Paradox Pokemon are a cool concept. I especially like the past forms, shot through time to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Scarlet, which appear to be some kind of primal versions of the Pokemon we know and love. Unfortunately, I picked Violet, so my Paradox Pokemon are all robots. I like the Mecha-Godzilla vibes of Iron Thor🌃ns, and Iron Va⭕liant is a great mix of Gardevoir and Gallade’s design. But overall, the olde timey-wimey monsters are way cooler.

Enter Suicune. Or Walking Wake, as it should be called. Put simply, Suicune has turned into a dinosaur. A lot of people are calling it a Vꩵelociraptor, but it’s clearly too big for that, towering over our trainer when roaming out of its Poke Ball. It’s more Tyrannosaurus if anything, but we can all agree that it’s a theropod. I quite like the design, even if it does have me worried that my boy Raikou is going to transform 𒀰into some kind of messed up electrified brachiosaurus. However, this makes Walking Wake even more paradoxical than your average ‘mon. To understand why, we must go back to 1999.

Related: ⛄I Can’t Wait Until 2026 To Catch 🌺Hawlucha In Pokemon Go

While Raikou is my favourite of the Legendary dogs, Suicune is the one I remember most fondly. There might be more heartbreaking stories than the tale of three poor animals trapped in a burning tower, but few more powerful symbols than the spirits that appear in their place, defiant in the face of tragedy. From the ashes of ruin is borne the majesty of Suicune, Entei, and Raikou. Then you have to chase the🌸m across the world.

Suicune roaring near a forest

Suicune was the first roaming Pokemon I ever tried to hunt down, and holy h*ck it was difficult. I didn’t realise the importance of internet guides until I sat down with my friends to play through the subsequent Gen, so I just had one tattered guidebook to work from, which told♋ me to constantly fly𓃲 to the same place in order to change where Suicune has spawned. It’s not a bad strategy, but it’s far too optimal.

After hundreds of encounters and all my Ultra Balls, I caught it. Suicune was mine. Soo-ih-sine, I calleꦚd it, because apparently I couldn’t read. I would care for the poor soul from the Burned Tower, nurture it, and form a lifelong bondဣ through mutual care and nostalgia. And now it’s a dinosaur.

Excuse me the trip down memory lane, but I understand that many of you reading this, yes you, (not you Stacey) weren’t even born when Pokemon Silver came out. There’s a chance some of you weren’t born when SoulSilver came out. I’ve never felt so old. While my nostalgia was just for a bit of flavour, something for you to relate to so you could say, “Aw, I feel like that with Maractus/Grumpig/insert-whatever-weird-Pokemon-you-love-here,” Suicune’s origin story is ♔important. It wasn’t a dinosaur, it was a dog. So what the hell is Walking Wake?

Pokemon Suicune Johto Kanto Roaming Legendary

We don’t actually know what Paradox Pokemon are. We collectively assumed that they’re the past and future forms of the Pokemon they resemble. In the future, Delibird will grow plate armour and slowly evolve i♐nto Iron Bundle (that’s evolve in the Darwinian sense, not the Pokemonian). In the past, Salamence had feathered wings. It makes sense. Professor Sada and Turo did invent a time machine, after all.

But we know that Suicune came into being after the fire in Ecruteak City. This is the equivalent of creating a Paradox Mewtwo from ancient times. We know how it was created, so why was there a Pokemon that looked like it millennia ago? In my mind, there are two answ🔴ers.

The first is that this isn’t regular evolution at all. Paradox Pokemon are another form of convergent evolution, like Toedscool or Wi🌳glett. These Pokemon have evolved to look similar because 🥂of shared environmental factors or ecological niches, and it’s pure chance that they resemble Suicune, Volcarona, or Donphan. This would explain why Paradox Pokemon are called just that, instead of Paldean Hariyama or Paldean Jigglypuff. However, while most of these Pokemon could feasibly have evolved over time, Suicune didn’t. It appeared suddenly, through fantastical means.

walking wake in pokemon scarlet and violet

The other answer is that Game Freak and the Pokemon Company simply don’t care about the lore. They wanted a ne♏w form of an iconic and beloved Pokemon. They wanted to create something cool, whether to sell merch, get players to jump back into Scarlet & Violet, or just because they, too, love Suicune. Who cares whether Suicune evolved from a dinosaur or appeared in a burning tower? Why couldn’t both be true? With Pokemon like Celebi and Hoopa cropping up in Pokemon stories with teleporting, time travelling antics, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Legendary dog origin story gets altered or retconned in the future. It would be a terrible change, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

At the end of the day, why does it matter which answer is right? Pokemon’s lore is a messy web of games, anime, manga, and more – the TCG even confirms some of the canon – that’s almost impossible to decipher. Why can’t Walking Wake just be a cool new ‘mon based on a beloved favourite? I think we can all agree that it does look great, and I can see it appearing in some prehistoric Pokemon anime spinoff to endear itself to me further. I just hope to Arceus that Raikou won’t turn into a brachiosaurus. Next: