Why does the Shellder take that form after evolution? Correct me if I’m wrong but Pokémon has never done this type of dou species evolution again right?
Mantyke has to have a Remoraid attached to it but neither changes form.
Escavalier might be the closest thing but I would consider this just a trade evolution.
Maybe Pokémon could do some more of this? Thoughts?
i’ve thought about this and its definitely annoying lol. not sure what’s going on
There is evidence that Slowpoke was originally supposed to evolve when it was bit on a the tail by a beta Pokémon called “Turban.” This Pokémon idea was abandoned and the motivator for the evolution method was changed to Shellder. The Turban idea was revisited during the development of Gold & Silver and it was once again cut — likely as to not upset the lore already established.
This concept of Pokémon living together and having a symbiotic relationship is something Game Freak always wanted to do and continued to do more and more in subsequent games, including Pokémon that require proximity to other Pokémon to evolve. But the Slowpoke to Slowbro story, and eventually Slowpoke to Slowking, was still a prototypical idea that was not developed in a logical way.
No matter how many times it is reinforced or depicted in the canon, the fact of the matter is that Slowpoke does not need a Shellder to evolve and the creature which affixes itself to its body does not resemble a Shellder. There really isn’t compelling conjecture that can explain this disconnect between the lore and the mechanics of the creature.
Interesting it’s name is “turban”, as slowking wears it on it’s head. Was that the original name… or was it given that name in GS after more consideration for re-inclusion?
The concept is an interesting lore, and while playing R/B, my 11 year old self always considered it similar to Weezing and Magneton, which required other pokemon to make the evolution make sense. I never needed other magnemites in my party to evolve them (It’d be cool if they could have merged the 3 into 1 w/in game.) Ultimately, it was just an inconsistency that didn’t make a big difference. Oh, well.
We’ll probably never know. All of the record we have of it is from Gold & Silver betas where Slowking was also slated. The name is in line with a lot of other Japanese names from the Game Boy era, which is to say very on the nose English words without any changes.
Shedinja is kind of a reverse version of Slowbro
Also, all I can think of while reading this thread is this
Pokemon could really do a lot of interesting stuff with unique methods and lore of evolution. The Magneton/Weezing/Metagross stuff is cool, Escavalier/Accelgor is amazing. A surprising amount of unexplored territory! We definitely need more symbiotes like the Slow’s.
You know Pokemon was made by a bug maniac when fantasy vertebrata need to pupate to metamorphize 
…wow 
To get something else and oposite stuck in your head.
This song does beg the question: Can “shellder” let go of the tail, and does slowbro revert to slowpoke at that point?
Language warning
I’m assuming it’s because it was modeled after this: Turbo cornutus - Wikipedia
More cool, cross-referencing lore. Nice digging.