Let's see if, simply with two pictures, people can figure out what I'm going to be talking about in this post.
Made your guess? Alright, let's talk about these two Pokemon. Vikavolt and Lurantis have a few things in common. They're both Totem Pokemon, first of all, but in this context, they're both agile and able to move quickly, as shown both in their designs and in their Ultra Moon Pokedex entries.
Ultra Moon Dex (Vikavolt) said:
Vikavolt flusters opponents with acrobatic flying maneuvers. This creates an opening for it to deliver an electric beam attack.
Ultra Moon Dex (Lurantis) said:
As it slashes into its enemies, it looks like it's dancing. Its elegant appearance has led some to call it the most glamorous Grass Pokémon.
Vikavolt and Lurantis share one more thing: absolutely
abysmal base Speed stats, with Lurantis at 45 and Vikavolt even slower at 43. And I simply have to ask... why?
Let's step back and take a look at what Speed means as a stat. It's pretty universally accepted that it's not actual movement speed, since if it were then Pidgeot's apparent Mach 2 flight speed should top the charts. The general consensus is that the Speed stat refers to reaction speed and maneuverability; this explains Escavalier's flying around at high speed with base 20 Speed since it likely takes awhile to accelerate. But this explanation still contradicts the Pokedex entries, as shown above; this leads me to believe that Speed is a more specific version of the "reaction time" hypothesis, being the time between a Pokemon receiving the command to attack and it actually using the move. In other words, Pokemon that can quickly prepare and use their moves have high Speed, while those that can't have low Speed.
Anyway, now to talk about their actual designs. In general fiction, I love agile characters that can quickly get into and out of a situation. Every D&D character I've ever played has had Dexterity as their highest or second-highest stat. Many of my favourite Pokemon are frail sweepers. And when I saw Lurantis, I was
so excited to finally have a fast, frail Grass-type Physical attacker, especially one that looks as cool as it does. And I'll admit, Lurantis is still very high on my list of favourite Pokemon (just not as high as it would be with better Speed). Vikavolt's design and typing, on the other hand, simply screams a high Speed stat with its wings and angles, and I carried Charjabug all through Moon in order to command an acrobatic railgun stag beetle. Now, I understand why they're slow. Lurantis, though it looks remarkably ninja-like, only pretends to be such in order to deter predators, while Vikavolt is, as someone on IRC once described it as, "a Harrier jet with a railgun on its face", two things that are notoriously sluggish. But dammit, it's within my rights to be disappointed.
Well, I guess I'll have to wait until gen 8 for my fast physical Grass-type Pokemo-
oh screw off, nothing about this thing's design suggests either of its types