Legendary Pokemon Discussion

[Silktree]

Pokemon.com has been updated with Xerneas and Yveltal's official artwork. Note that the official Japanese doesn't even have a page for the games yet (that will probably change tomorrow, since it is always updated upon CoroCoro's official release). The early updates may be useful in those pesky months in which CoroCoro gets leaked late.

 

[Mitchman]

Indeed. One interesting little note about Xerneas that I personally love is the stroke of genius Sugimori had to give the horn crystals a different shade of their respective colors as they climb up through the antlers. Better yet is the way they are twisted into them, and not just the antlers themselves. Easily one of the more sophisticated designs for a Pokemon, with little details to admire every time you look at it, while Yveltal is a more straight up, proper rule of cool Pokemon design, with an understandable yet less noteworthy design to it. Not that it's a bad design, its just not on the same level as Xerneas.

Hmm more apparently, the horns act as a sort of completer to the antlers shape when you look at the ones on the left that are not obscured. I wonder if that has to do with the Pokemon or the evil team...

 

[jokool]

This is interesting:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Yveltal is almost twice the size of Xerneas (note that this may be because of Yveltal's long tail), but Xerneas is around 20+ pounds heavier than Yveltal (note that this may be because of Xerneas' large antlers), but anyway, I'm wondering whether or not this could factor into Xerneas' type (like it's part Steel, or some other type with heavy Pokémon). What do you guys think?

 

[Neon Borealis]

I find the Nordic god theory extremely interesting and with a lot of evidence to it. It explains Xerneas and Yveltal's origins design wise.
But that makes me wonder if We'll see more nordic inspired legendaries (Apart from the mandatory Z pokémon).

Perhaps a legendary squirrel representing the squirrel that brought messages back and forth to the eagle and the snake.

 

[El_]

Yveltal is almost twice the size of Xerneas (note that this may be because of Yveltal's long tail), but Xerneas is around 20+ pounds heavier than Yveltal (note that this may be because of Xerneas' large antlers), but anyway, I'm wondering whether or not this could factor into Xerneas' type (like it's part Steel, or some other type with heavy Pokémon). What do you guys think?

Well, to be fair Xerneas is by far the largest deer introduced so far. Heres a comparison for example:

Stantler: 4'07"

157.0 lbs

Sawsbuck: 6'03"

203.9 lbs

The horns probably due factor in to both height & weight, but Xerneas dwarfs both Stantler & Sawsbuck in that. Heres another more interesting comparison, since people say that Xerneas reminds them of the musketeers:

Colbalion: 6'11"

551.2 lbs

Its actually smaller than Xerneas and weighs more than it does, and its a good Steel type example for this theory. Virizion isn't that far off from Xerneas weight either, and its also smaller and doesn't possess a Steel typing, odd. You know, it actually seems like Xerneas should weigh more for it's size rather than less, but its consistent with the other deer Pokemon introduced. Even Arceus, whose body structure resembles Xerneas (especially the feet) is nearly 300 lbs more at 705.5.

For a while I was thinking Xerneas could be part Steel, but if were factoring and using weight, maybe we should rule Steel out as a possible typing? Xerneas seems too light to be a heavy based typing.

 

[YamiiDenryuu]

Couldn't Yveltal weighing less than Xerneas have less to do with Xerneas being heavy and more to do with Yveltal being light enough to fly? Also, the height listed for a lot of flying-type Pokemon is apparently actually the wingspan, so Yveltal might actually not be that much taller than Xerneas.

 

[Karpi]

Couldn't Yveltal weighing less than Xerneas have less to do with Xerneas being heavy and more to do with Yveltal being light enough to fly? Also, the height listed for a lot of flying-type Pokemon is apparently actually the wingspan, so Yveltal might actually not be that much taller than Xerneas.

See: Wailord's weight, Electrode's weight vis a vis flying whales and balls floating in the ocean.

Weight means absolutely nothing. Electrode can support 2000 lbs of weight and still be floating in the ocean - THAT'S how much his weight is off.

 

[ange]

See: Wailord's weight, Electrode's weight vis a vis flying whales and balls floating in the ocean.

Weight means absolutely nothing. Electrode can support 2000 lbs of weight and still be floating in the ocean - THAT'S how much his weight is off.

Wailord's weight is entirely BS. Actually, the entire Pokedex weight system is nothing but off.

Blue wales of about 27 m are recorded to weight between 150-170 metric tonnes (150000-180000 kg). Blue whale calves are around 7 m and weight around 2.5 metric tons (2500 kg) when newborn.

Wailord are 15 m in length and weight 400 kg. That doesn't make sense at all, even real life horses weight more than a that. And speaking of horses - riding horses with a height of 157-173 cm tend to weight around 500-600 kg. Rapidash is 170 cm tall (they might not measure from the whithers though, but still) weights 95 kg. It's like GF is afraid of using high numbers and exceeding the 1 metric tonne mark or something.

Having that said, I usually don't trust the weight of Pokemon cause imo they never make sense.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Their weights don't need to make sense. It is Pokémon.

 

[ange]

Their weights don't need to make sense. It is Pokémon.

Of course they doesn't need to make sense. They're not actually real animals after all.

But still. If you're creating a whale Pokemon, or a horse Pokemon, or anything, at least make it convincing. Wailord is supposed to be a very large Pokemon made out of flesh and bone like so many others, but in relation to its size it weights absolutely nothing. I really want to know where they're getting their weights from.

 

[Garland]

Telling the types of the "box-art" Pokemon based on their colors hasn't worked since red/green/blue. I'm just going to wait for an official announcement before thinking too hard about it.

I would like to see a ghost trio!

 

[TouyaShiro]

See: Wailord's weight, Electrode's weight vis a vis flying whales and balls floating in the ocean.

Weight means absolutely nothing. Electrode can support 2000 lbs of weight and still be floating in the ocean - THAT'S how much his weight is off.

Wailord's weight is entirely BS. Actually, the entire Pokedex weight system is nothing but off.

Isn't this in part because Wailord's design was partially inspired by a blimp? Those things just have air in most of the insides.

At least, that's what I remember reading...

If we compare it to Groudon (the actual heaviest Pokémon), then yes - it doesn't make sense when not considering their origins.

 

[Mitchman]

Yep, Wailord is a blimp whale hybrid, its light cause it actually is filled up with air, which is why it floats.

 

[Infinity Edge]

Connection between Xerneas and Arceus?

They are great, I love their looks. My favourite is Xerneas (because my battler instinct already tells me that flying pokemon suck)

Do you also sense connection between Xerneas and Arceus because of how their names end?

Also I predict that Xerneas will be Dragon/Normal (though it's really hard to predict on this one) while Yveltal will be Flying/Dark

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

So I had made a post about how Xerneas and Yveltal are supposedly based on Norse mythology in another thread, because it was mentioned there, and was told to come here. I'm guessing that debate is over, but I wanted to add my own ten cents anyhow.

I happen to study Norse mythology and know several things on it, and I'm not all too convinced that Xerneas and Yveltal are based on Norse myths. I won't repeat myself though, you can read my earlier post about that here.

So then, now I ask.... why exactly do people consider the two to be based on Norse mythology, when there is really not much going for them?

I'm also hearing that Yveltal is based on a quetzal, or more appropriately, a Quetzalcoatl. Except the Quetzalcoatl is a myth from Central America, not Europe. Of course that wouldn't stop Yveltal from possibly being based on it, I mean Unova had Blitzle even though zebra are not native to North America. Even then, Quetzalcoatl has serpent features, which I do not see in Yveltal. The only similarly I see is the '-tal' in their names.

 

[SirOni]

These articles were posted earlier in the thread and offer a lot of the newer information that has lead to Norse mythology basis belief:

Pokemon X and Y: The Legendary Pokemon are based on Norse Mythology | KimikoGaming

Pokémon X and Y Based on Norse Mythology, Third Legendary Will be a Serpent :: Zelda Informer

 

[Bob the Builder]

I'm guessing that the Z Pokemon will be a sea serpent (probably a water/??? type, hopefully not dragon) And in the aftergame will terrorize the region, and roam around in water areas. That's something I would love to see. Xerneas and Yveltal both look pretty powerful, so I'm guessing they will each have a BST of at least 690. Xerneas will probably be Grass/Steel type, and Yveltal Dark/Flying. I would like to see a maximum of 15 legendary Pokemon, although I loved going after Sinnoh's huge variety of legendaries. What I want the most is no more stupid legendaries like the kami trio, and Terrakion. Gen V was a downfall in legendary terms.

 

[Owain]

I would love them to be based on norse mythology, even if it has a few inconsistencies, remember, pokémon don't always match 100% their inspiration, seeing as Lucario was based on Anubis, yet, it does not have any relation to death whatsoever.


As for guessing their types by their colors... yeah, clearly Palkia is a Psychic type, and Giratina is a Steel type, as for Zekrom and Reshiram, Dark and Psychic, fo'sho!


Also, the colors represented in Xerneas's horns match the colors of the 4 stags of Midgar's horns

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

The only connection that I can see, with The Deer and The Eagle/Bird in Norse mythology, is that they are both related to Yggdrasil. Deer eating the leaves, eagle at its perch. The other creatures that were related to Yggdrasil in someway would include The Dragon that eats the roots underneath, Nidhoggr, and The Squirrel that sends messages between The Eagle and The Dragon. If one were to go by the logic that Xerneas and Yveltal are based on this, we could assume that the third legendary could be The Dragon... or even The Squirrel, though the Squirrel does not deliver messages from The Deer. However even such an assumption as that is pretty far-fetched. This is all pretty much criss-crossed at best, and it still isn't really much to make me convinced otherwise.

Especially when Yveltal just seems so completely, totally different. I really can't see it being something based on Norse myths.

Edit: Oh, just thought of more. If Xerneas is really based on The Deer that eat the leaves, that would actually present Xerneas with a malevolent imagery. Because Yggdrasil, The World Tree, is the center of the Nine Worlds and pretty much their support and all of reality itself. And in spite of that, The Deer and Dragon continuously eat away at it, slowly bringing death to Yggdrasil. Now if Yveltal were based on The Eagle, it would give it a more benevolent imagery as The Eagle just basically watched the worlds go by and doesn't cause destruction for the tree. Now this would be incredibly ironic, as it actually appears that Xerneas is supposed to be the benevolent one, and Yveltal the malevolent one, not really the other way around.

 

[DoctorWhy]

I would like to see a maximum of 15 legendary Pokemon

Hmm... personally, I'd rather have a maximum of 10 new legendaries (including special Mystery gifts). Maybe a mascot trio, another themed trio, a few Mystery Gift movie legends, and done. Or maybe switch things up a bit more. I dunno.