Judge a Pokémon Express: Edition Six

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Finally a full-fledged wolf Pokémon! Midday Lycanroc looks real slick with its sleek body and rocky spikes jutting out of its mane. Of the two Rockruff evolutions, Midday Form looks like the most "natural" one, keeping Rockruff's color scheme and design aspects such as the rocks in its mane and having marks on its feet (though they change from brown to white) and ear tips. Midday Form looks like it's ready to get down to business, ready to strike with glaring eyes and sharp claws.

If there's one thing about Midday Lycanroc that is a downside, it's how its generic wolf design doesn't tell you much about its personality. Unlike real world wolves, Lycanroc have an independent personality, each having their own territory they keep to. But contrary to that, Midday Lycanroc will be loyal to its trainer, especially if they raised it since it was a Rockruff. A major battling aspect of Midday Lycanroc is its speed, having the ability Sand Rush to double its Speed stat in a sandstorm and an increased priority Rock-type signature move in Accelerock. A loyal and swift lone wolf; if I ever get one I'm naming it Geralt or Ciri (depending on its gender of course).

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We have a wolf Pokémon in a game whose theme is split between the Sun and Moon, so it would be a missed opportunity not to have a split evolution and make the Moon-exclusive Lycanroc into a werewolf-like beast. Midnight Lycanroc is a mixed bag for me. I like the concept of a split evolution with one being a werewolf, and Midnight Lycanroc would be terrifying to meet in a dark ally, but then you see it in the light. Midnight Lycanroc looks more cartoon-y due to being bipedal, having a slasher smile, and the mane being turned into a sort of mohawk. It also distances itself from Rockruff in other ways such as having red fur, glowing red eyes, and its "rock" element being limited to a pair or rocks clasped to its abdomen.

What Midnight Lycanroc loses in design, it does make up for in attitude. Midnight Lycanroc looks like a blood-thirsty maniac, and that's exactly how it's described (though oddly its not part Dark-type). Midnight Form is a blood knight; not only is it not afraid to get hurt, but it also invites the opponent to attack first so it has an opening to strike back viciously, its eye glowing more red in excitement. But contrary to that, it'll still trust its trainer, as long as the trainer lets it battle the way it wants. A lot of what Midnight Lycanroc does is made to be the opposite of its Sun counterpart, Midday Lycanroc, which sadly hurts it. It gets the ability Vital Spirit, which makes their shared ability Keen Eye look a bit more appealing (but not by much), and instead of an intriguing signature move it gets the underused Counter. A blood knight werewolf that plays by its own rules, but those rules sadly make it feel inferior to its Sun counterpart.

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"Leaks" are a dime a dozen when a new Pokémon game is coming out, especially during the early months. One reason for this is because every so often a leak will actually be revealed to be true, and one such leak now has gained a lot of credibility. And it's all because of this Pokémon, Passimian, the rugby monkey. Or rather the rugby lemur, but it's still a primate. When I first read that leak I couldn't imagine what it would look like without it being silly. However, now that I'm seeing it, it's not as awkward looking as I imagined it. Its a slightly bulky lemur that wears half a melon like a helmet, uses a whole one like a ball, and has created a logo on its shoulder with leaves. And it being in a well-known rugby (and gridiron football) stance is the icing on the cake. For such a ridiculous-sounding premise, they didn't do that bad of a job.

And it's not only its design that is rugby based. Its description is all about living in team-sized troops and having a leader that has them go through rigorous training and designs the mark on their arms to represent their troop (another bit of description and art working together, though I doubt we'll see Passimian with different marks in the game). This even goes for the trainer too; they won't listen to a trainer who has poor form when throwing a Poké Ball (well it was good enough to catch YOU!). But this also leads us to an interesting signature ability, Receiver, where Passimian will gain the ability of a fallen ally. While useless in Single Battles, in Double and Triple Battles (and by extension VGC) this is an ability to build a strategy around, but it'll all depend on how versatile in stats and movepool this ball-playing lemur is.

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There are some "faces" when it comes to Pokémon leaks, and this is where our next Pokémon ape comes from. For Oranguru, all the leaker did was post an image of Wu Yong, a fictional character from classic Chinese literature who was a scholar and military strategist. He was given the nickname "Zhi Duo Xing", which translates to "resourceful star". But "xing" can also translate into "orangutan" to make the phrase into "orangutan with much knowledge". I think I don't need to go on explaining. Oranguru takes a lot from its Wu Yong inspiration such as the sage-like appearance, star on its head, and the fan. It comes together quite nicely, even if its odd to see a white orangutan (though we have Darmanitan if you want a more color-appropriate orangutan Pokémon).

While its appearance takes a lot of inspiration from Wu Yong, its description takes more from its orangutan origin. Oranguru live solitary lives in deep jungles and are called "the people of the forest". This is a neat little reference to where the word "orangutan" comes from, the Malay and Indonesian words "orang" and "hutan" meaning "person of the forest" (and it was originally used to refer to people who actually did live in the nearby forests until Europeans started applying it to the local orange ape). It even has been seen using human items including Poké Balls (so are there Oranguru trainers? Sounds like a Totem Pokémon to me!). However, its Wu Yong origins are still around such as it meditating, it providing medicine and food for weak forest Pokémon, and the fan it made out of leaves that it bound together with its purple robe-like fur (once again, art and description working together). This all leads to its signature move, Instruct, which has the targeted Pokémon use the same move it last used again. It's a move made for Double and Triple Battles and, with abilities to either prevent it from flinching or protecting itself from its ally's attacks, it's a partner any Pokemon with powerful and multi-targeting attacks would want at their side.

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UB-01 didn't really impress me that much as an "Ultra Beast"; if I didn't know it was an Ultra Beast I would have thought it was a Pokémon. I cannot say the same with the UB-02s. While still not what I was imagining an Ultra Beast looking like, the UB-02s have made me much more interested in the Ultra Beast's story. UB-02 Beauty is obviously the most interesting of the two for its resemblance to Aether Foundation president Lusamine. It gives a major alien vibe, with it being able to infatuate any gender with its presence accentuating this.

UB-02 Absorption is an odd one. At first glance it looks like a muscled humanoid, but that's only for the upper body and arms, since its head is like a mosquito, and it's a quadruped. Where Beauty looks creepy, Absorption looks intimidating. Its description agrees, saying the strength of its punches are off the charts (which, if being compared to a Pokémon, is something to be afraid of) and its "mouth" is as hard as diamond (in addition to being very long and quite sharp looking). Combined with Beauty being fast enough to dodge lightning, the battles with the UB-02 are building up to be quite the fight.

"UB-Lillie" THEORY UPDATE: Last time, I theorized Lillie was actually a young Ultra Beast, UB-00, brought over to our dimension due to an Aether Foundation experiment. She took a form of a young Lusamine, being the first person she saw, as a self-defense mechanism and was then raised by the Aether Foundation as Lusamine's daughter. After many years the Ultra Beasts finally found a way to get into our dimension to get Lillie back. With recent revelations I have additions and corrections to make. First, where does the UB-02s come into this? I'm going to say the UB-02s are the closest thing we can call Lillie's "parents". UB-02 Beauty took the form of Lusamine, as that's who Lillie recognizes as a mother figure, trying to get Lillie to remember who she is. UB-02 Absorption I more imagine as being an angry father; he's not going to mess around with psychology, he's going to take his daughter back by force and thus has taken a form of a muscular creature instead of a human character that's close to Lillie. As for the corrections, with it revealed that UB-01 has a subtitle I'm going to say Lillie is also a UB-01. The UB-01 we were shown is Lillie's "sister", which is why she took a form similar to her. We don't know what UB-01's subtitle is, but I'm going to guess it'll be a flower (I'm guessing "Tulip" as its one of the most recognizable member of the lily genus) as Lillie is probably designated as UB-01 "Lily".