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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 Tynamo.
Electric eels are infamous real-life animals that seem prime for adaptation into a Pokémon species. How many other real creatures are already genuinely linked to an elemental type in that way? While many species of fish, including sharks, use electrical organs to sense other creatures in electrical fields around them, electric eels are among the incredibly few who can discharge electricity to stun their prey.
Living in the Amazon, electric eels are not actually eels, but closer related to catfish. Nonetheless, they are long, slender snakelike creatures which swim through the waters, so its understandable that they are confused with eels and colloquially referred to as such.
Tynamo is a small, white fish-like Pokémon with a yellow lightning bolt pattern on its side and undulating, frill-like fins on its top and bottom. It resembles the larval form of many eel species, along with any number of examples of other species of fish or even Skyfish. Rods, sometimes called skyfish, are a mysterious phenomena which baffled photographers for some time. While many people claimed these unusual, undulating aerial objects were aliens or interdimensional beings, they proved to be simply regular moths moving quickly during the long exposure period of old cameras. Still, they do resemble Tynamo, especially given the Pokémon’s propensity for hovering in the air and their placement in the Pokédex next to space aliens,
Real-life bioelectrical animals, even the mighty electric eels, are only capable of quite small amounts of power – enough to stun a human, at maximum. Certainly nothing like the thunderstorms we often see Pokémon produce. Tynamo, too, is humble in its electrical power, at least at this stage.
Black
While one alone doesn't have much power, a chain of many Tynamo can be as powerful as lightning.
White
These Pokémon move in schools. They have an electricity-generating organ, so they discharge electricity if in danger.
The name Tynamo combines tyke, as this is an infant, with dynamo, an electricity-generating apparatus. The Japanese name is Shibishirasu, combining the shibire-unagi, or electic eel, with whitebait, another small fish.
At level 39, we can stop messing around with tykes and bait when Tynamo evolves into Eelektrik.
Eelektrik is bigger, longer and more eel-like in shape, with the addition of a round, sucker-like mouth seen on the lamprey, another snake-like sea creature often mistaken for an eel – in Japan, it is called the yatsume-usagi – but which is not actually related to an eel.
This name means eight-eyed eel, and comes from the existence of six round gills which complement the two eyes for a total of eight. In the case of Eelectric, these extra spots are actually electricity-generating.
White
These Pokémon have a big appetite. When they spot their prey, they attack it and paralyze it with electricity.
Black 2
It wraps itself around its prey and paralyzes it with electricity from the round spots on its sides. Then it chomps.
Another friend of the show, Mikey from Pokémon Crossroads, got in touch about a competitive niche that Eelektrik held in the trading card game.
Eelektrik from Noble Victories during the Black & White Era of the TCG was a notable card. It had the Dynamotor ability which allowed it to attach Electric Energy from the discard to your benched Pokemon. It was the backbone for a few decks when it was in the Standard format. At first it was used in various Electric decks with Zekrom. Though it was used in Mewtwo EX decks during the infamous Mewtwo wars. Though, it made its home with Rayquaza EX who needed Fire and Electric energy to fire off powerful Dragon Burst attacks turn after turn.
The English name, of course, is a combination of eel and electric. The Japanese name is Shibibeel, combining the Japanese Shibire-Unagi with the English Electric eel, and also bringing in biribiri, the Japanese onomatopoeia for an electric shock.
Eelektrik will be more electric, and giving bigger shocks, after it is exposed to a thunderstone and it evolves into Elektross.
Elektross is a big, monstrous lamprey-like black eel with two appenages like arms on its side. With its vampric tendencies, the lamprey is included as a monster in fantasy games like dungeons and dragons. More recently, the DLC for Elden Ring introduced a Lamprey monster which even has Elektross’ two arms, and a black variety that shoots lightning!
It doesn’t seem to have a major basis in mythology or folklore prior to the dungeons and dragons monster, though one of the earliest and most often-reproduced anatomical paintings of the lamprey, from the 17 or 1800s, depicts one lying over another in a manner which makes it appear the closer of the two has a pair of tentacle-like arms.
Whether their origin is in folklore, 18th century misunderstandings or 20th century popular culture, a blood-sucking lamprey the size of a man attacking on the land like a vampire is a terrifying image.
Black
They crawl out of the ocean using their arms. They will attack prey on shore and immediately drag it into the ocean.
White
With their sucker mouths, they suck in prey. Then they use their fangs to shock the prey with electricity.
Black 2
It latches on to prey with its sucker mouth, sinking in its fangs and shocking the prey with powerful electricity.
White 2
Elektross lives up to the menacing premise as it can be a seriously dangerous monster. With a decent spread of physical and special attacks, it can deal damage, but its also hard to knock out. As a pure electric type Pokémon, its only weakness is to the ground type, but thanks to the ability levitate, it isn’t affected by ground type moves. These advantages were very appealing to our friend J.
The name Eelektross, refers to this Pokémon being an Electric boss and, having come to second place in a world final, it isn’t a misnomer. The Japanese name is Shiburidon, either referring to its powerful bite with the suffix don, meaning teeth, or again calling it a boss.
Eelektross is a boss, and with this podcast coinciding with both a Tynamo community day and the release of From Software’s very familiar monster design, I think the world might be about to recognize quite how much of a boss it is.
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 Elgyem and Litwick, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
E ven if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Tynamo. And remember, I love you too.