How about Aegislash? I'm curious to see what you think of such a Pokemon.
Aegislash!!!! The Royal Sword Pokemon!
Aegislash is a Steel/Ghost-type, and another object-based pokemon – one that actually got pretty well-received. Which I mean, of course it did, cos it’s a haunted sword!!! Everyone loves haunted swords! The hilt looks a bit too thick to actually hold it, though. Nonetheless, the design’s pretty neat, with a cyclops eye, two fabric pieces forming arms, and a circular shield.
Its shield is connected to its ability: Stance Change. This allows Aegislash to switch from its Blade Forme to Shield Forme and back, with Blade Forme having absurdly high offence and Shield Forme having absurdly high defence. Using offensive attacks triggers Blade Forme, whilst status moves trigger Shield Forme. It also has a signature move called King’s Shield, which protects from all non-status moves and has boosted priority to allow quickly changing into Shield Forme. This combination of abilities and moves makes Aegislash extremely versatile, and a potent force both in terms of attacking and defending. Such a potent force, in fact, that it’s the first pokemon to ever get its base stats lowered across generations!
That said, I do feel the stance aspect does unfortunately detract from Aegishlash’s design. The shield is ironically the weakest part of Aegislash’s appearance, disrupting the thematic cohesion of a ghost sword and just not looking all that aesthetically pleasing. Aegislash also feels like a conceptual downgrade on its first stage, Honedge, whose cyclops eye was much more striking and who had an amazing implementation of a scabbard that provided an alternative face when worn. I’m not saying Aegislash is a bad design, but it definitely doesn’t feel nearly as cool or coherent as I’d like.
As expected of a Ghost-type, the dex offers some exceptionally neat flavour to it though. It subtly references the legend of King Arthur and the sword in the stone, claiming that Aegislash is capable of detecting the qualities of leadership and that whoever it recognises is destined to become king. However, though Aegislash is capable of choosing kings, it also apparently uses its powers to manipulate and control those kings to create kingdoms to its own liking. It then drains the kings’ power until eventually both king and kingdom fall. At least according to legend! Very appropriate for a Ghost-type, and a neat spin on the concept of a specially chosen ruler.
HOLY HELL THAT SHINY. Superb!!!! Black blade with blood-red edges is supremely edgy but in the best possible way. This is definitely one of the top shinies of the franchise. I do question the yellow, though – a subtler gold colour would’ve worked better. And as cool as this shiny is, it’s another case where Honedge kinda did it better anyway, with the entire blade bathed in crimson.
Overall, I like Aegislash well enough, but it’s definitely very strongly overshadowed by Honedge for me in most respects. Even flavour-wise, Honedge is superior, given you can actually hold Honedge as it drains you of life. Honedge is just so rad, and Aegislash is merely kinda rad. Still certainly respectable in a vacuum though.
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