It's another steel type! Y'all know what rating I'm gonna give this thing, right?
In all seriousness, though, Dialga may just be one of my favorite legendary Pokémon ever. It just looks incredibly cool, is amazingly powerful, has a fantastic type combination that only makes it weak to ground and fighting, and plays a big part in several games and movies. Being the box legendary of Pokémon Diamond, Dialga is the reason for Team Galactic's boss Cyrus's criminal operations, getting captured and being contained by him by use of the Red Chain he made from the crystals found on the Lake Guardians. Cyrus is a nutcase anyway, because he wants to use the power of Dialga (Palkia in Pokémon Pearl) to destroy the world and create a new one without 'illogical and irrational' emotions, one without spirit. Of course, as is the case with every game's storyline, absolute annihilation never actually occurs because the player character saves the day and even catches or defeats the big bad legendary. But why does Cyrus believe that Dialga can be used to destroy the entire fucking world in the first place? Well, according to Sinnoh myths, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina were simultaneously created by Arceus when the universe began, which is why they are often called the Creation Trio. While Palkia represents and controls space and dimensions and Giratina represents antimatter, Dialga is the representation of time and is said to have the power to control it, using the wing-like structure on its back to focus the flow of time by speeding it up, slowing it down or stopping it altogether.
In other words, Dialga may just be a more powerful creature than many other legendary Pokémon when it comes to lore, which is once more demonstrated in the Mystery Dungeon games Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky, appearing mostly as a fearful creature called Primal Dialga, having lost control of itself and having entered a state of self-preservation due to the Temporal Tower having collapsed. It's keeping time frozen and refuses to let it flow properly, so the player caracter and its partner must return to the present from the future and take on an almost-Primal Dialga upon arriving at the collapsing tower. After beating some sense into it, Dialga is so thankful that it revives the player, who had previously been erased from existence altogether. You can be sure Dialga plays a very big part in all of the Gen. IV Mystery Dungeon games, as the storyline of Explorers of Sky barely changes compared to its two predecessors; if Platinum is an enhanced version of Diamond and Pearl, with mostly the same storyline, Explorers of Sky is an enhanced version of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. Aside from being the main 'antagonist' and biggest boss battle in the Mystery Dungeon games - as well as being integral to Pokémon Diamond and Platinum - it also appears in no fewer than four different movies, the most prominent of which are The Rise of Darkrai, Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life. Go figure.
In short, Dialga seems to be a highly favorable Pokémon to be utilized by Game Freak due to it being the most popular of the Creation Trio aesthetically, but what is this thing actually based on? Let's get the crazy fan theory out of the way first: the Pokémon fandom believes that Dialga, Palkia and Giratina are based on the states of matter - the trifecta of solids, liquids and gases - hence Dialga's steel type, Palkia's water type and Giratina's ghost type, while all have the secondary dragon type tacked onto them. While I think it's a solid theory that sounds far more plausible than time being rigid and space being fluid or some shit like that, there are a couple of problems I have with it. First off, this theory is nowhere to be found on Bulbapedia and I don't think it's officially considered to be the inspiration for the Creation Trio's origins, much less confirmed to be true; and second, gases are still considered matter - no matter how unstable they may be - while Giratina and the Distortion World were created to be the personifications of antimatter, as confirmed by Junichi Masuda and Takeshi Kawachimaru in interviews they did with G4. There's a little inconsistency there, but this matter theory is not a bad theory at all and I am definitely not inclined to dismiss it as bullshit.
But enough about this theory; I've spent an entire paragraph on it, goddammit!
I'm not done yet, however, as there's more to Dialga, including plenty more reasons to why it's a steel type. The hardness of diamonds (or the fact that diamonds are compressed carbon and steel is an alloy from iron and carbon) may be a possibility, as is the fact that most part of a clock are made of metal. Additionally, the turquoise lines on its body are vaguely reminiscent to the diamond-shaped ends of clock hands you see all the time, while the spikes in its neck look similar to Time Gears, artifacts of great importance in the Mystery Dungeon games. As they help keep control of the flow of time in the Pokémon world, it is hardly a surprise that the Time Gears were designed to look specifically like parts of Dialga. The 'dia' part in its name may even derive from dia (Spanish for 'day', a unit of time) or 'sundial', the latter of which is an instrument used to tell time using shadows on a clock face. Faunatically, Dialga bears resemblances to certain genera of short-necked sauropod dinosaurs called camarasaurus supremus and brachytrachelopan mesai. Folklorically, its origins lay in the Shintō myth of Izanami and Izanagi - the respective goddess and god of both creation and death - who are said to have created one island with a spear, erected a pillar on it in order to mate and from there created the islands of Japan. Not unintentionally, you face Cyrus and the box legendary on top of Mt. Coronet, on an ancient site called Spear Pillar.
Game Freak, don't make me think you are secretly geniuses.
Finally, do I have to talk about Dialga's competitive utility? This beast has a base stat total of a whopping 680, making it too strong for Smogon's regular tiers. Just make sure you max out its excellent special attack and choose from its wide arrange of special moves (seriously, it learns amazing coverage moves like Power Gem, Earth Power, Aura Sphere, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Fire Blast and Flamethrower alongside STAB moves like Dragon Pulse and Flash Cannon), and you'll annihilate at least half of your opponent's team.
Honestly, Dialga has become one of my favorite legendary Pokémon by now. It certainly helps that it's a steel type, but how cool is it that you can catch an awesome-looking god-like dinosaur creature that can manipulate time at will? Think about that.
Rating: 5/5
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| Dialga as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. |
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| The player character and their partner facing Primal Dialga as the Temporal Tower is collapsing. Dialga can only be seen in this form in the Gen. IV Mystery Dungeon games, as Primal Dialga is not present in the main series games. This piece of fan art is fantastic, by the way. |
In other words, Dialga may just be a more powerful creature than many other legendary Pokémon when it comes to lore, which is once more demonstrated in the Mystery Dungeon games Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky, appearing mostly as a fearful creature called Primal Dialga, having lost control of itself and having entered a state of self-preservation due to the Temporal Tower having collapsed. It's keeping time frozen and refuses to let it flow properly, so the player caracter and its partner must return to the present from the future and take on an almost-Primal Dialga upon arriving at the collapsing tower. After beating some sense into it, Dialga is so thankful that it revives the player, who had previously been erased from existence altogether. You can be sure Dialga plays a very big part in all of the Gen. IV Mystery Dungeon games, as the storyline of Explorers of Sky barely changes compared to its two predecessors; if Platinum is an enhanced version of Diamond and Pearl, with mostly the same storyline, Explorers of Sky is an enhanced version of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. Aside from being the main 'antagonist' and biggest boss battle in the Mystery Dungeon games - as well as being integral to Pokémon Diamond and Platinum - it also appears in no fewer than four different movies, the most prominent of which are The Rise of Darkrai, Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life. Go figure.
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| Holy shit, this fan art of Dialga is amazing! |
But enough about this theory; I've spent an entire paragraph on it, goddammit!
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| Little Riolu (probably representing the player character in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky) facing a badass Primal Dialga. |
Game Freak, don't make me think you are secretly geniuses.
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| Dialga using its signature move Roar of Time, which is basically just a dragon-type Hyper Beam. |
Finally, do I have to talk about Dialga's competitive utility? This beast has a base stat total of a whopping 680, making it too strong for Smogon's regular tiers. Just make sure you max out its excellent special attack and choose from its wide arrange of special moves (seriously, it learns amazing coverage moves like Power Gem, Earth Power, Aura Sphere, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Fire Blast and Flamethrower alongside STAB moves like Dragon Pulse and Flash Cannon), and you'll annihilate at least half of your opponent's team.
Honestly, Dialga has become one of my favorite legendary Pokémon by now. It certainly helps that it's a steel type, but how cool is it that you can catch an awesome-looking god-like dinosaur creature that can manipulate time at will? Think about that.
Rating: 5/5
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