In the southeast portion of Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Lumiose City, on the roof of a restaurant called Café Le Nah, you can find a spawn point for Dratini. It's not the only spot where you can catch one, but a quick look on social media shows that more than a few fans have deemed this place the unofficial "Dratini roof," the go-to place to nab what was originally one of Pokémon's few Dragon-type monsters.
But it isn't exactly a fall from grace to see this elegant creature so errantly plopped on a rooftop. In the first set of games, Red & Blue, your initial chance to nab a Dratini ("long considered a mythical Pokémon" read the Pokedex) came as a casino prize. That's par for the course for Dratini, though, and the rest of its evolutionary line which includes the graceful Dragonair and the cuddly, final boss-ready Dragonite.
Those Pokémon represent the wide scope of the franchise like few others, from its pop culture influences to the way that it's evolved over the years.
Culture vulture
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When Pokémon was distributed internationally, Dratini was likely the first kind of dragon of its particular aesthetic ever seen by American children.
After all, Western dragons tend to be more outwardly monstrous things, and often follow the archetype set by winged brutes like Smaug from The Hobbit. Dratini, on the other hand, lacked any particular malice as it seemed much more akin to water-dwelling creatures from Japanese folklore. It was free for kids to interpret – doubly so because they had no anime counterpart to compare it to (Its debut episode had a pretty liberal amount of guns in it, meaning that it never got an airing in the US.)
As such, most of the early focus that the Dratini line got came with its final Dragonite form, and watching the anime debut of that particular monster arrived with a crash course in pop culture history. In the thirteenth episode "Mystery at the Lighthouse," Ash Ketchum and Co. encounter a massive Dragonite that's curious about the shining glow and sounds of a lighthouse.
A gigantic sea monster becoming interested in a lighthouse is the basis of the Ray Bradbury story "The Fog Horn," a plot that was adapted and expanded into the 1953 classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. That film then inspired the creation of the 1954 Japanese masterpiece Godzilla, a movie that would later help ignite Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri's desire to create monsters himself. Then you have the "Lighthouse" episode, bringing the entire cycle of inspiration full circle.
Small but mighty
Dragonite can be both the mystical shadowy giant at the lighthouse, and a lovable dork with head wings.
It's a majestic introduction, meaning that earning a Dratini through junior gambling in the Celadon City Game Corner in Red & Blue is a pretty hilarious way to eventually own such a wonderful monster.
Unless you waited to take your Super Rod to the Safari Zone to nab a Dratini, you were stuck playing the slots with other thinly-veiled addicts (or outright spending loads of money on coins.) Since then, you can mostly get one in the games through fishing, though in some cases, like Crystal, HeartGold & SoulSilver, and White 2, important characters will give you one as proof of your strength/inner goodness. Ya know, the age-old "You seem nice, so take care of this strange dragon, okay?" thing.
From there, the dragon-type field became a bit more crowded as more were added over successive generations. Even the Dragonite field itself got more crowded, with one acting as a mailman appearing in The First Movie, Elite 4 champion Lance adding two more to his team, and Orange League leader Drake harnessing one in a climactic battle with Ash Ketchum that eventually brought the kid his first championship victory.
A handful of trainers and leaders use the Dratini line in battle, including one of Ash's own anime travelling companions Iris. And, as if to finally show how the Dratini family had gone from weird, rare catches to mainstays, Ash caught one in his final adventure. Of course, its main character trait was that it liked to hug him.
It leads us to the Dratini roof, a situation that is both funny and fitting. It also leads us to the Dragonite Mega-Evolution introduced in Legends: Z-A, which doesn't change up the design for the most part but instead just drops some wings on its head.
That's a far cry from the awe-inspiring Mega form that some might have expected, especially considering Dragonite's in-game history as a feared obstacle to conquer.
But then again, when it comes to the Dratini line, there is always a broad spectrum at play. Dratini is a rare creature of the sea and a reward you get at the Pokémon version of Harrah's. Dragonair is one of Pokémon's most elegant designs, but rarely gets the spotlight afforded to its evolved form. And Dragonite can be both the mystical shadowy giant at the lighthouse that makes you question everything you know about this fictional world, and a lovable dork with head wings or a mailbag. That's just Pokémon.
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