The "Early Bird" archetype

[Monochrome_Complex]

The early bird catches the worm

 

The early bird is a staple archetype of pokemon games and has appeared in every generation. They're often the premiere flying type for early game and are commonly associated with your rival as well, with gen 2 and 7 being the exceptions.

 

 

So I present the question: what are your thoughts on each early bird line and how would you rank them from favorite to least?

my thoughts

Spoiler

 

Pidgey line - the original. The grandaddy.  the trendsetter. When many people think early bird trope, these guys come first to mind.  The signature pokemon of Blue, believe it or not, as well as the signature line of Falkner, pidgey is probably the most vanilla bird pokemon out there. Statistically it's kind of a jack of all trades, though being an earlymon(and a gen 1 one at that) its stats are quite unimpressive for a fully evolved mon except for its speed. which is somewhat passable though again not too great these days. GF realized this and figured to buff Pidgeot in gen 6 by boosting its speed from a 91 to 101, and giving it a mega, which not only makes it much faster(121 is nothing to sneeze at) but also makes it the most powerful special attacker among the early birds, carving out a much needed niche for itself. 

Visually this line is very straightforward, and even their progression is rather mundane for the most part: pidgeotto gets bigger and longer hair, pidgeot gets bigger and much longer hair, mega pidgeot...gets bigger and pretty epic hair, but also gets some nice plumage to splash up its otherwise dull color scheme. The mega is easily the best of the line and one of the better mega designs.

One thing I feel is overlooked by this line is that they embody the "wind" aspect of the flying type moreso than any of its counterparts. They learn gust, whirlwind, twister, air slash, tailwind AND hurricane, with megapidgeot's No Guard ability further emphasizing this by allowing him to spam hurricanes without missing once.  I didn't really realize this until recently, but I do sort of like that.  That said, I'm not totally crazy about these guys and find them kind of dull compared to the others, as well as pretty underwhelming for playthroughs. I also never liked  how Pidgeot oveshadowed Fearow despite Fearow honestly being better for years.

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Spearow line - the underdog early bird of gen 1. The designated bad guy in many pokemon media, this line gets treated rather badly. They were the first pokemon pikachu beat up on the show and show up later with fearow only to get beatdown by Pidgeotto/pidgeot(admittedly that episode was kind of cool). No trainer has ever mained a fearow and the only time he got any love was as a pokemon in the electric tale of pikachu manga, where believe it or not he was on satoshi's team and one of his first pokemon.

Funny thing is? This line honestly wasn't that bad originally. In fact they were hands down better than the pidgey line, with higher attack and the admittedly solid drill peck. In addition you get fearow much earlier than Pidgeot, and fearow is much better than pidgeotto, being both stronger and faster(until gen 6) meaning fearow will likely get more mileage in the time he's part of your crew. In truth pidgeot ain't that good to be evolving at level 36 and his moveset kind of stinks early games while Fearow always had drill peck making him one of the best flying type offenses until you got dodrio. When it comes down to it, Fearow was the superior gen 1 bird and yet what does he get from it? Jack all that's what. No mega, no evolution, no mega form, nothing. Guy has been repeatedly screwed over by GF for near decades

Design wise spearow looks a lot more savage and aggressive than Pidgey, but I find its body section ugly in both its color and general look. It reminds me of shellfish and honestly doesn't fit it too well. Fearow's body changes a lot but the colors and eyes are similar enough to not feel jarring. The long beak while simple in concept functions well since it's what fearow uses as its main weapon. Even here we can see a sort of contrast in Pidgeot and fearow's themes: pidgeot is more refined, graceful, and utilizes the wind while fearow is more primal and relies on its beak and general savagery. In retrospect fearow should've gotten a flying/dark alolan form and I feel that given how prominent fearow is in alola this might have been on the table at one point but they probably decided against it given that they had like 3 dark alolans already.  It would've been a bit overkill.

 

Spoiler

Hoothoot line - Johto's priemere early bird and possibly the posterboy of gen 2's new day/night system, as hoothoot would only appear in the grass at night and would be sleeping during the day if headbutted from a tree, which was a really neat detail BTW. Hoothoot stands out among the early birds even today by being the only one who opts for defense over offense, with its highest stats being its Hp and special defense, making it a beast at tanking special moves early to mid game . I say that hoothoot is a smart man's pokemon because people who only like to attack will find him awful, while players who appreciate a more refined role in defensive play will find that this line actually has some neat tricks  I used one in reborn before and it helped a lot with corey and even carried me until like gym 8, which is impressive for an early bird.  It's not a pokemon that will rack up a lot of kills, but it can provide some good support and can take some special move punishment better than many mid-late game pokemon.

Hoothoot's design is kind of neat as the eyebrows resemble clock hands with its eyelashes resembling clock gears. I never really understood the one-foot-but-is-actually-2 thing but the time allusions in its design are great, Noctowl while pretty cool looking sadly loses this clever aspect entirely and basically becomes this intimidating owl, but his design isn't as creative as hoothoot's despite looking kind of cool. The colors are pretty dull too, Gen 1 and 2 loved that cream/brown combo. That combination can look good(lopunny) but it was so overused in gen 1 and 2.

 

 

Spoiler

Tailow Line - It's interesting that despite being the posterboy early bird for gen 1, I feel that later incarnations of the trope built themselves off closer to Fearow in emphasizing speed and/or offense over being a jack of all stats like Pidgeot was. Tailow is basically fearow 2.0, albeit slightly weaker yet much faster. it also showcases gen 3's main new mechanic change with its guts ability, allowing swellow to turn into a straight up killer by using its status + facade for massive damage. 

Design wise I honestly find Tailow kind of funny looking, it looks cute sometimes but a bit derpy at others. swellow's official art is rather unflattering but I do like its look in the game. I always thought the eyes made it look a bit feminine though. It kind of seems arrogant too, no? My personal experience with swellow is limited to the Hoenn games but it always puts in work and dominates mid game,  Personally swellow would probably be my 3rd favorite.

 

Spoiler

Starly line - Oh. Yes. Hands down my favorite line of the early bird archetype, okay so rather Staraptor is my favorite as I find starly and staravia not too cute or interesting. but this guy was a gamechanger, and completely turned the early bird trope on its head. Normally early mons like rattatas, butterfrees, furrets, etc are made not too strong on purpose s it encourages you to go catch more pokemon. The birds, while in the hands of a competent player can get you far usually fall off around mid to late mid game as their poor defenses become too much of a hindrance later on. But not this line. Starly strats off typical, but when it evolves it  gets intimidate(how staravia is scary Idk) which is a massive improvement over starly's keen eye or whatever. But then it turns into staraptor, and the first thing it does is learn close combat, one of the strongest fighting moves in the game, Combine these with the powerful brave bird and the highest attack for an early bird yet and you have a mon that can carry you all the way to victory and possibly the championship.

Design wise, I honestly find starly too weird looking and not cute while staravia's hair and expression are downright silly. Staraptor is a complete 180, turning into a pure badass with its own little hair style and making that previously ugly color scheme somewhat work. Even his cry sounds amazing and staraptor is a pretty boss name. 

 

Spoiler

Pidove line - -sigh- look starptor was a tough act to follow but apparently he was TOO goodand GF wanted to dial it back down? Pidove feels like a pokemon from generation 1 or 2, in that its stats don't make the best use of its moveset  and thus is held back by it. Pidove is an odd creature in that it has quite high attack yet an oddly defensive moveset with a skew towards special moves? Is it trying to be more like Pidgeot? I get having 3 heavy hitters in a row would be a bit tiresome but still...

Visually I have mixed feelings on this line. Pidove is a bit boring but the heart on its chest is cute and it's got some charm. Tranquil I detest and it's my least favorite Gen V pokemon on account of being extremely annoying to fight in the wild. Detect , air slash AND roost? GUGH. Unfezant's sexual dimorphism is really cool but I feel the male looks a bit goofy while the female is so boring in her palette. 

In truth unfezant's stats aren't even bad, first time I played rejuvenation I had an unfezant which saved me against Valarie and it can hit quite hard with a status'd facade, but at the same time it feels like a pokemon built without a concise direction and suffered as a result. I hate to say it, but it's probably my least favorite of the early birds.

 

Spoiler

 

Fletching line - so far every early bird has been flying/normal. But this line was the first to break that trend and instead be fire/flying, which was very refreshing. In addition this line got the once coveted gale wings skill, which in gen 6 was pretty awesome. Gen 7 nerfed it HARD though which has affected this line's use somewhat.

Now personally I gotta be honest, I never liked fletching's proportions and flecthinder is kind of okay. Talonflame I always scoffed as being overrated despite looking really cool and using one on my current Rejuvenation playthrough...eh it's proving me right so far. His in-game moveset takes 40 freakin levels to get a STAB over 50 BP and despite having some good attacks, his attack stat is rather average and forces you to run meta-competitive sets to make him really good.  I find this to be a pokemon that's better competitively than for single player.

 

Spoiler

Pikipek line - a woodpecker into a toucan? Supposedly they're related IRL. No seriously. Okay so at first I thought pikipek while cute was nothing special. Then I saw its evo, thought it was a goofy but the beak trumpet is neat. Then I saw toucanon via a leak and thought it was the msot boring bird since Unzeant. I didn't start liking toucannon until the SM episode with it, where I saw how it used its beak. Since then I've only grown to love this line more and more. Toucannon's signature move, beak blast is pretty awesome and works well off toucannon absurd attack and miserable speed, plus even if he does he can at least go out in style by burning an opponent.  It also has the awesome skill link ability, which it puts to use via rock blat and bullet seed,. I feel toucannon can only be appreciated in motion as that's where his design shines. Personally this guy has risen up to 2nd place for me when comparing the early birds, and I've also found his line useful all throughout the game, even if not to the domineering extent of staraptor.

 

If I had to rank them, it'd go

Spoiler

Staraptor > toucannon > Swellow > Noctowl >  Fearow > Talonflame > Pidgeot > Unfezant

 

[GenEric]

upvoted for gifs

 

[ZEL]

I always have a soft spot for the early bird lines, and always will.
It's not exactly a secret that I love birds, or that Flying is my favourite type, and as such I will always form an attachment to the first bird I get to catch in a Pokémon game.

 

I guess based on final evos I'd go Staraptor > Noctowl > Toucannon > Pidgeot > Fearow > Swellow > Talonflame > Unfezant

 

Pidgey's line has a very special place in my heart for essentially being the reason I wanted to start playing Pokémon. Pidgeotto used to be my most favourite 'mon when I was a little kid. I loved that design so much that I sort of started to collect TCG cards without even knowing how to play, just so I could get this line of cards. I was motivated to start playing the games because of the promise that I could have my very own Pidgeotto.
And I always joke about how my BRY starter is nothing but a Pidgey catching device... but really, they totally are. Pidgey is my Gen I starter, it has so much nostalgic value to me. Little Ama was so proud to have a Pidgeotto lmao.

 

I'm also a huge Fearow fan for nostalgic reasons. I think it's just a really neat and simple design, and always enjoyed using it in the games.

 

Starly's line if possibly my favourite of them all. For a whole while, Staraptor was my favourite Pokémon, dethroning Pidgeotto. It's so cool-looking and so good. Easily the ace of my Diamond run, an so loved that I just had to keep transferring it onto my new games just so I could keep it around. I think out of all my team members thoughout all the games, my Staraptor is second favourite only to my first Dodrio.

Hoothoot's line is another I have a ton of nostalgia for. I was a very hyped kid when GS came out, and with all the new Pokémon to discover, I was thrilled when I played Gold and got to catch myself that owl. Noctowl remained my ace throughout that save file.
And honestly? I still love using it. I still end up catching it when I get the opportunity. Got a second wind of appreciation using it in Reborn. It takes hits that you wouldn't expect it to take, and the only thing I ultimately lament about it is that it isn't part Psychic.

Design-wise I find Hoothoot to be the more creative one, but I really do like Noctowl's look still.
Noctowl's damn underrated, smh.

 

I have perhaps the least attachment to Taillow's line, because Gen III was the one generation sans I that I didn't get to play on release. I didn't have a GBA, so I only played Sapphire and Emerald after I got a DS, and after playing Diamond. I like their design and enjoy using them, but there isn't really all that much emotion attached to them because they've never been a notable team member for me. (Pooch took the spot of the forever early friend in Gen III for me.)
But still, can't hate guts swellow, mmmm.

 

I really wanted to like Pidove's line more than I do. The prospect of having an actual pigeon line (since Pidgey's doesn't really look like pigeons) was great, because they're some of my fave birds.
And I like the look of Pidove and Tranquill.
But oh man, Unfezant. I was both disappointed that a pigeon turned into a completely unrelated type of bird, and insulted that of all the possibilities that came with a pheasant design, we got this. I adore pheasants. Kept pheasants before. And Unfezant is just really, really lackluster in appearance to me. even with pidove's colour scheme you could've done better. (Grey peacock-pheasants, anyone?)

Doesn't help that it has 115 base Attack and the only physical Flying move it learns by level-up is Sky Attack at 66. Unfezant is a physical attacker with a mostly special level-up pool. For some reason. To be fair, non-Mega Pidgeot is kind of in the same boat, but the much bigger difference between Unfezant's Atk and SpA make it a lot more jarring.

 

Talonflame may just be my lest favourite besides Unfezant. I don't actually know, why, though. Besides maybe the fact that we've got another species change on our hands. I'm not sure if they had no better ideas for an evolution line of robins, or no idea for a first-stage bird of prey, but it lowkey bothers me. I like Fletchling, it's beyond adorable. I just can't really warm up (ha... I'll escort myself out in a moment) to Talonflame. It's not even a bad design. Just not my cup of tea, I guess. Just didn't click with it when I tried to use it in X.

 

Toucannon is amazing. I fucking love Toucannon.

I'm sort of assuming they wanted to make a toucan mon, but couldn't come up with good toucan-looking pre-evos that didn't spoil Toucannon's main feature (the beak) too much, and that's why they went with their relative, the woodpecker. I guess it'd have been difficult to make pre-evos that look like toucans without making the final evo look kind of unexciting? But look, I don't care, man. People keep saying it looks too uninspired, I think it looks awesome. "A toucan but he's angry" is more than good enough for me tbh.

Real toucan bills are, among other things, used for thermoregulation, so the concept of beak blast is just really fun to me.

Also, shiny Toucannon is a bisexual icon and I cherish it.