Deoxys
FINALLY. Trudging through all those underwhelming legendaries was getting pretty rough. It's gonna get even rougher in the Diamond and Pearl reviews, but just this once, I'll get to end a generation on one of those rare few legendary pokemon with a design I emphatically love.
Sure, it has that artificial, plasticy, just-barely-too-detailed look that brings down a lot of other designs, but it makes a lot of sense in this case. We're dealing with not just a totally alien creature, but one that somehow evolved from nothing more than a virus, hence the eerie tentacles resembling strands of DNA!
Sure, it has that artificial, plasticy, just-barely-too-detailed look that brings down a lot of other designs, but it makes a lot of sense in this case. We're dealing with not just a totally alien creature, but one that somehow evolved from nothing more than a virus, hence the eerie tentacles resembling strands of DNA!
Interestingly, those tentacles are capable of melding completely into relatively normal, human-like hands as Deoxys requires, a detail sadly left out of its default 3-d poses.
It's a shame Deoxys doesn't seem to have any moves, abilities or lore playing off its "virus" aspect - it would have been a great excuse for a poison-type legendary, for instance - but whatever, it's still cool as a psychic-type space monster, and they even gave it three alternate forms focusing on different combat strategies, kind of reflecting some sort of adaptation or mutation characteristic.
Here, we have the "attack form" of Deoxys, pouring more stats into its offenses than anything else. It doesn't differ too much, besides having a pointier head and tendrils.
Here, we have the "attack form" of Deoxys, pouring more stats into its offenses than anything else. It doesn't differ too much, besides having a pointier head and tendrils.
After its basic form, "defense" Deoxys might be my favorite, with its neckless, more spacesuit-like body and flattened, ribbony arms.
And finally, we have "speed" Deoxys, which is kind of my least favorite (only TWO tentacles?) but not bad by any means. It's interesting that the legs and body are so much more "bare," like it shed most of that orange, presumably heavy exoskeleton to streamline itself.
Whatever its form, Deoxys has a fairly unnerving, alien design that stands beautifully on its own, though you might enjoy it either slightly more or slightly less in light of its inspiration:
Whatever its form, Deoxys has a fairly unnerving, alien design that stands beautifully on its own, though you might enjoy it either slightly more or slightly less in light of its inspiration:
From head to toe, Deoxys almost unmistakably shares its design aesthetic with the terrifying, otherworldly "angels" from Neon Genesis Evangelion, so bluntly that I can't believe it wasn't mentioned already on its Bulbapedia entry (at the time of this writing), considering some of the far-fetched "origins" and "inspirations" you'll find on countless other bulba pages.
It's not that Deoxys looks like any specific angel, mind you, but its style cribs so much from their generalized look and feel that it may as well be Gamefreak's original fan-angel. Fangel? It's even got the same sort of shiny "core" that links so many of the angels, which is similarly vital to Deoxys, since that's said to be its actual brain!
It's not that Deoxys looks like any specific angel, mind you, but its style cribs so much from their generalized look and feel that it may as well be Gamefreak's original fan-angel. Fangel? It's even got the same sort of shiny "core" that links so many of the angels, which is similarly vital to Deoxys, since that's said to be its actual brain!
In the context of pokemon alone, Deoxys is just plain cool as heck and easily my favorite legendary pokemon up to the third generation. In the context of a reference to a much darker franchise, that's cool too. Not necessary to appreciate it, but cool, and not at all surprising after that Devilman homage we saw a few pages back.
FIRST PREV ARCHIVE NEXT LATEST
