Weird Pokemon Dimensions in Pokemon GO

Every time you catch a Pokemon, regardless of game, that Pokemon has stats about how big it is. How much it weighs and how tall it is. These numbers are generally completely random, but it’s a nice bit of flavour text whenever you catch some Pokemon. Makes them not look like clones or something like that. However, in Pokemon GO, you can’t see if a Pokemon is big or small until after you’ve caught it. Thankfully, sizes don’t really mean much, right?

Cosmetic sizes

All Pokemon have a height and weight given to them, with a small chance of being extra small or extra large. However, the ability to visually see size distances is always something I wanted to see in Pokemon GO, especially as you can see sizes in other games. Each Pokemon species generally has a minimum and maximum size and weight, and the Pokemon you catch are randomized mostly.

However there are a few species that do evolve differently because of their size. Pumpkaboo’s evolution has several different forms, depending on how big it is. Well, I say forms, they’re just different sized Gourgeists. However, it’s again just cosmetic. Something to make a Pokemon a bit more unique, even if you can’t see it.

As a quick aside, Gourgeist and many other Ghost Pokemon are terrifying. A small Gourgeist will pretend to be a child, fooling adult humans and then killing them.

Buddies are smaller in the real world mostly

Back to Pokemon GO, size and weight are mostly cosmetic. However, while the numbers are consistent, how big the Pokemon actually is is almost impossible to see. Wild Pokemon though are all the same size, regardless of their stats, so they all look the same. Once caught, you have the same issue, because you have nothing to compare to.

You also can’t really see the changes with your buddy Pokemon, but I have seen discrepancies. For example, while I was walking my Xerneas as a buddy, it appeared much smaller in the real world than compared to your character screen. I checked my Xerneas’s stats and it’s a completely average Pokemon, but its size varies between your profile and walking as a buddy in the real world. Kyogre on the other hand is massive all the time, and it does not care one bit.

Sheer Luck achievements.

The problem is, there are tasks in Pokemon GO related to Pokemon and their sizes. The Fisher achievement requires you to catch 300 big Magikarp for a gold medal, and you need 300 tiny Rattatas for the Youngster medal. The Platinum medals for both of these require A THOUSAND MAGIKARPS OR RATTATAS. That is utterly insane. And, thanks to seasons and events, nigh impossible to complete.

Sure, you can trade Pokemon between each other in order to make more progress to these medals. But it is literally sheer luck whether you can complete the task or not.

Dynamax on the other hand is not just a cosmetic change at all.

In Sword and Shield, the new game gimmick is Dynamax, a move that lets your Pokemon become absolutely huge, doubling its health and making it way more powerful. For three turns (or if you die or switch out), your now massive Pokemon is immune to flinching, gets stronger moves and just overall being better.

Thankfully, that sort of thing is restricted to Pokemon Sword and Shield. But considering how Pokemon GO already has things like Mega Evolutions and different forms, it won’t surprise me if we do eventually get Dynamax in the future. Heck, we technically already do, since Pokemon shrink after being defeated in raids…

But that’s a conversation for another time. Especially since there have been rumours of Ultra Beasts coming to Pokemon GO…