I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Meloetta.
Music and dance, despite their complexity and lack of obvious usefulness, seem to be universal to human beings in any culture, place or time. Unsurprisingly, this means many cultures have a deity or spirit which represents, or perhaps is the source of, these phenomena.
In Japan, the Goddess Bentei is the deity of music and dance as well as everything else that flows, like waters and time. In Ancient Greece, the muses were a collection of minor deities tied to different types of music and poetry. To this day, the inspiration of a work of art might be called one’s muse.
Meloetta is a Normal and psychic type Pokémon which resembles a songstress in a form-fitting black dress, with musical notation for hair.
Black
Its melodies are sung with a special vocalization method that can control the feelings of those who hear it.

Black 2
The melodies sung by Meloetta have the power to make Pokémon that hear them happy or sad.
White 2

Like the muses, Meloetta has also inspired others to create music themselves.
White
Many famous songs have been inspired by the melodies that Meloetta plays.

In the fifth through the seventh generations Meloetta was only available as a download, like most mythical Pokémon. It wasn’t available at all in the eighth generation, but in the ninth it has one of the most convoluted catches of all time, requiring a player to find a leaf tornado, spin in that spot and then open the sepia camera.
Meloetta’s dress, and this sepia tone, are reminiscent of singers from classic noire period pieces, a famous New York scene. As well as the singing, psychic-type Aria form, Meloetta can transform into the Normal and Fighting Type Pirouette Form, who wears her hair up in an even more roaring twenties style.
Both forms are on display in the very boring and childish short film Pikachu’s Moonlight Serenade, though Meloetta also had a role in the actual Pokémon anime series.
As a mythical, it has never been officially usable in competitive tournaments, though some fans can make good use of it as one of the few Pokémon readily available with the move Celebrate, and subsequently in the seventh generation with the Z-Move Z Celebrate, which raises all stats.
JAY
The name combines melody, for the songs it sings, with pirouette, for its dance moves. Perhaps it also comes from operetta, a term for a solo singer’s performance in an opera.
I’ve never been good at singing or dancing, but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoy both. Perhaps it is an animal gene within me, perhaps I learned it culturally, or perhaps the goddesses move through me.

Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and want to check out other shows by me and my friends, head to podcastiopodcastius.org.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN, or on Bluesky @PodcastPodcast. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Genesect and then it’s time for the sixth generation, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Meloetta. And remember, I love you too.

Meloetta
Meloetta has had two cards worth singing their praises for.

The first one is Meloetta EX from 2013’s Legendary Treasures set. This Psychic Pokemon cardwas a cute card decorated with music notes and such that popped out of the frame. What makes Meloetta EX worth mentioning is the Round attack that it had for three Psychic energy. The attack cost isn’t great but this Meloetta became part of the Round archetype in the TCG.

Round is an attack that does more damage for every Pokemon on your side of the field that has the Round attack. In Meloetta EX’s case, it will do 30 damage for each Pokemon that has the Round attack. That will include Meloetta EX along with Palpitoad and Seismitoad. If you could fill up your side of the field with four Meloetta EX and evolve some Tympole into Palpitoad then you could do 180 damage.
Meloetta will find herself in a new band during the Sword and Shield era.
This Psychic type Meloetta card had a single attack: Melodious Echo. This attack for one Psychic and one Colorless Energy does 70 damage for each Fusion Strike Energy attached to all of your Pokemon. That means if you had all Fusion Strike Energy out on the field then you can do up to 280 damage!
And because of that, Meloetta found herself in two Pokemon World Championship Decks two years in a row. The first was in 2022 where Andrew Chiasson took 6th place at the World Championships in the Master’s Division. However, Mew VMAX alongside Meloetta took their revenge at the 2024 Pokemon World Championships. That year Vance Kelley piloted the deck to a first place finish to earn the title of TCG World Champion in the Masters division. Proving once again that as long as you have a song in your heart and with the right band, dreams can come true. At least for Meloetta.