#605 - Elgyem
Psychic
Elgyem is a strange little Psychic-type Pokemon who loves to hang around burial sites for some reason, primarily Celestial Tower in Black and White and later Mt. Pyre in ORAS. I decided to use this guy (named Mulder) in Pokemon White and was sorely disappointed in his performance, like Swoobat he really let me down as a Psychic-type Pokemon due to a rather limited and gimmicky moveset combined with horrid Speed and limited bulk---his Hidden Ability, Analytic, works together with his low Speed by increasing the power of his attacks when he goes last but at the time HA Elgyem had not been released so I settled for one with Telepathy which allows him to avoid ally attacks in Double and Triple Battles. The reason for him coming across as quite a horrid Pokemon seems to be due to the fact it seems like he was made more with Doubles and Triples in mind, with a variety of unique support moves, so it was probably my mistake for not checking out his playstyle before deciding to use him.
But I couldn't pass this Pokemon over because he's one gimmick I wanted Pokemon to tackle for the longest time---an authentic alien Pokemon. So we've had Pokemon speculated to be aliens (Clefairy), we've had non-alien Pokemon inspired by aliens (Sableye), and we have a Pokemon who in some canons is an alien, but otherwise is a mutated space virus (Deoxys), but Elgyem is our first Pokemon who is straight up an alien. Black and White came out around the time I was marathoning the X-Files series, which I hadn't given a chance as a kid due to being terrified of the theme song alone, so when I first saw this Pokemon I was pretty hyped. Now in truth I think the design of this family isn't the greatest, and it seems a lot of folks agree with me because they're pretty forgettable among the majority of fans, but thematically this Pokemon was a great addition to the franchise and I'm all for more extraterrestrial Pokemon appearing down the line. I'm still waiting for the Flatwoods and Mothman Pokemon Game Freak!
So Elgyem's name looks really weird but if you spell it backwards you get---Meygle! Wait, no, the hidden meaning of the name isn't based on spelling it differently, but rather how it's pronounced as it's meant to sound like the acronym L.G.M., "little green men". Most folks probably won't pick up on this though, probably thinking it's pronounced as "El-gym", and wonder what exactly the localization was thinking when they created this name. Elgyem is inspired by the stereotypical "grey aliens", the most common type of alien of them all which are known for their wide eyes and bulbous heads and tendency to abduct folks---they first became known to the public in the infamous case of Barney and Betty Hill, an interracial couple who claimed to have been abducted in 1961. Some have theorized this event was the result of stress the couple experienced due to not adhering to social norms at the time, though the Hills have argued that there marriage didn't cause any issues in the community, or was influenced by an episode of Outer Limits that aired a few weeks before the event occurred featuring aliens. It's also said to have appeared in the Pokemon World fifty years ago at a UFO crash-site in the desert, bringing to mind the infamous Roswell Incident---this would mean Black and White takes place around 2000, if it follows out calendar, since Roswell happened in 1947. It's also been noted that its tri-colored hands resemble the faces of the aliens from the 1953 adaptation of War of the Worlds by Paramount, and its stone-shaped head has been compared to various stone circles attributed to aliens that are found throughout Europe making this Pokemon seriously neat for those invested in alien lore.
Elgyem's focus episode in Best Wishes was pretty neat, taking place at "Area 28" which looked like a place you'd see in an old alien B-Movie complete with a roadside diner the gang stopped by---I like when the anime forgoes the usual forest/city setting for a more interesting locale. Though previous episodes made it clear that Iris was the superstitious one while Cilan was the scientific one, this episode twisted that a bit by showing that Cilan did entertain the notion of extraterrestrials and was a fan of UFOs---not too different from how Mulder from the X-Files was an avid believer in certain phenomenon but was highly skeptical of religion, a fact that many characters who copy the Mulder/Scully dynamic don't quite get. Anyway in this episode an Elgyem had befriended a scientist who was attempting to create a spacecraft in order to travel into space with an Elgyem he had befriended. The relationship between Professor Icarus and Elgyem was pretty touching and it was a slow, but interesting, episode and one of the few Best Wishes fillers I found memorable. A later episode taking place at the Celestial Tower involved a bratty kid who used his Elgyem during a competition (involving a race, a cosplay contest, etc.) to basically cheat, and he wasn't humble either acting as if Elgyem's powers were of his own doing.
#606 - Beheeyem
Psychic
At Level 42 Elgyem evolves into Beheeyem. My experience with Elgyem didn't improve when he evolved into Beheeyem, he still suffers from Special Attack being his only notable trait at the cost of his Speed---if he has Analytic, which mine didn't, he can hit very hard but it's likely he'll be quickly taken down before he gets a chance to really do anything at all. But most of the time I was left confused when he learned a bunch of strange, situational moves such as Imprison, Simple Beam, and the move people likely forget exists because it's almost spelled the same as the Ability, Synchronoise. But one of his unique moves, and one he can only get through breeding with the Abra family, gives him a bit of interesting usage in the Doubles and Triples scene---Ally Switch. This priority move allows Beheeyem to switch the positions of Pokemon causing the opponent's attack to hit the wrong one, since the target of an attack is actually based on position rather than the Pokemon---there's a variety of strategies possible here, basically like Follow Me except your opponent will likely not expect it since it's such an obscure move, and furthermore through Telepathy you can have Beheeyem's partner fire off powerful area-of-effect moves whil it stays safe from harm. But its poor bulk and defensively weak Type prevents it from fully taking advantage of its unique set of moves, and thus its usefulness is very limited in most circumstances.
Beheeyem's name is also meant to resemble an acronym, this time standing for B.E.M.---"bug eyed monster". This term is a bit lesser known and outdated, mainly being prominent during the early pulp fiction days, though to the Japanese audience (its Japanese name is Ohbem) they'll likely think of the anime "Humanoid Monster Bem". Beheeyem is still an alien and may be involved in alien abductions as it's said its psychic powers allow it to take control of an opponent's brain and manipulate their memory, perhaps erasing any memory of said individual being abducted in the first place. Furthermore fitting this "cover up" theme you'll notice Beheeyem's body gives the appearance of it wearing a top hat, shades, and a trench coat, which brings to mind popular portrayals of government agents and M.I.B., who sometimes are believed to be aliens themselves, such as the mysterious Indrid Cold who was said to have appeared in West Virginia around the time the Mothman incidents took place. Also the character of "Bem" from the anime Humanoid Monster Bem also happens to be an alien who disguises himself in a suit and top hat though for more noble purposes so that could've been an inspiration as well since Game Freak does seem to love their anime.
Beheeyem appeared in an amusing filler episode I mentioned back in Duosion's entry where he belonged to a "Dream Thief" named Leon who used Beheeyem's psychic powers to trap people in a dream while he steals their Pokemon. A later filler episode involved a group of Beheeyem losing the power source of their craft, which happened to resemble an Amulet Coin, causing them to invade a town and turn everyone into human-Beheeyem hybrids while they searched for it, targeting Ash since he found a real Amulet Coin recently and Meowth due to the coin on his head. Once more, like in the Tentacruel episode from Kanto and the Deoxys episode from Hoenn, Beheeyem spoke through Meowth bringing to mind the scene from Independence Day where the alien hijacks the scientist's body.
