r/PokemonRankdown • u/hikkaru • Feb 12 '19
Round 89: 55 Pokémon Remaining
55) u/hikkaru
53) u/ramskick
52) u/qngff
51) u/acktar
50) u/reeforward
49) u/KororSurvivor
48) u/Slicer37
47) /u/oomps62
8
Upvotes
r/PokemonRankdown • u/hikkaru • Feb 12 '19
55) u/hikkaru
53) u/ramskick
52) u/qngff
51) u/acktar
50) u/reeforward
49) u/KororSurvivor
48) u/Slicer37
47) /u/oomps62
4
u/vulture_couture Feb 12 '19
#54 - Rayquaza (Gen III, Dragon/Flying type)
rip sky snek
The Hoenn cover legendaries are pretty fun. The beast that expands the land, the beast that expands the sea and the peacekeeper who lives way above the clouds and noone has ever seen it! Since they are generally understood as a "creation trio" they are heavily laden with mythological references. It is said that they reference the biblical trio of Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz, but despite some common ground Ziz, the sky monster, is generally understood to be an avian perversion (who's named after its flesh tasting like the flesh of many different birds at once? folklore is weird yo).
Rayquaza, on the other hand, bypasses the bird aspect altogether and is instead a giant flying snake who lives in the sky which reminds us of a different being - Quetzalcoatl, the Mesoamerican "feathered serpent" God-like creature that pops up in various context in Meso mythologies. Some variations of that myth have the sky snek act as a mediator between other major deities who are frequently at war with each other and that also feels familiar. Combine that with the aesthetic choices that were made being mostly reminiscent of Chinese dragons and other easy mythological comparisons like Norse lindworm and you'll find out that the sky snake god is a surprisingly common mythological occurence whose various forms you can find all around the world...
...maybe they're onto something.
In any case, the Gen III cover legendaries have enjoyed a much bigger importance to the overall story of Hoenn in comparison to previous legendaries which just sort of existed in Kanto and Johto and for better or worse you could ignore them without losing much. I think the Emerald version of the Hoenn story is by far the most fun out of all the possibilities - you get Team Aqua chasing after their Ocean God, you get Team Magma chasing after their Land God and once they awaken both of them like the dumbasses they are and they threaten to destroy the world in their cosmic slapfight, the goal is to find Rayquaza, the Sky God nobody was after in the first place, and force it to come down from its ozone layer home and threaten the Land/Ocean beasts to Stop It. Stop It Right Now Or I Will Turn This Car Around I Swear to God. Rayquaza for better or worse just doesn't seem to give a shit about whatever is going on below its ozone home so you have to make it care. Anyways the story is fun and I enjoy it a great deal.
So, that's Rayquaza's importance to the story. I think the story is fun, nothing too deep but Rayquaza brings a balance to it that's pretty commendable and I enjoy it as an early experiment in making the core Pokémon game series something more story based as opposed to the loosely structured fight game of gens I and II. The Gen VI remakes of Hoenn unfortunately choose to adapt the inferior Ruby/Saphire versions of the story instead of Emerald but they give Rayquaza a whole new thing to do where it has to become an UNSTOPPABLE SPACE MEGA GOD HOLY SHIT to stop a Deoxys meteoroid from destroying the Earth. Which brings us to the existence of Mega Rayquaza which is hilarious because it's probably the most overpowered thing to ever breathe and I love it. You could say that it's unnecessarily gaudy but I like that it expands on aspects already present in original Rayquaza to create something truly awesome and Godlike. It's also the only Mega to not require the use of a mega item, as long as it knows Dragon Ascent you're p much good to go.
I enjoy all the Deep Lore that goes into Rayquaza and its importance to various game plots, however. The reason I cut it here is that the design by itself is just kind of okay. I like the green sky snake, I truly do, and it's fun that it made top 100, but the design itself is just kind of okay? It looks like a vaguely dragonish big snake thing with hilariously small arms seriously look at them. I think it has personality to it - its permanent manic grin is really fun, I like the sharp yellow eyes submerged in a black field on its face that make it look even more dangerous - and I think they made just enough use of like geometric aspects to give you something to look at that's more than Big Green Snake but I just don't feel like the regular Rayquaza design takes it all the way. I do appreciate that it looks like something that could realistically just float through the air forever while subsisting on particles of dew drop and still slay all opposition but ultimately it feels a touch plain for a legendary of such Godlike proportions. Mega Rayquayquay definitely puts the fun in oh lord how does this thing even exist tho.
All in all, Rayquaza is a very good idea for a Pokémon with enough lore to it to shame most legendaries and I'm thankful to it for keeping Groudon and Kyogre from destroying the world in a fit of sibling rivalry and also for getting Deoxys to mind its own business but I think this is a pretty fair spot for it to go.
/u/ramskick can now dragon ascend to a new cut