I’d like to apologize for not doing an Interesting Specimen post again this week. I’ve kinda run out of ideas for those at the moment. Plus I’m still a little stressed out with the coming holiday. Anyway, it’s still time to talk about one of my favorite Legendary Pokemon. And for this week I’ll be covering another Legendary Pokemon that I forget about sometimes. Presenting another of Generation Four’s event Legendary Pokemon, Shaymin.
Yep, Shaymin, the Chia Pet Pokemon, or that’s what it could potentially be called. I mean look at the little guy’s Land Form. But Shaymin is actually known as the Gratitude Pokemon. There aren’t exactly any specific myths or legends behind Shaumin, but it is said to be able to purify polluted areas and cause flowers to grow. You’d think this would bring Shaymin into conflict with Pokemon like Garbodor and Muk. Anyway, Shaymin is also one of the smallest Pokemon out there, adding to its cute factor.
Hangout: Though Shaymin is an event Legendary Pokemon, it does have a location in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum where it can be found and captured, the Flower Paradise. But to get to the paradise, you first need the special item known as Oak’s Letter. With Oak’s Letter in hand, all one needs to do is go out to the White Rock at the end of Sinnoh’s Route 224. Professor Oak will then explain that trainers will often engrave what they are most thankful for on the rock. And once the player does this, the barren land around the rock will become covered in flowers and Shaymin will appear.
But Shaymin won’t stay for long, and the player will have to follow it down the Seabreak Path that has extended from Route 224. There isn’t really anything special about the path, other than it’s really long and covered in flowers. But at the end is the Flower Paradise where Shaymin can be fought and captured. After Shaymin is captured, there really isn’t any reason to go back to the Flower Paradise. However, the sheer length of the Seabreak Path makes it a good place to hatch eggs.
Signature Move: Though small, Shaymin can pack a lot of power. And some of that power comes from its signature move, Seed Flare. When Shaymin sucks in pollutants to purify the land, its body converts those toxins into a powerful explosive force that has a chance of lowering the opponent’s Special Defense stat. And as shown in one of the movies, Shaymin’s Seed Flare can be powerful enough to break dimensional barriers. Shaymin doesn’t learn Seed Flare until level one hundred though, so it’ll take a lot of training.
Sky Form: When Pokemon Platinum came around, Shaymin was given an alternate form, its Reindeer Form, I mean Sky Form. In Sky Form Shaymin changes from simply being a Grass-type to a Grass and Flying-type, and as the name suggests Shaymin gains the ability to fly. Just like the iconic animal that pulls the sleigh of a certain jolly old fat man at this time of year. Of course, Sky Form has a few restrictions. Shaymin can’t take the form at night or when frozen by an attack. Which means in those instances, Shaymin reverts back to its Land Form. To change Shaymin to its Sky Form, one needs to use the Gracidea Flower, which is available in Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver, and all the Generation Five games.
That covers it for this week. Next week I think I’ll cover another Legendary Pokemon that I sometimes forget about. So until then, Happy Holidays.
