Kingler's strong shell covers the outside of its body, featuring a red upper-half, and a light tan lower-half. Its upper half is topped with six tall, thin spikes on the top of its head, resembling the top of a crown. Its lower half doubles as its jaw, with six fangs overlapping its upper body. Its two outer fangs are much larger than the inner two, and are roughly half as tall as Kingler's entire body. Its hips are visibly protruding from its lower body connecting its long, thin legs with claw-like feet. Kingler's main feature is its red claws. Its left-hand claw is roughly twice as large as the other and hard as steel.
Kingler is often found on the edges of water, usually the ocean. It has been observed using its powerful claws to pry open the shells of Shellder and Cloyster. While Kingler's large, left-hand claw is it main tool for offensive maneuvers, it is so large and heavy that Kingler can barely lift it. It causes balancing problems and Kingler may quickly become fatigued from continuous use. However, it has been shown to communicate with other Kingler by waving its pincers around.
A Kingler appeared in The Battle of the Badge, under the ownership of Giovanni. He used it in his Gym battle against Gary's Arcanine. Despite the type disadvantage, Giovanni's Kingler was defeated. He also leant it to Jessie, James and Meowth when he put them in charge of the Viridian Gym. Kingler managed to put Ash's Bulbasaur on the back foot, but was driven off by Pikachu.
Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon and the evolved form of Krabby. Kingler's larger pincer has immensely powerful crushing strength, but because of its weight, it is difficult to aim.
In the manga
Kingler in Pokémon Pocket Monsters
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
In Pokémon Adventures, Kingler is shown under the ownership of several Team Rocket Grunts, and one is later shown in a flashback during Giovanni's speech regarding experimented Pokémon that were shipped on the S.S. Anne. Much later, in the FireRed & LeafGreen arc, another Kingler is shown having been captured by Carr to try to ambush Red and Blue, but it is frozen and beaten by the newly arrived Lorelei.
Ash has a Kingler that he caught it off-screen. It was first seen defeating a Trainer in the Indigo League; it was later revealed that it evolved from a Krabby in doing so.
Kingler has an enormous, over sized claw. It waves this huge claw in the air to communicate with others. However, because the claw is so heavy, the Pokémon quickly tires.
Kingler shares the same species name with Scizor. They are both known as the Pincer Pokémon, though Scizor has also been called the Scissors Pokémon.
At 130, Kingler has the highest Attack base stat of all Water-type Pokémon.
Origin
Kingler is very similar to a fiddler crab, or may be based on the land crab, which both usually have one claw larger than the other, like Kingler does.
Name origin
Kingler may be a combination of king and fiddler, both of which are species of crab. It may also be a combination of "king" and "angler".