I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Type: Null.
There are various creatures in mythology which are chimaera of some kind. Gryphons, manticores and of course the Chimaera itself are made up of all the most terrifying parts of real animals. Its easy to imagine how conflicting reports of dangerous creatures, sighted by lost sailors and described in terms of the animals they understood back home.
More recently, this kind of creature has become the purview of mad scientists, be that Shelley’s Doctor Frankenstein, Wells’ Dr Moreou and his island of abominations. in the real world, Mice have been born with human ears growing from their back, and DNA editing is being used to approximate extinct species.
Type: Null is a Normal type legendary Pokemon. A four-legged Chimera with a mammalian body, fish-like tail and bird claws for front legs. The head is encased in a rusted metal helmet with a collar like the rings of Arceus.
Sun
The heavy control mask it wears suppresses its intrinsic capabilities. This Pokémon has some hidden special power.
Moon
Due to the danger that this synthetic Pokémon may go on a rampage, it wears a control mask to restrain its power.

In Pokemon Sun and Moon, we meet our first Type: Null alongside the edgy rival, brother of Lilly and estranged son of Lusamine. The Pokemon was made by the Aether foundation as a super-Pokemon, somewhat like Mewtwo.
Ultra Sun
A Pokémon weapon developed for a specific mission, it went berserk during an experiment, so it was cryogenically frozen.

While Mewtwo was made by cloning the ancestor of all Pokemon evolutionarily, Mew, Type: Null goes on further, being an attempt to recreate the celestial creator of Pokemon, Arceus.
Shield
It was modeled after a mighty Pokémon of myth. The mask placed upon it limits its power in order to keep it under control.

The Pokemon was created to be able to change between all types, as Arceus can, and so it would have been Type: Full. Alas, it is instead limited to the normal type, hence it is Type: Null.
With sufficient friendship, Type: Null can overcome its aggressive tendencies and evolve into the form it was always supposed to take: Silvally.
Moon
Although its name was Type: Null at first, the boy who evolved it into this form gave it the name by which it is now known.
Type Null evolved from a bronze, brooding beast into a silver ally, hence the name Silvally. The Japanese name is Silvaddy, a buddy rather than just an ally.
Ultra Moon
Through the bond it formed with its Trainer, its will was strengthened, and it was able to destroy its control mask.

Silvally loses the helmet, revealing a majestic white head that’s somewhere between the feline and the avian. It gains a big boost to its speed stat, which were Type Null’s main weakness.
Ultra Sun
This is its form once it has awakened and evolved. Freed from its heavy mask, its speed is greatly increased.
On top of the speed increase, losing the helmet has another effect. Silvally drops Type: Null’s Battle Armor ability and instead has the ability RKS System.
Moon
Upon awakening, its RKS System is activated. By employing specific memories, this Pokémon can adapt its type to confound its enemies.

Ultra Sun
Having been awakened successfully, it can change its type and battle—just like a certain Pokémon depicted in legends.

Like Arceus changing types with the plates, so Silvally changes type by plugging in different memories. This let Silvally play on all kinds of teams with all kinds of movesets – a predecessor to the way Tera types would shake up the game. Alongside this mix of types it has a mix of stats, with everything sitting at 95 across the board. Overall, Silvally is a decent Pokemon but not a great one. A jack of all trades but a master of none.
In the world of Alola, Type: Null and Silvally had a major role. As the partner of Gladion, the evolution showed that this hard, cold character was a loving trainer really. As team Aether’s experiment, Silvally represented their attempts to defend the region against the ultra beasts.
Taking traits from various monsters and making a final boss is a tale as old as time –from Digimon World to Street Fighter IV – but in Silvally, we have a monster amalgamation that really works, and in classic Pokemon fashion, today’s difficult boss is tomorrow’s loyal partner.
Music for Luke Loves Pokemon was composed by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. Funding is by supporters at patreon.com/podcastiopodcastius.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch on youtube, social media or email and let me know about your favorite Pokemon. Coming up next are Minior and Komala, so let me know your thoughts about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much for listening.
I love Type: Null. And remember, I love you too.