#403 - #405: Shinx, Luxio & Luxray

What's not to love about Luxray's shiny form? Its beautiful
black-and-gold color scheme mixed with orange is so... perfect!

When I started this blog a little over two years ago, I did it with the intention to review every single Pokémon in existence. Ever since, I couldn't wait until I would arrive at my favorite Pokémon of all time, and today is finally the day that I can gush about it all I want. Those of you who have been keeping up with this blog long enough will already know that Luxray is my favorite Pokémon, as I said it a couple of times in other entries, not to mention that some of you may have been bold enough to read my previous blog (which, by the way, is muy cringy) despite my warnings. Those of you who have not been around for that long at all should've seen this coming as well: in the introduction text at the top of my blog I clearly present myself as The Shiny Luxray, which is the name of this Blogger account and the most obvious indication of which Pokémon actually is my all-time favorite. I fell in love with Luxray the very moment I first laid eyes on it in my very first Pokémon Diamond playthrough in 2007. Like many first-time players of this game, I was using Shinx, who was available on one of the first routes after receiving your mandatory set of Poké Balls from the Professor. I knew Luxray would forever be my favorite Pokémon from the moment it had evolved from Luxio, even knocking the majestic Lugia from the throne. And while my fairly recent love for steel types caused Steelix to have been elevated to a solid second place, not even a giant metal snake will be able to dethrone this awesome electric-type lynx.

I'm so happy Luxray got a recurring role in the anime as Clemont's most important
team member. At least it didn't make a one-time appearance like most Pokémon
do. Also, look at how big it is; Clemont could hop on its back and make a ride on it.

So now I have to sum up everything I love about Luxray, right? Here goes nothing.

1. The animal it's based on
Cats - or felines in general - are my favorite animals, and I have to say Game Freak have done a decent job creating some interesting Pokémon based on them so far. Luxray is the biggest and baddest of them all, though, with one of the most interesting designs as well. While it looks a bit like a lion, it is actually based on a lynx; in European mythology, the lynx was said to have the power to see through solid objects. It'll make sense in a bit, I promise.

2. Its typing
Persian, Delcatty, Purugly and even Pyroar... All of these cat Pokémon got the generic normal type, and Luxray is one of the few felines deviating from that. Shockingly, it's an electric type, with also just one weakness but far more elemental benefits due to the abundance of water- and flying-type Pokémon in the franchise.

3. Its design and color scheme
These two go hand in hand, and I must say Luxray should be one of Game Freak's proudest achievements. It has a very streamlined design with a brilliant black-and-blue color scheme that is not used often enough on electric types. There are hints of yellow in its design, of course, and because I'm not a big fan of yellow in the first place, I'm glad this color was toned down in Luxray's design.

One big happy family. 

4. Its facial features
Dammit, how can you NOT love those eyes? Elaborating on the design argument, Luxray's gold eyes with red sclera are quite unique even for Pokémon standards and make it look like a lunatic. It's not really that maniacal, of course, but its eyes definitely give it a much more menacing look. Also, it can do a special little something with its eyes that I'll talk about later. And then the cute oval-shaped ears and that red button nose... I CAN'T EVEN!

5. Its mane
There is only one way to describe its mane: majestic. And it looks so good on it, goddamn.

6. Its shiny form
While I'm not a shiny hunter per se, I literally did everything I could to obtain a shiny Luxray via the GTS when Pokémon X and Y came out. I wanted one so badly, and eventually I even managed to obtain a competitive one with its hidden ability Guts. That black-and-gold color palette with some orange touches is just... perfection! And yes, I consider shiny Luxray's skin color gold rather than yellow.

7. Its name
There's no other word for it, its name just sounds so incredibly cool. And while I think most Japanese Pokémon names sound silly, I have to admit that even Rentorar (レントラー) - which is derived from the inventor of x-rays, Wilhelm Röntgen, and the Japanese word for 'tiger', tora - has an intimidating sound to it; it almost sounds like 'roar'.

Luxray letting everybody know it's the only true heir
to the throne. "Hear me roar!"

8. Its posture
Can you say Luxray is beautiful? I definitely think so, and as I'm gushing about it I might as well say it looks incredibly royal and elegant somehow. In fact, I'm starting to think sphinxes might have been the inspiration for Luxray as well, giving it a somewhat Egyptian appearance.

9. Its characteristics
What makes Luxray so incredibly awesome is its extraordinary eyesight. It can see through most object and walls, like x-ray vision, so there's practically nothing that can go unseen by it. Being a predatory Pokémon, it even spots prey hiding in the shadows, but when tamed and trained correctly it can become very domestic and loyal, protecting its Trainer from danger. It does need a lot of compassion and praise to maintain its satisfaction, as Luxray tend to be proud and stubborn creatures, and abusing it can make it very antagonistic and vengeful towards its Trainer. I would love to have a Luxray by my side, but even then I don't understand why you want to abuse one in the first place. Like most sane people I am against animal cruelty, which is obviously a given, but I guess in this case I think you have to be deserving of Luxray's attention and loyalty as well. When you give some love, you get some in return. Also, Luxray can administer extreme amounts of power through their electricity, but as it's an electric type that's kind of a cop-out.

10. It tries to break the mold
Luxray is unique in the fact that it's one of only few physical-based electric types, introduced right when the physical/special split occurred. While a great in-game asset, it wasn't much of a competitive Pokémon until it got better moves and an awesome hidden ability in Guts one generation later.

11. Its role in the anime
While originally getting just a couple of cameos in the Gen. IV adaptation of the anime series, it got a recurring role as Clemont's main Pokémon in the X and Y saga, saving it from obscurity. I'm glad it got a little bit of attention, at least. And let's not forget about Volkner's Luxray, who definitely gave Ash a run for his money.

This Luxray in Pokémon Conquest sure looks menacing and intimidating. In the
Netherlands, we have a proverb that sums it up very well: Het is geen katje om
zonder handschoenen aan te pakken is basically the equivalent of 'to treat
someone or something with kid gloves', but literally translates to, 'It's not a cat
to handle without gloves.'

12. Its appearance in Pokémon Conquest
This one might be stretching it a little bit, but just look at Luxray's stance in its official artwork for Pokémon Conquest. It's just ready to kick some fucking ass, goddammit! Conveniently, you can actually recruit the warrior owning a Shinx after defeating her and taking her kingdom by meeting a few requirements, but once you've done that she's ready to help you invade other kingdoms in Ransei with what will eventually be a kick-ass Luxray!

13. The fan art
Have you taken a look on Google Images already? Only by inserting 'Luxray' you'll find the most awesome and badass fan art of this Pokémon. The design of a quadrupedal electric-type cat lends itself well to fan art like that, too. There's definitely no shortage of Luxray fan art on the Internet and I am having a hard time choosing from amazing drawings for my article as I'm writing this.

LOL. Whoever drew this reference to The Lion King is a genius!

And now we've reached the end of 13 Reasons Why. All jokes aside, though, Luxray is not without its flaws. Competitively, it is not used by an awful lot of people, and the reason for that is because it's tricky to use. Base 80 HP and base 79 defenses aren't extremely useful on a relatively slow Pokémon, but with a little luck your Luxray will survive at least a couple of hits before it goes down. The problem is that you definitely want one with the Guts ability, which increases the user's attack stat by 50% when suffering from a status condition, and the only way to reliably activate it is by giving Luxray a Flame Orb to hold. The Toxic Orb is possible too, but burn has been nerfed in Gen. VII and now takes equal to 1/16 of a Pokémon's health every turn, which is half the amount of damage poison would cause. Another problem is that Luxray should definitely rock out with Wild Charge, a physical-based electric-type move that also causes recoil damage. Along with the Flame Orb and its low speed stat, that's going to wear Luxray down significantly. You'll be lucky to dish out a couple of hits, but at least Luxray's base 120 attack stat allows it to do just that. With an Adamant nature, it can hit even harder, but you could also opt for a Jolly nature to make it as fast as possible. At least it doesn't lack the movepool to complete a Flame Orb set, having access to nifty moves like Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Superpower, Crunch, Iron Tail, Facade, Protect and Night Slash.

Two Luxray beating each other black-and-blue.

Also, you could make Luxray somewhat physically bulky in exchange for some power by using one with the Intimidate ability, which lowers the opponent's attack when Luxray enters the battlefield. This still leaves it susceptible to special sweepers, but I guess you can't have everything. The other regular ability it has access to is Rivalry, which lets it deal more damage against Pokémon of the same gender but less damage to Pokémon of the oppositie gender, which is naturally not the preferred ability for Luxray and I would even try to avoid it in a regular playthrough.

To summarize, Luxray is - unfortunately - not the best Pokémon in the competitive metagame, which is why I didn't mention its battle prowess as one of the reasons why I love it. That is not to say that stops me from loving Luxray altogether, I just wish Game Freak had made it a little bit better competitively so that it would have been a more popular Pokémon. Then again, my love for Luxray feels so special that I'm wondering whether I really want it to become as popular as Pokémon like Charizard, Mewtwo and Lucario. It's still a great asset to any in-game team, though, so definitely don't hesitate to use it!

This is Clemont's Luxray when it was still an adorable little
Shinxie.

But enough about Luxray for a minute; didn't I say I would be talking about all Pokémon? Luxray has pre-evolutions as well, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned them yet. Of course, it all starts with cute little Shinx. To be honest, I don't think I would've used it if it hadn't been so adorable to me the instant I laid my eyes on it, and my love for Luxray would have come much later (or maybe wouldn't even have been this strong in the first place) if that had been the case. I actually developed a bond with the very first Luxray I had, and that definitely fueled my love for this Pokémon to a great extent. I was actually sad once the adventure was over. Anyway, Shinx bears resemblance to a lynx kitten or a lion cub, but considering Luxray's flavor it is probably the former. If Shinx senses danger, its fur gleams brightly to blind predators so it can flee, and this electricity is produced by the extension and contraction of the muscles in its forelegs. The only one I'm not big on is Luxio, who honestly kinda looks awkward to me, but at least it evolves from Shinx at level 15 and evolves into Luxray at level 30, so I never have to put up with it for long. There isn't much to say about it, either, apart from the fact that it communicates with others of its kind by electroreception via its claws, generating the necessary electricity by gathering their tails together.

Luxray BREAK, one of the TCG cards in my possession. This art is just flat-out
AMAZING! I'm sure you don't want to deal with this little kitty. 

Luxray is - and will always be - my all-time favorite Pokémon. My love for this Pokémon runs so deep, in fact, that I kept on collecting TCG cards of Shinx, Luxio and Luxray and put them in a special binder, even though I quit TCG approximately nine years ago. Yep, that's how much I love Luxray. This Pokémon will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I doubt any new Pokémon will ever take over. At the end of the day I'm just biased, of course, but isn't every Pokémon fan when they're talking about their favorite Pocket Monster?

Anyway, guess what my rating's gonna be...?

Rating: 5/5