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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 Emolga.
Squirrels are cute animals, and impressively agile climbers of trees and houses and wires. The sight of them clambering around in gardens, parks and rooftops of the UK is commonplace. Some squirrels have evolved beyond mere climbing and clambering to gliding, though these ones are not common in Britain.
Flying squirrels have a membrane that stretches between their front and back feet, giving them a sail with which to glide through the air. They can’t truly fly like birds and bats, but they can glide between trees or parachute safely down to the floor.
Emolga is an electric and flying type Pokémon which resembles a flying squirrel. In particular, it’s black and white coloring are reminiscent of the Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, a tiny little nocturnal critter that is rarely seen but absolutely adorable.
White
They live on treetops and glide using the inside of a cape-like membrane while discharging electricity.
While most of that could be attributed to real-life flying squirrels, they aren’t known for their electrical properties. That aspect of the Pokémon is a result of this being the fifth-generation’s mammal with electric cheek pouches, often less generously called The Pikachu Clone.
Black
The energy made in its cheeks' electric pouches is stored inside its membranes and released while it is gliding.
Sword
As Emolga flutters through the air, it crackles with electricity. This Pokémon is cute, but it can cause a lot of trouble.
Yellow cheek pouches, as well as a yellow inner ear and membrane, make this Pokémon resemble its famous mouse-like cousin, but this is one of the more unique electric rodents.
It doesn’t evolve, and doesn’t really have the stats to do a lot of damage with either of its two unusual types. It is quite fast, however, and has access to moves like charm and eerie impulse, for lowering opponents’ attack or special attack respectively, along with electroweb to lower speed and the likes of volt switch and u-turn to avoid retaliation. This means it can be used to greatly frustrate an opponents’ team, even if Emolga isn’t bagging any knockouts itself.
In the anime, Iris had an Emolga and it was often seen displaying exactly those traits; using charm or volt switch to get itself out of trouble. It’s also extremely food motivated, first appearing in pursuit of some fruit and continuing to chase sweet treats after that.
Shield
This Pokémon absolutely loves sweet berries. Sometimes it stuffs its cheeks full of so much food that it can't fly properly.
The name Emolga, which is the same in Japanese and English, takes the Japanese name for a flying squirrel, momonga, perhaps adding an e and l from electric, or making a portmanteau with emon, the Japanese for drapery, referring to its cape-like membrane.
Emolga is another Pokémon which made a memorable appearance in New Pokémon Snap, first elusively hiding in trees, and then providing a ride when the player is shrunk down. Perhaps I’ll never find myself with an Emolga on my battling team, but just as with real flying squirrels, it is an amazing and cute sight to behold.
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 Karablast and Foongus, 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 Emolga. And remember, I love you too.