Characters / Pokémon: Generation IV - Chatot to Arceus

Main Character Index > Pokémon Generation IV Families > Turtwig to Bronzong (387-437) | Chatot to Arceus (438-493)

Chatot (Perap)

0441: Chatot / Perap (ペラップ perappu)

Chatot

An eighth note headed parrot Pokémon with the unique ability to parrot languages, including human ones. Its best known move, Chatter, is one that can be recorded using the Nintendo DS's microphone. Its effect depends on how loud the recording is.

---

• The Artifact: To prevent glitches involving its audio recording function, Chatter was made unable to be Sketched by Smeargle. This restriction remained even after the recording function was removed in Gen VI.
  • On a similar note, in X and Y, Chatter's move description was worded to imply it could still record cries, which is no longer the case. It was changed immediately in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire to remove this implication.
• Beware the Silly Ones: As a 50 cm tall parrot with a head in the shape of a musical note, Chatot does not look the part of a powerful Pokémon, but it has the highest Special Attack stat of all Pokémon that get STAB on the monstrously powerful Boomburst (just barely beating out Exploud) and a decent speed. Its Chatter is nothing to sneer at either, while its damage is nothing to write home about at 65 base power, it's still a STAB-boosted damaging move with 100% accuracy and a 100% chance to inflict confusion (Generation VI onwards), making it essentially Confuse Ray, but on steroids. It also has good abilities to somewhat alleviate its low defenses.^note Keen Eye prevents its accuracy from being lowered, Tangled Feet makes it likelier to evade attacks when confused, and Big Pecks prevents its Defense from being lowered.
• Blow You Away: Flying-type based on a parrot.
• Drunken Master: In a sense, in that Tangled Feet causes it to become more adept at evading attacks when confused.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared late in the Battle Frontier season of the anime.
• Fragile Speedster: Chatot has decent Speed, but it's really fragile.
• Glass Cannon: Chatot has decent Special Attack and, as of Gen VI, can learn the absurdly powerful Boomburst, but its defenses are terrible.
• Heal Thyself: Naturally learns Roost.
• Make Some Noise: Naturally learns several sound-based attacks, including Uproar, Round, Echoed Voice, and its signature Chatter. Even better: in Gen VI, it can be bred to know Boomburst (though in Gen VIII no Pokémon are capable of passing the move onto Chatot, since the ones that can are excluded from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl while Chatot itself is absent from Sword and Shield).
• Music Is Eighth Notes: The parrot Chatot, normally associated with sound and music, has a head in the shape of an eighth note.
• Non-Elemental: Like many bird Pokémon before it, Chatot is part Normal-type.
• Pirate Parrot: Alluded to in Legends: Arceus, wherein wild Chatot can be found in the Deadwood Haunt area of Cobalt Coastlands, an area filled with wrecked pirate ships—the implication being that Chatot were brought to Hisui by pirates. Also, one was owned by a pirate in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea.
• Polly Wants a Microphone: It can learn human words and imitate human speech. Generations IV and V even allowed it to copy your voice.
• Pokémon Speak: Its cry sounds very similar to its Japanese name, complete with pronunciation ("Perapu!"). Possibly a justified inversion, because it's a parrot and thus can mimic human speech, making it likely that it's actually mimicking a human who said its name.
• Razor Wind: Can be bred to know Air Cutter.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Legends: Arceus, wild Chatot prefer to run away when confronted.
• Secret Art: Chatter, a Flying-type attack that always confuses the target. In fact, it is one of the three moves that can't be learned by Sketch^note presumably because it would lead to a Game-Breaking Bug back when Chatot still had a voice-recording feature, the others being Struggle and Sketch, making it one of the few moves that is truly exclusive.
  • While Confide is a dirt-common TM move that can be taught to just about anything, Chatot is the only Pokémon to learn the move naturally.
• Squishy Wizard: In contrast to most birds, Chatot specializes in Special Attack. Its physical Attack is actually pretty poor, even though it gives out EVs in Attack.
• Status Buff: Can learn Nasty Plot to boost its Special Attack.
• Status Infliction Attack: Its Secret Art Chatter used to have a varying rate of causing confusion depending on the volume of the recording, usually around 10 to 30%. As of Generation VI, the voice recording function has been removed, but in return, Chatter will always cause a target to get confused.

Spiritomb (Mikaruge)

0442: Spiritomb / Mikaruge (ミカルゲ mikaruge)

Spiritomb

A collective of 108 malevolent spirits bound to a rock. While most Pokémon are found by just walking into long grass, Spiritomb isn't encountered that way. You need a special stone called the Odd Keystone, which needs to be placed in a certain shrine. Then you have to go into Sinnoh's Underground and talk to (interact with) 32 other people over the local wireless (NPCs don't count, at least in the original games). Only then will Spiritomb be released for capture. The effort that goes into triggering the Spiritomb to be released may be great, but you are rewarded with a Pokémon with only one elemental weakness (it used to have no weaknesses, but then the Fairy type was introduced in Generation VI) and high defenses.

---

• Ambiguously Evil: While the various Pokédex entries paint Spiritomb to being an evil spirit who was bound to the Odd Keystone for its mischief and misdeeds, they are much more vague on if the actual spirits as a whole are actually malevolent. They mainly just say that Spiritomb is composed of 108 spirits, but not if they are actually evil or not. Sword entry seems to imply that only some of the spirits are ill-natured, while Legends: Arceus goes with the idea that all of them are malevolent, even if one of them is the one to ask you to gather the freed wisps back, seemingly as a form of atonement for their past misdeeds.
• Armored But Frail: Spiritomb has equally great defenses that are offset by its poor HP.
• Boss Battle:
  • A territorial Spiritomb is a boss in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
  • In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, a Spiritomb in the end of Chroma Ruins appears as the game's fifth boss.
• Casting a Shadow: It fits into the traditional idea of a shadow elemental, unlike most Dark-types who are based on criminals, trickery, impending doom, below-the-belt fighting tactics, and evil. However, its primary type is Ghost, which are typically shadow elementals.
• Combat Pragmatist: It can fight dirty, naturally learning moves like Sucker Punch, Feint Attack, and Pursuit.
• Dark Is Evil: Spiritomb is composed of 108 souls that were so bad in life they were bound to the Odd Keystone, and unlike most other Dark-types it doesn't seem to have any sort of redeeming qualities whatsoever. That said, it can still get along with other Pokémon and have its friendship with the player maxed out.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Technically, Spiritomb is supposed to be a Pokémon as a result of being 108 souls jammed into one Soul Jar, which should make it the only one of its kind. However, it can breed and be caught in various different regions.
• Gotta Catch Them All: In order to get this ghost in "Legends: Arceus" you need to find all 107 wisps all over the game.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • No, the Sinnoh games do not tell you how to get Spiritomb, nor do they give any indication that Spiritomb even exists up until you fight Cynthia aside from Pokédex entry 108 suspiciously being left blank.
  • Spiritomb came back for Sword and Shield, with roughly the same requirements as the Sinnoh games, except this time the landmark is a gravestone off the beaten path around Ballimere Lake (with the only hint being the message "Be my voice." carved on it) and you don't need an Odd Keystone. Good luck realizing what that grave even does without looking it up. At least, the Wild Area makes interacting online with people much easier than the Sinnoh Underground.
• Merger of Souls: A collection of 108 souls that have amalgamated together out of negative emotions.
• Mighty Glacier: It has quite good defenses, only one elemental weakness as of Generation VI, and its offensive stats aren't bad. It's very slow and has low HP, though.
• Mind Hive: Spiritomb is a gestalt of 108 spirits. It can still breed and has a defined gender; just don't ask how.
• Mystical 108: Spiritomb is formed from 108 evil spirits that are bound together to the Odd Keystone (compare with Ninetales from Generation I, which is said to be the reincarnation of nine saints). In addition, Spiritomb weighs 108 kilograms, its Sinnoh region Pokédex number is 108, its base Defense and Special Defense are 108, and in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, one can be found in Sea Mauville, located on Route 108. 108 is considered a mystical number in Buddhism (108 is said to be the number of temptations one must overcome to reach nirvana).
• Nerf: As of Generation VI, Spiritomb is no longer free of weaknesses, due to Fairy-types being strong against Dark while not being resisted by Ghost.
• Nothing Is Scarier: It is a Pokémon created from 108 evil spirits 500 years ago. That's it. What those spirits did or even what Spirtomb itself is like is never elaborated upon. Pokédex entry in Sword claims that some of the spirits which form Spiritomb are ill-natured, suggesting that it being sealed away in Odd Keystone is due to Spiritomb's own actions instead of the actions of the spirits forming it.
• Noodle Incident: What Spiritomb did to get sealed away is never elaborated on, but it does say a traveller was "compelled" to seal it away due to its actions.
• Numerological Motif: If you haven't figured it out yet, Spiritomb is heavily associated with the Mystical 108.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: It's not one ghost; it's 108 spirits forever encased in a keystone as punishment for the evil those spirits committed in life.
• Power Nullifier: Its dual Dark/Ghost typing renders it immune to Normal, Fighting, and Psychic-type moves.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Spiritomb is said to be formed from the souls of 108 people who were evil in life and now are bound to the Odd Keystone for eternity as punishment.
• Socialization Bonus:
  • Spiritomb only appears in Sinnoh if you interact with 32 real players in the Underground. ^note It can be the same person 32 times, but it still requires another person... or another DS. Whichever works. This condition only applies in the original Sinnoh games; in the remakes, solo players can talk to random NPCs in the Underground and still fulfill the requirement to summon Spiritomb.
  • In Sword and Shield, Spiritomb appears in a gravestone in Ballimere Lake after checking it and then interacting with 32 other trainers in the Crown Tundra, meaning that you need to play online to get Spiritomb.
• Soul Jar: That Odd Keystone is what Spiritomb is bound to, if its seal weakens, the Pokémon would disperse.
• Soul Power: A Ghost-type powered by 108 spirits.
• Undead Abomination: A shadowy creature made up of an amalgamation of 108 souls sewn together by their collective negative emotions.
• Unique Enemy: A single Spiritomb appears in Sea Mauville in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, ambushing you in a specific room upon quitting a game menu.
• Uniqueness Decay: Prior to Generation IX, Spiritomb would typically only be obtainable as a fixed-spawn Unique Enemy that requires the player to go through some kind of procedure to make it show up. In Scarlet and Violet, however, Spiritomb can simply be found roaming the wild like most other Pokémon.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Spiritomb is a result of a Soul Jar of 108 human spirits that are largely believed to be malevolent, but not a single NPC would blink twice or be disturbed by such a sight as it's treated the same way as any other Pokémon, despite its rather unusual origins.

Gible (Fukamaru), Gabite, and Garchomp (Gaburias)

0443: Gible / Fukamaru (フカマル fukamaru)
0444: Gabite (ガバイト gabaito)
0445: Garchomp / Gaburias (ガブリアス gaburiasu)

Gible

Gabite

Garchomp

^{Mega Garchomp}

Mega Garchomp debuts in X and Y

Dragon Pokémon that superficially resemble sharks with limbs, they are found in caves with geothermal heating. Gible looks somewhat silly due to its pudgy appearance, but as it evolves, it gets "sharper" and dangerous-looking. It is among the fastest of the pseudo-legendaries, second only to Dragapult, and its stats are in just the right places to make it an extremely powerful threat, making it a perfect Signature Mon for Sinnoh's celebrated Champion Cynthia. As of X & Y, Garchomp has a Mega Evolution with greatly boosted Attack and the Sand Force Ability, in exchange for a slight Speed drop.

Garchomp is one of the playable characters in Pokkén Tournament, a Fighting Game Spin-Off where Pokémon duke it out in a new type of battle called Ferrum Battles. For tropes concerning its appearance in that game, see the Pokkén Tournament character page.

---

• Animal Gender-Bender: The Garchomp in PokéPark Wii is male, but has no notch in its fin and therefore looks like females of its species. This isn't touched upon at all.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Mega Garchomp has a whopping 170 base attack, but it has lower speed than its non-mega counterpart. This means that though it can hit way harder, it may not be able to land a hit first.
• Big Eater: What would you expect from names like those? Reflected also in their evolution moves: Dual Chop as Gabite and Crunch as Garchomp. That said, Gible's Shield Dex entry for the Crown Tundra DLC notes that despite its big mouth, its stomach is actually quite small.
• Body Horror: The Alolan Pokédex implies that when Garchomp Mega Evolves, its fins don't transform into scythes, they melt into that shape, which in result drives it into mad rage.
• Boss Battle:
  • A Gabite is fought as the first boss in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon. Gabite and Garchomp can also be fought as optional bosses in Explorers and Super respectively.
  • In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Garchomp is used by Ice during your second battle against him.
  • Of course, one can't mention Garchomp without bringing up Cynthia. It's her signature in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, and all her other appearances. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, her implied ancestor Volo also uses one on his team, though unlike Cynthia, it isn't his Signature Mon; that honor goes to his Togekiss, and even moreso his partner Giratina.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a Lv. 85 Alpha Garchomp in the Alabaster Icelands is the highest-leveled Alpha Pokémon in the game and the second-highest enemy overall, tied with the superboss rematches of Dialga and Palkia.
• Breaking Old Trends: The Gible line has some traits that were introduced by them among pseudo-legendaries, some of which that haven't been repeated since:
  • This is the first pseudo-legendary line that avoided Late Character Syndrome in their debut game in the Wayward Cave's secret entrance, with wild Gible under level 20 available (although, in Diamond and Pearl, the lower levels where Gible can be found is blocked by a Strength Boulder, which can only be moved after beating the sixth gym; in Platinum, they can obtained as early as Wayward Cave itself can be entered). The only other pseudo-legendary with this treatment is Dreepy, which can be found early on in Sword and Shield, but only through Max Raid Dens.
  • Garchomp is the only pseudo-legendary Pokémon with gender differences.
  • Garchomp was the first pseudo-legendary with a base friendship stat that isn't 35. Kommo-o is the only other pseudo-legendary with this trait, with both Pokémon's base friendship stats set at 70.
  • The Gible line is the first pseudo-legendary line whose National Pokédex placement does not come right before a Legendary Pokémon or another pseudo-legendary line. The Goomy and Frigibax lines are the only other pseudo-legendary lines with such kind of National Pokédex placement.
• Breakout Character: Not to the extent of Lucario, but Garchomp is still one of the most popular and marketed Pokémon from its generation, and among the pseudo-legendaries (It probably helps that it's the the strongest member of Cynthia's team). In popularity polls, not only has it consistently polled as the second highest Gen IV Pokémon behind Lucario, but it got seventh place out of all species in a wide-scale 2020 poll, making it the highest-ranking Dragon-type Pokémon.^note unless you count how Charizard can Mega Evolve into one
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Garchomp resembles a carnivorous dinosaur such as a dromaeosaurid. The UK version of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U describes Garchomp as a "mach-speed flying dinosaur with spikes".
• Dishing Out Dirt: Half Ground-types and can possesses the Sand Veil ability, which increases their evasion in a Sandstorm. Mega Garchomp has Sand Force with powers up its Ground-, Rock- and Steel-Type, attacks while in a Sandstorm. All of the group are capable of learning numerous Ground- and Rock-type moves.
• Dragon Hoard: Gabite habitually digs up gems, which it hoards in its nest. In fact, in Super Mystery Dungeon, the first boss battle has you go up against a Gabite, who mistakenly suspects that you were trying to steal his treasure. Gabite also like to capture Carbink for their gems.
• Final Boss: It's played as such in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Before Cynthia's Garchomp, no other trainer in the game uses one. Said Garchomp is also her highest-leveled Pokémon, has surprisingly high stats for a Pokémon used by an NPC trainer and is the most powerful in Cynthia's team. Cynthia would often send Garchomp out last, further exemplifying this trope.
• Flight: Garchomp has been shown as capable of flight in various media, though it can't learn Fly.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Gible's Diamond & Pearl Pokédex entries state it likes to live in caves warmed by geothermal heat. In those games, Gible can only be found in Wayward Cave. The same holds true for why Gible and its evolutions can only be found within the Tunnel to the Top and Way to the Peak in the Crown Tundra in Shield, as the cave is also warmed by geothermal heat.
• The Grim Reaper: Mega Garchomp seems to take some design cues from him with the scythe hands and squarish chin to slightly resemble a skull.
• Irony: The Level 85 Alpha Garchomp in Pokémon Legends: Arceus lives in the Alabaster Icelands, a snowy region. Garchomp has a 4x weakness to Ice.
• Jack of All Stats: Along with Hydreigon, Garchomp is this compared to other pseudo-legendaries. With the exception of its Attack, none of its stats are very high, but they (except for its Special Attack) aren't low either.
• Kill It with Ice: They are all extremely weak to Ice attacks.
• Land Shark: Literally, since they look like sharks with limbs and live on land.
• Lightning Bruiser: Garchomp is fast, strong, and has above-average bulk. Even among pseudo-legendaries, Garchomp stands out with the second highest base HP (the highest before Baxcalibur came along) and fifth highest base Attack^note which doesn't sound impressive, but it's only four points behind Dragonite and Tyranitar, and five points behind Salamence and Metagross and Speed. Mega Garchomp is slightly slower, but still pretty fast with much more power and bulk.
• Magikarp Power: Combined with Crutch Character. Gible and Gabite are rather weak (though an Eviolite can alleviate this somewhat), but one of the first moves they learn is Dragon Rage, which is powerful at first, but then their lack of power starts to reduce their effectiveness. Then, at level 48, Gabite evolves into Garchomp.
• Magic Knight: Mega Garchomp gets a large Special Attack boost to go along with its already high Attack, letting it hit with Physical or Special attacks.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Only comparatively so - Garchomp's Special Attack is not low and it packs powerful special moves like Draco Meteor or Fire Blast that it can put into good use, but its Attack is 50 base points higher than its Special Attack (base 130 Attack vs base 80 Special Attack). Compared to other pseudo-legendary Pokémon, Garchomp's Special Attack is the lowest of them all. Mega Garchomp is more proficient at special attacks, enough to avert this trope, but the base point difference is still the same (base 170 Attack vs base 120 Special Attack).
• Man Bites Man: Given that they're based on sharks and their names all reference biting, it's not surprising that they can put their chompers to use on enemies. They naturally learn Crunch and in Generation VII, Garchomp automatically learns the move upon evolution. Garchomp's also always had access to Fire Fang, and Generation VIII also gave the entire line Bite at earlier levels.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The line are based on sharks, but have the body plan of a carnivorous dinosaur (like many other fictional dragons). Their Dragon typing seems to come from the fact that they're winged flying saurians.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Garchomp is essentially a hammerhead shark jet plane dragon dinosaur.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Draconic landsharks.
• Palette Swap: Heavily downplayed with Shiny Garchomp, as it's almost indistinguishable from a normal one. Played straight with its Shiny Mega form which is pink.
• Prehistoric Animal Analogue: Not only are Gabite and Garchomp based on sharks and dragons, but also on theropods, mainly dromaeosaurids.
• Purple Is Powerful: Garchomp is one of the most threatening Dragon-types to grace the franchise and is still a threat in spite of Fairies, and sports bluish-purple scales. Its Mega form turns them lavender.
• Raptor Attack: Garchomp loosely resembles a Jurassic Park-type Velociraptor with its high speed, and having the streamlined body plan of a relatively lean carnivorous dinosaur (all while lacking feathers because of its shark scales).
• Real Men Wear Pink: Shiny Mega Garchomp◊ is really pink. Its body is mostly lavender, but its chest, jaw, and scythes are magenta.
• Recurring Element: The Gen IV draconian pseudo-legendary like Dragonite, Tyranitar, and Salamence before it. Interestingly, however, comes much earlier in the Dex order than usual. Like Salamence before it, it's a blue, vicious Lightning Bruiser Dragon-type with flight capabilities.
• The Rival: Gabite and Sableye tend to fight over Carbink. Garchomp and Salamence also compete for food in midair battles.
• Sand Is Water: Desert dwelling sharks.
• Secret Character: Even with Cynthia appearing as a Superboss with her Signature Mon in tow, the Gible line is unobtainable in any of the Generation V games... with one exception. In Pokémon Black 2, clearing the Black Tower in the postgame rewards you a shiny Gible from Benga, the only instance of the line that can be obtained without trading, transferring or breeding. White 2 doesn't have the same privilege, as Benga gifts the player a shiny Dratini instead (and Dratini can be obtained normally during the postgame).
• Shark Man: (Vaguely) anthropomorphic draconian sharks.
• Simple, yet Awesome: Garchomp has a great offensive typing in Dragon and Ground, is very quick, and hits very hard. Unlike most hard-hitting Pokémon, it's not a Glass Cannon in the slightest. It's so simple to use, yet it works so effectively in many different roles because of these traits.
• Sinister Scythe: Mega Garchomp's hands resemble huge scythe-blades.
• Socialization Bonus: Getting the Garchompite in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire requires the player to grab 1000 flags from other players' Secret Base.
• The Spiny: Their Hidden Ability is Rough Skin, which damages enemies that use contact moves on them (and is a reference to the rough skin of real sharks). Subverted with the mega form. It has spikes all over its arms, legs, and torso, but Rough Skin is replaced with Sand Force.
• Super Mode: Garchomp gains a Mega Evolution in X & Y. It gets a slight Speed reduction, but gets great boosts to Attack and Special Attack to make it a Magic Knight, the Sand Force ability to increase its Ground-, Rock-, and Steel-type moves during a Sandstorm, and minor boosts to its Defense and Special Defense.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Garchomp's Pokédex entries mention that once it has prey in its sights, it will never give up on chasing it down.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Male specimens have a notch on their back fins, implying that they fight more often and leave scars.^note The ones in the picture up there are female, if you haven't figured it out; most Garchomp in art and merchandise are depicted as female save for the ones in Pokkén Tournament and Pokémon Unite. Oddly, the male Garchomp in PokéPark Wii and its sequel has no notch in his fin. Both male and female Garchomp gain two notches in their fin in Mega Evolution form.
• Threatening Shark: Cave-dwelling, flying landsharks!
• Weird Beard: The coloration on Mega Garchomp's jaw resembles a jagged beard, and they're quite dangerous.

Riolu and Lucario

0447: Riolu (リオル rioru)
0448: Lucario (ルカリオ rukario)

Riolu

Lucario

^{Mega Lucario}

Mega Lucario debuts in X and Y

The most iconic Pokémon of the Gen IV games, Riolu and Lucario are fighting type Pokémon that possess the unique power of sensing the aura of all living things. Riolu is only able to sense it in ripples and uses it to sense the feelings of others from far away. As it evolves, though, it becomes part Steel and it fully realizes its unique power, gaining the ability to utilize it in the form of powerful attacks. Lucario is notable for being the first non-Legendary Pokémon to be the star of its own movie.

Lucario gained a Mega Evolution in Pokémon X and Y with boosted offensive stats and Speed on top of the STAB-boosting Adaptability Ability, and is said to be the first Pokémon in history to achieve Mega Evolution. Fittingly, it's the first Pokémon that the player is capable of using Mega Evolution with.

Due to its popularity, Lucario appears in Nintendo's Massive Multiplayer Crossover series, Super Smash Bros., as a recurring player character, and is also a fighter in the Pokémon's own Fighting Game Spinoff, Pokkén Tournament. For tropes concerning its appearance in those games, see the Super Smash Bros. Brawl character page and the Pokkén Tournament character page.

---

• Action Initiative: One of only a few fully-evolved Pokémon who can make decent use of the special Fighting priority move Vacuum Wave, and one of the few Pokémon that can learn Extreme Speed. Riolu gets Prankster as its Hidden Ability, which gives all of its status moves priority. Finally, they can be bred with Bullet Punch, which can do quite a number on opponents when paired with Mega Lucario's Adaptability.
• Always Accurate Attack: Aura Sphere, which never misses.
• Always Lawful Good: Generally played straight. The line is almost always used by heroic characters and according to its Shield Pokédex entry, Lucario will only trust trainers who have justice in their hearts. But Legends provides a subversion: the Lucario owned by Volo, one of the vilest villains in the series.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Lucario is a Fighting-type Pokémon, so it's fitting that the shape and coloring of its lower body makes it look like it's wearing a pair of gym shorts.
• Aura Vision: Lucario can sense the aura of all things.
• Ax-Crazy: The Alolan Pokédex entries for Mega Lucario states that its fighting style can only be described as "heartless."
• Badass Longcoat: Mega Lucario evokes something similar with its own fur no less.
• Bad with the Bone: Along with the Cubone line and Mandibuzz, Lucario is one of the few Pokémon that can learn Bone Rush. Since Lucario doesn't physically carry a bone around, both the anime and Pokkén Tournament depict it forming the bone out of energy.
• Balance Buff: With every generation, Lucario becomes stronger and stronger. In Gen V, it gained access to Justified to increase its Attack every time it's hit by a Dark-type attack, which Lucario had a double resistance to at the time. In Gen VI, it received a Mega Evolution that makes it faster, stronger, and gains Adaptability to increase the power of its STAB moves. Generation VII didn't immediately give it anything new to play with, but Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon gave it access to Meteor Mash, a powerful STAB move that runs off of Mega Lucario's better attacking stat.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Gets the usual vast array of punching moves expected of a Fighting-type.
• Body Horror: The Alolan Pokédex entries for Mega Lucario states that the mega evolution energy, combined with Lucario's own aura, burns his own skin with black streaks.
• Boss Battle:
  • Maylene's strongest Mon, where she's either the third (Diamond and Pearl) or fourth (Platinum) Sinnoh leader.
  • Lucario is fought in Poképark Wii 2: Wonders Beyond as the final opponent in the postgame Battle Tournament.
  • A Lucario guarding the Blue Gem is fought as a boss in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
• Breakout Character: Lucario became one of the most prominently marketed new Pokémon since Pikachu from the Generation I days and is considered the unofficial mascot of the 4th generation, and is given to the player for free in its debut games and X and Y. It's been in every regional Pokédex at launch since its debut as well.
• Combat Medic: Lucario is one of few Pokémon that could learn Heal Pulse, it also has nice offensive stats to boot.
• Combat Pragmatist: Lucario learns several Dark-type moves, most notably Crunch and Dark Pulse.
• Confusion Fu: Lucario has a stupidly diverse movepool; outside of STAB attacks, it gets Dragon, Ground, Psychic, Dark, Fire, Water, Ghost, Rock, Poison, Ice, Electric, and Bug attacks.
• Cute Little Fangs: Lucario has these, although they are rarely seen.
• Cycle of Hurting: Due to the fact that Copycat mimics the last move used even if it's the user's own move, a Prankster Riolu with a Focus Sash and Reversal effectively has a *300 BP priority move* at its disposal, as long as nothing can survive it or outspeed it with priority of its own.
• Death or Glory Attack: Lucario can learn the powerful and dangerous High Jump Kick through breeding. Nothing wants to take a High Jump Kick from Mega Lucario (except Ghost-types who will laugh at it) — if it's weak to Fighting, then barring the move missing, the only thing that will save it is if it has a Focus Sash, Sturdy, or if it happens to have ridiculous defenses. If Mega Lucario can pull off a Swords Dance, the latter's only chance of survival afterwards is to run.
  • This trope also applies to a slightly lesser extent to Lucario's Close Combat move. While the move is slightly less powerful than High Jump Kick (base 120 power to base 130 power), it still does a truly ridiculous amount of damage coming from a Mega Lucario. Although the move doesn't risk directly harming Lucario the way High Jump Kick does, the downside is that every time the move is used, it lowers both the user's defense and special defense by one stage. So if Lucario uses Close Combat, it will quickly become this trope, as anything that doesn't get immediately KO-ed by it will be able to take out Lucario with ease.
  • And in Sword and Shield, it gets access to the new move Steel Beam, which is a slightly weaker Steel-type version of Blacephalon's Mind Blown, dealing huge damage but costing Lucario half of its max HP.
• Demoted to Extra: After being so prominently available in Gens IV, V and VI, Riolu and Lucario are only available in Sun and Moon in the Poni Wilds, an area that is only accessible in the post-game.
• Disability Super Power: Steadfast, one of their abilities, multiplies their speed by 50% whenever they are flinched.
• Disc-One Nuke:
  • In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Riolu can be found in the wild before the first Gym Leader. Because Riolu evolves through happiness, this means that after a few hours of running in circles, it is possible to get a Lucario at level 6. And once it does, congratulations. You have now obtained a Pokémon that can utterly dominate the first quarter of the game. It resists the first Gym's STAB (and double-resists their other attacking type), is immune to the second Gym's STAB, and is double-resistant to the third Gym's STAB (also double-resistant to Dwebble in general, and normally resistant to Grass). To exaggerate this even more, you can get TM27 Return right after beating Cheren, giving it an attack with an effective Power of 102 due to it running off of the user's Friendship value and Lucario being a Friendship evolution. The only downside is that Riolu has a low encounter rate, but once you get your hands on one, it'll be so worth it.
  • Still going this way in X and Y. Riolu is again available before the first Gym (which is guaranteed three perfect IVs due to being a baby Pokémon), Return is given just before the next town, and you even get a free Lucario with its Mega Stone after the 3rd Gym if you didn't bother to grab a Riolu.
  • The line is this one again in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where similar to B2W2, wild Riolu can be found in early-game areas and can easily evolve. Lucario also happens to resist the main types of many of the lower-leveled bosses (Bug, Grass, Dark and Rock).
• Draw Aggro: The line can learn Follow Me through breeding, through their terrible defenses means that drawing any attacks towards them is a questionable strategy.
• Dreadlock Warrior: The appendages on the back of Lucario's head give off this appearance. Even more so in its Mega form.
• Elemental Punch: They can learn Ice Punch and Thunder Punch through move tutors, but not Fire Punch, presumably due to Lucario being a Steel-type... Though they can inherit Blaze Kick from a parent.
• The Empath: They can read the emotions of other creatures.
• Energy Ball: Aura Sphere, a move which Lucario is very famous for using.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Lucario is a Steel-type, though it doesn't have any of the visual cues or normal stat spreads associated with them. That said, Lucario can learn several steel type moves, like Flash Cannon and Bullet Punch.
• Funny Animal Anatomy: They have long noses reminiscent of canine snouts, with human-like mouths underneath. And raccoon-like faces. Justified by the fact that they (or at least Lucario) are in the Human-Like egg group.
• Fur Is Clothing: Lucario's thighs are designed to resemble a pair of shorts.
• Glass Cannon:
  • It can hit hard from both the physical and special sides, and has decent Speed. However, it has trouble withstanding neutral attacks due to its low defenses, and abusing Close Combat^note which lowers the user's defenses after each use will render its many resistances moot. Luckily, Lucario has 8 resistances, 2 of which are double, and an immunity.^note Prior to Gen VI, it has 9 resistances, 3 of which are double resistances.
  • Its Mega Evolution makes it even stronger, with the Adaptability ability (boosts the power of STAB moves to 2x instead of 1.5x) adding to its Fighting-type and Steel-type moves. And Mega Lucario has not only higher Attack than regular Lucario, but higher Special Attack and Speed. While its Defense receives a significant boost, it still can't take that many hits before going down and its mediocre Special Defense is left intact.
• Hartman Hips: Lucario has a slender upper body contrasted by wide hips and thighs, though they're meant to look like it's wearing pants.
• Healing Shiv: Lucario learns Heal Pulse, a move that heals the target's HP.
• Honor Before Reason: Lucario's Hidden Ability is Justified, which raises its Attack if hit by a Dark-type move. While it can't abuse it as well as Terrakion, it has access to several increased-priority moves, and had a double Dark resistance prior to Generation VI.
• An Ice Person: They can get Ice Punch from the move tutor.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Due to its popularity and prominent appearances in various spin-offs, Lucario is promoted in the same way that Pikachu, Charizard and Mewtwo are despite being introduced some ten years and four generations later than the others.
• Immune to Flinching: Inner Focus, one of their abilities, makes them completely immune to flinching.
• Informed Ability: The Pokédex goes out of it way to point out that Lucario can understand humans. The problem with this is that there has never been any indication that other Pokémon couldn't understand humans.
• Intellectual Animal: The Pokédex states that Lucario can understand human speech.
• Kamehame Hadoken:
  • Aura Sphere. Also able to learn various similar moves that Steel and Fighting-types otherwise can't normally learn, like Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball... and Heal Pulse.
  • Aura Storm, which is Lucario's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• Ki Manipulation: Gets moves like Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, and Focus Blast.
• Laser Blade: When Lucario conjures up a Bone Rush attack in the anime, it looks rather like a Jedi Knight activating a lightsaber. On one occasion in the anime, two Mega Lucario even fight in a manner reminiscent of a lightsaber duel.
• Late Character Syndrome:
  • In Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, Riolu can only be obtained by hatching an egg obtained from Iron Island late during the main story, which means a lot of walking, grinding, training and pampering is required to bring it up to snuff and evolve it at that point. Black 2, White 2, X and Y instead make Riolu into an early-game Pokémon, while all other games in which the line can be obtained relegate it to the postgame.
  • While the line is part of the regional Pokédex in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, they are only found in Poni Grove, which isn't available until after becoming the champion.
  • Sword and Shield rectify this somewhat, given your badges mean a Riolu can be caught in the Wild Area around badge 3, though the weather circumstances do have to be right, and it can become a helpful enough powerhouse with a breeding cottage right next to the area it can be captured in.
  • In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Riolu and Lucario are only available in the final area (Alabaster Icelands), though Lucario can at least be caught fully-evolved as an Alpha Pokémon to save the trouble of having to evolve it.
• Magic Knight: Is one of the few Fighting-types to have a good Special Attack stat on top of an almost equal Attack stat.
• Magikarp Power: Riolu has quite low stats and a much smaller movepool than Lucario, even by pre-evolution standards. Once you reach the happiness level to achieve evolution, it becomes a high-tier killing machine.
• Mascot Mook: Just as Pikachu represents cute unevolved monsters, and Charizard for fearsome fully evolved monsters, Lucario is the poster child for cool humanoid monsters. The three are among the most likely to get spotlighted in Gens beyond their own, and appear in spinoffs, crossovers, and merch. Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Pokémon X and Y and Pokkén Tournament even give it more attention than Pikachu itself.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Their Ultra Moon entry details that Lucario often read minds of people and become stressed if what they read turns out to be sensitive.
• Multiform Balance: Of a sort. While the difference is marginal in both forms, Lucario hits slightly harder with Special attacks while Mega Lucario hits slightly harder with Physical attacks (relatively speaking, as Mega Lucario hits harder than regular Lucario on both sides).
• Nerves of Steel: Both of their regular abilities discourage trying to flinch them. Steadfast increases their speed if they flinch (likely assuring you can't do it next turn), and Inner Focus just makes them Immune to Flinching.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Riolu's Pearl Pokédex entry notes that despite its small size, it is strong, being capable of cresting three mountains and crossing two canyons in a single night.
• Precious Puppy: Riolu has strong canine traits and is considered a baby Pokémon. A very adorable one at that.
• Psychic Powers: They're not Psychic-types, but nonetheless, they can read the thoughts and emotions of others. On an unrelated note, Lucario can be taught Psychic from the technical machine, while both of them can learn Zen Headbutt from the move tutor.
• Rascally Raccoon: Averted. Although they are partially based off raccoons (especially the face), they aren't portrayed as mischievous rascals.
• The Power of Friendship: Needs high happiness to evolve, but can only do so during the day.
• Shock and Awe: They can get Thunder Punch from the move tutor.
• Shotoclone: Loosely speaking; Lucario is a Fighting-type that learns various Kamehame Hadoken attacks, including its signature Aura Sphere, and can learn the Shoryuken-like Sky Uppercut via breeding. It's also occasionally depicted as one half of a Ryu and Ken-like duo with Blaziken, as the "Ryu" to Blaziken's "Ken". Ironically, Lucario is not this in its fighting game appearances.
• Signature Move: Aura Sphere and Lucario are very heavily associated with each other in most forms of Pokémon media, though the move itself isn't exclusive to Lucario by a long shot.^note When the mon and the move were introduced in Generation IV, Aura Sphere was also in the moveset of Togekiss, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina; and was added to the moveset of Mewtwo and Mew. So no, it was never Lucario's Secret Art. Lucario has also been heavily associated with Bone Rush, largely due to the unique and striking visual of the energy bone staff.
• Status Buff: Riolu gets Nasty Plot while Lucario gets Swords Dance and Calm Mind, all by level up. They can also be bred to have Iron Defense and Agility.
• The Stoic: Like Mewtwo, in Pokémon-Amie, Lucario gives approving nods rather than energetic or visibly happy responses when treated well, though it does smile when its affection level goes up.
• Super Mode: Gained a Mega Evolution in X and Y, with the ability Adaptability. Those Close Combats, High Jump Kicks, Iron Tails, Aura Spheres, Flash Cannons, and Meteor Mashes will hurt. Also, in-universe, Lucario is said to be the very first Pokémon in history to achieve Mega Evolution (until the Hoenn remakes retconned it to Rayquaza actually being the first one).
• Telepathy: Lucario can read the minds of others by observing their aura.
• Use Your Head: They can get Headbutt and Zen Headbutt from the move tutor, both of which are, well, headbutts.
• Wolverine Claws: Lucario naturally learns Metal Claw. The anime depicts it as the spikes on Lucario's paws glowing and changing into claws.

Hippopotas and Hippowdon (Kabaldon)

0449: Hippopotas (ヒポポタス hipopotasu)
0450: Hippowdon / Kabaldon (カバルドン kabarudon)

Male Hippopotas

Male Hippowdon

Hippopotami that prefer to bathe in pits of sand rather than pools of water. These ground types have the ability to instantly produce large quantities of sand through holes in their bodies; so much, in fact, they create a sandstorm when they enter battle. Much like real hippos, they also possess very strong jaws and a very aggressive nature. Males tend to be lighter in color while females are darker.

---

• Angry, Angry Hippos: Hippowdon is a temperamental animal, much like real life hippos.
• Big Eater: Learns a lot of mouth-based attacks, can learn some more like Stockpile, Swallow, or Spit Up by breeding.
• Blow You Away: Surprisingly enough, the line can learn Whirlwind via breeding.
• Boss Battle: Bertha's signature during Diamond and Pearl.
• Cub Cues Protective Parent: Much like real life hippos, wild Hippowdon are very protective of their calves. True enough, if a Hippopotas feels like it's in danger in Legends: Arceus and there's a Hippowdon around, the Hippopotas will run to them for safety, and the parent will make a furious beeline at you.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Ground-type hippos with the ability to create sandstorms by shooting sand out of the holes in their bodies.
• Elemental Baggage: Having a body filled with sand helps with the execution of their attacks, regardless of battlefield.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Learns the three fang attacks (Ice, Fire, and Electric).
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Like hippos in real life, Hippowdon has a very bad temper.
• Heal Thyself: Can be bred to know Slack Off.
• Huggy, Huggy Hippos: Hippopotas is more docile than its ill-tempered evolution Hippowdon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jerk might be overstating it, but Hippowdon are still very temperamental creatures who won't think twice about crushing anything that anger it. However, they do have a soft spot for Dwebble, and cares for them. It mutually benefits both species; Hippowdon get a way to keep stones from blocking their pores, and Dwebble get a place for shelter if there aren't any rocks to use.
• Kill It with Ice: They are weak to Ice attacks, especially on the special side.
• Kill It with Water: They are weak to Water-type attacks, especially on the special side.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Hippowdon has great physical Attack, but poor Special Attack, and its Special Defense is its weakest defense.
• Mighty Glacier: Hippowdon may look like a defensive behemoth, and it certainly can tank hits, but it also has a base attack of 112, which makes STAB Earthquake hit like a truck. However, it's very slow, and its special defense is less impressive.
• No Self-Buffs: As a Ground-type with Sand Stream, they're immune to the residual of damage of Sandstorm, but don't get the Special Defense boost that Rock-types get from Sandstorm; the other two Pokémon with the ability (Tyranitar and Gigalith) do get this bonus.
• One-Hit Kill: It learns Fissure.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: Inverted. Females are much darker in coloration than males.
• Palette Swap: The gender differences amount to this... with the same base palette (well, in Hippopotas's case, that is; Hippowdon has a true coloration difference). Justified in that real hippos are differentiated by gender based on hide color.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As if its facial expression wasn't enough to get the point across.
• Sand Is Water: Desert hippopotami.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Male and female Hippopotas are palette swaps of each other. As for Hippowdon, the brown hide on a male is dark grey on a female.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Hippos are usually considered cute and innocent animals by media, when they are in fact one of the most dangerous animals in existence, killing more humans every year than any other animal in Africa. While averted with Hippopotas, Hippowdon is shown as a surprisingly quick-to-anger Pokémon with a fearsome strength, like real hippos.
  • Their behaviour very closely resembles that of real life hippos, but turned on its head. While real life hippos are more active during nighttime and often submerge themselves in water to avoid having their sensitive skin burned by sunlight, Hippopotas is more active during daytime, lives in dry sand, and hates getting its skin wet.
• Weather Manipulation: Has the Sand Stream ability, like Tyranitar, which allows it to create sandstorms upon entering battle. Notably, Hippopotas is the only unevolved Pokémon with the ability.

Skorupi and Drapion (Scorupi and Dorapion)

0451: Skorupi / Scorupi (スコルピ sukorupi)
0452: Drapion / Dorapion (ドラピオン dorapion)

Skorupi

Drapion

Skorupi is a Poison/Bug type that can be found in either arid environments such as deserts or wet ones such as swamps. Unusually, instead of two pincers and a stinger tail, it has two stingers and a pincer tail. When it evolves into Drapion, it loses its Bug typing for a Dark typing and it becomes incredibly fierce. It has the ability to either be an incredible attacker with the Sniper ability (increases the damage of critical hits) or an incredible defender with Battle Armor (prevents critical hits). Either way, this Pokémon can be devastating when played right.

---

• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Drapion can rotate its head 180 degrees. When its Affection level is high enough from Pokémon-Amie, it'll turn its entire upper body to face you before starting the battle.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Skorupi is notable for being one of only five Bug-types with Bug as a secondary type (Anorith, Armaldo, Dewpider and Araquanid are the others). However, it loses that when it evolves.
• Boss Battle:
  • Aaron's strongest Mon during his time on the Elite Four. Oddly enough, he's a Bug-type specialist, whereas Drapion is not a Bug-type even though it evolves from one.
  • Drapion is also the Disc-One Final Boss of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. where it's used by Kincaid after the player infiltrates Team Dim Sun's Cargo Ship. It puts up one hell of a fight.
• The Brute: Drapion is one of those Dark-types that's associated with brutishness rather than sneakiness, preferring to crush opponents with its strength over its venom.
• Critical Hit Class: Both of their standard Abilities involve these. Battle Armor prevents it from taking crits, while Sniper raises the power of crits by 50%. Have Night Slash and Cross Poison ready, and for extra fun, Scope Lens.
• Discard and Draw: Upon evolving, Drapion loses its Bug type and gains the Dark-type in exchange.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Drapion gets all three elemental fang moves naturally, though you need the Move Relearner to get them.
• Honor Before Reason: Some Pokédex entries state that Drapion prefers to fight without using poison. Larger scorpions in real life are far less reliant on their venom than smaller ones, and the venom is weaker as a result.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: While a belligerent Pokémon, Drapion will never pick a fight with Hippowdon, and will scurry away if confronted by one. Those Earthquakes would definitely hurt.
• Magically Inept Fighter: On the physical side, Drapion has great Defense, good Attack and Speed, and with the Sniper ability, its high critical hit moves can be really deadly. Drapion is less impressive on the special side, however; having poor Sp. Atk and below-average Sp. Def.
• Making a Splash:
  • They are in the Water 3 Egg Group, despite neither of them being Water-type. This could be a reference to an extinct group of arthropods called "sea scorpions", which inhabited in the oceans in prehistoric times, and are believed to have been the ancestors of modern scorpions.
  • The line has access to the moves Rain Dance via TM and Aqua Tail via Move Tutors.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Drapion is the Ogre Scorpion Pokémon. "Drapion" seems to contain Dracula. It's also called the Sand Demon in Galar.
• Non-Indicative Name: Drapion's name in multiple languages implies it's related to Dragon types, but it's not Dragon type nor does it learn any Dragon type moves.
• Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Drapion is called the Ogre Scorpion Pokémon, loses the Bug-type and gains the Dark-type due to its vicious nature, lives in remote places like marshes and deserts, and attacks anything that invades its territory.
• Poison Is Evil: Drapion is nasty. There's more than one reason it's called the Ogre Scorpion.
• Poisonous Pokémon: Poison-type.
• Power Pincers: Drapion has huge pincers.
• Scary Scorpions: Both of them, but, according to the Pokédex, Drapion can crush a car with its claws.
• Signature Move: Acupressure, a powerful Status Buff that can raise any stat by two levels (choosing one at random, though never one that's already maxed out), allowing it to eventually max out all of its stats if allowed to set up for long enough. While other Pokémon can also use this move (and many of them can use it better), it's most associated with the Drapion line as they were the only Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex capable of learning the move naturally in Gen IV, when the move was introduced.

Croagunk and Toxicroak (Gureggru and Dokurog)

0453: Croagunk / Gureggru (グレッグル guregguru)
0454: Toxicroak / Dokurog (ドクロッグ dokuroggu)

Croagunk

Toxicroak

Pokémon that draw inspiration from poison-dart arrow frogs, Croagunk and Toxicroak are Poison/Fighting type. Unfortunately, this means it takes quadruple damage from psychic attacks, though it learns several dark moves to make up for this weakness. Despite their creepy appearance and possessing a potentially fatal poison, it proves to be a very popular Pokémon among some circles. Curiously enough, they're only in the Human-Like egg group and can't breed with any of other frog-like Pokémon.

---

• Action Initiative: Toxicroak has a notable amount of increased-priority moves. It's one of the few Pokémon that can successfully run a set consisting entirely of increased-priority moves: Bullet Punch, Sucker Punch, Fake Out, and Vacuum Wave. Toxicroak joins Lucario as one of the few Pokémon that can use Vacuum Wave successfully, especially with Nasty Plot.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Are part Fighting-type and get the usual Fighting array of punching attacks.
• Boss Battle:
  • Galactic Commander Saturn's strongest Mon.
  • A Toxicroak controlled by Team Dim Sun is the second boss of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
• Combat Pragmatist: Despite not being a Dark-type, a massive amount of its level-up moves are Dark-type, perfect for taking out the Psychic-types that threaten them. It only learns one Fighting-type move by level-up (Revenge)^note although Legends: Arceus gives them Rock Smash and Close Combat instead. It should also be noted that according to the Pokédex, Croagunk rarely fights fairly in order to ensure its survival.
• Depending on the Artist: Pokémon: The Series, Dream World/Global Link artwork, Pokémon Home and Pokémon Legends: Arceus depict Toxicroak with light turquoise skin similar to its Shiny coloration.
• Dishing Out Dirt: They both get access to many Rock and Ground-type moves such as Dig and Stone Edge.
• Elemental Punch: Can learn Ice Punch and Thunder Punch. Both are quite useful, as they deal major damage to Flying types.
• Frog Men: They're amphibian Pokémon based on frogs with bipedal appearances who belong to the Human-like egg group.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Toxicroak's Shield Dex entry mentions that it and Seismitoad are related species, but neither shares an egg group and so they can't breed in-game.
• Glass Cannon: Its physical attack is quite good, but not only does it have sub-par defenses, its double Psychic weakness will take it down in no time. However, its great set of resistances (Fighting, Poison, Grass, Bug, Rock, Dark, and sometimes Water), Dry Skin, and Drain Punch let it stay around for a bit longer if it must.
• Healing Factor: If they have Dry Skin as an Ability they'll heal while in rain.
• The Hyena: They have a perverse grin stuck on their face, and their cries even sound like a giggle.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Between its decent Special Attack and its moves of Nasty Plot, Vacuum Wave, Dark Pulse, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast, it can actually put together a good moveset based on this.
• Mascot: Of Pastoria City. There's a Croagunk statue in the town's Poké Mart, and a photo stand-in featuring a Croagunk is between the Pokémon Center and the entrance to the Great Marsh in Platinum.
• Names To Run Away From Very Fast: "Croak" is in Toxicroak's name for good reason.
• Poisonous Person: Poison-type and capable of envenomating people using their fingertips (Croagunk) or knuckle claws (Toxicroak).
• Sarashi: Croagunk has markings resembling bandages on its waist, with how high they are depending on if it's male or female. There's still some traces of it left on Toxicroak.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Female Crogunk have higher waist markings than the male, and upon evolving to Toxicroak they have a smaller throat sac.
• This Is Gonna Suck: The Anticipation ability, which makes Croagunk and Toxicroak shudder when they sense the opponent has a super-effective move, a One-Hit KO move, or know Explosion/Self-Destruct.
• Useless Useful Spell: Toxicroak can learn Sunny Day. Toxicroak, who can have the Dry Skin ability that makes them more vulnerable to Fire attacks and will take damage from the sun, and has no Fire attacks of its own.
• Weak to Magic: They have the distinction of being the only Poison/Fighting-type Pokémon prior to Legends: Arceus, which also happens to be the only type combination with a double weakness to Psychic-type moves.
• You Will Not Evade Me: One of the many Dark-Type moves that they can learn is Pursuit.

Carnivine (Muskippa)

0455: Carnivine / Muskippa (マスキッパ masukippa)

Carnivine

An odd resident of the Pastoria Marsh, Carnivine is a venus flytrap that has the ability to float off the ground. How this is achieved is not explained, but it waits in the canopy of trees for insects to wander into its large mouth to catch and digest them.

---

• Discard and Draw: Carnivine is currently the only Pokémon that gets both Ingrain and Levitate. By using Ingrain, it can restore health every turn by rooting itself in the ground; however, this will also negate Levitate, allowing it to be hit by Ground moves.
• Green Thumb: Grass-type based on the Venus Fly Trap.
• Healing Factor: With Ingrain, which can be added to by breeding Leech Seed or Synthesis onto it.
• Jack of All Stats: Mostly balanced stats, except for Speed.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Naturally, as a pure Grass-Type.
• Man Bites Man: Learns Bite and Crunch naturally.
• Man-Eating Plant: Big enough to chomp down on people if it were inclined to.
• Master of None: Its low speed combined with its average defenses means that it often can't take advantage of its decent attack stats.
• Perpetual Smiler: Always has a creepy smile like it's ready to eat something.
• Planimal: Its behavior and appearance are a combination of a swamp-dwelling predator and a venus flytrap.
• Power Floats: Has the ability Levitate, giving it an immunity to Ground-type moves.
• Power Up Letdown: Its ability Levitate makes it immune to Ground-type moves. The problem is, since it's a Grass-type, it wouldn't take much damage from Ground-type moves if it didn't have the ability. And if it uses Ingrain, Levitate is negated, meaning it might as well not have an ability at all.
• Stand Your Ground: It knows Ingrain, which prevents Switch Out Moves from working, though Carnivine can't switch out itself, either.
• Super Spit: Learns the Stockpile/Swallow/Spit Up trio naturally.
• Vine Tentacles: Learns Vine Whip and Power Whip naturally.
• Wolf Pack Boss: Five Carnivine act as a boss fight during the middle of the Sky Peak climb in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.

Finneon and Lumineon (Keikouo and Neolant)

0456: Finneon / Keikouo (ケイコウオ keikouo)
0457: Lumineon / Neolant (ネオラント neoranto)

Finneon

Lumineon

Fish with the features of neon tetras and butterfly fish. These Pokémon have fins that resemble butterfly wings and have the nickname "The Beautifly of the Sea". They also can use these wing fins in the same way (that is, use certain bug moves like Silver Wind and U-Turn).

---

• Blow You Away: Learns a number of wind-based attacks, including Gust and Silver Wind. If you get one to Gen IV move tutors, you can add Air Cutter, Ominous Wind, and Twister to the list.
• Elemental Absorption: Storm Drain causes Water-type moves to raise their Special Attack in Gen V onwards.
• Healing Factor: Learns Aqua Ring naturally.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Lumineon uses its own natural luminescence to attract prey. Unfortunately, this also draws in Pokémon who eat Lumineon as well.
• Killer Rabbit: Despite their cute appearances, this family is carnivorous, using the flashing patterns on their tails to attract prey. Their favorite food is Starmie. Then in Mystery Dungeon, the fact that Swift Swim allows Water-type Pokémon to attack twice in a turn means that these little guys will tear your team apart if allowed.
• Making a Splash: Water-type, as expected of fish Pokémon.
• Master of None: Their stats are closely balanced, but nothing impressive with their highest stat being speed.
• Overshadowed by Awesome:
  • Not only is it possible to miss them entirely during a playthrough, but even in the Sinnoh dex, there are much better alternatives available earlier, such as Quagsire and Floatzel. In more of a meta sense, Finneon and Lumineon are most notable due to the fact that they are unremarkable, and commonly used as an example to showcase the excess of Water-types in Pokémon.
  • In Mystery Dungeon, however, this is averted as they can tear your team apart in rain given that Swift Swim lets a Water-type attack twice per turn when it's raining.
• Support Party Member: Can set up Safeguard and/or Rain Dance before using U-Turn to switch out; furthermore, they can learn many powerful debuffs such as Charm, Tickle, and Captivate.
• Switch-Out Move: Learns U-Turn naturally, which does damage before switching them out for another Pokémon on the team.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Their favorite prey is Starmie.
• Useless Useful Spell: Can use Soak, which automatically turns the target into a Water-type. Like nearly all Pokémon with Soak, however, it isn't really capable of abusing the move all that well.
• Visual Pun: Literal interpretations of the butterflyfish.
• Weather Manipulation: Learns Rain Dance naturally, and, more importantly, forms the crux of one of its main strategies: use Rain Dance, then use Swift Swim and U-Turn to quickly duck out in favor of something that can abuse the rain better.

Snover and Abomasnow (Yukikaburi and Yukinooh)

0459: Snover / Yukikaburi (ユキカブリ yukikaburi)
0460: Abomasnow / Yukinooh (ユキノオー yukino'oo)

Snover

Abomasnow

^{Mega Abomasnow}

Mega Abomasnow debuts in X and Y

Evergreen tree Pokémon that are often mistaken for yeti, Snover and Abomasnow have friendly dispositions despite being ice Pokémon. They also produce snowstorms when they enter battle. Despite their useful abilities, they have many weaknesses. It gained a Mega Evolution in X and Y, which gives major boosts to offenses and defenses at the cost of halving its Speed.

---

• Action Initiative: Can learn Ice Shard early on to bypass their poor speed.
• An Ice Person: Ice-types. Also notable is that it's one of only three Grass-Type families that have no weakness against Ice-type attacks (the others being the Ludicolo line and the Ferrothorn line), making it pretty good at walling many Water-types. (Kartana isn't weak to Ice either, but it's heavily geared towards physical moves, with Special Defense low enough that a Surf can probably OHKO it.)
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Abomasnow is the Pokémon world's version of The Abominable Snowman.
• Boss Battle: Abomasnow serves as Candice's signature in Diamond and Pearl.
• Constantly Curious: Snover are apparently very inquisitive. Abomasnow, meanwhile, are entirely asocial.
• Foil: Gameplay-wise, Abomasnow serves as one to Tyranitar. Both are Mighty Glaciers with an unfortunate seven weaknesses (one double), were the first ones to possess their respective weather-setting Abilities^note Snow Warning for Abomasnow, Sand Stream for Tyranitar (while also having a fairly situational Hidden Ability), and gained Mega Evolutions in X and Y that retain said Ability.
• Green Thumb: Grass-types based on evergreen conifers.
• Healing Factor: Naturally learns Ingrain, and it can be added to with Leech Seed, which it can be bred to know.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Has a whopping six weaknesses (Rock, Steel, Fighting, Bug, Poison, and Flying) and one double weakness (Fire), a record only matched by the Grass/Psychic types like Exeggcute, Exeggutor, and Celebi, and the aforementioned Rock/Dark-Type Tyranitar, all of whom at least have six resistances (and one immunity for Tyranitar) as opposed to Snover's and Abomasnow's measly four.
• Magic Knight: Has equally high attacking stats in both forms and very useful moves to take advantage of on both ends, like Wood Hammer and Ice Shard (physical) and Giga Drain and Blizzard (special).
• Mighty Glacier: Literally and figuratively. It's assisted by the fact that Blizzard always hits in hailstorm, which it innately summons upon appearing, as well as the fact that it gets another powerful, STAB-boosted attack in Woodhammer. As far as its poor Speed goes, it naturally learns Icy Wind and can get Rock Tomb to slow opponents down to its level. Its Mega Evolution takes this even farther, cutting its base speed in half in exchange for boosting everything else but its HP.
• Mix-and-Match Creatures: Based off a fir tree and a yeti.
• One-Hit KO: Naturally learns Sheer Cold.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: How male and female Snover can be told apart: males have brown mid-sections while females have white.
• Planimal: Abomasnow is a combo of a yeti and an evergreen tree.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Male and female Snover can be told apart by the color of their mid-section, brown for males and white for females. In addition, when not Mega Evolved, female Abomasnow have thicker/longer fur on their upper torso than males do.
• Super Mode: Abomasnow received a Mega Evolution in X and Y, which boosts its offenses and defenses at the expense of its already-low speed. It also reactivates Snow Warning upon Mega Evolving.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Mega Abomasnow's enormous, lumbering frame is barely held up by its normal-Abomasnow-sized legs and has to support itself on all fours.
• Useless Useful Spell: They get Solar Beam by TM and Synthesis from move tutors. Too bad the hail they automatically summon makes these moves near worthless.
• Weak to Fire: Its Grass/Ice typing means that it takes quadruple damage from Fire type attacks. Ouch.
• Weather Manipulation: Has the ability Snow Warning, which summons Hail when they enter the field.
• When Trees Attack: Snover is a snow-covered fir tree. Abomasnow is an evergreen tree.

Rotom

0479: Rotom (ロトム rotomu)

Rotom

^{Heat Rotom}

^{Wash Rotom}

^{Frost Rotom}

^{Fan Rotom}

^{Mow Rotom}

Appliance forms debut in Platinum

A very strange and mysterious Pokémon. Rotom is an odd lifeform whose body is comprised of electrical energy. Being made of energy, this allows it to enter and inhabit electrical appliances, causing them to go haywire. Its moves, and later on its typing, changes depending on what machine it chooses to inhabit. It prefers toaster ovens, washing machines, lawnmowers, handheld fans, and refrigerators. Only one of these Pokémon can be found and you need to lure it out of a certain TV in a haunted house to get it.

In Pokémon Sun and Moon, a Rotom joins the player as a Fairy Companion that lives in the Pokédex. For tropes related to the Rotom Pokédex, see here.

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, Rotom have now been commercialized as an assistant Artificial Intelligence installed in all Rotom Phones and Pokémon Center computers. However, their role as a Fairy Companion for the protagonist has been downplayed due to them now being more commonplace and no longer unique to the protagonist.

---

• Adaptational Badass: In the anime, Rotom has the ability to move through time if it possesses an elevator as to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. This is an ability that the game version of Rotom has never demonstrated.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Rotom's forms are animate household appliances. Justified, as Rotom specifically has the power to possess and animate them.
• Armored But Frail: Rotom's appliance forms all have base 107 Defense and Special Defense, but a low base 50 HP. This can actually work in their favor if they have Pain Split, as it adds up the battlers' HP and shares it evenly.
• The Artifact: Fan Rotom having Levitate is due to the fact that all the Rotom Formes had it before being Retconed to not be Ghost-type anymore.
• Ascended Extra: After getting special treatment as a Fake Ultimate Mook in Diamond and Pearl, and receiving five alternate forms in Platinum, Rotom was largely forgotten in terms of exposure in the following two generations. Come Sun and Moon, and its presence was drastically heightened by becoming a Fairy Companion for the player. Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet followed suit by making Rotom-empowered devices commonplace for all trainers in the Galar and Paldea regions respectively.
• Blow You Away: Fan Rotom is part Flying-type.
• Boring, but Practical: Fan Rotom is the only Rotom Forme with an attack that doesn't have a significant miss chance or causes it to lower its Special Attack each time it's used.
• Crutch Character: Rotom works as one in Platinum if the Secret Key isn't available. It has high stats for how early it's obtained, and will quickly learn some fairly powerful moves like Shock Wave and Ominous Wind. Unfortunately, compared to Pokémon available later in the game, its stats are a bit underwhelming.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Fan Rotom is a Flying-type... which also has Levitate as an ability.^*Outside of dodging Mold Breaker, which bypasses Levitate, Inverse Battles where it's the only Flying-type that's still immune to Ground, and Terastallization, it's a very redundant ability. No longer the case in Legends: Arceus, where abilities aren't a mechanic, so Fan Rotom's Flying-type is more useful.
• Discard and Draw: The Rotom forms lost their Ghost typing and the immunities that went with them in Gen V, but they gained STAB on their coverage moves and a couple got unique typings.
• Disc-One Nuke: In Platinum, it's available right after the second badge, and the in-game location to turn it into the appliances is also available at this time. Even without the Secret Key (which you probably won't even be able to have anyway since it's event exclusive unless you hack the game), Rotom is stronger than the early-evolving Crutch Characters like Bibarel; with it, it's roughly on par with a fully-evolved starter.
• Dub Name Change: The French version is the only one to give it a different name: Motisma, from "moteur" (French for "engine"), and "plasma".
• Elemental Powers: Each Rotom form has a different secondary type.
• Energy Being: Its body is made of plasma.
• Fairy Companion: In Sun and Moon, a Rotom joins the player as a companion by possessing a special Pokédex given by Professor Kukui. It can give the player advice based on conversations they've had with others and tells them where to go next.
• Fake Ultimate Mook: In Diamond and Pearl, the Legendary Pokémon battle theme plays when you encounter it in the Old Chateau, which can easily lead the player into thinking it's a Legendary. When caught, they'll find that its stats aren't anything special. Its alternate formes have better stats than its normal form, though.
• Flight: All of them thanks to Levitate.
• Glass Cannon: Normal Rotom's best stat is Special Attack, which isn't even that high...
• Green Thumb: Mow Rotom is part Grass-type.
• Haunted Technology: It has the power to possesses various machines with specialized motors. Wild Rotom use this ability to cause mischief, but having an artificial intelligence in your machines is useful enough that people have started invoking the trope by specifically designing technology to be possessed by Rotom, like the Rotom Dex in Sun and Moon and its Ultra versions or the Rotom Phones and Rotomi in Sword and Shield.
• An Ice Person:
  • Frost Rotom is part Ice-type due to possessing a refrigerator, and can use its new body to create ice storms (use the move Blizzard).
  • Averted with Wash Rotom. It is one of the 3 Water-types without any Ice-type attacks.
• Jack of All Stats: The alternate formes have good above-average stats outside of low HP.
• Making a Splash: Wash Rotom is part Water-type.
• Mighty Glacier: The alternate formes give Rotom a significant boost to its Defenses and Special Attack. However, the alternate formes are even slower than Rotom's already pretty slow normal form.
• Multiform Balance: Each of Rotom's five alternate forms have identical stats, but their different typings and access to exclusive attacks of their typings gives them significantly different type match-ups, causing them to play differently from each other. Normal Rotom, on the other hand, is weaker than its alternate forms, though it is a bit faster.
• No Biological Sex: It has no gender.
• Non-Standard Skill Learning: When changing to an appliance form, Rotom will immediately attempt to learn a move exclusive to that form (Hydro Pump, Blizzard, Overheat, Leaf Storm, and Air Slash for Wash, Frost, Heat, Mow, and Fan Rotom respectively) while immediately forgetting the exclusive move of its previous form. If you make Rotom forget its other moves and then change it back to its regular form, it will learn Thunder Shock to avoid having no moves at all.
• Not Completely Useless:
  • Levitate for Fan Rotom during Inverse Battles. Inverse Battles remove immunities granted by Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, so Levitate lets it still be immune to Ground attacks.
  • Terastallizing also allows Levitate to work for Fan Rotom, particularly when changing to Electric type to get more power on its lectric moves and thus removing all weaknesses outside of ones that go through abilities.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Rotom is ghost-like in its ability to slide into physical objects and possess them, but it's not so much a spirit as it is a plasmatic force.
• Playing with Fire: Heat Rotom is part Fire-type.
• Power Floats: Again, they have Levitate.
• Powerful, but Inaccurate: Four of Rotom's forms gain moves which are very powerful, but have imperfect accuracy — Overheat for Heat, Hydro Pump for Wash, Blizzard for Frost, and Leaf Storm for Mow. Fan Rotom is the only one to not get a move like this, instead getting the comparatively Boring, but Practical Air Slash.
• Retcon:
  • Rotom's alternate forms in Gen V, from always being Electric/Ghost to Electric/(type fitting the appliance). Probably because when a ghost possesses an object or a person, it can't do the stereotypical ghostly things like phasing through walls or letting objects pass through them, but will make the object or person act out of character.
  • Rotom was supposedly named by Charon (the very one from Team Galactic) in what seems to be a relatively new discovery after seeing it come out of a lawnmower's motor but Legends: Arceus states that Rotom was named far earlier than that.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Named by the giver who watched it coming out of a lawn mower's motor.
• Shock and Awe: Rotom and all of its forms are primarily Electric-type.
• Slasher Smile: Mow Rotom sports one, complete with serrated fangs.
• Soul Power: Normal Rotom is part Ghost-type.
• Stone Wall: The Rotom appliances, though their Special Attack isn't far behind their defenses. Wash Rotom especially, since it only has one weakness.
• Talking Animal: In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Rotom is capable of speaking human languages via the player's Pokédex that was specially designed for usage by Rotom.
• Temporary Online Content: In Platinum, Rotom's formes can only be accessed if the player has the Secret Key, which was given away years ago and is thus unobtainable without cheating today. Thankfully, HG/SS onwards made the formes attainable without the need for such an item.
• Unique Enemy: Only one can be encountered in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and again in Pokémon Black and White and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. Of course, once you have it, nothing's stopping you from breeding more with a Ditto. Uniqueness Decay set in as of Pokémon X and Y, as Rotom has become a standard (albeit still very rare) wild Pokémon in at least one game per generation since.
• Uniqueness Decay: While only one Rotom used to be available in its debut, subsequent appearances made it possible to get multiple outside breeding. Outside of gameplay, Rotom is now found in every smartphone in the Pokémon world, and said phones are very common.
• Useless Useful Spell: Fan Rotom still has the ability Levitate, despite now being Flying-type and thus having all the advantages of Levitate innately due to its typing. Aside from a small pool of gimmicks that would negate its Flying-type immunity to Ground, but not Levitate's (Roost, for one, which Rotom unfortunately cannot learn), there is no point to this and the ability is a waste.

Lake Guardians: Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf (Yuxie, Emrit, and Agnome)

0480: Uxie / Yuxie (ユクシー yukushii)
0481: Mesprit / Emrit (エムリット emuritto)
0482: Azelf / Agnome (アグノム agunomu)

Uxie

Mesprit

Azelf

The first set of Legendary Pokémon in Sinnoh. Unlike other minor Legendary trios, these three are prominent in the backstory and play a vital role in the game's plot. They are also all the same typing of Psychic and have a shared origin: They were all born from the same egg that was brought into the newly formed universe by the "original one".

Each of them gave humankind a gift to make their lives fulfilling: Uxie gave mankind knowledge and the wisdom to solve problems, Mesprit gave mankind emotions and the nobility of being able to express them, and Azelf gave mankind the willpower and drive to do any task, no matter how daunting. According to the Pokédex, anyone who messes with either of these three Legendaries will suffer the following fates: Uxie can wipe away the memory of anyone who tries to look in its eyes, Mesprit will make anyone who messes with it lose its will to live and become emotionless, and Azelf turns anyone who abuses it to stone for 1000 years.

Each of these three Pokémon reside in the three lakes that is at each corner of the Sinnoh region. The player character appears to develop the strongest bond with Mesprit, as unlike the other two, it plays a "game" with the player and roams the map.

---

• Action Bomb: All three of them learn moves that cause themselves to faint as their last level up moves. Uxie learns Memento, which sharply reduces its target's attack stats. Mesprit learns Healing Wish which fully heals the Pokémon that'll be sent out next. Azelf simply deals massive damage with its Explosion.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Mercifully, in the Sinnoh games, Mesprit is registered as seen in the Pokédex when interacted with at Verity Cavern, so one doesn't need to hunt it down in the wild to fill in the Sinnoh Dex. Though if one gets the Marking Map app added to their Pokétch, this wouldn't be a problem either way since the Map shows the location of roaming Pokémon.
• Badass Adorable: All three of them are adorable, but still have good stats. And, of course, they're creations of Arceus with all the power that implies.
• Badass Crew: The three of them count as the Lake Trio, each being badass in their own right, and if you field them together, they're strong enough to match either Dialga or Palkia, which lets them act as a Spanner in the Works for Team Galactic in Diamond or Pearl.
• Boss Battle: Mesprit is fought as a boss in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers. It can be rematched and the other two can be fought during the postgame.
• Bunnies for Cuteness: The four extensions on Mesprit's head vaguely resemble floppy bunny ears, and it sure is cute.
• Captured Super-Entity: Over the course of Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Team Galactic captures the three and extracts their jewels to create the Red Chain. The player frees them after storming their headquarters in Veilstone City, but by then they've moved on to Spear Pillar.
• Carbuncle Creature: They fit with the basic characteristics of the trope, as small creatures with a red gem on the forehead that are capable of using mysterious powers.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Uxie's yellow to Mesprit's red to Azelf's blue.
• Confusion Fu: All three of them have access to very extensive movepools.
• Demonic Possession: Azelf is said to be able to control an individual's will or enter the body of an individual.
• The Dreaded: Legends: Arceus reveals that all three of them are feared and respected due to the horrific punishments they inflict upon those who harm them.
• Dub Name Change: Notably, they're one of a small number of Legendary Pokémon whose names are changed from the original Japanese.
• Elemental Punch: All three of them can get all three elemental punches.
• Emotion Bomb: According to Hisuian legend, Mesprit would drive the emotions of those who disrespected it into disarray.
• Eyes Always Shut: Uxie. Justified in that if it opened its eyes, anyone who stared into them would be struck with amnesia.
• The Fair Folk: Diminutive creatures with mystical and dangerous powers, and their names even include "pixie", "sprite", and "elf". And yet oddly enough, they were never retconned into having the Fairy type...
• Fragile Speedster: Azelf is fast, but has the worst defenses of the three.
• Freudian Trio: Uxie represents wisdom and memory, both associated with the Superego. Mesprit stands for emotion, which is tied to the Id. Azelf embodies willpower, which allows control and balance of the two and thus represents the Ego. Oddly enough, this isn't reflected by their stats, as stat-wise, Mesprit is the intermediate between Uxie and Azelf.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Mesprit, being a roaming legend, unlike its brothers. You have to chase it down as it flies all over Sinnoh.
• Glass Cannon: Azelf hits as hard as Gyarados and Reuniclus combined, but can't take hits from either side.
• Green Thumb: They all have access to Grass type moves, specifically Energy Ball and Grass Knot.
• An Ice Person: Mesprit can learn Ice Beam via TM, and they all can learn Ice Punch via move tutor.
• Infinity -1 Sword: With Nasty Plot, Azelf is nearly as powerful in-game as many of the Purposely Overpowered Legendaries.
• Informed Ability: A book of Sinnoh myths in the Canalave Library claims that anyone who touches Mesprit will be drained of emotion in three days. You can still pet it in Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh, but it probably lets you off since you're its Trainer.
• Jack of All Stats: Mesprit's Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense are all equal, but none of them are as high as its siblings' specialized sets.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Uxie always keeps its eyes shut because anyone who looks into them when they're open will instantly lose all their memories.
  A Horrific Myth: Look not into the Pokémon's eyes. In but an instant, you'll have no recollection of who you are. Return home, but how? When there is nothing to remember?
• Magical Eye: Uxie can wipe a person's memory just by looking at them.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": In Platinum, the trio initially fly steadily in a circle above Spear Pillar during their vain attempt to free Dialga and Palkia from Cyrus' red chains. But as soon as Giratina drops by, they break formation and flutter around as if in panic.
• Mighty Glacier: Mesprit, but only when its speed is compared to the rest of its trio: its highest stat is a tie between its offensive and defensive stats, at 105 each. Its HP is at 80, and so is its speed, making it the slowest one of the trio.
• My Brain Is Big: Uxie is the Pokémon of knowledge, and its head vaguely resembles a human brain.
• No Biological Sex: They're genderless, though in the Mystery Dungeon series, Azelf and Uxie are referred to as males, and Mesprit is referred to as a female.
• Olympus Mons: One of a kind and said to be very powerful.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: They are very important lore wise and are surprisingly powerful despite their small frames, but are vastly overshadowed by the more powerful and versatile Creation Trio.
• People Puppets: Azelf's Legends: Arceus Dex entry mentions that it can manipulate the will of its foes to turn them into its puppets.
• Physical God: They gave humans their ability to attain knowledge, emotions, and willpower.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: They are among the smallest Pokémon, but their stats are as expected of a minor Legendary trio — only pseudo-legendary Pokémon, other Legendary Pokémon, or gimmicky Pokémon with some sort of severe handicap (like Slaking and Wishiwashi) can match or exceed them.
• Power Crystal: Each of them has a red gem on their forehead and two more in each of their tails. These gems are later extracted by Team Galactic to create the Red Chain, used to summon and control Dialga (in Diamond), Palkia (in Pearl), or both (in Platinum)
• Power Floats: All three of them have Levitate as their ability.
• Power Trio: The first trio that has the exact same typing among all members.
• Public Domain Artifact: The three of them (more specifically, the shape of their heads) are modeled off of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, with Uxie being the mirror, Mesprit being the Magatama, and Azelf being the sword.
• Psychic Powers: A Psychic-type legendary trio.
• Recurring Element: They're Sinnoh's minor Legendary trio, like the birds, beasts, and Regis before them.
• Required Party Member: All three of them are needed to be in the player's party in order to encounter Dialga or Palkia while soaring in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
• Secret Art: Mystical Power, which has their offensive or defensive stats increase in power depending on which is initially stronger.
• Shock and Awe: They are all able to learn Thunderbolt and Thunder Punch.
• Single Specimen Species: Likely, as special creations of Arceus.
• Stone Wall: Uxie has absurdly high defenses, but like Registeel and Serperior, it can't hit hard.
• Taken for Granite: If someone harms Azelf, it's said they'll become immobile for all eternity.
• Telepathy: In Legends: Arceus they are implied to be speaking to the player character telepathically while testing them.
• Theme Naming: All three of their English names are a combination a personal pronoun and a term for The Fair Folk (You/Pixie, Me/Sprite, and Us/Elf respectively).
• Time Abyss: Were created around the same time as the creation trio, who are billions of years old, so they're this trope by default.

Pokémon of Myth: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina

0483: Dialga (ディアルガ diaruga)
0484: Palkia (パルキア parukia)
0487: Giratina (ギラティナ giratina)

Dialga

^{Origin Forme Dialga}

Palkia

^{Origin Forme Palkia}

Altered Forme Giratina

^{Origin Forme Giratina}

Giratina Origin Forme debuts in Platinum
Dialga and Palkia Origin Formes debut in Legends:Arceus

The Legendary trio that appears on the boxes of the Sinnoh based games. Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina represent the fundamental laws of the Pokémon universe. Dialga represents time while Palkia represents space. These two Pokémon were apparently created by an "original one", and with them, time began to flow and space began to expand. They reside in their own "pocket dimensions", from which the Big Bad of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl seeks to control them.

Giratina is different in that it represents the opposite of these laws, anti-matter so to speak, and it is unknown how it relates to the space-time legend of the Sinnoh region. Like the other two, Giratina lives in its own world, where space is warped and time doesn't flow. This world — the Distortion World — is responsible for keeping the stability of the universe in check, and Giratina is its sole resident, taking on its centipede-like Origin Forme while in there.

---

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Palkia's claws; if the flavor text on Spacial Rend is to be trusted, it can use the move to cut through the very fabric of reality.
• Always Accurate Attack: All three of them learn Aura Sphere, which never misses.
• Animalistic Abomination: They all look recognizably draconic, but Dialga and Palkia are literally concepts of reality given physical form, while Giratina is an impossibly ancient Dimension Lord whose job is to maintain the fabric of reality and dispose of any threats to its integrity.
• Antimatter: The creators have stated that Giratina is the personification of antimatter.
• Artistic License – Physics: Official sources claim Giratina controls antimatter, but it somehow avoids being annihilated instantly upon entering the regular world. Ditto for Cyrus, Cynthia, and the Player Character in Platinum since they're presumably made of regular matter.
• Ascended Extra: Giratina was just an Optional Boss in Diamond and Pearl; in Platinum and Legends: Arceus, it actually has a role.
• Astral Projection: Shadow Force, Giratina's Secret Art, shows the user disappearing for a turn and striking on the next turn. However, it is hard to tell whether the user actually goes invisible or uses Astral Projection as an attack.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Dialga's Roar of Time is a powerful Dragon-type iteration of Hyper Beam, certain to mow down anything that doesn't resist it... but at the same time, it's an iteration of Hyper Beam, meaning whatever survives or comes out next has a free turn to damage Dialga while it's recharging. Giratina's Shadow Force is in the same boat, as an opponent simply needs to swap in a Normal-type Pokémon during the chargeup turn to completely invalidate the move.
  • Downplayed in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where the moves simply lower the user's action speed instead of wasting an extra turn before or after, allowing them to be used more effectively with clever use of moves that increase action speed. In that game, Shadow Force also obscures Giratina, making it more evasive and making its tanking abilities even better; add in the fact that it can learn Shadow Sneak, and its Secret Art is significantly more useful than in the traditional games.
• Ax-Crazy: As well-meaning as it tends to be, Giratina can be pretty brutal when it comes to protecting the balance of the Pokémon universe.
• Behemoth Battle: Dialga and Palkia have been said to have had violent conflicts with each other, the likes of which can easily damage the fabric of reality itself.
• Berserk Button: Let's just say that all three are extremely territorial and will not hesitate to erase you out of existence if you ever try to invade their home dimensions.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Giratina is one of the two villains behind the events of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, working alongside the human Volo. It created the space-time rift that drove Dialga and Palkia crazy with the intent on drawing Arceus out of hiding so it could get its revenge for being locked in the Distortion World (albeit the plan for how to do so all came from Volo, it being unclear if Giratina was unaware of the damage it was causing the regular world or if it simply didn't care at the time). It might seem strange that Giratina is an antagonistic force here considering its entry under Dark Is Not Evil, but Volo explains to Laventon that Giratina was changed by its defeat in battle by the protagonist, it deciding to protect the world alongside them and likely leading to its disposition in the present games.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Both of Giratina's formes are mostly reptilian/draconic but also have a very insect-like appearance, most notably resembling centipedes.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Giratina in the climax of Platinum, when it single-handedly stops Cyrus's plot to remake the world when the Lake Trio could not by dragging him into the Distorted World... Unfortunately, by doing so, it opens a rift between the two worlds which will lead to their mutual destruction unless it's closed. This is achieved by confronting Giratina in the Distorted World.
  • In the film Arceus and the Jewel of Life, Giratina intercepts an attack from Arceus that otherwise would have killed Ash and his friends.
• Big Eater: Inverted in Sword and Shield. Giratina stands at around 5 meters tall and weighs around 700 kilograms, depending on its forme, but will only eat a single spoon of curry at a time, a serving size portion that's usually reserved for tiny 'mons such as Cutiefly and Fomantis.
• Blood Knight: Giratina's Pokédex entry states it was banished in the Distortion World for this (confirmed in Legends: Arceus to be Arceus itself, which it wants revenge on), and you can see Giratina roar victoriously after it wins a battle against wild Pokémon if you send it out.
• Boss Battle:
  • Giratina can be fought as an optional boss in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
  • Cyrus uses Palkia or Dialga as his ace in Ultra Moon and Ultra Sun respectively.
• Breaking Old Trends: Dialga's and Palkia's Origin Formes resemble hybrids of themselves with Arceus, but unlike with Kyurem and Necrozma, they are simply singular alternate forms for the two rather than Fusion Dance forms for Arceus.
• Captured Super-Entity: For a hot second, Dialga and/or Palkia is bound to Cyrus's will with the Red Chain. Fortunately for the universe, the lake guardians/Giratina manages to free them before any serious damage is done.
• Casting a Shadow: Giratina, in the same vein as the Gastly family (Ghost attacks with a Dark type feel to them). Hell, its signature move is even called Shadow Force. Dialga and Palkia are not ghost types, but they both learn Shadow Claw.
• Climax Boss:
  • Palkia is fought late during the postgame story in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
  • Giratina is fought as a 2-phase boss directly after beating Volo's team in the postgame of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
• Confusion Fu: Dialga and Palkia have extremely large movepools, with access to moves like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Dragon Pulse, Thunderbolt, Power Gem, and Earth Power.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • The Pokémon of Myth trio (Dialga, Palkia and Giratina) heavily contrasts to the super-ancient Pokémon trio (Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza) from Ruby and Sapphire. The super-ancient Pokémon trio represent Earth aspects including oceans, continents and the sky. The Pokémon of Myth trio, on the other hand, represent cosmic aspects including time, space and anti-matter.
  • Unlike the Earth-centric super-ancient Pokémon trio who are all focused on natural brutality, the cosmic-centric Pokémon of Myth trio focus on sheer destruction and even alienation.
  • Giratina in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum is a contrast to its immediate predecessor legendary Rayquaza from Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. Both are the third members of their own group who act as its leader, but unlike Rayquaza who is a benevolent dragon, Giratina is a malevolent and destructive Dracolich. Both can also transform into another form, but while Giratina can take two forms (in Platinum) including its default Altered Forme and its true Origin Forme through the Distortion World or by giving a Griseous Orb to it, Rayquaza (in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire) can only achieve its true form through Mega Evolution. They also contrast heavily with how they are treated in the story. In Ruby and Sapphire and its Updated Re Release Emerald, Rayquaza is a post-game encounter who can only be encountered after the Hall of Fame; in Emerald it plays a significant role in stopping Kyogre and Groudon's rampage, but its way of encountering it is framed the same way as in the originals. Giratina, on the other hand, is similar to Rayquaza in Ruby and Sapphire, being that they are post-game encounters who can only be captured after defeating the Hall of Fame and are both Level 70; but unlike Rayquaza in Emerald who is largely a significant role in the main story but can only be encountered in post-game at Sky Pillar and is at level 70, Giratina in Platinum is an obligatory encounter in the main story that the player has to face in the Distortion World and is at level 47.
  • The two mascot legendaries, Dialga and Palkia, heavily contrast to Kyogre and Groudon in terms of the way they are treated in the story's plot, just like the example between Giratina and Rayquaza. In Ruby and Sapphire Kyogre and Groudon were awakened by Archie and Maxie through the Red and Blue Orbs before escaping Seafloor Cavern and they are obligatory encounters inside the Cave of Origin; in Emerald they are respectively encountered inside Marine Cave or in Terra Cave and are optional encounters. By contrast, Dialga and/or Palkia, like Kyogre and Groudon, are obligatory encounters, but they are restrained by Cyrus through the Red Chain and the player has to free them by freeing Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf inside the Galactic Headquarters to stop Cyrus' goals of using the legendary; in Platinum they are both encountered in Spear Pillar in their respective rifts and it requires the player to beat the Elite Four and have both the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs in their bag.
  • Giratina in Legends: Arceus is this to Eternatus from Sword and Shield. Both are ominous-looking legendary dragons who are responsible for a phenomenon happening in their region (Dynamaxing for Eternatus, space-time distortions for Giratina), but while Eternatus was an alien that didn't seem to be acting out of malice, Giratina is of divine origin and part of a Big Bad Duumvirate with Volo to get revenge on Arceus for punishing it.
• Cool Mask: Giratina's head crest becomes like one in its Origin Forme, covering its mouth most of the time and splitting in half like a centipede's mandibles when it opens its mouth. In their Origin Formes, Dialga and Palkia each get one too that covers their mouth and can rotate upwards like the visor of a knight's helmet.
• Crown-Shaped Head: Giratina's head has a remarkable half-moon shaped crown on the top.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Both Dialga and Palkia are mentioned in Sinnoh mythology as deities, and the Diamond and Pearl Clans of Hisui worshiped Dialga and Palkia respectively as "Almighty Sinnoh", unaware that the title was possibly originally used for Arceus. Averted with Giratina, who was so feared that the ancient people of Hisui made it an Un-person.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Giratina's base HP stat is very high. In fact, it's the highest among all Legendary Pokémon, not counting temporary formes like Complete Zygarde, or non-playable forms like Eternamax Eternatus. Giratina's defenses are very good as well, moreso in its Altered Forme. It can take a lot of punishment before going down.
• Dark Is Evil: In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Giratina is one half of the Big Bad Duumvirate and works alongside Volo to have Arceus appear so it can take revenge on its creator. However, it undergoes a Heel–Face Turn after its defeat, allowing the protagonist to capture it, and reforms itself to eventually become the benevolent guardian of spacetime that stops Cyrus from doing the same thing that Volo did.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Giratina, after its defeat in Hisui. A godlike Ghost-Dragon monstrosity that lurks in an alternate universe and can be seen floating near cemeteries. An old verse is noted to describe it as having been created as a deep shadow out of Arceus' light, and Volo describes it as the creator's unwanted child. But, it's more aggressive than evil and only attacks when it feels its home dimension (i.e. the Distortion World/Reverse World) is under threat.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Giratina's as close to a Great Old One as you can get in Pokémon. You can also give it belly rubs and feed it muffins and beans in the 3DS games.
• Dimensional Traveler: While all of them reside in different dimensions, Giratina can access the "main" world from the Distortion World of its own volition, while Palkia is described as easily capable of transporting itself to other dimensions.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Dialga and Palkia have elements of dinosaurs and are both part Dragon-type, with Dialga resembling a sauropod and Palkia a theropod. Giratina's Altered Forme also looks slightly sauropodian.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Origin Dialga or Origin Palkia serves as the last boss in Pokémon Legends: Arceus's main game depending on if you choose to side with the Pearl Clan or Diamond Clan, respectively.
• Disc-One Nuke: If you had the Dream Radar side game, a copy of Black 2 and White 2, and a corresponding Gen IV cartridge, you could catch these Legendaries with their Hidden Abilities in Dream Radar with the right cartridge in the 3DS (Diamond for Dialga, Pearl for Palkia, and Platinum for Giratina) and transfer them to B2/W2 no sooner than you acquire the Pokédex. Their Hidden Ability^*Telepathy, which prevents Friendly Fire from teammates is admittedly worthless outside of Double and Triple Battles, but they are otherwise still very powerful Pokémon to have during the early-game. Or the mid-game. Or the late-game. They all have excellent typings and their stats are through the roof.
• Dishing Out Dirt: They all learn Earth Power via level up and move tutor, and they all learn Earthquake through TM. Also, Dialga and Palkia can learn Power Gem, a Rock-type move, in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Dracolich: Giratina is a Ghost/Dragon-type and has spikes resembling ribs. However, it's unclear if Giratina is merely incoporeal or actually undead.
• Draconic Abomination:
  • A Downplayed Trope. Giratina, up to and including being found in an Eldritch Location in Platinum, is a dual Ghost/Dragon type made of anti-matter that was banished from the mortal realm for its violence and is known as the "god of dimensions". In other words, you can essentially call it the Pokémon version of Yog-Sothoth.
  • Dialga and Palkia are the living embodiments of universal laws that warp reality around themselves just by showing up, with the former vaguely resembling a sauropod dinosaur and the latter resembling a winged theropod dinosaur.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Giratina is a demonic eldritch dragon that was cast out for its violence; Pokémon Legends: Arceus shows that it was also actively malicious before becoming present-day Sinnoh's benevolent guardian of the Distortion World.
• Dragons Are Divine: The creation trio are embodiments of the physical universe, and powerful enough that them merely showing up on the mortal plane warps reality around them.
• The Dreaded:
  • Legends: Arceus's Pokédex entries note that while both Dialga and Palkia are considered gods in Hisui, Palkia is explicitly feared.
  • Giratina. Everyone, excluding Arceus, is afraid of it in Platinum and in the anime. It was so feared in the Sinnoh myths including its dex entry that it actually holds water in Legends: Arceus. In that game, it, along with Volo, are actually responsible for the space-time distortions in Hisui that forces Arceus' own hand in getting the protagonist from the modern world into the past to not only collect every Pokémon in Hisui, but to also prevent a space-time disaster. Even before then, it was the most feared Pokémon by the Celestica People that Arceus had to intervene to stop it, resulting in its grudge on its own creator. Even Cynthia, who had minimum knowledge of Giratina, knows how much of a red flag it is.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: For Giratina. It was the most feared Pokémon in history that got its creator involved, and was banished to the Distortion World, and wants its revenge. When one of those people summons it, it is ordered to attack an unknown Pokémon Trainer from the future until they manage to defeat it. It is then captured by that same trainer, and becomes attached to the world and decides to fight by their side. It would then defend the world its trainer left behind until Cyrus attempts to create a new universe without spirit, and drags him into the Distortion World until it meets a new Pokémon Trainer that looks like its previous partner. It would then decide to fight along with them like with its previous trainer.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Giratina is the first example of a "third legendary" with an alternate form, but unlike future examples^note Black and White Kyurem, Mega Rayquaza (retroactively), 10% and Complete Zygarde, Necrozma's transformations, and Eternamax Eternatus which are true power-ups^note except for 10% Zygarde, Giratina's Origin form is a mere stat redistribution. This is carried over to Dialga's and Palkia's Origin Formes, where despite being in their more powerful "true forms" and resembling Arceus, they simply have their Attack stats swapped with one of their other stats to min-max their ideal roles (tank for Dialga, speedy attacker for Palkia).
• Eldritch Abomination: Can be used to describe all three. When you battle against all three in Eternal Battle Reverie matches in Legends: Arceus, they're referred to as "Primordial Chaos". And in the same game, Giratina is described as having an "eldritch presence".
• Eldritch Location: All three of their home dimensions are incomprehensible:
  • Within Dialga's home dimension, all time flows in different directions and speeds all at once. Its alternate art TCG card seems to depict this, with many phases of the moon coexisting along with the different seasons.
  • Within Palkia's home dimension, space is said to appear as if it was torn to shreds. Its alternate art TCG card depicts what seems to be the Temple of Sinnoh in such a state, looking like something out of an M.C. Escher painting.
  • Within Giratina's home dimension, the Distortion World, space is distorted and time doesn't flow, with the only land being platforms where changes in gravity can have one traveling at 90 degree angles and upside down. Its alternate art TCG card depicts it in the Distortion World; this depiction of the Distortion World looks like it's made up of sensible objects at first glance, but a closer look shows that none of the "objects" can be identified or make any sense.
• Elemental Powers: Each of them have a different secondary type. They even allude to the three phases of matter: Steel = solid, Water = liquid, and Ghost = gas.
• Embarrassing First Name: A meta example. According to Junichi Masuda's blog, the Spanish translation team suggested changing the name Dialga because of its similarity to the word alga, seaweed.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Dialga is part Steel-type.
• Feathered Dragons: Palkia is a Dragon-type Pokémon, and the box art of Shining Pearl depicts it as having feathers on most of its body.
• Final Boss: Dialga serves as the final boss of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
• Gemstone Assault: Dialga and Palkia learn Power Gem by leveling up.
• Gem Tissue: Dialga and Palkia have a diamond and pearls on their person (Dialga has a diamond on its chest while Palkia has pearls on its shoulders). Giratina doesn't appear to have such a feature at first, but the gold "crown" and "ribs" might count. This may explain why they can use Power Gem, but Giratina can't.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Up until Giratina appears to save all of reality (and simultaneously threaten to destroy it again) in Platinum, there's not a lot hinting at its existence in the plot beyond it being on the box art. Even Rayquaza in Emerald had some NPCs talking about how they saw a large green Pokémon in the sky — Giratina doesn't even have that. Legends: Arceus has a justification for it: The game reveals it had a statue dedicated to it in ancient Sinnoh, but said statue was destroyed by the ancient people, presumably along with most records of it, likely as a response to Giratina's violence and subsequent banishment by Arceus. This lack of knowledge about Giratina despite having a Pokédex entry provided by Professor Laventon almost no one even knows it exists. Cynthia herself has a bare minimum knowledge of what it is, but all she knows that it is dangerous.
• Giant Spider: Downplayed; Origin Forme Giratina's long wings give it a silhouette similar to a huge spider, though the similarities end there as it's more of a ghostly reptile than anything else.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Giratina's "crown" and "ribs" are reflective and shiny in the anime.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Giratina has large, smokey, bat-like wings in one form while the other has six long, tendril-shaped wings each ending with a big red claw.
• Greater-Scope Villain: In Legends: Arceus, Giratina gave Volo the Spooky Plate long before the events of the game, not only leading him to believe that Arceus does exist, but it also means that Giratina is directly responsible for the events of the story.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Legends: Arceus, Giratina, the "unwanted child" of the creator, starts off being willing to risk utterly collapsing spacetime in order to get revenge on Arceus for exiling it away in the Distortion World. But after being bested and thus humbled by the player, Giratina's outlook changes, and it desires to protect the world from then on, even submitting to being captured by the player character. By the time of Platinum Version, it's more than ready to trap Cyrus in the Distortion World for attempting to do what it almost facilitated so long ago.
• An Ice Person: Dialga and Palkia can learn Ice Beam and Blizzard through TMs.
• I Just Want to Be You: In Legends: Arceus, Professor Laveton speculates Palkia and Dialga's Origin Formes are an attempt at imitating Arceus, with a side order of ganking its power. Given Giratina's Origin Forme also partially resembles Arceus as well, heavily implies this trope applies to it despite its banishment by its creator.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Giratina in Diamond and Pearl, Palkia and Dialga in Platinum.
• It Can Think: While it could be inferred to be the case previously, Legends:Arceus confirms that Palkia and Dialga are capable of guiding and speaking to humans telepathically. It's also implied Giratina has higher intelligence as well, given its joint deal with Volo and specifically spurned him into forming their plan to meet Arceus.
• Jump Scare: In Platinum, Cyrus goes on a rant about how he's captured Dialga and Palkia and he won't have any further interference. Giratina interrupts him by abruptly lunging at the screen.
• Kamehame Hadouken: All three learn Aura Sphere at level 37.
• Kirin: Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia both resemble this, inheriting Arceus' kirin-like traits while also adding their own draconic traits seen in other depictions of the creature.
• Larynx Dissonance: Dialga and Giratina have cries that sounds like a very high-pitched scream in the games.
• Late Character Syndrome: Giratina tends to be a late catch in the Gen IV games. In Diamond and Pearl, it's the standard postgame Optional Boss that has nothing to do once it's caught owing to the story being over and the Battle Frontier prohibiting it. It comes much earlier in Platinum... but its Origin Forme (and its higher offensive stats and Ground-type immunity) is off-limits until the postgame, as the Griseous Orb needed to transform it is in Turnback Cave, which Cynthia blocks off until she and the Elite Four are defeated.
• Lightning Bruiser: Again, their bad stats are good compared to most things.
• Magic Knight: Both of their base Attack and Special Attack stats are 120 or higher, with the exception of Altered Forme Giratina, which has base 100 Attack and Special Attack.
• Making a Splash: Palkia is part Water-type.
• Mighty Glacier: Compared to other Legendary Pokémon, all three of them fall within this category, with Giratina's Altered Forme being closer to Stone Wall (with lower defensive stats compared to offensive ones), while Palkia is closer to Glass Cannon with its lowest stats being Defense and HP. Both of Dialga's formes and Giratina's Origin Forme are slow, bulky offensive tanks, with a focus on Sp. Atk and HP respectively, while Origin Forme Palkia is more of a Fragile Speedster on top of its base form's Glass Cannon build.
• Mix-and-Match Critters:
  • Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia resemble dragon-horse hybrids (with their inheriting kirin-like traits from Arceus); Palkia also resembles centaurs and pegasi (though it still has the Western dragon layout of six limbs).
  • Giratina is recognizably draconic and is not an arthropod, but has some insect-like traits (i.e. an extra pair of legs compared to Dialga and Palkia, and a mandible-like head crest in its Origin Forme). In its Origin Forme, it also resembles a snake, specifically a coral snake.
• Multiform Balance:
  • Giratina's stat total in its Altered and Origin Formes remains the same, but while the Altered Forme gives it high defensive stats with slightly lower offenses, the Origin Forme switches the two around. Dialga and Palkia follow suit, sacrificing some points from Attack to boosts their Special Defense and Speed respectively.
  • In Legends: Arceus, the Origin formes of the three change statistics of their Secret Arts. Dialga's Roar of Time now has base power of 140 but has reduced accuracy of 75. Palkia's Spacial Rend gets its base power reduced down to 80 and accuracy to 85, but now has even higher chance to critical hit.^note A Strong Style Spacial Rend is guaranteed to land a critical hit if it connects, having an effective base power of 200. And Giratina's Shadow Force has increased base power of 120 but lower accuracy of 80.
• No Biological Sex: They're genderless too. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, however, Dialga and Palkia are both referred to as males.
• Noodle Incident: The "violence" that resulted in Giratina being labeled the Renegade Pokémon, getting banished to the Distortion World, and its monument alongside Dialga's and Palkia's in Eterna City being removed has, to date, never been explained. Legends: Arceus implies it was an attempt to usurp Arceus' position as creator as Dialga and Palkia's mad desire to do so is stated to originate from Giratina.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: One of the possible roots for Giratina's name is guillotine.
• Olympus Mons: One of a kind, and extraordinarily powerful both in myth and in gameplay.
• One-Winged Angel: Their Origin Formes, speculated in Dialga and Palkia's case to be their actual true forms. Giratina assumes its Origin Forme in Legends after first being beaten in Altered Forme.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Palkia's Origin Forme resembles an armless centaur, due to its arms becoming forelimbs while its former torso becomes its "neck" but still has the shoulder pads attached.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons controlling time, space, and antimatter/dimensions. Appearance-wise, base Palkia and Altered Forme Giratina resemble Western dragons (though Giratina has an extra pair of legs), Origin Forme Giratina resembles an Eastern dragon, and base Dialga resembles a sauropod. Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia have the weirdest designs, vaguely resembling more draconic depictions of kirin by inheriting some of Arceus' traits.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Not too different, though; much like ghosts in some fiction, Giratina can supposedly be seen in cemeteries when it's not in the Distortion World.
• The Perfectionist:
  • Giratina is obsessed with maintaining balance between the Pokémon Universe and the Reverse/Distortion World, to the point where it will violently attack anything that it sees as a threat to either. It even attacked Dialga after Dialga's fight with Palkia caused some sort of pollution to form in the Reverse World. To be fair, destroying either dimension would result in the end of existence.
  • In the games, it's hinted that Giratina was so obsessed with maintaining order between dimensions that Arceus had to banish it to an alternate dimension, which it then formed into the Reverse/Distortion World.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Palkia and Dialga's battles have the potential to destroy the universe. And Giratina's wrath and materialization at the Spear Pillar nearly caused exactly that.
• Physical God: They are the embodiments of time, space, and antimatter/dimensions, respectively. Legends: Arceus in particular has the Diamond and Pearl Clans worshiping Dialga and Palkia as "Almighty Sinnoh" and arguing vehemently over which of them is the one true creator of the world. The Old Verses scattered across Hisui implicate that Arceus is the true Almighty Sinnoh, with the Diamond and Pearl Clans misinterpreting the culture of their precursors when they adopted it, and mistaking Dialga and Palkia respectively for Arceus when the founders of the clans encountered them.
• Portal Cut: Palkia's Spacial Rend cuts the very space the target is in to deal damage. In later games, this is visualized as reality around the target shattering like glass as Palkia slashes it.
• Power Crystal:
  • The trio have unique orbs that only they can hold: the Adamant Orb for Dialga, the Lustrous Orb for Palkia, and the Griseous Orb for Giratina. Each one resembles the jewel/element of their respective user, and boosts the moves of their types by 20%. Up until Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the Griseous Orb also transformed Giratina into its Origin Forme.
  • In the anime, the diamonds/pearls on Dialga/Palkia's bodies glow when they use their Secret Arts.
• Power Floats: Giratina has the Levitate ability in its Origin Forme. All of them also have the power to levitate at will regardless of form.
• Power Glows: In the anime, Dialga glows blue and Palkia glows pink. Some canon art make Giratina glow red.
• Power Limiter: Poké Balls are expressly stated to limit Dialga and Palkia's power, hence why Cyrus attempts to control them using the Red Chain instead. It's not clear if this applies to other Legendary Pokémon like Groudon or Mewtwo, but then their power doesn't include rewriting the universe. Of course, this is probably a way to dodge the question of why the creators of time and space are as fallible as any other Pokémon.
• Power Trio: The three are responsible for creating the building blocks of the universe; time, space, and antimatter.
• Power-Up Letdown: Their Hidden Ability Telepathy only prevents them from being hit by moves that would hit them as allies in Double and Triple battles like Earthquake, and is useless in single battles. Origin Giratina keeps Levitate, however.
• Prehistoric Animal Analogue: Dialga is likely based on Camarasaurus or Brachiosaurus, and Palkia is some kind of large theropod or prosauropod. Their Origin formes, however, show them in a more equine state to reflect them having been created out of Arceus. Giratina's Altered Forme looks like a six-legged sauropod as well, while its Origin Forme is serpentine rather than saurian.
• Purple Is Powerful: Palkia has a pinkish purple color scheme, and is one of the most powerful Pokémon in Sinnoh/Hisui.
• Purposely Overpowered: Restricted in the Battle Tower, most official tournaments, and random Wi-Fi.
• Reality Warper: All three of them in different ways.
• Recurring Element: Two Legendary mascots that are version exclusive, and an Optional Boss that becomes important in the third version. Sound familiar?
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Giratina's main colors are red and black and it is quite the frightening Pokémon, though it is only violent at worst.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: All three of them. Highlighted with an ominous glint whenever Dialga or Palkia appears on the Spear Pillar stage in Super Smash Bros..
  • Special mention to Legends: Arceus, where this trope is put to great effect in Giratina's boss battle after beating Volo's team. First, after beating its Altered Forme, it appears to be fainting, but suddenly, its red eyes blinks and Giratina stands back up, before transforming in a dark shroud, the same eyes flashing again in the dark just before revealing its Origin Forme, ready to fight again.
• Required Party Member: Late in Legends: Arceus, you are made to take either Adaman, leader of the Diamond Clan, or Irida, leader of the Pearl Clan with you on your final quest. Whichever Pokémon corresponds to the clan leader you pick (Dialga for Adaman or Palkia for Irida) must be used in the final battle of the story against its opposite number.
• Retcon: After Legends: Arceus introduced new items to turn the trio into their Origin formes, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet removed the Griseous Orb's ability to activate Giratina's Origin forme, and the Griseous Core now acts as the required item.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In Platinum, Giratina attempts to merge the Pokémon world with the Distortion World in a fit of rage after Cyrus threatened to destroy and recreate the former. This act would, if not stopped, distort and destroy both worlds due to the rift Giratina created.
• Rock Theme Naming: The "Dia" in Dialga's name is derived from diamond, while Palkia's contains paru, the Japanese spelling of pearl. Giratina's name appears to be a combination of girasol and platina, referencing its red and gray color scheme and an old name for platinum.
• Satanic Archetype: Zigzagged with Giratina. Created by the Top God of the Pokémon world, Giratina was banished to the Distortion World for its violence, and was feared by the people of Hisui, who eventually tried to erase it from their mythology. Additionally, both of its forms seem to be inspired by the Beasts of Revelation given its six legs, six spikes, and six wings. However, it lords over the concept of antimatter instead of being a true Satanic figure, and its role is to keep both the normal world and Distortion World in balance. Legends: Arceus plays it straighter, being the cause of the space-time rift over Hisui and the frenzied Noble Pokémon as an act of defiance against Arceus, and it teams up with Volo in his bid to seize Arceus' power for himself. After being defeated by the player, it pulls a Heel–Face Turn and settles into its more benevolent role seen in the present day.
• Sealed Evil in Another World: Giratina was banished to the Distortion World by Arceus because it was so destructive, it threatened baseline reality.
• Secret Art:
  • Dialga is the only one who can learn Roar of Time, an extremely powerful Dragon-type move that forces the user to recharge on the next turn.
  • Palkia exclusively learns Spacial Rend, a Dragon-type attack with a higher chance to deal a Critical Hit.
  • Giratina is the only Pokémon to learn Shadow Force, a Ghost-type attack that causes the user to disappear on the first turn and strike on the second, ignoring any moves like Protect or Detect.
• Sheathe Your Sword: It's possible to win the battle against Giratina in the Distortion World by running away from it. Cyrus's dialogue afterwards even changes to reflect this outcome.
  Cyrus: That shadowy Pokémon... You quelled its rage by refusing to battle it?!
• Shock and Awe: All three of them can learn both Thunderbolt and Thunder via TM.
• Shoulders of Doom: Palkia has some massive spherical shoulders that almost resemble shoulder pads.
• Sibling Rivalry:
  • The various adaptations show that Dialga and Palkia do not like each other and will engage in violent duels against one another, seemingly for no good reason.
  • Giratina is a bit more ambiguous. While it has attacked and done things to upset both Palkia and Dialga, its first and most memorable act in Platinum was rescuing them both from Cyrus' torture.
• Single Specimen Species: Played with. Each dragon is the Anthropomorphic Personification of a certain law of reality, which indicates that it is unique. However, triggering a certain event in HeartGold and SoulSilver will have Arceus create another of any one of them.
• Soul Power: Giratina is part-Ghost type. It also has the honor of being the first Ghost-type Legendary (discounting the Mythical Arceus) in the series.
• Space Is an Ocean: Palkia, the master of space, is a Water-type Pokémon. Allegedly because pearls = water.
• Space Master: Palkia the Spatial Pokémon controls space.
• Superboss: In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Origin Forme Giratina is the strongest enemy in the game, at Level 100. The next highest level is Cynthia's Garchomp post-Stark Mountain at Level 88. If you come across it when you're lower levelled, it can do a Total Party Wipe.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: All three in their respective versions, although it's possible to simply defeat them instead of catching them.
• Takes One to Kill One: Giratina has the odd privilege of being one of the only dual-type Pokémon whose types are both weak against themselves^note The only other Pokémon who share this distinction, Dreepy and its evolutions, share Giratina's Ghost/Dragon typing.
• Telepathy: Each one's Hidden Ability. In Legends: Arceus, the two that aren't Giratina use psychic abilities to communicate with the leader of their clan.
• Time Abyss: Time is said to have first started moving when Dialga was born, and the other members of its trio are implied to be at least as old as it is.
• Time Master: Dialga the Temporal Pokémon maintains and has power over time.
• Tron Lines: Dialga has markings like these all over its body that are vaguely reminiscent of clock hands. They can also glow in the 3D games.
• Undying Loyalty: In the climax of the main story of Legends: Arceus, whoever you choose between Irida or Adaman will defend you from the other dragon Pokémon and help you defeat them in order to capture them (except Giratina).
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Palkia has six limbs (forelimbs, hind limbs and wings), while Giratina has eight in Altered Forme (three pairs of legs and one pair of wings) and twelve in Origin Forme (its wings become three tentacles each).
• Victory Fakeout: Giratina pull out an epic one in Legends: Arceus during its and Volo's battle, where it appears to be fainting, only to stand back up and transforming into its Origin Forme at full health, resuming the fight.
• Walking Spoiler: Giratina's role in Platinum and Legends: Arceus come with lots of endgame spoilers for both games.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Dialga's Roar of Time Secret Art looks like this in-game and in the 10th movie.
• Would Hurt a Child: In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Giratina attempts to kill the player character under Volo's orders.

Heatran

0485: Heatran (ヒードラン hiidoran)

Heatran

A Legendary Pokémon that has a body made out of molten steel. It inhabits the imposing Stark Mountain, an active volcano on an island off the coast of Sinnoh. Not much is known about it, aside from apparently being formed just after the Sinnoh region and magma pooled in the spot that would become Stark Mountain. The fact that it can come in both genders would suggest that there are more than one, but you still only encounter one at the very end of the game's main story.

---

• Action Bomb: Can learn Explosion through TM.
• Artifact of Doom: Heatran is associated with an item known as the Magma Stone. Obtaining it for yourself apparently unseals Heatran and it goes on a rampage.
• Body Horror: "Its body is made of rugged steel. However, it is partially melted in spots because of its own heat."
• Boss Battle: A Heatran guarding the Red Gem is fought as a boss in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. It can also be fought as an optional postgame boss in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
• Cartoon Creature: Besides having a vague resemblance to reptiles, it's almost impossible to determine which kind of animal has been used as a reference to design Heatran.
• Cold Iron: A bit ironic, given it’s a Magma Man, but it is one of two Pokémon with a double resistance to the Fairy-type, and the only one before Salazzle showed up. Until then, Heatran was an excellent answer to Fairy types, perhaps minus Azumarill, Primarina and Tapu Fini.
• Combat Pragmatist: Can learn both Crunch and Dark Pulse. Unfortunately, its mediocre attack stat prevents Crunch from being very useful.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Has a fair amount of Rock and Ground moves.
• Extra-ore-dinary: A Steel-type.
• Feed It with Fire: Has the Flash Fire ability, which nullifies Fire attacks and powers up its own.
• Foil: Heatran is a quadrupedal monster with no connection to others dwelling within a volcano, while Regigigas is a bipedal King Mook legendary sealed within the basement of ice-locked Snowpoint Temple. This is relevant in light of the trading card game, where each was The Rival for the other in certain expansions.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: One of the few Legendary Pokémon to not have any clear backstory other than being deep in a volcano and hard to catch. It does have some backstory in that it was apparently born/created shortly after Stark Mountain was created, but even that is contradicted in Legends: Arceus where it is said to have been born within Mount Coronet and it just appearing in Firespit Island. Black 2 and White 2 doesn't do Heatran much better, as the Magma Stone is found just laying on the ground at the end of Route 18, after which Heatran will just drop down from the ceiling if you bring it to a certain room in Reversal Mountain. In general, Heatran appears to act like a regular Pokémon, albeit one that cannot be bred in daycare centers.
• Kill It with Water: One of the three weaknesses for Heatran is the Water-type.
• Leitmotif: While shared with a few other Legendary Pokémon, the Legendary Pokémon battle theme from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum is most commonly associated with it and Regigigas.
• Magma Man: According to the Pokédex, its blood is similar to magma.
• Meaningful Name: The original Japanese name carries the phonetic syllables for hi (火, fire) and doran (動乱, turmoil or chaos), befitting its volcanic appearance, power, and unpredictability.
• Mighty Glacier: It has above-average defenses and can hit back with its high Special Attack, but it's not going to win any races.
• My Blood Runs Hot: Heatran's blood is said to boil like magma. In fact, its own steel body is partially melted as a result.
• No Biological Sex: Averted. Unlike most other Legendary Pokémon, it can be conventionally male or female. The only other Legendaries to share this feature besides Terapagos, Kubfu (and Urshifu, its evolution), is still predominantly male whereas Heatran has a 50/50 ratio.
• Olympus Mons: Was the first that's catchable in both genders. Still unable to breed them though.
• One-Gender Race: Averted: it's the first Legendary that can be either gender, and still the only one with an equal chance of being male or female.
• Out of Focus: Heatran, no matter what generation it's featured in, never has any form of relevance compared to its generational Legendaries. Legends: Arceus further hammers this home, as where the Lake Trio, Creation Trio, Regigigas and Cresselia all get some sort of story behind them, while Heatran... is simply noted as suddenly appearing.
• Playing with Fire: Fire-type.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Even when asleep, its blazing-red eyes keep staring at its opponent.
• Secret Art: The Fire move Magma Storm, which deals a large amount of damage and prevents the target from switching out. It also inflicts a condition that slowly depletes the target's health over the next 4-5 turns. In Legends: Arceus, it burns the target instead as trapping effects don't exist there.
• Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: When afflicted with the Sleep ailment, its eyes do not close. Even in Legends: Arceus, where Pokémon were given proper sleeping animations for them napping outside of battle, Heatran's eyes still never shut while sleeping.
• Unique Enemy: The fact that it can come in both genders may suggest that there's more than one, but you still only encounter one in a playthrough.
• Wall Crawl: It can use its cross-shaped claws to climb up walls and ceilings.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Magma Storm is a variation of this. Provided it hits, the target is trapped for 5-7 turns and loses a large chunk of their health gradually.

Regigigas

0486: Regigigas (レジギガス rejigigasu)

Regigigas

At the very bottom of the Snowpoint Temple is a mysterious giant statue. If you bring three members of a Legendary trio from a previous game with you to the statue, it will activate and reveal itself to be Regigigas, the creator of that same trio. Apparently its slumber did a number on it, because its Slow Start Ability prevents it from using its full power for several turns, but once those turns are up, it can be a force to be reckoned with.

---

• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's never stated why Regigigas created the other Regis as they seem to be rather independent of their creator, and for that matter, it's never touched upon how it was able to bring the Golem Pokémon to life either.
  • Whether or not Regigigas has actually moved continents is up in the air: While nothing outright contradicts this claim, the feats of Pokémon can often times be exaggerated when it comes to it (especially Legendaries) and Regigigas's Attack stat certainly isn't at the top of the list where it logically should be, there's still a chance of this being a simple matter of Gameplay and Story Segregation, Legends: Arceus Pokédex entry goes down the middle road, having doubts about the legend but noting that it could contain some shred of truth to it.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Making use of Regigigas's strength qualifies as this. To shrug off the effects of Slow Start, it needs to stay on the battlefield for five turns in a row and can't do much during them, giving the opponent ample time to hit it hard, cripple it with status effects, set up a Status Buff, or just use a Switch-Out Move to reset Slow Start's timer.
• Balance Buff: Later generations have slowly but surely begun to make it easier for Regigigas to work around its Slow Start ability. Starting from Sword and Shield Regigigas has finally been given the ability to learn Protect, allowing it to shield itself from damage, as well as being able to learn Body Press, which works around its weakened Attack stat by using its Defense for damage instead. Meanwhile, Legends: Arceus lessens the effect it has on the attack stat due to changes to damage calculation
• Beyond the Impossible: While there's no definitive proof that Regigigas actually did this, or if it's simply an exaggeration to its strength, but the notion of towing continents is not only a ridiculous feat of strength, it's physically impossible. But seeing how Pokémon loves to ignore the rules of physics, it's still possible.
• Blessed with Suck: Most abilities provide some extra benefit to a Pokémon. Regigigas is stuck with Slow Start, which cuts its Attack and Speed in half for 5 turns when it enters the field. Even in Legends: Arceus where Abilities aren't a thing, it still comes with Slow Start (although the updated damage formula and Combatant Cooldown System mean that it isn't crippled as badly).
• Boss Battle:
  • Regigigas is the Superboss of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia only being fightable after completing the Ranger Browser (the Ranger series equivalent to the Pokédex) and bringing all three Regis deep into Hippowdon Temple. It is by far the most difficult boss fight in the game, creating highly damaging shockwaves with every step.
  • It also appears as one of the three penultimate bosses in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs. It's not as difficult as in the previous game due to no longer being a Superboss, but it’s still one of the most difficult bosses in the main story.
  • Regigigas (along with 4 Hitmonlee and 4 Bronzong) is fought at the end of the Aegis Cave in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
• Catch-22 Dilemma: In order to catch Regigigas in Snowpoint Temple in Gen IV, one needs the three Regis. Those three are available in Platinum... but to unlock them, you need a special event Regigigas! Of course, you're expected to Pal Park the three over from the Hoenn games, but if you don't have them...
• Crippling Overspecialization: The Slow Start ability has exactly one practical application—it sets the pace for Regigigas' Boss Battle when you try to capture it. If you aren't lucky enough to nab Regigigas in the first five turns, it Turns Red and becomes a Lightning Bruiser.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • Averted. The earliest version of Regigigas had numerous moves that its ability actively prevented it from using (Stomp, Superpower, etc.) and in the Japanese version, a programming quirk meant that using a Power Nullifier on Regigigas left it with its crippled attack and speed.
  • In Platinum, it's possible to hack the game so that the player can have Cherish Balls in their possession (as Cherish Balls cannot be obtained legitimately within gameplay). Capturing Regigigas with a Cherish Ball will label it as being obtained through a Nintendo event, since event Pokémon are almost always contained within Cherish Balls, which will allow you to catch the three Regis.
• Fake Ultimate Mook: For reasons unknown to all but the developers, the Regigigas of Platinum is encountered at level one. Bonus points for the encounter being a Post-Final Boss.
• Foil: Regigigas is a bipedal King Mook legendary sealed within the basement of ice-locked Snowpoint Temple, while Heatran is a quadrupedal monster with no connection to others dwelling within a volcano. This is relevant in light of the trading card game, where each was The Rival for the other in certain expansions.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Slow Start is supposed to reflect the fact that it's been in hibernation too long and needs some time to come out of it.
• Golem: It's either one itself, or it built the other Regis.
• Human Popsicle: Immovable unless the other three Regis are brought to it.
• "Just So" Story: Regigigas is believed to have been the one to move continents to where they are now and in particular might have been the one to bound landmasses together with rope to create the Sinnoh region. The legitimacy of this stands as possibly having some shed of truth, even if it sounds outlandish.
• Late Character Syndrome: In Platinum, you have to wait until clearing the main story before you can even enter the dungeon it's found in and when you do find it... it's at Level 1. It must suck when you not only have little to use Regigigas for, but also have to get it up to scratch with your Level 50+ Champion team.
• Lightning Bruiser: Turns into this if you manage to get rid of the effects of its ability or wait out the 5 turns, boasting a monstrous 160 base Attack (the highest of all Normal-types, tied with Slaking) and good Speed.
• Maker of Monsters: Its Pokédex entries reveal that it created Regirock, Regice, and Registeel. Additionally, Regidrago's description states that it was also created by Regigigas. Whether or not it also created Regieleki is unknown, but given its connection to the other titans and Regigigas itself, this seems likely.
• Meaningful Name: Both parts of its name derive from Latin — Regi comes from "regis" or "king," while "gigas" means "giant." Quite literally, it is the King of Giants (owing to its role as the master of the other golems).
• Minor Major Character: It's been said Regigigas once moved continents with rope alone, implying that it has done so before, but the possibility that certain regions and Pokémon adaptations were a result of being moved around by Regigigas is not touched upon.
• Moon Logic Puzzle: The Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire puzzle to encounter it is a tad confusing, to say the least. To get it to appear, you must bring all three Golems to the Island Cave (Regice's location) with a nicknamed Regice that is holding a Never-Melt Ice, Snowball, or Casteliacone. Most of these details are at least obliquely hinted by NPCs, but the requirement that Regice must have a nickname isn't alluded to anywhere, and may in fact be an oversight.
• No Biological Sex: Like most Legendary Pokémon, Regigigas is genderless.
• Not the Intended Use: While Regigigas's natural stat distribution implies it could work as a Lightning Bruiser, it still has some utility as a defensive Support Party Member, with access to moves like Swagger and Thunder Wave.
• Obvious Rule Patch: Regigigas' movelist was revamped for Platinum when the developers belatedly realized that several of its moves hinged on the speed and attack that its ability actively cripples for five turns.
  • The Powerful, but Inaccurate Mega Punch was replaced with the (comparitively) Weak, but Skilled Dizzy Punch.
  • Stomp makes the target flinch, but a target can only flinch if the user goes first (which Regigigas won't be doing), so it was replaced with Foresight.
  • Superpower, which hits hard but diminishes the user's Attack and Defense, is less than useless while Regigigas' attack is crippled, and was replaced with Revenge, which caters to Regigigas' lowered speed by hitting harder if the user has already taken damage.
• Old Save Bonus: Regigigas lies dormant in the deepest basement of Snowpoint Temple and won't wake up unless you bring Regirock, Regice, and Registeel to it—naturally, they have to be transfered from the Hoenn games of Gen III.
• Olympus Mons: An enduring legend posits that Regigigas is strong enough to tow the continents. It is also said to have created the Regi Quintet.
• The Power of Creation: One of the very few Pokémon to be able to create others outside of breeding, all the Regi quintet can be attributed to it.
• Required Party Member: A special event Regigigas in Platinum can let you encounter Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, but you'll need it in your party to find them.
• Secret Art: The move Crush Grip, which does more damage depending on how much HP the target has. It's also the only Pokémon until Varoom with Slow Start, much to its chagrin.
• Shockwave Stomp: Its Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia incarnation create damaging shockwaves with every step.
• Smarter Than They Look: Regigigas seems to be nothing more than a lumbering giant, in truth, it's one of the very few Pokémon that is capable of creating entirely new Pokémon from the materials around it.
• Stone Wall: Until its Slow Start debuff wears off, it can't move very fast or hit very hard. But it does still have very good defenses and a high HP stat, and Generation VIII gave it both Protect and Rest to help it stall out Slow Start.
• Super-Strength: Some of the Pokédex entries claim that it was able to tow entire continents with a rope. Shame that Slow Start makes it really hard to utilize that power.
• Temporary Online Content: The Regirock, Regice and Registeel in Platinum can only be accessed if the player has a Regigigas that they met via a "fateful encounter" (i.e. Downloadable Content). The one you can actually catch in Platinum won't help you.
• Useless Useful Spell: As nice as Crush Grip sounds on paper, the opponent isn't likely enough to have enough HP where it does more damage than the 102 damage Return (assuming max happiness). Not to mention that even if you did hit the opponent while their HP is full, if it doesn't faint the opponent the first time, it will be unable to faint them at all unless they are at 1 HP (due to minimum damage requirement) because the move's damage is proportional to their health.
• World's Strongest Man: Assuming that the legends of it towing continents are true, then Regigigas is easily the single strongest Pokémon in terms of raw physical strength. Even if the legends are exaggerated and Regigigas only moved smaller landmasses like islands, this would still mean it's strong enough to move hundreds of thousands of tonnes at the very least.

Lunar Duo: Cresselia and Darkrai

0488: Cresselia (クレセリア kureseria)
0491: Darkrai (ダークライ daakurai)

Cresselia

Darkrai

The Legendary duo of Sinnoh. Cresselia is a Legendary Pokémon that normally resides on Fullmoon Island, Cresselia has the power to bring pleasant dreams to people as they sleep. In particular, it counteracts the horrific nightmares its counterpart, Darkrai, inflicts on people, with even a feather from its wings being potent enough to ward them off. It often roams the world, and a quest to cure a sailor's son of his cursed sleep in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl prompts it to do so. The Mythical Pokémon Darkrai is her opposite that posseses the horrifying power of nightmares. It causes unending nightmares for those around it. However, it is merely a defense mechanism, one it can't shut off, so it hides itself away from others. However, it still beckons to certain individuals. In the same way that Cresselia represents the crescent moon, Darkrai represents the new moon and is most active on the blackest of nights. It can be a powerful ally if befriended.

Darkrai is one of the playable characters in Pokkén Tournament, a Fighting Game Spin-Off where Pokémon duke it out in a new type of battle called Ferrum Battles. For tropes concerning its appearance in that game, see the Pokkén Tournament character page.

For tropes concerning its Pokémon Mystery Dungeon version see the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers character page.

---

• Adaptational Heroism: Darkrai in Diamond and Pearl is mysterious and creepy, but has no moral position to speak of. The Rise of Darkrai movie, on the other hand, went above and beyond to establish Dark Is Not Evil.
• Adaptational Villainy: While Darkrai is neutral in the mainline games, it's more antagonistic in spinoff games, though depending on the game it ranges from being a jerkass to a Well-Intentioned Extremist to outright vile.
• The Atoner: Darkrai exiles itself because of its ability and makes sure that Cresselia is nearby at all times.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Darkrai's Secret Art Dark Void has become this ever since its accuracy nerf from Gen VII and onward. Being able to put multiple opponents to sleep to shut them down and deal damage over time with Darkrai's Bad Dreams ability sounds great and it was. It was so good that the move proved to be too powerful and its accuracy went from a shaky but still reasonable 80% to a much riskier and not worthwhile 50%.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Unless it is portrayed as the villain, Darkrai doesn't mean to hurt people with its uncontrollable nightmares, so it isolates itself on an island away from other people and Pokémon.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Cresselia is quite the pretty Pokémon and her beauty contrasts with Darkrai's more menacing look.
• Boss Battle: A Cresselia guarding the Yellow Gem is fought as a boss in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
• Casting a Shadow: As is true of most Psychic-types, Cresselia can learn Shadow Ball. Like Spiritomb, Darkrai fits into the traditional idea of a shadow elemental, unlike most Dark-types, who mostly represent evil, crime, trickery/manipulation, or impending doom.
• Characterization Marches On: Darkrai's non-malicious nature wasn't hinted at in Diamond and Pearl, but first came to prominence in Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai. It's difficult to say if it was always in place or if Game Freak drew from the anime, but Platinum (which was released a year later) brought that characterization to the forefront in the games. However, Black 2 and White 2 would scale it back once again, making it more malicious and causing the death of a young girl.
• Combat Medic: Cresselia learns a few decent Psychic, Fairy and Ice-type attacks along with moves like Moonlight.
• Confusion Fu: Darkrai can learn moves of many different types, such as Dark, Ice, Electric, Psychic, Ghost, Fighting and Poison.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Darkrai has one glowing, blue eye glaring out from under its hair.
• Critical Hit Class: Although it has a weak Physical-Attack stat, Cresselia has several moves that have a higher chance of landing a critical hit. Specifically, it can use both Slash and the extremely rare Psycho Cut. She has become increasingly associated with the latter move over time, firing it in Super Smash Bros. Brawl Spear Pillar stage, having the move when first encountered in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 and as of Generation 6, being able to learn the move at Level One.^note  She does need the move tutor to get it, though.
• Dark Is Evil: Darkrai's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers incarnation is a horrifying villain. In the main games a Darkrai in Black 2 and White 2 intentionally murders a young girl, if the nightmares she had is any indication.
• Dark Is Not Evil: In the main games, Darkrai's power over nightmares is mostly a self-defense mechanism. It even serves as the hero of the 10th movie!
• Depending on the Writer: In the main games and according to the Pokédex, Darkrai is an extremely shady yet well-meaning Pokémon (and is in fact The Hero of one of the movies), but in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers games, he's an Omnicidal Maniac. In Pokepark Wii, he's a bad guy, but far, FAR less monstrous than it was in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Cresselia's wings release shiny particles and undulate beautifully around the quarter moon.
• Eldritch Abomination: Darkrai is a wraith-like entity capable of causing nightmares by merely existing. In Platinum, the house where it haunts a boy's nightmares belongs to a sailor named Eldritch, to further drive the point home.
• Female Angel, Male Demon: Cresselia is an always-female and angelic looking Pokémon, whereas Darkrai is a masculine and demonic looking Pokémon.
• Final Boss: Darkrai is the final boss of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia where it's controlled by Blake Hall. It also serves as the main antagonist and final boss of Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond. Lastly, it is also the True Final Boss of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers where he's fought at the end of the postgame story and is revealed to have been behind the events of the main story all along. With three final boss appearances, Darkrai is second only to Mewtwo. Pretty impressive for what is just a minor Mythical Pokémon in the main series games.
• Foil: Cresselia is a bringer of sweet dreams with a defensive playstyle, while Darkrai is a bringer of nightmares with an offensive playstyle. Cresselia has a set gender while Darkrai is genderless. Darkrai tends to be event-exclusive while Cresselia can be obtained without such methods. As of July 14th 2016, this also extends to their appearances in Pokkén Tournament: Cresselia is an Assist Pokémon who can use Lunar Dance to help you out once per round while Darkrai is a playable fighter. Darkrai’s nightmare inducer with an offensive playstyle to Cresselia's Sweet Dreams Fuel inducer with a defensive one. Oddly enough, Darkrai doesn't have a gender in the main games (in the anime and spin-offs it's a male) while Cresselia is always female. Their signature move in Pokémon Legends: Arceus are also polar opposite of each other: Cresselia's Lunar Blessing heal herself and get rid of status condition while Darkrai's Dark Void inflict the Drowsy status and allow him to deal more damage by lowering the target’s defensive stats.
• Fragile Speedster: Darkrai is one the fastest legendaries in the entire series, clocking in at 125 base speed, though it has below average defenses compared to most other legendaries.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: You need to find Cresselia and grab one of its Lunar Wings in order to help a sleeping child trapped under Darkrai's nightmares.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: You would think that Darkrai, a being of nightmares, would somehow affect the Dream World back when it existed in Gen V, but it was none the worse for wear.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Cresselia is one of the roaming Pokémon in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum and is among the five legendaries running around Sinnoh in the latter.
• Glass Cannon: When compared to other Legendaries, Darkrai is fast and can hit hard, but will fold easily when compared to the other Legendaries it could go up against.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Cresselia's shiny form's back has dark purple in place of blue.
• Green Thumb: Cresselia is capable of learning the Grass-type moves Energy Ball and Grass Knot.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Non-lethally, but Cresselia's signature move Lunar Dance lets her completely restore the health of one Pokémon in the party in exchange for causing her to faint.
• An Ice Person: Cresselia naturally learns Aurora Beam and can be taught some other Ice-type attacks.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Cresselia's name was originally trademarked in Japan as Crecelia, but was changed to match the rest of the world by Generation V.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Cresselia can enter people’s dreams.
• Late Character Syndrome: So let's say a player has the Member Card in Platinum. Before they can even go in, they need to cure Sailor Eldritch's son, which is a sidequest that only happens after defeating Cynthia. When you do finally challenge Darkrai, it's found at Level 50, when your team is likely at a higher level than that and once it is caught, there's not a lot it can be used for, as its a Mythical Pokémon.
• Light Is Good: Cresselia. Her status as this is especially highlighted in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers games in contrast to Darkrai's Dark Is Evil.
• Lightning Bruiser: When compared to the average Pokemon, Darkrai has very high Special Attack and Speed, but the rest of its stats are still pretty decent.
• Lunacy: Cresselia represents the moon and learns Moonlight and Moonblast.
• Magic Antidote: Cresselia's feathers, or "Lunar Wings," are a cure for Darkrai's bad dreams and maybe others. Her Pokémon Legends: Arceus signature move Lunar's Blessing heal herself by 50% of her max HP and remove any status condition on her.
• Mind Rape: Darkrai's entire shtick is about being a walking, talking personification of endless and painful nightmares. With Bad Dreams, it harms every sleeping Pokémon on the battlefield every turn, allies included.
• Nerf:
  • In Generation VII, Darkrai's Secret Art Dark Void got reduced to 50% accuracy and it was coded to only be usable by Darkrai on account of the fact that Smeargle was able to use it via Sketch.
  • In Generation IX, Cresselia's base Def and Sp Def stats got reduced by 10 each.
• Nightmare Fuel: Invoked In-Universe. As noted above, Darkrai usually harbors no ill will and it is mostly a defense mechanism that it has no control over.
• No Biological Sex: Darkrai has no gender, although it is often referred to as male to contrast the female Cresselia, such as in the Mystery Dungeon games.
• Non-Damaging Status Infliction Attack: Darkrai's Dark Void, which put its targets to sleep (with 80% accuracy prior to the nerf, 50% afterwards). Darkrai's Bad Dreams ability is what then does Damage Over Time to sleeping opponents.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Darkrai does cause nightmares to anyone close to it, but it's usually just a case of Power Incontinence and it even willingly isolates itself in order to avoid hurting people, outside of some rare exceptions.
• Obvious Rule Patch: Since Legends: Arceus almost doesn't have abilities ^note Regigigas’s Slow Start (and arguably Arceus as well, if you consider Arceus changing its type using the various plates you have in your bag, to be equivalent to its Multitype ability from the standard games, as well as Cherrim's Sunshine Form getting boosted stats to simulate Flower Gift) being the sole exception, this means that Darkrai cannot chip away at a sleeping Pokémon with Bad Dreams. As such, Dark Void was buffed to decrease the target's defenses while making them drowsy, allowing Darkrai to hit them with much more force and its accuracy went from 50% all the way up to 90%.
• Occult Blue Eyes: Of the demonic variety, what with Darkrai being a walking nightmare inducer and all.
• One-Gender Race: Cresselia is always female.
• Optional Boss: In Legends: Arceus, in order to meet with the title creature, you need to add every creature in the Dex alongside the mandatory legendaries. Cresselia is mandatory, but Darkrai is not required due to it being both, a mythical legendary and locked under a save file from "Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl".
• Pink Means Feminine: Cresselia is one of the few Legendaries that has her gender confirmed as female and is mostly pink.
• Power Floats: Cresselia has Levitate as her ability, giving her full immunity to Ground-type moves.
• Power Incontinence: The after-battle text in Platinum implies that Darkrai can't control its nightmare-inducing powers and that this is the reason it isolates itself on an uninhabited island with Cresselia nearby.
• Prophet Eyes: While she isn't blind, Cresselia is a Psychic-type, Legendary Pokémon with white pupils.
• Psychic Powers: Cresselia is Psychic-type.
• Psychic Teleportation: Cresselia teleports all over Sinnoh as you try to catch her.
• Purposely Overpowered: Darkrai's usage is restricted in the Battle Tower, most official tournaments and random Wi-Fi. Its Secret Art is one of the only two moves to ever be explicitly banned from official VGC tournaments.^ExplanationBefore Dark Void was nerfed in Gen VIII so that only Darkrai could use it, Smeargle can also use the move thanks to Sketch.
• The Sacred Darkness: Cresselia is clearly meant to be an angel or goddess, but she is still associated with the night and dreaming.
• Secret Art:
  • Cresselia has Lunar Dance which causes her to faint, but the Pokémon sent in after her gets fully healed, cured of any status effects and has all of its moves' PP fully restored. Legends: Arceus also gives Cresselia the more self-serving Lunar Blessing, which heals her by 50% of her max HP, cures her of status conditions and makes incoming attacks more likely to miss.
  • While Darkrai has Dark Void, which puts all of its opponents to sleep. It's also one of the few status-inflicting moves that doubles as a Herd-Hitting Attack since it hits all adjacent opponents in Doubles/Triples battle. Its exclusive Ability Bad Dreams causes every sleeping Pokémon to lose 1/8th of their max HP at the end of a turn. Since Generation VII, Dark Void is coded to only work specifically when Darkai uses it—for any other Pokémon that somehow obtains the move, such as Smeargle through Sketch, the move will always fail.
• Secret Character: Bar abusing a glitch in Japanese copies of Diamond and Pearl, the only way to get Darkrai prior to Legends: Arceus was from special distributions handed out in Real Life. While in Legends: Arceus Darkrai is available in a quest that's unlocked only after completing the main story and while also having save data from Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl.
• Shown Their Work: Darkrai's ability, Bad Dreams, gives nightmares so horrible that they physically hurt the victim (and in one particular case in-story, outright killed them). Nightmares can stress the brain so much that it can't control the body’s cardiac rhythm, causing fibrillation and cardiac arrest (a condition called S.U.N.D.S. — Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome).
• The Stoic: Most Legendary/Mythical Pokémon on the overworld emit their cry before the battle starts. Darkrai instead speaks Visible Silence when found on Newmoon Island.
• Stone Wall: Cresselia is one of the most overall bulky Pokémon in the franchise, but can't hit back for beans without some Status Buffs under her wings.
• Swans A-Swimming: Cresselia's body shape resembles a swan's.
• Talking in Your Dreams: It has been shown in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers games that Cresselia can communicate with others by meeting them in their dreams.
• Temporary Online Content: Darkrai is only available via Nintendo events, and thus inevitably falls into this trap once they end (though in certain copies of Diamond and Pearl, you can use glitches to access Newmoon Island without the Member Card). This is averted as of Legends: Arceus where a postgame mission involving Darkrai is unlocked through having ''Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl'' save data.
• Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Darkrai is heavily inspired by the supernatural, given that its powers revolve around shadows and fear, even the fact that it doesn't use these powers maliciously.
• True Blue Femininity: Cresselia has light blue running down her back. In her shiny form, all her pink is recolored with different shades of blue.
• Useless Useful Spell: Following the accuracy drop in Gen VII, Dark Void became this. While having a sleeping move that can hit both opponents in a Double Battle is (and was) amazing, it's tricky to justify using when even Hypnosis has a better chance of landing a hit.
• Walking Wasteland: In a way. Darkrai isn't destructive, but it does uncontrollably cause horrific nightmares to anyone around it and so it lives in self-imposed exile to keep from wreaking havoc.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Darkai's appearance evokes this, with its very humanoid build and white hair-like plume.
• Would Hurt a Child: Darkrai is not above sending helpless children to sleep as seen with a sailor's son in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum and murders a young girl in Black 2 and White 2, Downplayed as both instances are implied to be accidental given how the Pokédex states it means no harm.
  • Its Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers incarnation also does this, trapping a young Azurill in an endless nightmare. He plans to do it to a lot more Pokémon than just Azurill however.

Sea Guardians: Phione and Manaphy

0489: Phione (フィオネ fione)
0490: Manaphy (マナフィ manafi)

Phione

Manaphy

Manaphy is a Mythical Pokémon that can only be found under the most extraordinary of circumstances: reports of a strange jelly egg washes upon a shore in a far off region, but it is unable to be hatched there; it must be transferred to a land far away from its place of its discovery (Read: It's only available by playing a downloadable mission from one of the Pokémon Ranger games and transferring its egg to a Gen IV game). Its egg is unique in that it uses a different sprite from all other Pokémon eggs in-game.

Once it hatches, you are now the proud owner of a Mythical Pokémon that has the ability to swap the minds of people around, among other things. But what is most unusual is that it is the only Legendary or Mythical Pokémon released that is able to breed via conventional means. However, you are not able to get more Manaphy in that fashion; you get the weaker Phione instead. Both Pokémon are based on sea angels, free-swimming sea slugs that are popular with the Japanese for some reason (they think it's cute).

---

• All-Loving Hero: Manaphy is said to possess a power that allows it to bond with any kind of Pokémon.
• Commonplace Rare: It's implied that Phione is a fairly common species of Pokémon, yet the player can never find them in the wild in the main games, only from breeding Manaphy or other Phiones. Wild Phione show up in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, however, and are treated like any other local Pokémon. Phione can finally be caught in Seaside Hollow in Pokémon Legends: Arceus alongside Manaphy. Phione can also respawn at Seaside Hollow after you capture Manaphy in case the player never caught it during the battle.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Manaphy appeared early before Generation 4 came out in the anime movie "Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea".
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In the anime and Super Smash Bros., Manaphy's Heart Swap can force people to switch bodies. In battle it just switches stat boosts.
• King Mook: Manaphy can be seen as this to Phione. They look fairly alike, have the same stat distribution, very similar movesets and the Hydration ability. What makes Manaphy stronger is 20 more base points in every stat and access to 2 formidable moves: Heart Swap and Tail Glow.
• Guide Dang It!: Unlike Darkrai and Shaymin where they can only be obtained via saves from other games and after you complete the main story in "Legends Arceus" (that's after you deal with Dialga and Palkia), Manaphy and Phione are easy to get without a save and their mission can be obtained as early as before you finish the story. However the request "The Sea's Legend" doesn't tell you about any hints aide mentioning it was from a book. Where can you find this book? The Canalave Library in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. So without a guide, you essentially have to jump between games to learn what you need to do. Thankfully, the book in question is rather straightforward with the answer given the context.
• Last Lousy Point: In Platinum, Manaphy is required to be at least seen in order to access the National Pokédex, despite being a Mythical Pokémon. The Pokémon Mansion includes a book that registers Manaphy in the Dex, but a player probably won't find it unless using a guide or through pure chance.
• Making a Splash: Water-types based off of sea slugs.
• Master of All: Like the other event-exclusive Mythical Pokémon, all of Manaphy's stats are equally above average.
• Master of None: Phione's stats are all equal like Manaphy, but unlike Manaphy, they're just average at best.
• Muggle Born of Mages: In a sense, Phione is this. They are obtained by breeding Manaphy with Ditto. But their stats and movepool are more comparable to a non-Legendary Pokémon.
• No Biological Sex: Genderless, though they can apparently breed since Manaphy can be hatched from a special egg.
• Non-Standard Character Design: While Pokémon eggs use a one-size-fits-all design with a white, green-spotted shell, Manaphy has a unique egg graphic that resembles itself. It even has a unique hatching animation in the Generation IV games, where it doesn't crack open like other eggs.
• Olympus Mons: Manaphy is considered one, but Phione's status as a Legendary or Mythical Pokémon is inconsistent (though it's still banned from official tournaments and the like).
• Optional Boss: In Legends: Arceus, in order to meet with the title creature, you need to add every creature in the Dex alongside the mandatory lengendaries. Manaphy and are Phione not required due to them being a mythical lengendary.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Despite neither being Fairy-type, they are in the Fairy Egg Group and can learn Dazzling Gleam via TM. Their placement in the Fairy Egg Group also makes them the only Legendary or Mythical Pokémon that are not in the Undiscovered Egg Group, and thus are able to breed.
• Permanently Missable Content: Par for the course with Mythical Pokémon. While Manaphy can be obtained regardless of time period for Gen IV games if you have Pokémon Ranger, that's only true if the cartridge is factory new — once a Manaphy has been redeemed, no more can be obtained even if a new save file is started. Since the game is over a decade old, new copies with Manaphy still in them are naturally hard to come by. However, Legends: Arceus averts this by having both Pokémon be available as part of a Request, "The Sea's Legend", and unlike the other Mythical requests save data from other games is not required. Strangely despite only getting one mythical and legendary per file, Phione can respawn at the exact same location.
• Purposely Overpowered: Restricted in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wi-Fi. Phione gets the treatment due to being related to Manaphy and nothing else, though.
• Recurring Element: One of the cute event-exclusive Mythical Pokémon with all-around high stats.
• Secret Art:
  • Heart Swap for Manaphy, which switches it and the target's stat changes. It's also one of the few Pokémon that can have Tail Glow, a formidable +3 boost to Special Attack.
  • Legends: Arceus gives both Manaphy and Phione Take Heart, which heals them from their status conditions and increases their offensive and defensive stats.
• Secret Character: In its debut generation, Manaphy can only be obtained by completing a special mission in the first Pokémon Ranger game and transferring an egg over to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
• Single Specimen Species: Averted; Phione can be bred freely and Manaphy can be acquired by finding its eggs in the Pokémon Ranger games.
• Support Party Member: Manaphy can buff is own stats with Tail Glow and Acid Armor, then switch stat boosts with a teammate in Double and Triple Battles using Heart Swap.
• Temporary Online Content: The other method of getting Manaphy (outside of searching for unused Pokémon Ranger cartridges) is to download one through a Wi-Fi event... all of which naturally end. This is averted as of Legends: Arceus where a sidequest allows you to find and capture three Phione and a Manaphy.

Shaymin

0492: Shaymin (シェイミ sheimi)

Land Forme Shaymin

^{Sky Forme Shaymin}

Sky forme debuts in Platinum

This tiny creature resembles a hedgehog but instead of a coat of spines, it has tufts of soft vibrant grass and two pink flowers on both sides of its ears. It is a timid Pokémon that is rarely ever seen by humans, but where it is found, lush green meadows filled with all sorts of wild flowers are said to be there. It has a special kind of reaction to a certain flower known as the Gracidea Flower, which is commonly given as a sign of gratitude. The pollen of said flower allows it to transform and fly freely. It then makes its way towards other remote meadows.

---

• Blow You Away: Sky Forme is part Flying-type. Its wind-based powers are severely downplayed, only learning one Flying-type attack (Air Slash) naturally.
• Clip Its Wings: If Shaymin gets Frozen while in Sky Forme, it will immediately revert to Land Forme.
• Cycle of Hurting: Sky Forme Shaymin has the deadly combination of Air Slash and its ability Serene Grace, which doubles the chances of all secondary effects. This means its Air Slash has a 60% flinch chance each time it uses it. Unlike Togekiss however, Shaymin has sky-high speed, meaning opponents slower than it are screwed as it could pretty much spam Air Slash repeatedly with its opponents being nearly unable to do anything back.
• Developer's Foresight: If Shaymin is walking with you in HeartGold or SoulSilver, a short animation of it reverting to Land Forme will occur once the clock strikes 8 and officially becomes nighttime.
• Fertile Feet: Shaymin can cause several beautiful flowers to sprout wherever it is, no matter how barren or deserted the land is. The player can see this first-hand if they reach the end of Route 224 with Oak's Letter.
• Flight: It gains the ability to fly while in Sky Forme.
• Fragile Speedster: Sky Forme is much faster than regular Shaymin, but it loses 25 points from each of its defensive stats.
• Glass Cannon: Sky Forme has better Special Attack and very slightly better Attack, but its defenses are lower.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Shaymin is called the Gratitude Pokémon, and its powers seem to partially revolve around the concept. The event item used to acquire Shaymin (Oak's Letter) makes the PC pray for its blessing.
• Green Thumb: Grass-type, and in Land Forme the only pure Grass-type Mythical Pokémon. Shaymin absorbs pollutants through the flowers on the sides of its head to perform Seed Flare, and is able to instantly make dilapidated regions blossom in floral life, for example Floaroma Town and Route 224.
• Guardian Angel: Its Sky Forme is this due to fact that it helps people.
• Healing Factor: Shaymin's Ability in Land Forme is Natural Cure, meaning it will recover from any status condition upon being swapped out. It can also learn Synthesis, Giga Drain and Leech Seed. It only naturally learns the latter though.
• Jack of All Stats: Like Manaphy, Shaymin is Sinnoh's cute Mythical Pokémon with all of its stats equal and above-average.
• Kill It with Ice: Both formes are weak to Ice attacks, with its Sky Forme having a double weakness. It'll also revert to its Land Forme when frozen (but since all moves that freeze also do Ice-type damage, it'll most likely keel over first).
• Late Character Syndrome: Shaymin is found at Flower Paradise at Level 30, which is a respectable starting level... if it were anywhere but a Route that isn't availiable until Victory Road, and even then, through a path that some contextless fatso blocks off until the National Pokédex is obtained (which also requires defeating the Elite Four). And as a Mythical Pokémon, there's almost nothing for it to do once it does finally catch up.
• Luck-Based Mission: Like Togekiss and Jirachi before it, Shaymin's Sky Forme has Serene Grace and a high rate flinching move. Combined with its high speed, anything slower than it will not attack 60% of the time. Considering that it's the fastest Grass-type there is, that makes it more annoying.
• Master of All: Land Forme's stats are all equal and above average.
• Nature Spirit: Purifies polluted areas.
• Nighttime Transformation: Inverted, as it can only transform into Sky Forme during the day but nightfall undoes this.
• No Biological Sex: Genderless, but is usually shown with long eyelashes in Land Forme and the one seen in Giratina and the Sky Warrior exerts a lot of feminine traits.
• Olympus Mons: Its Land Forme is one of the "base 100 Mythicals" along with Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, and Victini. Sky Forme has less balanced stats, but the same base stat total of 600.
• Optional Boss: In Legends: Arceus, in order to meet with the title creature, you need to add every creature in the Dex alongside the mandatory lengendaries. Shaymin is not required due to it being both a mythical lengendary and locked under a save file "Sword and Shield".
• Our Angels Are Different: Its Sky Forme is based on an angel.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Land Forme Shaymin is the smallest Mythical Pokémon at 8" (20cm) tall, yet is still very powerful.
• The Power of the Sun: Shaymin's second requirement for transforming into Sky Forme is that it needs to be morning or daytime. As soon as the sun sets, it'll revert.
• Purposely Overpowered: Restricted from being used in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wi-Fi.
• Recurring Element: A cute Mythical Pokémon with equal (and above-average) stats that is only available via special distributions.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shaymin's Land Forme in general. The girl in Goldenrod City's flower shop who gives you a Gracidea acknowledges this.
• Secret Art: The Grass-type move Seed Flare. It deals a lot of damage and has a 40% chance to lower the target's special defense by 2 stages, which can be raised to a whopping 80% chance if Shaymin-Sky is the one using it.
• Secret Character: Aside from abusing a glitch in Japanese copies of Diamond and Pearl, the only way to get one is from special distributions handed out in Real Life prior to Legends: Arceus. In Legends: Arceus Shaymin is available in a quest that's unlocked after completing the main story and while having save data from Sword or Shield.
• Shrinking Violet: Land Forme Shaymin is known for being quite shy, curling up to resemble a small shrub with flowers when it feels the need to conceal itself.
• Stealth Pun: Its Land Forme is a hedgehog that has a hedge growing on its back.
• Temporary Online Content: Shaymin can only be acquired via Nintendo events, either directly or via Oak's Letter in Platinum, and in both cases, particularly the latter, those have long passed (though certain glitches can be used to access Flower Paradise and catch it normally). This is averted as of Legends: Arceus where a postgame mission involving Shaymin is unlocked through having ''Pokémon Sword and Shield'' save data.
• Transformation Trinket: To turn into its Sky Forme, it needs to come into contact with a Gracidea Flower during the day.

Arceus

0493: Arceus (アルセウス aruseusu)

Arceus with no Plate

Here it is. The one mentioned many times in Hisuian/Sinnoh myths as "Almighty Sinnoh", the "original one" that created the region. If there is a single Pokémon that is the strongest of all, this is probably it. This is Arceus. This Pokémon is somehow responsible for shaping the Sinnoh region and possibly the rest of the Pokémon world. In its normal state, it is a Normal-type with stats of 120 all around, which made it the Pokémon with the highest base stat total (until Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion were introduced). But with the use of special Plates (or Z-Crystals) that have been scattered across the world, it can become any one of the 17 other types, depending on which one it draws its power from.

Shortly after hatching from an egg that had been drifting in the formless cosmos, it created two or three other Pokémon to maintain the physical nature of the universe, and then it created three more to maintain the spiritual nature of life. It then drifted off into a deep slumber, but it awaits for someone in the Hall of Origin...

---

• Action Initiative: Naturally gets Extreme Speed, a powerful priority attack that lets the user hit before the target. Forgoing any of the Plates or Z-Crystals and leaving Arceus a Normal-type will let it get the STAB bonus on the attack, making it one of the most damaging priority attacks in the series.
• Adaptive Ability: Downplayed in the main games: its Plates can choose any type to enter battle as, but it can't change it in the middle of the battle. Other works play this trope straighter:
  • In the anime, it can freely change between types on a whim in order to resist or negate any attack it sees coming its way.
  • The Legend Plate in Pokémon Legends: Arceus lets Arceus transform into whatever type will cause Judgment to deal the most damage every time it uses it on an enemy, while also prioritizing types that most resist STAB attacks from the target.
• All-Powerful Bystander: Downplayed, especially considering there may be limits to what it can do in its present state existing in a realm beyond time and space that even parts of itself like Giratina cannot reach. For the past few thousand years at least Arceus appears to have preferred to not get involved directly with the affairs of the regular world, with even the avatars or pieces of it that the player can have and command not having any canon role in resolving the problems of a given story. Even in Pokémon Legends: Arceus its response to Volo and Giratina's universe-damaging scheme is to send a human from the future to oppose them and rely on a lorekeeper in Hisui that it possibly tasked with guiding the human. Its fragment does not become available to join the human's party until after all the major problems have been resolved.
• All Your Powers Combined: The Arceus distributed for certain special events can can simultaneously wield Roar of Time, Spacial Rend, and Shadow Force, the Secret Arts of the Creation Trio. Legends: Arceus plays it straighter during its boss fight, where it can utilize both Origin Dialga and Palkia's Limit Breaks (which are designed around their signature moves), as well as use Shadow Force to suddenly ambush the player.
• The Artifact: For a time, Arceus was the Pokémon with the highest stat total of all. Then Generation VI introduced Mega Mewtwo, Primal Kyogre and Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza — all of whom had higher stats. Then Generation VII added Ultra Necrozma, followed by Generation VIII adding Eternamax Eternatus to that group. With the removal of Mega Evolution, Primal Reversion and Z-moves, as well as Eternamax Eternatus not being playable, Generation VIII restores Arceus as the strongest playable Pokémon, but it isn't the absolute strongest anymore (as of now). Legends: Arceus, however, reveals that the Arceus we know is merely a piece of the real thing it uses as an avatar and thus the power of the whole Arceus must be considerably greater. The same game also gives it the Legend Plate, which provides it with one of the most powerful abilities in the history of the franchise.
• Barrier Change Boss: With the Legend Plate in Legends: Arceus, using Judgment causes both Arceus and Judgment to change type to become super effective against the opponent, favoring double weaknesses and types that best resist the opponent.
• Breakout Character: Despite being a Mythical whose original planned event was left unobtainable, Arceus has gone down as one of the most popular and iconic Legendaries in the franchise due to its position of the Top God in the lore, even getting an entire game centred around it.
• Confusion Fu: Has the third largest movepool in the game^note being capable of learning pretty much every move that doesn't involve hands or arms, equally high stats in everything, and can be of any type. Knowing that the opponent has Arceus won't give you any hint about how to beat it.
• Cosmic Egg: Said to have emerged from an egg when there was nothing.
• Creation Myth: Said to have created the Pokémon universe as a whole or the Sinnoh region in specific depending on the source.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Arceus isn't worshiped as a god at the time of Diamond and Pearl, but it was worshiped — at least indirectly — at the time of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Jubilife Village's shrine contains Arceus' sigil; and the Old Verses imply that it was worshiped by the ancient Celestica Clan as "Almighty Sinnoh", with the Diamond and Pearl Clans who succeeded the Celestica Clan mistakenly assuming that Dialga and Palkia respectively are the true Almighty Sinnoh, leading to them going to war with one another.
• A Day in the Limelight: After several years since it was introduced with mostly moments of being a cameo, only a part of a defunct wi-fi mission and side quest, and a side character that also served as a Sacrificial Lion, Arceus finally received a game focused centered around it in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
• Developer's Foresight: If the move Fling is hacked onto Arceus, it will fail if it's holding one of its Plates.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Subverted. While in previous games the player could use cheats to fight and capture Arceus, in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the first time the player has actually be legally allowed to fight Arceus ingame, they don't actually beat Arceus nor do they catch it. Arceus just shrugs off the battle with no visible fatigue or injury and says the protagonist has proven themselves worthy, implying defeating it was never the actual point. Even then the Arceus the player 'catches' (or rather receives as it simply appears in a regular Poké Ball after the battle) is merely a fragment of the real thing Arceus gives you so it may walk in the world it created.
• Discard and Draw: Starting in Gen VII, Multitype works with non-species exclusive Z-Crystals. Though they don't provide the 20% boost to moves of the corresponding type (on top of STAB) that the Plates do, nor do they change the type of Judgment, they do allow Arceus to use Z-Moves with guaranteed STAB.
• Disc-One Nuke: If you have an Event Arceus and trade it over in HeartGold and SoulSilver, then visit the ruins, it will trigger the Sinjoh Ruins event where it will spawn Palkia, Dialgia, or Giratina, and they will have your Trainer ID and obey you without a fuss.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Its Diamond and Brilliant Diamond Pokédex made mention of it creating the universe with "1000 arms". In game, punching and arm based moves are one of the few moves Arceus doesn't have access to. Later entries have avoided this entirely.
• Eldritch Abomination: Arceus has a somewhat variable form, considering some versions of its origin describe it creating the world with "1000 arms", and slumbers above a mountain waiting to be awoken. Most of the people in its presence make mention of feeling some kind of "power". Couple that with three lesser Eldritch Abominations jointly being outmatched by this thing, and we get perhaps the most Lovecraftian entity in the Pokémon franchise. Legends: Arceus takes this a step further by implying that the Arceus seen in the games is merely a fragment of the true Arceus used as an avatar to interact with the world, making its true form unknown and likely incomprehensible.
• Elemental Powers:
  • It is Non-Elemental by default, but with the help of special Plates or Z-Crystals, it can change its type to Grass, Fire, Water, Electric, Poison, Bug, Flying, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Psychic, Ice, Ghost, Dragon, Steel, Dark, or Fairy.
  • Its signature move, Judgment, changes its type according to the held Plate as well. It doesn't change types with Z-Crystals, however, so only Normalium Z can work with it.
• Energy Weapon: Judgment is represented in the anime films and the 3D games as a barrage of lasers that either strikes from above or directly blasts enemies in the form of a Magic Missile Storm.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: In Pokémon Conquest, Arceus appears before the player character right before the final battle and allows them to link with it. It is extremely strong and can solo the final battle on its own.
• Fighting a Shadow: In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, "capturing" Arceus at the very end explains that it's giving you a fragment of itself to be with you. This implies this is the case any time Arceus has been capable to be possessed by the player and thus any time an Arceus is used in gameplay is this trope.
• Final Boss:
  • Arceus is the last boss of the Co-Op Multiplayer story in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs.
  • Arceus is the final opponent of its namesake game Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where you battle it at the end of the final Mission after catching every non-Mythical Pokémon in the game.
• Fixed Damage Attack: Naturally learns Seismic Toss, which deals damage equal to the user's level.
• Flowery Elizabethan English: Arceus "speaks" in this style in the English localization of Pokémon Legends: Arceus when communicating with the player.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Legends: Arceus reveals the Arceus we know is merely a fragment the true Arceus uses as an avatar and the true Arceus is something far more powerful and unknowable.
• Gravity Master: Naturally learns Gravity, a move that causes a temporary field effect which negates Ground-type immunity, lowers evasion, and prevents moves like Fly and High Jump Kick from being executed. Its appearance in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U as an Assist Character has it use this move to Meteor Smash airborne opponents.
• God Is Good: In Legends: Arceus, Arceus is portrayed as a kind, benevolent being, especially towards the protagonist. The inscription on the Legend Plate further emphasizes this.
  ""From all creations, over all creations, does the Original One watch over all.""
• Gold and White Are Divine: Its normal form is primarily white, gold, and grey. The shiny version replaces the white with more gold.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Judgment is usually shown as a bright ball of energy as Arceus calls upon its power to deal a large amount of damage to the opponent.
• Inconsistent Dub: Fans have debated over the pronunciation of Arceus's name ever since its introduction, not helped by how inconsistent official media itself is on the matter. Common ones include ARK-ee-us, AR-see-us, Ar-KAY-us, Ar-SAY-us, and AR-koos.
  • Video game-related announcements tend towards ARK-ee-us, as well as the anime and movies, due to concerns that pronouncing it as AR-see-us would too closely resemble the word "arse".
  • Silvally's ability is translated in English as RKS System (suggesting ar-KAY-us), while in Japanese it was AR System (suggesting ar-SAY-us).
  • Pokémon Detective Pikachu uses AR-see-us, which the romanization of its Japanese name (アルセウス aruseusu) also supports.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Legends: Arceus makes it the ultimate Pokémon. Its Signature Move Judgement automatically hits for maximum type effectiveness and changes Arceus' type to protect it from as much damage as possible.
• Kirin: Its physical appearance is at least partly inspired by the mythical kirin.
• Leitmotif: Several.
  • Although obscure now due to the content being removed, the Azure Flute and Hall of Origin originally had unique themes, serving as variants of the intro and menu music of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
  • Arceus since has been associated primarily with a very dramatic and rather ominous drumbeat for a mighty creation deity.
  • Pokémon Legends: Arceus, quite fittingly, recycles all three themes. The Azure Flute's theme is used To unlock the path to the Hall of Origin after capturing every Pokémon in Hisui (Except the four Mythicals). The Hall of Origin has a remix of its theme play, up until Arceus challenges the player as the game's True Final Boss, with a remix of its battle theme from Diamond and Pearl.
• Lightning Bruiser: With 120 in every base stat, Arceus hits hard, is very fast, and has immense bulk.
• The Maker: It's believed to have created the very world of Pokémon, or at least that is commonly believed to be the case in the Sinnoh and Ransei regions. It depends on who you ask. Its role is more inspired by Eastern creation legends than the Christian God, in that Arceus was the vector for the Universe's creation but wasn't particularly involved with its creation afterwards.
• Master of All:
  • It has the highest overall stat total of any non-transformed Pokémon (only being outdone by Primal Kyogre/Groudon, Mega Rayquaza, Mega Mewtwo X/Y, Ultra Necrozma, and Eternamax Eternatus), all of them being a great 120 each.
  • It can become every type, and since it also learns almost every TM and move tutor (the only moves it can't learn involve fists since it is a quadruped) it can fill almost any role on a team really well.
  • In HeartGold and SoulSilver's Pokéathlon, it has the max possible stats when not holding a Plate.
  • It becomes this in full in Legends: Arceus with its Legend Plate that lets it effectively wield every type simultaneously, letting it automatically switch types in battle to make sure it's always maximizing damage dealt and minimizing damage taken.
• Meaningful Name: Arceus is seems to be derived from arch ("highest"), arcane ("magical", or, in a more etymologically literal sense, "secret"), or archaic ("ancient"), combined with deus (Latin for "god") or Zeus (the highest god in the Greek Pantheon).
• Mind Screw: The Sinjoh Ruins event in HeartGold and SoulSilver where Arceus creates a new Dialga/Palkia/Giratina. First it starts off somewhat normal, with Unown flying around the area and Arceus glowing. Then a closeup of its face covers the screen before fading away, and its battle music from the Sinnoh games begins blaring as a montage of images of real life begin flashing across the screen all the while Arceus' overworld sprite and a strange pattern of lines overlap them. Some of these real-life images are: space, a forest, a rainbow, an erupting volcano, a lightning storm, skyscrapers, train tracks, a highway intersection, blood cells, a solar eclipse, and finally the Earth itself. That event is the only time any thing like it has occurred in the Pokémon franchise.
• Minor Major Character: It created the entire Pokémon universe (possibly multiverse) and the beings that control time, space, the Distortion World, and spirit. And yet, thanks to being a Mythical Pokémon (and one that wasn't officially revealed until after its debut in the Sinnoh games), it's not even a blip on Team Galactic's radar (or, for that matter, anyone else's). It didn't get its own game centered around it until Pokémon Legends: Arceus, over a decade after the release of Diamond and Pearl. Even then it only appears at the very beginning and very ending of the story.
• Missing Secret: The Azure Flute originally designed for players to encounter Arceus was never distributed in any region. The reason for this, according to interviews from developers in the years since, is that triggering the event was considered "too difficult" for players to figure out, though some fans believe it was a result of the Surf glitch in original copies of Diamond and Pearl ruining the sidequests attached to the two other Mythical Pokémon of Sinnoh. The Azure Flute would eventually be made available to everyone in another game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and later on, it would be available in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl via a patch, if the player has cleared all missions and obtained Arceus in the former game, with the "too difficult" factor being nullified by the player knowing what the Azure Flute does and where they should go via their experience in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Not Arceus itself, but there's a region in the world named after it. Sinnoh. The region that was once called Hisui is named after how Arceus was known as in the Celestican myths, Almighty Sinnoh.
• The Needless: Legends: Arceus lists its preferred foods as "None", suggesting that it doesn't need to eat—appropriate, seeing as it is a god.
• No Biological Sex: Like most Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, Arceus is completely genderless.
• Non-Elemental: It's a Normal-type by default.
• Olympus Mons: The Olympus Mon — its name is likely adapted from deus (Latin for "god") or Zeus — the ancient creator of the universe and ultimate source of all that exists, which can be captured and used to beat up other kids' rats and dogs. Legends: Arceus plays with this aspect insofar as you can only capture an aspect of the entity, as Arceus' total being is beyond mortal ken.
• Palette Swap: It will change color depending on what Plate or Z-Crystal is being held.
• Physical God: One of the most powerful Pokémon is in a physical form that can be fought. In Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the main characters arrive in the office of the (seemingly) Honest Corporate Executive who owns the statutes of Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus which indicates someone or at least him knows who Arceus is while Pikachu makes a "Sweet mother of Arceus" comment. Legends: Arceus flat out says the 'physical form' we've seen is merely an avatar of the real Arceus.
• Place Beyond Time: In Legends: Arceus, it is first seen in its realm “located beyond time and space”.
• Power Creep: Wasn't hit quite as badly as the once unstoppable Mewtwo, but still an example. At the moment of its introduction, Arceus had the highest base stat total of all Pokémon at 720, a whopping 120 in every stat, while the closest contenders trailed behind at 680. While it still has the highest stat total of all base form Pokémon, it was subsequently beaten first by Mega Mewtwo, then Primal Groudon and Kyogre and Mega Rayquaza, etc., not to mention absolutely dwarfed by the unobtainable Eternamax Eternatus.
• The Power of Creation: Its specialty, creating both the world and life.
• Purposely Overpowered:
  • One of the most powerful even among Olympus Mons — not surprising from a Pokémon that literally created the universe. Of course, you'll never see it in Battle Facilities, most official tournaments, or random Wi-Fi.
  • In Pokémon Conquest, you're forced to use it for the final battle with Nobunaga, so it gets a 70% link rate and awesome stats, Judgment hits all eight tiles around it and ignores type resistances, and its Omnipotent ability grants it various buffs including HP recovery every turn. If you lose, it'd pretty much have to be on purpose.
  • In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, he's the very last Pokémon you connect with after connecting with the other 719 Pokémons species in the game. Boasting the highest overall stats and the Multitype ability ensuring the entire party gets STAB with all their attacks, he makes what's left of the game a cakewalk.
  • Pokémon Legends: Arceus provides the Legend Plate unlocked after beating it, an item that upgrades Multi-Type to not just allow Arceus to be any type, but also has it transform into the type that is offensively and defensively strongest against the target every time it uses Judgment, making it always hit for STAB Super Effective damage while also changing Arceus into a type that likely resists their attacks in turn. This essentially gives Arceus an even better version of Protean, which is already one of the best abilities in the game. Incidentally, this is exactly how Arceus used its type changing ability in the anime, changing types on the fly to negate enemy attacks.
• Secret Art:
  • Judgment, a strong Normal-type move that changes to be whatever type of Plate Arceus is holding (but it won't change to accommodate for Z-Crystals).
  • It is the sole bearer of the ability Multitype, which cannot be replaced, removed, or copied by any means.
  • Arceus is also one of the only non-Dragon-types that can use Draco Meteor (alongside Smeargle and Silvally), due to being able to learn it if holding a Draco Plate or Dragonium Z (in Generation VIII, it can learn Draco Meteor in any form). It is likewise one of the few non-Steel-types that can use Steel Beam.
• Single Specimen Species: As the original Pokémon that created the universe, this is assumed. Notably, it's implied in Legends: Arceus that every instance of a receivable Arceus isn't actually the real deal, but a "fragment" of the true Arceus it allows to be possessed by humans to walk in the world it created. The Legend Plate's text further implies that the true Arceus is one being even if you include the entire Pokémon multiverse. While Arceus has apparently created different Dialga, Palkia, and so on in different universes, the Legend Plate states Arceus watches over "all creations" plural ("this creation" singular, being how Arceus refers to the entire timeline of Legends: Arceus).
• Suddenly Voiced: Their appearance in Legends is the only Pokémon that's capable of full speech, whereas Calyrex in Sword and Shield uses telepathy on Peony and Palkia and Dialga uses Irida and Adaman respectively as mediums to communicate.
• Super-Scream: It learns Hyper Voice naturally.
• Super-Speed: One of the select few Pokémon to learn Extreme Speed and one of only four to get STAB on it ^note The others are Smeargle, Hoennian Zigzagoon and Linoone, and Togekiss prior to being retconned to a Fairy-type in Gen VI.
• So Proud of You: When you defeat it in its boss fight in Legends: Arceus, Arceus praises your commitment and devotion to see the task it gave you to its end.
• Temporary Online Content: Up until Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it was limited to being an online distribution only.
• Time Abyss: Legendary and Mythical Pokémon tend to be this by default but Arceus stands out even amongst them. Its designations as "the Alpha Pokémon" and "the Original One" indicate its great age and it is heavily implied to be the creator of the Pokémon universe. Arceus is even older than time itself, as it is explicitly credited with creating Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, with Dialga's Pokédex entry stating that time itself started to flow when it was born. The Legend Plate's description implies it's even older and is the creator of the multiverse.
• Top God: The undisputed most powerful entity in the Pokémon mythos. Other Legendries in the lore are the embodiments of concepts, but Arceus flat out created the universe, possibly the entire multiverse.
• Truly Single Parent: In the Sinnoh Mythos, it is said that it created Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf (by splitting off parts of its own body/power, making it more like some kind of division than giving birth). Whether or not it created other Legendaries is unknown. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, it will even create an egg containing another Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina if you take it to the Ruins of Alph.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Choose Arceus to walk with you, and talk to NPCs. No-one will comment on it, which you would expect from all the lore about it in-game. Similarly, it seems like the rules about which Pokémon are allowed into Amity Square could be relaxed for the god of all creation (or include it on the off-chance someone does have it in their party), but alas, that is not the case.
• Willfully Weak: There's implications Arceus never goes all out while fighting humans. After its boss fight in Legends: Arceus, Arceus shows no actual signs of fatigue or damage, merely saying the player has earned its favor and willingly joining them. Even then, the Arceus the player actually receives is merely a "piece" of Arceus it gives them to walk on Earth. It also grants the player the Legend Plate, which makes Arceus even more overpowered than it's ever been before.
• The Worf Effect: In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, he alongside the other Legendary Pokémons fly up to Tree of Life where the Dark Matter is in an attempt to stop the Tree of Life from hitting the sun. The Dark Matter quickly turns all of them to stone.
• Wowing Cthulhu: After facing Arceus in battle in Legends: Arceus and winning against it. It is impressed by your ability despite only using presumably a fraction of its power. It is impressed enough to grant you a piece of itself so it can wander around in the world it created.
• Wrestler in All of Us: It can learn Seismic Toss at Level 1. Apparently, you can have this god perform what's basically a pro-wrestling move on any opponent you see!
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: As Legends: Arceus shows, the Arceus that is received by the player is but a piece of it, all but outright stating that its true form is something completely incomprehensible by mere humans. The opening cutscene has it appear as an orb of golden light that slowly coalesces into the silhouette of its Pokémon form. Its battle theme invokes this very effectively too, starting off the same as the original theme, but becomes increasingly fast, erratic, and glitchy, almost as if the game itself is struggling to comprehend Arceus's being.

---