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Elgyem is a light blue extraterrestrial Pokémon with an oblong head with depressions on either side. It has black, symmetrical lines going down the front of its head. On the front of its head are shiny, green button-like eyes. Its hands have three finger-like digits: one red, one green, and one yellow. It has short, stubby legs and a small tail. Elgyem controls incredible psychic power, which it uses to squeeze its opponent’s brains, causing them headaches.
Overall, Elgyem has quite the welcoming and informative behavior. It is willing to help in stressful and otherwise difficult situations. However, Elgyem can become fully involved in something it feels to be important and protect that with its life.
In the anime
Elgyem in the anime
Major appearances
Elgyem made its debut in A UFO for Elgyem! as the friend of Professor Icarus. It tried to help others by giving them visions of impending danger to help prevent the accident from happening but this only caused suspicion and drew attention to Professor Icarus's household. It befriended Ash and his friends when they too came to investigate, and even saved Ash's life after showing them a vision of Ash falling through a weak board on a bridge. It was later kidnapped by Team Rocket and Ash, Iris, and Cilan came to its rescue and reunited it with Professor Icarus.
Elgyem is based on greys, one of the more popular kinds of alien. Its rocky physical appearance may be a reference to the stone circles of Europe, which were allegedly created by visiting extraterrestrials. The colored dots on its hands resembles the colorful faces of the invaders in the 1953 War of the Worlds film; however, the aliens in the film had green, blue and red dots while Elgyem has red, green and yellow. Judging from its Pokédex entry, Elgyem and its evolution may also be based on the Area 51alien conspiracies or the Roswell incident. Considering its species names, physical appearance, and powers, it may also be based on a brain.
Name origin
Elgyem is a corruption of the abbreviation LGM, a common term used to refer to extraterrestrials.
Ligray may be derived from greys (a commonly speculated type of extraterrestrial) and may also be a combination of light (as in light-grey) or little and grey (alternative spelling of gray). Alternatively, it may be a combination of little and a corruption of green, referring to the slang for aliens: "little green men."
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
リグレー Ligray
From greys; possibly also a contraction of リットルグリーンマン
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.