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Part of a series on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. [View Related Entries]


About

Raging Bolt, also known as Paradox Raikou, is an ancient form of the legendary Electric-type Pokemon Raikou appearing in the DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that was announced in August 2023. The Pokemon quickly became a meme as its long-neck design led to many different memes and reactions being made shortly after its premiere. It's the second legendary Pokemon from generation two to receive an ancient Paradox version, leading to speculation that Entei will receive a new form in the next DLC.

Origin

On August 8th, 2023, the official Pokemon YouTube Channel[1] held a Pokemon Presents to go over updates to several of its video games, with Scarlet and Violet being the last game touched on in the presentation. As part of the upcoming DLC for the games, a quick look at Paradox Raikou was shown, with him roaring his head and moving his long neck. The presentation itself was viewed by over 100,000 people during its livestream (shown below).

Immediately after it was shown, screenshots of the presentation featuring the Paradox Raikou, later named Raging Bolt, started to show up on X. For example, X user @CallMeMikeDee[2] uploaded a reaction during the livestream on August 8th that shared a sentiment that was echoed by many fans, expressing that the initial joy of seeing Raikou was overshadowed by confusion over his bizarre design choice (shown below), receiving nearly 2,500 likes in seven hours.

CEO of Sundress SZN @CallMeMikeDeee YESSIRRRR!!!!!!! MY BOY RAIKOU IS BAC- #pokemonpresents 9:34 AM - Aug 8, 2023 33K Views

Spread

Following his reveal, fan opinion of Raikou was split, with different fans having wildly different feelings towards the design. On August 8th, 2023, the X user @BallofBandagez[3] uploaded a screenshot showing the two extremes of opinions shared by @WolfeyGlick and @UltimaShadow, in which the latter absolutely hated the design while the former loved it (shown below).

Ultima @ EVO @UltimaSha... 10m: WHAT DID THEY DO TO RAIKOU I AM SO F------ LIVID 49 252 O 17 Wolfey @WolfeyGlick. 7m I LOVE HIM 1,089 21.5K il₁ 150 658 ₁19,979 L :

As the Pokemon continued to spread, some fans of the game who were more artistically inclined began to try and "fix" the model in a way they thought seemed correct. This led to images of the Pokemon propagating in which the elongated neck was removed, as well as images in which the long neck was exaggerated further in an attempt to replicate other long neck memes — as seen in the uploads by Twitter users @SamtheDynamite[4] and @PurpleKeira97[5] on August 8th (shown below).

Keira (Update in Progress : 13%) @PurpleKeira97 ... Not a huge fan of the long neck and the red accents, so decided to do a quick modification. Had to use mouse to do it tho, might do a proper version at some point. #Pokemon #pokemonpresents #PokemonScarletViolet
Sam @SamTheDynamite I watched that new Pokémon Presents and... That new ancient Raikou pokemon huh? #pokemonpresents #Pokemon wiki

Various Examples

A EXA 12
r/pokemon • 5 mo. ago by Archist2357 ORIGINAL Cursed Paradox Entei and Raikou, I'm sorry 15K ↓ scorching skull U 449 ↑ Share 7 nimbus neck Join ⠀
* It's possible that you may have a problem. @sephiroth1204

DO9BELLBESSA AKU. 6.3.2 3.2022 Girafarig and Furigiral #PokemonScarlet Violet 94 t 7,960 54.4K DOS BELLBESSA 3 ↑
it's a giraffe
my life is falling apart Without Pokémoy Mystery Dungeon but at least i have Giraffe Raikou

Search Interest

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