Pokémon come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors, and in addition to being many, each Pokémon has an alternate color that it can appear in known as “shiny.” Whether their color variant is an upgrade or not, Shiny Pokémon are very rare and it takes a lot of luck to find them. Because of this, they are often sought after by trainers.
the Pokemon The anime has also seen its fair share of Shiny Pokémon making appearances throughout its run, many of which end up being unique, with some being much stronger than others. While some Shinies get their time to shine and be as powerful as they are rare, others have proven not to be very effective.
10 Boss Pikachu is tough, but not as tough as Ash’s Pikachu.
Besides Ash’s Pikachu, some Pikachu appear in the anime from time to time, and during the Sun and moon seasons, an enthusiastic trainer named Pikala has trapped a bunch of them in Pikachu Valley, including a shiny one with a pompadour who is considered “The Boss.”
It’s true that Boss Pikachu isn’t the weakest Shiny to appear in the anime, as it was tougher than the average Pikachu and could use Volt Tackle and Catastropika, but lost to Ash’s Pikachu when they fought. Since Ash’s strength can be inconsistent, it makes Boss Pikachu on the lower end of strong Shiny Pokémon.
9 Ditto 2 could transform into anything but a stronger Shiny
While traveling through the Sinnoh region, Ash and his friends meet a trainer named Narissa who not only disguises herself as Elite Four member Flint, but also owns two Dittos, one of which was Shiny. Like any Ditto, Ditto 2 can transform into any Pokémon it sees, though sadly this includes the Pokémon’s lack of bright color.
During a battle with Ash’s Infernape, Ditto 2 was able to mimic his appearance and movements, but it was only a pale imitation. Despite his best effort, Ditto 2 lost the battle against Infernape rather quickly.
8 Horace’s Charjabug was pretty weak before it evolved.
There have been many three-stage Bug-type Pokémon over the years, and usually the second-stage form isn’t exactly the strongest, such is the case with a Pokémon like Charjabug. In the anime, Sophocles ends up clashing with the arrogant Horatio in a Charjabug race, believing that his Shiny Charjabug would win.
Despite Horace’s boast, his Chajabug really only had his team to rely on, as he was pushed to the limit and couldn’t even finish the race, losing the race to Sophocles’ Charjabug. He would later evolve into a Vikavolt, where he would compete with Sophocles Vikavoltonce and just slightly better, but still lose.
7 Goh’s Voltorb so far only knows self-destruction
With the goal of catching all kinds of Pokémon and then Mew, Goh has managed to amass many Pokédex entries over the course of Travels. Goh even managed to catch incredibly rare finds, such as a giant Golurk, Suicune, and even a glowing Voltorb as well.
Goh found and chased this Voltorb in Vermillion City before finally catching it, although sadly, when it comes to fighting, not much can be said about the strength of this blue Voltorb. It also doesn’t help that his only confirmed move is Self-Destruct.
6 The pink Butterfree has never been seen in battle
Strangely, there were Pokémon with alternate colors before Shinies were even a concept for the Pokémon. Pokemon world yet, and some of them were very different from the official Shiny variants. One of the most notable examples is the pink Butterfree that appears in the episode “Bye Bye Butterfree”.
In the episode, Ash’s Butterfree attempts to woo pink Butterfree, and although he is initially unsuccessful, he eventually proves himself after saving her and a group of other Butterfrees from Team Rocket. Not only is it unclear how strong Pink Butterfree actually is, as she’s never been seen in battle, but she also has no confirmed moves to speak of.
5 The Shiny Phantump is strongest when he is with his friends.
A Shiny Phantump appeared in the XY episode “Making Friends and Influencing Villains!”, where he was separated from his partner Phantump after an encounter with Team Rocket. Without his fellow Ghost-types backing him up, he was pretty shy and scared of just about everything and everyone.
This Phantump didn’t seem to be as strong on its own, but was more effective in a group. With Bonnie’s help, Phantump was able to gain some confidence and managed to lead an attack with the other Phantump to repel Team Rocket, so at least he managed to be strong in spirit.
4 Shane’s Psyduck was all flash, no substance
As with the Pokemon games, anime also have trainers who covet Shiny Pokémon. At Travels In the episode “Raid Battle in The Ruins!”, Ash and Goh meet a trainer named Shane Seeker, who wants to complete his Pokédex exclusively with Shinies after his first Pokémon was a Shiny Psyduck.
During the Raid Battle with a huge Golurk, Shane sends out his Psyduck to fight it, a good choice considering the type, but was still quickly defeated. Shane’s Psyduck may have a flashy appearance, but when it comes to strength in battle, he fell short.
3 The Shiny Shuckle was useful, but only outside of battle.
During Ash’s Johto journey, he and his friends meet a man who makes medicine with the help of his many Shuckles, one of which was a Shiny Shuckle that made a special medicine for obedient Pokémon. Like any other Shuckle, the Shiny Shuckle had a tough defense with its hard shell and the Shuckle juice it produced was extremely effective, but that’s all that can be said about it.
While the Shuckle proves to be quite useful in pursuit of the medicine, it is sadly not that potent when it comes to defending itself and as such was temporarily trapped by Team Rocket during the episode.
two Mimikins was a real ghost and couldn’t interact with anything
While Ghost-type Pokémon are a common occurrence in the Pokemon Spirits of the deceased have been shown to haunt the world along with them from time to time. A real ghost was also a Ghost-Type and Shiny Pokemon, and that was Acerola’s Mimikyu, Mimikins.
Being an actual Ghost, Mimikins had the ability to fly and pass through solid objects while also having a presence that could attract Ghost-type Pokemon. However, while Mimikins shares a strong bond with Acerola, it is clearly not her strongest Pokémon, as she is not seen in battle as much as Shuppet and Gengar.
1 There have been several Shiny Magikarp that appeared in the anime.
Surprisingly, there have been quite a few Shiny Magikarp that have appeared in the Pokemon anime While they all end up making one-off appearances in the series, they are strangely the most recurring Shiny Pokémon (behind Ash’s Noctowl).
All that said, even a Shiny Magikarp is still a Magikarp, which means they’re just as pathetically weak as the rest of them. One Shiny Magikarp was the reigning champion of the “Magikarp High Jump Competition” in one episode. However, Goh’s gigantic Magikarp was able to leap into space, far outmatching him.
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