i review the pocket men (2024)

Oh DANG, it’s Lucario!!!!!!

Lucario’s HUGE. Literally the second-most-beloved pokemon in the franchise according to the Pokemon of the Year poll, Lucario represents a perfect storm of factors all coming together to result in an ASTOUNDING degree of popularity. It’s…..rly big. For comparison, Pikachu got 19th in that same poll.

Originally posted by that-geek-you-know-deactivated2

It all started with a movie, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, released about a year before Gen IV’s Diamond and Pearl did, with Lucario being one of the first looks at the upcoming generation. Because Pokemon movies up to this point had featured legendaries, people had assumed Lucario, too, was a legendary, and the movie did little to disconfirm this. It could talk, it had a unique anthropomorphic design unlike most other pokemon seen thus far, and it had special powers that seemed unaffiliated with any particular type, dubbed “aura”. Already a recipe for hype!

Originally posted by shelgon

Once Gen IV came out, it became apparent that Lucario was actually just a normal pokemon, a Fighting/Steel-type (for….some reason), even having a pre-evolution in Riolu. But it still felt special: neither it nor Riolu could be found in the wild, with a Riolu egg instead being obtained through an optional sidequest trekking through a cave on Iron Island. You would be accompanied by someone named Riley, whose design harkened to a movie character named Sir Aaron, and who himself used a Lucario. As a reward for your help, he would bestow you with an egg, that would then hatch into Riolu and you could then evolve into Lucario after raising its friendship level.

Originally posted by bbdeathz

Lucario’s popularity was practically sealed. It had a massive amount of marketing through the movie and other media that built up to DP’s eventual release, and when DP finally did come out, Lucario had a perfect balance of difficulty to obtain it with how likely a player was to actually encounter it. It just felt SPECIAL, in a way no other pokemon ever quite has, before or since.

As a design, I respect Lucario. It’s certainly got some peculiar quirks to it: the anime mouth doesn’t sit right on the face with respect to the snout, the oddly-bent tail feels kinda haphazardly glued on, the aesthetic of wearing parachute shorts is kinda weird, and the only allusion to it being Steel-type seems to be its rather nonsensical spikes. But an anthropomorphic blue jackal with a clear Anubis-inspired silhouette is undeniably cool, and I feel positively toward it overall despite some odd decisions. And I actually like the dreads!

Naturally, it would later be a recipient of a Mega Evolution in XY, and a pretty alright one overall. However, one result of its popularity led to it missing part of what made it so popular in the first place: all players would receive one from a gym leader as a natural part of XY’s story. Appropriate for such an iconic pokemon to introduce Mega Evolution, sure, but it made it apparent how much of that “special” aspect Lucario had since lost. Being gifted one for free just didn’t hit right. As a design, Mega Lucario’s red markings feel a bit excessive, and I’m not as into it as I am the base design. It’s not bad, though, and the floofy tail’s an improvement.

Originally posted by silverjolteon

Lucario’s shiny swaps the blue and yellow, albeit with the yellow now a more unnatural citrus tone. Suitably distinct from the base form, but not really an improvement. Mega Lucario keeps the general colour scheme, but shifted darker into a rather unpleasant olive shade.

Overall, I like Lucario. It’s got some weird aesthetic choices, but on the whole it’s pretty neat and VERY iconic. I don’t particularly vibe with it myself these days, but I definitely understand those who do, and I find its immense popularity both justified and unsurprising.

Also same Eng VA as Goku/10.

AMPHY!!!!!

I LOVE Ampharos. It’s basically an Electric-type lighthouse sheep dragon, which is an amazing combination of things to be, and it’s also one of the cutest fully-evolved pokemon in the franchise. Part of that cuteness is through the fact that throughout its evolutionary line, it manages to retain the same simple face: just two simple dot eyes and not much else. What DOES change as it evolves is its amount of wool, each evolution effectively shearing some of its wool off, until arriving at the completely hairless Amphy. This lack of wool is what makes the dragon aspect apparent, as well.

Of course, the core aspect of Ampharos is its bioluminescence, with the orbs on its forehead and tail able to produce light visible from great distances – according to some dex entries, even from space! It’s historically been used as a navigational aid, particularly by sailors, with its beacon able to guide lost travelers and send signals from far away. This is what I mean when I refer to it being part lighthouse!

On that note, Amphy is a pretty important pokemon in-canon, at least in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, plus their remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver. The name “Amphy” notably refers to a specific Ampharos that illuminates the Glitter Lighthouse of Olivine City, which when you first arrive to the city, has unfortunately fallen ill. After climbing the lighthouse you find the local gym leader, Jasmine. Jasmine tasks you with retrieving an item called the SecretPotion from across the sea in Cianwood City. Once you give it to her and Amphy’s health is restored, Jasmine will finally battle you and your quest can continue. This cute little plotline even got adapted in the anime and in multiple manga!

Originally posted by quilahva-deactivated20211206

Ampharos also got a notable role in Super Mystery Dungeon: the eccentric leader of the Expedition Society, referring to himself as the “Dashing Wanderer”. Ampharos is defined by his extraordinarily poor sense of direction, often getting lost when travelling by himself, which is a questionable trait to have for someone leading something called an Expedition Society. He’s also rather capricious, often making rules and then ignoring them, and is a wonderfully silly character overall. He allows the player and their partner to join his expedition team, breaking his own rule against allowing children in the Expedition Society, which kickstarts the whole plot. Despite his seeming incompetence, he’s got connections with multiple Legendary and Mythical pokemon, which is critical to the plot’s climax.

Anyways, back to Ampharos’s dragon-y aspect. On top of having a vaguely draconic appearance, its Japanese name is actually Denryu, effectively meaning “electric dragon”, so it being intended to evoke a dragon is hardly accidental. This was solidified by its Mega Evolution, which adopted Dragon as its secondary type, with massive amounts of energy having apparent awakened its “long-sleeping dragon’s blood”. Said energy also stimulated its hair follicles and resulted in it growing a bunch of wool back, which is the main aesthetic difference. It’s an alright Mega, keeping the incredibly solid base design intact, though I don’t know how much I actually LIKE the luscious wool aesthetic even if I find the idea funny.

Ampharos has a lovely shiny, a muted berry pink with blue orbs. While the red orbs appeared pink when lit, these blue orbs instead appear cyan, both really pretty and an excellent contrast. Shiny Mega Ampharos retains this shiny colour scheme overall, though uses a noticeably lighter pink.

But yeah, Ampharos is an amazing pokemon, and it’s quite popular as well. It’s actually quite close to being my absolute favourite Electric-type! I have a special fondness for light as an element, and Ampharos represents that more than any other pokemon. It’s also got a fantastic design, with just the right amount of detail, particularly with the use of stripes on its tail, neck, and horns for contrast. Plus it’s cute as hell :3

Lovely lighthouse keeper/10.

Ooooh, Absol.

One of my Absolute (hahaha) favourite Dark-types, Absol’s one of those pokemon that’s just OBJECTIVELY rad. Big white cat-wolf thing with asymmetrically positioned scythe horns that form a Taijitu? Holy hell. The most likely basis that Bulbapedia attributes to it is the Bai Ze of Chinese mythology, a horned white beast with the ability to communicate with humans and possessing knowledge of 11,520 supernatural creatures and how to overcome them. A Japanese take on the concept, known as the kutabe, was said to predict a deadly plague that would sweep through the Toyama Prefecture. Which ties into Absol’s primary conceptual gimmick: prediction of disasters.

Originally posted by larvitarr

Unfortunately for Absol, it lacks its basis’s capacity for communication, and the most it can really do it just appear before those who are soon to experience eminent calamity, such as earthquakes or tsunamis. It’s always tempting to read correlation as causation, though, so poor Absol often gets saddled with the blame for causing said calamities, whether directly or through simply bringing about bad luck. This led to them being driven off by humans deep into the mountains, and they rarely venture down as a result. Not dissimilar to the real-life aye-aye, which are killed due to their association with bad luck and evil, not to mention the historical treatment of black cats. Very sad :(

Its concept also notably does NOT really represent its typing at all. I’ve talked about this a little with Umbreon, but the Dark-type’s key themes are dirty tricks, unfair tactics, and general assholery. That’s not Absol at all! Absol’s an upstanding yet misunderstood lad only seeking to warn others of impending doom!!!! This is even acknowledged by its hidden ability, Justified, which is explicitly justice-themed and increases power when ATTACKED by Dark-types!!! …..But like, the only other typing that could realistically fit is Normal, and that’s…..rly boring. So Dark it is, I guess.

Absol’s also got an Absolutely (hahahaha) killer mega evolution! Absol is admittedly total edgelord bait, and Mega Absol wholeheartedly embraces that by slappin’ some angel wings and emo hair on the sucker. To surprisingly great effect, actually. It adds a guardian angel sort of motif to its prognosticative ways, in addition to giving it a lowkey Greek sphinx aesthetic that’s undeniably cool. Over-the-top, perhaps, but in the best possible way. It’s easily one of my favourite megas, probably top three.

Originally posted by zardachu-blog

And Absol’s shiny is utterly superb as well! Swapping the dark grey-blue out for a light burgundy, with the red eyes getting swapped for cyan, produces a marvellous effect that manages to stand out from the already-solid base colours and arguably even surpass them. Definitely one of the better shinies, if not amongst the best.

In summary, I love Absol. It’s edgy as all hell, sure, but that’s part of what makes it appealing. Wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Absolutely perfect/10. (hahahahahaha)

Altaria!!!!! The Humming Pokemon!

Altaria’s a wonderfully cute bird pokemon, and the evolved form of Swablu. Despite its avian appearance, it notably gains a Dragon typing upon evolution, transitioning from the pedestrian Normal/Flying combination to a more-unique Dragon/Flying. A pokemon changing its primary type (that is, the type that is listed first) is uncommon, and almost exclusively happens with Flying-types because Flying was always a secondary type until Gen 6. If they were going to introduce primary-Flying pokemon, this line seems like it would’ve been the time to do it: a bird with wings made of clouds is incredibly Flying-themed. All the primary-Flying pokemon produced now just feel arbitrary in comparison.

Appropriate for its species title, Altaria’s most notable behavior is its tendency to hum and sing. Said to sing in a “beautiful soprano” with a crystal-clear voice, Altaria captivates all who hear it. Ironically, it doesn’t learn many sound-based moves, though it is one of a small handful of pokemon with access to my absolute favorite move, Perish Song. This makes for some great flavor – Altaria’s singing is apparently so beautiful that it can cause all who hear it to lose consciousness, including Altaria itself. Of course, it is still a dragon: its Emerald dex entry mentions it can launch intensely hot fireballs from its mouth, and its Shield dex entry describes how it will attack those who provoke it without mercy.

Originally posted by leader-marnie

As a design, Altaria is absolutely lovely. Its blue coloration paired with its cloud-like wings are certainly fantastical, yet also make a lot of evolutionary sense as camouflage for something that spends most its time in the sky. The cloud wings are a fantastic design quirk in general, and it’s surprising clouds haven’t been incorporated in pokemon designs more extensively. Clouds are logically to Flying what flaming appendages are to Fire, after all. In fact, I would argue that Altaria is the single best representation of the Flying-type, representing Flying as both an ability and an elemental affinity. Which again, is despite its Dragon-type being listed first! Beyond the wings, Altaria’s face is remarkably adorable, with its puffy white cheeks and short beak complementing each other wonderfully. The two streaming feathers on its head give it an excellent silhouette, and its tail feathers round out the design nicely.

Altaria is such excellent Flying representation that it makes its Mega Evolution just a little bit awkward, since it actually drops its Flying-type in favor of a Dragon/Fairy combination. I understand the mentality behind this – while Dragon is a rare typing overall, Dragon/Flying is one of its more common dual type pairs. Dragon/Fairy, meanwhile, is entirely unique to Mega Altaria and gives the concept a lot more oomph. It also gains the ability Pixilate, which converts all Normal-type attacks it uses into Fairy-type attacks in addition to giving them a power boost. While Altaria only learned Hyper Voice through tutors and breeding, Pixilate notably gave that a boost in power, which does show off its singing theme a bit more. As a design, Mega Altaria is pleasant – I greatly prefer the soft pastel blue and long flowing tail. The huge cloudy bits, while excessive, feel appropriate for a Mega. That said, why did it get a colonial pirate hat??????? does the hat represent its increase in authority

Shiny Altaria is yellow. I like it a whoooole lot! c:

Overall, Altaria is truly superb. The fact that this elegant puffy-cheeked cloud birb is a Dragon-type makes it all the better, and as such it’s easily one of my absolute favorite Dragons in the series. Of course, it’s a favorite on the Flying side as well, and far more thematically deserving of a primary-Flying typing than species like Noivern, Corviknight, and Cramorant. Oh yeah, and this is what it looks like wet:

Originally posted by corsolanite

cheak boid/10.

Suicune!!!!!!!

Suicune’s the Legendary mascot of Pokemon Crystal, and has always been highly iconic as a result – arguably quite a bit moreso than the other two Legendary Beasts. As a Water-type, it’s conceptually associated with clean water, able to purify even the dirtiest reservoir. This purification is apparently a task it actively commits to doing, racing around the world in its efforts to quell the effects of pollution. On top of that, it’s said to be a embodiment of the north winds, which blow wherever it goes.

As a design, Suicune’s pretty rad. It’s quite striking overall – an elegant quadruped with long, cloud-like hair, a large crystalline head crest, and two ribbon-like tails that perpetually flow in the opposite direction of its body. It’s controversial what Suicune actually is supposed to look like though, since it doesn’t really resemble ANYTHING. It’s kinda just……a thing. Which is cool, actually, especially for a Legendary. The tails are an especially good touch, since they reflect the fact it’s always accompanied by wind. The cloud hair flows in the opposite direction, though, which becomes weird when you actually notice it.

But yeah, Suicune is just one of a legendary trio known as the Legendary Beasts. The Legendary Beasts are each seemingly based on a significant mythological creature (despite a history of being misconstrued as dogs), albeit with a lot of artistic license. Entei is likely based on Chinese guardian lions; Raikou is likely based on Raiju, a Japanese thunder beast; and Suicune is likely based on the Qilin, a hooved chimerical animal resembling a dragon. Though Suicune….doesn’t really look like that, either.

Originally posted by jango-mango

The lore of the Legendary Beasts is actually quite interesting, and much more fleshed out than other “minor” Legendary trios usually are. Three pokemon once dwelled in Ecruteak’s Brass Tower, until the tower was struck by lightning and then engulfed in flames. The three pokemon perished, to the dismay of the townspeople. The fire was then put out by a rainstorm, following which a rainbow appeared, along with Ho-Oh. Ho-Oh then revived the three pokemon in the form of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune – each symbolising a stage of the Brass Tower’s demise. Raikou, the lightning; Entei, the fire; Suicune, the rain. The townspeople now feared the pokemon for their power and reacted with violence, so the Legendary Beasts fled.

Originally posted by cobalon

One individual with a exceptional interest in the Legendary Beasts – Suicune in particular – is a dapper fellow named Eusine. A new addition in Pokemon Crystal, he’s an obsessive pursuer of Suicune, having sought to encounter it for years. He battles the player in the hopes of earning Suicune’s respect, though obviously that doesn’t go well for him. Eusine’s a nerd, but a pretty cool guy overall. More importantly, he emphasises that Legendaries are important to people besides the player. Oh, and his name’s almost an anagram of Suicune!

Originally posted by lilsageart

Suicune appeared in Celebi: Voice of the Forest, aiding Ash in saving Celebi from the villainous Iron-Masked Marauder. Suicune notably demonstrates its ability to purify water by purifying a contaminated lake – though it doesn’t actually help the objective of healing the dying Celebi because it’s still just water I guess. Suicune also appears a few times in the main series as well, mostly just being cool and mysterious and making Ash want to catch it.

Shiny Suicune leans way more heavily into blues, with a bluer crest and deep blue cloud hair instead of purple. It’s a lot less interesting of a colour scheme than base Suicune’s, but it looks quite pleasant nonetheless.

Overall, Suicune’s pretty good! I think the Legendary Beasts are possibly the best trio overall, at least on a conceptual level. They form a great dynamic with each other and have some INCREDIBLY strong lore going on. Suicune isn’t my favourite of the three or a pokemon I’m personally into, but it’s a strong design that I completely respect. The only real criticism to be had is it’s kinda thematically overloaded, with pure water and rain and wind and also according to its official species designation, auroras. Still cool though! Also, I didn’t go over the beta designs, but it’s worth noting that we almost got some hilariously edgy sparkledogs instead. They’re good designs too, but I think the final versions definitely feel more Legendary.

wimdy/10.

Originally posted by battlevilla

Dragonite!!!!

Dragonite’s a pokemon I’ve got complex feelings about, actually, but we’ll get to that later. It’s a Dragon/Flying-type and originally the only fully-evolved Dragon-type in existence. As such, it got a LOT of special mystique to it as a result before the type became more common and normal. It’s also the first pseudo-legendary: a class of pokemon with extraordinarily high base stats exceeding some legit legendaries, which traditionally evolve from their prior forms at a very late level. In short: it’s strong and special and important!

Dex-wise, Dragonite’s said to be a kindhearted marine pokemon that rescues drowning people and leads lost ships to shore, which we all appreciate. And it has human-level intelligence, which is neat and appropriate for a dragon. Notably, it can also apparently fly around the entirety of the world in just 16 hours, which would require flying at like 1,562 miles per hour (like 2,510 km per hour). That’s like, over double the speed of sound? Pretty fast!!!! Not sure if the speed is more or less impressive than the fact it can apparently sustain that without any rest though.

Originally posted by osakaxkobe

As a design, Dragonite’s decent. It’s quite big and bulky with only small wings, but the wings are frequently portrayed as larger when in flight which is a neat little thing to have aesthetic flexibility with. Its yellow colouration is striking yet amicable, and overall it’s neat how something so powerful has such chill and positive vibes. It’s just a big dragon friend!!!! Its antenna are also neat, and it’s sometimes portrayed shooting lasers from them.

That said, it’s hard to ignore its relationship with its evolutionary relatives. I LOVE Dratini and Dragonair! Dragonair’s possibly even my favourite Dragon-type and favourite Kanto pokemon. And Dragonite….obviously goes in a very different direction. That said, though, I can respect that. Dratini and Dragonair are like larval noodles to Dragonite’s fully matured dragon-shaped form. But the shift in vibes is also VERY dramatic, to the extent even the anime recently acknowledged it. And I still don’t particularly love Dragonite even if I think the concept of noodle into “proper” dragon is cool.

Dragonite has a green shiny, and is actually one of the rare instances of a green shiny looking pretty nice. I wouldn’t say it’s better than the yellow, but its a pleasantly deep shade of olive with a lovely purple accent on the wings that I adore.

But yeah, Dragonite as a whole? Mixed feelings. I vastly prefer Dratini and Dragonair, to such a degree that it clouds my perception of Dragonite, but I also appreciate what they were going for with the evolutionary line. Sometimes a dramatic shift is cool! I guess the best compromise would be if the Everstone and Eviolite were combined so you could easily prevent a pokemon from evolving in-game whilst also getting a stat boost. In-game functionality aside, though, I’m cool with how the line is. I love Dragonair, but I can’t imagine loving anything it evolved into as much as I love it as it is. Dragonair is perfection, and Dragonite was never gonna be able to live up to that. Dragonite’s still cool for what it is though.

A very valid delivery dragon/10.

Originally posted by corsolanite

GIRATINA!!!! Our first legendary!

So, this is actually Giratina’s “Altered Forme”, though we wouldn’t actually know that until Platinum came out because initially, this was the ONLY Giratina form. Known as the “Renegade Pokemon”, this Dragon/Ghost-type didn’t have much lore to it at first, simply being said by the dex to live on a world on the reverse side of our own, apparently having been “banished for its violence”, and sometimes appearing in an ancient cemetery. It appeared with no backstory in a place called Turnback Cave, which was comprised of a bunch of randomised rooms that would try leading you back to the entrance. Spooky!

Originally posted by willfosho-deactivated20210729

Giratina’s got a pretty intense aesthetic, and is unlike virtually any other pokemon. It’s a dragon, sure, but it’s got six legs and wings made of amorphous two-dimensional shadows! The gold “armour” around its neck evokes a ribcage, and the points on its “helmet” are almost mandible-esque. Appropriately weird and otherworldly for its concept, it’s got a very neat design, but I can’t help wishing it was altered(!) a little. The red stripes feel too deliberate, and for something so spooktacular, black being the dominant colour rather than grey may have been more striking and visually pleasant. And I’m not sure how to feel about the wing spikes. Still, it’s a decently good design overall, I feel.

Anyways, come Platinum, it would turn out that wasn’t even Giratina’s true form – this, the “Origin Forme” is. This is the form Giratina takes when it’s actually within the Distortion World, the name given to the dimension it inhabits. Unfortunately, it tones down many of the aspects that made the Altered Forme so distinctive: the legs have been reduced to mere spikes, and the wings have been turned into vague noodles, no longer flat or capable of changing shape. The head, meanwhile, has gotten far more complex – the mandibles have been expanded to an actual mandible-like form that can open and close horizontally, whilst the internal mouth opens and closes normally alongside it. That’s pretty rad!!!!

Platinum is also when Giratina got most of its lore integrated properly, as it was a critical aspect of the story. Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, sought to destroy the universe and remake it as a “world without spirit” through summoning Palkia and Dialga, using their vast power over time and space to bring his twisted dreams to reality. As he does so, though, Giratina suddenly appears as a shadowy mass and drags him into the Distortion World to stop him, with the player following close behind to defeat him for good after a trek through the amazingly surreal Distortion World (and also capturing Giratina afterward, because why not). It’s all pretty cool!

Originally posted by arcamira

Giratina’s also got a pretty nice shiny, and the cyan accents are especially appealing. Though again, it feels like black as the main colour would’ve captured Giratina’s vibes better. Also you can see the mandibles open and close here, isn’t it great?????

Overall, Giratina’s a pokemon I absolutely adore the concept of, despite some misgivings I have about the designs. The Altered Forme does some amazingly creative stuff with its body plan that no pokemon has attempted since, even if doesn’t really know when to hold itself back. The Origin Forme, meanwhile, loses a lot of the Altered Forme’s ingenuity, mandibles aside, but does feel more cohesive. Both are solid designs regardless, and Giratina’s definitely one of the better legendaries overall.

Spoop centipede dragon/10.

Originally posted by bellossom

Reshiram!!!! The Vast White Pokemon!!!

Reshiram’s the Legendary mascot of Pokemon Black, a Dragon/Fire-type monster that seems to simultaneously derive from wyverns, foxes, and angels. Like its counterpart Zekrom, it’s a lot more thematically complex than the typical Legendary – in large part because Black and White were a lot more thematically complex than other games in the franchise as a whole.

Originally posted by battlevilla

The foremost motif of Reshiram and Zekrom is their yin and yang dichotomy – Reshiram’s title in Japan is the White Yang Pokemon, whereas Zekrom is the Black Yin Pokemon. A central component to yin and yang is that they are fundamentally complementary and indivisible: one cannot exist independently, each giving rise to the other. This is why the white Reshiram is the mascot of Pokemon Black and the black Zekrom is the mascot of Pokemon White, rather than the other way around. Ken Sugimori has stated in an interview that their complementary nature was central to the design process, with Reshiram being given a light, airy, and feminine design to contrast Zekrom’s tough and masculine appearance. This is a bit ironic, as yang is traditionally the “masculine” half of yin and yang, but it fits well enough.

Originally posted by kiyotakamine

The other main motif of Reshiram is the theme of “truth” and its contrast to the “ideals” associated with Zekrom. This is central to their shared mythology: originally, Reshiram and Zekrom were two parts of a single dragon, which was partnered with two twin heroes. These twins used the dragon’s power to shape Unova, but eventually, the twins began to fight over whether to prioritize truth or ideals – which then led to the dragon itself splitting into two, with Reshiram following the truth-aligned twin and Zekrom following the ideals-aligned twin. Black and White’s plot parallels this original conflict, with the player and N each taking up the mantle of one twin. It’s unfortunately a lot of meaningless fluff – the story doesn’t even really make a distinction between truth and ideals – and the one you align with just depends on the game, so it wasn’t incorporated into the dialogue all that heavily.

As a design, Reshiram is actually pretty outstanding. It’s one of the most organic-feeling Legendaries and the image of a feathered canine-wyvern is incredibly distinctive. The canine aspect is even completed with a howl-based cry when it enters battle! The electrical generator tail, probably the oddest component of its design, is also very unique even if it doesn’t flow perfectly. Probably my favorite aspect of its design are its absolutely beautiful blue-and-black eyes, which are quite possibly the prettiest eyes in the franchise. All that said, the design does have some issues. The lack of detail on the wings makes them feel rather unfinished, not having the full feathers seen on most large bird pokemon. Moreover, its actual anatomy feels very awkward – its widely-spaced and weirdly-jointed legs in particular. A good design overall, but not free of criticism.

Originally posted by manic-mars

The obvious best way to go about Reshiram’s and Zekrom’s shinies would be a black Reshiram and a white Zekrom – swapping the colour schemes entirely. What we got instead, though, was just a very slightly different shade of white, along with gold rings instead of silver. What is incredibly cool about this shiny is that the fire that burns in its tail is bright fuchsia instead of orange, but unfortunately you barely ever get to see it outside its Gen V sprite.

Overall, Reshiram’s pretty great, and I respect it quite a bit. It reflects Game Freak’s first real attempt to emphasize a narrative theme – even if the execution of it was a bit lacking – and I appreciate how much thought clearly went into its concept. Despite a few misgivings with its design, the good definitely outweighs the bad, and I’d say Reshiram is probably one of my favorite box mascots.

Get it white boy/10.

Solgaleo!!!!!

The Legendary mascot of Pokemon Sun, Solgaleo’s an interdimensional Psychic/Steel-type lion creature. The typing is interesting, as you might expect Fire from a pokemon themed around the sun, but Psychic is associated with space and I guess Steel is what you get when a star dies out, due to its iron core? Though it’s described as the “beast that devours the sun” rather than a beast of the sun, so maybe the sun association is just meant to be something given to it by humans.

As a design, I’m honestly not overly fond of Solgaleo. It’s got an oddly plastic quality to it, feeling like it was designed to sell figurines rather than being an organic creature that could really exist, which unfortunately is a somewhat common trait with Legendaries. That said, a sun-associated lion is nonetheless a solid concept. Its starry face is also incredibly unique, and whilst I feel its counterpart Lunala pulls off the look better, it adds a lot to the design. I’m also glad that they went with white as the dominant colour, rather than a more obvious sunny colour like orange.

Originally posted by cobalon

In Pokemon Sun, Solgaleo is the final evolution of Nebby, a Cosmog accompanying Lillie throughout the story. It evolves from Cosmoem, the middle evolution, in response to the playing of the Sun Flute and Moon Flute at the Altar of the Sunne. It then creates an Ultra Wormhole to Ultra Space to guide Lillie and the player to rescue Lusamine, who had gone to Ultra Space in her fit of Ultra Beast-obsessed weirdness. In Ultra Sun, things go much the same up until the evolution, at which point a surprise appearance by Necrozma leads to it absorbing Nebby and turning Necrozma into its Dusk Mane form. Probably not fun for poor Nebby :c

What’s never made quite clear is what exactly Solgaleo’s and Lunala’s relationship with Ultra Space actually is. They’re officially not Ultra Beasts, since Beast Balls aren’t especially effective for catching them and they don’t have an Ultra Beast designation in the TCG, but they can create Ultra Wormholes and seemingly live in Ultra Space? Or maybe they just live in regular ol’ space, I don’t know. And I guess the Ultra Beasts don’t actually have the ability to create Ultra Wormholes anyway, for that matter: only Cosmog, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma seemingly can.

Originally posted by shelgon

Solgaleo also has an alternate “form” known as the Radiant Sun phase, though it’s not actually a form and is just a visual effect Solgaleo takes on when it’s about to use its signature move, Sunsteel Strike. A third eye appears on its head and its body glows bright white; overall a very cool aesthetic. It probably has the least use of any aesthetic variant for a pokemon though, along with Lunala’s equivalent Full Moon phase, and I kinda question how necessary it even was to give these “phases” official names. Still very cool though!

Originally posted by necrothezma

Solgaleo’s got a bright red shiny, seemingly a reference to the red giant phase of a star’s lifecycle. Red giants occur late in a star’s life, and are significantly lower in temperature than other stars (hence being red rather than white or blue), and have relatively low mass despite their gargantuan size. Regardless of their low temperature and mass, however, their size ensures they’re nonetheless quite bright! I like when shinies have a cool inspiration behind them like this, and Solgaleo looks quite cool in red. Cool because red giants have lower temperature hahahaha :U

Anyways, Solgaleo’s alright. Again, I’m not personally into the design, but I respect the concept they were going for.

Always Sunny in Ultra Space/10.

Regirock!!!! The Rock Peak Pokemon!

Regirock is a Rock-type Legendary pokemon, and alongside Regice and Registeel, is one of the original three members of the Legendary Titans. Or Legendary Giants. Or Legendary Golems, which is probably the most accurate term, but that name is never actually officially used – presumably to avoid confusion with the pokemon that’s literally named Golem. Just “the Regis” seem most common though. Each member of the Regis was constructed from a specific material, supposedly by Regigigas, who made the Regis in its own image. Regirock, being made of rocks and clay, is probably the most straightforward of the group – rock is a simple and readily available material that translates easily to creature designs.

As a group, the Regis are probably some of the most intriguing pokemon in existence. Although abiological organisms aren’t actually that uncommon amongst pokemon species, the Regis stand out because of their entirely inorganic appearance. They have no true “face”, instead each having an arrangement of seven “eyes” and few other identifiable features. In the case of Regirock, scientists analyzed its internal structure and discovered it has no organs of any kind, not even a heart or brain, and it can be presumed the same applies to the rest of the group. The rocks that make up its body can also be replaced, and most of them come from wildly different locations. And as with most Legendary pokemon, it’s unknown how or even if they reproduce.

Further emphasizing the peculiar nature of these Legendaries, the original trio was sealed away in three caves in Hoenn. However, before these caves could even be entered, you first needed to access a place called the Sealed Chamber, which could only be found through thorough underwater exploration. Inside, there were several mounds, each inscribed with letters of the alphabet and the corresponding letters in braille. If you were a kid during Gen III and couldn’t easily just look up a braille chart and didn’t think to save the little sheet that came in the game box, you would need to write down each of these letters, which you would then use to translate the braille elsewhere in the chamber. This would reveal a message telling you to place Relicanth at the front of your party and Wailord at the back, which would cause an earthquake and unlock the other three caves of Hoenn. Inside each of these caves would be more braille, revealing a puzzle unique to each Regi; Regirock’s required a specific walk sequence followed by the use of Strength in Ruby and Sapphire or Rock Smash in Emerald (both appropriate, due to the association with rocks). This would unseal the cave’s chamber, allowing you to finally face the Regi.

Originally posted by wondertag

It goes without saying that this is all incredibly cool, even if a bit convoluted. It really makes the Regis feel legitimately legendary, far better than a bunch of spoken dialogue about how mySteRiOus and pOwerFuL they are would’ve done. The actual relationship between the Regis, Relicanth, Wailord, and braille is never really explained, with the only common thread being “having dots”, but that’s part of the beauty of it. These things are utterly inscrutable – sealed away by a fearful ancient civilization that we never learn anything more of. The Regis obviously got expanded upon in later gens, with Diamond and Pearl introducing Regigigas and Sword and Shield’s Crown Tundra DLC bringing with it two additional new Regis, but the magic of the original trio was never quite captured again.

As for Regirock itself? It’s pretty lovely, as all the Regis are, but it admittedly kinda underwhelms in comparison to the others. I’m not a big fan of rock monsters to begin with, and the straightforwardness makes it come across as a little less interesting compared to its more outlandish contemporaries. It’s also got a much more humanoid body plan, which while not necessarily bad, does feel a little blander for a rock monster. However, I can’t help but adore it nonetheless – I consider a rock golem to be pretty much legally obligated to exist in a group of elemental golems, and Regirock is quite solid in that role. There are certainly aspects I’d tweak if I could – a less-defined “head” would be nice, as would a cooler color scheme – but nothing earth-shattering. Thinking more, it’s probably one of my favorite Rock-types, even if it ranks low within the Regi group as a whole. It also looks absolutely impeccable in the right lighting, where its eyes and silhouette get emphasized.

Shiny Regirock does improve upon that color scheme I didn’t like, feeling a lot earthier with its deep, rich brown. The darker base color results in a design that looks a lot more slick and stylish, with the brighter orange now acting as a much nicer accent color. Most the other Regis get pretty mediocre shinies, so it’s nice that Regirock has such a pleasant one, if not the best of all of them.

Even if I perhaps don’t love Regirock quite as much as its contemporaries, it works perfectly in the context of its associated trio, and said trio is probably the best-executed legendary trio in the franchise. The original Regis are undeniably fantastic, and they wouldn’t be complete without Regirock providing such a strong, simple foundation for the concept.

Rock solid/10.