoration for fedoras was sticking a feather in its band). Also, its dex entries never really linked it to anything, it was just a mischievous bird that led people astray and liked shiny things. Which, hey, you can twist into saying something gangsters do. All they need is a godfather to get them working as an organization. Also, with Mismagius taking the witch route, they were probably more looking for the open interpretation. All they needed was a good design and, yeah, Honchkrow very much led to a good design.
Mismagius (Liked): It starts as a floating head, so evolves to have a general "body" while also keeping the stereotypical "bedsheet" ghost shape. And while I could go into its origins which don't exactly 1:1 relate to witches (or magic really), I think there focus here was more on the red jewels. The way they're worn by Misdreavus gives her a fancy lady-like vibe, so when it evolves it extends down into a dress; where the witch aesthetic came from maybe wanting to do something more with the hair than just longer. Whatever the case, I think it works out.
Farigiraf (Liked): Getting to the newest evos now where the lines between keeping in theme and departure becomes blurry. Farigiraf straddles that line the closest, and does so with such sheer audacity that, from what I can tell, it won everyone over upon its debut and we learned more about it. A hypothetical Girafarig evo has been discussed for years, most turning the tail head into a fully developed head in some way. To combine the heads together where the tail head now serves as a protective hood for the main head is such an inspired idea as it keeps the general idea of Girafairg but puts a new spin which makes sense for it to be an evo.
Dudunsparce (Likedisliked): I like it. I hate it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This is dumb and a waste. This is ingenious and worth it. You're hot than you're cold, you're yes than you're no. This is what Dunsparce would want to evolve into. Dunsparce deserved better. I am THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGAAAA@Aa#&%$1!...
... Sorry about that, my left and right side of my brain just had an argument, it was all about my thoughts on Dudunsparce. Dudunsparce... I think defies analysis. It's as if GF asked Dunsparce itself what would it want to evolve into and it said "I dunno, double of me, maybe three?" and went off that. It is the Dunsparce of evolutions. It's Dunsparce but most every trait is doubled; Dunsparce squared! And the cherry on top is that it has a rare form, and the only thing the rare form does is add a third body segmet; doesn't even triple all body traits, just adds a third segment and calls it a day. It's an evolution Dunsparce is proud of, but then again it didn't aspire to much anyway so probably a bad idea to ask it in the first place.
... Okay, I had my fun, here's my serious thoughts. I feel everyone was split when it was first discovered/leaked(?). I was on the disliking side initially, and I'll admit I'm still a bit disappointed (mainly with its lackluster stats and same Abilities), but getting a better look at it and having time to think, I get it. Because, if you look at most fanmade evos, they really want a departure from what Dunsparce is. Dunsparce is based on a rather lowkey Yokai and most fanmades I've seen turns it into a mesoamerica feathered serpent deity; aka the Magikarp treatment. But there was a reason behind Magikarp (and Feebas) doing that; Dunsparce doesn't. Now, Bulbapedia lists a few interesting origins for its design, one being a larger serpent Yokai, so I think a lot of thought did go into Dudunsparce. It felt like a personal challenge GF gave themselves: can they make a good design by not changing Dunsparce much but stretching that definition to its absolute limit? And on that thought, yeah, it's a nice design; but it could have been more.
Gliscor (Liked): Just a bigger, meaner Gligar.
Weavile (Liked): And just a more "royal" Sneasel. Weavile is actually an interesting case as, like many Pokemon, it's sort of a mixture of a few animals and legends attached to it. For Sneasel's case it's a feline-weasel. For Sneasel (and Weavile of course) that weasel inclusion is important because it's based on the kamaitachi yokai. But for Weavile, it leans on the feline in a brilliant way: Egyption worship of felines. It turns the odd feather ear Sneasel had (originally just to reference the kamaitachi being a whirlwind yokai) and turns it into a full headdress resembling Egyption fashion (yes, feathered headdresses are more a Native American thing but they used it as sort of a connecting point; one Gen later we get Braviary so it's all good). Infact, keeping in pattern with doing everything opposite of Weavile, Sneasler more sticks with its kamaitachi origin becoming slender, claws lengthening, and its feather growing longer and ribbon-like. Even if you like Sneasler more than Weavile, still gotta give Weavile it due credit as without it Sneasler wouldn't have anything to be opposite of.
Ursaluna (Neutral): I don't mind Ursaluna for all it's trying to do, but I can understand those who liked Ursaring not liking the execution of the design. Like most of the Hisuian Evos/Forms, its based on something from Ainu culture, and in this case it's a very notable one: Kim-un-kamuy, the divine spirit (kamuy) of bears & mountains. The Ainu practiced bear worship, and the connection between bear and mountains is because the native bear species, Ussuri brown bear, make their dens in excavated burrows (and their connection to peat from some turning old coal mines into dens). So the theme is all their... but, as I said, the execution is the issue. I get representing a mountain is easier with it being a quadruped, but it just looks dirty than like a mountain. And while what they did with the eyebrows is a neat idea (with the circle on its head looks like a moon with clouds in front of it), it also unfortunately makes it look old. They tried for mountain bear god, but to some what they got was dirty old bear that fell forward and can't get up.
Mamoswine (Liked): While probably "neutral" initially, I think overtime it went into Liked territory after seeing it didn't actually change much from the Swinub family. At first it does, changing into a mammoth from a boar, but there's two (possibly three) factors in play: (1) Most obvious is both are/can be "woolly" species, (2) there were giant ancient boar species (or pig-like like the Entelodont, aka the "Hell Pigs"), and possibly (3) the
first drawing reconstruction of a mammoth, which looked more like a boar than an elephant because the artist went off just the remains that were discovered (which of course didn't include the trunk as it either rotted away or was eaten by wild animals). Mamoswine may be a slight side-step in design to the Swinub family, but I argue it still keeps within the general theme.
Wyrdeer (Liked): It's an older, wiser Stantler.
Probopass (Disliked): While probably more have gone more "neutral" on it, I feel that's just from getting used to the design rather than the design making some sense over time. Now, to give credit, Probopass looks like what a Moai Statue likely did when it was made, with eyes made of white coral & obsidian and a hat-like structure called a pukao, and parts of it painted red. Note that ones with pukao were likely based on people with higher status, likely chieftains whose hair were tied in topknots the pukao are meant to replicate, so Probopass is a "chief" hence why it has the "mini-noses", they are its subjects. Alls well and good for a pretty neat design... let's ruin it by giving it a mustache for no reason! They could have done a number of things to references its magnetic properties (make the mini-noses out of metal to better explain how its controlling them), but I guess they thought with the mustache it looked a little like Mario, thought it was funny, and decided to keep it. And yes, I know about the Wooly Willy toy, I don't think that was a factor nor does it make anymore sense.
Roserade (Liked): Roselia was always presented as a suave Pokemon, so makes sense it would evolve into a Pokemon which wouldn't look out-of-place at a masquerade party.
Dusknoir (Liked): At first it would feel like Dusknoir is a big departure from Dusclops, but the thing is that Dusclops was a departure from Duskull. The family was never based on a singular ghost or spirit, and if anything Dusknoir goes backwards in development by floating around again. But it does share the main traits with its prevos: a singular big red eye, some sort of face design, and seemingly wearing a cloak/bandages.
Kingambit (Neutral): Our last Pokemon, bet you weren't expecting this jump! Yeah, due to Gen V being a point where they stopped cross gen evos until recently, really no Pokemon species that debut in Gen IV and beyond got a cross evo... except Bisharp this recent gen. Considering their slight Shogi/Chess theme, took them 13 years to complete this evolution line, but better late than never I suppose. Kingambit is an interesting design as, to reference its a leader, part of its design is that it's a throne. I think had they stopped there that would be fine, but then they went an extra odd step: they made it have beetle aesthetics. I sort of get it, it goes with the throne theme and its Signature Move, as well maybe referencing it looking like a Kaman Rider villain, but its prevos didn't have these beetle traits (unless you stretch it with their heads being kabuto helmets) so it sort of comes out of nowhere.
