Deino is a small blue quadrupedal Pokémon with black fur covering its head and neck, concealing everything but its mouth from view. The fur around its neck also has six purple spots encircling it, which resemble bruises. The hair on the top of its head takes the shape of a single small horn. It also has a short tail that appears to be bitten off. As it is blind, it will bite at and eat anything that moves, and it has the vigor and energy to bite constantly and without stopping. It never stops biting, making it dangerous to approach without taking precautions. It will also ram anything, ensuring that it always has bruises all over it. As seen in The Lonely Deino, it may rear up on its hind legs when happy. Deino primarily lives in caves with abundant water sources.
- Deino has the lowest base Speed stat of all Dragon-type Pokémon.
- Of all the Pokémon that evolve by level alone, Deino evolves to its final form later than any other Pokémon, evolving at level 64.
- Deino also evolves into its second form at level 50, later than any other Pokémon that evolves by leveling up and can evolve again.
- No other Pokémon has the same type combination as Deino and its evolutionary relatives.
- Deino is the only Pokémon whose English name's letters are in alphabetical order.
- Much like its naming pattern, each member of its evolutionary line learns a Normal-type move that involves the number of hits. In Deino's case, Tackle.
Origin
Deino is based on a dragon, specifically an infant form of the Yamata no Orochi. Due to its blindness and only being found near water in a cave, Deino may also be based on a cave salamander.
According to interviews with Ken Sugimori in Nintendo Dream, Deino and its evolutionary family were originally intended to be cyborg dragons with aspects of tanks. The Pokémon were scrapped until late in development, when they were revived and remade to be based on Yamata no Orochi.
Name origin
Deino may be a combination of dino (short for dinosaur) and ein (German for a, and part of the German for one, eins). It may also derive from δεινός deinos (Ancient Greek for terrible). It may also refer to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals such as Deinosuchus and Deinonychus. Deino is also the name of one of the Graeae, the three sisters in Greek mythology who shared one interchangeable eye, leaving two blind while one could see.
Monozu may be a combination of mono (prefix meaning one) and 頭 zu (head). Its full name literally means "one head".