Politoed are very different physically from the rest of their evolutionary family, as they now resemble a frog much more than their previous forms. They are now green with yellow hands, belly, throat, and toes. Their legs have become well developed for jumping and they now sport pink cheek spots similar to those of Pikachu. Their head is now distinct from the rest of their torso and their mouth is now visible. They also have a long curled hair on top of their head, which is used as a status symbol among their kind. For all these differences, there is one feature that Politoed still posses: the swirl that the rest of their family has, though now in green and yellow. They are also bipedal like the rest of their evolutionary line.
Gender differences
The pink spots on a female's cheeks are smaller.
Special abilities
Politoed have the standard Water-type abilities, but also gain impressive vocal abilities which can be used in battle in the forms Perish Song and Hyper Voice. They have also gained hopping abilities. Politoed has lower Attack and Defense stats than Poliwrath, however in exchange it has greater Special Attack and Special Defense.
Behavior
Politoed lure other members of their evolution family near to them by croaking. They form a group of Poliwag and Poliwhirl with themselves as the leader. When more than three Politoed assemble, they begin to sing in a chorus. Although rarely displayed, Politoed are capable of stretching out their tongue to some length in a similar manner to actual frogs. It is unknown if they use it to hunt in the wild.
Misty's Poliwhirl evolved into a Politoed in Outrageous Fortunes. This Politoed is very cheerful up to the point where it would occasionally lose focus in a battle and start clapping.
Other
Tammy, a young girl who used Pokémon for cheerleading, mistook Misty's Politoed for her own in I Politoed Ya So. She asked Misty to lend it to her for a while since she and her Politoed were angry at each other; later, they make amends and Tammy gives Misty's Politoed back to
her.
In the 9th volume, Silver "borrowed" Gold's Poliwhirl in exchange for his own Seadra. Due to the effects of the King's Rock Poliwhirl was holding, plus the effects of both Gold and Silver's communication devices, Poliwhirl evolved into Politoed, and Seadra evolved into a Kingdra. After its Whirlpool defeated the Rocket Grunts that surrounded them, the two Pokémon were then returned to their rightful owners.
The curled hair on Politoed's head is proof of its status as a king. It is said that the longer and more curled the hair, the more respect this Pokémon earns from its peers.
Politoed has the smallest level-up learnset of all Pokémon who evolve by trading.
In Generation V, Politoed can have the Hidden Ability Drizzle. This makes it the only non-legendary Pokémon to have this Ability. Previously, the only Pokémon to have this Ability was Kyogre.
Politoed is a combination of polliwog and a corruption of toad. It may be a play on the phrase 'poly-toed', meaning 'possessing toes' (the feet were digitless as Poliwhirl).
Nyorotono may be a combination of ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro (the sound of slithering) and 殿 tono (lord). This is possibly inspired by the トノサマガエル tonosamagaeru (dark-spotted frog), whose name literally means lord-frog in Japanese.
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ニョロトノ Nyorotono
From ニョロニョロ nyoronyoro, 殿 tono, and トノサマガエル tonosamagaeru