Female
Earth
Seen May 28th, 2016
Posted April 11th, 2016
892 posts
14.6 Years
Why isn't Lugia a water type?
Well you see. Lugia didn't always live in the water and was the 'diving' Pokemon.

If you remember he lived in the Brass Tower before he lived around the Whirlpool Islands. When the tower got burned down he had to leave.

I assume, he got caught on fire and had to dive into the waters around the Whirlpool Islands. This is why he lives there and why heis not as feathery as Ho-oh.

As for him being Psychic, I believe it is suppose to represent the mind while Ho-Oh's Fire is suppose to represent the spirit. So they were the birds of mind and spirit.

However, after the fire they took on new identities. Ho-oh represented unite and Lugia represented solitarily.

Or, that's what I think at least.

Why isn't Salamence called Flygon?
Because Bagon's and Shelgon's japanese names don't end with gon. Flygon's, however, does.

Why isn't Gyarados a dragon type?
I'm only going to say this once.

BECAUSE YOU CAN FIND THEM FREAKIN EVERYWHERE YOU IDIOT!!!!! IT WOULD BE WAAAAAY TOO EASY TO GET A DRAGON TYPE!!!!!1+SHIFT!!! AND WE CAN'T MAKE THEM RARER BECAUSE THAT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF MAGIKARP!!!!!!!!!

That's is all.

Why aren't Psyduck and Golduck psychic types?
That's a very good question.

It's mostly likely due to the fact the psychic type was one of the most powerful types at the time making psychic types harder to catch.
So, they decided to make it a little bit easier for players by giving them a Pokemon that wasn't psychic but could at least use psychic moves.
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JP

wut?

Age 32
Male
USA
Seen December 13th, 2019
Posted February 27th, 2019
2,163 posts
14.8 Years
Well if they were going to make it fair between the two, they would at least avoided making Kyogre the obvious winner in a battle between Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. LOL
Right... but those guys came way later, and they've got nothing to do with the two birds lol. I'm talking specifically about the two birds, and it's very possible the designers changed their minds about "equal typing" later down the road with those three pokemon.

Opposite Day

too old for name changes

Age 30
Male
∞Rain town, Norway
Seen August 12th, 2014
Posted August 12th, 2014
974 posts
14.9 Years
Actually, since Groudon is slower, Sunny Day would take effect (if he's battling Kyogre), so Kyogre's STAB Water moves would be halved. It actually does balance out pretty well.
Actually, I think they both have a base speed of 90.

It's mostly likely due to the fact the psychic type was one of the most powerful types at the time making psychic types harder to catch.
So, they decided to make it a little bit easier for players by giving them a Pokemon that wasn't psychic but could at least use psychic moves.
But even then, it is still kind of annoying and confusing that Psyduck and Golduck's most powerful Psychic-attack by level up is Confusion, and that they couldn't even learn Psychic by a TM until this generation.. -.-
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Opposite Day

too old for name changes

Age 30
Male
∞Rain town, Norway
Seen August 12th, 2014
Posted August 12th, 2014
974 posts
14.9 Years
I'd say it should be Water/Fighting, with Levitate! Then they'd be polar opposites.
Come on, it's got those ARMS for a reason, right? Right?
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Cura

I see nothing! I know nothing!

Male
Mount Coronet
Seen April 13th, 2021
Posted April 13th, 2021
1,101 posts
15 Years
I think that Lugia should be Dragon/Water with the ability Levitate.
Lugia looks like a dragon doesn't he!?

pokerus34

Labyrinthine Rhapsody

Age 28
Male
Manila, Philippines
Seen May 1st, 2018
Posted March 29th, 2018
830 posts
14.1 Years
Lugia should be Water/Flying type... After all, in the games, Lugia is the counterpart of Ho-oh... And Ho-oh is a Fire/Flying type, so... Lugia should be Water/Flying Type.

P.S.
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Winson

Legendary Pokemon Master

Seen October 12th, 2013
Posted February 9th, 2012
134 posts
15.2 Years
Lugia controls ocean currents, which sounds like it takes a certain degree of psychic power. Besides, there's already a bird of moisture, Articuno.
Articuno is a Ice/Flying Type, not Water/Flying Type.
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♣Gawain♣

Onward to Music!!!

Age 32
Male
Moscow, Russia
Seen December 2nd, 2013
Posted November 29th, 2013
4,997 posts
15.4 Years
Lugia should be maintained as a Psychic/Flying type. It can learn it's STAB moves and such... Although it's called Diving Pokemon and it can learn Water-type moves. It can use telepathy, like in the movie. Ho-oh can't. And those "arms" are wings lightmare. If those are arms, it can't fly lolz.

VM Δ PMPairsDeviantArtPlaying...ClubsTheme
Seen August 29th, 2011
Posted May 14th, 2009
29 posts
14 Years
The reason gyarados and charizard are both flying types instead of dragon is

A. Dragon types are supposed to be rare. These 2 pokemon are incredibly easy to obtain.

B. The dragon type was only added at the very end of the 1st gen, when they made dragonite. It's the ONLY 1st gen dragon type, so they pretty much added it simultaneously with him. They didn't want to go back and fix gyarados and charizard, so they left them as flying types. I'm pretty sure that's right >.>


Opposite Day

too old for name changes

Age 30
Male
∞Rain town, Norway
Seen August 12th, 2014
Posted August 12th, 2014
974 posts
14.9 Years
Lugia should be maintained as a Psychic/Flying type. It can learn it's STAB moves and such... Although it's called Diving Pokemon and it can learn Water-type moves. It can use telepathy, like in the movie. Ho-oh can't. And those "arms" are wings Lightmare. If those are arms, it can't fly lolz.
That's why his ability should be Levitate, lolz - a light flapping of it's arms/wings might blow down houses, so why shouldn't it be able to control that to a slightly lesser degree?
I mean, Hariyama can learn Whirlwind, yet it has no wings.. OH right! It can probably do some special "Air gathering technique" with its arms, that allows it to some sort of control the wind due to it's Fighting-type. So why can't Lugia do the same? ;)

My entire idea with drastically changing his typing and his ability was the fact that

1) He's supposed to be a counterpart to Ho-oh, right? Then it's a nice match up, Flying vs Fighting, Water vs Fire.

2) That way, he can also serve as a COUNTER-part to most opponents. ^^

3) I wanted to make a crazy theory. lol.
+Anti: we were all noobs at some point
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Seen December 10th, 2013
Posted October 17th, 2009
5,583 posts
14.6 Years
Seeing Lugia as the counterpart would have worked out really nicely and could have even made a great movie with a battle between Lugia and Ho-oh [seeing as Ho-Oh still hasn't gotten its own movie] xD Though, having Psychic types moves to its advantage is nice too, plus it would keep it away from a 4x weakness to electric moves.

ShinjisLover

Seen May 11th, 2016
Posted July 5th, 2010
3,043 posts
14.4 Years
As for me, I think Lugia should be a Psychic/Flying. But, as for any difficult question, research is always in order.

Example:
Lugia are thought to be the leaders of the legendary birds of Kanto. Much like the birds, it possesses the ability to control the weather, most notably it can calm storms. They are highly intelligent, and because of the devastating power it could accidentally inflict, it isolates itself deep underwater.


To elaborate, Lugia are able to control the whether. How else but with Psychic powers.

Now, let's look at its movepool.
Water-type Moves:
  • Hydro Pump
  • Rain Dance


Psychic-type Moves:
  • Extrasensory
  • Calm Mind
  • Future Sight


There's ONE more psychic move. But these are just the moves it can learn via level-up. What about the rest?

Water
  • Water Pulse
  • Brine
  • Surf
  • Waterfall
  • Aqua Tail
  • Dive


Psychic
  • Light Screen
  • Psychic
  • Reflect
  • Rest
  • Skill Swap
  • Dream Eater
  • Trick
  • Zen Headbutt


It learns two more psychic-type moves as compared to the water-type moves.

In conclusion, it's psychic-type for its ability to control the weather and it only lives in the water to protect other people from its awesome powers. As for being the 'polar opposite' of Ho-Oh, the dex entries never once stated that. That is simply an observation by the fans. So it has never been explicitly stated by anyone or anything other than a fan that it is Ho-Oh's polar opposite, thus that's not a good back-up argument.

Superjub

Pokémon Aureolin

Age 28
Male
Hoenn
Seen August 23rd, 2022
Posted November 5th, 2014
2,288 posts
15.7 Years
To be honest, if they changed its type now, it would confuse the players. Meh, I guess we'll just have to cope with it being flying/psychic. Although I agree, but then again, why isn't Groudon fire as isn't it meant to be the opposite of Kyogre? :\ Also, when I was younger, I always thought it waf flying and water anyway. :P It would make more sense if it was water and flying though, as apart from it speaking telepathicaly and what-not, it doesn't really seem like a Psychic type, plus it usually resides in (minus XD) a place filled with water. :\ (Or in water itself, plus it learns quite a few water type moves, like Hydro Pump. :\)
Female
Earth
Seen May 28th, 2016
Posted April 11th, 2016
892 posts
14.6 Years
But even then, it is still kind of annoying and confusing that Psyduck and Golduck's most powerful Psychic-attack by level up is Confusion, and that they couldn't even learn Psychic by a TM until this generation.. -.-
Back in gen 1 psychic types were gods.
Psychic types were super powerful for the fact that the ghost types were part poison and the bug types were not very powerful.
They could only do so much without making psyduck/golduck too powerful.

Besides, Psyduck's/Golduck's only psychic move by level up was confusion and you could get one with psychic through trading from g/s/c.

Porygon-z is Normal

i think he should be steel or psychic

and gyarados< WTH he's flying
You don't know if the Porygons are made out of steel. They could be made out of plastic.
Also, there isn't any confirmation that they are psychic.
"Now that I have said it, it must be canon." -Little Kuriboh
"Though love may lose, kindness wins." - Science Fiction Novelist
"Destory all expectations." - Mortal Kombat DVD box
"I reject your reality and substitute my own." - The Dungeon Master/Ragewar
California
Seen September 13th, 2012
Posted August 8th, 2012
345 posts
14.1 Years
I'm fine with Lugia being Psychic/Flying...I was confused when it wasn't part Water, but now that it's been that way for so long it would be hard to adjust to a change, plus I wouldn't want it to have that x4 weakness to Electric attacks.

Always thought the Gyarados thing was strange, but as someone said, it wouldn't be very hard to obtain a Dragon type if Gyarados was part Dragon. I may not agree with it completely but I understand where they are coming from.

I do think Psyduck and Golduck should be part Psychic, though. I also always thought Vaporeon should be part Ice, but I understand why they did that, too--it would mess up the pattern they had going with the Eeveelutions.

[center]As for me, I think Lugia should be a Psychic/Flying. But, as for any difficult question, research is always in order.

Example:
Lugia are thought to be the leaders of the legendary birds of Kanto. Much like the birds, it possesses the ability to control the weather, most notably it can calm storms. They are highly intelligent, and because of the devastating power it could accidentally inflict, it isolates itself deep underwater.


To elaborate, Lugia are able to control the whether. How else but with Psychic powers.
Well, like I said I agree that Lugia's Psychic/Flying typing is fine. But that argument doesn't make much sense, lol. The example you cite states that the legendary birds of Kanto are able to control the weather, and they do it without Psychic powers, so why would Lugia need Psychic powers to do the same thing?

But I agree that Lugia hides underwater not because it has any affinity towards it but because it is trying to protect the world from its overwhelming strength.
Male
Stuck in Generation 3 :(
Seen July 23rd, 2017
Posted June 9th, 2017
1,761 posts
14.8 Years
As for me, I think Lugia should be a Psychic/Flying. But, as for any difficult question, research is always in order.

Example:
Lugia are thought to be the leaders of the legendary birds of Kanto. Much like the birds, it possesses the ability to control the weather, most notably it can calm storms. They are highly intelligent, and because of the devastating power it could accidentally inflict, it isolates itself deep underwater.


To elaborate, Lugia are able to control the whether. How else but with Psychic powers.

In conclusion, it's psychic-type for its ability to control the weather and it only lives in the water to protect other people from its awesome powers. As for being the 'polar opposite' of Ho-Oh, the dex entries never once stated that. That is simply an observation by the fans. So it has never been explicitly stated by anyone or anything other than a fan that it is Ho-Oh's polar opposite, thus that's not a good back-up argument.
Using Lugia's Psychic-type to justify its weather-controlling ability is not good, either. Groudon and Kyogre can both alter the weather with the abilities Drought and Drizzle respectively; they're not Psychic-type. Though Rayquaza cannot physically alter weather, it can negate weather effects with the Air Lock ability. It's not Psychic-type either.

Even Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow can alter the weather (Sand Stream and Snow Warning), and they're not even legendary, let alone Psychic-type. To "calm storms", as the Dex Entry says, Lugia could equally have Air Lock/Cloud Nine as its ability, essentially negating the effects of "storms" (Rain Dance's Water-type boost, Thunder's no-miss accuracy in rainfall). However, that would draw from Rayquaza's uniqueness.

With Lugia as Water/Flying, the creators could still let it possess a Psychic movepool, if it absolutely needs one. Even though the ability would be more fitting for Articuno, Lugia could have Snow Warning to display a unique weather-altering power. (The only reasons I'm doing a Hail-based ability are:

1. As Lugia is the Guardian of the Sea, and Hail is composed of ice (derived from water), the element fits. Again, I believe Articuno is more fitting for Snow Warning, though it would disrupt the equal abilities of its trio.
*I know a Snow Warning Lugia would hurt itself with Hail, but Groudon and Kyogre potentially set themselves up for KOs with their abilities (speedy Pkmn using Solarbeam on Groudon with Drought/Thunder on Kyogre with Drizzle)

2. Hail (transformed water) could be seen as a counter to Ho-oh. Instead of Pressure, Ho-oh could have Drought (since it is associated with fire and the sun).

3. Hail would give Lugia a weather-altering power without the need to go Psychic-type.

As for a Water/Flying Lugia, that is only to be seen as a counterpart to Ho-oh. While not stated to be polar opposites, many of Lugia's and Ho-oh's respective associations counter each other. Also, both Pokemon equally get a 4x weakness. Ho-oh gets an additional weakness to water because of its higher attacking stats.

Also, to preserve "uniqueness" (among legendaries only), if Groudon lost Drought to Ho-oh, it could take up Sand Stream instead, as that is its primary type. However, Groudon w/Drought better fits among the surrounding legends.
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I'd like mainly Gyarados (and maybe Charizard, though I like that its Flying-type suits its ACTUAL ABILITY TO FLY!) to be Dragon-type, too sadly, that could make them too over-powered. However, changes could be made in stats and movepools to lessen the threat and retain the Dragon-typing.

I got annoyed about the Bagon > Shelgon =/= Flygon, since the names are very suggestive of such a dragon family, rather than Salamence, which hints more towards salamander. But, I guess I can let Salamence be the "menace" that it is. ;) And anyway, "Flygon"could doubly imply that it's a dragonfly...

And lastly, WHY didn't they make Yanmega Bug/Dragon? It's a much better type combo than the repetitive Bug/Flying we've seen like a thousand times already.
Now how are we going to get a Bug/Dragon Pokemon?


All these inconsistencies just make me wanna get PokeSav and alter abilties and types to fit! Sigh... Anyway, it's just my opinion.


*When I'm dealing with Lugia and the like, I'm more concerned with the legends fitting the Pokemon rather than the Pokemon fitting the competitive scene. I'm not really that competitive, but I'll use competitive Pokemon sets if I need/want to. Sorry for the long post!
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Male
My evil little world....
Seen November 25th, 2010
Posted April 20th, 2010
392 posts
14.1 Years
Porygon-z is Normal

i think he should be steel or psychic

and gyarados< WTH he's flying
Agreed. Porygon and its evolutions should be classified as Psychic types; with Normal, they're pretty weak. ):

As for Lugia, I would agree with it being Water/Psychic type, but I don't really care either way since I don't use it xD.
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Seen December 10th, 2013
Posted October 17th, 2009
5,583 posts
14.6 Years
Agreed. Porygon and its evolutions should be classified as Psychic types; with Normal, they're pretty weak. ):

As for Lugia, I would agree with it being Water/Psychic type, but I don't really care either way since I don't use it xD.
Lugia would be stuck with its Flying type, as for Water and Psychic it can go either way, but they stuck it out with Psychic, and there most likely won't be going back to fix that.

As for Porygon, just because it can learn a few Psychic moves doesn't mean it nessecary to have it as a psychic type. There isn't much backing it for it even being part Psychic. xD