#403 - Shinx
Electric
Shinx is a pretty cool Pokemon, because early-game Electric-types aren't all that common outside of Pikachu, and being able to catch a three-stage Electric-type line fairly easily at the beginning is a great way to mix things up as opposed to the usual birds, bugs, and beavers. And if you're an Electric fan, Shinx is pretty much your best option in Diamond and Pearl unless you want to go with Pikachu or the new Pika clone---thankfully Platinum fixed things up quite a bit with the Magnemite and Elekid lines becoming available, complete with new evolutions, but like Fire Electric got a rather poor showing this time around in terms of the Regional Dex. Thankfully, Shinx is a pretty good Pokemon who does a good job at serving as a Physically-based Electric Pokemon, Game Freak making sure to give it a decent Physical Electric-type attack early on in Spark, and also has the always useful Intimidate as an Ability, or the new Rivalry Ability which raises its Attack if the foe is the same gender. If you happen to go with Rivalry, I believe the majority of in-game Pokemon happen to be male so you'll probably want a male Shinx. Either way, I imagine many players---myself included---used Shinx during their first playthrough of Sinnoh because it has a rather eye-catching design, is quite unique, and is very easy to come by. I also used him as my Partner in Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky alongside Phanpy. I miss when you could be non-Starter Pokemon in Mystery Dungeon.
So, there's a big debate over what animal the Shinx family is based on---is it a lion, or a lynx? Now, awhile back in this very thread, Boss Doggie shot down the notion that they're lynxes, but I'm here to tell you he's wrong. Now, to be fair, I don't think people seeing it as a lion are necessarily crazy---I remember when a silhouette of Shinx was first posted on the Japanese "Pokemon Garden" site, everyone noticed how it basically matched the classic "Kimba the White Lion"---but all evidence points to it mainly being a lynx, and I hope to show you here what that is. The fact that Generation VI introduced a straight-up lion Pokemon, who looks noticeable different than the Shinx line, only supports my point of view in my mind.
Well, you look at Shinx's dub name and you go, "hey, it rhymes with lynx!". But don't forget that the dub names are created separately from the designs by the Japanese Game Freak staff, and can sometimes be misleading---however, Shinx's Japanese name is "Kolink", and while there doesn't appear to be any reference to the lynx at first the way the Japanese language works "links" and "lynx" are both "rinkusu", so personally I believe like usual Game Freak was going for a dual-pun so those claiming that the localization invented the lynx connection aren't necessarily correct. Visually, while Shinx admittedly doesn't look necessarily like a lynx, it does have the trademark "bow-tie" ruff of fur that lynx are known for, as well as their bright-yellow eyes. In fact the word lynx derives from the Indo-European root-word for light, "leuk", in reference to their glowing eyes, and this may be why Game Freak was inspired to make them Electric-type Pokemon. Pay attention to the eye motif, as it becomes very important in regards to Shinx's final form and the main reason why I definitely believe it's meant to be a lynx.
Shinx played a semi-important role in Diamond and Pearl under the ownership of Angie, a rather interesting reoccurring character. She was basically a gender-swapped Ash, with Shinx serving as her Pikachu, and was a rather fun yet oddly underutilized character. Like, you know fans love to ship Ash with all the female leads, but he legitimately had good chemistry with Angie and their relationship felt very natural to the point that if I cared about romance in Pokemon, I would say that she was Ash's soul-mate. And then, after like a few episodes, she totally disappeared for good and was never mentioned again, in a season that actually seemed to care about continuity and character development. It was certainly odd, and to this day I'm not sure what the point of her character was. For Shinx, though, this wasn't the end of its importance to the show---in fact the line ended up becoming part of the main cast years later, as we'll see with its evolutions.
#404 - Luxio
Electric
At Level 15, Shinx evolves into Luxio. It's an all-around solid line that grows fast enough to never get left-behind, and in Diamond and Pearl it's at this stage that the line gains the solid Spark---though in Platinum it was bumped up to Level 13, Bite being switched around with it, and has remained this way ever since. The biggest issue with Luxio though is that beyond Spark, or Bite, it doesn't learn any other attack moves until it evolves and might become somewhat of a limited member when faced with Pokemon it doesn't have a Type Advantage against. Speaking of the Shinx line and Mystery Dungeon, in the original Mystery Dungeon Explorers Time/Darkness, Luxio and its evolution played a role as a boss during the story. But when Shinx was made a playable character in Explorers of Sky, I guess they thought it'd be weird using it to take on its evolutions and thus Luxio and co. were switched for Electrike and Manetric.
Well, with this stage, the jury over whether or not it's a lynx or a lion is still out---the name, "Luxio", which it shares in both the localization and the original seems to be a combination of "lux" and "leo", though visually I think Luxio is the one member of the line who definitely resembles a lynx due to how its ruffy mane looks, that's certainly not the usual lion-style mane. But just wait for the next form, that's when sparks will fly! One element the localized name of Shinx and Luxio introduces is a connection to Sphinxes, with Shinx of course seemingly referencing the creature by name and the "Lux" in Luxio possible being seen as referencing the Egyptian city of Luxor known for its "Avenue of Sphinx", though this seems a coincidence as the reference to "lux" as in light seems to make the most sense, and apart from being a cat there's nothing really Sphinx-like about it. But if you wanna read into it that way, I won't stop you.
In Diamond and Pearl, Luxio had a rather weird filler about it rescuing a stranded Wailmer from a sewer. And then, two series later in XY, it became a member of the main cast when Clemont caught one, an old childhood friend of his that he had accidentally abandoned back when it was a Shinx. Needless to say, this shocked a lot of folks. When it comes to Pokemon joining the main cast, typically they're either new Pokemon, or have a new evolution, or Pokemon related to a remake such as May getting Bulbasaur around Fire Red and Leaf Green or Dawn getting Cyndaquil around Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Luxio, on the other hand, was completely irrelevant---it is not a new Pokemon in XY, it doesn't have a new evolution nor does its line have a Mega, it's not from Hoenn and thus can't tied into ORAS, and in fact the line isn't even in the Kalos Dex, nor does Clemont use one in the games. In all fairness, he really should've caught Electrike who fits all those requirements bar the last one, but it's kind of cool to see a random old Pokemon get added to the main cast, and I'd love to see that happen more.
#405 - Luxray
Electric
At Level 30, Luxio evolves into Luxray. Now, I like Luxray, but surely I'm not the only one who looked at him and wished he could've ended up as Electric/Dark, am I? He has the look, and he has the moves, and that'd be a rather cool Type Combination, yet sadly it wasn't meant to be. In-game, Luxray is pretty good with a high Attack and some nice moves, though sadly in Generation IV Spark and Thunder Fang are the best STAB he has available to him, but it's basically Electric and Dark-type moves (unless you breed/tutor), and nothing else really, so he's good when you need him, worthless otherwise. In the competitive scene, he's an all-around average Electric-type Pokemon as while he's very powerful and can learn a decent set of Physical moves to take advantage of his Attack with the right breeding, he's also surprisingly slow at only 70 Speed which feels very off and an odd design choice given how sleek he appears. But I had fun using him in Pearl, so don't overlook him for an adventure due to some of his flaws.
Now, with Luxray, I can see how people look at it and see it as a lion---I did at first when I first played Diamond and Pearl. In fact, it seems it's meant to be rather ambiguous as a mix between multiple large cats including the lynx, the lion, and even a tiger as its Japanese name, "Rentorar", includes an elongated "tora", "tiger", at the end. However, in terms of motif, Luxray does indeed borrow elements of the lynx due to its superior vision which allows its golden-eyes to see through solid walls! Though the actual lynx isn't capable of such extreme visionary feats, according to Wikipedia mythological interpretations of the lynx often suggest its glowing eyes are capable of seeing through solid objects and is seen as a symbol of unraveling hidden truths. Game Freak really did their homework for this one, huh, because I had no clue about that element of the lynx until I read up on Luxray. So, well, I guess you could say it's inspired by the mythological lynx, kind of looks like a lion, and is named for a tiger originally---everyone wins this way, huh? But if I'm forced to pick just one animal, sorry Doggie, but I feel I've made it clear that the lynx appears to be the main design motif. One other neat little bit---while English calls them X-rays, other languages call them "rontgen rays" after their discoverer, the German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen. In Japan, this is rendered as "rentogen" and that's where the "ren" in "Rentorar" comes from.
In Diamond and Pearl, Luxray first appeared in a filler episode that was kind of cool since it featured a young Officer Jenny named "Marble"---I forgot if it was ever explained why she had a different name from the rest, but this seems to point that Jenny isn't a first name, but rather a surname. It makes a bit more sense in Japan where they're known as "Junsar", basically a pun on "junsa", "police", which sounds more like a surname or simply a casual term to refer to them as. It also served as Volkner's strongest Pokemon, fighting with Infernape and being taken down when the latter finally mastered Blaze. In XY, Clemont's Luxio eventually evolved into Luxray during a battle with Team Rocket and became his strongest Pokemon perhaps, using him as his ace against Ash in their much-hyped Gym Battle. Luxray did not disappoint as while it lost (c'mon, Ash had to win!) it put up a great fight. While Clemont in XY keeps all of his main Electric-type Pokemon at his Gym, Luxray continues to travel with him and I imagine with the plot pumping up for XY&Z, will get to battle again soon.