Pokemon anime answers convergent Pokemon question in hilarious way

The Pokemon anime finally revealed what happens when related but distinct Pokemon species meet, and the results are hilarious.

Ever since Pokemon Scarlet and Violet introduced the concept of Pokemon that are clearly related but different enough to be separate species, it’s been unclear whether these Pokemon are aware of one another and what would happen if they ever met.

Finally, the Pokemon anime has answered these questions with a hilarious meeting, shared on Twitter by Indian AniPokeTuber, showing an encounter between Gen 1’s Tentacool and Gen 9’s Toedscool.

The clip – which shows a Toedscool walking next to a river and encountering a Tentacool in the water, causing both to run off in shock – makes it pretty clear that, no, these Pokemon are not aware of their relatives and, upon meeting, are more terrified than curious.

The post’s comments are full of fans amused by the meeting, with some comparing it to the popular Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme.

“It’s like looking at your own reflection until you get scared and run away from seeing your alternate counterpart,” said one user.

Others compared the tentacled Pokemons’ scream to that of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants.

The duo of Tentacool and Gen 9’s Toedscool (and their evolutions Tentacruel and Toedscruel) are what’s known as “ecologically similar” or “convergent” species. These ‘mon typically share similar features but with different types, habitats, and real-world inspirations.

While similar to regional variants, they are considered entirely separate species, boasting more dramatic design changes, a different name, and their own Pokedex pages.

In their case, Tentacool is a Water/Poison-type based on jellyfish, while Toedscool is a Ground/Grass-type inspired by wood ear mushrooms (whose names translate to “tree jellyfish” in Japanese).

The other convergent species introduced so far are Wiglett and Wugtrio (Water-type relatives of the Diglett line) and Poltchageist and Sinistcha (Grass/Ghost matcha-inspired variations of the pure Ghost-type Sinistea line). It’ll be interesting to see if the idea returns in Pokemon Legends Z-A.