Let's Talk About Pokemon - Lugia and Ho-oh

I'm tellin' ya!! It was thiiiiis big!!!

249: Lugia

Gold and Silver introduce us to the concept of what we call "cover legendaries", or Pokemon they thought were so cool they put it on the box. The first of the two is Lugia, a Psychic/Flying type. Design-wise, well, this is what we meant when we said plurality was gonna be An Object soon enough. We're actually divided between these two, which one is better. When this is the case, we'll use our usual emojis to denote who is talking. 🧡 Orange heart for Vixi, and 💜 purple heart for Luna. This shouldn't be a thing too terribly often because our tastes aren't usually SUPER vastly different, but why not reflect both our opinions when they DO differ largely!

🧡 What makes me prefer this sea beast is how odd it is for a bird monster. Like a cross between a sea bird and a whale of some kind, it even has gigantic flipper-hands that also behave like wings. It could very much be more sea-monstery, but I think the reason it got picked for a shadow form in the Gamecube rpgs was ultimately because Lugia is also easy to frame as scary as well.

It doesn't knock my socks off or anything, but compared to how banal some Legendary Pokemon get it's definitely on the winning side. Helps that it's not overdesigned like a lot of later Legendaries will get too! It's a cool bird-shaped sea reptilian and sometimes that's cool enough!

💜 For me though, Lugia's always felt like it should've looked just a bit more sleek to really reach that "cool" status. Obviously I'm very much a fan of things with these proportions and a lot of Lugia's shape is just the territory of being bird-adjacent. But I dunno, it just feels like it conflicts too much with the coolness Lugia tries to put on normally. Not that I dislike Lugia, of course! It being a little oblong for a bird is neat, and I really dig those "feathers" on its back. These are just the reasons I'm less a fan of it than Vixi.

Luna Score: 7/10

Vixi Score: 8/10

Flying across the sky in the first episode and confusing the hell out of thousands of American kids. Prank of the century.

250: Ho-oh

💜 I, on the other hand, really like the gold bird! Ho-oh is a lot more "normal" looking for sure but it feels like a unique enough flare for a Phoenix creature. It's said to be able to bring things back to life, which is a power it used to create the region's legendary beasts! 

It also just has a nice color palette for a "rainbow" Pokemon, holding onto the fiery orange as a primary while complimented with the gold and green is a nice choice of color without going overboard. Its wings of orange, white, and lime green just really hit nicely. And hey, look! When it has its wings up, it looks a bit like a ray of sunshine!

🧡 It is ultimately that "regular-ness" that makes it so I don't like it as much, but it's still a cool bird. And again, considering later legendaries in the series are gonna be a bit of a slog to talk about, I'll still take Ho-oh.

Vixi Score: 7.5/10

Luna Score: 8.5/10

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