Shaymin theory

[ty_taurus]

As far as the way the games are handled, the way Shaymin is distributed, as well as Shaymin's stats and access to the signature Seed Flare, Shaymin is treated as a legendary Pokemon, but when it comes to the Pokemon world's lore, does Shaymin really deserve to be considered Legendary by itself?

 

Pokemon in the Mythical category, like Mew and Jirachi, are notable for being extremely rare and very difficult to track. Jirachi for example, being awake for a short period of time once in a thousand years. Meanwhile, Shaymin are somewhat uncommon due to their need to be in clean environments, but are not difficult to track, nor are that all that exclusive. The people of the Pokemon world seem pretty aware of where Shaymins are and what their migration period is like. Now, not all legendaries are treated equally, like some of them being the only of their kind and wielding extrodenary powers like Dialga and Palkia, but you also have Pokemon like the bird trio, or Latias and Latios who aren't that exclusive, just a step above pseudo-legendaries in rarity. It seems like Shaymins are even more common than those.

 

It's true that it could be difficult to train Shaymin's because of how sensitive they are to pollution, but many common Pokemon seem like they'd be even harder to train for other reasons, such as Bewear's uncontrolled strength, Magcargo being untouchable and probably a nightmare for any Nurse Joy to care for, or just Wailord's sheer size.

 

Yes, the movie featuring Shaymin gave that one telepathy, but the Pokemon movies throw around talking Pokemon like they're gift baskets being handed out to the entire audience of an episode of Oprah (I'm looking at you, Pikachu). So is Shaymin really legendary in lore?

[Dreamy]

Legendary/Mythical status is way more vague from a lore/anime standpoint that a game standpoint.

 

two small points I'll quickly raise for the sake of it. 

-There are some myths and legends surrounding it and the gracedia, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's entirely possible that the group in movie 11 is the only group of Shaymin in the entire (anime) world

-Seed Flare was powerful enough to rip holes between dimensions.

[ty_taurus]

I wouldn't think having legends around Shaymin and the Gracidea flowers would make it Legendary status since many Pokemon have legends and myths about them in the Pokedex. Most Ghost Pokemon are a great example, like the idea that Yamasks were once human and the masks were their faces. We know that's not true because you can hatch a Yamask from an egg. It can't be the spirit of a dead person if it was birthed into existence.

 

I can understand the lack of breeding Shaymins to be a contributing factor, but like Lugia, or arguably even Nidorinas and Nidoqueens, I'd argue that's more contributed by them being poorly bred in captivity, like real-world pandas. Since their sensitive to pollution, that would make a lot of sense. And Manaphy, being much more rare than Shaymin, can actually be bred in captivity, so I can't imagine that's a defining characteristic of legendary Pokemon.

 

As for seed flare opening a portal in dimensions, I'm on the fence. Yeah, that makes some sense, but I believe that only happened in the reverse world, so I'm curious whether or not it could be done the other way around. It also wouldn't necessarily change how common and easy-to-find they are in comparison to other legendaries.

[Guest Relinquished]

That whole deal, just reminded me of that "Phione" is/isn't legendary, thing. Since you can breed as many of those as you want, if you have Ditto and Manaphy.

 

Rarity isn't an issue, like, at all. I mean, events distribute pokemon like Mew, to EVERYBODY! Besides, pokemon =/= logic, in pretty much every aspect there is! Even the lore itself isn't consistent much, throughout the series.

[Starry Knight]

Shaymin is considered mythical though due to stats and the event card for it said Mythical