Bagon

Bagon (Japanese: タツベイ Tatsubay) is a type Pokémon. Bagon made its introduction as a third generation Pokémon, upon the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Bagon is the pre-evolution of the very powerful Dragon Pokémon, Salamence.

Appearance
Because Bagon has such a powerful dream of flying, it often hurls itself off of high cliffs, only to tumble aimlessly to the bottom. As a result of Bagon's brave (yet very foolish) dives, its head has grown rock hard, allowing it to attack without feeling recoil. Hikers, however, have noticed the occasional unconscious Bagon, a victim of one fall too hard. They lack tails, have stubby arms, iguana ears,a yellow lower jaw with two teeth coming out, two feet which have two toes and a yellow triangular patch which seems to look like a diaper.

In the games
Bagon is found in Meteor Falls, specifically in an area of Meteor Falls that requires Pokémon with the moves Surf and Waterfall to get to. Bagon has average Attack and Defense stats like most Basic stage Pokémon, so it is captured mostly for its evolution. It evolves into Shelgon at level 30 and then into Salamence at level 50. Bagon has the Rock Head ability. With this ability, it does not receive recoil damage from moves such as Double-Edge.

Bagon is often compared to Dratini, Larvitar and Beldum by fans of the video games to be the pre-evolution to one of the most powerful Pokémon in the game. Just as Dragonite in Pokémon Red and Blue, Tyranitar in Pokémon Gold and Silver and Metagross in the 3rd generation, Bagon's second stage evolution, Salamence, has above average stats that are some of the highest in the game, even higher than Legendary Pokémon. Because of this, it's evolution, Salamence, is one of the six psuedo-legendary Pokemon. Also, like Dratini, Larvitar and Beldum, Bagon's first stage evolution is also fairly good, and better than a lot of fully evolved Pokémon, thus, why all these Pokémon evolve at late levels.

Evolution
Bagon evolves into Shelgon once it reaches level 30, afterwards into Salamence at level 50.

In the anime
Bagon has had one anime appearance in "Episode 319: Let Bagons Be Bagons!". In this episode, it was owned by a trainer who was trying to get it to evolve into a Shelgon because her Bagon had a fascination with flying and kept jumping off cliffs to do it.

Name origin
Bagon's name is a portmanteau of baby, as it's small and unevolved, and dragon, in reference to its type and appearance.