Pokémon, which is short for Pocket Monsters, is a Japanese media franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori back in 1995. It is a fantasy franchise set in a world where humans live together with creatures called Pokémon, who take on different shapes and sizes. It started off as a series of video games for the Game Boy console but soon expanded to other media. The individual Pokémon species are various, diverse, and very specific, and in this article, we are going to talk about one of them, Absol, as we plan on telling you why Absol is not a Legendary Pokémon in the series.
There doesn’t seem to be any specific reason for Absol not being a Legendary Pokémon. It seems that this was simply a decision on the designers’ part. Absol is relatively common and is not unique as Legendary Pokémon are, and while there are stories associated with Absol, the Pokémon doesn’t merit the title of a Legendary Pokémon.
The rest of this article is going to focus on Absol and address the question of why Absol is not a Legendary Pokémon in the series. Namely, we are going to introduce Absol and explain what Legendary Pokémon actually are, which is how we are going to explain why Absol cannot be considered a Legendary Pokémon in the series.
What kind of a Pokémon is Absol?
Absol is a Dark-type Pokémon introduced in Generation III. Its name in all languages comes from the English word absolute (absolute) or from the word absolution (when a person is innocent of the crimes of which he is accused). Absol’s sinister appearance led him to be hated in ancient times. Absol is inspired by Baí Zé, a creature from Chinese mythology who appeared before the emperors with good intentions and anticipated that his reign would be turbulent. It was also partially inspired by the hakutaku, a creature from Japanese mythology that warned a town of a catastrophe.
It has a crescent-shaped horn on the side of its head, three claws on each leg and one back, a strange scimitar-shaped tail, and is covered in abundant white fur. Every time Absol appears before people, a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a tidal wave happens. For this reason, it has become known as the Pokémon of misfortunes. Due to this and his sinister appearance, Absol was once thought to be the cause of these catastrophes, which is why he was so hated that he had to take refuge in the mountains.
These Pokémon currently live in rugged, mountainous habitats that it rarely strays from. Actually, Absol is able to accurately detect any change in the atmosphere or the earth thanks to his horn and predicts natural catastrophes. Given his peaceful and concerned character, he appears to people to warn of danger. Currently, interest in his ability to foresee disasters is growing, which continues to keep him apart from society. The Absol can easily reach 100 years of age, so they are relatively long-lived Pokémon.
In the sixth and seventh generations and only during combat, Absol can Mega Evolve into Mega Absol. In this state, his attack, special attack, and speed characteristics are increased, his ability becomes Magic Bounce, and his weight is increased. The fur on Mega Absol’s neck stands on end in such a way that it appears to have a pair of wings. These emit a powerful aura that overwhelms the opponent, although since they are not true wings, they cannot fly. The hair on its legs also stands on end. The horn on his head and tail change shape, and the hair on his head grows, falling over his forehead covering one eye. Being peaceful in nature, he hates taking on this combat-friendly form. The energy of the Mega Evolution surrounds him forming an overwhelming aura. Those who lack spiritual strength die of fright upon seeing it.
What are Legendary Pokémon?
A legendary Pokémon is a special creature, rare and remarkable for its unique and exceptional power, compared to the rest of the Pokémon. Generally, legendary Pokémon are part of a Pokémon legend or myth and usually stand out for the difficulty involved in obtaining them because they are very rare to find. Legendary Pokémon are generally the mascots of the versions of different games, although some others are also included. The use of these Pokémon is not allowed in combat arenas, although in certain formats of online competitions and video game championships it is allowed, but limiting their number to a maximum of two per team.
Its total stats are generally higher than those of non-legendary Pokémon. Legendary Pokémon are characterized, above all, by their enormous power, since most of them have base stats equal to or greater than 570. There are very few members of each legendary species. In Pokémon video games, they are usually very difficult to capture due to their low capture rate.
Many legendary Pokémon belong to Pokémon mythology and legends, being part of the oral tradition of the people of the Pokémon world, turning them into very important creatures that often influence the folklore and traditions of towns, villages, and cities. Legendary Pokemon, like baby Pokemon, cannot breed. The exception is Manaphy, who is a legendary that you can breed. If Manaphy is left in the Pokémon Nursery with a Ditto it will lay eggs, but those eggs will spawn Phione. Phione does not evolve into Manaphy, but can also breed with Ditto, giving more Phione offspring.
The vast majority usually do not have a gender except for Latios, Latias, Heatran, Cresselia, Tornadus, Thundurus, Landorus, Kubfu, Urshifu, and Enamorus. On the other hand, with the exception of Code Zero, Cosmog, Cosmoem, and Meltan, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon cannot evolve, though several are capable of shapeshifting, Mega Evolving, or Primal Reversion.
Many of the Legendary Pokémon often have some unique move or ability, such as Xerneas’s Geomancy attacks or Jirachi’s Doom Desire and Darkrai’s Bad Dreams abilities, or Lunala’s Shadow Shield. As of Generation VI, all Legendary Pokémon caught in games or coming from events have at least 3 of their 6 IVs maxed out (31). This detail prevents them from having a hidden Fighting-type power under any circumstances, due to the way in which it is calculated.
Another peculiarity of the legendary Pokémon is that before the fourth generation if you try to capture one and it is defeated, it cannot regenerate or respawn, and there is no other opportunity to fight them unless you reset the game without saving afterward. to beat it. However, since the 4th generation games, if a Legendary Pokémon is defeated before catching it, it will respawn back to where it was if the Elite Four are defeated again. In the case of some roaming Pokémon like Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno in Pokémon Platinum, if the Legendary Pokémon is defeated after a while it will respawn and the process continues like this until it is caught.
In these cases, its capture rate is slightly higher than that of the rest of the legendary Pokémon. Despite what many people believe, Legendary Pokémon are not unique, but extremely rare. In general, only one appears in each game (except for Phione) and they cannot breed (except for Phione and Manaphy, but the offspring of both will always be Phione). The games only put a single legendary of certain species to maintain the difficulty of obtaining and the rarity of these Pokémon. However, throughout the history of games, manga, and anime, it has been shown that there is more than one Legendary Pokémon of the same species.
Why is Absol not a Legendary Pokémon?
As you can see, there is absolutely no basis for anyone to consider Absol a Legendary Pokémon. People probably think that because of its looks and the fact that it is not that common in the series, but the reason why Absol is not common is that people have driven it away. Due to a wrongful perception of its nature and the nature of its visits, people have shunned it as a harbinger of doom and that is why Absol retreated into the mountains, where it was able to live in peace. There’s really nothing special to this story that would qualify Absol as a Legendary Pokémon.
The same goes for its stats. Even Mega Absol’s stats are far below what is expected of a Legendary Pokémon (Absol’s Base Stat is just 465, compared to the 570 minimum; even Mega Absol is below the mark with a Base Stat of 565), so there is absolutely no way that Absol could be a Legendary Pokémon. In fact, Absol couldn’t even qualify as a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, which is why the question makes you wonder even more. Be that as it may, Absol is just a very specific and somewhat unique Pokémon in the series, but it is not a Legendary Pokémon and there is absolutely no basis for us to treat him as one.
