Those weird familiar Pokémon you've seen are called Natural Forms, variants of Pokémon that "previously" required human interaction and manmade items to evolve or simply went extinct because the habitats that allowed said evolutions to occur disappeared with civilization. They are basically meant to be retake on the not so popular designs of Gen 4 cross-gen evolutions (although not exclusively) to make them feel more like gen 1/2 and a nostalgic check on old concepts like Gorochu and Deel in a non intrusive way.
Many take inspiration from Japanese folklore and mythology.
>Rhyperior = Kohryu but a bulky bearded dragon.
>Magmortar = Kappa /Genbu
>Scizor = Yamata-No-Orochi
>Electivire = Hibagon/Byakko
>Gliscor = Nobusuma