Where are the legendary Pokemon in Pokemon GO?

If you're a lifelong Pokemon fan who appreciates the way that Pokemon GO celebrates the original 151, you've probably ended up asking yourself one big question: Where are the legendary Pokemon?

Specifically, we're interested in the whereabouts of Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. The three legendary birds are part of that initial group of Pokemon a few decades ago, and they just so happen to look a lot like the emblems of the three teams you're asked to join:

• Instinct (Yellow, Team Leader: Spark) - Zapdos
• Mystic (Blue, Team Leader: Blanche) - Articuno
• Valor (Red, Team Leader: Candela) - Zapdos

Alas, the stylized icons for the three teams are the only places the Legendary Pokemon trio has been spotted so far. As popular as Pokemon GO has been since launch, if someone had found and captured them, it would be all over the internet in moments.

As noted by the folks at FanSided, there are spots for all three Legendary Pokemon in the game's Pokedex and enterprising sorts have even located traces of them in the code for Pokemon GO. That implies that Niantic and Nintendo have plans for them, even if the Pokemon are currently unattainable.

Much of the speculation has centered on some type of upcoming in-game event that would make players have to join forces to get some of the rarest creatures around. This theory is supported by the game's initial trailer from the fall of 2015, which featured a huge gathering of people in Times Square, all working together to defeat Mewtwo -- another well known and very rare Pokemon who has yet to appear in Pokemon GO.

There's also some thought that perhaps the choice of team made by each user could affect which of the Legendary Pokemon they have a chance to acquire. This would be kind of a shame since there's no indication when you hit level 5 and are asked to join a team that it is anything but a cosmetic choice, but it's worth keeping in mind.

The guess here is that players will have to level up significantly to be able to track the birds down, and that they won't become available until the game receives a few updates. For now, the priorities of the developers have to be simply managing the extraordinary success of Pokemon GO and completing its worldwide launch, as there are some markets that are still waiting for it to hit the App Store.

Until then, keep your eyes to the skies, and know that you aren't missing out on any Legendary Pokemon for your collection -- yet.