Despite having run for over 1200 episodes, the Pokémon anime has had quite a few Pokémon who never appeared in the series. However, there's only one evolutionary family with an explicit ban on them, and that happens to be the Porygon family.

There are a lot of reasons why a Pokémon might not appear in the anime. It could be that it was being saved for a bigger role later, or the species simply didn't fit in with the plans the writers had. Sometimes one member of a family will appear without its other forms, like Coalossal, which appeared in Gigantamax form in Journeys, but its lower forms Rolycoly and Carkoal didn't appear until Horizons. It's generally assumed by fans that most Pokémon will appear in the anime eventually, but when it comes to Porygon, that's unlikely to ever happen, and that's due to a real-life tragedy.

The Pokémon Shock Was Pinned on Porygon

A Tragic Accident in a Porygon Episode Saw the Line Banned

Way back in 1997, an episode known as "Electric Soldier Porygon" aired in Japan. Approximately 2/3 of the way through the episode, there's a scene in which several missiles are fired, and Pikachu fires off an attack to destroy them. This caused a strobing effect, alternating between red and blue frames, which triggered seizures, convulsions, and even unconsciousness in viewers across the country. The event came to be known as the "Pokémon Shock," and led to the anime being pulled from the airwaves for four months while they ensured that nothing like this could happen again.

Even though the strobing effect was caused by Pikachu, the makers of the anime decided not to use Porygon ever again, feeling its presence would uncomfortably remind people of the Pokémon Shock. As a consequence of this, Porygon's evolutions, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, have never appeared in the anime, and likely never will. Still images of Porygon2 and Porygon-Z have appeared on-screen during movies before, but the Pokémon have never been portrayed in animated form, even in spinoff projects unrelated to the original anime.

Many Pokémon fans consider this ban on Porygon and its evolutions to be rather unfair, especially since Pikachu was actually the guilty party responsible for the strobing effect. The fact that nearly 30 years have ed since the Pokémon Shock has also led some to claim that it's finally time to welcome Porygon and its evolutions back into the anime, to the point where a rather convincing fake image of Liko interacting with Porygon spread rapidly.

Will Porygon Ever Return to the Anime?

Porygon's Odds of Returning Are Sadly Low

While fans of Porygon and its evolved forms are vehemently campaigning for its return to the anime, the odds of seeing Porygon in animated form again are pretty low, sadly. With over 1,000 Pokémon now available to choose from, even without the Porygon family, there's little reason for the anime to return to Porygon in particular. The fact that Porygon is a rare and artificial Pokémon makes it even less likely that it will ever appear, as its absence is rather easy to explain.

It's unfortunate, as Porygon's nature as an artificial Pokémon tied to computer systems has a lot of potential for interesting stories, especially with the course that its evolutions take, such as the bizarre Porygon-Z. Fans of Porygon deserve to see their favorite animated just like fans of other Pokémon do, after all, and it's been long enough since the Pokémon Shock that bringing Porygon back doesn't feel in bad taste. Hopefully, Porygon will be freed from its ban some day, and will make a glorious return to the Pokémon anime.