Morpeko #877: the hamster that swaps moods every turn

Adorable on a full stomach, ferocious on an empty one. Morpeko is the Galar region's little electric rodent: two forms that switch on their own at the end of every turn, an Ability no one else has, and a signature move that changes type depending on its appetite.

Contents

• Who is Morpeko?
• Full Belly Mode, Hangry Mode: two forms that switch on their own
• Type and matchups: the misconception to avoid
• Aura Wheel, a two-faced move
• A Pikaclone, a Dr. Jekyll and lots of seeds
• Morpeko Fact Sheet
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Morpeko?

Listed as #877 in the National Pokédex, Morpeko is the "Two-Sided Pokémon" of the eighth generation, the one introduced in Pokémon Sword and Shield. It was revealed on August 7, 2019, in a trailer it shared with Obstagoon and the Galarian forms of Zigzagoon and Linoone.

It's tiny: 30 centimeters tall and 3 kilos. Its bipedal body is part golden hamster, part guinea pig, with two big ears, a very small nose and two pink cheek pouches that it uses to generate electricity.

Its fur is divided into three sections: the central one covers most of its body, while the other two each wrap around an ear and a front leg. These sections form seed pouches, and its back bears a pattern that looks an awful lot like Pikachu's tail.

Full Belly Mode, Hangry Mode: two forms that switch on their own

Morpeko has two forms with very telling names: Full Belly Mode and Hangry Mode. In the first, its three fur sections are brown, yellow and black, and its perfectly round eyes are black and white.

In the second, they turn black, purple and black, and its eyes turn red. The switch is more than cosmetic: its cheeks generate electricity nonstop, which burns so much energy that it's hungry all the time.

When the hunger drags on, a hormonal imbalance makes it change form and turns it downright nasty. Pokémon Shield puts it bluntly: "Hunger hormones affect its temperament. Until its hunger is appeased, it gets up to all manner of evil deeds."

All of this is orchestrated by a single Ability, Hunger Switch, which no other Pokémon has and which is Morpeko's only one, since it has no Hidden Ability. It always enters the field in Full Belly Mode, then alternates at the end of every turn.

Type and matchups: the misconception to avoid

Don't fall into the trap: both forms are Electric and Dark type. The Pokémon's type doesn't budge one bit between Full Belly Mode and Hangry Mode — it's the type of its signature move that changes, not its own.

This combination is unique in the entire series: no other Pokémon is both Electric and Dark. It gives it full immunity to Psychic and five resistances, since Electric, Flying, Ghost, Dark and Steel deal only half damage to it.

On the other side, four types deal double damage: Fighting, Ground, Bug and Fairy, with no quadruple weakness at all. Its stats remain modest, with 97 Speed and 95 Attack for a total of 436 points — a total that, to date, no other Pokémon shares.

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Aura Wheel, a two-faced move

Its signature move is Aura Wheel, and it's the only Pokémon that can learn it: at level 55 in Sword and Shield as well as in Scarlet and Violet, and at level 57 in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

It's a physical move with 110 power, 100 accuracy and 10 PP, which also raises the user's Speed by one stage. Morpeko unleashes the energy stored in its cheeks, and the type follows the form.

In Full Belly Mode, Aura Wheel is Electric type. In Hangry Mode, it switches to Dark and then becomes, Z-Moves aside, that type's most powerful move in the game.

A Pikaclone, a Dr. Jekyll and lots of seeds

Morpeko belongs to the small band of "Pikaclones", those rodents modeled on Pikachu, with at least one per generation. It's Galar's representative, and the only one in the group with the Dark type.

Above all, it's the only one that can change form thanks to its Ability. Ironically, it can't learn Nuzzle, the move created for this little club — a quirk that makes it stand out in a section full of Pokémon plushies.

Its two faces recall The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. Its name, for its part, is thought to come from the Japanese morumotto, the word for guinea pig, and harapeko, which means "starving".

In the anime, a wild Morpeko raids the food supplies of Team Rocket before being caught by James — a running gag that earned it a place among collectible figures. In the games, you'll find it on Route 7 and Route 9, at Lake of Outrage in the Wild Area, at Challenge Beach on the Isle of Armor and at Ball Lake, the giant Poké Ball of the Crown Tundra.

Morpeko Fact Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

• What are Morpeko's two forms?
  Full Belly Mode and Hangry Mode. In Full Belly Mode, its three fur sections are brown, yellow and black, and its round eyes are black and white. In Hangry Mode, they turn black, purple and black, and its eyes go red. Morpeko always enters battle in Full Belly Mode, then changes form at the end of every turn. The difference is behavioral too: when it's hungry, a hormonal imbalance makes it aggressive.
• Does Morpeko change type when it's hungry?
  No, and it's the most common mix-up. Morpeko is Electric and Dark type in both forms: its typing never changes. What changes is the type of its signature move, Aura Wheel, which is Electric when it's in Full Belly Mode and Dark when it switches to Hangry Mode. The Pokémon Violet Pokédex even describes the phenomenon as a change in the energy stored in its cheeks, not in the Pokémon itself.
• What is Morpeko's Ability?
  Hunger Switch, its one and only Ability: it has no second regular Ability and no Hidden Ability. At the end of every turn, this Ability makes Morpeko alternate between Full Belly Mode and Hangry Mode, changing the type of its Aura Wheel move at the same time. It's a signature Ability: no other Pokémon has it, whether as a regular or a Hidden Ability.
• What is Aura Wheel?
  It's Morpeko's signature move, and it's the only Pokémon that can learn it. Aura Wheel is a physical move with 110 power, 100 accuracy and 10 Power Points that raises the user's Speed by one stage. Its type depends on Morpeko's form: Electric in Full Belly Mode, Dark in Hangry Mode. It learns the move at level 55 in Sword and Shield as well as in Scarlet and Violet, and at level 57 in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
• What are Morpeko's weaknesses?
  Four types deal double damage to it: Fighting, Ground, Bug and Fairy. None of them hits it four times as hard. On the other hand, it takes half damage from five types (Electric, Flying, Ghost, Dark and Steel), and it's completely immune to Psychic. These matchups are exactly the same in Full Belly Mode and Hangry Mode, since its typing doesn't change.
• Does Morpeko evolve, and does it have a Mega Evolution or a Gigantamax form?
  No on all three counts. Morpeko has no evolution and isn't evolved from any Pokémon. It doesn't have a Mega Evolution either: the only one in the eighth generation is Mega Falinks, obtained with the Falinksite. And it isn't one of the species with the Gigantamax Factor. Its two forms are therefore neither evolutions nor Dynamax transformations: they're two modes that alternate on their own in battle.

In short

Sweet on a full stomach, fearsome on an empty one : Morpeko is the only Pokémon whose color, mood and move type all flip on their own at the end of every turn. And it stays Electric and Dark from start to finish.