Slowbro is a bipedal, pink Pokémon with a tan, striped belly and a rounded, tan muzzle. It has large, vacant eyes, curled ears, and two small pointed teeth protruding from its upper jaw. It has three clawed fingers on its hands and two clawed toes on its feet. There is a Shellder attached to its tail. This Shellder has a gray, spiral shell with darker gray spots and small, triangular eyes near the base. There are several spikes across the surface of the Shellder, and it holds onto Slowbro with many sharp teeth. Shellder developed its spiral form in an effort to suck more sweetness out of Slowbro's tail. If its tail or the Shellder attached to it is broken off, Slowbro will revert to its unevolved form, Slowpoke.
Slowbro has lost the capability to feel pain due to the Shellder's poison. While typically lazy and unintelligent, Slowbro apparently becomes inspired when the Shellder bites down on its tail. While it is capable of unleashing powerful psychic attacks, Slowbro is typically rather peaceful and usually prefers not to fight. Because it can no longer fish using its tail, it instead swims to catch its prey and allows the Shellder to feed on its leftover scraps. Slowbro tends to live near ponds, lakes, and seashores.
When Slowbro Mega Evolves, it becomes engulfed by the Shellder so that only its head, arms, and white-tipped tail are visible. Its head pokes out of the Shellder's mouth and is surrounded by the Shellder's enlarged teeth. The Shellder has holes on its sides and an opening at its tip, allowing Mega Slowbro's arms and tail to stick out. Mega Slowbro balances on its tail due to its legs being engulfed. It can move by bouncing, using its tail as a spring. The spikes on the Shellder are now reduced to four on the bottom section of its body and the dark spots only visible on its middle section. Mega Slowbro's energy has gathered into Shellder, which has increased its hardness. This allows it to act as armor so hard that nothing can scratch it. The Slowbro inside is virtually unchanged, but it gains some power and motivation from Shellder's digestive fluids.
In Galar, Galarian Slowbro's appearance is due to Shellder biting Galarian Slowpoke's arm instead of its tail, causing a chemical reaction between the Shellder's poison and the consumed Galarica spices within the Slowpoke's body.[1] The Shellder attached to its arm resembles the Shellder tail of its Kantonian counterpart but smaller, with a purple tip shaped like a stinger. Galarian Slowbro itself has a slight color difference compared to its counterpart, with purple accents on its head, arms and tail.
Galarian Slowbro are considered highly dangerous for its tendency to indiscriminately attack its surroundings, the reason for which is due to its Shellder sometimes unconsciously biting down hard on its arm. While normally zoned out, when facing a strong opponent its body becomes stimulated, and it will sport a sharper expression. Galarian Slowbro attacks by grabbing at its Shellder's tongue, causing the Shellder to fire poisonous liquids from its tip. It attacks at speeds rivaling the quickest of known reflexes.[1]
In Enlighten Up!, a Slowbro evolved from a Slowpoke. Afterward, it defeated Team Rocket with Confusion and then used the same attack to return a giant, gold Slowpoke statue that Team Rocket had attempted to steal.
Slowbro debuted at the end of Island of the Giant Pokémon, where it was revealed to have evolved from the Slowpoke that Ash's Pokémon previously asked for help.
In Ash vs. Gary, Ashcaught a giant Slowpoke. He later traded it to Gary Oak for a photo of his sister May. After this, they found out that Slowpoke had evolved into a Slowbro.
In Playing Horsea, Lorelei owns multiple Slowbro for her Ice-type army. With the Shellder clamped onto its tail, Lorelei explains that her Slowbro has sharpened senses and is capable of looking in all directions, thanks to the extra pair of eyes, allowing it to discover Green's ploy using Horsea.
Slowbro's tail has a Shellder firmly attached with a bite. As a result, the tail can't be used for fishing anymore. This causes Slowbro to grudgingly swim and catch prey instead.
Its tail has a Shellder firmly attached with a bite. As a result, the tail can't be used for fishing anymore. This forces it to reluctantly swim and catch prey.
Slowbro's tail has a Shellder firmly attached with a bite. As a result, the tail can't be used for fishing anymore. This causes Slowbro to grudgingly swim and catch prey instead.
Slowpoke Well and Seafoam Islands Safari Zone (Peak with 5 Waterside points; tall grass in Rocky Beach - default, with 3 Peak points, and with 5 Waterside points
Despite it being a commonly known and accepted fact that Shellder triggers its evolution, mentioned in most of its Pokédex entries, Slowbro's evolution from Slowpoke has nothing to do with Shellder in the core series, unlike how the evolution of Mantyke requires a Remoraid.
Mega Slowbro was first accidentally revealed on the official Korean Pokémon website on August 12, 2014, two days prior to its official release by Junichi Masuda.
Slowbro's tail has an attached Shellder — the pre-evolved form of Cloyster — which grows to engulf it during Mega Evolution. This may have been an intended parallel.
Mega Slowbro also has the highest base Defense stat of all Psychic-type Pokémon.
Slowbro's Pokédex entries state that if the Shellder is removed, it will revert to a Slowpoke. This is a rare example of devolution being mentioned in the games.
Many Pokémon are noted to evolve by two or more Pokémon combining, such as Metang being formed by two Beldum. However, the anime does not show this and simply spawns the second Pokémon out of nowhere: an example is Morrison's Beldum, which simply evolved into Metang without the need of joining to another Beldum. The evolution of Slowpoke into Slowbro or Slowking is the only time that evolution by two Pokémon physically merging is shown in the anime.
Slowbro is the only Pokémon to have both a Mega Evolution and a regional form.
In Pokémon GO, which features both, Galarian Slowbro cannot Mega Evolve.
Slowbro, its Galarian form, and their evolutionary relatives are the only Psychic-type Pokémon in the Monster Egg Group.
Slowbro's shell and lifestyle may be based on hermit crabs, further supported by its category as the Hermit Crab Pokémon. Its physical appearance may be based on giant otters, giant salamanders, and hippopotamuses. Slowbro's appearance may also be a reference to the mythical sazae-oni, a magical sea demon of Japanese folklore distinguished by its spiny "sazae" or "turban-shaped" snail shell.
Slowbro's parasitic relationship with Shellder may be inspired by leeches.
Galarian Slowbro's Poison-type might draw inspiration from cone snails, which have cone-shaped shells and are highly venomous. The shell's position on Slowbro's arm and use for ranged attacks resembles depictions of arm cannons in fictional media.
Name origin
Slowbro may be a combination of slow and bro (short for brother).
Yadoran was named after the famous Yugoslavian singer-songwriter Jadranka Stojaković, who had worked for Konami during her residence in Japan. Her name is transliterated into Japanese as ヤドランカ Yadoranka, which is dialectal for "wouldn't you reside?". A former colleague of hers who later joined Game Freak brought her name to mind while naming Slowbro. [2] The name may also involve 宿借り yadokari (hermit crab), 宿主 yadonushi (parasitic host), and 鈍 don (dull).
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ヤドラン Yadoran
From ヤドランカ Yadoranka and possibly 宿借り yadokari, 宿主 yadonushi, and 鈍 don
Gold Leaf (100%)
King's Rock (2%)
Slowbronite (100%)
For other sprites and images, please see Slowbro images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
