Let's Spice Things Up! New Concepts For Suffering Shinies

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Blissey is an unfortunate case of an interesting shiny losing its sheen upon evolution. While its pre-evolution, Chansey, has a clean, light shade of green when shiny, Blissey has... not much. Although my co-writer may disagree on the likeability of Chansey's shiny, I do concur that shiny Happiny's purple glaze is better than either of its evolution's colors. Really though, green or purple would be an improvement on Blissey's shiny. Turning the brightness up on Blissey doesn't do it any favors; if anything, it looked better when the stage lights were off.

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While still an overall subtle change compared to some outrageously overhauled shinies (see: Krookodile), an inverted color palette for Blissey is quite fitting with its docile nature. Soft, subtle, the light pink fringe against a clean white slate; Blissey looks fantastic! Sometimes the wheel doesn't need to be re-invented, and we think that this approach is dialed back to just the perfect amount.

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It's said that blue can bring about feelings of serenity. Blissey, who has the ability Serene Grace and is well-known as a beacon of happiness and calmness, fits perfectly with this blue aesthetic. As Swiffix also pointed out, the teal only helps to emphasize Blissey's already angel-like appearance.

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The most similar to Blissey's current shiny, Happiny's purple transfers onto Blissey in the most stunning fashion. Lilac is quite the endearing color to the eye; it's not too harsh, it's soothing, and it pairs nicely with Blissey's existing white colors! While I do believe it may have its own issue of not being exaggerated enough for my own liking, it's undeniably an improvement nonetheless.

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For something to have gone wrong, something must've gone right somewhere... which is not the case for poor Marshadow. Unable to be viewed unless it enters its Zenith form, which it can only do while attacking, you wouldn't be able to pick out a normal Marshadow from a shiny Marshadow in a crowd. That's a problem. Marshadow is a shadow-dwelling mythical Pokémon, yet the execution of an interesting shiny must have gotten lost in the shadows, too.

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In the unlikely event that you actually have seen Marshadow's shiny, this iteration takes what its shiny Zenith form looks like and applies it to Marshadow permanently. Now you no longer have to attack to see a different color! The deep purple looks excellent on Marshadow, but it's very difficult to properly appreciate when you can only see it in specific circumstances.

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Marshadow is an ominous Pokémon who is said to linger in the shadows, and what better way to portray this than a blood moon-inspired Marshadow? A blood moon has been interpreted as an omen of something bad incoming, which perfectly aligns with Marshadow's mischievous nature. Considering the rarity of such eclipses happening, the rarity of encountering Marshadow happily fits the theme as well.

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Let's state facts. Marshadow isn't exactly the most approachable-looking Pokémon, nor the most friendly when approached. Having a frigid appearance lends itself quite well to this theme, and offers a drastic change to Marshadow's currently lacking shiny. As Swiffix has said, this shiny is meant to be chilly and strike some fear into anyone daring enough to wield Marshadow's power!

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Gengar is one of the most popular, well-recognized Pokémon across the franchise, yet its shiny is hardly distinguishable from its regular form. While both of its pre-evolutions receive subtle shinies, there's a certain sleekness to this kind of simplicity. Haunter's tongue merely changes to a light shade of blue, but the subtle change is quite noticeable given that Haunter's whole gimmick is its tongue. Yet somehow Gengar's shiny... just mutes its original color? Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer in less is more, but Gengar's shiny is unfortunately too little to achieve this.

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While Haunter's shiny is quite simple—only changing the color of its tongue and eyes to blue—the concept is quite effective. Gengar's entire line has a large focus on its tongue, and the subtle change to blue is distinguishable enough to indicate that Gengar is shiny, unlike its current shiny. Sometimes, less is more, and I'd say that is the case here.

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One of the most recognizable shinies, Gengar's Mega and Gigantamax forms both don a stunning white with shades of pink laced throughout it. With how rare it is to find a straight-up white shiny with such a drastic color palette, and showing that the company is capable of producing a great shiny for Gengar, it makes no sense as to why its original doesn't take on this palette.

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Gengar is quite tricky in the way it presents itself. It's translucent, and appears when it feels the need to, otherwise hiding in the shadows. Ectoplasm directly lends itself to this idea due to its relation to spirits and the visual representation of such spirits. Thus, a darker green tint to highlight this idea would be an upgrade from Gengar's rather bland shiny.

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Mega Audino suffers from being arguably the most unpopular Mega Evolution. Losing Regenerator for a rather useless ability, taking up a Mega slot, and being incredibly passive leaves much to be desired competitively. Meanwhile, design wise, I personally find it to be quite nice. However, its shiny is not so nice. Being a very minuscule change with only its eyes and undertones being changed to different colors, not much changes when Mega Audino is shiny. This, combined with everything else that is disliked about our forgotten Mega Evolution, only dampens Mega Audino further. Perhaps if it had a better shiny, more people would be interested in it!

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Taking on a huge shift from Mega Audino's clean shade of white and turning it into a very much deeper shade of beige simply looks much better on the sheer fact that it is a noticeable change alone. The pink accents in the eyes and lower half of Mega Audino compliment this beige very nicely, making Mega Audino look almost like a dessert! This is far more interesting than its current shiny.

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Here we see Mega Audino take on the colors already found in its original shiny, only amplified to the max. Remaining within its theme of being a delicate, healing Pokémon, the purple color scheme fits right in. The color purple is associated with both royalty and serenity. Quite fitting for Mega Audino, no?

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Mega Audino takes on a Listerine-like appearance with this shiny, and, quite honestly, I love it. The blue is the appropriate shade to match the lightness that Mega Audino already radiates. Its colors bounce off of each other very nicely, and I find this shiny to be much more pleasant to look at than its current shiny.

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Garchomp... the poster child of shinies gone wrong. Garchomp's shiny is notorious for being underwhelming, and it's one of the biggest flaws of the Pokémon as a whole. Similarly to Gengar, Garchomp's pre-evolutions at least have a noticeable shift in color to indicate that they are shiny. However, Garchomp simply looks like its color got muddled. What makes Garchomp's shiny stick out like a sore thumb even more is similar to the reason Gengar's does—its shiny is a vastly different color. Unfortunately, something has to be done to fix up this lacking design.

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Personally, I find this shiny an improvement, albeit a slight one. The red is a bit harsh, almost to the point of looking like Garchomp has become a representative for McDonald's with the shades of red and yellow laced throughout it. However, despite these flaws, the change still allows for a shiny Garchomp to very clearly be noticed as being shiny, and is thus still an improvement.

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The comparison that Garchomp has a shiny, and really the main reason you'd be interested in obtaining a shiny Garchomp, a shiny recolored to match Mega Garchomp's shiny is undeniably an improvement. Pink gives a bit of a more feminine feel to clash with the tough appearance of Garchomp, a contrast I feel is quite interesting to explore. Given that Garchomp's Mega Evolution already takes on this concept, it only makes sense for Garchomp's original shiny to match.

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An entirely new shiny with a sleek reference, sand Garchomp has to be my favorite recolored shiny. It's a bit reminiscent of Krookodile's shiny, but with less saturated colors. Garchomp is a sand dweller, and its shiny being the color of sand makes perfect sense. Furthermore, the grey accent down the middle ties the entire look together by giving Garchomp a more menacing feel rather than being entirely beige.

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Persian suffers the unfortunate fate of being too insignificant of a change that other mentioned shinies share (looking at you, Gengar). Persian is often noted as being a symbol of sophistication, yet its shiny does not reflect this. Normally, its shiny simply changes Persian's coat and inside of its ears. Really though, you will only notice the ears; the change in color on its coat is only slightly lighter. What fun is it to have a shiny with different colored ears? It certainly needs some help.

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It's been noted in Persian's Pokédex entries that its gem will glow. How nice would it be if that gem glimmered a nice cyan rather than the lack of color change on its gem in its current shiny? Not only that, but a white coat gives Persian a much sleeker look to it. Changing the shiny to be white also gives Persian a more peaceful look, a nice contrast to its notable temperamental nature.

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Similar to Persian's Alolan form, Persian now dons a gleaming black coat. However, unlike its Alolan form, now its gem is gold! Gold is the perfect association here given Persian's association to money. Black and gold always look great together, and it applies here as well. Black is a color of elegance, something Persian's known for, so this shiny is only fitting for it.

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With a grey shiny, Persian adopts a similar color palette to its Alolan form. Although it is the same colors, somehow this shiny still works. The shift in color makes Persian much more distinct, and its blue gem is a great flip from its usual red gem. Really, the grey on Persian gives it an even more somber appearance that helps it give off a more elusive vibe.

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Unfortunately, Zekrom's shiny suffers a similar issue to Marshadow's—it is hardly noticeable unless you are in battle. When Zekrom is shiny, the tip on its forehead becomes a bright green, as does its tail when in combat. Admittedly, the shiny does look good in battle, but it can certainly be improved to give it even more uniqueness and flare.

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A sleek silver Zekrom immediately makes Zekrom's shiny more noticeable and exciting. With some pops of blue here and there, Zekrom receives a refreshing update to its shiny. Personally, I do think even this shiny could use some improvement, though it still benefits Zekrom as a whole by giving it more distinction than it currently has.

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A common theme from Pokémon fans has been wondering why Zekrom and Reshiram didn't swap their base colors for their shinies. Well we finally have one here! I am in the boat of this change being what should have been done originally, but alas. Zekrom swapping colors with its counterpart makes sense as another balance between their yin and yang dynamic.

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Here, we've taken an electric blue to overhaul Zekrom's shiny. The colors are vibrant, electric, and immediately let us know that Zekrom is bursting with energy. Not only that, but the blue ties it back into the final piece of the legendary trio, as it now has an electrified version of Kyurem's blue color.