It’s not every day you encounter a shiny Pokémon in your games. But it’s also not every time that you’re happy upon seeing them.

While a lot of shiny variations look cooler than their original, there are some that are just plain disappointing. You wouldn’t even realize they were shiny unless you take a second and closer look!

But you don’t have to look far because here are the 10 most boring shiny Pokémon.

Flabébé

First on this list is Flabébé. Can’t tell the difference? Don’t worry, neither can most people!

Flabébé is one of the first-ever Fairy-type Pokémon in the franchise and arguably also one of the cutest.

It wears pollen on its head like a crown, and you’ll always see it riding a flower that comes in five different colors: red, yellow, and blue flowers are pretty common, orange is uncommon, and white is the rarest.

But while Flabébé is cute on its own and comes in different colors (its flower, at least), its shiny variation doesn’t really look that much different from its original. Oftentimes, you’d have to take a second look to realize that it’s actually the shiny version.

The only differences between the shiny and regular variations are the tail and eye colors.

The shiny variation has a light purple tail instead of green, and its eyes are bluish instead of brown.

However, Flabébé’s small body and tail are often covered by the stigma of the flower it’s holding, so you’ll barely notice it when the tail has a different color.

Also, its eyes are very small, so the change of their color from brown to blue isn’t that obvious unless you look at them intently.

Fortunately, Flabébé’s evolutions, Floette and Florges, both have beautiful and more recognizable shiny variations.

Plusle

Pikachu is probably the most popular Pokémon (for obvious reasons), and the whole franchise is nothing short of Pikachu clones. The Gen III games introduced their own clones in the form of Plusle and Minun.

Known as the “Cheering Pokémon” (together with Minun), Plusle’s shiny variation is far from being a cheerful change.

Compared to its counterpart, Minun, Plusle got the shorter end of the stick in terms of shiny variation design.

Plusle has a cream body and red marks on its face, hands, ears, and tail. Similarly, Minun has a cream body, but its marks are blue instead of red.

While shiny Minun gets a significant shift in its color scheme from blue to green, shiny Plusle gets a negligible shift from red to…well, still red.

Minun’s shiny variation doesn’t look any different from its original, except for a few shifts in the shade of red used. Even then, the difference between the two shades doesn’t seem significant and is barely noticeable.

Alolan Vulpix

Vulpix first appeared in the Gen I games and is part of the original 151 Pokémon from Kanto, so a lot of fans are already familiar with it.

On the other hand, its Alolan form was introduced very late into the series via Gen VII from the region of Alola.

While the Kantonian Vulpix has a rather reasonably beautiful shiny variation, its Alolan counterpart does not⁠—unless you consider a very subtle color shift to be a reasonable change for a shiny variation.

Shiny Kantonian Vulpix has a yellow gold body with tangerine head fur and tail, which is a significant change from its original light red body and orange head fur and tail.

Meanwhile, shiny Alolan Vulpix maintains the white body of the regular one, with only some minor light purple addition to its head fur and tail.

Given its overall snowy white color, it’s difficult to distinguish between a shiny Alolan Vulpix and a non-shiny one, especially when you find it in its natural habitat—the snowcapped mountains of Alola.

Diglett

Finally, a shiny Pokémon on this list that involves an ACTUAL color change!

Unfortunately, this sounds much more exciting than it actually is.

The only part you see on a Diglett is its head, and there’s nothing much going on in its face either.

Diglett has a generally brown body and a pair of eyes and a nose, and its body seems to always be buried in the ground, never shown or seen by anyone since the beginning of the franchise.

So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Game Freak artists found it challenging to make Diglett look more exciting for its shiny variation.

The only difference between a shiny Diglett and its regular variation is the color of its nose. While the regular one has a red nose, the shiny variation possesses a blue one.

This may sound like it’s a big deal, but the problem is that its nose is really small and has no memorable features. It’s basically just a regular oval-shaped nose.

So, even if the nose changed from red to blue, Diglett’s overall appearance still looks the same.

Good thing its Alolan counterpart has a more noticeable shiny variation (though, not necessarily better-looking).

Galarian Farfetch’d

You would think that after eight generations of Pokémon games, there wouldn’t be any more uninspired or lazily-designed shinies. Well, you’re wrong.

The shiny variation of Galarian Farfetch’d just has a tad lighter color than the regular one.

If you look closely, shiny Galarian Farfetch’d looks like the regular Galarian Farfetch’d that went through a blue light filter. You know that option on your phone that turns your screen yellow? Yep, that’s the one I’m talking about.

The most disappointing part about this is that the Kantonian Farfetch’d already has a decent shiny variation.

It’s not as amazing as some Pokémon like Ponyta and Rapidash, but a shiny Kantonian Farfetch’d will definitely stand out in a group of regular ones.

On the other hand, a shiny Galarian Farfetch’d will blend right in with a crowd of regular ones. Sadly, there just isn’t that much difference.

Luckily, its evolution, Galarian Sirfetch’d, has a significantly different and way cooler shiny form.

Blissey

Chansey is another popular Pokémon, especially in the anime. It’s the main companion of Nurse Joy in many of the regions.

While it’s debatable whether the shiny Chansey looks better than the regular one, we can’t deny that they have obvious differences.

I wish I could say the same about its evolution, Blissey.

Blissey’s shiny variation is just a shade lighter than the regular. The worst part is that its shiny version looks better in the older generations.

The shiny Blissey in the Gen II games has a more noticeable color difference compared to its regular counterpart. It has a bright fuchsia pink color in contrast to the light red color of the regular Blissey.

From Gen III onwards, Game Freak changed Blissey’s color into a lighter pink. At the same time, its shiny variation also got a color change, though not as much as the updated regular one.

The current shiny version is just what the regular Blissey looks like except the colors are faded for reasons unknown to us.

Garchomp

Garchomp quickly rose to popularity since its debut mainly because it’s a big part of Cynthia’s team. And Cynthia, as most fans probably know, is one of the most iconic Pokémon champions and characters in both games and anime.

While Garchomp is a formidable Pokémon in its own right, its shiny form is nothing short of uninspired. And given how strong Garchomp is and how many players would want it in their teams, its shiny variation being only slightly darker than its original is a very disappointing fact.

Shiny Garchomp only has slightly paler skin compared to the regular one, but all the colors on its body stay almost the same, if not a shade lighter. I don’t think having a slightly paler Garchomp is any cause for a celebration.

Good thing Garchomp isn’t a favorite because of its looks. And hey, at least its Mega evolution has a more recognizable shiny version.

Articuno

Wait, that’s a shiny??

The worst part about this barely noticeable color change is the fact that Articuno is a Legendary Pokémon. Belonging to this group comes with its perks. But I guess these perks don’t include having an actual good shiny version?

Safe to say, an encounter with one of the Legendary birds sounds like an exciting experience for any fan, much more so if you add that it’s a shiny one. But when it comes to Articuno’s case, “unexciting” is the more appropriate word to describe the experience.

The shiny version of Articuno should more appropriately be called its “faded” version instead, given how lackluster it is in terms of its color. The original version looks vibrant and lively, while the shiny looks pale and sickly in comparison.

Thankfully, Game Freak made Galarian Articuno’s shiny variation more distinguishable from its original version.

Gengar

You’re probably tired of all the disappointing shiny Pokémon on this list that essentially have the same core issue: adopting only a shade lighter or darker from their original versions and passing them off as shinies.

Unfortunately, we still have one remaining offender on this list: Gengar.

What makes Genger’s shiny version more disappointing than the others on this list is it somehow managed to transform the bright, sinister appearance of this Pokémon and turned it into something dull and somber. Gengar’s shiny version actually made it look kind of worse.

The memorable bright purple color of Gengar was replaced with a darker indigo color scheme.

Some fans may say that the somber color fits Gengar better. After all, it’s a Ghost-type Pokémon. But I don’t think this negligible color change deserves a “shiny” label.

In the games, from HeartGold & SoulSilver onward, Gengar’s bright purple scheme was toned down to become darker, which makes the difference between its shiny and regular forms even more negligible. And that’s why I think it’s one of the worst shiny Pokémon ever.

At least it has a badass shiny Mega evolution form, I guess?

Images in this article are sourced from Bulbpaedia, licensed under Fair Use.