Dragonite is smaller than Dragonair?!

Question

Dragonair's height is 13'01"
whereas
Dragonite's height is 7'03".

Dragonair
Dragonite
Aren't Pokemon meant to get bigger when they evolve?

Does Dragonite's height change or something?

Dragonite is 7'03", and a average human is 5'10", but in the picture above the Dragonite is clearly bigger than 7'03".

Is that Dragonite special in anyway?

I realise there are a few questions in there but I couldn't be bothered to do 3-4 separate questions.

Thanks in advance!

Comments

where'd you find that pic ?

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that picture is from the indigo leage anime series where there is a giant dragonite

Answer 1

Edit: Original answer was awful, so I re-wrote this.

Dragonite is smaller than Dragonair according to the Pokedex because the Pokedex measures length, not standing height. Dragonair is "longer" than Dragonite.

As for the giant Dragonite from the anime, here's a Twitter thread from Dr. Lava on the topic. The head writer of the anime at the time, Takeshi Shudo, said it "might be a rare mutated form of Dragonite".

Dr. Lava also notes that the writers tend to "make it up as they go along". You should not use the anime as a reference point for the games (and vice versa). They exist in separate canons.

Comments

I watched that episode. It says it on Bulbapedia too.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Dragonite#In_the_anime

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@Fizzcube: My thoughts on the writers of the anime is:
Considering the time it takes to thoroughly play any of the games, and how quickly they come out with episodes involving new Pokemon from those generations shortly after the games come out, it is very likely that they already started writing those episodes with minor prior knowledge about the games beforehand. They most likely just had development notes from the artists and writers of the games, and none of the statistics that the games have (like height values, for instance), leading them to base the sizes around the images comparing those images to the main character's height. In other words, they make an educated guess, and have no clue how strict those numbers are supposed to be.

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Maybe is because Dragonair is longer than Dragonite and it is curling up like a snake.

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Yeah, it was referred to as the "Mystery Pokemon" during the episode this dragonite appeared in.

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Also, http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Giant_Pokemon#In_the_anime is a thing.

Answer 2

My theory is that Game Freak measures snake/worm Pokemon by length rather than height, like a diamondback rattlesnake is not 2' tall, but 2' long, and a gyarados doesn't have a 21' long face. In fact, if a dragonair coiled up to form a dragonite, it would come short. Just now when I looked through my pokedex, a dragonair is 13' 01" and 36.4 lbs. No 13 foot creature could weigh 36 pounds.

Answer 3

That dragonite I the anime was special ,it was said it was a legendary and wasn't compared to the averege dragonite

Comments

It's spelled "average," not "averege." ;-(

Answer 4

• Dragonair is long 13'1'' (3.99m) but only weighs 36.4 lbs (16.5kg) as well as being extremely thin and slender.
• Dragonite is shorter 7'3'' (2.21m) and yet weighs 463 lbs (210kg) as well as being quite... chunky.

It makes sense that a Pokemon would grow as it evolves - in order to become stronger; it just seems that Dragonite's grew width ways and not length. In fact mass from the tail/ body of Dragonair went into making Dragonite wider also. This makes sense as it would make Dragonite more bulky - increasing it's stats in HP, Special Defence and Defence - as well as putting more weight behind it's hits - increasing it's Attack stat - and, by growing wings, Dragonite has become faster due to an increase in manoeuvrability. It's Special Attack stat may have increase through an increase in spirital power an self-belief obtained through evolving - Dragonite realises it has become more powerful.

The Giant Dragonite is not fake but a giant of the Pokemon world. There have been others like Giant Tentacruel and Giant Slacking

• Slacking is usually 6'7'' (2.01m)

• Tentacruel is usually 5'3'' (1.6m)

In fact, Pokemon sizes in the anime vary much like in real life:

This is not the case in the games as the programming for stat differences between the same Pokemon would take a lot of time an not add to the gaming experience that much - therefore it was largely unnecessary. Although, Game Freak are striving with Pokemon nowadays and Gourgeist has the first evolutionary line of Pokemon with varying sizes.

A lot of Pokemon sizes and weights are illogical though and there are many YouTube videos on the matter...

... Wailord can fly.

Comments

That's correct, but the point I tried to make in my answer was that although the Pokemon was "special", it still didn't match the height in the game, and there are no special or extra large Pokemon in the games, which makes the anime kinda misleading in that way.
I didn't explain that very well though. :/

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You said 'It's likely the picture is fake or innacurate' but it isn't and you have no source, you're just guessing. Also, the anime and games are DIFFERENT.