AlthoughPokemon SwordandShieldhave been out for some time now, fans continue to wait for new features as Pokemon rolls out its two-part Expansion Pass. With Isle of Armor already in players' pockets, fans are left awaiting The Crown Tundra, which promises to add new Legendary Pokemon like Galarian Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos, alongside new landscapes for players to explore.
Pokemon Trainers have known what’s generally in store for the Crown Tundra DLC since earlier in the summer, but small new details continue to work their way out into the open. At first,Pokemon SwordandShieldplayers were excited to discover that new versions of classic Legendaries, like Registeel from Hoenn and Articuno from Kanto, would be making an appearance. Now, dedicated fans have been treated to an even more exciting detail.
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As per a leak coordinated by @CentroLeaks, the Shiny versions ofGalarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, and Galarian Moltres, have been revealed. And what’s particularly exciting about these shiny variants is their thoughtful design. A commonPokemonfan complaint often concerns the fact thatso manyShinies are just ever-so-slightly color-swapped versions of their originals.
This is partially due to the way in which Shiny patterns were automatically determined in early games, but nonetheless, Shiny Pokemon hunters often criticize the fact that a largenumber ofPokemon’s Shinies are basic. While some Shiny forms are dazzling, like the entirely coal-colored Charizard, many Shinies are simply either a lighter/darker version of the original (see: Bulbasaur, Poliwag, Pikachu, etc.), or literally just the color green (see: Tangela, Scizor, etc.)
Now, this new set of Shinies is particularly noteworthy because the original Legendary bird trio suffers from one of the aforementioned unfortunate traits - Shiny Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, are strikingly lackluster. Thankfully, the Shiny Galarian Legendary bird trio not only features distinct colors, but also serves as anhomage to the original Legendary birds. As fans of the originals are well-aware, the Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres found in Kanto are differently typed from their Galarian counterparts. They also look entirely different.
As a nod to these iconic Legendary Pokemon, Nintendo has made Shiny Galarian Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres resemble their original Kantonian designs. That is, Shiny Galarian Articuno features the exact samecolor palette seen in regular Kantonian Articuno, and so on and so forth.
Though exciting, experienced Pokemon Trainers have also been quick to caution eager fans: gamers still don’t know if The Pokemon Company/Nintendo have chosen to “Shiny lock” these Pokemon. “Shiny locking” is generally performed on very rare or otherwise valuable Pokemon that are encountered in-game (many event Legendaries, for example, but sometimes even Starter Pokemon), and it renders thePokemon unobtainable as a Shiny. Whereas players would normally be able to save before encountering a Legendary, and soft reset until it appeared as Shiny, they would never succeed with a Shiny locked Pokemon. Hopefully though, fans will be able to track down the Kanto lookalikes in their Kantonian-colored forms.
Pokemon SwordandShieldare available now on Switch. The Crown Tundra DLC is available now for purchase, and for download on Thursday, June 14, 2025.
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