Only Galarian Mr. Mime Evolves Again — Level 42 Turns It Into Mr. Rime While Kantonian Mr. Mime Stays Final Forever

Ask ten players whether Mr. Mime evolves and you’ll get two correct but contradictory answers, because there are two Pokemon wearing that name right now, and only one of them still has an empty evolution slot waiting to be filled. The pink, pantomiming original — the one whose fingertips “solidify the air into invisible walls that repel even harsh attacks” [8] — reached its final form the moment it evolved from Mime Jr. The ice-blue Galarian version did not. It’s still one evolution away from becoming Mr. Rime, and the exact level that triggers it has nothing to do with the move-learning trick that creates Mr. Mime in the first place.

This guide covers both evolutionary paths end to end: the Mimic-gated jump into Kantonian Mr. Mime, the flat level-42 jump into Mr. Rime for the Galarian line, why only one branch got a third stage, and which one is actually worth building around.

Quick Answer

• Kantonian Mr. Mime (Psychic/Fairy): Mime Jr. evolves into it only after learning the move Mimic, then leveling up. It is a final-stage Pokemon — nothing evolves it further.
• Galarian Mr. Mime (Ice/Psychic): Evolves into Mr. Rime starting at level 42. No move requirement, no held item — just level up past the threshold.
• Base stat totals: Kantonian Mr. Mime and Galarian Mr. Mime both sit at 460. Mr. Rime jumps to 520.
• Mime Jr. and Mr. Mime are absent from the base Scarlet/Violet dex [3][4] — don’t assume you’re stuck on a dead-end line before confirming your game actually includes it.
• In Pokemon GO, each evolution step costs 50 Candy [9][10], but Galarian Mr. Mime itself has only ever been available through limited-time events, not standard wild spawns [11].

Two Pokemon Named Mr. Mime, Two Different Futures

The confusion starts because both forms share a Pokedex number, a name, and a first evolutionary stage in Mime Jr. — but they are coded as entirely separate three-slot families. Kantonian Mr. Mime is Psychic/Fairy, exists since Generation I, and tops out at two stages once Mime Jr. evolves [1][2]. Galarian Mr. Mime is Ice/Psychic, was introduced in Sword/Shield, and was built as the middle stage of a three-Pokemon line that ends in Mr. Rime [2][6].

Nothing about catching, breeding, or trading crosses the two families over. A Mime Jr. you raise into a pink Mr. Mime cannot become Mr. Rime by any means, and a Galarian Mr. Mime cannot revert to or merge with the Kantonian branch. Which one you get depends entirely on which specific Mime Jr. or Mr. Mime you started with — check its typing on the summary screen if you’re unsure, since the sprite color is the only outward tell.

How Mime Jr. Becomes Mr. Mime: the Mimic Gate

The jump from Mime Jr. to Kantonian Mr. Mime isn’t a plain level-up. It requires Mime Jr. to know the move Mimic first, then level up while it still knows it [1][3]. Miss that step and Mime Jr. will keep leveling forever without evolving, which is the single most common reason players think their Mime Jr. is bugged.

The level at which Mime Jr. actually learns Mimic isn’t fixed across every game — it’s level 32 in Sword/Shield and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, and level 25 in Legends: Arceus [1][5]. If you’re playing a game where Mime Jr. learned and then forgot Mimic, or hatched from an egg without it, you’ll need the Move Reteacher to relearn it before the evolution will trigger. We cover the exact level-by-game table and every Move Relearner location in our full Mime Jr. evolution breakdown — worth a detour before you assume anything is broken.

It’s worth pausing on why this gate exists at all. Move-based evolution triggers aren’t unique to Mime Jr. — Tangela into Tangrowth needs Ancient Power, Yanma into Yanmega needs the same move — but Mimic specifically ties the transformation to the Pokemon’s own signature theme: it can’t become a full-grown mime until it demonstrates the ability to copy another Pokemon’s move. That’s a deliberate design choice, not an arbitrary gate, and it’s the reason no amount of pure leveling will ever substitute for it.

Kantonian Mr. Mime Is the End of the Line

Once Mime Jr. evolves into the pink, Psychic/Fairy Mr. Mime, that’s it. No level threshold, no item, no trade condition unlocks a further stage for this specific form — Bulbapedia’s own evolution chart for the species lists nothing past it [1], and Pokemon Database’s family tree agrees [2]. This isn’t a case of an undiscovered mechanic; the line has been capped at two stages since Generation I, and nothing added in the 25+ years since has changed that for the original form specifically.

If you evolved a Kantonian Mime Jr. expecting a third form somewhere down the road, there isn’t one coming. Its endgame role is fixed the moment it becomes Mr. Mime — a specialized Sp. Def wall, not a work in progress.

Galarian Mr. Mime: a Different Pokemon, a Different Fate

The Galarian form swaps Fairy for Ice, keeping Psychic as its second type, and it exists specifically to feed into Mr. Rime — a Pokemon that Kanto’s Mr. Mime never got and never will. Evolution here is the simplest kind in the game: no Mimic requirement, no item, just level up to 42 and the transformation happens automatically [1][2].

Mr. Rime keeps the tap-dancing, comedic personality of its pre-evolutions but reframes it as a combat tactic — its Pokedex entry describes it waiting for enemies to laugh at its dance before striking with freezing air [6]. Mechanically, it and Galarian Mr. Mime are also the only two Pokemon that can have the ability Screen Cleaner, a small but genuine piece of trivia that ties the regional branch together beyond just their shared typing [6].

Why Only One Line Still Evolves

Neither Bulbapedia nor Pokemon Database documents an official developer statement on this, so the explanation below is inference from release history, not a confirmed dev quote — treat it as the most likely mechanical reason, not settled fact.

Mime Jr. itself wasn’t introduced until Generation IV, three full generations after Mr. Mime already existed as a stand-alone, already-final-stage Pokemon. Game Freak added a baby form to a line that was never designed with a third stage in mind. The Galarian branch had no such legacy to work around: when it was built from scratch for Sword/Shield, Mr. Rime was designed alongside it as the line’s payoff from day one. The gap isn’t about one line deserving a third stage more than the other — it’s a difference in when each branch was created and what constraints existed at the time.

Mr. Mime isn’t even the only species this happened to. Corsola follows the identical pattern: the original Water/Rock Corsola from Johto has no evolution at all, while the Ghost-type Galarian Corsola introduced in the same Sword/Shield generation evolves into Cursola starting at level 38 [12]. Sword/Shield’s regional variants were built with a habit of finishing off evolution lines the originals never got, and Mr. Mime and Corsola are the two clearest examples of it.

Stat and Type Comparison: Which Form Hits Harder?

The two lines don’t just look different — they play differently on a team, and the trade-off is sharper than the shared 460 base stat total between the unevolved forms suggests. Kantonian Mr. Mime leans on its 120 base Sp. Def to soak special hits and stall behind Barrier and Light Screen, while the extra Speed on both Galarian forms (100 for Galarian Mr. Mime, though Mr. Rime drops back to 70) points toward a faster support or breaker role instead of a pure wall.

Kantonian Mr. Mime’s defensive profile is tidy: three 2x weaknesses and a full Dragon immunity, backed by a genuinely rare quarter-damage resistance to Fighting [1][2]. The Ice/Psychic pair trades that safety net for offense — Mr. Rime’s 520 BST and 110 Sp. Atk outclass it on paper, but the typing carries six separate 2x weaknesses with zero immunities, one of the most exposed defensive combinations in the game. For the full attacking-type-versus-Psychic/Fairy or versus-Ice/Psychic breakdown against everything else in the game, our complete type chart lays out every matchup at a glance.

Availability: Where to Actually Get Each One

Mime Jr. and both Mr. Mime forms are obtainable in Sword/Shield, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, and Legends: Arceus, plus Legends: Z-A where Mime Jr. learns Mimic at level 32 [1][3][5]. Neither Mime Jr. nor Mr. Mime appears in the base Scarlet/Violet dex or in Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee [3][4] — if you’re on one of those games specifically, the line simply isn’t reachable there without transferring in from elsewhere, and it’s not a bug or a hidden unlock you’re missing.

In Pokemon GO, evolving Mime Jr. into Mr. Mime costs 50 Candy with no buddy-distance requirement attached [9]. Galarian Mr. Mime is the harder catch of the two by a wide margin: it debuted in December 2020 through a paid Special Research ticket that also handed out enough Candy to immediately evolve it into Mr. Rime [11], and every confirmed appearance since has been tied to a specific limited-time event or raid rotation rather than a standing wild spawn. If you see it available now, that’s a window, not a permanent state — act on it rather than assuming it’ll still be there next month.

Worth checking before you plan a whole build around either form: dex inclusion has shifted release to release, so a game that carries Mime Jr. today isn’t a guarantee for the next mainline title. Confirm the current dex on Pokemon Database or Serebii before committing breeding or trading time to either line.

Player-Type Verdict: Which Path Should You Chase?

FAQ

Can I evolve my regular Kantonian Mr. Mime into Mr. Rime?
No, and this trips up more players than any other question about this line. Mr. Rime only branches off the Galarian family. There’s no held item, trade condition, or version trick that bridges the two, because they’re coded as separate evolution chains that only happen to share a base stage and a name. If your Mr. Mime is pink, it’s done evolving — permanently.

Is Mr. Rime actually better than Kantonian Mr. Mime?
Depends what you need. Mr. Rime’s 520 BST and stronger Sp. Atk/Sp. Def spread beat Mr. Mime’s 460 outright as a raw attacker, but it gives up Mr. Mime’s tidy three-weakness, Dragon-immune defensive profile for six separate 2x weaknesses. If your team already answers Fire, Rock, Steel, Bug, Ghost, and Dark, Mr. Rime is the stronger pick. If it doesn’t, Kantonian Mr. Mime is the safer wall.

Why doesn’t Kantonian Mr. Mime get a third stage too?
Most likely because of when each branch was built. Mime Jr. wasn’t introduced until Generation IV, three generations after Mr. Mime already existed as a finished, stand-alone Pokemon with no room designed in for a further stage. The Galarian variant had no such legacy — Mr. Rime was designed as its payoff from the moment the regional form was created for Sword/Shield.

Will Galarian Mr. Mime ever be a guaranteed catch?
Not based on its track record so far. Every confirmed appearance — the original December 2020 Special Research, and every raid or research window since — has been time-limited [11]. Treat any current availability as temporary rather than something you can catch up on later.

Is this a common pattern, or is Mr. Mime a one-off?
It’s not a one-off — it’s how several Sword/Shield regional variants work. Galarian Corsola is the clearest parallel: the original never evolves, but the Galar-exclusive form does [12]. If you’re chasing a species you already assumed was capped, it’s worth double-checking whether a regional variant quietly reopened its evolution line before writing it off.

Verified against 2026 data across Scarlet/Violet, Sword/Shield, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Legends: Arceus, Legends: Z-A, and Pokemon GO’s current systems. Regional dex inclusion and event availability change with updates — confirm in your specific game before planning around either line.

Key Takeaway

The two Mr. Mimes aren’t one confusing evolution line — they’re two separate ones that happen to share a name, and treating them as interchangeable is what causes most of the confusion around this species. Check which typing you’re holding before you assume you’re stuck: pink and Psychic/Fairy means you’re already at the final form, while ice-blue and Ice/Psychic means Mr. Rime is still one level-up away. If you’re chasing more evolution lines with unusual mechanics or payoffs, our pseudo-legendary Pokemon ranking covers a different category of late-game evolution reward worth knowing about.

Sources

• Mr. Mime (Pokemon) — Bulbapedia
• Mr. Mime Pokedex — Pokemon Database
• Mime Jr. (Pokemon) — Bulbapedia
• Mime Jr. Generation 9 Moves — Pokemon Database
• Mime Jr. Pokedex — Pokemon Database
• Mr. Rime (Pokemon) — Bulbapedia
• Mr. Rime Pokedex — Pokemon Database
• Mr. Mime — Official Pokemon Pokedex
• Mime Jr. — Pokemon GO Pokedex, Serebii.net
• Mr. Mime — Pokemon GO Pokedex, Serebii.net
• Galarian Mr. Mime Event — Pokemon GO, Serebii.net
• Corsola (Pokemon) — Bulbapedia

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.