Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain...

Source: Bulbapedia, Wikipedia, Bulbapedia, Enchanted Nature

Xerneas and Yveltal are my favorite legendary designs. There's something weirdly alien about these bio-luminescent approximations of fauna, like they're trying to look like animals and failing. I've always thought they looked a little bit...fungal.

Xerneas and Yveltal are like batteries. They're life energy brokers; Xerneas distributes life, while Yveltal drains it. Supporting and draining life is one of the main characteristics of fungi. In fact, it's like their whole thing.

Some fungi have a mutualistic relationship with their hosts, where they actually benefit their health. And in general, fungi are essential to supporting the ecosystem. Then there's fungi that are simply parasitic.

Fungi can also go dormant, as well as their spores. Staying still is their thing, just chilling in dark places. Xerneas and Yveltal's dormant forms are especially weird, showing just how anomalous these creatures are.

Now allow me to lichen fauna to fungi.

Sources: Bulbapedia, New Forest Pics, Wikipedia, Mushroom Diary Blog

This is xylaria hypoxylon, also known as Stag's Horn fungus. (Not to be confused with Yellow Staghorn.) It reminds me a lot of the dormant form of Xerneas, or the "deactivated" form it takes in the PC.

Stag's Horn is also bio-luminscent, which means the tips of the fungus faintly glow - much like the tips of Xerneas's antlers.

Speaking of the first legendary Fairy Pokemon, mushrooms are often associated with fairies. Fairy Rings are circles of mushrooms that are connected by mycelium underneath. (I'll get into mycelium in just a second.) There are too many myths about Fairy Rings to get into here, so for now I'll just point out the Fairy Ring around Valerie's Gym in Laverre City.

Sources: Bulbapedia, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Enchanted Nature, UK Wildlife

I'm not sure whether Bulbapedia or Dr. King on Pokemon Amino first likened Yveltal to Devil's Fingers, but the similarities are uncanny. Like Yveltal emerges from its cocoon, Devil's Fingers emerge from what is called their "egg stage". I tried to find the least unsettling picture of this that I could. Enjoy...?

I mean, what kind of bird turns into a cocoon, anyway? Honestly though, fungus isn't supposed to hatch from an egg either, so this is all mixed up.

Okay, so Xerneas and Yveltal are based on different aspects of Yggdrasil. But if you were going to design Pokemon based on Yggdrasil, the World Tree that connects the universe, wouldn't you base it on fungi rather than an actual tree? Mycelium can actually partner with the roots of plants and other fungus to create a widespread beneficial mycorrhizal network, a truly interconnected ecosystem of organisms.

Source: BBC News - How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other

And that's why Xerneas and Yveltal are fungi. Or it could be part of their inspiration, at least. They're not necessarily inspired by these specific fungi, but I think the concept may be part of their design. Either way, Gen VI is especially fun to research!

Reviewed by @fluffybunnybadass.

Check out my posts about Pokemon Legends: Z-A:

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Is Z-A Just Zygarde-A? (%1000 Zygarde and the Fragments of the Tree of Life)

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

Yall ever think about how nice it would be to link to the mycelial network

The Power of Mycelium Networks!

Think of mycelium as tiny threads that belong to a larger fungal organism. These threads wrap around or dig into tree roots. When many of these threads come together, they create what's known as a "mycorrhizal network." This network connects different plants together and helps them share things like water, nitrogen, carbon, and other important minerals. So basically, mycelium acts like nature's underground internet, connecting plants and helping them trade essential resources.

I wrote a chapbook of Star Trek inspired poetry, and it's out now!

Mycelium Leaf

Western Washington, May 20 2022 Mary Howerton (shop)

Maybe they're sharing memes YOU couldn't possibly fathom. I, on the other hand, can cast speak with fungi like some fucked up mycelial wiretap

Tumblr will connect with the Fediverse soon!

Tumblr made it official today, Tumblr will add ActivityPub protocol support to the platform, allowing its users to interact with the millions of users in the Fediverse (a.k.a. Mycelial Network).

A lot of people have been looking for a Tumblr like platform for the Fediverse / Mycelial Network, and it is coming as the official platform joins the Federated Social Web.

True Web3.0!

do u think the mycelial network

👉👈 like likes me? 🥺

my problems with discovery's spore drive have nothing to do with the wacky mushroom science. Like this is Star Trek™ not some bonefide diamond on the Moh's Scale of Sci-Fi hardness like The Martian. I know to expect the writers playing a bit fast and loose with physics and how the real world works. I'm here for that wackniess, actually. Love me some technobabble about mycelial spores or tetryon particles or whatever! the thing that doesn't work for me is the way the spore drive acts narratively, and how the technology was introduced within the timeline of the series. Like it's just obvious that the writers aren't willing to let anyone else but Discovery have access to the spore drive. They twisted up the Glenn in season one, so Discovery is the only ship with a spore drive. They hemmed and hawed about genetic modification in season 2 so no one else got a spore drive. They purged records of the spore drive's existence from history and claimed that no one else had tried to make anything like it in 900 years despite a massive dilithium shortage and canonical search for other methods of propulsion in season 3. And then at the very end, just when you think, oh hey maybe the entire population of Kwejian will make for a nice crop of new spore drive pilots, the writers fucking blow up their whole planet just so they don't have to let anyone else have the spore drive. And to be fair, they can't really let anyone else have it, or else Discovery loses it's right to be "the only one we can turn to in a crisis". And that's really all it has going for it. So, I get it! Still hate it, though. And, even moreso than all the silly narrative contrivances that are used to nerf transporter technology so that the plot can still happen, this bothers me. Because sure, all the ion storms and interference can get a bit stupid. We all make fun of star trek for inventing a technology that could immediately yoink our blorbos away from their problems, only to turn around and force it to not work when it's needed most. But at least there isn't just one ship that has the ability to use the transporter at all. That would be ridiculous. Everyone would want their own transporter. And yet, that's the situation we have in Discovery. Only one ship can travel across the galaxy in the blink of an eye. The show writers keep contriving to keep it that way. And given how useful instantaneous travel is, the fact that it hasn't been replicated once, by any species in the galaxy, not just the Federation, in 900 years is just stretching the limits of my willing suspension of disbelief.

who am i outside of tumblr? well, that's a bit complicated. you see, ‘i’ am in fact a mycelial network, absorbing, processing, and synthesizing information from stimuli around me, intermittently metabolising the material gathered into academic writings that are then submitted to various institutions and publications by human beings independent of the network. while this process is the chief source of sustenance, it is only one among many in an existence that can only be apprehended as a process. also, in case you were wondering, yes, some of the parts are composed of silicon for enhanced electrical conductivity.

What a nice relaxing plant themed event! Sure hope no stalactites fall on it, gee that'd be a shame--

Inside of you there is a world. Colonies of life coexist in a certain kind of harmony, enabling your life and theirs. You don't get a choice about it.

Outside of you there is a world. Colonies of life coexist in a certain kind of harmony, enabling your life and theirs. You don't get a choice about it.

We are all irrevocably interconnected, from the smallest life to the biggest, like one large organism.

i read this great comic recently called “birds of maine” by michael deforge and i really recommend it, especially if you’re a bird nerd. its basically the dispossessed by ursula leguin if it was about birds and done in a daily 6-panel style.

you can read it here - it’ll take a bit of scrolling to get to the first panels but i definitely recommend reading from the start.

Hunter Theowlhouse would get consumed by the Corruption so fast. Discuss.