It was once believed that, should a Klang's boomerang like gear attacks be impeded on their return, the Klang would die; they believed this because the larger part of the body which threw that gear had indeed ceased to function as surely as if it had perished. The truth is far stranger, and perhaps harkens back to the Klang's alien origins, for there is little like it in our modern world of pokemon – only Slowbro, whose evolution is the result of a fusion of two pokemon, is known to do anything similar.

A failed gear shot does not kill a Klang, but devolves it into a Klink – for this pokemon's true spirit is contained not in the far larger, faceless gears which comprise its body, but in the minigear which it uses as a weapon. Said Klink will soon grow a second head and revert to a younger stage than Klang both in power and behavior. Typically, this happens by accident, and the remade Klink fiercely resent this tragedy; when they evolve again, they refuse to throw themselves at their foes, losing many battles by denying themselves their primary weapon for fear of losing something far more valuable.

A few Klink spawned from Klang, however, do the opposite. They intentionally hurl themselves long distances and find an Everstone to avoid evolving again. These ex-Klang fiercely resent the changes their body has experienced, and prefer both the lighter form and relative lack of pressure in battle of their predecessors. Some have seen in this a malady particular to this evolutionary line of pokemon, but echoes can be found even in human adults, who often view Klang as a metaphor and mourn the lost innocence of youth, while ignoring that most Klang love their newfound power and evolve further into Klinklang.