Favourite Legendary?

[An-chan]

Which Legendary Pokémon are close to your heart and why? Do you use them in battles and love them for their stats, or do you simply find the legends surrounding them interesting? Is there a distinctive favourite or do you like more than one Legendary Pokémon enough to call them your favourites? Why?

Or, do you perhaps not like the Legendaries in the first place? Why would that be?

And, to spice things up a bit: Which one do you think is the strongest? Or is there even a strongest one? Why do you think so?

I think that's a sufficient amount of questions to provoke some sort of discussion about the subject. :nod:

[Eccentric Microbe]

As far as legends goes, I Latias is among my favourites because of the story involving her and Latios.

Apart from that though, I also have a fondness for Raikou, Shaymin and Giratina. XD

[RapidPotential]

Eh, Lugia would probably be my favourite Legendary. I do like a couple of others though, like Mew, Latias, Dialga and Suicune.

[Camisado]

I guess Lugia is my favourite just because I loved the second movie so much. :3 He's very pretty. And I'm a bit of a sucker for legends and stories, so I quite enjoy his. I don't use legendaries in my games though, so I'm not the most knowledgeable person.

The strongest? I'd have to cop out and say Arceus because he's meant to be the deity...and he has the highest set of base stats (overall, some others have higher attack etc. but lower other stats), if I recall correctly.

[Strange Wigglytuff]

Favorite legendary, eh? Let's see...

Manaphy. Hands down. He just grew on me, but there are other reasons.

1. He's the only Legendary I like at all. Some of them scare me half to death (don't tell me that you don't feel that Groudon, Kyorge, and Palkia aren't capable of ending the world), and the others are just plain uninteresting (pretty much every other legendary that isn't the Lake Trio).

2. He is SO adorable. Who wouldn't love Manaphy?

3. The Manaphy bit in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

4. Heart Swap. I have a LOT of scenarios involving that.

[An-chan]

My favourite legendary is probably Mew. I love all the genetics jargon surrounding the concept of that Pokémon. The little biologist in me just can't resist that. Mew also has a charming personality, if the first movie is anything to go by. Also, it's cute. :3

I also find myself liking Dialga and Palkia a lot. This is because there's so much writing potential in them: they live in a separate dimension and they are, essentially, the guardians of time and space, respectively. I find that rather intriguing, and so I used them in my fic. I like their characters a lot, but I've understood that they aren't quite as docile in the movies. Oh, well.

That said, I've also used Manaphy because of Heart Swap. It was fun to write, except that I failed in foreshadowing, ended up revealing the plot twist through the narration before it happened, and so on. I suck at keeping secrets. I might revise that fic to make it something better, we'll see.

As for the strongest one, I'm going to have to go with Arceus, as well. Being the supposed "God" of Pokémon world, I don't think there's much to say against that. That's why I think it might also be a slight mistake to include such a Pokémon, since now they can't rally make anything better and stronger than the already existing legendaries. But, meh, I don't think that's such a big issue, anyway. I don't use them in games, I just like them for the stories and legends surrounding them. :nod:

[Sentrovasi]

Used to really like Articuno. Used to like Celebi as well.

Now? Not so much. Gotten kinda jaded, to be honest. I mean, yes, repeatedly churning them out is probably necessary to make a premise for another game, but after a while the stories seem a little tacked-on.

I like Jirachi's design, though. Wishing star is cute. Slips of paper tacked on is a nice touch.

[Eccentric Microbe]

I loved Mew in the first movie, but it's reappearance in movie eight with Lucario kind of disappointed me (especially the fact that they changed voice actors!)

[Bay Alexison]

My pun-loving Lugia. :P

In all seriousness though, have to say Jirachi. He's just so cute and I love him in the sixth movie. The legendary beasts have a place in my heart too, though.

[Jax]

The Johto ones. All of them. It's not because their designs are pretty. It's not because they're powerful or just because they're gods or special. It's because Johto legends are so hilariously violent it's no wonder a number of the Johto NPCs in the games are at least a little bit crazy. I mean, when it comes to Johto legendaries, you've got:

The Three Dogs Cats Gerbils
Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. The embodiments of lightning, volcanoes, and the North Wind. Aside from the fact that all three are elements of nature that have the potential to claim innocent human lives (North Wind included if it's considered the bringer of blizzards and frostbite), in one legend, they were created by being killed and resurrected by Ho-oh. Oh, and in the anime (in "For Ho-oh the Bells Toll," at least), they watch over mankind to decide whether or not it's worthy to be in the presence of Ho-oh again.

Lugia
The Guardian of the Sea. You know. The one that brought in storms to sink ships going from Cianwood to Olivine and back. Also, it lives in a set of islands surrounded by dangerous whirlpools, and Johto parents have been known to tell their children that it would kidnap naughty kids and drag them to its lair. No, seriously. This was in the games, folks.

Celebi
It's the cute, green pixie of the forest. Also, if you happen to so much as hear it on your innocent walk through the woods, you'll never be seen again. (If the fourth movie's little legend has anything to say about this, and never mind the lulz-paradox ending.)

Ho-oh
Actually, Ho-oh is pretty mild canonically, but I always like to imagine it to be the rage-filled jerk who, after getting pissed off at humanity, was the one who called down the storm that burnt the Bronze Tower to the ground. In any case, in the anime canon, it's mostly, "Yeah, uh, mankind? Clearly, because you killed these three Pokémon over here, you all suck, so I'm just going to fly away and let you guys kill each other for the rest of eternity." And this interpretation means it's currently my favorite.

So, yes. Hoenn has legends that shape the world but that's about it. Sinnoh has ancient legends, but they're mostly pretending to be Christianity. Kanto has the three birds, but other than being, "lulz, i is avatar of nature who shall help humanity if they need guiding off this mountain while blasting the other two birds in the face," they don't really do much to pique my interest. Johto? Johto scars its children for life in any way possible. And that's just awesome.

As for the other questions:

1. I don't really use them in battles, in part because I just find a lot of the ordinary Pokémon a lot more interesting to raise. So, it's mostly the legends that I like to play with as well as the potential for fanfic.

2. The strongest? Probably Arceus. Highest base stats, for one, right? But if not (because my memory sucks, and I'm too lazy to go look things up), you can't really argue with what's the creator god of the entire flipping universe itself. Arceus looks at Dialga and Palkia, masters of space and time, and goes, "Pfft. Please. I created you when I was bored."

[Alakazam]

I suppose my favourite has always been Articuno. I liked the initial designs, his then unique typing, and the Pokedex entry saying that he would appear to doomed people in the mountains. That and he was probably the first legendary I ever faced, in any of the games. But mostly the former. ^^

Articuno remained a staple on many of my teams until the 3rd Gen came around, and using legends became a taboo. Though once I finish my training of these 4th Gen critters, I'll probably be considering raising myself another Artie. X3

[Dragonfree]

Dialga, Raikou and Articuno, pretty much. Articuno because it's pretty and I like Ice-types, Raikou because it's cool and a tiger (no matter what you say) and I love tigers, and Dialga because it looks cool and rules time, no matter how lame it was in the tenth movie. I'm shallow that way.

Because I think in game terms, Arceus is inevitably the strongest.

[Mizan]

Well actually, I like all the legendaries but I'll just list down the top in my list.

Mewtwo
Mewtwo was in the game Kanto was he/she/it not? Mewtwo's psychicx stance is just palin awesome and I feel that it has to be one of the coolest Pokemo I know. If Pokemon didn't have to comply with censorship, It would be cool to have Mewtwo snap someones neck or toss them around like a ragdoll before cracking their spine. Mewtwo has a lot of untapped potential.

Moltres
The original quartet,or trio not counting Lugia. Besides being the only fire/flying type and being in the Flame Species, Moltres is completely badass in my books.Yes I know electricity and Ice can kill but that's kind of subtle whereas fire burns almost instantly. Again, if I had my way, Moltres would spew blue flames and be the cause of global warming. XD

Lugia
The bird of the storms. What more could you ask for? Creating whirlpools and possibly typhoons with the potential to evolve into the storm of the century. That is completely awe inspiring.

Groudon
It created the land. Nuff said.

Shaymin-Sky forme
It just looks cool. I have yet to watch the movie or play the game.

[Geist]

Like Jax, I like all the Johto ones, they is pretty and cool. 'Specially Lugia and Suicune. I have a thing for water types :P.

[Post Office Buddy]

My personal favorite is Mewtwo, and has been for many years, but that's mostly a result of how effin' cool I thought it was when Mewtwo Strikes Back was released.

As for which is the strongest, it's hard to give a definitive answer based on game canon because of type advantages/disadvantages. Since the game canon is ruled by stats, it would be difficult for one legendary to defeat another that has an advantage against it. In every other canon, it would probably be Arceus because of the "creator-of-the-world" thing it has going on.

[Giratina]

Take a wild guess. xD Yes, kiddies, it's Giratina. I don't recall when I suddenly realized that this Pokémon was just the coolest one ever, but it probably had something to do with when I used her as a major character in Metal Coat - before that, I had chosen Giratina as a namesake because I liked Dragon-types and it was cool.