After mistakenly mismatching fossils to form pokemon chimeras, the galarian scientist proceed to fail to categorize pokemon with similar traits to legendaries of a different region as their own species. I have a feeling the Galar region scientists aren't that... good at their jobs.
Personally, i just think it's like us with dragons. Every culture has a dragon, but they're not all the same creature. So I think that the Galarian people and the Kantonian people named these three birds with the same names despite not actually being the same birds.
true, for example theres absolutely no reason the western and eastern dragons even share the name dragon, they are completely different creature and could totally have separate names
@@julien827 exactly. I think its the same thing here. The Kantonians called their birds that name because of the elements they controlled. The Galarians meanwhile called them that because of their powers qhich, while not directly those elements, call into the mind thoughts of them. (Because even in Pokemon, the British have to overcomplicate everything.)
@@torazely It's also likely that they mistaken the birds with the Kantonian counterparts after hearing the stories from Kantonian people like how unicorns were originally just oxen but due to mistranslations, they became unicorns.
Honestly, I think it's more likely they share a common ancestor, with genetic disposition towards fire, ice, and lightning, respectively, but due to the drastic difference between most habitats and Galar's Dynamax-soaked tundra, they ended up evolving very differently, maintaining some semblance of that genetic disposition their ancestors had.
The common ancestor idea makes a lot of sense. As it only makes sense for variations of legendaries to exist due to the circumstances of their environment. I mean, the idea of Shiny Rayquza being canon makes sense. Since it's possible for there to be two versions of that particular pokemon for the north and southern hemispheres.
this also makes sense for the shiny version, the shiny colors are most likely recessive genes that was inherited from the common ancestor of the kantonian and galarian birds
This is probably a stretch, but I wonder if they're related at all to the instincts of "flight, fight, or freeze". Zapdos is flight (or, as is literally the case with many flightless species, running away). Moltres is fight, as it is aggressive and fiery, and actively attacks in a violent way. Obviously Articuno is freeze, which instinctually is not actual freezing, but staying still, observing your prey or predator to figure out your next move. This is probably just one of those observations that works to a degree but is ultimately meaningless and unintended, but I still think it's fun :)
If Galarian Zapdos wasn’t described as a belligerent Pokémon who loves fighting strong opponents by the Sword and Shield Website before it was taken down, I’d agree
From a lore perspective, while I think they do come from a common ancestor and are definitely related, the Galarian birds could warrant their own species. However, because legendary Pokémon are so rare and elusive, not enough research has been able to be done on these Pokémon to determine wether or not they are forms or their own thing. So for now they are named based on similarities and to make note of possible relations until more conclusive evidence is found.
Yeah I feel like these were spotted first lorewise and given unofficial names but the Kantonians spotted theirs and gave them the official names which is why they look so different but also have clear similarities
My proposed alternate names of the birds if considered different species: "Articuno" - Psyquatro (Psycho- + Quatro) "Zapdos" - Bruicinco (Bruise + Cinco) "Moltres" - Maliseis (Malice + Seis) Also, there's definitely multiples of the legendary birds. In Let's Go, the birds have a chance of spawning in the wild in almost any route after becoming Champion if you're flying in the air (as well as Charizard and Dragonite).
@@SandwitchZebra The bird use the Spanish words for the numbers though, so yeah these three would be using the Spanish words for 4, 5, and 6 in their names.
I love the fact that the galarian trio plays with the idea that human nomenclature and taxonomy are inherently flawed and rather subjective. We don't KNOW everything and thats ok, it just leaves room for our knowledge to grow. I would love if a future pokemon game would help us discover the origin of these pokemon and designate more appropriate names to them. ♡
All regional forms really are just a way for Gamefreak to introduce new Pokémon without expanding their already huge Pokedex further. I feel that the Galarian bird trio being "kinda like" the Kantonian birds is to allow the Devs to reuse dex numbers, also the idea of regional variants of legendaries is a pretty exciting idea.
On the one hand it is cool that the games make it clear that some of the ingame "science" is flawed, but on the other hand I doubt they'd ever change the name of any Pokemon.
considering, that Legends Arceus has you gathering data on the wildlife of Ye Olde Hisui, from what is known on the official home page, you actually are filling in the blanks of the not yet existing pokedex. It is possible, that we will encounter the Bird Trio, who were Roaming Pokemon in Platinum, and actually figure out more about them. The Home page makes it seem, as if you could unlock more snippets of trivia of your pokemon, by fulfilling certain tasks. We have to wait and see, how it is implemented, when the game is released in January though. On the topic of taxonomy, the original pokedex had split up Nidoran by gender, rather than combining both lines into one line, something that would be a mechanic in later games( gender differences, gender split evolutions, gender split moves), but utilized in a way to allow for different movesets in gen 1. For all intents and purposes Nidorin and Nidoroyal could be more fitting names for the evolutions, and now they are seperate species by association. Oh and also a case could be made for grouping Non Regional variants as for example "Kantonian" forms, despite the Pokemon not necessarily originating from Kanto and just happens to be the most common variant it can be encountered as. It is just an alias we as the player base use to abstract those forms, regardless of their origin.
@@zinzolin14 Nah I personally find the idea of regional legends quite dumb. Legends are legends by virtue of them being a constant being that is unchanging no matter what timeline or region we are in. They are the apex species of their type, so the idea of them changing to adapt to a different environment instead of the other way around is just doofy
@@Blitzvonic that's a fair opinion, but to me it's a fresh new perspective in the world of the series. To me, variants aren't meant to be better than the original, just different. But if it makes you feel any better, the dex says the Galar birds are "like" their Kanto counterparts, so it suggests they're an entirely seperate species but use the same dex number. But who knooows 🤷♂️
10:00 I'd argue that Galarian Zapdos also draws heavy inspiration from the greater roadrunner of the American Southwest, between it being relatively poor at but still capable of flight, running with its neck (and thus its head too) and tail parallel to the ground (ratites run with their necks closer to vertical), and even having a patch of bare skin behind its eye.
Honestly I thought it was based on a road runner too. I've never seen one before but I know of them because of the road runner from cartoons (this is my only real knowledge as a nonamerican)
They're definitely related but they seem to have more of a yin and yang relationship with their Kanto counterparts. Articuno being cruel, Zapdos being flightless and Moltres being straight up evil makes a good counterbalance to the helpful, flying and benevolent natures of their Kanto counterparts.
I think saying that Galarian Moltres and Articuno being too different to be mistaken for the originals is a mistaken idea. Most people in the Kanto region likely have never seen a legendary Pokémon and only heard vague, partially incorrect stories about them.
I mean, we dont know the placement in the timeline of SwSh.Making it possible that they have seen the Legendary Birds thanks to other protagonists.Specially, Kanto,Johto,Hoenn(Remakes), USUM and Galar.
Certain legendaries I think can be a whole species. The legendary birds, while powerful pokemon and super important, are not spesifically unique in their roles in the pokemon world. So if there was more than one, it wouldn't be too crazy to imagine.
This. The legendary birds don't have any sort of domain to to rule over. They're not the gods of ice, electricity, and fire. They're just powerful elemental bird pokemon.
Them being referred to as the names of the Kantonian forms could be like, early settlers saw them and assumed they were different forms of the other birds, but modern technology has revealed they are different. Sorta like how some animals are named simillarly because they look closely related but we now know they aren't
The problem??? NOBODY in Galar actually knew of their existence... notice that in the games, there was no real info about them... And then notice that they ONLY appeared AFTER the Ultra Beasts from OTHER DIMENSIONS appeared... So there is a good chance that they actually come from a different dimension.
^adding onto Deathmail's comment, these birds are basically discovered BY peony and the player. THEY are the ones who decided these were the legendary birds of Kanto. And I remember peony actually commenting that they're not what he expected based on his sources, but they're just close enough that he accepts them as legit
My own personal guess is that the galarian birds were a specific group of the kanto birds that migrated to galar somehow and evolved, in a sense, very quickly thanks to the dynamax tree. Specifically, I think they evolved so that their life cycle could revolve around the tree and around avoiding each other. My biggest reason for believing this is Galarian Moltres, whose coloration, beak shape and dark type make me think of frigate birds, the birds with red throat patches that tend to steal food from other birds. Since they live out on the ocean, they need to have large wingspans in order to make it across the water. Similarly, both Moltres and Galarian Moltres have the largest wingspan of the birds, and since Moltres is weak to water, I bet what happened is that as it learned to aggressively steal food from other pokemon, its fire slowly stopped becoming real fire and became a manifestation of its temper and malevolence so it could travel better over stormy seas. This is also why it flies over the isle of armor and why it flies in from the sea in its cutscene.
I've always been under the impression that Zapdos wasn't the friendliest member of the trio, hence why its Galarian form isn't contrary to its Kanto form.
Honestly, one could argue the reason it didn't become contrary is because it *did* by association Moltres and Articuni became far more cruel and malevolent, but Zapdos just became a blood knight. Zapdos wasn't the friendliest bird out there, but here, by comparison it's effectively now the most benevolent simply by not being kind of an ass like the other 2
@@OriginalGameteer it’s pretty nice that zapdos is the only bird that will actually stop and let you catch up to him in the wild area for a while if you can’t catch up to him
Some legendaries i think certainly are unique, lore wise. To me, it makes little sense to have multiple Dialgas and Palkias, for example. However, I could see it being the case that the legendary birds are merely an extraordinarily rare and long lived species of pokemon, that has a lot of variation in each ones specific traits. This could be described as being teir 2 legendaries, with pokemon like Dialga and Arceus being teir 1.
I like this idea! I always had a slight disconnect between classifying legendaries since they can range from THE BEINGS THAT HOLD TIME AND SPACE TOGETHER to hehe "hedge" hog. So having a Tier 1 for things akin to gods (or represent a natural force) and a Tier 2 for powerful but rare and local pokemon makes sense.
After learning about heatran when I was kinda getting into Pokémon, this was my natural train of thought when it came to certain legendaries. Never really thought to classify in a tier thing, however I assumed some legends were more like species while others were actually “gods”. Similar to how certain mythicals function I just based it on the Pokémon in question and it’s description/ nature or habits
I know a lot of people count Moltres as a Phoenix, but yeah the slavic firebird in my opinion is the inspiration, whereas Ho-Oh is a Phoenix, predominantly Fenhuang. Phoenix and the fire bird are like squares and rectangles if anyone remembers that from geometry. A square can be a rectangle, however a rectangle cannot be a square, similarly the Phoenix of any variation is a type of firebird, but there is an actual firebird. Also generally the Phoenix there is only 1 of, which is why I say Moltres isn't a Phoenix, Ho-Oh is the only Phoenix in the Pokemon universe... unless gamefreak changes their mind.
I think generally speaking, there's more than one of each Legendary Bird, at least in my opinion, if only because we've seen them show up in other regions like Sinnoh and Kalos without some mystical handwaving like Mirage Spots or Ultra Space. It could be the same ones migrating to different regions, but it makes more sense to me that there are just multiple around the world. In terms of whether the Kantonian and Galarian forms are variants of the same species though, I kinda feel like the way the dex entries are written kind of implies more that the Galarian "forms" share a resemblance to the originals, which led explorers and such to believe they were the same birds, and the naming scheme just stuck, since the dex feels like it's going out of its way to justify why they have the same names as their counterparts. They could very well be a different species that just looks similar.
Except it was literally stated IN GAME that the Legendary Pokemon actually travel around. Also, did you notice that in Galar, NOBODY seemed to know that the Galarian Legendary Birds even existed??? And that they only appeared AFTER Ultra Beasts came to Galar from another Dimension... Think about how strange it is that these creates that nobody heard of before appeared only after Ultra Beasts did....
I think there are multiples of all legendaries(except for Mewtwo of course, with 3 at the most), and are similar to very rare animals in our world. We have extremely rare animals on Earth, that are rarely ever seen, but we know that they are out there. I believe that's the same with Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, there are many out there, they just live in places that humans would rarely see them
@@TheDeathmail They appear before the Ultrabeasts though. The ultabeasts don’t show up until after completing all 3 legendary clues first. Plus, in Let’s Go you can catch multiple of each bird, so there are at least multiple of the birds.
It's likely they travel. As an animal species it makes more sense there are multiple but this is also pokemon. We know super ancients are one of a kind, either made for a specific purpose or formed from something of nature (rayquaza is made from material found in the ozone). We know the legendary beasts are one of a kind since they were revived by Ho Oh in their current form. Lati duo seem to be the main confirmed that there are multiple. legendaries that arent super ancient could have different parent combination if anyone's considered that.
@@rocketeer9183 i dont think them being ancient has much to do with it., no need.to mention it just leave it as weirdly birthed / formed. If i remember correctly keldio is quite young.
My theory: The galarian birds were flying type pokemon that got mutated/turned into legendary pokemon by Eterrnatus powers during the first darkest day when it first appeared in galar in a similar way to how the Ho-oh turned three pokemon into Entei, Raikou and Suicune. The dynamax tree was also a normal tree that got affected and became their only source for food since it got permanently imbued with dynamax energy and that´s why they fight each other over it. And I think that Calyrex dynamax aura and urshifu´s being the only legendaries able to gigantamax were also mutations that they suffered as a result to their exposure to Eternatus energy when they defended the crown tundra and the isle of armor respectively during the darkest day.
An interesting fact is that NONE of the Galarian forms can learn any of the signature element moves of their original Kantonian variants. Found that out the hard way.
Can't Galarian Zapdos learn Wild Charge? I might be misremembering that, though. It can definitely learn Blaze Kick, though, so it takes a bit from Moltres' book.
@@cannibalman8175 neither of those are signature moves, at all. A signature move means that it's something _only_ that Pokémon gets. Like Pikachu's Volt Tackle. Also G-Zapdos doesn't get Wild Charge and lost Blaze Kick in SV.
Another little fun fact that’s not based off lure at all, articuno starts with a-the first letter of the alphabet, moltres starts with m-the 13th letter of the alphabet or the middle, and Zapdos starts with z-the last letter of the alphabet. Idk just thought it was cool.
I think the best way to explain region forms as a whole goes as follows, what we think of as a species of Pokemon ( Charizard, Sandslash ECT) are actually more akin to a genus, so the Kantian and Galatian legendary bird trio are closely related species that are in the same genus akin to both lions and tigers being in the genus pantra.
You know, actually, this thought came to my mind, but what if the Galarian Birds came before the Regular Legendary Birds? When thinking about it, it could be that the birds we see are just genetic changes from the Dynamax Fruit. But, the more I thought about it, if the birds we know could be the Regional Forms that became the norm because Dynamax Fruit is only in Galar, that would explain their personality shifts from Bad to Good. The Fruit clouding their judgment about humans and Pokemon, and a lack of that fruit made them look at their environment differently. Though that theory is a little out there, but I wanted to share it with you guys.
OR.... since they only appeared AFTER Ultra Beasts did and people of Galar don't seem to recognize them.... maybe they aren't from Galar at all.... but are actually just Ultra Beasts...
@@TheDeathmail But if they are Ultrabeast, did you try to catch one by using the Ultra-Beast-ball (idk the right name)? Since you claim that they are Ultrabeast the chance to catch them must be higher than using a Pokeball/other balls (Ultra-beast-ball has a 0.1 % Catchrate on non-Ultrabeast-Pokemons).
I think the galarian legendary birds are just that, a trio of legendary birds that happen to share characteristics with the kantonian trio. We know that galarian "sience" an "research" is kinda terrible when it comes to rare Pokémon (remeber how they treat their fossils?). So it's safe to assume somebody with knowledge of the kantonian birds stumbled across that trio one day, thought "ah... Close enough" and named them accordingly.
For Galarian Zapdos, I was waiting for Maxill to say "But Lockstin, Galarian Zapdos is clearly based off a Roadrunner, and not a lame Ostrich" or something along those lines.
I was waiting for you to mention the typing, as none of the regional variants retained their original signature lightning, ice and fire typing. At least in my eyes, this further speaks for them being different altogether.
Speaking of the four directions beast, I just recently learn that the Forces of Nature therian forms are based off of them. We might get a fourth one to complete the cycle
I wonder if the "That's why it's called" descriptions hint at them being discovered before the Kantonian versions. Perhaps, the Kantonian forms were named after the Galarian forms. So maybe they were given the specific names of the three because they were found first.
I will always love Zapdos, and I fully enjoy the Galarian form of it. I am also convinced it's partially inspired by terror birds like Gastornis- they're mostly found in Europe, while most modern equivalents aren't. I feel like that's the darker side of it's existence.
I like to believe the legendary birds are just similar to the galarian fossils. Unlike the bonewars where several specimens of the same species where named as seperate. More recently they are finding some specimens labeled as a known species are actualy a diffrent/new ones.
I actually have an interesting theory regarding Galarian Articuno specifically: I think that it's at least partly inspired by Will of the Johto Elite Four. Sound weird? Well, sure, but the shape of it's eyes is very reminiscent of the mask Will wears; also consider that even though it's likely false, there does exist a fan theory that Will is actually Lorelei in disguise, this to me explains why they would choose to have an ice types regional form become a psychic type, random as it might seem. This of course also hints at the possibility that maybe Lorelei and Will are connected in some other way, although I will admit it does seem to be quite a stretch. Come to think of it, the types that the Galarian forms of Zapdos and Moltres become are also types used by members of the Johto Elite Four as well, with Zapdos's fighting type representing Bruno, while Moltres's dark type is used by Karen
The only connection they have is their color palette and the fact that they're first in line in the E4. Will has telepathic abilities, so I doubt the theory
A big part missing in this video is that the Galarian forms are a proper scissor, paper rock scenario than the kanto original. Fighting (Zapdos) beats dark (Moltres), dark beats psychic (Articuno), psychic beats fighting. The game plainly reveals this when introducing players to the 3 birds. Fighting attacks dark, psychic attacks Fighting and then they all fly off. By imposing this mechanic on the legendary birds, it only means the designers were trying to impose this concept on their legendary pokemon designs. Don't think we need a whole mythical expiation.
My theory is they were once the same bird a LOOONG time ago but generations of eating the dynamax fruit caused them to naturally evolve into a new species of Pokémon.
I feel like it's similar to how we have sea-dwelling mammals that look like fish, or have some species that look very similar, and may even fall under the same name, but when you look at their ancestry they're not even closely related. They just happen to have evolved traits that line up with other species.
@@KingPineapple Of the three, Moltres is the least impressive; I've heard people making fun of it's design, and it's probably the one that I always liked the least. It's Galarian form looks a lot cooler, and it's my personal favorite of the three by contrast
I believe I said this in the other legendary video, but my belief is that some legendary Pokémon are single individuals, but others are whole species, just extremely rare. If the legendary birds are a species, then a population of them in a new region and evolving to adapt makes more sense, I think
galarian zapdos is definitely my favorite of the bunch, I feel like it's the biggest leap in quality of the three when compared to their original forms. zapdos just looks so much more awkward when compared to the ostrich that will kick your face off
I always assumed that there was going to be a galarian Lugia which would have created these galarian legendaries, it was a shame that there wasn't as that would be really cool and kind of explain things, or at least narrow down the issue to one Pokémon's relatives rather than 3
I think there could be another reason why the Galar Legendary Birds could have the “called, inspired, etc.” things with their names; Like Galarian Zigzagoon, they were the originals. Then, when the other legendary birds were discovered, it was seen how similar they were to the Galarian ones, or even developed their elemental abilities through regional adaptation, and their temperament changed along with their more frequent interactions with humans.
I think galarian Articuno was heavily inspired by lazer bird from Angry Birds space, I mean have you ever looked at the two and thought they looked very similar!
From my point of view, It's similar to the Galapagos finches compared to those of the mainland. Perhaps each Legendary bird had a common ancestor with traits of both, but as the two populations became Isolated from each other, they specialized on one trait over another, leading them to become different species, but still within the same family.
I mostly accept legendaries having shiny in the first place is just an addition to the gameplay mechanic, embraced by the anime, using them in the series and movies. So the shiny Galar birds in particular are just easter eggs, referring to the originals from Kanto. Also, the discussion initially seemed like it's focused on making sure the Galar and original birds are different individuals, making the Galar birds the "regional variants" instead of "alternate forms", which is obvious. However as the discussion goes on, the focus is changed to question that are the Galar birds EVEN a regional variant (from the game design concept perspective, definitely yes), given the descriptions are so obscure and remotely related to the original birds. Just like how "dragons" are differently depicted across the globe despite sharing the same name.
I say they’re a subspecies of the legendary birds who changed drastically to survive in the harsh climate of the crown tundra. I mean in nature many animals charge like that when forced to live in a arctic climate; example the Muskox who is actually very closely related to goats.
@@Hyper_Drud most of the Pokémon in the Crown Tundra are ice types or Pokémon that can handle the cold, so it’s ice type moves wouldn’t be that effective. Becoming another type would give it the upper hand in that environment.
When the galar dex talks about the name inspirations, I imagine what they’re trying to imply is these galar forms are the original, and the kanto forms are the ones that came through change in the environment or whatever. So their are multiple legendary birds but the ones on galar are the original ones.
When you brought up multiple legendaries now I'm thinking about like a council of Arceus or something, I mean that would make sense because it lives on what appears as a glass pedestal on top of a sacred mountain.
Something not many people mention when discussing this topic is the fact that you can literally catch the Kantonian birds in the Crown Tundra, meaning the new ones literally can't be regional forms. Interestingly, when you show Peony the Galarian Birds in the Max Lair he calls them "Imposter Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres", and when showing him the Kantonian ones he still thinks they are the impostors, just with a better disguise. This, combined with the shiny colors, makes me believe that the Galarian Birds were different birds that evolved to look more like the Legendary Birds over time.
I wonder if this was an early concept of convergent species like Wiglett which is named similarly to Diglett because of similarities although unrelated. While these 3 were not named different pokemon that are similar but rather just regional forms of the Kanto birds
There's a bird in norse mythology responsible for the cold northern winds. Hraesgvelt? It's a clan in Northgard. Either way, I always figured that was the basis of articuno considering its named after the arctic, hence cold northern wind.
Personally I think that these may be based on convergent evolution or two seperate distantly related species evolving to look similar to another due to a myriad of factors (such as environments). If so that would be pretty cool.
One interpretation I could see with the galarian birds is that they might be older/original versions of the birds. Its completely possible since we have things like the alolan and kantonian Exeggutor, where the kantonian is technically a regional form and Alolan is the original.
Can I just use this to ask why Fiery Wrath Flinches instead of causing Burn? Not only is it a missed opportunity thematically, but Dark Pulse already beat it to the punch when it comes to Dark-Type Special Moves that Flinch!
I think it adds to what we have discussed in this video. You see a dark flame enveloping you and your ally and naturally you EXPECT the dark, sinister flames to burn you, so you FLINCH at the expectation. HOWEVER, G Moltres is not actually a fire type so its dark energy doesn't actually burn you! For the same reason Thunderous Kick doesn't paralyze you as you'd expect an electric move to, but then the only odd one out is Freeze Shock or whatever the Articuno move is, which could have just warranted a different effect, like a speed drop or something but whatever.
I feel like there's more than one of each bird. The anime and manga often have some of the legendary birds, specifically Articuno comes to mind, being a wild Pokémon captured by one of the characters, then there's the wild one in the 2nd movie that answers to the prophecy of the world coming to an end.
Proof that Zapdos is the superior Pokemon of the three birds. Galarian Zapdos (even if it may not be the same animal) is just a chill Chad instead of being a jerk, like the Moltres and Articuno. All hail Zapdos!
I really buy more into the theory that some legendaries are being just a super rare species, that would explain why galarian forms look different, they aren't the same mons as kantionan birds, but they are the same specie sorta? idk
2:48 can you imagine a Suicune being Bourne every time the North wind blows or Raikou every time a bolt of lightning crashes to the ground. They'd be the Zubat of legendaries
Personally after seeing the new hisui region in would say the dex entries for the galarian forms are the timeline original birds which over time became the ones from Kanto. They first got the names here from galar which would make the region much older than the rest of the others perhaps. Much like the galarian zigzagoon is considered the original.
All I know is it took me _far_ too long to catch them when I played Shield. Especially the freaking Moltres. I kept running out of balls and it kept killing itself.
I love when people complain about Galarian Zapdos being flying type dispite being based on a flightless bird, as if Doduo and Dodrio being a flying type hasn't been a thing since gen 1.
I really love the galarian forms, especially moltres. Moltres normally to me looked like quite a boring design, but the galarian form is better altogether. I think that maybe these galarian birds might have used to follow orders from a lugia, until something happened to the lugia that sent the legendary birds down a different path.
I like the idea they are different creatures entirely they just evolved differently through time because being in a different environment than the Kanto versions, hope we get more regional legendary Pokémon
I think we've been thinking about it backwards. The Galarian bird trio didn't change from the Normal Form bird trio- the Galarian Forms came first! This wouldn't even be the first such instance, as it's stated that canonically Galarian Zigzagoon came before Normal Form Zigzagoon. I think the Galarian forms of the bird trio were the first ones to exist, and in times long past, people could only go by what little they saw or heard, with sightings and reports being far too few and far between to really get an accurate picture of what they were dealing with. A beautiful bird with a cold, cruel demeanor who shoots beams that can immobilize enemies as if frozen solid? A lightning-quick bird whose feathers make crackling, almost electric sounds? A bird with a blazing aura that burns away your spirit? It's not hard to imagine interpreting them as actual beings of ice, lightning, and fire. So, people who would seek out these birds of legend might leave food as offerings to them, try and gain the favor of these legendary creatures, not realizing they're not dealing with what they think they are. Let's take Articuno for example- a Galarian Articuno, in its flight, comes across an offering made to it, on an icy mountain, consisting of berries and stuff, and maybe even Iceroot Carrots or something else that'd appeal to Ice-types specifically. It doesn't really get why the humans think it'd prefer this stuff specifically, but hey, free food! And over time it comes to realize, if it keeps coming back to this mountain, it keeps getting this free food, that it's getting more and more accustomed to, starting to like more and more, keeping it coming back again and again. Its body changes gradually as a result of this environment and diet, and maybe due to the kindness of the humans providing all this food for it, that could even help to lessen the cruelty inherent in its personality, and eventually it becomes more like what the mistaken legends painted it as.
2:27 does that mean Enteis reproduce by barking? Because if a new one appears every time a volcano erupts… and every time Entei barks, a volcano erupts… just sayin’.
I'm also pretty sure that they did this as a play with the type effectiveness trio. The *Fighting* strong to *Dark* strong to *Psychic* strong to *Fighting* Like with *Fire* strong to *Grass* strong to *Water* strong to *Fire* Except, well Zapdos is Electric not Grass and Articuno is Ice lmao
love the galarian forms, they iterate om the originals so well. the kanto were so bland and uninteresting, very happy with the regional forms they have been making, they only keep getting better!
You only think the kanto versions are bland because you see them as the default or vanilla versions of the birds this is your brains biases telling you that they are uninteresting because they're The originals. pretty stupid way to think really.
@@mocha9072 one is just a generic pheonix, one is a spiky tweety, and arcitino is just pretty bluejay without the markings. The new ones have much more going on conceptually and design wise, and are overall more interesting. It's not just that the Kanto ones are the og, it's that if you compare them side by side the Galarian birds ARE more interesting
@@mocha9072 no, they literally are bland and simple... moltres is just a big chicken on fire. the only thing that make them unique is the status of being legendary, plus their designs dont even look legendary
Gen 1 legendary birds and the galarian variants in a nutshell: Motres: fire bird Articuno: *The frozen chicken in the back of your freezer that you’ve been ignoring for months* Zapdos: Chuck Galarian variants: (Galarian) moltres: “God dammit I burnt the chicken again!” (Galarian) articuno: *It’s literally just lazer bird from angry birds space* (Galarian) zapdos: very *VERY* spiky chicken
Regional Variants of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune have so much potential. Maybe you would have to go on some kind of quest to capture them like you do with the Galarian forms of the legendary birds.
I always thought they were separate from each other. When they make regional variants, if it's name has an element they keep the element. These didnt keep the element. I hope they aren't variants and I hope galar gets a legends game. I also hope more DLC for shield is coming
...I definitely have been interpreting Articuno's pokedex entry as 'lmao you about to freeze to death? sucks to be you i guess, lemme get some popcorn' instead of 'Oh, here, let me guide you to safety and warmth.'
Maybe the reason the Galarian birds named after the Kantonian birds, is because some people witnessed the shiny forms and then began claiming they’re the same birds, which is what happened when colonists from the Old world moved to North America, where they began naming birds like the American Robin after the European Robin simply because they had similar colours even though they aren’t even related.
Personally I’m starting too see the Legendary Birds as follows, Kantoian/Galarian Moltres’s, Kantoian/Galarian Zapdos’s & Kantoian/Galarian Articuno’s. In other words a classification of type of bird but a different species of that bird, like how we do with Parrots. If we want too talk about these types of birds in a general term we just call them Parrots, but if we want too talk about a certain one we will call it by its species name like Macaw. So in this case that’s how I’m starting too see the Legendary Birds, they of course share a common ancestry but they can still be their own species of bird. Heck we have gotten a lot of birds out there that go by their generalised name with their geographic location tack on for its species and more than likely just out of laziness without trying too come up with a original name for it mostly because of how strikingly similar they look even though they have some easily noticeable difference.
Going along with Lockstin's theory that Legendaries hint at the next gen, it's plausible to think that Galarian Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres were hinting at Convergent Evolution forms for Scarlet and Violet. So, Galarian Articuno is to Kantonian Articuno what Wiglett is to Diglett. They may look the same, but they're not related whatsoever, as opposed to Regional forms.
In addition, because they’re legendary Pokémon they must be incredibly rare to find despite how common they are compared to other legendaries. So unlike wiglett and diglett who are far more common and can be more easily observed and could even study their very DNA, they just can’t do that with the Legendary birds because even find them is a miracle unto itself
I'd guess it's a story similar to the legendary dogs - three pokemon ate the fruit from the tree and were drastically altered by it. Hawlucha is the only fighting/flying type available so far, and they can be found in Galar. The other two typings have a few options each, which could relate to why their real world inspirations are more varied. We could even have another instance of "these are the original forms" on our hands, as eating fruit from the wrong tree is a pretty common mythos.
With the addition of Convergent Evolution in Scarlet and Violet, I'm beginning to think they're convergent evolutions instead. They grow to have similar shapes and structures. However convergent evolutions mean that a creature becomes similar to something else due to the environment that they live in. So who knows?
alternative theory. what if the reason the pokedex entries are worded that way because the galarian forms were the first ones discovered, and the kantonian ones were found later. thats why the pokedex refers to how they got their names. the galarian ones are the true originals
I was honestly ecstatic when I learned that the Galarian birds were different species entirely from the Kantonian birds their names were inspired by. Having bits of lore showing that there are multiple powerful creatures with similar characteristics while still being individual species is just really cool to me. I'd love to see more new legendary forms that are supposedly separate creatures with names inspired by the other.
Easy answer. They are not the same. Imagine a TV show with a super hero trio. The cool and calm hero with Ice powers, the energetic one with fire powers, and the emo and edgy hero with eletric power. Now imagine the most classic plot twist of all time: Evil counterparts. They kept their personalities but are now doing evil things with their powers. Now my question is.... and Lugia? It's been know that Lugia is tightly connected to the legendary birb's lore but... no "evil boss" form? Not even the return of shadow Lugia ?
After mistakenly mismatching fossils to form pokemon chimeras, the galarian scientist proceed to fail to categorize pokemon with similar traits to legendaries of a different region as their own species. I have a feeling the Galar region scientists aren't that... good at their jobs.
can't argue with that
Damn you, Cara Liss
Well if most of the scientists are like her, then ye
Sonia and her Mum are smart tho
Agreed.
@@quinnholloway5400 grandma
Personally, i just think it's like us with dragons. Every culture has a dragon, but they're not all the same creature. So I think that the Galarian people and the Kantonian people named these three birds with the same names despite not actually being the same birds.
true, for example theres absolutely no reason the western and eastern dragons even share the name dragon, they are completely different creature and could totally have separate names
@@julien827 exactly. I think its the same thing here. The Kantonians called their birds that name because of the elements they controlled. The Galarians meanwhile called them that because of their powers qhich, while not directly those elements, call into the mind thoughts of them. (Because even in Pokemon, the British have to overcomplicate everything.)
@@torazely It's also likely that they mistaken the birds with the Kantonian counterparts after hearing the stories from Kantonian people like how unicorns were originally just oxen but due to mistranslations, they became unicorns.
@@adam.n-steve so the legendary birds are either dragons or unicorns, is that what I'm hearing?
@@torazely I guess so?
Honestly, I think it's more likely they share a common ancestor, with genetic disposition towards fire, ice, and lightning, respectively, but due to the drastic difference between most habitats and Galar's Dynamax-soaked tundra, they ended up evolving very differently, maintaining some semblance of that genetic disposition their ancestors had.
The common ancestor idea makes a lot of sense. As it only makes sense for variations of legendaries to exist due to the circumstances of their environment. I mean, the idea of Shiny Rayquza being canon makes sense. Since it's possible for there to be two versions of that particular pokemon for the north and southern hemispheres.
Yeah I too think they just had a common ancestor.
this also makes sense for the shiny version, the shiny colors are most likely recessive genes that was inherited from the common ancestor of the kantonian and galarian birds
OR, they are actually from another dimension... considering the fact that they only appeared AFTER the Ultra Beasts came over should mean something...
That ancestor may be a basic-kind of Bird... like Fearow//
This is probably a stretch, but I wonder if they're related at all to the instincts of "flight, fight, or freeze". Zapdos is flight (or, as is literally the case with many flightless species, running away). Moltres is fight, as it is aggressive and fiery, and actively attacks in a violent way. Obviously Articuno is freeze, which instinctually is not actual freezing, but staying still, observing your prey or predator to figure out your next move. This is probably just one of those observations that works to a degree but is ultimately meaningless and unintended, but I still think it's fun :)
Makes perfect sense to me
If Galarian Zapdos wasn’t described as a belligerent Pokémon who loves fighting strong opponents by the Sword and Shield Website before it was taken down, I’d agree
Galarian Zapdos is literally fighting type
Ironic that the flightless one represents flight but yes that makes sense
@@Captain_Yata i think it fits because when the player get closer to it, it just run
From a lore perspective, while I think they do come from a common ancestor and are definitely related, the Galarian birds could warrant their own species. However, because legendary Pokémon are so rare and elusive, not enough research has been able to be done on these Pokémon to determine wether or not they are forms or their own thing. So for now they are named based on similarities and to make note of possible relations until more conclusive evidence is found.
Good analysis
If we had to name them,
Shadune, Brawleux and Mystrois
They are obviously related because Galarian Articuno Zapdos and Moltres look like their Kanto counterparts enough.
Yeah I feel like these were spotted first lorewise and given unofficial names but the Kantonians spotted theirs and gave them the official names which is why they look so different but also have clear similarities
@@FixTheWi-Fi French? Why not continue the numbering from 4 to 6?
My proposed alternate names of the birds if considered different species:
"Articuno" - Psyquatro (Psycho- + Quatro)
"Zapdos" - Bruicinco (Bruise + Cinco)
"Moltres" - Maliseis (Malice + Seis)
Also, there's definitely multiples of the legendary birds. In Let's Go, the birds have a chance of spawning in the wild in almost any route after becoming Champion if you're flying in the air (as well as Charizard and Dragonite).
There’s also the possibility of other languages for one, two and three.
Psychun (Psych + un) Speedeux (speed + deux) and Vitrois (virtriol + trois)
@@SandwitchZebra The bird use the Spanish words for the numbers though, so yeah these three would be using the Spanish words for 4, 5, and 6 in their names.
i called mine kickdos, psychouno, and vieltress.
Honestly, I like these names more. Makes them distinct, but not too dissimilar to their inspirations.
8:16
Lockstin: “Thunderbolts and lightning-“
Me: “Very, very frightening”
ME
Me: Galileo...
@@Chaos89P Galileo
Galileo!
Galileo
I love the fact that the galarian trio plays with the idea that human nomenclature and taxonomy are inherently flawed and rather subjective. We don't KNOW everything and thats ok, it just leaves room for our knowledge to grow. I would love if a future pokemon game would help us discover the origin of these pokemon and designate more appropriate names to them. ♡
All regional forms really are just a way for Gamefreak to introduce new Pokémon without expanding their already huge Pokedex further. I feel that the Galarian bird trio being "kinda like" the Kantonian birds is to allow the Devs to reuse dex numbers, also the idea of regional variants of legendaries is a pretty exciting idea.
On the one hand it is cool that the games make it clear that some of the ingame "science" is flawed, but on the other hand I doubt they'd ever change the name of any Pokemon.
considering, that Legends Arceus has you gathering data on the wildlife of Ye Olde Hisui, from what is known on the official home page, you actually are filling in the blanks of the not yet existing pokedex. It is possible, that we will encounter the Bird Trio, who were Roaming Pokemon in Platinum, and actually figure out more about them. The Home page makes it seem, as if you could unlock more snippets of trivia of your pokemon, by fulfilling certain tasks. We have to wait and see, how it is implemented, when the game is released in January though.
On the topic of taxonomy, the original pokedex had split up Nidoran by gender, rather than combining both lines into one line, something that would be a mechanic in later games( gender differences, gender split evolutions, gender split moves), but utilized in a way to allow for different movesets in gen 1. For all intents and purposes Nidorin and Nidoroyal could be more fitting names for the evolutions, and now they are seperate species by association.
Oh and also a case could be made for grouping Non Regional variants as for example "Kantonian" forms, despite the Pokemon not necessarily originating from Kanto and just happens to be the most common variant it can be encountered as. It is just an alias we as the player base use to abstract those forms, regardless of their origin.
@@zinzolin14 Nah I personally find the idea of regional legends quite dumb. Legends are legends by virtue of them being a constant being that is unchanging no matter what timeline or region we are in. They are the apex species of their type, so the idea of them changing to adapt to a different environment instead of the other way around is just doofy
@@Blitzvonic that's a fair opinion, but to me it's a fresh new perspective in the world of the series. To me, variants aren't meant to be better than the original, just different. But if it makes you feel any better, the dex says the Galar birds are "like" their Kanto counterparts, so it suggests they're an entirely seperate species but use the same dex number. But who knooows 🤷♂️
10:00 I'd argue that Galarian Zapdos also draws heavy inspiration from the greater roadrunner of the American Southwest, between it being relatively poor at but still capable of flight, running with its neck (and thus its head too) and tail parallel to the ground (ratites run with their necks closer to vertical), and even having a patch of bare skin behind its eye.
The way it runs and its body shape definitely point to a roadrunner
Agreed
Zapdos being native american inspired having a road runner design seems more appropriate since road runners are north americans
Honestly I thought it was based on a road runner too. I've never seen one before but I know of them because of the road runner from cartoons (this is my only real knowledge as a nonamerican)
@@Miniae_Cecilia they are cool, they grab snakes by the head and bash them on the ground to kill them
They're definitely related but they seem to have more of a yin and yang relationship with their Kanto counterparts. Articuno being cruel, Zapdos being flightless and Moltres being straight up evil makes a good counterbalance to the helpful, flying and benevolent natures of their Kanto counterparts.
Yeah, Articuno and Moltres are great! Zapdos... Flies.....
@@DannyArguetaValencia yeah, I guess you could say the new one is grounded.
I mean the OG birds weren't saints either, constantly fighting each other over territory and needing Lugia to smack the stupid out of them.
@@xaldrortenderofthevats8948 I think you read helpful, flying and benevolent as applying to all 3 instead of the opposite of each regional variant.
I think saying that Galarian Moltres and Articuno being too different to be mistaken for the originals is a mistaken idea. Most people in the Kanto region likely have never seen a legendary Pokémon and only heard vague, partially incorrect stories about them.
I mean, we dont know the placement in the timeline of SwSh.Making it possible that they have seen the Legendary Birds thanks to other protagonists.Specially, Kanto,Johto,Hoenn(Remakes), USUM and Galar.
I was thinking that they could be like a subspecies to their Kantonian counterparts, but I don't think that would work or make sense
Except the Galarian researchers would not be contacting random people from Kanto to check, they would be contacting Professor Oak.
Certain legendaries I think can be a whole species. The legendary birds, while powerful pokemon and super important, are not spesifically unique in their roles in the pokemon world. So if there was more than one, it wouldn't be too crazy to imagine.
This. The legendary birds don't have any sort of domain to to rule over. They're not the gods of ice, electricity, and fire. They're just powerful elemental bird pokemon.
I think that you can even get multiple of them in the Let's Go games.
Very rare, for sure.But multiple
Heatran can be male or female so while we can't breed 2 heatran, they are likely to reproduce in some way, meaning there is probably not just one,
And the baby Lugia from the show leads me to believe that the other four legendary birds are able to reproduce.
With the exception of maybe Ho-oh
There are more than 1 legendary pokemon (proven by baby lugia and that hoenn guys articuno)
Them being referred to as the names of the Kantonian forms could be like, early settlers saw them and assumed they were different forms of the other birds, but modern technology has revealed they are different. Sorta like how some animals are named simillarly because they look closely related but we now know they aren't
The problem??? NOBODY in Galar actually knew of their existence... notice that in the games, there was no real info about them...
And then notice that they ONLY appeared AFTER the Ultra Beasts from OTHER DIMENSIONS appeared...
So there is a good chance that they actually come from a different dimension.
^adding onto Deathmail's comment, these birds are basically discovered BY peony and the player. THEY are the ones who decided these were the legendary birds of Kanto. And I remember peony actually commenting that they're not what he expected based on his sources, but they're just close enough that he accepts them as legit
Penguins are named after a flightless birb that humans hunted to extinction
Yes this is what I was saying in my comment. One group is named due to a case of mistaken identity due to poor information from a second hand source.
Seahorse as an example lol
My own personal guess is that the galarian birds were a specific group of the kanto birds that migrated to galar somehow and evolved, in a sense, very quickly thanks to the dynamax tree. Specifically, I think they evolved so that their life cycle could revolve around the tree and around avoiding each other.
My biggest reason for believing this is Galarian Moltres, whose coloration, beak shape and dark type make me think of frigate birds, the birds with red throat patches that tend to steal food from other birds. Since they live out on the ocean, they need to have large wingspans in order to make it across the water. Similarly, both Moltres and Galarian Moltres have the largest wingspan of the birds, and since Moltres is weak to water, I bet what happened is that as it learned to aggressively steal food from other pokemon, its fire slowly stopped becoming real fire and became a manifestation of its temper and malevolence so it could travel better over stormy seas. This is also why it flies over the isle of armor and why it flies in from the sea in its cutscene.
I've always been under the impression that Zapdos wasn't the friendliest member of the trio, hence why its Galarian form isn't contrary to its Kanto form.
You have a good point.
Honestly, one could argue the reason it didn't become contrary is because it *did* by association
Moltres and Articuni became far more cruel and malevolent, but Zapdos just became a blood knight.
Zapdos wasn't the friendliest bird out there, but here, by comparison it's effectively now the most benevolent simply by not being kind of an ass like the other 2
@@OriginalGameteer it’s pretty nice that zapdos is the only bird that will actually stop and let you catch up to him in the wild area for a while if you can’t catch up to him
Some legendaries i think certainly are unique, lore wise. To me, it makes little sense to have multiple Dialgas and Palkias, for example. However, I could see it being the case that the legendary birds are merely an extraordinarily rare and long lived species of pokemon, that has a lot of variation in each ones specific traits. This could be described as being teir 2 legendaries, with pokemon like Dialga and Arceus being teir 1.
Tier*
I like this idea! I always had a slight disconnect between classifying legendaries since they can range from THE BEINGS THAT HOLD TIME AND SPACE TOGETHER to hehe "hedge" hog. So having a Tier 1 for things akin to gods (or represent a natural force) and a Tier 2 for powerful but rare and local pokemon makes sense.
After learning about heatran when I was kinda getting into Pokémon, this was my natural train of thought when it came to certain legendaries. Never really thought to classify in a tier thing, however I assumed some legends were more like species while others were actually “gods”. Similar to how certain mythicals function I just based it on the Pokémon in question and it’s description/ nature or habits
@@AdminAbuse Correct
I remember when people were expecting the Galarian Birds to be Electric/Fighting, Dark/Fire, and Ice/Psychic rather than keeping the Flying type.
God, Electric/Fighting is just a cool sounding combination. Still disappointed that didn't turn out
@@4569packers Zeraora was perfect for it too
Still kind of would have preferred that tbh. Honestly they aren’t even regional variations. They’re just new Pokémon.
@@4569packers A mega Electivire with Electric/Fighting would be amazing
Personally I like it when the Pokemon company plays with expectations like that
I know a lot of people count Moltres as a Phoenix, but yeah the slavic firebird in my opinion is the inspiration, whereas Ho-Oh is a Phoenix, predominantly Fenhuang. Phoenix and the fire bird are like squares and rectangles if anyone remembers that from geometry. A square can be a rectangle, however a rectangle cannot be a square, similarly the Phoenix of any variation is a type of firebird, but there is an actual firebird. Also generally the Phoenix there is only 1 of, which is why I say Moltres isn't a Phoenix, Ho-Oh is the only Phoenix in the Pokemon universe... unless gamefreak changes their mind.
I think generally speaking, there's more than one of each Legendary Bird, at least in my opinion, if only because we've seen them show up in other regions like Sinnoh and Kalos without some mystical handwaving like Mirage Spots or Ultra Space. It could be the same ones migrating to different regions, but it makes more sense to me that there are just multiple around the world.
In terms of whether the Kantonian and Galarian forms are variants of the same species though, I kinda feel like the way the dex entries are written kind of implies more that the Galarian "forms" share a resemblance to the originals, which led explorers and such to believe they were the same birds, and the naming scheme just stuck, since the dex feels like it's going out of its way to justify why they have the same names as their counterparts. They could very well be a different species that just looks similar.
Except it was literally stated IN GAME that the Legendary Pokemon actually travel around.
Also, did you notice that in Galar, NOBODY seemed to know that the Galarian Legendary Birds even existed??? And that they only appeared AFTER Ultra Beasts came to Galar from another Dimension...
Think about how strange it is that these creates that nobody heard of before appeared only after Ultra Beasts did....
I think there are multiples of all legendaries(except for Mewtwo of course, with 3 at the most), and are similar to very rare animals in our world. We have extremely rare animals on Earth, that are rarely ever seen, but we know that they are out there. I believe that's the same with Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, there are many out there, they just live in places that humans would rarely see them
@@TheDeathmail They appear before the Ultrabeasts though. The ultabeasts don’t show up until after completing all 3 legendary clues first. Plus, in Let’s Go you can catch multiple of each bird, so there are at least multiple of the birds.
It's likely they travel. As an animal species it makes more sense there are multiple but this is also pokemon. We know super ancients are one of a kind, either made for a specific purpose or formed from something of nature (rayquaza is made from material found in the ozone). We know the legendary beasts are one of a kind since they were revived by Ho Oh in their current form. Lati duo seem to be the main confirmed that there are multiple.
legendaries that arent super ancient could have different parent combination if anyone's considered that.
@@rocketeer9183 i dont think them being ancient has much to do with it., no need.to mention it just leave it as weirdly birthed / formed. If i remember correctly keldio is quite young.
Zapdos was always my fav, and I’m glad each form could probably become a friend if you were good to it. The other two got some ESP issues now.
“And how is that one flying?”
*ZAPDOS LEARNED SELF DESTRUCT*
My theory:
The galarian birds were flying type pokemon that got mutated/turned into legendary pokemon by Eterrnatus powers during the first darkest day when it first appeared in galar in a similar way to how the Ho-oh turned three pokemon into Entei, Raikou and Suicune. The dynamax tree was also a normal tree that got affected and became their only source for food since it got permanently imbued with dynamax energy and that´s why they fight each other over it.
And I think that Calyrex dynamax aura and urshifu´s being the only legendaries able to gigantamax were also mutations that they suffered as a result to their exposure to Eternatus energy when they defended the crown tundra and the isle of armor respectively during the darkest day.
An interesting fact is that NONE of the Galarian forms can learn any of the signature element moves of their original Kantonian variants. Found that out the hard way.
Can't Galarian Zapdos learn Wild Charge? I might be misremembering that, though.
It can definitely learn Blaze Kick, though, so it takes a bit from Moltres' book.
@@Benzux Wild charge is not kantonian zapdos's signature move, it's either thunder or thunderbolt, the former is most likely.
@@cannibalman8175 neither of those are signature moves, at all. A signature move means that it's something _only_ that Pokémon gets. Like Pikachu's Volt Tackle.
Also G-Zapdos doesn't get Wild Charge and lost Blaze Kick in SV.
You actually made me gain new appreciation for articuno, with how much inspiration it draws from Persian myths. Thanks!
I can't be the only one that wanted them to abandon the flying type and become Ice/Psychic, Fire/Dark, and Electric/Fighting
agreed
i thought articuno was steel
@@gamegod6859 it’s been around for a while how did you not know it’s psychic
Another little fun fact that’s not based off lure at all, articuno starts with a-the first letter of the alphabet, moltres starts with m-the 13th letter of the alphabet or the middle, and Zapdos starts with z-the last letter of the alphabet. Idk just thought it was cool.
Lure?
That would be interesting if the Legendary Beasts could have regional forms in other generations.
no
@@rj_0401 yes
@@flarexy1335 no. that's too much. the legendary beasts are perfect already
They could finally give Suicune the Ice Type due to its HEAVY inspirations from the auroras and the North Winds and such...cold stuff
@@rj_0401 perfect? I mean, they're neat, I guess, but they definitely aren't perfect
I think the best way to explain region forms as a whole goes as follows, what we think of as a species of Pokemon ( Charizard, Sandslash ECT) are actually more akin to a genus, so the Kantian and Galatian legendary bird trio are closely related species that are in the same genus akin to both lions and tigers being in the genus pantra.
You know, actually, this thought came to my mind, but what if the Galarian Birds came before the Regular Legendary Birds? When thinking about it, it could be that the birds we see are just genetic changes from the Dynamax Fruit. But, the more I thought about it, if the birds we know could be the Regional Forms that became the norm because Dynamax Fruit is only in Galar, that would explain their personality shifts from Bad to Good. The Fruit clouding their judgment about humans and Pokemon, and a lack of that fruit made them look at their environment differently. Though that theory is a little out there, but I wanted to share it with you guys.
OR.... since they only appeared AFTER Ultra Beasts did and people of Galar don't seem to recognize them.... maybe they aren't from Galar at all.... but are actually just Ultra Beasts...
@@TheDeathmail But if they are Ultrabeast, did you try to catch one by using the Ultra-Beast-ball (idk the right name)? Since you claim that they are Ultrabeast the chance to catch them must be higher than using a Pokeball/other balls (Ultra-beast-ball has a 0.1 % Catchrate on non-Ultrabeast-Pokemons).
@@gilmulth I did......... It didn't work out, didn't even get one shake
@@codeylee So they aren't Ultrabeast.🤔
@@gilmulth nope
I think the galarian legendary birds are just that, a trio of legendary birds that happen to share characteristics with the kantonian trio. We know that galarian "sience" an "research" is kinda terrible when it comes to rare Pokémon (remeber how they treat their fossils?). So it's safe to assume somebody with knowledge of the kantonian birds stumbled across that trio one day, thought "ah... Close enough" and named them accordingly.
For Galarian Zapdos, I was waiting for Maxill to say "But Lockstin, Galarian Zapdos is clearly based off a Roadrunner, and not a lame Ostrich" or something along those lines.
His name is Maxill :]
@@Iceycube1404 Thanks :)
I was waiting for you to mention the typing, as none of the regional variants retained their original signature lightning, ice and fire typing. At least in my eyes, this further speaks for them being different altogether.
Speaking of the four directions beast, I just recently learn that the Forces of Nature therian forms are based off of them. We might get a fourth one to complete the cycle
@@Justic_ *Insert that John Cena meme* "Are you sure about that?"
I wonder if the "That's why it's called" descriptions hint at them being discovered before the Kantonian versions. Perhaps, the Kantonian forms were named after the Galarian forms. So maybe they were given the specific names of the three because they were found first.
I will always love Zapdos, and I fully enjoy the Galarian form of it. I am also convinced it's partially inspired by terror birds like Gastornis- they're mostly found in Europe, while most modern equivalents aren't. I feel like that's the darker side of it's existence.
I like to believe the legendary birds are just similar to the galarian fossils.
Unlike the bonewars where several specimens of the same species where named as seperate. More recently they are finding some specimens labeled as a known species are actualy a diffrent/new ones.
And this is why I gave my Galarian birds more suiting names, Personal favorite being Zapdos to Kwondos with the other ones with similar themed names.
I actually have an interesting theory regarding Galarian Articuno specifically: I think that it's at least partly inspired by Will of the Johto Elite Four. Sound weird? Well, sure, but the shape of it's eyes is very reminiscent of the mask Will wears; also consider that even though it's likely false, there does exist a fan theory that Will is actually Lorelei in disguise, this to me explains why they would choose to have an ice types regional form become a psychic type, random as it might seem. This of course also hints at the possibility that maybe Lorelei and Will are connected in some other way, although I will admit it does seem to be quite a stretch. Come to think of it, the types that the Galarian forms of Zapdos and Moltres become are also types used by members of the Johto Elite Four as well, with Zapdos's fighting type representing Bruno, while Moltres's dark type is used by Karen
The only connection they have is their color palette and the fact that they're first in line in the E4. Will has telepathic abilities, so I doubt the theory
A big part missing in this video is that the Galarian forms are a proper scissor, paper rock scenario than the kanto original. Fighting (Zapdos) beats dark (Moltres), dark beats psychic (Articuno), psychic beats fighting. The game plainly reveals this when introducing players to the 3 birds. Fighting attacks dark, psychic attacks Fighting and then they all fly off. By imposing this mechanic on the legendary birds, it only means the designers were trying to impose this concept on their legendary pokemon designs. Don't think we need a whole mythical expiation.
My theory is they were once the same bird a LOOONG time ago but generations of eating the dynamax fruit caused them to naturally evolve into a new species of Pokémon.
I feel like it's similar to how we have sea-dwelling mammals that look like fish, or have some species that look very similar, and may even fall under the same name, but when you look at their ancestry they're not even closely related. They just happen to have evolved traits that line up with other species.
Honestly, the kanto legendary birds were saved by the galarian forms
Kanto Zapdos still amazing, the other two needed some work tho 😅
@@KingPineapple Of the three, Moltres is the least impressive; I've heard people making fun of it's design, and it's probably the one that I always liked the least. It's Galarian form looks a lot cooler, and it's my personal favorite of the three by contrast
I believe I said this in the other legendary video, but my belief is that some legendary Pokémon are single individuals, but others are whole species, just extremely rare. If the legendary birds are a species, then a population of them in a new region and evolving to adapt makes more sense, I think
galarian zapdos is definitely my favorite of the bunch, I feel like it's the biggest leap in quality of the three when compared to their original forms. zapdos just looks so much more awkward when compared to the ostrich that will kick your face off
Imagine it having a running start before kicking. That's gonna freaking hurt.
And he's also my fave too out these 3.
Articuno and Moltres: I am become death, destroyer of worlds.
Zapdos: boy I was runnin’
I always assumed that there was going to be a galarian Lugia which would have created these galarian legendaries, it was a shame that there wasn't as that would be really cool and kind of explain things, or at least narrow down the issue to one Pokémon's relatives rather than 3
I think there could be another reason why the Galar Legendary Birds could have the “called, inspired, etc.” things with their names; Like Galarian Zigzagoon, they were the originals. Then, when the other legendary birds were discovered, it was seen how similar they were to the Galarian ones, or even developed their elemental abilities through regional adaptation, and their temperament changed along with their more frequent interactions with humans.
I think galarian Articuno was heavily inspired by lazer bird from Angry Birds space, I mean have you ever looked at the two and thought they looked very similar!
Coming from Gen 9, we can theorize these bird trio was an example of convergent evolution like Wugtrio and wigglet
I like how the Galarian birds have abilities other than "Pressure".
Ok but how can you NOT mention a roadrunner as one of Galarian Zapdos’s inspirations?
That's the first and honestly only bird that comes to mind when I look at Galarian Zapdos.
@@LBPfan18 Same
8:59 Galarian zapdos could also be inspired by baby chickens/chicks because of the legs,wings and body
From my point of view, It's similar to the Galapagos finches compared to those of the mainland. Perhaps each Legendary bird had a common ancestor with traits of both, but as the two populations became Isolated from each other, they specialized on one trait over another, leading them to become different species, but still within the same family.
I mostly accept legendaries having shiny in the first place is just an addition to the gameplay mechanic, embraced by the anime, using them in the series and movies. So the shiny Galar birds in particular are just easter eggs, referring to the originals from Kanto. Also, the discussion initially seemed like it's focused on making sure the Galar and original birds are different individuals, making the Galar birds the "regional variants" instead of "alternate forms", which is obvious. However as the discussion goes on, the focus is changed to question that are the Galar birds EVEN a regional variant (from the game design concept perspective, definitely yes), given the descriptions are so obscure and remotely related to the original birds. Just like how "dragons" are differently depicted across the globe despite sharing the same name.
I say they’re a subspecies of the legendary birds who changed drastically to survive in the harsh climate of the crown tundra. I mean in nature many animals charge like that when forced to live in a arctic climate; example the Muskox who is actually very closely related to goats.
I could understand Moltres and Zapdos, but why would Articuno need to change?
@@Hyper_Drud most of the Pokémon in the Crown Tundra are ice types or Pokémon that can handle the cold, so it’s ice type moves wouldn’t be that effective. Becoming another type would give it the upper hand in that environment.
When the galar dex talks about the name inspirations, I imagine what they’re trying to imply is these galar forms are the original, and the kanto forms are the ones that came through change in the environment or whatever. So their are multiple legendary birds but the ones on galar are the original ones.
When you brought up multiple legendaries now I'm thinking about like a council of Arceus or something, I mean that would make sense because it lives on what appears as a glass pedestal on top of a sacred mountain.
Something not many people mention when discussing this topic is the fact that you can literally catch the Kantonian birds in the Crown Tundra, meaning the new ones literally can't be regional forms.
Interestingly, when you show Peony the Galarian Birds in the Max Lair he calls them "Imposter Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres", and when showing him the Kantonian ones he still thinks they are the impostors, just with a better disguise. This, combined with the shiny colors, makes me believe that the Galarian Birds were different birds that evolved to look more like the Legendary Birds over time.
I wonder if this was an early concept of convergent species like Wiglett which is named similarly to Diglett because of similarities although unrelated. While these 3 were not named different pokemon that are similar but rather just regional forms of the Kanto birds
There's a bird in norse mythology responsible for the cold northern winds. Hraesgvelt? It's a clan in Northgard. Either way, I always figured that was the basis of articuno considering its named after the arctic, hence cold northern wind.
Personally I think that these may be based on convergent evolution or two seperate distantly related species evolving to look similar to another due to a myriad of factors (such as environments). If so that would be pretty cool.
One interpretation I could see with the galarian birds is that they might be older/original versions of the birds. Its completely possible since we have things like the alolan and kantonian Exeggutor, where the kantonian is technically a regional form and Alolan is the original.
Can I just use this to ask why Fiery Wrath Flinches instead of causing Burn? Not only is it a missed opportunity thematically, but Dark Pulse already beat it to the punch when it comes to Dark-Type Special Moves that Flinch!
I think it adds to what we have discussed in this video. You see a dark flame enveloping you and your ally and naturally you EXPECT the dark, sinister flames to burn you, so you FLINCH at the expectation. HOWEVER, G Moltres is not actually a fire type so its dark energy doesn't actually burn you! For the same reason Thunderous Kick doesn't paralyze you as you'd expect an electric move to, but then the only odd one out is Freeze Shock or whatever the Articuno move is, which could have just warranted a different effect, like a speed drop or something but whatever.
@@JulianimeIsAmazing honestly, I think Freezing Glare should’ve paralyzed instead of froze.
I feel like there's more than one of each bird. The anime and manga often have some of the legendary birds, specifically Articuno comes to mind, being a wild Pokémon captured by one of the characters, then there's the wild one in the 2nd movie that answers to the prophecy of the world coming to an end.
Proof that Zapdos is the superior Pokemon of the three birds. Galarian Zapdos (even if it may not be the same animal) is just a chill Chad instead of being a jerk, like the Moltres and Articuno. All hail Zapdos!
I'm surprised that the Cockatrice wasn't mentioned for Articuno. With the eyes that "seem to freeze" people, it seemed like a good inspiration
I really buy more into the theory that some legendaries are being just a super rare species, that would explain why galarian forms look different, they aren't the same mons as kantionan birds, but they are the same specie sorta? idk
2:48 can you imagine a Suicune being Bourne every time the North wind blows or Raikou every time a bolt of lightning crashes to the ground. They'd be the Zubat of legendaries
Personally after seeing the new hisui region in would say the dex entries for the galarian forms are the timeline original birds which over time became the ones from Kanto. They first got the names here from galar which would make the region much older than the rest of the others perhaps. Much like the galarian zigzagoon is considered the original.
9:00 let's not forget the clear roadrunner inspirations as well, especially when it comes to that head and beak
Hopefully the Galarian Birds (Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres) make an appearance in the anime eventually! That would be epic!!!
2:34 i think they keep building towers near volcanos, it erupts, the tower Burns, ho-oh makes an entei.
All I know is it took me _far_ too long to catch them when I played Shield.
Especially the freaking Moltres. I kept running out of balls and it kept killing itself.
I love when people complain about Galarian Zapdos being flying type dispite being based on a flightless bird, as if Doduo and Dodrio being a flying type hasn't been a thing since gen 1.
I really love the galarian forms, especially moltres. Moltres normally to me looked like quite a boring design, but the galarian form is better altogether. I think that maybe these galarian birds might have used to follow orders from a lugia, until something happened to the lugia that sent the legendary birds down a different path.
I like how at 6:05, he emoted XD instead of saying "XD" from the Gale of Darkness game.
I like the idea they are different creatures entirely they just evolved differently through time because being in a different environment than the Kanto versions, hope we get more regional legendary Pokémon
I think we've been thinking about it backwards. The Galarian bird trio didn't change from the Normal Form bird trio- the Galarian Forms came first! This wouldn't even be the first such instance, as it's stated that canonically Galarian Zigzagoon came before Normal Form Zigzagoon.
I think the Galarian forms of the bird trio were the first ones to exist, and in times long past, people could only go by what little they saw or heard, with sightings and reports being far too few and far between to really get an accurate picture of what they were dealing with. A beautiful bird with a cold, cruel demeanor who shoots beams that can immobilize enemies as if frozen solid? A lightning-quick bird whose feathers make crackling, almost electric sounds? A bird with a blazing aura that burns away your spirit? It's not hard to imagine interpreting them as actual beings of ice, lightning, and fire.
So, people who would seek out these birds of legend might leave food as offerings to them, try and gain the favor of these legendary creatures, not realizing they're not dealing with what they think they are. Let's take Articuno for example- a Galarian Articuno, in its flight, comes across an offering made to it, on an icy mountain, consisting of berries and stuff, and maybe even Iceroot Carrots or something else that'd appeal to Ice-types specifically. It doesn't really get why the humans think it'd prefer this stuff specifically, but hey, free food! And over time it comes to realize, if it keeps coming back to this mountain, it keeps getting this free food, that it's getting more and more accustomed to, starting to like more and more, keeping it coming back again and again. Its body changes gradually as a result of this environment and diet, and maybe due to the kindness of the humans providing all this food for it, that could even help to lessen the cruelty inherent in its personality, and eventually it becomes more like what the mistaken legends painted it as.
Holy does this mean these were the first convergent pokemon?
2:27 does that mean Enteis reproduce by barking? Because if a new one appears every time a volcano erupts… and every time Entei barks, a volcano erupts… just sayin’.
I'm also pretty sure that they did this as a play with the type effectiveness trio.
The *Fighting* strong to *Dark* strong to *Psychic* strong to *Fighting*
Like with *Fire* strong to *Grass* strong to *Water* strong to *Fire*
Except, well Zapdos is Electric not Grass and Articuno is Ice lmao
Fighting, Dark, Psychic sometimes gets suggested by fans for starters types other than Grass, Fire, Water
I’ve got some new names for them.
Mysticuno (Mystic + Uno)
Combados (Combat + Dos)
And Tenetres (Tenebris + Tres)
love the galarian forms, they iterate om the originals so well. the kanto were so bland and uninteresting, very happy with the regional forms they have been making, they only keep getting better!
You only think the kanto versions are bland because you see them as the default or vanilla versions of the birds this is your brains biases telling you that they are uninteresting because they're The originals. pretty stupid way to think really.
@@mocha9072 well, they were pretty uninteresting, blue bird, yellow bird with spikes and yellow bird with fire
@@mocha9072 one is just a generic pheonix, one is a spiky tweety, and arcitino is just pretty bluejay without the markings. The new ones have much more going on conceptually and design wise, and are overall more interesting. It's not just that the Kanto ones are the og, it's that if you compare them side by side the Galarian birds ARE more interesting
@@mocha9072 no, they literally are bland and simple... moltres is just a big chicken on fire. the only thing that make them unique is the status of being legendary, plus their designs dont even look legendary
Articuno is beautiful tho
Gen 1 legendary birds and the galarian variants in a nutshell:
Motres: fire bird
Articuno: *The frozen chicken in the back of your freezer that you’ve been ignoring for months*
Zapdos: Chuck
Galarian variants:
(Galarian) moltres: “God dammit I burnt the chicken again!”
(Galarian) articuno: *It’s literally just lazer bird from angry birds space*
(Galarian) zapdos: very *VERY* spiky chicken
The galatians birds could just be pokemon convergence before it was really a thing
Came back to comment this exact thing
Regional Variants of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune have so much potential. Maybe you would have to go on some kind of quest to capture them like you do with the Galarian forms of the legendary birds.
I always thought they were separate from each other. When they make regional variants, if it's name has an element they keep the element. These didnt keep the element. I hope they aren't variants and I hope galar gets a legends game. I also hope more DLC for shield is coming
...I definitely have been interpreting Articuno's pokedex entry as 'lmao you about to freeze to death? sucks to be you i guess, lemme get some popcorn' instead of 'Oh, here, let me guide you to safety and warmth.'
I wish more legendaries had regional forms
Also great vid lol
Maybe the reason the Galarian birds named after the Kantonian birds, is because some people witnessed the shiny forms and then began claiming they’re the same birds, which is what happened when colonists from the Old world moved to North America, where they began naming birds like the American Robin after the European Robin simply because they had similar colours even though they aren’t even related.
Personally I’m starting too see the Legendary Birds as follows, Kantoian/Galarian Moltres’s, Kantoian/Galarian Zapdos’s & Kantoian/Galarian Articuno’s.
In other words a classification of type of bird but a different species of that bird, like how we do with Parrots. If we want too talk about these types of birds in a general term we just call them Parrots, but if we want too talk about a certain one we will call it by its species name like Macaw.
So in this case that’s how I’m starting too see the Legendary Birds, they of course share a common ancestry but they can still be their own species of bird. Heck we have gotten a lot of birds out there that go by their generalised name with their geographic location tack on for its species and more than likely just out of laziness without trying too come up with a original name for it mostly because of how strikingly similar they look even though they have some easily noticeable difference.
i always thought that the galarian birds were just the same birds from a different dimension
Going along with Lockstin's theory that Legendaries hint at the next gen, it's plausible to think that Galarian Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres were hinting at Convergent Evolution forms for Scarlet and Violet.
So, Galarian Articuno is to Kantonian Articuno what Wiglett is to Diglett. They may look the same, but they're not related whatsoever, as opposed to Regional forms.
In addition, because they’re legendary Pokémon they must be incredibly rare to find despite how common they are compared to other legendaries. So unlike wiglett and diglett who are far more common and can be more easily observed and could even study their very DNA, they just can’t do that with the Legendary birds because even find them is a miracle unto itself
I'd guess it's a story similar to the legendary dogs - three pokemon ate the fruit from the tree and were drastically altered by it. Hawlucha is the only fighting/flying type available so far, and they can be found in Galar. The other two typings have a few options each, which could relate to why their real world inspirations are more varied. We could even have another instance of "these are the original forms" on our hands, as eating fruit from the wrong tree is a pretty common mythos.
With the addition of Convergent Evolution in Scarlet and Violet, I'm beginning to think they're convergent evolutions instead. They grow to have similar shapes and structures. However convergent evolutions mean that a creature becomes similar to something else due to the environment that they live in. So who knows?
G. Articuno's shiny form looks like how it feels to drink water after eating a breath mint
alternative theory. what if the reason the pokedex entries are worded that way because the galarian forms were the first ones discovered, and the kantonian ones were found later. thats why the pokedex refers to how they got their names. the galarian ones are the true originals
I go with the divergent Evo theory were the birds can from the same "master species" and evolved differently to there environment
9:05 what did he saaaaaaay?!
I was honestly ecstatic when I learned that the Galarian birds were different species entirely from the Kantonian birds their names were inspired by. Having bits of lore showing that there are multiple powerful creatures with similar characteristics while still being individual species is just really cool to me. I'd love to see more new legendary forms that are supposedly separate creatures with names inspired by the other.
Are you a galarian human?
@@youtubestudiosucks978 Yes
I was so confused when the galarian birds were introduced I needed this video. Thanks!
Easy answer. They are not the same. Imagine a TV show with a super hero trio. The cool and calm hero with Ice powers, the energetic one with fire powers, and the emo and edgy hero with eletric power.
Now imagine the most classic plot twist of all time: Evil counterparts. They kept their personalities but are now doing evil things with their powers.
Now my question is.... and Lugia? It's been know that Lugia is tightly connected to the legendary birb's lore but... no "evil boss" form? Not even the return of shadow Lugia ?