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After years of anticipation and speculation, Pokemon's 1000th 'mon has finally been revealed to be the strange golden tree thing, Gholdengo, the evolution of the coin-collecting Gimmighoul,
Before Scarlet & Violet's release, Pokemon fans were speculating that the trip to Paldea might finally give us a big milestone - the 1000th Pokemon. Although we didn't know how many new pocket monsters were being added, the numbers looked close enough that it seemed certain to happen.
Well, lo and behold, Scarlet & Violet do contain the series' 1000th Pokemon in the form of Gholdengo the "coin entity Pokemon". If the whole coin thing reminds you of something, that's because Gholdengo is the evolved form of Gimmighoul, the Ghost type 'mon that was teased last month and revealed to have two different forms, both of which are obsessed with coins. According to IGN, getting Gimmighoul to evolve is a pretty lengthy process and involves collecting coins from defeating other Gimmighoul.
After collecting 1,000 (har-har) of those coins, your Gimmighoul will evolve into Gholdengo the next time they level up, presenting us with what has to be one of the strangest Pokemon out there. As a bunch of Pokemon fans have already observed, Gholdengo looks like some kind of weird tree that's been spray-painted gold and had some googly eyes slapped on it. It's like someone was eating a Cheestring one morning and decided that was good enough for the 1000th creature in the world's biggest media franchise.
Still, at least Gholdengo has a pretty rad energy to it. Not only does its Pokedex photo show it surfboarding on a board made out of coins (wait, would that be like us surfing on a board made of skin?), but it's also got a massive smirk on it at all times. Its Pokedex entry also notes that "this Pokémon gets along well with others and is quick to make friends with anybody", so even if it looks like a particularly lavish whacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man, Gholdengo is apparently a pretty chill dude.
At the very least, the Pokemon Company was aware that the 1000th Pokemon had to be something a bit more noteworthy and aware of its placing on the Pokedex. The last big number on the Pokedex was arguably #500, which just ended up being Emboar, the final evolution of Tepig. Hell, even 'mon #1 is just Bulbasaur, not even the most popular of the starter evolutions.
Gholdengo may be a little cringe and weird looking, but at least he's something a bit unique, even if gathering 1,000 coins from Gimmighoul sounds like the absolute worst thing in the world.
As for its type and ability, Gholdengo is a Steel/Ghost type, which I'm not even going to try and rationalise in my head as it seems The Pokemon Company hasn't bothered, and its ability, Good as Gold, gives Pokemon immunity to status effects. I'm no professional 'mon-er, so I can't say if that's much help to anyone, but I can say that Gholdengo will be in my crew based purely on vibes.