#280 - #282, #475: Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir & Gallade

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.

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).

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.

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.

Fan art of Mega Gardevoir.

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.

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.

I wanted to show you Gallade's weird oval hips and what better
way to do that than include its official artwork here? 

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.

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

#251: Celebi

From the formidable and magnificent Lugia and the gracful and colorful Ho-Oh, we move on to... a tiny fairy-like Pokémon that isn't even a fairy type. Well, re-typing a mythical Pokémon would have been a bit of a stretch, so I'm not bothered in the slightest.

Celebi and Mew, two 'pixie' Pokémon.

No, Celebi is a psychic/grass type instead, and it appears to be a forest guardian of some sort. Known in legend as the "Voice of the Forest", it can bring deceased Celebi back to life and restore plants and trees to perfect health, letting them grow in unimaginable abundance. The most remarkable thing about this Pokémon is that it can travel through time and exist simultaneously throughout time, protecting forests and recovering or planting them after times of conflict. However, it only shows itself in areas and times of peace, and it has been regarded that a prosperous and bright future is still in store for the Pokémon world as long as Celebi are seen throughout the world. Being a forest guardian, Celebi is probably based on a dryad or Δρυάς, a tree nymph from Greek mythology, or the Japanese myth of the kodama, which is also a kind of tree spirit. I see what Game Freak wanted to go with here. There is just one Pokédex entry, from Pokémon Silver and Pokémon FireRed, that thoroughly confuses me, though: "When Celebi disappears deep in the forest, it is said to leave behind an egg it brought from the future." What is this egg? Is it Celebi's? What will hatch from it? And why did Celebi bring it to the past (or present, depending how you look at it) from the future? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and so far Game Freak haven't made an attempt to clarify this entry. The egg is still shrouded in mystery and we're probably never gonna find out what exactly it is all about.

Celebi lying on the Ilex Forest shrine, where it could be
encountered in Gold, Silver, HeartGold and SoulSilver. 

This does not leave Celebi underexposed compared to Mew, however. Even though it wasn't as successful as Mew's, Celebi got its own movie in Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi: Voice of the Forest, in which a Celebi is hunted by a Pokémon poacher 40 years in the past and teleports both itself and a young Sammy Oak (the same Samuel Oak we know as the Pokémon Professor) to the future. Here, the now aged poacher is intimidated by an elite officer of Team Rocket, the Iron-Masked Marauder, and forced to tell everything he knows about Celebi, while Sammy Oak obviously comes across Ash and Pikachu for storyline purposes. Celebi was also used in a HeartGold and SoulSilver event, in which the player encounters it at the Ilex Forest shrine. The player is sent back three years in the past in order to see Giovanni abandon his son Silver after having been defeated by Red in Kanto, and then further ahead in time to battle and defeat Giovanni in order to prevent him from reuniting with Team Rocket during their takeover of the Goldenrod Radio Tower. In a 2008 interview with anime director and storyboard artist Masamitsu Hidaka, it was revealed that the anime creators planned to use Celebi in a Johto storyline arc. It was contained in the GS Ball, but the writers decided to move the plot to the fourth movie and hoped the viewers would just forget about the GS Ball when Ash and his friends left it with Kurt. Furthermore, Celebi was included in some spin-off games: it can purify Shadow Pokémon when it is summoned to Relic Forest with a Time Flute in Pokémon Colosseum, it can be seen in a couple of Smash Bros. games, and a shiny Celebi guides and supports the protagonist in the main storyline in two Mystery Dungeon games.

Both Celebi and Virizion (one of my top 10
favorite Pokémon) are green, but have been given
pink shiny forms with a hint of green. Beautiful.

Lastly, Celebi is a very viable Pokémon to use in the main competitive metagame. Its base stats are 100 across the board, like Mew's, and it can be used offensively as well as defensively, or even a mix thereof. It has access to Nasty Plot, which is a move that sharply raises its special attack and is perfect for setting up against bulky water types. Its special movepool is vast and consists of moves like Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Psychic, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball, Charge Beam, Earth Power, Signal Beam and even Water Pulse if you really need it. With a Life Orb attached, Celebi deals some massive damage, and a Timid nature should let it outspeed quite some Pokémon. Nasty Plot is event-only, so Calm Mind could be an alternative option should you not have an event Celebi at hand. However, if you run a Bold or Calm Celebi, you can go the defensive way. And it learns quite some support moves to go with this tactic: Recover heals half of its HP, Perish Song lets both Pokémon on the battlefield faint in three turns and forces the opponent to hard-switch into another Pokémon, Baton Pass passes on stat changes to another Pokémon on your team, Stealth Rock can be used to set up an entry hazard, Thunder Wave and Toxic inflict the paralyzed or poisoned status condition on an opponent, Protect lets Celebi Toxic-stall, Heal Block prevents the opponent from using any moves or items that heals it, Healing Wish lets Celebi faint but completely heals another Pokémon when it enters the battlefield directly after Celebi, Heal Bell heals all status conditions on your team, Reflect and Light Screen are screens that respectively raise the entire team's defense and special defense (works great with the held item Light Clay, which extend the number of moves the screens are in effect), Substitute lets Celebi create a substitute that takes all the damage from an incoming move in exchange for 25% of its health, Magic Coat bounces any status move back to the foe, and even the Rest/Sleep Talk combo might just fucking work. You are spoiled for choice. And when it is holding the Leftovers, you can expect Celebi to last on the battlefield for quite a while.

Celebi with Jirachi, another 'pixie' Pokémon. 

Except for Perish Song, Baton Pass and Healing Wish, Mew can do the exact same thing (it doesn't learn Recover, but it has access to Roost instead). Despite its many weaknesses - seven, including a nasty quadruple one to bug - Celebi isn't any less viable than Mew. On the contrary, because Celebi is as bulky and offensive as Mew, and a STAB grass-type attack could always come in handy. I'm not that big a fan of Celebi, but I'll be the first to acknowledge its competitive viability, especially as a support Pokémon. Do people actually run a Swords Dance set with Seed Bomb, Zen Headbutt and either Recover or U-Turn, too? I mean, it is an option. In any case, Celebi is the last Johto Pokémon I'm rating; in a couple of days you can expect some... ehm... rough reviews of the Hoenn starters.

Ah, who am I kidding? The Hoenn starters are the best starters in existence (aside from Litten and Torracat, obviously).

Rating: 4/5

#249: Lugia

Film poster for the second Pokémon movie.

I am going to have so much fun writing this. This is even going to be the article I'm having the most fun writing since Togetic's entry, because Lugia is my second favorite Pokémon in existence. Of course, I fell in love with this thing when I saw the second Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One. This movie also made me grow more affective towards Articuno, who is one of my favorite Pokémon ever and by far my favorite Kanto legendary. The plot is fairly simple: Lawrence III, a wealthy collector of the world's most valuable antiques, is out to capture the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, but only in order to capture the more powerful Lugia. After Lawrence provokes Moltres by shooting ice cannons at its habitat and succeeds in capturing it on Fire Island, the world's climate begins to change. It seems that a prophecy, guarded by a talking Slowking, is about to come true and a disaster is on its way:

"Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, and thus the Earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea."

Lugia being awesome in the second Pokémon movie. It is using
Aeroblast in order to repel the iron triangles Lawrence III used
for capturing Moltres and Zapdos.

Meanwhile, Ash Ketchum and his friends Misty and Tracey - the latter of whom temporarily replaced Brock in the Orange Islands saga - end up in the middle of a storm, after which they get washed ashore on the beach of Shamouti Island. There, they meet the islanders, who are celebrating their annual festival following the prophecy's tale. When Ash is introduced as a Pokémon Trainer, the islanders become excited because they think he is the Chosen One spoken of in the prophecy (the "And thus the Earth shall turn to ash" part). Ash sets out on a mission and tries to retrieve the three glass orbs also spoken of in the prophecy, bringing them back to Shamouti's shrine where a girl called Melody will play the same tune she played at the festival - a tune similar to Lugia's cry. Of course, nothing goes as planned and Lawrence III even manages to capture Zapdos on Lightning Island, after which Ash teams up with Team Rocket in order to free Zapdos and the already captured Moltres. Once freed, the birds start to fight each other and venture out let Articuno, whom Lawrence is trying to capture at that moment, join the fight, destroying Lawrence's ship in the process. Lugia, noticing the commotion from the very bottom of the ocean, ascends and attempts to interrupt the fight. The rest of the movie shows Lugia getting injured, the legendary birds fighting each other, Lawrence III frustrating Ash's plans and Ash succeeding in bringing the orbs to the shrine. Peace returns and Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres return to their respective caves and Lugia returns to the bottom of the ocean.

Ritchie and Sparky (left) and Ash and his own Pikachu (right)
with the baby Lugia dubbed Silver, an obvious reference to the
game.  

I was absolutely awestruck by the appearance of Lugia when I first watched the movie, and when I caught it in the first game I ever played (Pokémon Silver) I trained it all the way up to level 100. It was the first Pokémon of mine reaching level 100 and I was mighty proud of it, goddammit. From then on, my love for Lugia became kind of an obsession, and I was absolutely ecstatic when Lugia appeared in an anime three-parter, consisting of the episodes "The Mystery Is History", "A Parent Trapped!" and "A Promise Is a Promise". In these, Ash and his friends bump into Ritchie, a boy whom Ash befriended earlier on in the Johto saga. Ritchie says he was told about a mysterious Pokémon and that he had spent extensive time researching the area. His story soon proves to be true when they meet a young boy called Oliver, who is acquainted with a baby Lugia he dubbed Silver. However, the young Lugia is accidentally discovered by Team Rocket (a scientist called Dr. Namba and a Rocket grunt, not Jessie and James), who capture it by luring it with a decoy. They hope to capture the parent Lugia soon, and they succeed when the furious parent whips up a storm upon hearing the news from Ash and Ritchie and falls right into their trap when it tries to rescue its child. Ash and Ritchie try to warn it, but are interrupted by Butch and Cassidy and ultimately end up in a cage in Team Rocket's underwater base themselves, along with Misty and Brock.

Lugia cuteness overload.

The last episode is probably the most action-packed one of the bunch, or at least the most suspenseful one. Dr. Namba enters the room where Ash and his friends are held and explains his evil plan: the head items Butch's Houndour and Cassidy's Hitmontop were wearing earlier in their fight with Ash and Ritchie are actually devices that enhance a Pokémon's energy, and Namba wants to use one of these amplifiers on the parent Lugia. Meanwhile, Oliver is still out and about and decides to go rescue the bunch. Upon entering Team Rocket's base he is helped by Jessie and James, who tell him where Ash and the rest are. Just as Dr. Namba is about to test his amplifiers on Pikachu and Sparky (Ritchie's Pikachu), Oliver quietly breaks into the room and punches in the lock code of the cage, enabling Ash to break out and slam himself into Namba.

After that they try to flee, but Namba sets off an alarm and the bunch is forced to fight Butch and Cassidy again. Luckily, Ash and Ritchie now know what the head items are for and order their Pikchu to destroy them and finish off Houndour and Hitmontop. As Butch and Cassidy flee the scene to ensure the parent Lugia doesn't go anywhere, they run into Jessie and James trying to set the Lugia free. A battle ensues and a dodged Flamethrower from the Houndour destroys one of the supports for the energy barrier that is keeping Lugia in. While Ash and Ritchie are stopped by Namba and his amplified Electabuzz when they try to rescue the baby Lugia, the parent Lugia severely damages the base, causing it to float to the water surface. Meanwhile, Ash's Pikachu distracts the Electabuzz so that Sparky has a chance to electrify Namba and his little controller for the energy amplifier.

Of course, the gang manage to free the baby Lugia and escape the base, but not before persuading the parent Lugia to stop going rampant and gaining its trust. This is demonstrated by a piece of debris falling on the gang, which is stopped by the parent Lugia when it sees they saved its child. In the evening, Lugia and its child head for the ocean, probably never to return.

Shadow Lugia from Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.

You guys don't understand how much I ADORE Lugia. The three-episode Lugia arc is my favorite part of the anime, the second movie is my all-time favorite Pokémon movie, and the Crystal Lugia I have - although I have to say that I don't collect the TCG cards anymore - is the best card I possess. For the longest time Lugia was my favorite Pokémon ever, until Luxray came along in 2007 and Lugia was pushed back to a solid second place. Although... it might lose that spot to the recently revealed Torracat, because I am absolutely IN LOVE with that Pokémon already. Anyway, can you blame me for loving Lugia? Lugia manages to maintain a certain air of beauty and majesticness while still looking savage. It also seems to get more love from Game Freak, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company than its counterpart Ho-Oh, and rightfully so: it gets a movie and an anime three-parter, and it is the mascot of three games, making it the record holder of most number of times used as a game mascot. Silver and SoulSilver are obviously two of them, but a Shadow Lugia is proudly occupying the cover of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the GameCube follow-up to Pokémon Colosseum. In Gale of Darkness, the criminal organization Cipher have rekindled their desire for world domination and created a Shadow Lugia codenamed XD001, claimed to be immune to purification. Naturally, it is your objective to thwart Team Cipher's plans and rescue this Lugia.

Awesome realistic art of Lugia, who resembles a plesioaur in
this picture. No wonder, as it is probably based on one. 

But Lugia's origin plays a big role in my love for this Pokémon, too. As demonstrated by the image on the left, Lugia is probably based on the extinct plesiosaur, although the name could be a reference to the beluga whale. It could also come from 'lutetium', a silverish element, and the Latin lugeo, which means 'to lie dormant', alluding to the way Lugia lies at the bottom of the sea. Speaking about that, Lugia may be based on the Japanese Shintō god of the sea, the dragon Ryūjin, as the two have similarities in mythology and Lugia's shiny colors even match those of the coral Ryūjin's palace was made of. And the ocean floor seems to be a big part of the mysterious 'Guardian of the Seas': it isolates itself in a deep-sea trench and tends to sleep in solitude, because the storms it could hypothetically spawn by flapping its wings can last as long as 40 days and could potentially inflict devastating damage. It is said that even a light flutter of its wings is capable of causing winds powerful enough to tear down cliffs and blow apart regular houses. Because of these traits, many people believe Lugia should have been a water/flying type instead of a psychic/flying type, and I am inclined to agree with them. It doesn't take anything away from my love for it, but psychic is kind of a weird type for Lugia and I think it should have been a water type. Even some TCG cards erroneously depict it as a water type. Go figure.

This artist used Lugia's official art for their work,
but it looks absolutely amazing!

In the games, Lugia is not as powerful. Its base attack and special attack are 'only' 90, which are decent for common Pokémon but seem to be disappointing on a legendary Pokémon with a base stat total of 680. Luckily, base 90 special attack is very decent to work with, although its base 106 HP, 130 defense and 154 special defense make it more of a wall than an offensive threat. With base 110 speed it is even quite speedy, and you don't see a lot of tanks that can move fast in the competitive metagame. Lugia has access to Multiscale, which is an ability that lets Lugia take half the damage from an incoming move when it is at full HP, making it even more defensive. A Bold nature makes it physically defensive, while a Calm nature makes it specially defensive; both make sure its special attack isn't hindered. It is used to set up screens like Light Screen and Reflect, making your whole team take one hit after another. It can use Toxic or Thunder Wave to inflict a status condition on the foe, Whirlwind to remove opponents that are setting up from the battlefield, and Recover for some reliable healing - alongside a little Leftovers recovery every turn. The Smogon set mentions Roost, but I'd recommend Recover; it is easily learned by Lugia at level 71, heals the same amount of HP as Roost does, has more PP and doesn't make Lugia vulnerable to ground-type moves the following turn. And if you do want an offensive Lugia, I'd recommend a Timid nature and the held item Choice Specs, because its special movepool is better than its physical movepool - although on both sides of the spectrum it learns conspicuously many water-type moves. Hmm...

Lugia (left) battling Shadow Lugia (right). And there is even more amazing fan art to
be found on the Internet; I'd recommend you go check it out.

Man, man, man. This Pokémon will probably never lose its spot as my second favorite Pokémon (the Torracat comment was a joke, although I'm absolutely fanboying over that adorable Pokémon already); I thought it was harsh to let Luxray dethrone Lugia as my favorite Pokémon, but I cannot control my feelings for certain Pokémon. This is also one of the longest articles I've written - Pikachu and Eevee's are longer, I think - but Lugia is worth every second I've spent writing about it. Although it has been pushed back to a second place, that second place is still nothing to sneeze at; and in any case, it is still my favorite legendary Pokémon ever. Just sayin'.

Rating: 5/5

#203: Girafarig

Official art of Girafarig, drawn by Ken Sugimori (who else?).

So, this is... an interesting Pokémon, to say the least.

So, Girafarig is based on a giraffokeryx, an extinct ancestor of the giraffe (and maybe the okapi), although its spots really give it the appearance of a modern-day giraffe. As you can see, Girafarig has a tail with eyes and a mouth, and that's because that tail actually has a fucking brain of its own. That's right, this head is capable of independent thinking, but it has to rely on outside stimuli such as smell and sound to guide its actions. If you come too near, it will smell you and try to bite you. The tail wasn't supposed to be a tail at first: Game Freak intended for Girafarig to have a second, fully grown head at the other end of its body. Do you remember the pushmi-pullyu from Doctor Dolittle? Or the cartoon series CatDog? Well, Girafarig was originally supposed to look a little like them, but that was changed at the last minute. To go with the whole palindrome shenanigans after all (Girafarig's name is spelled the same when you read it backwards), Game Freak gave it a tail that can think for its own. That trait might come from the stegosaurus, which are believed by some paleontologists to have possessed a second brain in their tails in order to improve their reflexes against predators. That can be seen in Garafarig as well: when its main head is sleeping, the tail stays awake and can warn the head of danger. Not uninteresting, and also pretty weird, but I would have loved to see a pushmi-pullyu kind of Pokémon. That would have been pretty awesome.

And no, that animal does not really exist; of course it doesn't, it is an imaginary animal Hugh Lofting created for his Doctor Dolittle book series. Yes, it all started with a book series. I didn't know that either, guys; I discovered that, like, fifteen minutes ago.

Fan art of what Girafarig was originally supposed to look like.
Pretty neat. 

Although I don't get what Girafarig's Japanese and Chinese names are supposed to mean. I mean, it's easy to determine kirin and nenriki are Japanese for giraffe and telekinesis (or psychokinesis, if you want to be strict about it), respectively, but there is absolutely nothing about Girafarig's flavor that proves it is able to influence objects with its mind. I mean, it can learn the move Telekinesis, but so can other Pokémon that usually don't have telekinetic abilities at all. It's strange. Furthermore, Girafarig's Mandarin Chinese name is Qílínqí (麒麟奇) and is composed of qílín and qí (obvious name is obvious), but this qílín creature Girafarig is supposed to be based on is neither obviously present in its design nor its flavor. This mythical beast, which looks a little like a chimaera, is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or an illustrious ruler. Criminals fear this creature because it is said to detect guilt, and after sensing it the qílín would stare at the guilty party and pierce their hearts. Although it is almost always depicted as having hooves, these are hooves of an ox, while traits of dragons, fish and lions are also present in its appearance. Just not giraffes. And Girafarig doesn't have any of the characteristics that define a qílín either, so here's another mystery. To me, at least.

Pretty nifty papercraft Girafarig. 

What's not a mystery to me, however, is Girafarig's utility in the competitive scene. It is a pretty well-rounded Pokémon, but its well-rounded stats are somewhat mediocre. Its special attack and speed are passable and so is its attack, but it doesn't need the latter and its defenses are nothing to write home about. Especially when you consider Girafarig doesn't have a massive HP stat, its base 65 defenses are complete and utter ass. It might be able to take two hits, but otherwise it is pretty easily knocked out and thus it should be used as a hit-and-run Pokémon. And with just passable special attack and speed stats, it isn't particularly good at that, either. Luckily, it has access to Calm Mind, which raises its special attack and special defense by one stage. If you manage to pull some off, you can have a specially bulky Pokémon that can hit incredibly hard after that, especially with a Modest nature and a Life Orb as its held item (although it wears Girafarig down quicker than you'd want). The rest of its moveset should consist of Psychic, Dazzling Gleam and either Energy Ball or Thunderbolt. It also learns Hyper Voice for some STAB damage (Girafarig is a normal/psychic type, strangely) and Shadow Ball for some more coverage, but Psychic is usually enough. From ORAS on, it has had access to Nasty Plot as well, if you really want to go with the hit-and-run tactic, and if by any happenstance you encounter an Adamant Girafarig or in-game use: it learns Zen Headbutt, Crunch, Earthquake, Return and Iron Tail.

Wanna suprise your opponents, by the way? Put a Choice Band on a physical-based Girafarig - with the first four physical moves I mentioned, that is - and fire away. It is more of a gimmick though, and not really recommended, but you might have some serious fun with it.

This is some incredible 'realistic' art of Girafarig. Not bad at all!

Girafarig's design is quite interesting, and I appreciate the originality Game Freak put in it, but I think its flavor could have been a little bit more. Of what I don't know, but at least more of something. Hey Game Freak, give it telekinetic traits, or characteristics that fit this whole qílín thing, why don't you? Heh. On a more serious note, though, Girafarig is a decent Pokémon all around and I actually really like it. I've never used it in a playthrough, but I'm not opposed to the idea whatsoever, and I'm just waiting for the right opportunity. Meanwhile, I will have to do with giving Girafarig a well-deserved 4-star rating.

Rating: 4/5

#360, #202: Wynaut & Wobbuffet

You know, I think I'm at a point I've had it with these baby Pokémon. Adding pointless pre-evolutions to already existing Pokémon doesn't make sense to me, and adding a pointless pre-evolution to a Pokémon that is pointless in the first place makes even less sense.

So that's where I should talk about Wynaut, right? Because, why not?

One big, happy family of mama and papa Wobbuffet and their three little Wynaut.
The lipstick on mama Wobbuffet is absolutely ridiculous, though. 

Well, to be honest, there is absolutely nothing interesting to say about Wynaut. It is merely Wobbuffet's pre-evolution and doesn't have any distinctive traits that sets it apart from its parent, so to speak, so I'm pretty much done talking about it. I mean, should I say Wynaut is almost always happy and throws a tantrum with its tail when angered? Or that it likes to eat sweet fruits? Great, so do I. NEXT!

Jessie's Wobbuffet in love, apparently.

It has to be said that herds of Wynaut like to squeeze up against each other to gain endurance, while at the same time they are trained to dole out powerful counterattacks. That is why this Pokémon learns Counter and Mirror Coat at level 15 and evolves into Wobbuffet immediately after. And Wobbuffet is supposedly where it's at. It's a docile Pokémon that never attacks first, but when it is attacked it will inflate its body and initiate a counterstrike - which sounds about right, by the way, as both Counter and Mirror Coat have negative priority in the games and always act after the opponent has attacked. When two Wobbuffet meet, they will attempt to outlast each other in a battle of endurance, but since neither of them is able to attack, they may compete to find out which can last longest without food. Wobbuffet is very secretive and overprotective regarding its pitch-black tail, so it likes to reside in dark caves. Also, it can't endure an attack on its tail, so when it's attacked it takes the foe with it by using Destiny Bond, one of the very few moves Wobbuffet can learn at all.

You know when fan art isn't abundant when you
have to feature an entire TCG card. 

And that's why it's not a good Pokémon, in-game as well as competitively. All it can do is wait out an attack with its massive base 190 HP stat and strike back with Counter (in case of an incoming physical attack) or Mirror Coat (in case of an incoming special attack). Its defenses are just mediocre enough - both defensive stats sit at base 58 - that it can take a hit with that massive HP and knock out the opposing Pokémon with its counterattack, but everybody knows what to expect from Wobbuffet, so they'll try to set up when it comes into play and wait until all Destiny Bonds have been used up. That's why it's not very viable in competitive play. At the same time it is very tricky to use in-game, because you never know if the opponent is going to use a physical or special move on you. Of course, you can predict it as accurately as possible, as some Pokémon tend to be special and others tend to be physical, but most AIs tend to use their Pokémon's level-up movepools and there are still special Pokémon with a largely physical movepool and vice versa. In other words, Wobbuffet is always a tricky Pokémon to use. Not good. It's really one of those Pokémon that makes me go, "What were Game Freak thinking? This can't turn out to be any good." And that's the truth, because its low popularity causes it to be not used at all by anyone. And its anime appearances don't really help its cause, either, because Jessie's Wobbuffet tends to break out of its Poké Ball at undesirable moments, much like Misty's Psyduck, and that is just plain irritating. I understand it's supposed to be a running gag, but you don't have to repeat the same unfunny thing all over again, especially when you've done the same with a certain Pokémon called Psyduck previously.

Yeah, would Jessie really love her Wobbuffet? It is often
a source of annoyance, as it lets itself out of its Poké Ball
without having been asked to.

As you can make out from the description above, Wobbuffet is literally a punching bag. That's where an interesting theory comes into play: the tail is actually Wobbuffet's body and the rest is just a cover-up created to take hits. It's an interesting theory, but there's actually not much to back that up; Wobbuffet itself acts so much like an actual living being - again, this could be a cover-up - that I don't think this theory can hold its own unless substantial evidence surfaces anytime soon, which I don't see happen at all. I can tell you what Wynaut and Wobbuffet are probably based on, however, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Both are based on a traditional Japanese doll with squinted eyes called the okiagari-kobōshi, which means 'getting-up little priest', and it stands back upright when it is pushed over. It is a symbol of perseverance. Pretty much the trait of a punching bag, which Wobbuffet is based on. Wynaut and Wobbuffet's Japanese names are Sohnano (ソーナノ) and Sonans (ソーナンス), respectively, and are a play on the respective phrases of sō na no and sō na-n-su. Together, they make for a potential perpetual conversation of, "Is that so?" followed by, "That's the way it is," and so on. Additionally, Wobbuffet is probably also based on the Japanese comedian Hayashiya Sanpei, who was famous for repeatedly touching his forehead while saying one of his trademark lines: Sō nansu, okusan! ("That's the way it is, ma'am!")

That Wobbuffet family again. Because, Wynaut?

While Wynaut and Wobbuffet's perpetual conversation probably makes a lot more sense in Japanese, other languages' names for these Pokémon do not feature this pun. The French names are Okéoké and Qulbutoké - Culbuto is the French trademarked name for Weebles - and feature a pun on 'okay', but don't make for a conversation between Wynaut and Wobbuffet. The German names of Isso - from Ist es so? ("Is that so?") - and Woingenau - from Wohin genau? ("Where to, exactly?") - don't make much sense when put together. And don't get me started on the Korean names. Maza (마자) and Mazayong (마자용) seem both be based on majayo, which is 'that's right', but it seems to fit Meowth better than Wynaut and Wobbuffet, I dare say.

Meh, I don't like Wobbuffet all that much. The mystery surrounding its tail isn't all that interesting, as opposed to the mystery surrounding Unown, and it's just a weird-looking Pokémon. And not in a good way. Sorry, I can't give it a passing grade at all.

Rating: 2/5

#201: Unown

All forms of Unown, from A to Z, including ! and ?.

Who actually enjoyed catching all 28 different forms of Unown?

Yeah, nobody.

Nobody except me, that is. Of course, finding all different Unown gets harder exponentially, because Unown forms you've already caught show up more often than you'd like once you're coming close to catching them all. I didn't mind though, because - and I know it's a rather unpopular opinion - I actually love Unown for what it is. Sure, I wouldn't be in my right mind if I actually used it, whether it's in a regular playthrough or in the competitive scene, because it's undoubtedly a terrible Pokémon to fight with, but there is so much mystery surrounding Unown that I can't help but to love this thing. Or these things, whatever. If it wasn't already really obvious, Unown are shaped like the letters of the Latin alphabet and were introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver, where they could be found only in the Ruins of Alph. It's no coincidence they could be found on such an ancient site, because their shapes look like hieroglyphs on ancient tablets. It is a mystery whether Unown predate or postdate written language, and therefore it is unknown which is based on which.

Ken Sugimori only made new official art for Unown F. Prior to
HeartGold and SoulSilver, the official art was an Unown G.

As the core series games progressed, Unown could be found on diverse ancient sites: the Tanoby Chambers on Seven Island (Sevii Islands) in FireRed and LeafGreen, Solaceon Ruins in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, and one of many Mirage Islands in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. However, they were never found very important by players, not even when Game Freak introduced the ! (exclamation mark) and ? (question mark) Unown in FireRed and LeafGreen. Diamond and Pearl let the player catch all 26 Unown so that a Ruin Maniac could dig a tunnel to a seperate room in the Solaceon Ruins, which contained the ! and ? Unown and a couple of items. Catching all Unown also allowed the player to obtain letter seals for their Ball Capsules by showing some boy in Solaceon Town every individual Unown. Yeah, nobody was going to do that, right? Also, the only move it can learn is Hidden Power, which is a move that practically every Pokémon can learn, with an exception here and there. This all has made Unown a Pokémon that is hated upon very often. Of course, everyone is free to hate on a certain Pokémon (for example, I think I've made it very clear that I loathe Lickilicky's very existence), but I don't think the hate for Unown is quite justified: I look beyond its terrible stats and find a whole lot of mystery and lore. Also, I think Unown is a funny-looking Pokémon, which definitely attributes to my love for it.

Scene from the third Pokémon movie, in which Unown emerge
from a portal that leads to their own demension (depicted).

And while everybody fell in love with Entei in the third full movie Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown: Entei, I was more intrigued by the Unown. Don't get me wrong: I liked the movie as a whole and I really like Entei as well, but it was just fascinating to see how these little creatures in the shapes of the letters we are familiar with could be so powerful. Of course, it was a collective of Unown, but you probably get my point. In the movie, archeologist Spencer Hale (which is an awfully ordinary name for Pokémon standards) reads a story about Entei to his daughter Molly, when suddenly he gets interrupted by an email from his assistant, Schuyler, who says he made a discovery in some desert ruins. Hale rushes to the ruins, but once there he vanishes into a portal to another dimension. When Molly overhears Schuyler telling the butler the news about what happened, she takes some tiles with mysterious letters out of a box and lays them on the ground, forming 'papa', 'mama' and 'me' with them. When the letters begin to glow, a portal to the desert ruins opens and Unown start emerging from it, creating a 'real-life' Entei to be Molly's 'papa' when she indicates she misses her Dad. The rest of the movie is basically Ash trying to save the day. Again.

In the third movie, Professor Oak had some pictures of Unown.
Rather than depictions of the Latin alphabet, they look more like
Greek or Cyrillic letters.

Still, a small, one-eyed Pokémon that can pull others into another dimension and create an entire fantasy world for a little girl who misses her Daddy? That is dope, even though there are in fact many Unown at the same time who manage to do that (although I recall there weren't a bunch of 'em at the beginning of the movie). Their Pokédex entries don't depict them quite as impressive, aside from that whole hieroglyph thing, but Dawn's Pokédex claims they communicate with each other through telepathy - although Professor Oak's research disagrees with that, as Oak states they use electromagnetic waves instead. Either way, it is probably how they are able to keep this whole demension stable, from which they rarely emerge due to their timid and careful nature. They have the power to perceive the feelings of other creatures, which sounds about right when you look at the fact they made Molly's every wish come true by creating everything she wants. And Oak has been extraordinarily diligent, because he also had some pictures on his computer that look like Unown hieroglyphs. However, these Unown do not resemble letters of the Latin alphabet, but look more like they're depictions of letters from the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets. That is curious, because does this mean that Unown have been created from written language or have evolved in order to look like written language? Or are they really from another demension? In the latter case, Unown were seen by ancient people who doodled them on walls, and later generations started using those very symbols to communicate with each other. That means not only written language can be traced back to Unown, but spoken language as well, provided all ancient people could do was growl at each other.

Jeez. So much speculation, and there is still so little known about Unown. Its name fits it perfectly, don't you think?

Unown as depicted in a children's book in Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the
Unown: Entei. 

I love Unown. It's just an original concept for a Pokémon, and I think Game Freak did a good job creating this one. Of course, it is a terrible battler - it's frail and its only known move is Hidden Power - but at least it's not completely useless. That is to say, it provides contrast to other Pokémon: instead of your regular rodents, generic birds, fighting machines and thousands of fish, there is also this mysterious thing to catch. And there are 28 of them, the most out of all Pokémon with different forms. Also, I understand why Game Freak went with the Latin script as an inspiration for Unown, as it's the most commonly used script in the world, used by almost entire America and Africa, and a large part of Europe. It's also the most commonly accepted and understood type of script, even by people who don't usually make use of it. The Greek script is obviously only officially used in Greece and Cyprus (as far as I know), the Cyrillic script is mainly seen in Russia and the Balkans and a couple of other Eastern European countries, and Japanese is rather complicated and hard to understand for the rest of the world. No, Game Freak did it just right with Unown.

Rating: 5/5

#177 - #178: Natu & Xatu

Natu depicted in a hieroglyph style. I approve.

Have you ever had the desire to see into the future in order to find out what your life is going to look like?

Well, I think you should be glad you can't do that, because Xatu is probably not happy with the ability to foresee the future - with its right eye, that is. It's just a theory, but Xatu tends to stand still and watch the sun's movement all day and it is said it does so due to fears of its visions of the future coming true. And its prophecies have a high degree of accuracy, so that's a terrible future Xatu sees, then. And the past isn't exactly all that, either, so as Xatu can see the past with its left eye as well, I want to believe the poor thing is being tormented 24/7. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if it has the desire to go back to being a Natu, notwithstanding the fact that even Natu is a cautious Pokémon that is easily spooked. And Natu has this outré characteristic that it stares at something until the thing moves. I know they're classified as the 'Tiny Bird Pokémon' and the 'Mystic Pokémon' and all, and Game Freak have not been incorrect by doing so, but I think classifying Natu and its evolution Xatu as the 'Staring Pokémon' would have been way more interesting and accurate.

Isn't this Natu totem pole cute?

Of course, their designs and their ability to foresee the future are both derived from the Mayans, an indigenous people of Central America known for their rich history, culture, art and architecture, as well as their infamous calendar. The misinterpretation of this Mesoamerican Long Count calendar was the basis for a popular Western belief that the Maya people had predicted that the apocalypse would take place on December 21, 2012, when it was simply the day that the calendar went to the next b'ak'tun (a cycle of 144,000 days, which is 20 k'atun cycles of 7,200 days). It was even the inspiration for one of my favorite movies, 2012. Despite the fact that the Mayans inhabited Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, among others, Natu and Xatu's Pokédex entries state that they are mainly found in South America rather than Central America, which is technically the southernmost part of North America that connects with South America. And Xatu's design and name also refer to a xat (pronounced 'khat', although Xatu is pronounced 'ZAH-too'), a carved totem pole of Native American origin, while it certainly has some traits of kachina dolls as well; the Native American people believe that kachinas are spirits or personifications of things in the real world, and masked members of the community who represent these spirits at religious ceremonies are called kachina dancers, while the dolls are usually given to children as gifts. Even Natu and Xatu's Japanese names - Naty (ネイティ) and Natio (ネイティオ) - derive from the word 'native', although it doesn't necessarily refer to the Native American peoples. On the other hand, its behavior displays the ancient art of sungazing, which is a form of spiritual meditation practiced by the Mayans and Aztecs in the belief that it would give them supernatural power. It is not advised to try this yourselves, though, because the human eye is sensitive and prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can lead to cataracts, damage to the retina (solar retinopathy), and even blindness.

Xatu depicted as some ancient deity to the indigenous peoples of
Central and/or South America.

And how about Xatu's competitive utility? Well, it is a well-rounded Pokémon with a base HP stat of 65 and base defensive stats of 70. That makes it quite feeble, although not too frail that it can't take a hit. Its speed and special attack both sit at a solid 95, which makes them its best stats. Nevertheless, defensive Xatu do exist and the combination of HP and defense investment with a Timid nature and the Magic Bounce ability, which bounces back all status moves to the user, has proved to be quite effective. While an offensive Xatu often carries a Life Orb, defensive or mixed Xatu are better off with a Colbur Berry (weakens a super-effective dark-type attack) or the Leftovers. Should you indeed run an offensive one, you have the choice from numerous moves it can use: Psychic, Psyshock, Air Slash, Signal Beam, Heat Wave, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Grass Knot and Giga Drain. On top of that, it has access to Roost so that it can heal half of its HP when necessary, while Calm Mind increases its special attack and special defense by one stage each and U-Turn lets it switch out so that it can gain momentum. It depends on what you want and what you're facing, but Xatu might be a decent asset to your team, if you know how to play it.

TCG art of Xatu.

I like how Natu and Xatu's designs and flavor are based on Native American and Mayan folklore, but these Pokémon never appealed to me that much. Don't think that I dislike Xatu and that I'll never gonna put it on a team, because I might just decide to pick this Pokémon up once I'm going to do an ORAS playthrough and start using it, but it never made me say, "Wow, this is such a great Pokémon!" But hey, other Pokémon have surprised me as well, so you never know!

Rating: 3.5/5

#151: Mew

At the left you can see Mew's old art, in which the tips of its feet
and tail are a darker shade of pink than the rest of its body. For
comparison, Mew's new official artwork can be seen on the right,
in which it has a uniform pink color.

Awwww, would you take a look at that? IT'S SO CUTE!

Yeah, Mew is much more adorable than its clone and I've always liked it more than Mewtwo just because of this feature. Now, quite some things have been said about Mew in Mewtwo's entry, especially with regard to the first Pokémon movie, so I'm not going to give in-depth details about that again; I'm going to focus entirely on Mew instead. One thing can be said, though: Mew has an entirely different personality than Mewtwo. Whereas Mewtwo was created to be a battle machine and has developed a resentment towards the human race as a result of being used by people for their own personal gain, Mew has shown a much more cheerful, playful and selfless personality. Mew is incredibly adaptable and is shown to travel freely through air and water alike. It can make itself invisible at will and therefore it is very rarely seen, making scholars declare it extinct or assume it to be a mirage. It only shows itself to those who are pure of heart and have a desire to see it, only making its altruistic nature more evident.

This special Ancient Mew card was one of my most valued
possessions when I was still collecting TCG cards. It even had a
special back print, shown on the right.

But Mew is especially interesting in the fact that it is said to have DNA that contains the genetic codes of all Pokémon in existence, which is why it is believed to be their ancestor. This is also the reason why it can learn all kinds of techniques, being able to learn every TM, HM and Move Tutor move in the games (except those moves exclusive to a particular group of or individual Pokémon, such as Draco Meteor, Secret Sword or Dragon Ascent). I'll discuss Mew's competitive use later, but this feature indisputably makes Mew very versatile. The fact that it is believed to be the ancestor of all Pokémon makes many believe Mew is based on the recapitulation theory, a largely discredited biological hypothesis that, in the development from embryo to adult, animals go through stages resembling or representing successive stages in the evolution of their remote ancestors. That is why quite a few people think Mew resembles a vertebrate embryo, but I think it looks more like a combination between a cat and a jerboa, a desert rodent with large hind legs, small forepaws and a long, skinny tail. Sounds about right when you look at Mew, right?

But Mew wasn't only the center of my affection in the games; I also possessed a couple of valued Mew items, including a special Ancient Mew card that was issued in 2000 with the purchase of a ticket for the theatrical run of Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One, limited to only the first week. I actually went to see that movie when I was ten years old, heh. I was too late to receive Ancient Mew, though, but I managed to get my hands on two copies of them later on.

OMG, look at Mew... It's such a cutie! 

The only thing that really bugs me is that Mew, even though it does make sense, isn't stronger than Mewtwo is. But with very well-rounded stats across the board - it has base 100 stats in everything - its competitive utility is nothing to sneeze at. While it can be used both offensively and defensively, it is outclassed by bulkier psychic types such as Cresselia and Slowbro and stronger ones such as Mega Gardevoir, Latios, Mega Medicham and Metagross. However, its excellent stats across the board make it hard to take down and easy to fight with. Especially when you build a bulky Mew set, you're sure Mew will stay on the battlefield for a while. With a Calm or Careful nature (depends on your choice to use either Psychic or Knock Off, respectively, as its only attacking move), the Leftovers for a little recovery every turn, and a moveset consisting of Taunt to prevent stalling, Roost for some healing and Will-O-Wisp to cripple especially physical-based foes, you'll be set. And instead of Taunt you can also run Defog to remove entry hazards or Stealth Rock to set those up yourself, while an offensive Mew would not be a bad idea, either. I think you should find out what Mew can do yourself by experimenting with all kinds of crazy movesets, because there are really too many of them to discuss here.

And now, before we move on to my conclusion (I bet you know by now what that's gonna be), take a look at some incredibly adorable GIFs of Mew I just can't deprive you of.

Yeah, I'm guessing those GIFs put a smile on your face, am I right? AM I RIGHT??? They definitely put a smile on my face, that's for sure.

At any rate, you probably know by now that I am a sucker for cute Pokémon (well, cute Pokémon that aren't exactly supposed to be cute) and it probably won't come as a surprise to you that I'm giving Mew a perfect rating, either. I've loved this thing ever since I saw the first Pokémon movie and it was so refreshing to see those tranquil scenes of Mew between the violent and turbulent scenes with the bitter and indignant Mewtwo. Despite having no Mega evolutions and being weaker stat-wise, Mew is superior to Mewtwo in every aspect. Mew is chill. Mewtwo is not.

Also, Mew is apparently not a legendary Pokémon, but a mythical Pokémon. These are distinctive from legendaries by the fact that they are not easily capturable in the games because they are usually event-only. Good to know.

Rating: 5/5