History Characters / PokemonGenerationVVictiniToZoroark

* CowardlyLion: Archeops is very strong and fast, and it has a base stat total of '''567''' (which is also its Pokédex number), putting it close to lesser Legendaries like the Island Guardians (whose base stat total is 570). However, it starts to give up hope once its health gets below half, cutting its Attack and Special Attack by half.

** As mentioned above, Archeops becomes nearly useless once its HP dips below half. It ''can'' learn Roost by move tutor in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', and by TM in ''X and Y'' to make it easier. However, it will have difficulty finding times to heal with it against an aggressive opponent

* FragileSpeedster: Contrasting perfectly with Tirtouga/Carracosta's MightyGlacier status, Archen/Archeops has excellent attack and speed stats, but very poor defense stats (its base defense stat as Archen is ''45'', and as Archeops it's 65), as well as an ability that severely cripples it when it loses half of its HP.

** Its Rock Head Ability defies this by removing the recoil damage from any attack that would normally cause it.
** Its Reckless Ability takes this even further, increasing the damage, and thus the recoil, of its recoil moves.
** White-Striped Basculin can only evolve into Basculegion after suffering at least 294 HP worth of non-lethal recoil damage. Fortunately, the research tasks for Basculin involve seeing it use Wave Crash and Double-Edge, both of which deal recoil damage to the user.
* ComMons: Pretty much the '''only''' thing you will find when surfing on early non-sea routes, and there are several routes where it's common while fishing, too.
* EnemyMine: According to the Pokédex, though the red-striped and blue-striped Basculin are supposed to be very vicious and hostile to the other, occasionally you can find them mingling peacefully.

* HitodamaLight: Basculegion's tail is shrouded in a swirling haze of red energy that fades into white meant to represent the souls possessing it.

* ManBitesMan: Learns Bite and Crunch naturally. They can also learn Ice Fang and Psychic Fangs.

* MindHive: Basculegion is described in the official description to contain the souls of the other Basculin who couldn't withstand the journey upstream. While the original Basculin remains in control as the Basculegion itself, the souls of its comrades possessing it cooperate with it and can attack of their own accord.

* PowersViaPossession: By being possessed by many other Basculin souls from its school, a Basculin gains the power to evolve into Basculegion. In this new form its comrades within its body can aid it in battle by attacking with their own ghostly powers.
* PowerUpMount: Basculegion is the main Pokémon used for water traversal in ''Pokémon Legends: Arceus''.

* SecondarySexualCharacteristics: Male Basculegion have red accents, a fiercer expression, longer barbels, growths on its chin resembling a stubble, and have higher Attack stat. Female Basculegion instead have pale blue accents, a more docile expression, shorter barbels, additional accents around its face resembling makeup, and specialize in the Special Attack stat.

* TakingYouWithMe: Learns Final Gambit, which causes Basculin to faint itself while also dealing damage equal to its HP to the opponent.
* TransformationOfThePossessed: Basculin evolves into Basculegion in Hisui when a Basculin gets possessed by the souls of its comrades that died trying to make it upstream.

* UselessUsefulSpell: It gets Soak, turning the opponent into a Water-type. It gets nothing to take advantage of that; in fact, considering that it's liable to use Water-type moves itself, using Soak is entirely counter-productive to it.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Invoked by its standard ability, Adaptability. It doesn't have an additional type to take advantage from, but Adaptability-boosted Liquidation, Aqua Jet, and Hydro Pump hit hard enough that usually that is enough to make Basculin worthwhile in battle.

* ThePowerOfTheSun: Gigalith's dex entry says that it stores solar energy in its crystals, and can use it to attack.

* SecretArt: Hisuian Lilligant is the only Pokémon that learns Victory Dance, a Fighting-type move that enhances their offensive and defensive stats while giving a 50% boost to its attacking moves.

* CowardlyLion: Archeops is very strong and fast, and it has a base stat total of '''567''' (which is also its Pokédex number). However, it starts to give up hope once its health gets below half, cutting its Attack and Special Attack by half.

* GlassCannon: Their Attack, Special Attack, and Speed are impressive. Their defenses are not. Once they hit 50% HP, their ability kicks in, slicing Attack and Special Attack in half, making them just a FragileSpeedster. They keep the nice Speed, at least.

* PintSizedPowerhouse: Leavanny is less than 4 feet tall and has high attack. It even learns Swords Dance to further raise that strength.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: It can have the Ability Chlorophyll, which increases its speed in sunny weather. It can even use the Entrainment move to give allies the same Ability.

* AlwaysABiggerFish: Despite their viciousness, the ''Violet'' Dex entry for Red-Striped Basculin mentions that they're still regularly targeted as prey by Bombirdier and Dondozo, the latter being a literal example of the trope.

In the ancient Hisui region, the unusually docile white-striped Basculin would whittle down as they swam upstream, and the souls of the perished Basculin can gather inside the remaining Basculin to enable them to evolve into the Water/Ghost-type Basculegion. Basculegion is powered by its kind's souls, as they attack relentlessly if they sense animosity. They also provide it with amazing stamina as a swimmer.

* MagicallyIneptFighter: They have a poor special attack stat.

* MartialArtsUniform: Both of them have karate robes, even though Throh is into judo. However, judo robes do look similar to karate robes, only judo robes are made from a heavier material and have different types of belts than the ones seen in karate. According to the Pokédex, the belts are fashioned from vines they find in the wild.
** Apparently, their "uniforms" are actually a part of their skin, according to The Pokémon Company when the makers of ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'' attempted to design a live-action version of Sawk for the movie with clothlike textures on its gi. The Pokémon ended up scrapped from the film when they couldn't figure out how to make that look good in realistic CGI.

* FlowerMotifs: Munna has them, but loses them upon evolution.

* DreamStealer: They eat dreams.

* FlowerMotifs: Munna has them.

* BadassArmfold: Snivy folds its arms in its sprite animation (which are typically done when Pokémon are in battle and facing their opponents) in ''Black and White''.

* CuteLittleFangs: It's based off of a fox and has some lupine elements, so of course it has fangs.

* BadassArmfold: Snivy folds its arms in its sprite animation in ''Black and White''.

* CuteLittleFangs: Oshawott's fangs do not detract from its adorable look.

* CuteLittleFangs: Sewaddle has these.

* TookALevelInCheerfulness: Swadloon's perpetually downcast expression changes into a wide smile once it evolves into Leavanny. As you achieve that by raising its friendship, it's got quite a few reasons why it should be.

* CuteLittleFangs: Zorua has a pair of fangs, which don't detract from its adorable nature.

* PantheraAwesome: Liepard, based partially based on a leopard.

* SecretArt: In ''Legends: Arceus'', White-Stripe Basculin is one of only two Pokémon (the other being Empoleon) with access to Wave Crash, a physical Water-type recoil move that boosts the user's action speed. This is no longer the case in Generation IX, where it's been distributed to several other physical-oriented Water-types both old and new, including the other Basculin colors.

* NiceGuy: Pansage will share berries and stress-relieving leaves with his friends, and Pansear likes to help people.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Somehow, they're classified in the Dragon egg group, and can be taught Dragon-type moves through various means. This includes Dragon Dance, which can be used to shore up their low speed.
* TheQuincyPunk: Scrafty, thanks to its mohawk (which is the kind of mohawk associated with punk culture, whether it's the late 1970s British punk scene or the early 1980s American punk scene)

* RatedMForManly: Samurott is a noble, powerful armored {{samurai}} sea beast with a [[ManlyFacialHair mustache]] that [[DualWielding dual-wields]] seamitars. Additionally, its Japanese name means "big sword demon". Hisuian Samurott takes this even further with its jagged, threatening armor and seamitars and harsher attitude.

* MakeMeWannaShout: They learn many different sound-based moves and attacks, a lot of them naturally.

* ZebrasAreJustStripedHorses: Subverted with Blitzle and Zebstrika. They're the token "horse" Pokémon of the Unova region but they can't learn High Horsepower, since they aren't actually horses. AllAnimalsAreDomesticated, however, is still in play, and they can be still tamed just as easily as any other Pokémon.

* PsychicPowers: They're both Psychic-types based on the ((youkai}} Baku.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: At first sight, Lilligant appears to be a frail, filler, and ridiculous Pokémon. But train them well and put your rival to sleep, use Quiver Dance as much as you can, and, if these cute dames survive, they become beastly sweepers able to pulverize even advantageous foes using Petal Dance combined with the Own Tempo ability (unless the enemy has the Sap Sipper ability, a double resistance to grass, or an insane Special Defense like Blissey). Lilligant [[LifeDrain can even heal themselves using Giga Drain]].
** Hisuian Lilligant can do this even better in Scarlet and Violet. Her signature move Victory Dance is basically Quiver Dance but raising Attack and Defense. She is also faster than standard Lilligant, which means a higher chance of using Sleep Powder before the enemy moves. What is more, Hisuian Lilligant can make use of great coverage moves like Poison Jab, Axe Kick and Ice Spinner against potential foes that would be able to wall the Unovan variant, as well as countering Sap Sipper users. Besides, not being locked by Petal Dance allows for more versatility. Overall, the cute ballet dancer has the potential of making mincemeat out of unprepared teams way better than ordinary Lilligant.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: While it is very useful in a general game run, it really shines when used against Caitlin of the Elite Four due to the ArtificialStupidity factor. Just throw something weak to Psychic in the back of the line-up and watch Zoroark render all attacks useless. For good measure, add Flamethrower to it for Metagross (in the rematches for the first game, at least). It also works well against [[spoiler:Ultra Necrozma]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', as it is able to nullify its most powerful attack, and can be found very early in the game (in the garden around the Trainers' School). It also gets the move Punishment, which does more damage to the opponent the more stat boosts (like say, a Totem Aura) said opponent has.
** Hisuian Zoroark typing alone makes it one of the best Annihilape counters, as the combination of Ghost/Normal allows the former to completely nulify the latter´s two stab moves, severely crippling an opposing Annihilape not knowing Dark moves.

* RollerbladeGood: Hisuian Lilligant doesn't walk or run, but ''skates'' everywhere it goes.

Compared to the grassy regions of Unova, the past Hisui's snowy mountains are not fit for a creature like Lilligant; as such, the Hisuian Lilligant grew well-developed legs to climb the mountainous region, making them gain the Fighting-type. The scent from Lilligant's flower crown has said to hearten those in proximity.

* DanceBattler: Lilligant learns many moves that involve dancing, including Quiver Dance, Swords Dance, and Teeter Dance. Hisuian Lilligant is based on a ballerina and elegantly dances in battle, and has her own unique move titled Victory Dance. Even the frenzied Noble Lilligant fights the player in her battle with ballet-style moves that pack quite a punch.

* KickChick: Hisuian Lilligant is an exclusively female species that has ballet-styled DanceBattler skills along with long, slender legs which not only comprise nearly a third of its height, but have a wild onion-like white-and-purple coloration that make them really stand out.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Through and through. Lilligant in a nutshell: Shut down opponent with Sleep Powder, build up with Quiver Dance, then let loose with Petal Dance until everything that's not on your side is dead.