RE: The Two Legendary Pokemon
I like both of them. They immediately stand out from other mascots and their designs may carry more interesting themes.
The Elk IMMEDIATELY cannot be a dragon. That wouldn't make sense. And that is lovely, because that tired me out real fast. It's design is also very calm and serene, whereas most Legendaries are bold and powerful looking, which is something that is not seen very often. I am pleased with it. I also think it may have to do with survival and nature, and it does remind me of the God in Princess Mononoke (if that is how it is spelled). It is certainly more original and awe-inspiring than a majority of other pokemon. Whereas other mascots looked tough and cool, this thing is almost frail and mystical looking. Stat-wise it must be the defensive type.
The Other legendary is more interesting to me. While another commenter pointed out that it looked like Staraptor and therefore was an immediate turn off, I think it is really cool. Unlike the former, it is more sinister and menacing, which for some reason I tend to like in Pokemon. If the Elk symbolizes life and nature (as Elks tend to do), then it would make sense if the Y legendary symbolized death. A more sinister theme for a Kid's game, but it could be written in a way that it is not blatantly evil. That would be cool.
My only problem is: what would the types be? I at first had a hard time figuring out what the types of the Dragons were in B/W, but I knew they would be dragons. These two are totally different. The Bird like entity I can believe would be a dragon, but the Elk cannot. It mustn't. The types chosen would probably not be very powerful as a combination, unless the bird was Fire/Dark and had levitate, or Flying/Dark, or Flying/Ghost, or something, or even Dark/Ghost with Levitate. The latter works well if it is supposed to be death. The other would be at a serious disadvantage if it were Psychic, but that would make sense. Psychic and then something else... I am not sure what types would work with them. Chances are that they would not be Dragons (hopefully) and therefore would not be phenomenal. But we will see. Overall very pleased.
Despite my high praise for X, I like Y more. I think it's it's dark theme that I like... If it were tragically dark it would be lovely.
EDIT: If these things were based on co-ordinates, that would be lame. If based on evolution, that would be cool, but possibly controversial to some. Oh well, they made Arceus I suppose. But if based on folklore such as the tree of Yggsdrassil, that.... that. Just that. Done.