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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 Iron Jugulis.
Hydreigon, Pokémon’s three-headed dragon, inevitably drew comparison to Ghidora, the three-headed villainous kaiju from the Godzilla movies. Naturally enough, just as Godzilla’s stand-in Tyranitar got a mechagodzilla form in Iron Thorns, so Ghidora’s stand-in gets a Mecha King Ghidora form.
Mecha King Ghidora first appeared in the 1991 film Godzilla Vs King Ghidora. Unlike Mechagodzilla, which is a fully mechanical robot, this is a partially cyborg, reanimated King Ghidora. It is sent back in time to prevent Godzilla destroying Japan, one of the only times Ghidora has been the heroic character in a battle with the King of the Monsters.
Iron Jugulis is not a cyborg, but a fully robotic duplicate of a living Hydreigon. Where Hydreigon has an open lizard-like frill around its face, Iron Jugulis has some kind of glowing array of pink light. The two smaller heads appear to be hovering independent of the main body, rather than being attached like arms.
Violet
It's possible that Iron Jugulis, an object described in an old book, may actually be this Pokémon.
While Mecha-Ghidora twisted the villain into a kind of hero, if we read the magazine article for Iron Jugulis, that does not seem to be the case here.
Enigmas of Paldea, File #07
Iron Jugulis: Pokemon or Machine?
This flying life-form bearing a resemblance to
Hydreigon has been seen in a certain corner of Paldea. It was reported to have
razed an entire building with a high0energy blast, then flown off as if to find
its next objective. Iron Jugulis is theorized to be a sort of machine-Hydreigon
hybrid, as it combines the former’s ruthlessness with the latter’s ferocity. It
takes its name from a similarly described entity in the Violet Book.
We are never given a clear answer as to what happened in the universe or future from which Pokémon Violet’s paradox Pokémon travelled. Across my episodes, I used the audio from various films and games in which the robots had risen up in the future – Terminator, the Matrix, Battlestar Galactica or Mass Effect. Pokémon Scarlet offers quite a different theory as to where Iron Jugulis came from.
Scarlet
It resembles a certain Pokémon introduced in a paranormal magazine, described as the offspring of a Hydreigon that fell in love with a robot.
The name Iron Jugulis is derived from the Latin Jugular, for neck, referring to the long, draconic neck. The Japanese name, just as with the basic names for Deino and Zweillous, is simply Tetsunokoube, or Iron Head. Because it has three iron heads.
Iron Jugulis trades Dark and Dragon for Dark and Flying, meaning it has the stealth rock weakness which Hydreigon so importantly avoids. It also doesn’t quite have the same spread of moves. That said, being quite a fast monster, it is able to outspeed opponents even without electric terrain activating its quark drive ability, as several other future paradox monsters rely on. Despite this, its highest stat is actually special attack, so if the ability does trigger it can do phenomenal damage.
The ninth generation of Pokémon gives a lot of love to the Godzilla franchise, so it does feel appropriate that it also introduces an extra monster for Godzilla’s most infamous enemy – albeit in quite a different kind of robot.
Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius. For just a dollar a month, supporters can listen to episodes a week early and also help cover hosting and fees, making it possible for me to keep making episodes every week.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Iron Moth and Slither Wing , so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Iron Jugulis. And remember, I love you too.