Ledian is acoleopteraninsectoidPokémon that resembles a slightly humanoidladybug. It has a pair of black antennae, a black spot in the center of its forehead and on the back of its head, blue eyes, and a cream-colored area around its mouth; the rest of its head is red. The antennae are shorter on the female than on the male. Its back and the top of its elytra are red with black spots, while the underside of its body and elytra are cream-colored; inMewtwo Returns, the spots are shown to flash red at night. Underneath its elytra are a pair of clear wings. Its neck and limbs are black. It has four arms with white hands that resembleboxing gloves and a pair of legs with red feet.
Ledian sleeps wrapped in leaves or grass intemperate and tropical forests during the day. At night, it flutters around scattering a glowing powder that is thought to bring good luck. It is believed to use starlight as energy and the patterns on its back grow larger or smaller depending on the number of stars in the sky. In addition to starlight, it loves to eatBerries. A weak fighter, it tries for quantity over power by throwing a barrage of punches with all four of its arms.
When the stars flicker in the night sky, it flutters about, scattering a glowing powder.(Pokémon Red, Silver, or Crystal inserted) The star patterns on its back grow larger or smaller depending on the number of stars in the night sky.(Pokémon Blue, Gold, or Yellow inserted)
It is said that in lands with clean air, where the stars fill the sky, there liveLedian in countless numbers. There is a good reason for this - thePokémon uses the light of the stars as its energy.
It is said that in lands with clean air, where the stars fill the sky, there live manyLedian. For good reason, they use the light of the stars as energy.
It is said that in lands with clean air, where the stars fill the sky, there live Ledian in countless numbers. There is a good reason for this—the Pokémon uses the light of the stars as its energy.
When night falls, Ledian flutters about, scattering a sparkling dust. It seems very drawn to anything that lights up—maybe because it uses starlight as energy.
InZoroark: Master of Illusions, a Ledian living inCrown City surroundedZorua with several other Pokémon at the park to attack him, angry for whatZoroark did to the city. Before a fight broke out,Celebi calmed the attackers down.
Ledian has the lowest base Attack stat of all fully evolvedBug-type and all fully evolvedFlying-type Pokémon.
Despite multiplePokédex entries describing its nocturnal behavior, wild Ledian are almost always encountered exclusively during themorning ordaytime.
Despite itscategory and Silver and FireRed Pokédex entries, Ledian's five spots are neither star-shaped nor are they arranged in a typical star pattern. In the case of the category, this is due to a mistranslation, asいつつぼしitsutsuboshi, as 星hoshi, while literally meaning "star", is the term used to refer to a ladybug's spots.
The many references to stars may be development leftovers referring to Ledian'sbeta design, in which the spots were star-shaped. This was likely a visual pun on the aforementioned double meaning.
Ledian could not learn anyBug- orFlying-type moves until Generation III. Therefore, a Ledian in Generation II could not receiveSTAB unless it possessed the appropriateHidden Power.
Its level-up learnset contained onlyNormal- andPsychic-type moves until Generation IV. It did not contain any Bug-type moves until Generation IV or any Flying-type moves until Generation VII.
Origin
Ledian seems to be based on aladybug, particularly theAsian ladybeetle orseven-spot ladybird due to its bright red color and black spots. Its nocturnal habits andbioluminescence may be inspired byfireflies. Its humanoid body and large, ovoid head and eyes, as well as its affinity to the stars, are also reminiscent of aliens, such as thegrey alien.
Ledianbears a very significant resemblance toPulseman, another character made byGame Freak, Pokémon's creator. It may also take inspiration from varioustokusatsu shows featuring costumed-superheroes, with helmets resembling insects and flashy martial arts attacks (like Ledian'sComet Punch). Pulseman, the character, resembles such superheroes while Pulseman, the game, has combat and graphics inspired bytokusatsu show tropes.
Itscategory, Five Star Pokémon, may come from the Japanese name for seven-spot ladybird which is literally called 七星瓢虫seven-star ladybug.
Name origin
Ledian and Redian may be a combination ofladybug orladybird,red, and possiblyalien orguardian.
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
レディアンRedian
Fromladybug orladybird,red, and possiblyalien orguardian
This Pokémon article is part ofProject Pokédex, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
For other sprites and images, please seeLedian images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
