Did you know that several of the Mega Evolutions in Pokémon have some element of the letters “X” or “Y” in their designs? It’s true! While they don’t literally look like the letters in most cases, some aspects of their designs resemble the names of the 3DS Pokémon games they originally debuted in back in 2013. When one Pokémon pixel artist and commentator called TAHK0 pointed this out on X, he was bombarded with hateful responses. Where some people would retreat and try to ignore the harassment, TAHK0 instead made a two-and-a-half-hour-long video breaking down how almost every one of these superpowered transformations has some part of their design that is based on “X” and “Y.” If that’s not commitment, then I don’t know what is.
it has been over 15 years and pokemon fans and fakemon artists have yet to catch on that pretty much all mega pokemon up to this point have been shaped like an x or a y
will this continue to go unnoticed when new mega pokemon start becoming z shaped stay tuned
— TAHK0 ☕️ (@TAHK0) February 20, 2025
In an interview with Kotaku, TAHK0 says he didn’t expect this observation to be as controversial as it was, and that by the time he realized people were mad about it, he’d already spent some time joking with detractors.
“It was just like any other throwaway half-joking over-exaggerated tweet I wrote after waking up, and I only realized things were going wrong after about an hour afterward when things started taking off,” he says. “I had thought after pointing it out, it would be clear to everyone, so I was originally replying with jokey answers since I thought they’d be in on it like an upside-down Mega Camerupt— But everyone was taking it very seriously and were very angry. That’s when I knew it was out of control.”
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Several of the arguments, as TAHK0 points out in his video, seem to be rooted in the assumption that this design motif means that Pokémon must literally be shaped like an X or Y–think a letter puppet from Sesame Street–while others pointed to specific images of the Pokémon in question in which this quality is de-emphasized in an effort to “debunk” the theory, rather than looking at the Pokemon’s design as a whole. But TAHK0 is correct. Sometimes it’s best seen when viewing a Pokémon from the front, rather than the side as some artwork depicts them. In the video, TAHK0 points to the Aphantasia Test, which illustrates how people’s abilities to imagine objects in their mind vary, and for some, looking at a piece of art which, out of necessity, depicts an object (or, in this case, a Pokémon) from a particular angle can make it difficult to envision how it looks from all angles, resulting in some of the disagreements people have had with this theory online. The key to a complete takedown is anticipating all the bad-faith arguments someone is going to make, as well as the honest misunderstandings some may have, and as someone who has less patience than he used to for people willfully misinterpreting the things I say, I gotta hand it to TAHK0 for addressing just about every argument in good spirits.
The video goes through all the Mega Evolutions that were revealed prior to Legends: Z-A’s launch, and also breaks down lore elements like how Mega Evolution originates from X and Y mascots Xerneas and Yveltal, who are distinctly and intentionally shaped like their respective letters. Some monsters, like Metagross with its four arms or Absol with the wings on its back, are very obviously shaped like an X or Y, while others, like Sableye, have a hidden element of their character design that references letters. Watching the video was fascinating for me, as someone who was largely willing to buy the theory, but hadn’t stopped to look at every Mega Evolution to verify. Some I hadn’t even considered caught me off guard.
TAHK0 says he felt “discouraged” after the initial pushback, but as new Megas from the then-unreleased Pokémon Legends: Z-A were revealed, like Mega Dragonite and Mega Malamar, which both have pretty noticeable Y silhouettes, he felt more emboldened that it wasn’t all, as some detractors said, a “giant coincidence.”
“After the tweet left my audience, I remember addressing most arguments pretty early on, but it got such a viral reaction that I couldn’t keep up with answering everyone, and not everyone would see my responses to others, so then their responses started being about how I wasn’t responding to anything,” he says. “My own initial jokes were being taken seriously, so being light-hearted wasn’t the play, and any disagreement on my part was taken as me having my head up my own butt. So responding to every possible argument I could, while being light-hearted to make sure this time it was clear it’s not that serious, seemed like the only way I could ‘get out alive,’ so to speak. People were originally way more quick to believe a confident argument against me than anything I could respond with, which unfortunately is how the internet has worked for a long time now.”
While TAHK0 was working on his feature-length response for his YouTube channel, perhaps the biggest piece of evidence in the Pokedex was revealed: Mega Raichu X and Y. These long-overdue Mega forms for the final stage of Pikachu’s evolutionary line are set to join Legends: Z-A in the RPG’s Mega Dimension DLC, and their very obvious “X” and “Y” silhouettes have essentially been the silver bullet for the whole discussion, and TAHK0 notes that the onslaught of jokes at his expense on unrelated posts and content have “vanished” overnight.
“When Mega Raichu X and Y were announced, I remember being so excited while simultaneously so relieved with how obvious and clear they made [the X and Y shapes],” TAHK0 says. “If you go back and watch my reaction, I actually couldn’t form a sentence. It was a lot all at once after dealing with a not-so-good time for eight months. Also, Pikachu is my favorite Pokémon, so it was pretty fitting.”
TAHK0 says his breakdown of every individual Mega Evolution has changed some minds, and that he sometimes gets a nice comment from randos saying they’re now “a believer.” Now that Legends: Z-A is out and brought with it several new Mega Evolutions, it looks like Game Freak isn’t holding as tightly to the design motif, though Dragonite, Raichu, and others do keep that spirit alive. The game even goes out of its way to show that Mega Zygarde, one of the last Mega forms the player receives in Legends: Z-A, has a distinct X, Y, and Z on the cannon it holds after it transforms. So if X and Y set the stage for this design motif, Legends: Z-A is driving it home. Will these obvious examples be enough for those who are still digging their heels into the ground over it? Maybe not. But in the meantime, TAHK0 says he’s open to “non-threatening” discussion and disagreements. Especially with at least a few more Mega Evolutions still on the way when Mega Dimension launches.
“Obviously, now I would prefer they stick to the letter theming, but I’m pretty indifferent,” he says. “I’m a big fan of creator’s intent, so [new Megas] could be whatever-themed and I would still be excited. Learning about their design and lore decisions is the fun part for me.”
