You probably wonder why the hell I'm wasting my time writing an entry for Ralts and its evolutions instead of playing the fuck out of Pokémon Sun and Moon, but the answer is simple: I am one of those unfortunate souls living in Europe - the Netherlands, to be exact - and I'm impatiently waiting for the games until I hear the clanging sound of my mailbox on the 23rd of November. Might as well write a couple of articles before I'm going on a 'hiatus', I'd dare say.
So... Ralts. It's a strange Pokémon, because it doesn't seem to be based on anything in particular. If anything, Ralts looks kind of humanoid, resembling a child. Human children often sense when something is amiss, and Game Freak have built its design and flavor from there: Ralts uses the horns on its cap-like head to read people and Pokémon's emotions and hides when it senses hostility. It reflects the mood of the person it reads, meaning that it becomes happy when its Trainer is in a cheerful mood and gets doleful when its Trainer is in a sad mood. A wild Ralts will rarely show itself to people (which is true, as it's the rarest of the early-route Pokémon), but when it does it will only draw closer when it senses the person has a positive disposition. When it evolves into Kirlia, however, the eyes - which Ralts does in fact have but are hidden beneath its 'cap' - become clearly visible now and it looks like it's wearing a... a tutu. And it has the stance ballet dancers are commonly portrayed with.
Well, I've seen Pokémon with stranger features than those.
Anyhow, Kirlia's horns are used to amplify its psychokinetic power and have the ability to let reality become warped. This distortion of reality causes mirages of nonexistent scenery and can cause a rip in dimensions (would Kirlia have anything to do with the Ultra Beasts in Sun and Moon?), which allows Kirlia to see into the future. It enjoys dancing on sunny mornings (well, duh!) and is said to grow beautiful when exposed to a Trainer with positive emotions. Again, cheerfulness lies at the basis of Kirlia's powers: a happy Trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic abilities. Also interesting is Ralts and Kirlia's namesake. While the French and German names of Ralts, Tarsal and Trasla, are anagrams of the word 'astral' and even the name Ralts has something to do with it, Kirlia's name is derived from Kirlian photography. Bulbapedia describes it as "a special way of taking pictures that supposedly reveals psychic energy auras around subjects," but it is much more scientific than that: it is a collective term for photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of coronal discharges, electrical discharges brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically charged. The techniques are named after Semyon Kirlian, a Russian inventor and researcher of Armenian descent, hence Kirlia's name.
Kirlia has two ways of evolving: it evolves into Gardevoir starting at level 30 or, if male, you can expose it to a Dawn Stone and let it turn into a Gallade. Gallade was inroduced one generation later than Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir as an alternative evolution of Kirlia, and it is believed to be created as a counterpart to Gardevoir: the latter is a special attacker who looks like a damsel in distress, while Gallade is a physical attacker and resembles a gallant knight. Or so goes a popular fan theory, but the truth is that Gardevoir can also be male. Its Japanese name is even Sirnight
(サーナイト), which may be derived from the phrase Saa, naito! ("Come, knight!") or just simply means Sir Knight. Or both. The English name of Gardevoir is based on the French words of garde and devoir - 'guard' and 'duty', respectively - or may be a combination of garder and voir, French verbs for 'to keep' and 'to see'. This is reflected in its Pokédex data, which explain how Gardevoir will protect its Trainer even at the cost of its own life (wow, that's some heavy shit!) and that it has the ability to see into the future, distorting the dimensions to such an extent it creates small black holes. The former explanation may also suggest that Gardevoir is based on a guardian angel, although it looks more like a principal dancer, very much like Kirlia resembles a ballet dancer.
However, Gardevoir is especially notorious for its role in the Internet meme called Rule 34, which is a generally accepted Internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable object. Or, simply put: if something exists, there is pornographic content of it. Gardevoir isn't the first Pokémon to be made into hentai images (a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and manga pornography) and it definitely won't be the last, but I can safely say it is the most prominent. Just Googling Gardevoir results into a certain 50/50 mix of normal and pornographic or suggestive images of Gardevoir, and I have to say it's disturbing. Who in their right mind would go and think, "Today I am going to create a pornographic image of a Pokémon, making the suggestion that it's sexy." A Pokémon! Ugh. I'm mentioning this aspect of Gardevoir because it is so painfully visible, otherwise I wouldn't even have mentioned it at all. It goes without saying that I won't post any hentai images of Gardevoir on this blog, nor will I recommend Googling them. And should you decide to do that anyway, enter Google at your own risk; I won't be held accountable.
It's a relief that Gardevoir is still being seen as a more-than-decent Pokémon to use, in-game as well as competitively. Its HP, attack and defense are mediocre, but its special attack and special defense are both sky-high, while its base 80 speed stat is decent. Its typing - psychic/fairy as of Gen. VI, gaining the fairy typing on top of its already existing psychic typing in X and Y - is especially helpful, as Moonblast helps against dragon types and Psychic makes short work of poison-type Pokémon that threaten its very existence. There are numerous ways to make use of Gardevoir, but it should stay a special attacker at all times. A Choice Specs set is mentioned on Smogon, but there is also a Life Orb set supported by Calm Mind and a Choice Scarf set to let Gardevoir outspeed some Pokémon in the competitive metagame. At least Gardevoir doesn't have to worry about coverage, because it has access to some pretty neat moves of many different typings, among which are Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Signal Beam and even Icy Wind. Phew. And that's not all, because Gardevoir got a Mega in X and Y. The horns protruding from its chest are know larger and are said to be a physical manifestation of its heart, making it able to let loose tremendous psychic power now that its heart is open. And that is clearly perceptible, because Mega Gardevoir leaves a dent in any opposing team with its base 165 special attack. Moreover, it has access to the Pixilate ability, which lets it turn normal-type moves into fairy-type moves. They also get a boost, making Hyper Voice more competitively viable than Moonblast, especially because Hyper Voice infiltrates substitutes. Before Mega-evolving, though, Trace is the preferred ability, as it copies the opposing Pokémon's ability and might turn it against them.
Also, did you notice that regular Mega Gardevoir looks like it's wearing a wedding gown and shiny Mega Gardevoir seems to be wearing a mourning dress? That is such a nice touch, and I think shiny Mega Gardevoir is one of the most beautiful shinies out there. It's really pretty. Gardevoir is very loveable as a whole, by the way; I love everything about it, including its simple but beautiful design, its characteristics, its competitive utility and its Mega evolution - shiny Mega Gardevoir in particular.
And then we have Gallade, who isn't quite as beautiful and elegant as Gardevoir. Regular Gallade has the same stat distribution as Gardevoir, with only their attack and special attack stats swapped, so it's a very decent physical alternative to Gardevoir, but I'm just not that big a fan of its design. Its horizontally oval thighs are a bit off-putting, its slender body shape just doesn't do it for me as much as Gardevoir's, its blade-like arms don't look overly efficient and its legs are just weird. Gallade significantly earns points when it Mega-evolves, gaining a cape that fits it knightly aesthetics and blades that look more efficient than those of its regular form, as well as a head that resembles a gladiator's helmet. The weird legs and oval shape of its hips stay but are less accentuated because of the overall more busy 'knight in shining armor' design, which is a plus. Mega Gallade has a very nice design overall, but it doesn't even come close to Gardevoir's graceful looks.
Like Gardevoir, however, Gallade fiercely fights to protect its Trainer. When doing that, it shows that it's a master of courtesy and swordsmanship and a master in predicting its foe's moves. The blade-like arms can be extended and therefore show resemblances to tonfa, melee weapons best known for their role in the armed component of Okinawan martial arts. Mega Gallade has arms that look like actual blades, however, and these are used simultaneously in a dual-wielding style by calling on its psychic powers. Predicting the foe's moves is still up to the player, though, because there's no denying it: Gallade is as frail as Gardevoir. Its Mega is kind of bulky, with 115 special defense and 95 defense, but the HP stat is never boosted upon Mega-evolving and Gallade's HP is honestly a bit subpar. Thankfully, its base 80 speed becomes 110 when it Mega-evolves and it can dish out damage hard and relatively fast. While Gardevoir usually needs a Timid nature, which ups speed and lowers attack, that is actually a bad nature for Gallade: Jolly or Adamant (both lower special attack, but the former provides an increase in speed and the latter an increase in attack) are usually the natures to go with, as well as a physical moveset, obviously. Aside from STAB moves like Psycho Cut, Zen Headbutt, Close Combat, Drain Punch and Brick Break, it also has a crazy diverse movepool: Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Knock Off (very handy to knock off the opposing Pokémon's item, doing double the damage), Stone Edge, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Sneak, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch and even Dual Chop are all very viable choices on a competitive Gallade's moveset. To top it all off, Gallade learns Swords Dance, which it can use to double its attack stat and perform a late-game sweep.
Don't want to use Mega Gallade? That's fine, because you can use a Choice Scarf or Choice Band set on a regular Gallade, although the latter provides an attack boost rather than a speed boost and both sets lock it into using only one move until it's switched out. A Life Orb would therefore be better, especially because it allows Gallade to use Swords Dance, but Smogon also mentions a Bulk Up set. Bulk Up raises Gallade's attack and defense by one stage each, but its defense is already quite low, so it's not worth the hassle. If you can manage to pull it off, that's fine, but it's not the best way to use Gallade.
At the end of the day, Gardevoir and Gallade give the illusion that they're perfect counterparts, but that is really not the case here. Gardevoir has a 50/50 gender ratio, while Gallade is 100% male, so they're not the damsel in distress and Prince Charming everybody likes them to be. It has to be said that Gallade is a very good physical-based option if you don't need a special attacker, and its Mega is actually really cool; I like how it fits its flavor perfectly. I love everything about Gardevoir, however, while I'm not a big fan of regular Gallade's design. I'm gonna have to rate them separately: Gardevoir gets an easy 5, while Gallade will have to do with 4.5 stars. And that's mainly because of its Mega!
Rating Gardevoir: 5/5
Rating Gallade: 4.5/5
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| 3D art of Ralts. If it wasn't looking up, you wouldn't be able to see the eyes that are usually hidden beneath its cap-like head. Or maybe it is a cap, I'm not sure. |
So... Ralts. It's a strange Pokémon, because it doesn't seem to be based on anything in particular. If anything, Ralts looks kind of humanoid, resembling a child. Human children often sense when something is amiss, and Game Freak have built its design and flavor from there: Ralts uses the horns on its cap-like head to read people and Pokémon's emotions and hides when it senses hostility. It reflects the mood of the person it reads, meaning that it becomes happy when its Trainer is in a cheerful mood and gets doleful when its Trainer is in a sad mood. A wild Ralts will rarely show itself to people (which is true, as it's the rarest of the early-route Pokémon), but when it does it will only draw closer when it senses the person has a positive disposition. When it evolves into Kirlia, however, the eyes - which Ralts does in fact have but are hidden beneath its 'cap' - become clearly visible now and it looks like it's wearing a... a tutu. And it has the stance ballet dancers are commonly portrayed with.
Well, I've seen Pokémon with stranger features than those.
 |
| 3D art of Kirlia, in which it seems to be performing some kind of ballet dance. |
Anyhow, Kirlia's horns are used to amplify its psychokinetic power and have the ability to let reality become warped. This distortion of reality causes mirages of nonexistent scenery and can cause a rip in dimensions (would Kirlia have anything to do with the Ultra Beasts in Sun and Moon?), which allows Kirlia to see into the future. It enjoys dancing on sunny mornings (well, duh!) and is said to grow beautiful when exposed to a Trainer with positive emotions. Again, cheerfulness lies at the basis of Kirlia's powers: a happy Trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic abilities. Also interesting is Ralts and Kirlia's namesake. While the French and German names of Ralts, Tarsal and Trasla, are anagrams of the word 'astral' and even the name Ralts has something to do with it, Kirlia's name is derived from Kirlian photography. Bulbapedia describes it as "a special way of taking pictures that supposedly reveals psychic energy auras around subjects," but it is much more scientific than that: it is a collective term for photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of coronal discharges, electrical discharges brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically charged. The techniques are named after Semyon Kirlian, a Russian inventor and researcher of Armenian descent, hence Kirlia's name.
 |
| Incredible papercraft figures of Ralts (little one in the front), Kirlia (left), Gardevoir (right) and Gallade (middle). |
(サーナイト), which may be derived from the phrase Saa, naito! ("Come, knight!") or just simply means Sir Knight. Or both. The English name of Gardevoir is based on the French words of garde and devoir - 'guard' and 'duty', respectively - or may be a combination of garder and voir, French verbs for 'to keep' and 'to see'. This is reflected in its Pokédex data, which explain how Gardevoir will protect its Trainer even at the cost of its own life (wow, that's some heavy shit!) and that it has the ability to see into the future, distorting the dimensions to such an extent it creates small black holes. The former explanation may also suggest that Gardevoir is based on a guardian angel, although it looks more like a principal dancer, very much like Kirlia resembles a ballet dancer.
 |
| Gardevoir laying in the grass, resting a bouquet of flowers on its chest. |
However, Gardevoir is especially notorious for its role in the Internet meme called Rule 34, which is a generally accepted Internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable object. Or, simply put: if something exists, there is pornographic content of it. Gardevoir isn't the first Pokémon to be made into hentai images (a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and manga pornography) and it definitely won't be the last, but I can safely say it is the most prominent. Just Googling Gardevoir results into a certain 50/50 mix of normal and pornographic or suggestive images of Gardevoir, and I have to say it's disturbing. Who in their right mind would go and think, "Today I am going to create a pornographic image of a Pokémon, making the suggestion that it's sexy." A Pokémon! Ugh. I'm mentioning this aspect of Gardevoir because it is so painfully visible, otherwise I wouldn't even have mentioned it at all. It goes without saying that I won't post any hentai images of Gardevoir on this blog, nor will I recommend Googling them. And should you decide to do that anyway, enter Google at your own risk; I won't be held accountable.
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| Fan art of Mega Gardevoir. |
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| Shiny Mega Gardevoir. The flower on top of its head is not part of its design, but it's a nice touch to the whole 'mourning' aspect of its design. |
Also, did you notice that regular Mega Gardevoir looks like it's wearing a wedding gown and shiny Mega Gardevoir seems to be wearing a mourning dress? That is such a nice touch, and I think shiny Mega Gardevoir is one of the most beautiful shinies out there. It's really pretty. Gardevoir is very loveable as a whole, by the way; I love everything about it, including its simple but beautiful design, its characteristics, its competitive utility and its Mega evolution - shiny Mega Gardevoir in particular.
And then we have Gallade, who isn't quite as beautiful and elegant as Gardevoir. Regular Gallade has the same stat distribution as Gardevoir, with only their attack and special attack stats swapped, so it's a very decent physical alternative to Gardevoir, but I'm just not that big a fan of its design. Its horizontally oval thighs are a bit off-putting, its slender body shape just doesn't do it for me as much as Gardevoir's, its blade-like arms don't look overly efficient and its legs are just weird. Gallade significantly earns points when it Mega-evolves, gaining a cape that fits it knightly aesthetics and blades that look more efficient than those of its regular form, as well as a head that resembles a gladiator's helmet. The weird legs and oval shape of its hips stay but are less accentuated because of the overall more busy 'knight in shining armor' design, which is a plus. Mega Gallade has a very nice design overall, but it doesn't even come close to Gardevoir's graceful looks.
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| I wanted to show you Gallade's weird oval hips and what better way to do that than include its official artwork here? |
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| Wally and his Mega Gallade. |
Don't want to use Mega Gallade? That's fine, because you can use a Choice Scarf or Choice Band set on a regular Gallade, although the latter provides an attack boost rather than a speed boost and both sets lock it into using only one move until it's switched out. A Life Orb would therefore be better, especially because it allows Gallade to use Swords Dance, but Smogon also mentions a Bulk Up set. Bulk Up raises Gallade's attack and defense by one stage each, but its defense is already quite low, so it's not worth the hassle. If you can manage to pull it off, that's fine, but it's not the best way to use Gallade.
At the end of the day, Gardevoir and Gallade give the illusion that they're perfect counterparts, but that is really not the case here. Gardevoir has a 50/50 gender ratio, while Gallade is 100% male, so they're not the damsel in distress and Prince Charming everybody likes them to be. It has to be said that Gallade is a very good physical-based option if you don't need a special attacker, and its Mega is actually really cool; I like how it fits its flavor perfectly. I love everything about Gardevoir, however, while I'm not a big fan of regular Gallade's design. I'm gonna have to rate them separately: Gardevoir gets an easy 5, while Gallade will have to do with 4.5 stars. And that's mainly because of its Mega!
Rating Gardevoir: 5/5
Rating Gallade: 4.5/5
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