![]() ![]() The lunar form seems like a much more drastic change from Rockruff, with a shift to a hunched but bipedal posture and an obvious colour change from brown and cream to a striking crimson, as well as the replacement of the stone “collar” with an impressive and luxuriant white mane. He also gets eyes that glow blood-red in battle, for an added sinister air. Modern werewolves tend to have a specific laundry list of traits like vulnerability to silver and the ability to transfer their curse via a bite, which are not properties Lycanroc shares, although his posture could be taken from the human/wolf hybrid forms of many modern werewolves, and of course he has the most important feature of all: a connection to moonlight (werewolves transform when exposed to the light of the full moon). The lunar “Midnight” form is werewolf-like, as hinted by Lycanroc’s name, which seems to derive from “lycanthrope” (from the Greek λύκος/ lukos, wolf, and ἄνθρωπος/ anthropos, person) the same connotation goes through all of his alternative names in other languages, some of them via the French loup-garou. The solar “Midday” form is wolf-like, and feels to me like a more “natural” evolution of Rockruff than the lunar form, keeping Rockruff’s colour scheme and emphasising his most distinctive feature, the “collar” of stones. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are planned to add a new Dusk form with characteristics of both, which requires a unique Rockruff with the Own Tempo ability to evolve between 5 and 6 pm, on either game. In future generations we can probably expect this to become a straightforward day/night fork like Espeon and Umbreon. This is put down to the “influence” of Solgaleo and Lunala, which could mean almost anything and doesn’t appear to have any effect on other Pokémon in Alola. The way its path is chosen is a new one for split evolutions: Rockruff evolves differently depending on which version of the game you have, Sun or Moon, though wild Lycanroc of the opposite form can be found on both games. Lycanroc comes in two varieties, one associated with the day, and the other the night. A bit generic, slotting in alongside Growlithe and Lillipup almost unnoticed, but that’s sort of to be expected for the basic stage of an early-game Pokémon, and the Rock element is incorporated in a neat way with the “collar.” The meat of what this design is supposed to be doing comes with the evolved form: Lycanroc. In other words, they’re almost exactly like real dogs – energetic, devoted and affectionate to the point of being overbearing. Nonetheless, Rockruff is one of the Pokémon most favoured for beginners in the Alola region because they have a friendly and loyal disposition that makes them easy to train and command, and are also extremely tenacious in battle. This little ritual apparently extends to their human friends as well, which can cause significant discomfort. Rockruff’s most distinctive feature is a “collar” (or “ruff”?) of stones, which apparently has a social function – Rockruff greet each other by rubbing their stony collars on each other’s bodies. Physically we’re looking at something quite close to Growlithe, with a different colour scheme and obviously very distinct powers, but very similar in terms of personality and behaviour. Physically, Rockruff’s design is very straightforwardly based on a domestic dog, perhaps an Akita Inu (a large Japanese dog breed with a wolf-like countenance and a fluffy tail). Today’s Pokémon is Professor Kukui’s loyal partner, Rockruff, and his evolved form – or rather forms, as we’ll see – Lycanroc, the latest additions to Pokémon’s growing stable (or, uh… kennel) of dog Pokémon. ![]()
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