#19: We're So Fly

...or HM02 if you prefer.

Welcome to the 19th installment of the Poké-Poll of the Week! I'm sure you all know to follow PC and PP rules by now, especially:

Don't just list- expand on your answers! Don't just tell us that Pikachu is your favorite Pokémon- tell us why! If you're just listing or giving very short answers, your post may be deleted, and could be up for a warning or an infraction if it becomes a recurring issue.

Click to expand...

Our POTW suggestion this week came from rom hunter, so if you liked it, be sure to let him know! And since we used his suggestion, he'll be receiving a special emblem. If you'd like one of your own, feel free to send me a VM or leave an idea with your comment, and if it gets picked, the emblem is yours! With that out of the way, this week's poll question is:

Which are your favorite early-game bird Pokémon?

Seeing as there are quite a few choices again, this'll be another multiple choice poll. Feel free to pick as many (or as few) as you'd like, and let us know why they're your favorite(s)!

Starly family for sure. Staraptor is one of my favorites of all time. Brave-Bird and Close Combat, great companion on the Nuzlocke, Intimidate/Reckless, nice design and shiny, has so many things going for it.

I couldn't decide between Swellow line and Unfezant line, they're the only early bird Pokemon I've ever actually used in-game. Swellow was one of the many Pokemon I loved from Hoenn, and Winona's Shiny one in the anime made me fall in love with them! I have a Shiny Guts Swellow that I use often when playing NU. I didn't catch Pidove when playing Black or White 2, but actually in Light Platinum I decided to give it a try, and was rewarded - Unfezant has such an elegant design, and is actually quite useful in battle as well.

Honorable mention to Pidgeot though, because it's just a classic.

The only early birds I like are the Starly and Fletchling lines. Staraptor and Talonflame are a lot more useful than the other birds in standard play.

Went with the Taillow, Starly, and Fletchling lines. Sorry, Bird Jesus, I don't find you as cool as them :<

Of all the Pokemon designs in the three lines, I love Fletchinder's and Swellow's the most. They look so badass, yet have a touch of gracefulness to them. I also think Swellow's a pretty cool Pokemon to use, though I'll admit I haven't used it as much as I could've :< Though, my ORAS teams aren't finalized. Might swap out one Pokemon for Swellow~ All three final evos. have pretty good Abilities--Guts for Swellow, Intimidate and Reckless for Staraptor, and Flame Body and Gale Wings for Talonflame. They're mighty fun to use in battle, both in-game and competitively, and they can help the birds wreck a lot of crap, too! Typing-wise, I love that Fletchinder and Talonflame deviate from the standard Normal/Flying typing by becoming Fire/Flying; having Fire STAB is pretty useful.

Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot for sure! Sure, they were a bit mediocre for use in the games, but I loved Ash's Pidgeotto and often had one of my own on my Yellow team and Leaf Green team. Outside of the games, I think Pidgeot is the best looking final evo from the early bird families, and design usually means a lot to me ;)

spearow/fearow till death do us part. I just love Drill peck and I love Fearow's design.

I voted for the Taillow, Starly, and Fletchling lines, because their unevolved forms are so cute and their final evolutions are badass and strong.

Easily Swellow and Fearow's lines :)


Swellow and Taillow's designs were love at first sight when I was playing Emerald, and really became my first ever favourite early bird Pokémon from then on. I ended up using one in my first Pokémon X playthrough (love Fletchinder but really not keen on Talonflame's design as much, so Swellow it was haha) :)


Fearow has also cemented its status with me since about SoulSilver onwards, as I caught an early Spearow and from then on it was one of my best team members. I'm using a Fearow on my second (and current) X playthrough.


I find it interesting that for my two favourites this time around, there's only one evolution for each, never realised that before :)

Tossed my vote in there for the flame bird family.

I love all of their designs like crazy, Fire is one of my favorite types, and oh man they're just so amazing.. like modern day phoenixes. I haven't had the chance to really use a Talonflame myself outside of random battles, but I've been up against plenty and this line is so stupidly over powered with Gale Wings... I love it. <3

I have always liked Staraptor for reasons that shouldn't be too hard to guess, but after my newest White 2 challenge (a Wedlocke), I have gained new found respect for Unfezant, because it did me very well in that play (I caught it in Castelia City, and it was in my party from then until the very end when it died against Iris). That and the fact that it has two very distinct gender forms, unlike most Pokémon whose gender differences aren't very apparent. And it can use FeatherDance and Roost, and got a small Attack boost in XY and has Super Luck to try it on with.

It took me quite a while to decide between Staraptor and Unfezant. But finally I decided to vote for Staraptor.

The reason is more about looks and Staraptor being predator pokemon as well as probably the only Normal/Flying type that can learn coolest fighting type move - Close Combat. Noctowl has always been my old favorite but talking about battles you need to make the first move and you need to try hard to make it your last one too (in the winning sense of course). In this sense, Staraptor fits the frame.

Guts Swellow with Toxic Orb

/thread

ohhh Taillow and Swellow definitely, no competition at all. Although Fletchling is pretty cute.

I love their slick look and super-high speed. They're very frail but still do pretty well in battles given how many Pokemon they outspeed. I've used the Taillow line so often in R/S/E and it has always worked out swimmingly. Plus pretty swallow birds!

Tailow! Speed rocks, and Swellow really has a good design. I also loved Ash's Tailow and Winona's shiny Swellow.

My favourite of all these is Swellow, although I admit Staraptor and Talonflame are much better competitively. Swellow looks the best of all early-game birds in my eyes, plus it has a great ability (Guts), HUGE speed (ties with Weavile), and with a Toxic Orb it can easily clean up at late-game in the lower tiers.

I have two favorites, the first of which is starly. it was the first thing I caught in sinnoh, along with being the first pokemon that I ever iv trained. my second favorite is pidgey. it may be horrible in competition, and its not the best looking thing in the world, but it was my favorite pokemon in kanto for the longest time. I always catch one when I start out, and the last time around it was shiny ^.^

It's definitely got to be Talonflame line for me. their designs might look sort of average, but competitively, Talonflame could play extremely well. If you manage to get a hold of one with Gale Wings ability, then all you have to do is teach it Brave Bird; with this combination, it would be able to get through your opponent's entire team single-handedly, without any issue at all. It could also learn Roost, and with that, it could recover its health whenever it wishes.

Second favorite would be Staraptor; its design is pretty fierce, and it could be pretty easy to utilize when battling, too. As for third, I'd say Pidgeot.

Voting for Swellow here, because it's a second-stager and yet is pretty freaking fast and useful in the Hoenn games, more than Staraptor or Pidgeot was. Sure, Staraptor can hold out longer and better, but nostalgia beats all XD

Also the very obvious competitive use of Guts+Toxic Orb+STAB Facade lol