Since Pokémon GO's release, players have been searching for a way to acquire the game's legendary birds: Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos. So far, nobody has managed to find one in the wild, with most fans assuming the creatures would be tied to some upcoming in-game event.
That was, at least until reports began to surface about an Articuno defending a gym in the Ohio area. In a video uploaded to Facebook, Kaitlyn Covey claims to have received the legendary bird creature as an apology gift after contacting developer Niantic about an issue. Since then, Covey has uploaded yet another video, with the Articuno occupying a different gym.
Other players are skeptical, to say the least. Covey's Facebook posts are filled with comments from people asking for a higher quality video or a screen shot of the email she received from Niantic. On Reddit, fans are struggling to understand why Niantic would simply give out legendary Pokémon for seemingly no reason at all. So far, no piece of evidence shown seems to conclusively prove that the legendary creatures are legitimate.
It's most likely all a hoax. Players have already mined the game's data and hacked it, so it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to assume that the appearance of Articuno is also likely a hack of some kind. As explained by Reddit user Studmuffin2113, it's possible users posting images and videos of Articuno, Moltres or other legendary creatures are using a hack that changes the appearance of Pokémon on one specific phone, but not for other players viewing the creature in-game. Studmuffin2113 explains:
"Example: If you change a Vaporeon into Moltres, Every Time you see a vaporeon on a gym, your phone will show a moltres," the user writes. "It's a prank by a few different people who changed the skin."
That could also explain the handful of users who claim to have visited the gym and saw Articuno in person. Just because the users may post screen shots showing Articuno in the gym, it doesn't necessarily mean the creature is real. They could be using the same hack as the first person to make the claim, changing the appearance of a more mundane pocket monster into a legendary one on their phone.
Another possibility is a confirmed bug that occasionally causes a caught Pokémon to transform into another creature. One Reddit user reports to have caught a Weedle, only for it to have been replaced by an Electabuzz in his bag. Is it possible players are catching far more common Pokémon, only for them to be transforming into legendary birds by mistake?
In the hours since Covey's first video, screen shots and videos of other legendary Pokémon, including Moltres and Zapdos, have appeared. Another player claims to have hatched a Ditto, one of the game's last undiscovered Pokémon, from a one km egg (something that fans didn't even know existed). Something fishy is definitely going on, and as usual, Niantic has yet to comment on the matter. This all seems too good to be true, so it probably is the case. Chances are, these are nothing more than elaborate pranks and hacks that have gotten way more attention than they deserve. However, until Niantic speaks up and proves otherwise, players will nonetheless be fascinated by the possibility.
