On the spur of the moment, I decided to do a special edition of my Legendary Pokemon of the week series and cover a group of Legendary Pokemon that I once referred to as the most shocking secret of the Sun and Moon games. I think that enough time has past for me to go ahead and talk about these four Pokemon, but be warned that this post may be something of a giant spoiler for the games. In any case, for this special edition of Legendary Pokemon of the Week, we’ll be talking about the mascots of Sun and Moon, Solgaleo and Lunala, along with their pre-evolved forms, Cosmog and Cosmoen.
I was completely and totally stunned when I first found out that Solgaleo and Lunala were both the evolved forms of another Pokemon. Never before in the history of the franchise was there a Legendary Pokemon that could be evolved from another Pokemon. Technically there was once a Pokemon with a pre-evolved form; I’m speaking of course about Manaphy and Phione. Though since Phione can’t evolve into another Manaphy, some could argue that Phione isn’t actually a pre-evolution but rather a subspecies. That’s the stance that I’ve always taken on Phione, actually. In any case, Solgaleo and Lunala are something completely and entirely different. It was just completely unheard of for a Legendary Pokemon to be able to evolve or for a player to evolve it from another Pokemon.
Of course in many ways, the Sun and Moon games have been all about breaking the traditions set by previous generations. For instance, the player doesn’t have to go through the region beating eight gyms, though there is still an Elite Four Challenge at the end. Instead, players of Sun and Moon have to pass through the Island Challenge, which involves things like scavenger hunts, recognizing Pokemon dance moves, and facing the special Totem Pokemon. Another tradition broken by the Sun and Moon games are the removal of the HM moves such as Cut, Fly, Surf and Strength. Instead, the player can call upon special Ride Pokemon that can provide those services, sort of like an Uber Driver. If those traditions were thrown out the window, why not have Legendary Pokemon with fully functioning evolution lines? It really is a brave new world.
Hangout: In the games, Solgaleo can be captured at a location in Pokemon Sun called the Altar of the Sunne. Meanwhile, Lunala can be captured at a location in Moon called the Altar of the Moone. Of course while both Pokemon are captured there, they’re actually seen much earlier in the games in the possession of another character in their pre-evolved forms, Cosmog and Cosmoen. Of course it is also possible to capture Cosmog in the games too. After beating the Elite Four, all the player has to do is take Solgaleo or Lunala back to their respective altars at a certain time of the day and open a portal to another world where night and day are switched. Once in this other world, all that needs to be done is to go to either the Lake of the Sunne or the Lake of the Moone (depending on the version of the game), and another Cosmog will appear at level five. This second Cosmog will automatically join the player’s party, so there’s no need to battle.
Evolution: I never thought I’d do a section like this for a Legendary Pokemon of the Week post, but here we are. I think I should start by saying that getting Cosmog to evolve into its final form takes a lot of time and effort, but that’s not at all surprising since this is a Legendary Pokemon that we’re dealing with. Cosmog does not evolve into its cocoon form of Cosmoen until level forty-three, and the only attacks it ever learns are Splash and Teleport. I should also mention that Cosmog is unable to learn any TMs or use any of the new Z-Moves introduced in the games, so the best move is to just slap the Exp. Share on the little guy and go about training your other Pokemon for a while. At fifty-three, Cosmoen will either evolve into the male Solgaleo in Pokemon Sun or the female Lunala in Pokemon Moon. Some of you reading this post might be asking about now, “What’s the point of training Cosmog to evolve into Solgaleo or Lunala if I already have its fully-evolved form?” Well, once you do get Cosmog to evolve into this spare Solgaleo or Lunala, you can go to someone who has the other version of the game and trade it for the spare Legendary mascot that they have, thus making it possible to have both mascot Pokemon in the game.
Signature Moves: Solgaleo and Lunala each have their own signature attacks, so I may as well cover them both at once. Solgaleo’s signature move is an attack called Sunsteel Strike. It’s able to inflict massive amounts of damage regardless of what abilities the opposing Pokemon may have. Lunala’s signature move meanwhile is an attack called Moongeist Beam. It basically has the same effect as Sunsteel Strike; only Moongeist Beam is a Special Attack move while Sunsteel Strike is a Physical Attack move. I should also mention that Solgaleo and Lunala go through a distinct transformation when using these attacks.
That pretty much covers it for this special edition of Legendary Pokemon of the Week. I may be back next week with another post for the series. Otherwise, simply stay tuned for whatever post I do next. In the meantime - because I feel it's appropriate for this post - here's the song, Brave New World by Styx.
