POTW Pokémon of the Week #62: Celebi

SirOni · Sep 23, 2017

In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect. Every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. In honor of the release of Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Virtual Console this week's Pokémon of choice is Celebi!

Celebi is the Mythical Time Travel Pokémon from Generation II. It is known as the “Voice of the Forest” for its power over plant life invigorating the forests in which it has appeared. Celebi is revered as a guardian of the forest with many shrines dedicated to it like the ones in the Ilex Forest in Johto and the Relic Forest in Orre. Despite its role as a guardian Celebi is scarcely seen as it only ever shows itself in areas and times of peace. Because of this Celebi is a very mysterious Pokémon with next to nothing known about its physiology and life cycle, though it is said to leave behind an egg it brought from the future when it disappears deep into forest. Celebi’s time travel ability allows it to also exist simultaneously with itself throughout time as shown in the fourth Pokémon movie where many Celebi brought one of its own back to life. It has also demonstrated powers of restoration used to bring damaged plants back to life and powers of purification used to clear the tainted hearts of Shadow Pokémon. Due to the ideals of peace and serenity Celebi embodies it is thought that as long as Celebi appears throughout the world a bright and shining future is still in store for the world.

At its introduction Celebi was associated with a unique item known as the GS Ball. In the Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal the player could obtain this item to trigger a special event. If taken to Kurt the Apricorn Ball maker it will activate an event the next day causing the Ilex Forest to become restless. Taking the GS Ball to the Ilex Forest Shrine and placing it inside will summon Celebi that can be captured. The GS Ball also played a big role in the anime being the catalyst for Ash and company’s journey to Johto. Unfortunately its plotline was dropped sometime after Ash delivered it Kurt never to be mentioned again. It was confirmed in a 2008 interview that the GS Ball was meant to contain Celebi which would result in a story arc throughout the Johto series. The idea was shelved when it was decided that Celebi would be the focus of the fourth movie. It is interesting to note that for the anime Celebi was supposed to be what was inside the GS Ball but in the games it is unknown if there is anything in the ball as Celebi descends from the forest canopy to face the player.

In the Generation II remakes Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver a special event will activate if the player brings a promotional event Celebi to the Ilex Shrine. If Celebi is the player’s partner Pokémon it will take the player and Lyra/Ethan to three years in the past where they witness the recently disgraced Team Rocket Boss Giovanni abandon his son Silver. This experience emboldens Silver to pursue strength and put down anyone he deems as weak. Celebi then takes them to the cave behind the big waterfall in Tohjo Falls at the climax of Team Rocket’s Radio Tower takeover. Here the player encounters and battles the secluded Giovanni who uses them to test his power and resolve to return to Team Rocket. After Giovanni’s defeat and subsequent disappearance Celebi returns the group to where and when they started at the Ilex Shrine. In comparison to the GS Ball special event this one focuses on the characters of the Pokémon world rather than Celebi itself.

Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.
-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
-What do you think about this Pokémon’s status as a Mythical Pokémon and larger role in the Pokémon world?
-What do you think about how this Pokémon’s time travel abilities are presented and utilized?
-What do you think about the mysteries of the GS Ball? How do you feel about its role in the games, anime, and other parts of the franchise?
-What do you think about this Pokémon’s roles and events in the games, both main series and sideline? Do you like any of them?
If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Gengarzilla · Sep 23, 2017

-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
I rather do like this Pokémon thanks to a certain side game.

-How is this Pokémon in-game?
Nice... if you can get one.

-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
The base 100 crew don't seem to enjoy generational power creeps, but it's no fault on them. I prefer using SubSeed on Celebi alongside a way to push through Grass types.

-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
Both the M4 and M13 Celebi were done nicely, I enjoyed how their friendly natures made each of the movie's antagonists look even worse than usual.

-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
Celebi won't visit time periods where strife reigns, so I imagine it would be a revered figure for anti-war groups.

-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
I would add the event move Nasty Plot to its natural movepool. It's too good for most of us to not get.

-What do you think about this Pokémon’s roles and events in the games, both main series and sideline? Do you like any of them?
I love, love, love the Shiny Celebi's role in the PMD Explorers games, most especially in Sky's last Special Episode. Her reaction to seeing the sun rise... Beautiful!

Esserise · Sep 23, 2017

Celebi is intriguing, but I feel like they've never made great use of its potential.

I've always wondered about how exactly it... exists, while being able to travel from era to era at will. Does it avoid interacting with its younger and older selves in other eras in order to prevent itself from creating a paradox? Would that create a paradox, or does the Pokémon universe operated according to fixed time-travel? The Giovanni event gestures at that possibility, but that was just a special one-off event, so if they ever wanted to do something more overt with the ideas of time-travel, I could imagine them taking a more dynamic approach. While not made by Game Freak, Explorers of Sky certainly did, and that was one truly amazing game.

I tend to believe that there are multiple instances of every Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. But if paradoxes aren't an issue, an entertaining possibility for Celebi would be that what appear to be "multiple" Celebi are actually just one Celebi inhabiting in the same timezone with itself.

If paradoxes are an issue, maybe Celebi has some ability to "sense" where and when its future selves are at, and it deliberately steers clear of those eras when traveling through time. Of course, this could mean that it knows exactly what path it must follow for the rest of its life. It must feel predestined to a certain outcome - they could do a lot by exploring that perspective. Is it sapient enough to do something with that information? Could it have some endgame in mind? Or maybe its brain has developed with a temporal defense mechanism, so that any memories of self-interaction fade until it eventually becomes the older Celebi and its timeline catches up with itself.

I've barely scratched the surface of Celebi's potential even with these suggestions, and that's just from a cursory interrogation of its nature. Hence my disappointment with the application of Celebi in main series games thus far (really, I could extend that feeling to most Mythical Pokémon, but that's a whole other topic). At the very least, I would like it - and I've said this about Dialga before as well - if they were to give Celebi some kind of signature move, Z-move, or Ability that reflects its time-traveling capabilities. (Literally every other Mythical Pokémon has a signature move that illustrates its unique properties - technically Mew doesn't but that's because its gimmick is that it can learn almost every move, and even now it does have its own unique Z-Move, so Celebi is really behind in this regard.) They give lots of individualizing properties to Pokémon all the time these days, and it always helps them to stand out more and makes them feel more unique. Even something as simple as an attack that does big damage when you use it, and then, like Fire Spin and Sand Tomb, continues to deal damage in subsequent turns could suffice, with the underlying logic of the move being that your Celebi in the present is making a mental note to itself to, at various points in the future, travel back to that battle and lend help to its now-younger (but from our perspective, present) self by dealing further damage to the opponent.

Design-wise, I just think it's... kind of weird? Like I don't get it. The Time Travel Pokémon is small green pixie with an onion for a head? I'm not really sure what to make of that.

ocelotlrama jaguar · Sep 24, 2017

Celebi is cute, but I'm not crazy for it. Its lore is interesting and I would love to see it expanded more. It's a shame TPC doesn't do that.

Never used this Pokemon in-game or competitively. 100 in all stats looks like it would make it pretty decent to use. The movepool is not very large and Natural Cure isn't something unique to it. There are other Grass-types and legendaries I'd rather use.

Despite its lack of appeal in the games, I find it adorable in the movies! I especially loved watching it in the fourth and thirteenth movies. I'm not going to lie, I got a bit emotional watching it in the latter part of the fourth movie.

I doubt it would ever see in the real world. It would only be seen by a tiny percentage of the population and, even then, no one would believe those who saw it. It would be of something of legends. Hence, it being a legendary.

I would give it a better movepool to improve its usablity. Maybe even a better ability that is exclusive to it.

Like mentioned before, I love the time-traveling mythology behind it. They really need to expand on it some more. I mean, I guess it is there, but those of us in western countries didn't get to see it much due to the fact that NoA shafted us. Because of that, I'd like to see more expanded upon it in another game. Same with the GS Ball. Again, interesting, but we never got to witness it in the games. What I know of Celebi and the GS Ball come from the anime.

CrystaI · Sep 26, 2017

In replying to Esserise's time travel paradox interrogation, there is one very simple solution to that: Celebi is not one-of-a-kind unique singular, but exists multiple individuals just like many other pokemon species. Although the OP worded it like the M04's Celebus coming out from the time hole were all one single Celebi, in fact we don't know are they really just one single Celebi coming from different timelines, or are they multiple Celebus coming from all around the world to save one of their friend. When it is the latter case, the problem of time paradox shall minimize to the least.

Now in replying to the topic of this thread, despite Celebi possesses the ability to travel across time, I don't think it plays any important role within the nature world of Pokemon. Because from the portrayal of its power depicted in many games and anime, the influence it produced are all limited to a few single individual people/pokemons that are directly related to it, unlike the powerful stronger legendaries where their power is large enough to break the balance of the entire world. So it is understandable why it is categorized as "mythical" rather than "legendary", as it is IMO just one super-rare species with unique power uncommon to any other commonmons, nonetheless it will never becone globally devastating even its power is misused.

But that's fine. Even its power may not be balance-breaking, it doesn't stop it from becoming a key character in story-writing. PMD Explorer of Sky did a very fine job in that (BTW, that last moment between Celebi and Grovyle after the final battle in Grovyle's character arc... That was so heart-touching T_T). I hope Game Freak can learn a bit more about story-writing from Chunsoft. Within the main series games, Celebi's role are so...... non-special, not anything surprizing. Like in HGSS, Celebi was used as a plot device to tell Giovanni's hidden story, rather than that event focused on Celebi itself, so it felt a bit underwhelming.

I don't know have a clue of how this pokemon perform in battles, because...... I never ever obtained one. To be fair, I never ever managed to get any event pokemons...... This is unrelated to this topic, but I really want to shout this out: I HATE EVENT-ONLY POKEMONS!!! I hate special pokemons that are obtainable only in distributions at a certain time and location and country. IMO that is a roundabout way of player demographic discrimination.

Nicolas721 · Sep 26, 2017

Celebi is great. While Mew is cuter, there is something in Celebi that looks quite eccentric and special, maybe it's its eyes, or it's lime green. It also helps that it's the Pokemon that resembles a traditional fairy the most, with Ribombee coming close. It is something that I would really like to find in real life. It's time traveling is a nice way to make it more elusive.

In the anime, he's had a surprising total of 4 big appearances, maybe to make up for the fact that it was to be GS Ball's content, as he's been the luckiest mythical in this aspect. My favorite is Movie 4, as its story was charming.

In the games, he's just as lucky. It's nice how he's related to a shrine in Ilex Forest and to the GS Ball, and how he showed us Giovanni's story too. There are lots of "What could have been" but he got more than most mythicals nowadays.

Zexy · Sep 27, 2017

-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
I'd say I'm indifferent. I don't really like it out of lots of legendaries, but don't mind it either. And part of the timey-wimey stuff is cool.
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
It sure is good, you can't ignore 600 BST. However I don't like using Grass-types that much and it requires events to get so I wouldn't use it in-game. It's also a bit too well-rounded, I'd rather have something with better Atk/Sp. Atk to burn through the game faster. I don't like all-100 BST legendaries.
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Pretty sure I've read it is useful in competitive, it brings a nice type combination with good stats in... Wouldn't really use it, though, besides it is 4x weak to Bug, that's how it gets countered. As I said, I don't like all-100 BST legendaries, so meh.
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
The 4th movie was cool because of the twist about Sam in the end... but I can't say I really liked it, the "darkest hour" of the movie involving Celebi's "death" felt a bit forced. What annoys me the most is how we lost the whole GS Ball plot because of it, which not only took away what could've been a good arc from the Johto saga, it also was the reason so many fillers had to show up.
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
Some people would consider it a hero, others would be afraid of it, others would involve it with time-travel conspiracies.
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Better Ability, more diverse moveset; you can't really change stats or typing here.
A sort-of Primal form or something would be cool, too; it is related to time, I think such a form would fit it.
-What do you think about this Pokémon’s status as a Mythical Pokémon and larger role in the Pokémon world?
Celebi is an emissary of time for Dialga's sake in the same way Hoopa is an emissary of space for Palkia's sake. There should be a Giratina-related one out there too, hopefully we learn more about it soon...
-What do you think about how this Pokémon’s time travel abilities are presented and utilized?
I'd like to see more of it, but it's done well enough.
-What do you think about the mysteries of the GS Ball? How do you feel about its role in the games, anime, and other parts of the franchise?
It should've been used as part of the Johto saga as originally intended; would make for better episodes and less fillers. I prefer lots of good episodes over one OK movie. If only they felt comfortable enough with letting legendaries travel with Ash and co. back then... we could've got a plot as good as XY&Z or the upcoming Nebby one all the way back in the original series.
-What do you think about this Pokémon’s roles and events in the games, both main series and sideline? Do you like any of them?
Sure, I particularly like how it helps the Gen II protagonist defeat Giovanni before he could come back and cause any worse trouble.

Esserise · Sep 28, 2017

CrystaI said:
In replying to Esserise's time travel paradox interrogation, there is one very simple solution to that: Celebi is not one-of-a-kind unique singular, but exists multiple individuals just like many other pokemon species. Although the OP worded it like the M04's Celebus coming out from the time hole were all one single Celebi, in fact we don't know are they really just one single Celebi coming from different timelines, or are they multiple Celebus coming from all around the world to save one of their friend. When it is the latter case, the problem of time paradox shall minimize to the least.

Well personally, I tend to assume there are multiples of all Legendary/Mythical Pokémon anyway (except maybe Mewtwo), so normally I figure there are multiple Celebi out there as well. I was just exploring a different hypothesis in my post, although here I must point out that having multiple Celebi is, if anything, more likely to further increase the risk of paradoxes, because then you would take the same conundrum that a lone Celebi would experience and apply it to every specimen again and again.

Knitsy · Sep 29, 2017

I love Celebi an enough to get him tattooed on my arm with Silver. I actually discussed Silver and Giovanni's story for one of my night classes years ago, I was in awe of walking with Celebi in the video game and I didn't expect the story to happen till I went to Ilex forrest with him. I like the time travel concept with him and I wish this was expanded more in the video games.

What I love about Pokemon in general is how they incoperate Japanese culture into the series. Celebi is part of this example. He is seems to be based on Shinto worship for nature which is obvious because of the shrine in the woods and is probably a kodama, a spirit that lives in the trees.

Camille · Dec 30, 2021

Celebi isn't actually my favourite "cute" mythical, but I still like it a fair lot. I like its movepool, with coverage moves like Dazzling Gleam and Earth Power, as well as its balanced stats. I also like the fact you can catch it in-game in the VC release of Crystal, even though you need to become the Champion first. I have yet to watch the Zoroark movie, but Pokemon 4Ever isn't one of my favourites, sadly.
I've always thought Celebi should have been able to learn Psyshock, but otherwise, I've no idea on possible changes to it.
I've been posting on Serebii since late 2013, and this was actually the first Pokemon community I've decided to join.

POTW Pokémon of the Week #62: Celebi

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