Are Darkrai and Cresselia REALLY a duo?

Question

OK, so as most people know, Darkrai and Cresselia are part of the Lunar Duo, a pair of Pokemon who can either cure nightmares (Cresselia) or cause them (Darkrai.) But, upon closer inspection, I've noticed a lot of inconsistencies and discrepancies with this "duo," so I'm wondering if the Lunar Duo is really a duo, or if it's just a fan made idea because the two are so "similar."

Because people may not know the inconsistencies I'm talking about, let me list some out (because I can't remember them all at the moment.)

1. The types don't match up. If Cresselia is supposed to be the "stronger" of the two, then why is it weak to Dark, Darkrai's only typing? Of course, fairy type didn't exist in generation 4, but they could have changed it, since fairy types are so deeply linked with the moon.

2. Cresselia is always female, but Darkrai is genderless. Pretty self explanatory, but I'll point out the obvious anyway, if Cresselia is always female, then shouldn't Darkrai always be male?

3. Cresselia is Legendary, but Darkrai is Mythical. Probably the biggest red flag of all, and 90% of the reason I'm asking this question. Cresselia has always been catchable in-game, but Darkrai has never been released outside of events. It makes no sense, if they were a duo, then shouldn't they either be A. Both Legendary (catchable in-game,) or B. Both Mythical (event only.)

Comments

All duos are made up by fans, so this question is probably not very meaningful.

Answer 1

While I agree with your points, the truth is, despite the discrepancies, they are constituent members of the Lunar Duo.

While most of the world didn't, at least till Gen 5, count "mythical" and "legendary" Pokemon as separate, it made sense to some degree. Only recently, the way the Pokemon are marketed is cut and dry between "normal" Pokemon and Event Exclusive "Mythical" Pokemon. That doesn't necessarily answer anything, but it is worth noting that the developers felt the more offensive based Darkrai would be too strong to be obtainable in-game. The same case is seen to some extent (despite obvious power differences) with Arceus. The truth is, despite being nearly as strong, Cresselia is still weaker, both in typing as well as one-vs-one against Darkrai, and doesn't share the same kind of usage.

Also, from a marketing sense, this makes sense. Darkrai is the "cooler" of the two, so people would be more inclined to go to a special promo event for Darkrai as opposed to Cresselia, which benefits the corporate side of it more.

There is another thing I'd like to add:

"Legendary" and "Mythical" Pokemon exist only outside of the Pokemon World / Lore. Within the "actual" Pokemon World, these terms have no meaning; Darkrai and Cresselia, like most other Legendary/Mythical Pokemon, are only there to guard the realm or maintain peace and balance.

Hence, in the development of the lore of the Lunar Duo, it makes no difference whether one is legendary and the other is mythical or not. This only makes sense from a marketing point of view, and so that is probably the reason for the distinction.

Furthermore, the points are anomalies to some extent, but don't prove that they are not part of the Duo. Even Pokemon folklore and game plot lines mention the two as well connected/ closely related to the activities of each other, even going so far as to directly fight against one another. Details like "gender" aren't all that important to the mechanics, as neither can breed anyway, and as for typing, the Psychic type has always been connected with the Moon (Jirachi and Lunatone are Pokemon that come to mind, as does Musharna).

If you have noticed, despite the stronger "connect" of the Fairy type to the Moon, there are few instances where Psychic has been converted to Fairy, specially true in cases of Legendary Pokemon, because it can cause inconsistencies in the backstory (or lore).

So, despite the term itself being Fan made, the connections are hard to miss, and they are still a legendary duo.

Comments

Another thought that comes to mind about gender is this:
Cresselia is female as the Moon is generally feminine, and the idea that a guardian of dreams is female is to an extent more acceptable. Most fairies, ignore the irony here, as female, and so this makes sense.

On the other hand, /maybe/ why Darkrai isn't 100% male is to probably prevent attaching gender to a negative or antagonistic character. Do remember that public opinion is very important for sales, so the company definitely has to look out for, and change most controversial ideas, and making the generator of bad dreams as male might strike a chord, and ultimately lead to lower sales, in which case a gender-less solution is pitched. Perhaps, this was even done at the last moment, meaning Cresselia was already coded in to the game, and hence didn't have to change genders from Female to neither, but the Darkrai, which was event specific anyway, didn't escape, as it would probably not have affected the game as much. Maybe. Not sure 100% how these things work, but this seems probable.

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I'm selecting this as BA cause congratulations you actually tried
But
The messed up lunar duo still going to urk me to no end, even with an answer
do bETteR GAmeFrEAk

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You're right, I did try. Like you said, there are (bothersome) details that don't fit *just* right, as if you're using jigsaw pieces from two separate versions of the same puzzle. The image is correct but the pieces don't feel right.   :/

In that sense, I'm mildly miffed too, and that's all your fault :D

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Yw :')