THREAD

This week, my #anipoke thread is about Legendary Pokémon!

Some of the rarest Pokémon in the world, it's no surprise that Legendaries have made several notable appearance in the anime, and this thread will highlight some trivia and facts about them!

Let's Go!

We all remember Ash's first day as a trainer: he started his journey with Pikachu, stole Misty's bike, angered some Spearow, and saw Ho-Oh!

Ash may not have known what he was seeing, but Ho-Oh's appearance in Episode 1 was the first time a Legendary ever appeared. #anipoke

Of course, many Legendary Pokémon did appear in the original opening theme, but Ho-Oh was the first to show up in an episode itself.

Ash seeing Ho-Oh really set the tone for his entire journey, which you could say has been, well... Legendary! #anipoke

Throughout his Journey, Ash has seen Ho-Oh three times.

Of course, we can't say for sure that it's been the same Ho-Oh each time, but it is certainly curious that a specific Legendary Pokémon continued to appear in front of Ash. #anipoke

Each episode that Ash saw Ho-Oh was notable for its own reason.

Ho-Oh appeared on his first day as a trainer, the day he left Brock and Misty and decided to go to Hoenn, and when he first lost to Brandon.

Oh, and there's the "alternate universe" Ho-Oh as well! #anipoke

After Ash's initial encounter with Ho-Oh in Episode 1, he found this strange engraving in the Viridian City Pokémon Center.

When he talked to Professor Oak on the phone, Ash told him that he saw the Pokémon in the top right, thinking that Articuno was actually Ho-Oh! #anipoke

Here's the clip of that interaction:
https://twitter.com/EliteTrainerM/status/1374135324444655623?s=19 #anipoke

And what about that Pokémon in the bottom right? Why was Arcanine included amongst the Legendary Pokémon?

Well, if we take a look at Arcanine's Pokédex entries from the anime and the games, we'll see that there are tons of references to Arcanine being "legendary." #anipoke

As a franchise, Pokémon usually shies away from the topic of death, with a few exceptions.

One such example was in "Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias," when Latios sacrificed itself to save Alto Mare, becoming the first Pokémon in the anime to permanently pass away. #anipoke

Legendary Pokémon are usually presented as wise, powerful, and stoic in the movies.

Pokémon Heroes took a different approach, with Ash developing a rather unique relationship with a certain Latias... #anipoke

Did you know that Suicune randomly appeared in Diamond and Pearl??

In DP Episode 28 "Drifloon on the Wind!" Ash befriended two of Nurse Joy's daughters (also so random), and guess what, they're friends with Suicune!

Truly one of the most random cameos for a Legendary #anipoke

There's not really any context to this random Suicune appearance... there's no Suicune or any reference to it in the Sinnoh games, and this cameo was never explained or followed up on.

It's a cool easter egg for Legendaries to show up like this, but also so, so random! #anipoke

Speaking of random Legendaries (and Nurse Joy), let's go to a special episode during Diamond and Pearl and talk about that time Nurse Joy rocked up to the Pewter Gym with a Latias

This Joy was a member of the Pokémon Inspection Agency, and had a Legendary Pokémon! #anipoke

DPS02 (as Bulbapedia calls it) is such a unique episode.

Brock's home life has been shown a lot throughout the anime's history, but we've never seen anything quite like his little brother Forrest taking on Nurse Joy & Latias with the Pewter City Gym on the line! #anipoke

Remember when Brandon returned in Diamond and Pearl and had a Full Battle against Paul?

Brandon didn't hold back and used all three of his Legendary Titans to sweep Paul's team.

Ash is lucky that his last match against Brandon didn't go like this... #anipoke

Brandon's return was jam-packed and crazy. Not only did we get the backstory behind Reggie losing to Brandon, Paul and Brandon's battle, but we also got to see Regigigas!

I don't have any facts about it in this thread, but DP Episode 129 was wild and full of Legendaries #anipoke