Some of the most famous, beloved, and treasured Pokémon in series history are the members of the Eevee evolutionary family, often referred to as the Eeveelutions. With nine members, including Eevee itself, this branched evolution tree has featured prominently in the games, movies, anime, trading card game, manga, toys, and much, much more.
With such a long and storied history, the Eeveelutions are the subject of a lot of trivia and lore. There might even be quite a few things that many superfans don't even know about them, considering their roles in the series have been so prolific. Here are some things about the Eeveelutions that you might not know.
10 Influence a Rival Battle
Long before there was Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, there was Pokémon Yellow, where the player received Pikachu as their starter and their rival received an Eevee. This would serve as the inspiration for the new games, while now allowing the player to choose Eevee instead.
However, back in Yellow, the player could influence how their rival's Eevee would evolve, and ultimately, their entire team. If the player wins the rival battle at the lab and on Route 22, the rival's Eevee evolves into Jolteon. If the player wins the lab battle but loses or skips the one on Route 22, the rival will later have a Flareon. If you lose at the lab, your rival will then have a Vaporeon. The other members of the rival's team also change to balance it out.
9 Flareon's Hot Breath
Many Fire-type Pokémon can be very terrifying if the player decides to read about them in the Pokédex, where they'll learn that many are capable of seriously powerful things involving their fiery nature. Flareon, Eevee's Fire-type evolution, is one of these Pokémon.
According to various Pokédex entries, Flareon is able to blow fire that exceeds 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,700 degrees Celsius). Its internal body temperature is also incredibly hot, so it's probably best to not anger this small beast.
8 Espeon and Umbreon
Often seen as a package deal, Espeon and Umbreon were the first "new" Eeveelutions introduced after the original Kanto trio of Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon. Utilizing the new friendship evolution mechanic, Espeon and Umbreon would evolve after the Eevee was leveled up with a high friendship level.
If this trigger moment happened during the day, the Eevee will evolve into Espeon, and at night, into Umbreon. Unfortunately, what many might not know is that the Gen I remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, did not have a night and day system, so it's impossible to evolve an Eevee into Espeon or Umbreon in those games.
7 Jolteon Shoots Its Fur
It's always been a fact that Jolteon can learn Pin Missile — a Bug-type move that relies on shooting spikes out at the opponent. But Jolteon is an Electric-type fox-like creature, so why can it use this move?
Apparently, it's because Jolteon is capable of shooting its fur. Various Pokédex entries state that Jolteon's fur is sharp like needles, and that they can fire it off at opponents in small bunches.
6 Legacy Evolutions
Legacy Evolutions are new evolutions for Pokémon that already existed in an earlier generation. For example, Eevee is a Generation I Pokémon that received new evolutions in Umbreon and Espeon when Generation II came around.
Legacy Evolutions have popped up in many generations, most notably Generation IV where it felt like half of the Sinnoh Pokédex are Legacies. However, did you know that Eevee holds a special title for the only Legacy Evolution in Generation VI? Fairy-type Sylveon's introduction marked the only cross-generational relative from the Kalos region.
5 Vaporeon's Design Change
A few Pokémon have seen design changes or color palette swaps over the years, mostly between generations I and II due to graphical upgrades and further development in the franchise. One of the more drastic design changes that occurred was for Vaporeon, which received a whole new look in Generation II.
In Gen I, Vaporeon's design looked a lot more like a dog than the later design. Its ears were a very different shape with black elements, and the face was much longer. Vaporeon lost its leg fins and the spikes along its back were changed significantly.
4 Eon
Have you ever noticed that all of the Eeveelutions have -eon at the end of their name, but Eevee doesn't? There's actually a reason for this. Initially, Eevee's name was meant to be Eon, referencing age or time passing, probably to match its branched evolutionary quirk.
After the initial Kanto games were released though, Eevee's promotional "Eon" was changed to the new name we all know and love. However, the -eon suffix of all the evolutions were kept.
3 Transforming Eevee
Eevee can supposedly evolve into eight different Pokémon due to its unstable DNA, but those evolutions are final and irreversible. However, there is an exception to this. Red's Eevee in the manga series is capable of transforming between the three Generation I Eeveelutions at will.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Team Rocket was attempting to fuse the Legendary Birds into one Pokémon and they experimented on an Eevee. This experimentation mutated Eevee and allows this at-will transformation. Eventually, this Eevee evolved into an Espeon, and it lost its ability to shift between forms.
2 Evolution Methods
Eevee's branched evolution tree doesn't just mean it evolves into more Pokémon than any other 'mon — it also requires a wide variety of evolutionary methods, from Evolutionary Stones to friendship-based evolution and more.
But, these methods have changed for some of the Eeveelutions over time. Since their introduction, Glaceon and Leafeon were achieved by leveling up an Eevee near an Ice Rock or a Moss Rock, respectively. However, Game Freak has seemingly grown tired of including these locations in every game, since Eevee now evolves into Glaceon or Leafeon with an Ice Stone or a Leaf Stone, respectively, in Sword & Shield.
Interestingly, this isn't the first case of an alternate method being used. Espeon and Umbreon would evolve with a Sun or Moon Shard in Pokémon XD, whereas Sylveon was changed from Affection-based to friendship-based evolution.
1 Signature Moves
There are a ton of Pokémon with signature moves, especially in recent generations. But, most evolutionary families with a signature typically just have one (sometimes two). Eevee, however, blows that out of the water, with a total of nine signature moves.
These are, of course, Eevee's special moves from the Let's Go series. The Partner Eevee in Let's Go Eevee is capable of learning a move for each of its evolutionary relatives' types, plus Normal-type for itself. These nine moves are all very useful, too.
Eevee also has an exclusive Z-Move in Extreme Evoboost, which summons the eight members of its evolutionary family for a cool Sailor Moon-style teamup stat booster.