Let's Talk About Pokemon - The Pidgey Family

016 - Pidgey

Another entry in the per-generation tradition train is the common songbird Pokemon you find early on in the routes. Like some kind of "Early Bird." These Pokemon rarely get extravagant, and that's probably by design, since these early-game Pokemon are typically meant to be the closest the Pokemon world has to normal animals. At least in an era after the Pokemon world discarded the idea of also having normal animals in it.

Pidgey is very. Fine? Inoffensive? Is what it is? And all manner of other phrases describing something that is not great, but not bad, either. I only really take umbrage with this line in how I like birds! And for how common they are, I find sparrows pretty cute! So it's just a shame Pidgey doesn't really do anything for me.

Pidgey does at least get funny when you take its original Red and Blue sprite into account. It was already teetering a little too much on "this is just a stylized version of a real animal", but then ingame it looks like this. Just straight up a normal bird! Like a sparrow just got inside and wandered onto set!

017 - Pidgeotto

One thing I do like about these Early Bird Pokemon is how many of them essentially act as reimagining a songbird animal into being a bird of prey. Like Pidgeotto and its evolution here, who is asking a bit of "what if a Sparrow was built more like a kestrel or hawk?" The conception only really faltering here in particular because many kestrel species already looked a bit like "what if a sparrow was a predatory bird?" Pidgeotto's one claim to fame here is having a highlight of pink hair, for some reason.

018 - Pidgeot

I don't recall precisely who, but a Pokemon designer at some point said that, generally speaking, a Pokemon's final evolution is designed first, because it's a lot easier to "build downward" to design a pre-evolution than it is to keep building upward for another evolution. And if Pidgeot wasn't a victim of Pidgey and Pidgeotto being designed first, it is at least a good showcase of why it actually is pretty good advice to come up with a final evo first, THEN design its pre-evolutions. Because Pidgeot here barely looks that different from Pidgeotto.

For what it is worth, it looks more stern and sleek, but as far as physical characteristics go, its only real differentiating feature is that its crest has a streak of yellow in it now, too. Wow I found a way to write more than half a paragraph about Pidgeot. That's new, for this take on the Let's Talk About Pokemon series in particular!

Personal Score: 5/10

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