5. Spheal Is A Knock-off Of Seel
Both of these Pokémon are completely adorable. That's just where the similarities begin. Though Seel will eventually evolve into a manatee while Spheal becomes a walrus, the two are far too alike to ignore. In fact, Spheal looks like a Seel that swallowed a beach ball filled with iodine. Since sea lions are so cute, it's only natural that the creators would want to introduce another Pokémon based on that design but did it also have to be a dual Water/Ice type? There's so much more that could have been done with this design. Spheal could have become a Water/Steel or an Ice/Steel type rather than just another typical Water/Ice combination. It seems that the two contain far more similarities than they do differences so it's difficult to write much to distinguish the two from one another. Just take a look at the pictures - they look like they could be related or have some form of common ancestor in the Pokémon world. Usually when this is done the two Pokémon are designed together such as the Nidoran family or the previously mentioned Plusle and Minun. Spheal is just an example of lazy designing.