Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Legendary Beasts
243: Raikou
Officially here to make it a tradition, here's a trio of Legendary beasts acting as a sort of follow-up to the legendary birds. While I generally like them better than the previous trio, most of them still aren't very “wow” sort of Legendary Pokemon. And in a lot of ways, their lore implications are a little more exciting than the beasts themselves.
Raikou here feels like it's got one or two features too many. I like the color scheme and how the “clouds” on its back are like a rolling thundercloud. But other than that, I think it's mainly the face that bothers me.
Raikou's oldest sprite was somewhat off-model, but actually ends up looking nicer and more cohesive than what ended up being its official design.
Personal Score: 6.5/10
It looks more “Legendary” than most of the birds, I'll give it that.
244: Entei
Entei might just have it off even worse than Raikou. The spines along its side, as well as those damn Primeape shackles, end up looking super unnecessary. They're just sort of there. That and Entei doesn't particularly stand out much as a Legendary. Though I like the smoke coming from its backside. That's pretty neat. It is known as the “Volcano” Pokemon so maybe the spines are meant to look like a mountain range, but damn is that a forced look if true. In the end, I do like the colors and it is a competent design, it certainly looks the part of a Legendary beast. There’s just some clutter that keeps it from feeling a little bit nicer.
Personal Score: 6/10
It's got the same problems as Raikou, but isn't as striking to make up for it.
245: Suicune
This trio isn't doing too hot, but Suicune here saves the day by being leagues better than the other two. Its design sticks to an overall theme a lot better, being covered in flowing shapes, and the crystal on its head is cool too. And would you look at that? It looks so much more cohesive when it’s not covered in strange metal bits like the other two. Hmmm.
The colors are REALLY nice too. Can't go wrong with some blue and purple. You can see why this one is the fan-favorite. And it's easily my favorite Legendary Pokemon so far. And it's for certain, fanciful enough to feel like it deserves that Legendary status. And a lot of design communicates “windy”, especially the tail-ribbon that flow so rhythmically. The way they move is just like dancing ribbons, which is always super satisfying to watch.
It's easily one of Pokemon's “prettiest” beasties to date. It's basically Pokemon's flagship “Majestic” Legendary that some Pokemon down the road try to follow suit on.
NOW for the lore of these three. In Gold and Silver, there exists a Burned Tower, which was sadly destroyed in a thunderstorm, and three particular Pokemon were caught in the flames and died. When the storm calmed, Ho-oh itself arrived and brought the three back to life, arising as these three Legendary Beasts. There's plenty of theories about what Pokemon Raikou, Entei, and Suicune were in their previous life. The popular one, and the one I go by, is that they were formerly Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon, respectively. All three are the same type, and the Hidden Abilities for the Beasts are the same as the original Eeveelutions' normal abilities. That, and the event occurred in a city where the Eeveelutions have quite a lot of attention. They also have similar stat spreads. The only one that really breaks that is Suicune, but it's still more geared toward bulk like Vaporeon is.
There's certainly ways that would make this theory wrong, like how the Eeveelutions are quite clearly mostly canine, and Raikou especially is more feline. But even so, I'd be one to hang onto that like a neat little headcanon.
Personal Score: 9/10
Either way, Suicune more than makes up for the other two's stumbles.
Overall:
The upper two are meh. Suicune easily takes the cake and keeps it to itself.
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