Yep, it’s that time of the week again, and this week’s Legendary Pokemon of the Week post kicks off a sort of three-week series. As it happens, three of my favorite Legendary Pokemon are all Pokemon that could be considered “sea guardians”. So for the next three weeks I’ll be talking about those Pokemon, and to start I’m going to cover the fabled Prince of the Sea, Manaphy.
Regrettably, Manaphy is another Legendary Pokemon I forget about sometimes, even though it’s a favorite. Maybe it’s because Manaphy hasn’t appeared outside of the one movie. Anyway, Manaphy’s body is made of eighty percent water. Because of this it can also melt into and control water. Being eighty percent water also causes Manaphy’s body chemistry to be effected by the water temperature of whatever climate it’s in. The biggest example of this is when Manaphy is bred in the warmer water climates of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, the offspring it produces is a Phione.
That’s right; Manaphy is currently the only Legendary Pokemon that can breed (in captivity) by using a Ditto. But instead of producing another Manaphy, you get the psudo-Manaphy, Phione. I’ve already talked about Phione in this week’s Interesting Specimen post. There’s still the big debate on whether or not Phione is considered a Legendary Pokemon. I myself don’t, and if you want to know why you can read my Interesting Specimen post on Phione.
Hangout: Like Celebi, this is where things get a little complicated. Manaphy can’t be captured in the wild; it has to be hatched from an egg. And in generation four, the only place to get that egg is in a completely different game, Pokemon Ranger. In Ranger after you beat the game, you’re allowed to impute a code that allows you to unlock a special mission to retrieve an odd Pokemon egg. When you retrieve the egg you’re told that it can’t be hatched in the region that Ranger is set in because of the cold temperature of the water.
With the egg acquired in Ranger, the next step is to transfer it over to Diamond or Pearl. To do that, you need another DS. So I guess you could borrow one from a friend. Or if you don’t even have Ranger you could ask a friend who does if he or she would be kind enough to send you over the egg from their game. Anyway, once you do get the egg the only thing left to do is hatch it. It’s a very unique egg actually, but then what would you expect from a legendary Pokemon?
Signature Move: Manaphy has a signature move in the form of Heart Swap. Heart Swap allows Manaphy to switch any stat changes with its opponent. This can be very useful if the opponent uses a move to say increase its own Special Attack or decreases Manaphy’s Defense. In the anime, Heart Swap also allows Manaphy to perform a temporary body swap. And Manaphy can use it on any two people and/or Pokemon.
Light Within Darkness: Manaphy, and by extension Phione, are based on a type of aquatic slug known as sea angels. But Manaphy and Phione remind me of another type of sea angel, the aliens from the movie, The Abyss. It’s a really cool underwater movie from the 1980s. And in the movie, the aliens were these glowing underwater beings that resembled, that’s right, angels. Anyway, like the aliens from The Abyss, Manaphy and Phione remind me that even though the sea can be a dark and scary place, it can also contain great beauty and wonder.
That wraps it up for this week. Next week I’ll be talking about a Legendary Pokemon that is said to have shaped the seas themselves. It’s a… whale… of a story. That was a hint by the way. Until next time then.
