Behold, the graceful and mystical Lapras.  Lapras is known as the transport pokémon because of her tendency to escort people in need across large bodies of water.  With a big, caring heart and a unique ability to understand human speech, Lapras have been trusting the human race for years; if only that trust wasn’t misplaced…but I’ll get back to that later.  Lapras is a 8′ 2″ Ice and Water-type pokémon with weaknesses to Fighting-types, Rock-types, Grass-types, and Electric-types, but she also has strengths against Fire-types, Ground-types, Rock-types, and Grass-types.  That’s a lot of power for one sea monster!  She has the common abilities Shell Armor and Water Absorb, or the hidden ability Hydration.  If I had to put her in a category, I would have to place her in the Best Representation of A Real World Monster.

Oh Lapras, how beautiful and foolishly trusting you are.  The story of the Lapras race truly is a sad one.  Because of their kind hearts and trusting nature, Lapras have been over-hunted, making them start to disappear from the world of pokémon; possibly forever.  They’ve become harder to find, and also more difficult to catch.  When I first started playing pokémon, one of my biggest goals was to catch a Lapras of my own to raise.  Of course, being a noob, I had no idea hard that would be.

I started off by learning that you couldn’t get traditional PKMN until you unlocked the National Pokédex in Black and White, and even then I never figured out how to get it.  I legitimately just checked on a blog I use to see whether or not it was even possible to get Lapras in Black and White; turns out it is, go figure.  Anyway, long story short, I played the PKMN series for roughly four years before I finally got a Lapras of my own, and I only got it because in X and Y, she’s given to you as a gift! (Attention: You are just as likely to get Lapras as a girl or boy from the nice guy outside Shalour city, I’m just calling Lapras a girl because it seems nicer and easier than calling her an “it”)

Of course, Lapras’ trusting nature and ability to understand human speech aren’t the only reasons she’s constantly being searched for.  Yes, she’s pretty, but she’s also fairly strong and a decent PKMN.  She’s got a base health of 130, a base Special Defense of 95, and a base Special Attack of 85.  While yes, she only has a base Speed of 60, with a Special Attack and Status-focused movepool, not being the fastest PKMN actually suits her best in my mind.  And honestly, would you be moving fast if you were a giant Loch Ness monster on land?

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Lapras also happens to work for Santa Claus?!  That’s right, in the very first seasons of the PKMN anime, Ash, Brock, Misty, and Team Rocket found themselves in the midst of a PKMN Christmas special; at least, a version of it. 

I’ll give you the stripped-down version to preserve the fun for anyone who happens to have a way to watch them (these seasons are stream-able on Netflix, for anyone who wants to make this year’s Christmas a little more Poké-magical).  In the PKMN Christmas special, Ash, Misty, and Brock meet one of Santa’s special Laprases who got lost and needs to get back to the North Pole before Santa leaves to deliver toys.  Jessie, on the other hand, reveals to James and Meowth that when she was little, she learned that Santa Claus is really just a Jinx, and that instead of bringing her toys, the Jinx stole her favorite one and never came back!  As I said, I’ll leave the rest of the story for you guys to discover, but this was quite the episode!

Lapras is a really cute pokémon, and even though they might be endangered, they still try to help us humans whenever they can.  Lapras are kind, caring creatures who will always help others no matter the repercussions, and I for one will not take them for granted nearly as much as I used too.  Good bye for now my faithful readers, and merry Pokémonth!