Personally, I think that's the point of the mega evolution. To me, it feels like Lucario is unleashing a incomplete "power from within" transformation plenty of Shonen protagonists have. Specifically, it looks like the "imperfect final form" trope where he still does not have it under full control.
Couldn't say it better myself. Mega Lucario's pokedex entry mentions how there's too much aura build-up in its system which overflows and causes its mental state to snap making it more aggressive and violent compared to its normal calmness. It's on the same energy as Ryu in Street Fighter succumbing to the Satsui No Hado and becoming Evil Ryu.
Yeah same, I feel mega evolutions should be somewhat over the top/intense. They’re evolving beyond evolving. Like mega lopunny, mawhile and Banette aren’t bad mega designs, in-fact they’re great designs but they’re more subdued/modest megas that they i kinda wish they were just regular evolutions to the Pokémon instead.
Mega Lopunny especially looks like an overly decorated Lopunny. Admittedly, a Lopunny that is ready to go to the gym and do boxing and mess you up and therefore reads as being still powered up, but it is still a plausible next step for Lopunny. At least Mega Mawile and Mega Banette are more distinct from their base forms.
@@pigeonleader I personally just always assumed Gardevoir's chst...thing was soft, mostly there to vent heat. I do not think Mega Lucario's chest spike can be read as anything but a chest spike.
As funny as that phrase is it is the most accurate description for Super Saiyan 4. A Saiyan who embraces their animalistic nature, which just so happens to be a big monke
@@ag0180I think it's just disappointment rather than hate. If they see the Mega as a downgrade, then it'd be disappointing to them. I personally like all the Megas, but if someone said they wanted more out of Mega Glalie, I would understand
@ag0180 I can't speak for anyone but myself here, but whenever I think of Mega Evolution, it tends to have the connotation of peak in terms of power and, what should be design. I think this rings true for some (Lucario, Houndoom, and Banette typically come to mind), and some of them can miss the mark (Mega Aerodactyl or Mega Sceptile).
Lame people will try to make you believe that Mega Evolution was a mistake and that it never went hard and that all designs are bad or ruined the og design
@@generalsynnacle23 yes but they weren't popular in the fandom. Lucario was the first furrymon to be given full focus in promotional material for gen 4 and the movie. He was the first relevant furrymon and carried the rest with him as he gained meteoric popularity with them.
@@Tenith-f4i You're looking at Blaziken, Umbreon, and faeking GARDEVOIR and you're telling me *none* of them were popular in the furry community prior to Lucario? And Blaziken was even Anime May's starter.
@@generalsynnacle23 they are now, but not at that time, no. In fact, almost no one took any interest in gardevoir like that. She was utterly broken in gen3, and that's why she was popular. People riffed on the fact she was a girl pokemon, but nothing more. The eeveelutions are feral and were not popular in the fandom back in the day. They ONLY received that attention because of gen4 mon and beyond. Especially with the release of Braixen and Sylveon in gen 6.
@@RAFMnBgaming Yesss, do it! "You gotta believe!" 😂 Speaking of, do you know if there's a mod for Parappa that includes Spyro? I had to ask because the first game references Parappa. The crossover potential of that game is legendary!
Lucario not having a "natural" origin for its design is an interesting observation with how Riolu appears in the games. In Gen 4, Riolu are never found in the wild - Riley just had both a Lucario and a Riolu egg to spare, while Maylene and Cynthia are the only other trainers in the game to have them. Where exactly wild Riolu are found is left a mystery... ...until BW2 where they are just found chilling out in a ranch. 😅 I'd imagine they wanted to do a bit of a togepi thing here and make it a pokemon too elusive to find in the wild but gave in and made it super easy to find because it became such a mascot
Their dex entries talk a lot about their ability to cross mountain ranges. I always figured that they live in the mountains between Sinnoh and Johto. Places that are too inhospitable to reach in the games.
Well, Riolu already was available in the wild in BWs postgame, in the cave that opens up on the route to Twindrake, Route 9, so... Flocessy Ranch isn't the first place it became available... but seems to be the one that most influenced where it would be placed in following gens. Also I feel there was at least one trainer in Sinnoh who had a Riolu? Maybe I'm misremembering because it was at a time when I trained my own first Riolu when I explored this part but I think there's a Veteran in the basement of Oreburgh Gate you can reach by surfing who has one.
If I remember correctly, riolu is on route 1 in BW2. If you're lucky you can literally start your adventure with one and have a Lucario by the third gym
@@demonkingsparda Not Route 1 but Flocessy Ranch, just before the second rival battle, still really really early and probably among the first 5 Pokemon you catch.
To be fair, not every jackal is anubis. Lucario doesn't really have many connections to death or the underworld as it were, so I think they were just tapping into that dog energy that jackals have, as part of how Lucario is supposes to be a good guy pokemon.
Anubis weighs the soul of the deseased and lucario can sence their intention an aura so theres that conection at least, it could just be a refference to how dogs have extended sences. Id say lucario isnt based on anubis but in egiptian mythology in general, and since jackals and anubis are a big psrt of that, by relation he is inspired too i guess.@@doublereel-real
@@doublereel-real Tbf, not even Anubis is a Jackal anymore. The animal he's associated with, the African Golden Jackal, is now known as the African Golden *Wolf*. Basically the African Golden Wolf was thought to be an offshoot of the Golden Jackal from India, but genetic testing revealed its actually a relative of the gray wolf. But also, @nahemiasalbo5927 makes a good point that Lucario does have associations with judgement and justice because of its ability to read people through their auras and its unwillingess to trust anyone without a righteous heart. Which does bring to mind Anubis's role as Judge of the Dead, where he weighed the souls of mortals to determine if they lived a life of truth and justice.
@doublereel-real the connection with Anubis is not strong, but Lucario's silhouette with his upward ears, "back ears" and shorts does give him the silhouette of an ancient Egyptian god. Lucario could also have been inspired by another jackal god, Wepwawet, the "opener of the ways" and associated with military and hunting victory.
Lucario has more fan art than not only any pokemon, not only any pokemon character, not only any Nintendo character, but is in contention with Tifa Lockheart for the absolute top spot.
Not really surprised. It came out around the time the Internet was totally mainstreamed, had a bunch of marketing/movies/side games, and is perfect furry bait. I mean, this is Pokemon who knocked it out of the park with Pikachu, Eevee, and a bunch of other popular Pokemon, they were going to knock it out of the park with the furry community, lol.
It was actually "I didn't want my assistants to waste their time coloring in Goku's hair every panel". And say what you will about Akira Toriyama's chronic plot structure problems, the man did a damn good job making a change in hair color feel epic. SSJ4 is a very different kind of transformation. I like what it was trying to do, but it's doing a very different thing from Super Saiyans 1 and 2.
But that's what makes it good though! It's the return of the animalistic aspect of the Saiyan race. Goku would always not quite side with this Saiyan heritage, but had to fully rely on it for this to work + both of them were so far gone from their Saiyan traditions they needed help from others dear to them to achieving (something that they also, especially vegeta, had issues with before) the design is way more fit to the original saiyans showing the animalistic ruthless side while also being human enough to show the mastery of their own being. It also looks way too cool@@timothymclean
I disagree with the super sayain 4 comment. Its my favorite transformation, it being tied with ultra instinct omen. The other super sayain forms change the hairstyle and color, and while that works as a transformation with ssj1, the other ssj’s feel derivative of it, and just like “this is a level of power so lets give him a new hairstyle”. Ssj4 on the other hand feels like an evolution of the sayain. It brings back the monkey aspect which was missing from the other transformations. It changes enough for it to feel like an upgrade, but doesn’t do too much to feel over designed. Its the primal power of an ozaru that is condensed into a humanoid shape for efficiency. For ultra instinct omen, i liked it because the changes were subtle, just the eyes and slightly changing the hair. Because its not a drastic change, it feels more so like a state of mind rather than a transformation, which i really liked.
Same, SSJ4 is peak and I'm tired of pretending is not. I really only like 4 transformations beyond the first one. SSJ2 since there was enough build up during the Cell saga to feel impactful as a refinement of the OG Super Sayain form untapped potential. SSJ4 because feels like an evolution from the Ozauru and SSJ forms together, I also thought SSJG was cool since they were using God Ki, different source of power, different transformation (I'm not convinced about the way they got this one in the first movie though). Ultra Instinct was reeeeally cool for the battle against Kefla and Jiren but idk anymore, since it was supposed to be a technique I thought they were going to use it as such, same with the kaioken.
Ssg was cool, the fact that it was slimmer after the series focused pretty much on bulk and nothing but made it feel impactful, powerful, and refined to me. 4 was a big enough change that it felt much the same, although in a different way.
Mega Lucario is just the embodiment of the "protagonist has a super powerful but incredibly dangerous and uncontrollable transformation powered by their evil dark side" trope
@@Chilidogs-ku9ql Nah, SSJ4 Vegeta has the same pants. I like what SSJ4 is doing, and I think it does a better job of that than Mega Lucario. But it's doing something very different from SSJ1 and SSJ2. It's a fundamentally different kind of design, almost maximalist where the original was minimalist.
Not mentioned in this video is one of my favorite details, that the little black dangly parts of the back of his head resemble the ends of a tied-up training headband, which is larger and droops down more on rioulu, and looks much cleaner on lucario, an extra addition to that "training to become stronger" vibe that I like.
@@potatojuiceultra But the regional variants of Zorua/Zoroark weren't just "same design aspects, but _more"_ like a regional Egypt Lucario would be. Lucario already looks like it'd fit, so changing it to fit _more,_ is basically impossible.
Lucario already has Anubis inspired Jackal traits. There's no reason for it to have a new form for Egypt. That it already looks like it came from Egypt region to begin with.
The fur on its hips is longer than on the rest of its leg. It's intended to resemble an Egyptian shendyt and also possibly boxing shorts, since Anubis and Egyptian boxing are inspirations for Lucario.
Something that I've heard a lot and that makes a lot of sense is the idea that certain pokemon, specially starters, but lucario is a good example, are designed to become more humanoid as they evolve as a way of becoming more intractable as a friend, like this is no longer just your pet but your best friend. The main design purpose of every pokemon is that they should look like they could be your frien but specially pokemon like lucario
It's an interesting theory, but I don't think I like the concept. Dogs being dogs have never stopped them from being man's best friend, so why should a jackal need to be more human? Animals and humans can love each other in their own ways and play to the strengths in their differences. I think it's more that mons that get more humanoid are doing more human-like activities. A lot of fighting type mons are more humanoid because it's hard to imagine quadrupedal martial arts, and the recent starters have been very hobby based. Which, I suppose, if you assume that your Pokemon is going to be doing your human hobby with you would wrap back around to the theory that they need to be human-like to be friends.
@@BonaparteBardithion yeah that's exactly the point! Pokemon like that somewhat gradually evolve to do "friend stuff" with their trainers, like, its way easier to imagine that you could play videogames with a lucario than to imagine playing videogames with a trapinch
Mega evolution supposed to be the extreme version of the tough it out mechanic The idea that your Pokemon loves you so much that they'll tough out the pain for you
As someone who isn’t a huge Lucario fan(don’t care for Furrymon), definitely feel the shonen protag energy, which honestly makes Mega Lucario look like that Wild transformation said protags get when the series begins powercreeping itself.
Lucario is more akin to Modern Sonic than Shadow to be honest, as it's always portrayed heroic and such. Also, I wonder if its Shonen characteristics is due to the movie 8, as it was the first non legendary mon to have a movie. They tried to do it again in Gen 5 but failed epically.
@@charnalk5572As someone who only tangentially follows Pokemon, what is Zoroark failure? Did it's movie not sell as well as the one with Lucario, or is it simply not as popular as Lucario in in-game use or merchandise sales etc etc?
IMO, Zoroark's movie failed to generate hype for it because it spends the majority of the movie transformed into the Legendary Beasts and when it's not it's personality basically boils down to "angry mother looking for its child". Not the "edgy" Shadow to Lucario's Sonic that people wanted/expected. Zorura is the one that actually gets most of the focus in the movie.
@@goranisacson2502 It simply wasn't as popular as Lucario. Many people saw it was a black and red bipedal fox and latched onto the idea that it was some sort of badass "Dark/Edgy Rival" for Lucario and when it wasn't people were disappointed. The actual movie gives it very little screentime and its role basically boils down to an angry mother who only wants to protect its child Zorura.
@@goranisacson2502 It more so failed as a mascot to recapture Lucario's success (which most likely came from the fact that it was locked behind an event in BW imo, you couldn't get it otherwise). It didn't stick more compared to Lucario (and gen 5 designs in general didn't get much of the best reputation anyway, because they were seen as hard pushed replacements. The movie itself was honestly fine, it's much better than the 4 movies or so that followed at least), and GameFreak/Nintendo immediately went back to Lucario as a secondary mascotte with BW2's trailers heavily featuring it and getting a mega evolution announced a few month after BW2's global release (and a prominent role in the story too).
Yeah, reminded me of Anubis in concept. Basically Anubis, but blue and shonen ascetic martial artist… So Goku if he was based on Anubis instead of Sun Wukong.
Because we're talking about a Friendship evolution, I would like to bring up how Friendship is both tedious and really cheeseable as an evolution mechanic. High Friendship can take time but if you're willing to go back and fourth for maybe half an hour, you can get a strong Pokemon very early. I did this recently with Riolu no less. After I beat Cheren in White 2, Riolu evolved cause I had reached max Friendship. It's pretty cool and a little funny having a Lucario or Crobat way earlier than I feel like was intended.
@@ag0180 Nah, it can't hold a candle to Super Saiyan God Supe-bahahaha, no, seriously. I've said this in other comment chains, but SSJ4 is doing something very different from the original Super Saiyan (or 2, or Blue). It's adding a lot of detail, where the original just changed Goku's hair and eyes. Not hard to see why someone with different tastes would dislike SSJ4.
"Lucario is Darker, Edgier, Cooler, and not to be googled with safe search off" Skyen we don't talk about that thing anymore here I don't want to remember seeing THOSE FAN ARTS that broke my mind more than THOSE GARDEVOIR FAN ARTS ever again lmao
Lucario is literally the Goku of Pokemon. We are all in agreement in that, right? Shonen protagonist, we see it grow up and become more powerful through friendship, overly designed “mega” form, and being voiced by the same guy. The writing is on the wall here and we love Lucario for it. Probably would be the face of this generation considering for many, the introduction wasn’t in the game, but the movie.
Infernape is also a great contender given how it was also based on Sun Wukong (Goku’s own primary inspiration) and has a Super Saiyan-esque look to the flames spouting from its head. But indeed Lucario has a couple more parallels to Goku.
It was built to be a partner down to it dex entry. It was introduce in a Pokémon movie. It fit the future mega evolution theme of the form being more powerful, the black long dangle isn’t something Jbut the red add savage, black mark, and the over grown coat made it look like a warrior or edge superhero.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure Lucario was supposed to invoke Egyptian mythological jackal design. A human with the head of a dog, guarding the pharoah as he goes to the afterlife.
I'll take an A for my favorite pokemon. He certainly left an impact and got so much attention that it weren't for Pikachu this Pokemon would have been the mascot alongside Charizard.
Mega lucario looks like it went through an anime time skip, with its fur and pattern elongated and grown out to show how much it’s changed, with the red parts looking like it’s punched and kicked so much that it’s skin is raw in those areas.
The thing I like about the mega evolution is the stuff we learn about it from the pokedex where all of the goodness is burned out of them leaving only a heartless monster. So viewing that as the context of why its mega form looks so much more chaotic works for me
Counterpoint: Earnest Saturation can be endearing, like in Super Saiyan 4 and Mega Lucario, they very much give off the "trying too hard to cram as many cool design elements as possible" vibes BUT if treated earnestly by the source material it CAN be endearingly loved the way one loves an excessively edgy OC or a gaudy piece of decor
Lucario is based on Anubis, which is why it's a bipedal jackal pokemon. Saying it was designed to be a furry when there are so many with less specific design inspiration (looking at you, inceneroar) is kinda an odd take
SSJ4 is a great design! It comes full circle for a Saiyan, where they once were giant monkeys destroying everything, they use that power to become more controlled and funnel that power into a smaller form. IDK, becoming monke in design as the humanoid form just seemed like something that made the most sense for a race of monke people IMO! 😅
Now that you mentioned it Mega Lucario reminds of that one time Midoriya lost it and became "Dark Deku" for all of three episodes in Boku no Hero, and it was just "he just hasn't slept, showered or changed clothes in a couple days".
Even though I really like Riolu's design, it does feel like they made Lucario as a single stage and at some point were like "nah, let's have it evolve from something" making smaller Lucario. It's not Pawmi to Pawmo levels of "literally just got a little bigger" but lacks that distinct "connected design but still noticeably different" feel I get from a lot of Pokemon. Once again, still love it and Lucario. I even think the Mega's pretty good and fits with the shounen vibe of a "super form".
Something that I’ve never noticed but really like is how the mega form smooths out lucarios legs like in his base form it looks like he has shorts but in the mega it becomes part of him it just looks nice
I legit thought Lucario was a legendary as a kid since it had its own movie (where it’s telepathic and very important). I also thought it was a Psychic type because of its Aura powers
Ah yes. We get to my favorite Pokemon of all time. I've loved Lucario ever since his movie came out and he's always been just so dang cool! And you're right, he basically oozes that shonen protagonist or "main character of a 3D action game" energy. Lucario is just a cool fun Pokemon that I can't help but love!
If i remember correctly, the mega evolution went berserk in the anime. So the design to me, fits the bill... Looks more aggressive, and when it was in the show, it was further emphasized. Least from what i remember.
A Little thing you got that nobody knows: in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon red and blue team(you play as a 3d dungeon crawling Pokémon), you have a team that explores dungeons and by doing so you get points to get into your rank. The maximum rank possible is Rank Lucario BUT that was a 3rd gen game! So they probably wanted to include Lucario as some sort of protagonist or antagonist in that game but in the end they just decided to put him as an Easter egg for the next gen!
Personally, I think that's the point of the mega evolution. To me, it feels like Lucario is unleashing a incomplete "power from within" transformation plenty of Shonen protagonists have. Specifically, it looks like the "imperfect final form" trope where he still does not have it under full control.
Makes sense. We all remember Korrina’s Lucario
Love this comment, especially since we see that happening in “The Aura Storm” where Korrina’s mega Lucario goes berserk.
Couldn't say it better myself. Mega Lucario's pokedex entry mentions how there's too much aura build-up in its system which overflows and causes its mental state to snap making it more aggressive and violent compared to its normal calmness. It's on the same energy as Ryu in Street Fighter succumbing to the Satsui No Hado and becoming Evil Ryu.
Yeah same, I feel mega evolutions should be somewhat over the top/intense. They’re evolving beyond evolving. Like mega lopunny, mawhile and Banette aren’t bad mega designs, in-fact they’re great designs but they’re more subdued/modest megas that they i kinda wish they were just regular evolutions to the Pokémon instead.
Mega Lopunny especially looks like an overly decorated Lopunny. Admittedly, a Lopunny that is ready to go to the gym and do boxing and mess you up and therefore reads as being still powered up, but it is still a plausible next step for Lopunny. At least Mega Mawile and Mega Banette are more distinct from their base forms.
Evolves with friendship
Grows a spike out of its chest that will stab you if you hug it
That's how evolution works! Clearly it grows one as a defense mechanism against the deluge of hugs.
Same with Gardevoir lol
@@pigeonleader I personally just always assumed Gardevoir's chst...thing was soft, mostly there to vent heat. I do not think Mega Lucario's chest spike can be read as anything but a chest spike.
@@LashknifeTalon As I recall, Garde's chest thing is an organ to feel emotions. It's literally taking your feelings to heart.
Gallade/Gardevoir moment
Fun fact, Lucario is voiced by Goku in Smash Bros. Because of course he is, you'd be disappointed if it was anyone else.
It was already voiced by Goku in the 8th movie.
(Though Sean wasn't originally the Smash voice, at least not until For.)
From a meta sense it makes sense too. Dragon ball/Z was the first Shonen
I don’t care who voices what. As long as they do a good job.
I am forever haunted by Ivysaur’s voice. I’m glad they seem to have learned from it though 😭
It will always be weird to me that Lucario is based on the movie Lucario therefore it speaks in Smash Bros. Still cool either way though
I love SS4 because it basically says "reject humanity, return to monke"
As funny as that phrase is it is the most accurate description for Super Saiyan 4. A Saiyan who embraces their animalistic nature, which just so happens to be a big monke
@@pitbullnamedcupcake8485 fr fr
I kind of wish they didn't call it Super Saiyan 4, and it was like true or primal. Something like that.
@@Rubymagicalgirl88 if they reintroduce it in Super then Super Saiyan Primal would work the best imo.
@@Rubymagicalgirl88 Ultimate Ozaru!
Counterpoint: mega lucario goes hard
I don't even know how anybody can even really hate on a mega since it's a temporary form
@@ag0180I think it's just disappointment rather than hate. If they see the Mega as a downgrade, then it'd be disappointing to them. I personally like all the Megas, but if someone said they wanted more out of Mega Glalie, I would understand
@ag0180 I can't speak for anyone but myself here, but whenever I think of Mega Evolution, it tends to have the connotation of peak in terms of power and, what should be design. I think this rings true for some (Lucario, Houndoom, and Banette typically come to mind), and some of them can miss the mark (Mega Aerodactyl or Mega Sceptile).
@@ratlom4737I like Mega Sceptile and Mega Slowbro is hilarious.
Lame people will try to make you believe that Mega Evolution was a mistake and that it never went hard and that all designs are bad or ruined the og design
It's hard to imagine what a certain fandom looked like before lucario.
We already had Blaziken, Gardevoir, Umbreon, and Nidoqueen before Lucario welcomed the furry fandom alongside Lopunny.
@@generalsynnacle23 yes but they weren't popular in the fandom. Lucario was the first furrymon to be given full focus in promotional material for gen 4 and the movie. He was the first relevant furrymon and carried the rest with him as he gained meteoric popularity with them.
@@Tenith-f4i You're looking at Blaziken, Umbreon, and faeking GARDEVOIR and you're telling me *none* of them were popular in the furry community prior to Lucario? And Blaziken was even Anime May's starter.
@@generalsynnacle23 eerrrm gardevoir is not a furry
(... or is it? are all pokemon equally "animal"?)
@@generalsynnacle23 they are now, but not at that time, no. In fact, almost no one took any interest in gardevoir like that. She was utterly broken in gen3, and that's why she was popular. People riffed on the fact she was a girl pokemon, but nothing more. The eeveelutions are feral and were not popular in the fandom back in the day. They ONLY received that attention because of gen4 mon and beyond. Especially with the release of Braixen and Sylveon in gen 6.
Riolu is like: "Can I go with you in the car to the market?", Lucario is like: "Nevermind, I'll drive" and Mega-Lucario is: "I'M THE CAR".
I wanna see a Lucario driving a car for some reason because of this.
@@BuizelCream gotta make this Parappa the Rapper mod.
@@RAFMnBgaming Yesss, do it! "You gotta believe!" 😂 Speaking of, do you know if there's a mod for Parappa that includes Spyro? I had to ask because the first game references Parappa. The crossover potential of that game is legendary!
Took a second for me to laugh at the “I’M THE CAR.”
Lucario not having a "natural" origin for its design is an interesting observation with how Riolu appears in the games. In Gen 4, Riolu are never found in the wild - Riley just had both a Lucario and a Riolu egg to spare, while Maylene and Cynthia are the only other trainers in the game to have them. Where exactly wild Riolu are found is left a mystery...
...until BW2 where they are just found chilling out in a ranch. 😅 I'd imagine they wanted to do a bit of a togepi thing here and make it a pokemon too elusive to find in the wild but gave in and made it super easy to find because it became such a mascot
well it IS still a ranch...
Their dex entries talk a lot about their ability to cross mountain ranges. I always figured that they live in the mountains between Sinnoh and Johto. Places that are too inhospitable to reach in the games.
Well, Riolu already was available in the wild in BWs postgame, in the cave that opens up on the route to Twindrake, Route 9, so... Flocessy Ranch isn't the first place it became available... but seems to be the one that most influenced where it would be placed in following gens.
Also I feel there was at least one trainer in Sinnoh who had a Riolu? Maybe I'm misremembering because it was at a time when I trained my own first Riolu when I explored this part but I think there's a Veteran in the basement of Oreburgh Gate you can reach by surfing who has one.
If I remember correctly, riolu is on route 1 in BW2. If you're lucky you can literally start your adventure with one and have a Lucario by the third gym
@@demonkingsparda Not Route 1 but Flocessy Ranch, just before the second rival battle, still really really early and probably among the first 5 Pokemon you catch.
Lucario is Anubis. I imagine when people die in the world of pokemon, a Lucario weighs people's hearts against a feather.
To be fair, not every jackal is anubis. Lucario doesn't really have many connections to death or the underworld as it were, so I think they were just tapping into that dog energy that jackals have, as part of how Lucario is supposes to be a good guy pokemon.
Anubis weighs the soul of the deseased and lucario can sence their intention an aura so theres that conection at least, it could just be a refference to how dogs have extended sences.
Id say lucario isnt based on anubis but in egiptian mythology in general, and since jackals and anubis are a big psrt of that, by relation he is inspired too i guess.@@doublereel-real
@@doublereel-real Tbf, not even Anubis is a Jackal anymore. The animal he's associated with, the African Golden Jackal, is now known as the African Golden *Wolf*.
Basically the African Golden Wolf was thought to be an offshoot of the Golden Jackal from India, but genetic testing revealed its actually a relative of the gray wolf.
But also, @nahemiasalbo5927 makes a good point that Lucario does have associations with judgement and justice because of its ability to read people through their auras and its unwillingess to trust anyone without a righteous heart. Which does bring to mind Anubis's role as Judge of the Dead, where he weighed the souls of mortals to determine if they lived a life of truth and justice.
@doublereel-real the connection with Anubis is not strong, but Lucario's silhouette with his upward ears, "back ears" and shorts does give him the silhouette of an ancient Egyptian god. Lucario could also have been inspired by another jackal god, Wepwawet, the "opener of the ways" and associated with military and hunting victory.
One of Reshiram’s down feathers, specifically.
She sees the worth of your soul.
Honestly, no wonders a bunch of fangames put Lucario as a starter. It has main character energy.
I also remember the first Mystery Dungeon hyping up Lucario to be this legendary rescuer Alakazam looks up to.
Lucario has more fan art than not only any pokemon, not only any pokemon character, not only any Nintendo character, but is in contention with Tifa Lockheart for the absolute top spot.
Whaaa?
Not really surprised. It came out around the time the Internet was totally mainstreamed, had a bunch of marketing/movies/side games, and is perfect furry bait.
I mean, this is Pokemon who knocked it out of the park with Pikachu, Eevee, and a bunch of other popular Pokemon, they were going to knock it out of the park with the furry community, lol.
But on the ahem- *pleasurable* part of the art world Gardevoir reigns supreme.
@@murderman7265 no lucario is bigger than gardevoir
@@Mercury-ok8ieAccording to.. an image site, Lucario just barely surpasses Gardevoir. Like ~100 entries of difference
Riolu being designed to be a pre-evo is also evident in the name, being just the last and first syllables of Lucario mashed together.
“Like Super Saiyan 4 it loses the grace of the original”
The grace of the original “I didn’t feel like coloring in his hair.”
It was actually "I didn't want my assistants to waste their time coloring in Goku's hair every panel". And say what you will about Akira Toriyama's chronic plot structure problems, the man did a damn good job making a change in hair color feel epic.
SSJ4 is a very different kind of transformation. I like what it was trying to do, but it's doing a very different thing from Super Saiyans 1 and 2.
But that's what makes it good though! It's the return of the animalistic aspect of the Saiyan race. Goku would always not quite side with this Saiyan heritage, but had to fully rely on it for this to work + both of them were so far gone from their Saiyan traditions they needed help from others dear to them to achieving (something that they also, especially vegeta, had issues with before) the design is way more fit to the original saiyans showing the animalistic ruthless side while also being human enough to show the mastery of their own being. It also looks way too cool@@timothymclean
I disagree with the super sayain 4 comment. Its my favorite transformation, it being tied with ultra instinct omen. The other super sayain forms change the hairstyle and color, and while that works as a transformation with ssj1, the other ssj’s feel derivative of it, and just like “this is a level of power so lets give him a new hairstyle”. Ssj4 on the other hand feels like an evolution of the sayain. It brings back the monkey aspect which was missing from the other transformations. It changes enough for it to feel like an upgrade, but doesn’t do too much to feel over designed. Its the primal power of an ozaru that is condensed into a humanoid shape for efficiency.
For ultra instinct omen, i liked it because the changes were subtle, just the eyes and slightly changing the hair. Because its not a drastic change, it feels more so like a state of mind rather than a transformation, which i really liked.
You're so right.
Both on SSJ4 and Omen.
They're my favourite Super Saiyan forms too.
Same, SSJ4 is peak and I'm tired of pretending is not.
I really only like 4 transformations beyond the first one. SSJ2 since there was enough build up during the Cell saga to feel impactful as a refinement of the OG Super Sayain form untapped potential. SSJ4 because feels like an evolution from the Ozauru and SSJ forms together, I also thought SSJG was cool since they were using God Ki, different source of power, different transformation (I'm not convinced about the way they got this one in the first movie though). Ultra Instinct was reeeeally cool for the battle against Kefla and Jiren but idk anymore, since it was supposed to be a technique I thought they were going to use it as such, same with the kaioken.
Ssg was cool, the fact that it was slimmer after the series focused pretty much on bulk and nothing but made it feel impactful, powerful, and refined to me. 4 was a big enough change that it felt much the same, although in a different way.
Mega Lucario is just the embodiment of the "protagonist has a super powerful but incredibly dangerous and uncontrollable transformation powered by their evil dark side" trope
You didn't have to diss ss4 like that lol
How can you even hate super Saiyan 4
@@ag0180 it is a little messy of a design. i blame Goku's yellow pants.
Counter point: monke > human@@ScottaHemi440
@@ScottaHemi440 that's Goku's problem
@@Chilidogs-ku9ql Nah, SSJ4 Vegeta has the same pants.
I like what SSJ4 is doing, and I think it does a better job of that than Mega Lucario. But it's doing something very different from SSJ1 and SSJ2. It's a fundamentally different kind of design, almost maximalist where the original was minimalist.
Not mentioned in this video is one of my favorite details, that the little black dangly parts of the back of his head resemble the ends of a tied-up training headband, which is larger and droops down more on rioulu, and looks much cleaner on lucario, an extra addition to that "training to become stronger" vibe that I like.
If we ever get an Egypt/Middle East Pokémon region, I hope Lucario gets a regional variant.
That's going to be tough to do well. Lucario/Riolu's designs are really solid.
@@A1phaz0ne they made it work with zorua/zoroark, they have similarly solid designs
@@potatojuiceultra But the regional variants of Zorua/Zoroark weren't just "same design aspects, but _more"_ like a regional Egypt Lucario would be. Lucario already looks like it'd fit, so changing it to fit _more,_ is basically impossible.
May i suggest you look up pokemon Insurgence? They did that, check their wiki.
Lucario already has Anubis inspired Jackal traits. There's no reason for it to have a new form for Egypt. That it already looks like it came from Egypt region to begin with.
"Not to be googled with safe seach turned off".
I mean, he was already shipped with like 3 pokegirls in the animie. They were just filling the gaps.
They did more than fill the gaps. They flooded and overflowed them 10 times over 💀💀💀
@@murderman7265 that has two meanings...
@@Hahmier That was unintentional I swear 😂
@@murderman7265too late, you overflowed Lucario's gaps
@@murderman7265 I do not believe you. I'm suspicious of anyone who talks about filling Lucario's gaps.
I never realise how triangular lucarios hips are that’s strange. Never noticed it was so boxy
The fur on its hips is longer than on the rest of its leg. It's intended to resemble an Egyptian shendyt and also possibly boxing shorts, since Anubis and Egyptian boxing are inspirations for Lucario.
SSJ4 "Tries to do too much"
Meanwhile all new Saiyan transformations are just hair dye. And Neanderthal brows for Ultra Ego.
And SSJ3
“Like ssj4”
Bro that’s one of the best designed forms in the entire db franchise. Maybe the best.
Facts
"If a Pokémon's anatomy allows it to wear a jacket, like a hoodie, it's furry bait" -Alpharad
Something that I've heard a lot and that makes a lot of sense is the idea that certain pokemon, specially starters, but lucario is a good example, are designed to become more humanoid as they evolve as a way of becoming more intractable as a friend, like this is no longer just your pet but your best friend. The main design purpose of every pokemon is that they should look like they could be your frien but specially pokemon like lucario
It's an interesting theory, but I don't think I like the concept. Dogs being dogs have never stopped them from being man's best friend, so why should a jackal need to be more human? Animals and humans can love each other in their own ways and play to the strengths in their differences.
I think it's more that mons that get more humanoid are doing more human-like activities. A lot of fighting type mons are more humanoid because it's hard to imagine quadrupedal martial arts, and the recent starters have been very hobby based.
Which, I suppose, if you assume that your Pokemon is going to be doing your human hobby with you would wrap back around to the theory that they need to be human-like to be friends.
@@BonaparteBardithion yeah that's exactly the point! Pokemon like that somewhat gradually evolve to do "friend stuff" with their trainers, like, its way easier to imagine that you could play videogames with a lucario than to imagine playing videogames with a trapinch
@@Nedoiko okay, but now I'm imagining a speedrunning Dachsbun in the Pokemon world, modeled after the real-world speedrunning dog Peanut Butter.
Mega evolution supposed to be the extreme version of the tough it out mechanic
The idea that your Pokemon loves you so much that they'll tough out the pain for you
I thought the point of the mega WAS for it to be less graceful and more ruthless. Hence the rough, rugged patterns and the mega pokedex
Mega Pokemon are temporary forms
A short burst of power to finish the fight
All of the movies with Riolu and Lucario are absolute bangers.
The one with Lucario and the Regis is PEAK
Lucario and the Mystery of Mew went harder than it had to and I love it
REAL
As someone who isn’t a huge Lucario fan(don’t care for Furrymon), definitely feel the shonen protag energy, which honestly makes Mega Lucario look like that Wild transformation said protags get when the series begins powercreeping itself.
So I don't know why anybody thinks that's not cool
Lucario is more akin to Modern Sonic than Shadow to be honest, as it's always portrayed heroic and such.
Also, I wonder if its Shonen characteristics is due to the movie 8, as it was the first non legendary mon to have a movie. They tried to do it again in Gen 5 but failed epically.
Zoroark is more Shadow yeah lmao, they immediately went back on heavily using Lucario in the comm after Zoroark's failure.
@@charnalk5572As someone who only tangentially follows Pokemon, what is Zoroark failure? Did it's movie not sell as well as the one with Lucario, or is it simply not as popular as Lucario in in-game use or merchandise sales etc etc?
IMO, Zoroark's movie failed to generate hype for it because it spends the majority of the movie transformed into the Legendary Beasts and when it's not it's personality basically boils down to "angry mother looking for its child". Not the "edgy" Shadow to Lucario's Sonic that people wanted/expected. Zorura is the one that actually gets most of the focus in the movie.
@@goranisacson2502 It simply wasn't as popular as Lucario. Many people saw it was a black and red bipedal fox and latched onto the idea that it was some sort of badass "Dark/Edgy Rival" for Lucario and when it wasn't people were disappointed. The actual movie gives it very little screentime and its role basically boils down to an angry mother who only wants to protect its child Zorura.
@@goranisacson2502 It more so failed as a mascot to recapture Lucario's success (which most likely came from the fact that it was locked behind an event in BW imo, you couldn't get it otherwise).
It didn't stick more compared to Lucario (and gen 5 designs in general didn't get much of the best reputation anyway, because they were seen as hard pushed replacements. The movie itself was honestly fine, it's much better than the 4 movies or so that followed at least), and GameFreak/Nintendo immediately went back to Lucario as a secondary mascotte with BW2's trailers heavily featuring it and getting a mega evolution announced a few month after BW2's global release (and a prominent role in the story too).
Always got Anubis and old Egyptian vibes from Lucario. What do you think?
It is
Yeah, reminded me of Anubis in concept.
Basically Anubis, but blue and shonen ascetic martial artist…
So Goku if he was based on Anubis instead of Sun Wukong.
Lucario has always had a permanent slot on my team since its introduction because hot dang it's easily one of the coolest desgins game freak has done.
Same here, I always have a spot saved for him, in whatever games he's catchable in
Because we're talking about a Friendship evolution, I would like to bring up how Friendship is both tedious and really cheeseable as an evolution mechanic. High Friendship can take time but if you're willing to go back and fourth for maybe half an hour, you can get a strong Pokemon very early. I did this recently with Riolu no less. After I beat Cheren in White 2, Riolu evolved cause I had reached max Friendship. It's pretty cool and a little funny having a Lucario or Crobat way earlier than I feel like was intended.
I searched without safe search...
Rip
What happens in your search history, STAYS in your search history.
(I've searched FurAffinity. No comment.)
F
@@Stratelier Still better than a certain website with a green background. (If you know, you know)
@@PsycicStriker Still better than a certain website with blue background. (if you know, you know)
Worth noting Lucario's design has some inspiration related to Egyptian deities, which explains the anthropomorphism
Criticizes SS4, shots fired
I watched the Lucario movie as a kid and he became my absolute FAVORITE Pokémon
Ssj4 is the greatest thing ever. you take that back skyen.
It's literally the best transformation since the first one
@@ag0180 exactly!
@@ag0180 Nah, it can't hold a candle to Super Saiyan God Supe-bahahaha, no, seriously.
I've said this in other comment chains, but SSJ4 is doing something very different from the original Super Saiyan (or 2, or Blue). It's adding a lot of detail, where the original just changed Goku's hair and eyes. Not hard to see why someone with different tastes would dislike SSJ4.
@@timothymclean I heavily dislike critical analysts who can't see why someone might like something, and just calls it "universally bad".
"Lucario is Darker, Edgier, Cooler, and not to be googled with safe search off"
Skyen we don't talk about that thing anymore here
I don't want to remember seeing THOSE FAN ARTS that broke my mind more than THOSE GARDEVOIR FAN ARTS ever again lmao
I'll give you it for these charaters. But when we get to charaters like Braixen, Salazzle, Tsareena, etc it's on the developers.
@@williamsteven5613 i'm back tracking with braixen, that was just as much a designer fault as lucario
@@williamsteven5613 Braixen isn't as sexual as the other two you mentioned
@luckyinky7849 her hip/ are as wide as she is tall...
@@danaillaysen7632It's a skirt of fur? Like a precursor to Delphox's witch dress?
Riolu is designed to be as easily throwable as possible. AdvosArt does a great job of conveying that with his Riolu pieces, absolutely adorable
I've seen their art.
Advos' Riolu has definitively Prankster as Ability.
Lucario is literally the Goku of Pokemon. We are all in agreement in that, right?
Shonen protagonist, we see it grow up and become more powerful through friendship, overly designed “mega” form, and being voiced by the same guy. The writing is on the wall here and we love Lucario for it.
Probably would be the face of this generation considering for many, the introduction wasn’t in the game, but the movie.
Literally same English VA
Infernape is also a great contender given how it was also based on Sun Wukong (Goku’s own primary inspiration) and has a Super Saiyan-esque look to the flames spouting from its head.
But indeed Lucario has a couple more parallels to Goku.
It was built to be a partner down to it dex entry. It was introduce in a Pokémon movie.
It fit the future mega evolution theme of the form being more powerful, the black long dangle isn’t something Jbut the red add savage, black mark, and the over grown coat made it look like a warrior or edge superhero.
The thing with Mega forms is that they're supposed to be a short burst of power that's why they're so extreme
To be fair, I'm pretty sure Lucario was supposed to invoke Egyptian mythological jackal design. A human with the head of a dog, guarding the pharoah as he goes to the afterlife.
No way you just hated on SSJ4 😤
I have to disagree on both mega Lucario and Super Saiyan 4, both designs go so hard imo, but to each their own
Don't "to each, their own" someone that won't "to each, their own" you back.
I'll take an A for my favorite pokemon. He certainly left an impact and got so much attention that it weren't for Pikachu this Pokemon would have been the mascot alongside Charizard.
0:20: Ah yes, Double Vegeta Mickey Mouse. When you put it like that it makes perfect sense.
I understood that reference.
Mega lucario looks like it went through an anime time skip, with its fur and pattern elongated and grown out to show how much it’s changed, with the red parts looking like it’s punched and kicked so much that it’s skin is raw in those areas.
Great, now I want a 3rd person action platformer spin-off game where you play as Lucario in the Pokemon world.
Lucario has some serious MC energy.
We don’t disrespect the good name of Super Saiyan 4 in this house
The thing I like about the mega evolution is the stuff we learn about it from the pokedex where all of the goodness is burned out of them leaving only a heartless monster. So viewing that as the context of why its mega form looks so much more chaotic works for me
Can’t believe you took a shot at the best Super Saiyan transformation.
Ive never seen furbait in Lucario, its always been this justified hero mon with the ability to control aura (which feels like a magic concept)
Counterpoint: Earnest Saturation can be endearing, like in Super Saiyan 4 and Mega Lucario, they very much give off the "trying too hard to cram as many cool design elements as possible" vibes BUT if treated earnestly by the source material it CAN be endearingly loved the way one loves an excessively edgy OC or a gaudy piece of decor
Sneak dissing ssj4 is crazy
Well Lucario was basically the protagonist of the movie
“Not to be Google with safesearch off,”
Don’t threaten me with a good time 😈
Lucario is based on Anubis, which is why it's a bipedal jackal pokemon. Saying it was designed to be a furry when there are so many with less specific design inspiration (looking at you, inceneroar) is kinda an odd take
SSJ4 is a great design! It comes full circle for a Saiyan, where they once were giant monkeys destroying everything, they use that power to become more controlled and funnel that power into a smaller form. IDK, becoming monke in design as the humanoid form just seemed like something that made the most sense for a race of monke people IMO! 😅
Now that you mentioned it Mega Lucario reminds of that one time Midoriya lost it and became "Dark Deku" for all of three episodes in Boku no Hero, and it was just "he just hasn't slept, showered or changed clothes in a couple days".
Wait, you can't just jab Super Saiyan 4 like that outta nowhere
mega lucario is "you may be winning but the shadow is overtaking you Ryu"
What did Duper Saiyan 4 ever do to you? I say REJECT GODHOOD, RETURN TO MONKE
“Not to be googled with safe search off”
TB u have convinced me
Even though I really like Riolu's design, it does feel like they made Lucario as a single stage and at some point were like "nah, let's have it evolve from something" making smaller Lucario. It's not Pawmi to Pawmo levels of "literally just got a little bigger" but lacks that distinct "connected design but still noticeably different" feel I get from a lot of Pokemon. Once again, still love it and Lucario. I even think the Mega's pretty good and fits with the shounen vibe of a "super form".
"Like Super Saiyan 4, it tries to do way too much..."
THANK YOU! Somebody else gets it!
Playing as a Riolu in Mystery Dungeon was a goated experience
Lucario's one of my favorite pokémon and I really like them also I like your stuff Tbskyen!
I have seen fanart where hoopa creates a portal between lucario chest spike so character can finally hug him...or do whatever...
This was almost a very sweet comment... until that last bit...
@Semudara the anime literally has human x pokemon romantic relationships so I'd say it is.
"Not to be googled with safe search off"
Amen brother
Lucario has been my favorite since I was literally a child 😭
If they ever make an Egypt region, Lucario having a regional variant with a pharoh theme is on my wishlist.
Do y'all ever think about how lucario is built like a flat-chested pixar mom
They definitely designed Lucario first and Riolu was an afterthought
The shots thrown at SSJ4 was uncalled for 😂
Something that I’ve never noticed but really like is how the mega form smooths out lucarios legs like in his base form it looks like he has shorts but in the mega it becomes part of him it just looks nice
I legit thought Lucario was a legendary as a kid since it had its own movie (where it’s telepathic and very important). I also thought it was a Psychic type because of its Aura powers
You take that last part back.
"Doing too much" is pretty much the motto of Mega Evolutions lol
Favorite pokemon! The dragon ball fan in me just smiles when it uses aura sphere😊.
And on that note...Skyen a db fan?!
Ah yes. We get to my favorite Pokemon of all time. I've loved Lucario ever since his movie came out and he's always been just so dang cool! And you're right, he basically oozes that shonen protagonist or "main character of a 3D action game" energy. Lucario is just a cool fun Pokemon that I can't help but love!
"not to be googled with safe search off" caught me off guard
If i remember correctly, the mega evolution went berserk in the anime. So the design to me, fits the bill... Looks more aggressive, and when it was in the show, it was further emphasized. Least from what i remember.
Im glad im not the only one who thought Lucario could be dropped into a sonic game and no one would argue it was ever a pokemon
I love coming up to Riolu in the wild and watching them want to play.
Devs make their bed with Pokémon like these every time. They know their ‘special audience,’ if you will.
Lucario is my favorite pokemon. Good to see the best boi get some love
I like how the mega fixes lucario's "shorts". It's the only thing I can focus on when looking at Lucario
The casual shade to SSJ4 is crazy
Dont you dare bad mouth ssj4
I like the song that was used during this one, it sounded sick :D
Wait until skyren finds out lucario has his own movie
i have often referred to Lucario as the "protagonist pokemon." it just radiates that vibe
Riolu has the exact same energy as Gon from HxH and i love it
You take that back about super saiyan 4
Super Saiyan 4's design is literally a call back the Wukong inspiration. Monkey Warrior Person is not too much.
His designs a jackal with anubis inspirations. His aura feelers resemble dreadlocks (which is even more obvious in his mega)
“And not to be googled with safe search off”
Me and my brother always called him "the Anubis pokemon" or just Anubis
A Little thing you got that nobody knows: in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon red and blue team(you play as a 3d dungeon crawling Pokémon), you have a team that explores dungeons and by doing so you get points to get into your rank. The maximum rank possible is Rank Lucario BUT that was a 3rd gen game! So they probably wanted to include Lucario as some sort of protagonist or antagonist in that game but in the end they just decided to put him as an Easter egg for the next gen!