In commemoration of Nintendo’s 135ᵗʰ anniversary, September 20 to 30 is NIWA Cross-Wiki Week. Click here for event details and the possibility to win a $20/€20 Nintendo eShop gift card. Please remember to follow the manual of style and code of conduct at all times. Check the Bulbagarden home page for up-to-date Pokémon news and discuss it on the forums or in the Bulbagarden Discord server.
Kingler is a crab-like Pokémon with four legs, two arms, and two powerful pincers. The upper half of its body and its pincers are orange, while the bottom half and legs are cream colored. Kingler has spikes on its head, and has a large lower jaw with teeth-like bumps. Its left pincer is particularly larger than its right pincer.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Kingler's left pincer boasts 10,000 horsepower of crushing force, but its massive weight makes it difficult for Kingler to aim with.
Since Kingler are fully evolved Pokémon, they are capable of using Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
Behavior
They wave their huge claw in the air to communicate with others. However, because the claw is so heavy, the Pokémon quickly tires.
A pair of Kingler appeared in The Battle of the Badge, under the ownership of Giovanni. He used one of them in his Gym battle against Gary's Arcanine. Despite the type disadvantage, Giovanni's Kingler was defeated. The other Kingler was seen in its cage under the Gym whilst its companion was leant to Jessie, James and Meowth when he put them in charge of the Viridian Gym. This 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
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.
Unlike its real world counterpart, the female version of Kingler does not have equal sized small claws.
Kingler can be female even though it has "king" in it's name.
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".
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.