Basculegion (Pokémon) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Basculegion (Japanese: イダイトウ Idaitou) is a dual-type Water/Ghost Pokémon introduced during Generation VIII, in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

It evolves from White-Striped Basculin when leveled up after losing at least 294 HP from recoil damage without fainting.

(Specifics may differ in past games. Refer to Game data→Evolution data for these details.)

Biology

Basculegion is a large, green, fish-like Pokémon. It has a jagged mouth with pointed teeth. Its spine is aligned with a dark gray line, with colored stripes that flank it on either side and extend around its gills, along with spots scattered across its body. These accents are red in male Basculegion, and light blue in female Basculegion. Their eyes also match the appropriate color, and they look fierce on males and drowsy or sad on females. It has a pair of white pectoral fins, a three-spiked dorsal fin, and a two-spiked ventral fin. Additional smoke-like features cover Basculegion's face in a manner resembling barbels; female Basculegion sport shorter ones and lack the two small fins that the males have on their chin, instead having more blue markings around their lips and eyes.

Basculegion's evolution is achieved by a White-Striped Basculin being possessed by the souls of other Basculin in its school who did not survive their harsh journey swimming upstream. These souls wrap around Basculegion's body, particularly along its rear half. They are colored red on male Basculegion, said to be caused by the souls' rage; and light blue on female Basculegion, whose paleness resulted from the sadness within the souls. When it senses danger, Basculegion will turn hostile and attack along with its souls until the enemy is defeated. The souls within Basculegion are said to have a will of their own and provide Basculegion with the power needed to swim on without tiring.^[1] Male Basculegion are known for their powerful jumps, while female Basculegion can conjure and control terrifying illusions against its opponents. Basculegion is said to have no equal in the rivers of the Hisui region. In the present day, it's only known to be found in Kitakami's Timeless Woods along with its pre-evolved form.

A special male Basculegion is worshiped in Hisui due to him being a descendant of one of the 10 ancient Pokémon who received a blessing from Arceus. In particular, he is one of the Ride Pokémon who resides in Cobalt Coastlands and assists humans. This ride Basculegion can dash and can leap over anything by jumping up twice.

Evolution

Basculegion evolves from White-Striped Basculin.

(For specifics on this Pokémon's evolution in the games, refer to Game data→Evolution data.)

Game data

NPC appearances

Pokédex entries

Game locations

Held items

Stats

Base stats

Due to the different way stats are calculated in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, exact minimum and maximum stats are not shown in these tables.

Male Basculegion

Female Basculegion

Type effectiveness

Learnset

By leveling up

By TM

By breeding

By a prior evolution

Side game data

Male Basculegion

Female Basculegion

Evolution data

Basculegion evolves from White-Striped Basculin when leveled up after losing at least 294 HP from recoil damage. This can be spread across multiple battles and is not affected by the use of recovery items. Fainting will reset progress.

In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, White-Striped Basculin does not need to level up after losing at least 294 HP from recoil damage in order to evolve.

Sprites

In the anime

A male Basculegion in the anime

Major appearances

Minor appearances

A male Basculegion appeared in a fantasy in The Arceus Chronicles (Part 1).

In the TCG

Main article: Basculegion (TCG)

Trivia

• Basculegion is the only Ghost-type Pokémon with fins, and the only Ghost-type Pokémon in the Water 2 Egg Group.
• Basculegion:
  • Is the only Pokémon with all five vowels in its English name.
  • Is tied with Slither Wing and Poltchageist for the greatest number of unique characters in its English name, with 11 (including spaces).
  • Has the longest English Pokémon name that is an isogram.
• In Pokémon Legends: Arceus's internal data, Basculegion's primary Ability is Rattled instead of Swift Swim.
• In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, White-Striped Basculin and Basculegion are not classified as regional forms for the purposes of breeding, meaning that neither species would be required to hold an Everstone to produce White-Striped Basculin offspring.
  • Furthermore, prior to the Version 2.0.1 update, Basculegion was unable to learn Endure, Swift, and Zen Headbutt via TM, while its pre-evolution could; however, this has since been fixed.

Origin

Basculegion's appearance and evolutionary background may be based on salmon, as some species are found in Hokkaidō (where Hisui is based on) and its surrounding waters, and many of them don't survive when they migrate upstream. Specifically, it may be based on the itou or the Sakhalin taimen (also nicknamed the "phantom fish" in Japan), a large, critically endangered species that belongs in the Salmonidae family and lives in rivers in Hokkaidō. It also appears in Ainu folklore as a giant, powerful creature named Ciray that could devour deer or boars. Like its pre-evolution, Basculegion also shares some similarities with the largemouth bass, as well as other predatory fish such as the snakehead and the goliath tiger fish.

The male and female colorations of Basculegion may be inspired by the nuptial coloration of some salmon species, such as the sockeye or the coho, during mating season. While both male and female salmon change colors during this period, the males usually become redder and more vibrant, while the females are paler in comparison.

Basculegion's lower jaw and pectoral fins may also be inspired by an Itaomacip, an enlarged boat with side plates built by the Ainu people for seafaring and trading purposes. In real life, the Ainu created an extensive maritime network surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk with this vessel. This could also have inspired Basculegion's role as a Ride Pokémon on water in Hisui.

The amount of recoil damage required for White-Striped Basculin to take to evolve into Basculegion, 294 HP, could be goroawase for 憎し nikushi, archaic Japanese for hatred.

Name origin

Basculegion may be a combination of Basculin and legion (an army or a vast amount of people) or Legion (a Biblical demon or group of demons).

Idaitou may be a combination of 偉大 idai (great), 哀悼 aitou (mourning), and イトウ itou (Sakhalin taimen).

In other languages

Language Title Meaning Japanese イダイトウ Idaitou From 偉大 idai, 哀悼 aitou, and イトウ itou French Paragruel From Parahucho, paranormal, cruel, and Pantagruel, a powerful giant in French literature Spanish Basculegion Same as English name German Salmagnis From salmo and magnis Italian Basculegion Same as English name Korean 대쓰여너 Daesseuyeoneo From 대 (大) dae, bass, and 연어 yeoneo Mandarin Chinese 幽尾玄魚 / 幽尾玄鱼 Yōuwěixuányú From 幽玄 yōuxuán, 幽靈 / 幽灵 yōulíng, 尾 wěi, and 魚 / 鱼 yú Cantonese Chinese 幽尾玄魚 Yāuméihyùhnyùh From 幽玄 yāuyùhn, 幽靈 yāulìhng, 尾 méih, and 魚 yùh

More languages Hindi महाडीन Mahadeen From महा mahā and डीन ḍīn Russian Баскулиджен Baskulidzhen Transcription of English name Thai อิไดโต Idaito Transcription of Japanese name

Related articles

References

External links