Implicating shadow_lugia → lugia
Link to implication

Reason:

Shadow Lugia, also known as XD001, was originally a Lugia before being corrupted into a Shadow Pokémon. Unlike other Shadow Pokémon in the Orre games, Shadow Lugia's colouration vastly changes to a dark variant.

While there are images of other Shadow Pokémon with the same colouration scheme, (which should possibly come under a 'Shadow_Pokémon' tag) Shadow Lugia is canonically the only one to have such a colouration.

On a side note, if there is a Shadow_Pokémon tag, it should be considered separate from the alternative_color tag.

Edit:

I have since agreed that this implication is not needed.

Based on the fact that Mega Evolved Pokémon are no longer implying their original counterparts (ex. Mega Lucario no longer implies Lucario), I wouldn't support this.

GameManiac said:
Based on the fact that Mega Evolved Pokémon are no longer implying their original counterparts (ex. Mega Lucario no longer implies Lucario), I wouldn't support this.

Mega Evolutions aren't recolors; they're new designs, even if similar.

While it has unique moves, aesthetically Shadow Lugia is literally a Lugia with different (inverted) colors, and those colors vanish once Shadow Lugia is purified.

Ergo, all Shadow Lugia should also be tagged Lugia, should they not?

FibS said:
Ergo, all Shadow Lugia should also be tagged Lugia, should they not?

Because of TWYS, no.

I don't see a Lugia. I see a Shadow Lugia.

I agree with GM. Shadow Lugia is its own character

I don't think that the comparison to Mega Evolutions is necessarily valid. Mega Evolutions generally differ in more than just color, whereas Shadow Lugia is a color swap. It is more similar to a Shiny Pokemon, in that sense.

That said, I'm not entirely opposed to it keeping its own tag either. It would make searching for Lugia X Shadow Lugia art easier.

I just don't think that the Mega Evolution precedent holds in this case. I can see it going either way.

doing ~lugia also allows you to find shadow_lugia. The same "~" to a pokemon allows you to find its mega evolution as well.

Just a pro tag tip for those searching for all forms of any given Pokémon, or anything else I general.

GameManiac said:
Because of TWYS, no.

I don't see a Lugia. I see a Shadow Lugia.

Yeah that's stupid. It's a Lugia that's colored black. You're basically pulling a Ken Penders with this logic.

FibS said:
Yeah that's stupid. It's a Lugia that's colored black. You're basically pulling a Ken Penders with this logic.

In the end, it's the Admins' call. I'm just throwing my opinion here based on what I've seen done in a similar forum.

GameManiac said:
doing ~lugia also allows you to find shadow_lugia. The same "~" to a pokemon allows you to find its mega evolution as well.

Just a pro tag tip for those searching for all forms of any given Pokémon, or anything else I general.

Nope. That's showing them because they're also tagged as lugia. It's *lugia to get them all.

Clawdragons said:
I don't think that the comparison to Mega Evolutions is necessarily valid. Mega Evolutions generally differ in more than just color, whereas Shadow Lugia is a color swap. It is more similar to a Shiny Pokemon, in that sense.

There's some minor differences. The horn and spikes are more jagged and sharp. But yes, overall it's probably closer to shiny_pokemon than mega_pokemon.

That said, I'm not entirely opposed to it keeping its own tag either. It would make searching for Lugia X Shadow Lugia art easier.

I'd prefer keeping them separate for that reason. Though unlike the mega pokemon, Shadow Lugia hasn't been tagged much - and there likely won't be many new posts. So those will still be relatively easy to find even if it is implicated.

GameManiac said:
Because of TWYS, no.

I don't see a Lugia. I see a Shadow Lugia.

meh, like with "shiny" pokemon (so they might be rarer and have different stats, these are still merely palette swaps to the eyes), a palette swap is a palette swap to my eyes.

i still don't know why palette swaps in games started getting so much special treatment. you wouldn't think much of anything about them in older games.

treos said:
meh, like with "shiny" pokemon (so they might be rarer and have different stats, these are still merely palette swaps to the eyes), a palette swap is a palette swap to my eyes.

i still don't know why palette swaps in games started getting so much special treatment. you wouldn't think much of anything about them in older games.

Perhaps, but Shadow Lugia does have minute alterations in comparison to Lugia. Most notably are the spikes and "eyebrows".

Well. After reading the comments made so far, I have to admit that yes, Shadow Lugia, despite being a form of Lugia, doesn't need to be directly implicated.

However. I would like to note that I would like the implication to be to Shadow_Pokémon, which itself implies Pokémon. Because a Shadow Pokémon is not a Mega - in fact, my own personal headcanon is that Shadow Pokémon can't go Mega and Mega Pokémon can't be corrupted into Shadow Pokémon. True, in cases other than Shadow Lugia, it could be seen as an alternative_color, though.

Edit: I have since made the new implications in these threads: https://e621.net/forum/show/186189 and https://e621.net/forum/show/186190

Come to think about it, maybe it be treated like a character tag instead of a species? Since XD001 is the only Shadow Lugia in the whole franchise..

In which case the implication would be fine: it'd be similar to how the other 'named' pokemon are tagged. Such as grovyle_the_thief (a grovyle).

Genjar said:
Come to think about it, maybe it be treated like a character tag instead of a species? Since XD001 is the only Shadow Lugia in the whole franchise..

In which case the implication would be fine: it'd be similar to how the other 'named' pokemon are tagged. Such as grovyle_the_thief (a grovyle).

You do have a point there.

But, the fact is that there are OCs whom are Shadow Lugias. I myself have one, for instance. Plus, there may be more than one Shadow Lugia in an image. Again, I have an image which has two Shadow Lugias, one of whom was transformed into one.

The only one which could be implicated is XD001 themselves. However, the TWYS stuff means it may be impossible to tell them apart from other Shadow Lugias, which makes that problematic.

Either way, Shadow Lugia will not imply Lugia, much like how a Mega Pokémon does not imply the base form of the Pokémon. If that were the case, then in theory a Lucario could be implied to be its pre-evolved form, Riolu - but due to Riolu being a Baby Pokémon, some people may blacklist Q- or M-rated pictures with them in it. Which would, if the implication happened, blacklist Lucarios who are in a Q- or M-rated image.