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A weekly Pokédex Podcast from Bald Man in Japan Luke Summerhayes. A different Pokémon family every week.
I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Archaludon.
When I talked about Duraladon as part of the eighth generation, I was mostly interested in it for its rivalry with Tyranitar. As that Pokémon is a Godzilla tribute, I guessed that Duraladon might represent the skyscrapers Godzilla often smashes. The United Kingdom, on which Galar was based, doesn’t actually have very many skyscrapers, even in the Capital City of London. The Blueberry Academy, though, which is part of the Unova Region based on New York, makes much more sense as a home for a Skyscraper Pokémon.
Before New York was a towering metropolis, before even the Empire State Building, the first enormous piece of engineering work was the Brooklyn Bridge. Connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was constructed, and joined Manhattan Island to the mainland in a major way. And interestingly, going back to my initial point of interest, the Brooklyn Bridge is essential in defeating the monster in the 1998 American film called Godzilla – a much-maligned remake which would be a surprising reference for Pokémon to make.
When exposed to a Metal Alloy, Duraladon can now evolve into Archaludon. Archaludon is a suspension bridge dragon, looking like Duraladon with additional spikes when rearing up on its hind legs but strongly resembling a bridge when it drops to all fours for an attack.
Scarlet
It gathers static electricity from its surroundings. The beams it launches when down on all fours are tremendously powerful.
It does indeed have some serious power, its stats now totalling 600 and putting it in the same bracket as monsters like Dragonite, Salamence and, indeed, Tyranitar. It also has a signature move, Electro shot, a two-turn attack like Soalr Beam with incredible power and the outrageous extra effect of boosting Special Attack during the turn when the Pokémon waits. During this attack, Archaludon resembles some kind of railgun, or maybe the mazer tanks often used in Godzilla movies.
Violet
It digs holes on mountains, searching for food. It’s so durable that being caught in a cave-in won’t faze it.
Archaludon has already made a tremendous impact on the competitive scene. Its name refers to the Arches of a bridge, of course, but it could also be relevant that this is an arch-nemesis of many players right now. The Japanese name, Briduras, is on-the-nose for a Bridge dinosaur, but its fun.
With Baxcalibur, Iron Thorns and now Archaludon, this has been a good generation for fans of both Godzilla and Pokémon. It feels appropriate to talk about them all here in 2024, the 70th anniversary of that iconic monster.
Music for Luke Loves Pokémon is composed by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. Writing, Producing and Editing is by me, Luke Summerhayes. Funding is provided by my lovely listeners. If you’d like to join them, to help keep the show online and find other podcasts by me and my pals, head over to Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius.
Coming up are Terapagos and Paldean Tauros, so if you have thoughts about those or any other monsters, hit me up with a DM @LukeLovesPKMN or an email to LukeLovesPKMN@Gmail.com. And of course, I’d love if you could leave a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Archaludon. And remember. I love you too.