Movie Review: Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

I am just very slowly going through the backlog of DCEU movies that I haven't reviewed in the past. Birds of Prey probably holds an interestingly special place in my heart because it was the last movie I watched in teh thaeters before the huge pandemic. 

And, well... it's an interesting movie? It's definitely not a bad movie on its own merits, but as part of the expanded DCEU continuity it kind of is a rather odd choice to slot into the movie series' lineup... though I could rant a whole day about the poor choices that the DCEU had done in terms of choosing which superhero movie to make when. So.

I guess my biggest problem with this movie is its branding as a 'Birds of Prey' movie, when the movie is all about Harley Quinn. And it's a pretty great post-New-52 Harley Quinn movie, all things considered. It's just that they kind of tossed in/shoehorned in the Birds of Prey and with the exception of maybe the Huntress's backstory, none of these guys really are adapted well into the big screen. And I don't mind liberties being taken during an adaptation of superhero material, that's for sure, but... but when you change a character so much that really the only common thread is the name -- like Cassandra Cain, who practically has nothing in common with the mute assassin Batgirl from the comics, I really wonder why they decided to even use the character name at all. 

Again, as mentioned above, the movie itself clearly takes a lot of the complains about the very... sexualized and vapid Harley Quinn from the trainwreck of a movie that is 2016's Suicide Squad, took the fact that Margot Robbie is actually a good fit for the character, and ran with it. We go through a pretty solid character arc as she goes all cuckoo, going from her breakup with her abusive boyfriend Joker and then trying to make it on her own as her own woman with a pet hyena. 

She comes into conflict with club owner and gangster boss Roman Sionis (Black Mask in the comics, played by Ewan "Obi-Wan Kenobi" McGregor) who, like most of the underworld, views her as a washout now that she's no longer associated with the Joker. We get that rather glorious scene where she blows up the ACE-Chemicals plant to announce to the world of her moving on from the Joker. And... again, not 100% faithful to the comics, but that's okay. It's a neat little setup not too dissimilar from the recent, well-received Harley Quinn animated series. 

But then the titular Birds of Prey come in and... they're... again, I don't think their individual stories are bad. The actors are serviceable, and the way they're integrated into the Harley/Sionis plot is pretty competently done. It's just that... there's a mixture of them feeling rather obligatory to the movie as a whole (just to make it an ensemble cast and "adapt" another DC property) and their stories kinda being basic. 

The only one who I feel actually gets a pass is the edgy vigilante Huntress, who they actually played up super-seriously. Her Bertinelli mafia family drama is shown to the audience and treated by the Huntress herself as a brooding, badass backstory; her outfit and crossbows are handled reasonably well, and Huntress herself takes herself seriously too... when Harley and the rest of the cast really don't give a shit about her backstory and continually mock her Huntress moniker. It's something that shouldn't be funny -- particularly because I've spent years bitching about superhero adaptations being ashamed of their origins -- but it is. 

The main plot involves a diamond engraved with account numbers tied to the Bertinelli crime family, which is the sort of ridiculous James Bond style plotline that I feel is nice. Said diamond gets stolen by a little girl, Cassandra Cain, who proceeds to swallow it. Sionis and his goons hunt down Cassandra, who befriends Harley Quinn, and... we basically get that as the rather typical 'oh, jackass befriends a young child' plotline. Again, the acting is competent enough to not make the movie drag, but it's also nothing super special at the end of the day. 

Meanwhile, Dinah "Black Canary" Lance is a burlesque singer in Sionis's nightclub who basically gets forced into being his bodyguard... with the rather creepy implications that Sionis has an unhealthy amount of interest in her. This gets Sionis's previous goon, Mr. Zsasz, super-duper jealous in an interaction that some people have read as unrequited romantic interaction? Eh. The two kind of antagonize each other throughout the movie, and also at the climax of the movie we get the revelation that Dinah has metahuman Black Canary powers, which... it's something that the comics character has, but considering how much everything about this movie is toned down to the 'ground-level' superheroes and supervillains, it's a revelation that isn't foreshadowed and doesn't make sense beyond 'it's from the comics'.

Rounding out the cast is GCPD Detective Renee Montoya, who's just this jaded, older lady cop who's the token lawful good member of the cast who tries her best to get everyone that's not evil on the same side. 

And... the movie basically goes through a bunch of action scenes, and a lot of them are just stylish and ridiculous. Your tolerance of the second and third acts of the movie really depends on how much the wacky fireworks-cannon raid of the GCPD and the climactic wacky hijinks rollerblade action scene at one of Gotham City's many, many abandoned funhouse theme parks are. It's a stylish action scene that I won't begrudge since it fits the tone of the movie. There is the typical 'Harley angsts on whether she would sell out her young kiddie friend' storyline, there is Dinah being caught between her status as a Sionis gang employee and an informant to Montoya... again, none of these plotlines are bad at all. It's just... kind of obvious that everything leads up to 'okay, we all hate Sionis, let's team up and beat up his army of masked goons'. 

The movie ends with Sionis dead, while Montoya, Huntress and Black Canary think about starting off a superhero vigilante agency, only for the final shot to be Harley and Cass stealing all the money and driving off into the sunset. 

And... again, it's not a bad movie on its own merits. Playful, wacky, stylish in the action scenes. Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn displays a lot of the fun, lunatic energy that the character has in her solo outings, and free from the terrible 2016 Suicide Squad script and the association with the worst live-action incarnation of the Joker, she gets to shine and be the protagonist of her own movie. Unfortunately, I really do think that the movie would probably work a lot better if it actually went all-in on its focus as a Harley Quinn movie, since a lot of the storylines revolvinga round the Birds of Prey ends up being kind of superfluous and distracting since none of the characters ever grow out of their archetypes. The movie's usage of characters also deviate rather wildly from the source material that it actually is even more baffling when Black Canary utilizes her sonic screams. Again, I don't really like criticizing this movie since it's still a fun watch, but it's just another mediocre movie to tack onto the messy pile of DCEU's portfolio. 

One Piece 1079 Review: One Shot

One Piece, Chapter 1079: The Red Haired Pirates: An Emperor's Crew

...yeah, we get a bit of an explanation to the York stuff at the beginning of this chapter. It's... really not anything we couldn't have guessed before. There's a bit of a show of people running around, and a brief shot of a ship coming towards Egghead. Is it the Marines? No, it's a Blackbeard Pirates ship. That would be enough of a cliffhanger, that the Blackbeard Crew members are here to zehahaha their way through the conflict as a wild-card. 

But no. That, somehow, Blackbeard's potential arrival isn't the biggest cliffhanger in this chapter is a feat in and of itself. 

We cut away -- and stay -- with Kid facing off against the Red-Haired Pirate fleet, and we get to see the wacky losers in Shanks' crew .We've got such awe-inspiring names like the Puddle Pirates, the Social Club Pirates and the Bourgeoise Pirates, led by old men and children. Even Killer had to assure Kid that, yeah, despite their underwhelming appearance, these are New World Pirates under Shanks. And that's the big thing about Shanks, apparently... his 'grand fleet' is nowhere as impressive as Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard or even Luffy. No, it's just that as we see Shanks walking up his own ship, the other allied crews note that Shanks' fleet is just a bunch of weaklings that are Shanks fanboys, basically, gathering under his flag and being his buddies. 

Shanks is completely calm, too, even confirming with Yasopp that, yes, Kid is lively enough and isn't injured. Interestingly, Shanks even has time to go through a pile of intelligence papers gathered by Hongo, which I think is going to immediately mark mr. "burn and pillage" Kid as a person that Shanks doesn't like. 

Kid summons a rather impressive two-page spread giant cannon. His Damned Punk, the strongest weapon we know Kid to make, and Shanks... gets to see the future, seeing all of his weakling ship buddies getting rapid-fired to oblivion. So Shanks just... jumps all the way over the entire fleet, mutters to himself about how it's "just as expected"...

And before Kid gets the chance to fire off a single Damned Punk, Shanks slashes with "Divine Departure", the same technique Gol D. Roger used to knock Oden through a bunch of trees. Only Shanks just... Conqueror's Haki that shit so hard that Kid's crew gets knocked off, one-shots Kid, slices through his cannon, and as the later panels show, takes out Killer in the wake, too. 

It isn't even 'launch a bunch of attacks that our heroes struggle to take' like Kaido and Big Mom did. 

It isn't even 'unleash a badass esoteric power you can't defend from' like Crocodile or Enel did in their respective arcs. 

No, Shanks is just so damned fast that he takes out Eustass "Captain" Kid and "Massacre Soldier" Killer in one shot.

Yes. It's not even 'taking them down to one knee'. No, Killer and Kid are knocked out so badly that they are down. No defiant last look from Kid, no final desperate last attack, no recovery... they're down. This isn't even like Law against Blackbeard, or the Supernovas against Kaido and Big Mom. No. There's just no recourse from this. I mean, we all expected Shanks to beat Kid, there's no question, but... not this badly! This is just a single attack from Shanks! Benn Beckman and Yasopp and Lucky Roo didn't even do anything! The monkey didn't even do anything! The loser allied fleets didn't even have to lift a finger! 

And it's not like Kid is weak. Not at all. No. Shanks is just that powerful.

Heat and Wire tried to immediately surrender, giving up the Lode Poneglyphs... but Shanks just hops off, and we see Dorry and Brogy unleash a Hakoku combined attack, the same thing that they used to slice the giant island goldfish. Only it slices Kid's dinosaur-head-keel ship in half, and sinks it to the depths of the ocean. The narrator even says in no uncertain means that the Kid Pirates are completely and utterly eradicated with a badass shot of Shanks' face as Kid's crew sinks. 

Great line from Brogy and Dorry, too. "If you're going to point a gun at someone's home, be prepared for when they shoot back". Which is a sentiment I absolutely agree with!

But... yeah. Kid is already the least developed (and frankly least impressive) of the trio of Luffy, Law and Kid, but to see him lose and be so utterly defeated without even a fighting chance is just brutal. The fandom is totally abuzz about this chapter and I absolutely agree! It's not like how Luffy is basically dominating Egghead and never remotely feels in danger. It's not like Law, who, while the narrative demands he lose, he at least feels like he's going to make Blackbeard work for his money. Kid's resistance against Shanks just looks like an ant trying to fight a human, and being utterly wiped out in the process. And... yeah, Kid was definitely asking for it, but holy shit, the poor bastard. It is interesting, because I would've thought that Kid has a couple of stories left in him, but it also wouldn't be too terrible of an end if he just got taken out here for shock value. 

Absolutely fun chapter. A lot of great Kid and Shanks faces in this one, and what a great show of both Kamisari and Hakoku. RIP Kid. I don't actually think he's dead, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's just... out of the story at this point. 

Random Notes:

• The Germa/Caesar cover story is over. We get wacky artwork now!
• I brushed off the Blackbeard revelation above, but while I almost think that it's a certainty that it contained the Blackbeard crew members we haven't seen in Amazon Lily and wherever Blackbeard is fighting Law, it could just as well be Blackbeard himself, fresh off beating Law. It would be a much more fan-shaking moment if Blackbeard shows up and shows that he's stolen the Ope Ope no Mi for sure. 
• ...Okay, thinking about it, York realizing that "the World Government wants to eliminate me" when she unleashes the Seraphim is kinda... backwards with her statement in 1078 about how the World Government's going to make her a Celestial Dragon? Does she think the WG has betrayed her or not?
• I guess the World Government might've made the offer to Vegapunk, that's why York wants to be the Vegapunk?
• Hongo was apparently sure that Blackbeard was going to show up in Wano. You and the fandom, guy.

Reviewing Monsters: Persona 5, Part 6

So a good chunk of this part of my playthrough is the relatively long downtime between my (early) beating of Madarame to the third Palace... but there's a lot of confidants, cutscenes of the Makoto storyline, stat increasing encounters and a whole lot of me going to Mementos. 

More importantly, it's around the time that I started really making use of trying to fuse the Shadows and Personas available to me in order to try and get certain Personas demanded by the characters Justine and Caroline, in order to progress the Strength Confidant... which exposes me to a bunch of new Personas only available through fusing!

I have been immensely enjoying this game, by the way, which might not be apparent since I'm not really talking about the game experience or my reactions to the stories of the many characters that populate Joker's surroundings... but everything about this game gives me so much to talk about, so much to appreciate and so much to interact with. Not just the stories or the combat, but even things like the shops, but even like... I unlocked several new parts of the overworld, the districts of Kichijoji and Shinjuku. The actual interactable parts of that place are maybe two or three locations, plus a couple of stores, but I absolutely love that they had so much commentary and bothered to model in individual unique shops and bars and even bothered to create two very distinct versions for day and night!

On with the reviews! 

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"Phoenix"

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Faith

Actually very consistently called 'Ho-o' (or Fenghuang to Chinese speakers) in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, the Phoenix is a completely different fire bird! The actual Phoenix is Egyptian, and the Fenghuang/Ho-o originated from Chinese myths that spread to other parts of Asia. It's just that when they're translated into English, the name 'Phoenix' stuck. The actual Fenghuang is a normally female ruler of birds that normally represents the Empress of China, which is paired with the Dragon (or Long), representing the Emperor. The appearance tended to be that of a peacock-like bird in five colours, with each colour representing one of the Five Elements in Taoism... and, yes, Persona's Ho-o is indeed a multi-coloured bird. 

The conflation with the Western, Egyptian-based Phoenix is probably thanks to a confusion between the Fenghuang and the Zhuque ("Suzaku") which we covered before, and some legends actually do consider the two as the same creature. The Zhuque does have an association with fire, but with the SMT franchise making hard segmentations between the Zhuque, Fenghuang and the western world's Phoenix, it's clear where they stand. 'Phoenix' gets translated into fenikkusu, a reading of the English word, in other SMT games that it appears, anyway, whereas Zhuque and Fenghuang are consistently called Suzaku and Ho-o, based on their Japanese names. 

It is interesting that the original Fenghuang was actually a pair of male and female birds that eventually got merged into a single female entity to play off the dragon. And back in the day, just like the Chinese Dragon, the Fenghuang is also a chimeric entity -- with "the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish." Depictions that end up kind of finalizing what the Fenghuang looks like ends up doing a different kind of chimera, compositing it of multiple different birds -- "the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow."

Anyway, it sure is a majestic bird. They went for a relatively safe and mundane design, but it's a pretty cool rainbow bird!

Orthrus

• Monster Name: Twin Headed Guardian
• Arcana: Hanged Man

And here we go with something a bit more interesting! Orthrus, a bit popularized by the original Clash of the Titans, is mostly remembered for being a 'two-headed Cerberus' and... that's not exactly really wrong! Persona's Orthrus is a pretty damn cool two-headed demon dog, though, with a mass of green mane that gives the creature a pretty feral design. Orthrus also has a cool skeletal tail gives the design a bit of an 'oomph'! A pretty nice monster dog all around. 

Orthrus is one of the monsters born to Typhon and Echidna -- the 'father' and 'mother' of a lot of monsters in Greek mythology. He is actually the brother of the more iconic Cerberus! Orthrus was the guard of the three-headed giant Geryon's herd of red cattle. And then in comes Herakles (or Hercules), who, for his tenth labour, killed Geryon and Orthrus to get the cattle. Yeah, Hercules just walks up to this giant, killed him and his doggo just to steal some cows. Why is this guy the hero of the story anyway? 

Ahem. Anyway, Orthrus is a good boy. He's two good boys for the price of one! With so many of our recent Personas being more humanoid, it's neat to get one that's more conventionally a 'monster'. 

Setanta

• Monster Name: Hound-Killing Maverick
• Arcana: Emperor

Setanta is the birth name of the Irish folk hero Cú Chulainn, believed to be an incarnation of the Irish sun god Lugh. Setanta killed Culann's guard dog in self-defense, and offered to take its place until a replacement could be found. Hence, then name Cú Chulainn (Hound of Culann). Cú Chulainn would train in the martial arts, particularly with the spear Gae Bulg, and a prophecy said that he's going to achieve fame but his life would be short. Cú Chulainn would battle against various enemies of the kingdom, and is well-known for his moments of frenzy in battle where he would be unable to differentiate friend nor foe. He's also known for taking several geis (vows), which would eventually be broken by his foes one by one. Even weakened, Cú Chulainn still battled to his death, dying standing up after tying himself to stone. 

That is a very abridged tale of Cú Chulainn, and I really do encourage you guys to read the pretty lengthy story... but as far as a monster design goes, Setanta is just a dude in armour with a spear and a scarf. Not really much to say there, though I appreciate them bringing in other mythologies beyond the far more mainstream Japanese, Greek, Christianity and Egyptian, yeah? It's not Setanta's fault that he's just some knight dude!

Nigi Mitama

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Councillor

Hmmm, this is a bit of the disadvantages of reviewing the monsters as I meet them. The Nigi Mitama is another one of the mitamas, which we've covered before, and the Nigi Mitama is the calm and functional state of a person's soul. I really have exhausted all I'm able to say about these guys in the previous Mitamas I've talked about. I suppose it's neat that they're spread out a bit more across the game?

Oh, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but Royal introduces two non-standard Tarot arcanas that aren't found in the normal major Arcana, "Faith" and "Councillor", corresponding to two characters that only appear in the Royal re-release, and a lot of these Personas were classified as something else before. Nigi Mitama here was previously of the Temperance persona, which I does correspond to the 'calm soul' bit. 

Orobas

• Monster Name: Equine Sage
• Arcana: Hierophant

We get another Ars Goetia demon, and this time it's Orobas, who is described as a prince of hell that could give perfect information about the past, present and future, is unable to deceive anyone, and can even protect his conjurers from being tempted by demons. He actually sounds like a swell guy compared to all the other demons! He's depicted as a horse that can shapeshift into a man...

And, of course, Persona 5 took this and ran with it, making Orobas into a disturbing-looking horse-man. I'm not sure why Orobas's design kind of gives me a bit of a disturbing vibe. I've seen satyrs and minotaurs before, and Orobas is basically that but a horse. Maybe it's because he's buck-ass nude? Maybe it's the unnatural crimson and green colours? Maybe it's how they draw the horse face? 

Flauros

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Devil

Showing up in the menu for 'special summons', Flauros is only able to be created by combining Berith, Eligor and Orobas. And what do you get by combining two knights riding demons with a horse-man? You get, uh... uh... this guy. Yeah. Let me try to describe Flauros as best as I can, yeah? He's a humanoid figure that looks like an anthropomorphized leopard guy, but instead of the head being placed where a head is, the leopard head is on his chest. But he's got arms and legs like a man, and also he wears some rather leathery-looking gimp suit thing on his arms, shoulders and feet. His shoulders also extend upwards like towers. Oh, and in place of a head, above the leopard head is a weird thin tower-like structure with what artworks confirm is an angry scowling marble face on the tip of the spike. 

Yeah, okay. This one is pretty creative! Disturbing as hell to look at, but that's the feeling you're supposed to get when you gaze upon these demons and angels!

He's a very creative-looking demon design, and I'm actually rather surprised how little he draws from the source description in the Demonology books, other than the leopard thing. Flauros is described as a 'mighty leopard that can assume the shape of a man with fiery eyes and terrible countenance', and... and sure, Persona's Flauros doesn't contradict any of those descriptions, but none of the leather outfit, the spiky knuckles, the shoulder towers or the face on his chest are mentioned there. 

There's also an interesting bit about Flauros where he can see the past and future, but will lie about it all when standing in a triangle. A very... specific restriction, yeah? He can also command fire and burn enemies to death, as mentioned in his flavour text and even when you first summon him... except he doesn't learn a single innate fire skill by level up. Doy!

Sudama

• Monster Name: Noisy Mountain Spirit
• Arcana: Hermit

Thanks to the similar name and appearances as a flat paper-thing with swirly patterns, I thought the Sudama is just a weaker version of the Kodama we saw earlier! But the Sudama (literally 'lurking souls') are described as mischievous spirits that live in rivers, mountains and ancient trees. They will never cause trouble ('not evil', as mentioned in the description) and will sometimes take a humanoid shape to guard their mountainous homes. Basically, any time you go on a mountain and feel the sensation of being watched without anyone there, it's actually a Sudama watching you. Anyway, the Sudama here is a yokai also known as the Chimi, kind of an umbrella term for mountain spirits. I got a bit confused with this Sudama from Hindu mythology!

The design is a bit of a less-humanoid Kodama that we saw previously, though the Sudama's anatomy is a bit funnier, with four arms on round body and two swirling eyes. Not too much to say beyond that, it sure is a li'l paper guy!

Oni

• Monster Name: Chivalrous Fiend
• Arcana: Strength

Anyone who knows anything about Japanese culture probably recognize oni, yeah? Often translated as 'ogres', 'trolls', 'demons' or 'devils', Oni are some of the most prevalent mythological creatures in Japanese culture, often being depicted as savage, brutish, monstrous horned humanoids that live in mountains and have horns and tusks. They're also often associated with wearing tiger-skin loincloths and wielding giant iron clubs called kanabo... which Persona's Oni notably doesn't have. He wields a glaive-weapon instead, and a more wholesome outfit that covers his chest.

As the text mentions, many legends often use Oni as a generic monstrous villain, having them attack, raze and pillage villages and humans to either rob, kill or eat them. Oh, and they are also supernaturally afraid of beans, which leads to the spreading of soybeans around a house during the Setsubun festival. However, stories featuring 'noble' (or at least neutral) Oni have also shown up in ancient Japanese culture, and I do really like this facet that the Oni aren't all treated as 'completely chaotic evil'. Overall, I don't think I can really say too much about the Oni beyond how it's a rather pleasant-looking depiction of a common monster. 

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...and that's about it! You guys might not see a Persona 5 review for a while, because I do think that it'll take some time for me to reach Kaneshiro's palace. I don't play games as quickly as I used to, and the sheer amount of things that you can do in a Persona game have really gotten me to run around and try to interact with everything! 

Gotta Review 'Em All, Part #45: Tinkatink to Flamigo

This is part four of my review of the ninth generation of Pokemon, and... well, I really do feel like this generation has a much, much better ratio of weirdos compared to 'regular' Pokemon compared to the Galarian Pokedex! And we haven't even gotten to the Paradox Pokemon just yet! 

Click here for the previous part.

Click here for the next part. 

Click here for the index.

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#957-959: Tinkatink, Tinkatuff & Tinkaton

• Types: Fairy/Steel [all] 
• Japanese names: Kanuchan, Nakanuchan, Dekanuchan
• Categories: Hammer [all]

An interesting Pokemon line, and admittedly I wasn't (and still isn't) a huge fan of Tinkatink when I first saw her. This line is our first Fairy/Steel Pokemon after Klefki and the first stage really isn't impressive. It isn't even cute, which you'd think all first-stage Fairy babies would be. I think it's that mouth? I get that the little square is meant to represent like a young baby's first teeth, but the fact that it blends with the rest of the head is just kinda disturbing to me. Add that to how the pink just kinda... changes colour from the dark pink of the spherical head to this weird little light-pink lump before the little scrunched-up hair.. it just kinda weirds me out how Tinkatink's hair is attached to her head. 

Anyway, the reason why Tinkatink is Fairy/Steel is because the entire line is themed around fairies holding gigantic chunks of metallic weapons which they create by scrounging around for discarded iron scraps. In Tinkatink's case, her hammer kinda resembles a baby rattler, and Tinkatink will always remake the hammer again and again becuase she wants a perfect hammer... and also because the hammer is often stolen by metal-eating Pokemon. Probably those pesky Arons. 

I can't really find a good fairy equivalent, and even the Wiki just vaguely shrugs about 'gnomes or dwarves', but I feel like the concept kind of stands well enough on its own. 

Tinkatuff is a much more pleasant Pokemon to look at. Her teeth and mouth shape look better with one on either side of the lips, and the hair actually looks like heavily-stylized anime hair now, with a ponytail at the back. Tinkatuff now wields a giant sledgehammer, but you can see in the core of that hammer is Tinkatink's rattle! I love how its shape is still obviously a bunch of curled metal sheets wrapped around -- and not completely -- around the original rattle hammer. 

I do like the explanation in some of the dex entries, where it identifies Pawniard and Bisharp as the source of her hammer. Tinkatuffs will beat up entire groups of Pawniards to gather materials for their hammer, which is such a ballsy thing to do -- though I guess those Pawniards' part-Dark typing makes them vulnerable to Tinkatuff's Fairy-typing. Not sure which part of a Pawniard you could make sheet metal out of, though. Also, both Tinkatuff and her evolution have these kind of... metal quasi-skirt thing going on? Those do look like they were harvested from the Pawniard spikes. 

 4/6. Tinkatink and Tinkatuff are around the 3-4 range.

My favourite of the line is still easily its evolution, Tinkaton. Her hair has grown into two giant chunks of hair that almost look like extra legs and reminds me of Hattrem from last generation. The two teeth now move on the upper jaw, which looks cute as well. 

And the hammer? The hammer has the biggest evolution, looking the most impressive with its gigantic size relative to Tinkaton's main body. Love the details here, like the nail that shows how Tinkaton latches these metal pieces together; the giant piece of buzzsaw or something on the central portion of the hammer that gives it an extra-deadly look... and, of course, the fact that the core of the hammer is still Tinkatink's rattle covered with the 'chamber walls' of Tinkatuff's hammer. Love that they managed to find an artistic solution to show off the core of the hammer. The hammer comes with its own signature move, because Tinkaton can use 'Gigaton Hammer', a powerful Steel-type move that Tinkaton can't use twice in a row. I guess she can't swing that hammer too many times in a row? 

It's an adorable trope in and of itself, I guess, to have a tiny little gremlin holding a gigantic-ass weapon. The dex entries for Tinkaton and Corviknight note that this adorable-looking little pink buddy... is the natural enemy of Corviknight. Tinkatons would launch rocks into the air with its hammer (even though she doesn't learn any Rock-type moves naturally, so presumably someone is going around slapping Rock Tomb and Rock Slide TM's to all wild Tinkatons) to take down Corviknights, and this is such a problem that the Corviknight Taxi service had to be replaced with Squawkabillies. Not that we ever see the taxi on-screen, but I do like that the Tinkatons actually have their own ecological niche. I really do think Tinkaton is by and far the most pleasant looking of the 'Tinks' for sure, and even used one in my Scarlet playthrough!

 Tinkaton is 5/6.

#960-961: Wiglett & Wugtrio

• Types: Water [both]
• Japanese names: Umidiguda, Umitorio
• Categories: Garden Eel [both]

So our second convergent evolution, after the Toedscool line, are these guys, which were released pretty early on in the promotional buildup to Scarlet and Violet. And Wiglett is a pure-Water type, and is very explicitly considered a garden eel of the genus Heteroconger. This isn't a bizarre phallic mole, it's a fish! I kept garden eels before back when I had a marine aquarium, and I've always loved how they poke only part of their body out of the sand and rocks of the 'sea floor'. And this is exactly how Wiglett behaves, poking its head out of the sandy beaches and retreating back in if you get close to it. It's just that instead of a fishy face, Wiglett has Diglett's iconic eyes and nose. 

Again, the pokedex entries note how the resemblance to Diglett is completely coincidental, and thanks to their environmental adaptation. We'll just assume that nose and that eyes and the lack of mouth is essential to either burrowing into either mountains or sandy beaches in the Pokemon world? 

Unlike Toedscool, I don't think there's too much for me to say here. It's just Diglett as a garden eel, and it sure is a fish that hangs out in the beaches. Now real garden eels do live entirely underwater and pop out from the seafloor, but because of gameplay reasons, Wigletts only show up on beaches. It does remind me of a different kind of worm-like creature, like the Lugworms that live in beaches and sometimes pop out of their dens to scare beach-goers. 

I do honestly wish that either Toedscruel or Wugtrio had been a bit more different than their original inspirations, though I also do appreciate the dedication to the gimmick. Wugtrio's three garden eels popping out from a rocky den, although obviously they're a bit more slender and wiggly than Dugtrio... and, well, the fact that Pokemon's most phallic design turns very red is not lost on a lot of fans. There are some notes that Wugtrio might have taken designs from other aquatic, stationary colonial worms like giant tube worms or tubifex worms, which I can definitely see. 

I love, though, the description from its dex entries, where Wugtrio will wrap their long bodies around prey, and then drag the prey into its den to consume. Surprisingly brutal, and while garden eels mostly feed on plankton and other microscopic prey, it does make Wugtrio feel like a proper, larger eel! It's somewhat represented in its multi-attack signature move, Triple Dive. 

I think Wugtro's Violet entry describes the naming scheme of these convergent evolutions (Wiglett and Wugtrio's Japanese names are basically 'WaterDiglett' and 'WaterTrio') because they were considered to be regional forms until presumably all the real-world equivalents of considering a similar-looking creature as a different species or genus ends up coming up -- like most importantly, the fact that they can't interbreed. Something that regional variants can, despite the difference in phenotypes (typing and movesets)! And... despite what I've written, I do think that I like the concept behind Wiglett and Wugtrio more than I like the actual Pokemon. I respect what they're doing here, I do feel like Paldea's beaches are very fun to explore thanks to the varied ecosystem, but I can't say I really love Wiglett or Wugtrio all that much. 

 4/6.

#962: Bombirdier

• Types: Flying/Dark
• Japanese names: Otoshidori
• Categories: Item Drop

An... interesting one? Bombirdier is, I think, the second of the five 'Titan' Pokemon that serve as a series of bosses that we fight across Paldea, and all of them are single-stage, non-evolving Pokemon. Bombirdier is the one I consistently forget about, and I'm not sure why. He's got more going on for him than Squawkabilly for sure! So Bombirdier is based on a white stork and the legend that storks will deliver babies -- something that is alien to me outside of the Disney movie Dumbo, but apparently it's not just in European countries, but also in certain Middle-Eastern and African legends as well. 

It's a bit hard to tell on its standing image, but Bombirdier will hold that gigantic apron with its mouth to stimulate the cloth bundle that these baby-delivering storks are commonly depicted as. That would've been an okay but boring Pokemon... which is why Bombirdier has an extra gimmick in that it's a gigantic asshole. It's Flying/Dark type, and it drops rocks down instead of delivering babies. In fact, that's the whole gimmick of the overworld puzzle of getting to the Titan Bombirdier, that it rolls down gigantic rocks down a mountain that you have to dodge. Bombirdier isn't Rock-type, but unlike Tinkaton, Bombirdier actually has a signature ability, Rocky Payload, that gives it STAB from Rock-type moves. Cute!

I also love the little description on its Pokedex entries, noting that it creates the apron from shed feathers, and attaches them onto its natural chest feathers. And the fact that it can also use this apron to bundle up food to bring to its nest. It's not my thing, but I do appreciate that they gave this rock and bomb-dropping bird such a smug looking expression and theme. 

 3/6.

#963-964: Finizen & Palafin

• Types: Water [both]
• Japanese names: Nami'iruka, Irukaman
• Categories: Dolphin [both]; Hero [Palafin Hero Form]

Oh, hey! The long-awaited dolphin Pokemon! And... it sure is a dolphin. It's pretty cute, with enough embellishments like the wave markings and the multi-coloured eyes. To be honest, I can't say I really noticed much about the design of Finizen other than it being a dolphin. There are some exaggerations of a dolphin's abilities, like an interpretation of a dolphin's echolocation as an ability to sense the emotions of other living creatures.

There's also a rather strange detail where the water ring on its tail is created from seawater mixed with a sticky fluid that comes from its blowhole. A real-life dolphin's blowhole does contain mucus, but it is used to help aid in echolocation, and I'm not sure what the 'joke' was in turning it into a water ring it uses to play. 

And then Finizen evolves into Palafin, which... looks exactly the same as Finizen, save for a little heart on its chest. This is Palafin's "Zero Form", and is yet another example of the 'wtf, Nintendo' hidden evolution methods, because it requires you to level up Finizen specifically while in a Union Circle, so you have to engage in multiplayer to evolve it. It's not the weirdest evolution method, but unlike something like Runerigus, Malamar, Alcremie or Brambleghast, I don't really see the 'story' behind the evolution method.

I do find Palafin rather interesting, though, becuase it's a Superman joke. In a region based on Spain? Okay? Most fan-made dolphin Pokemon either go for the expected cutesy Water/Fairy or Water/Psychic type combinations, or go for the often-downplayed-in-media brutality of real-world dolphins and make them Water/Dark... but instead, we get a Superman Pokemon. His name is Irukaman (Dolphin-Man) in Japanese, very superhero-y! The evolution level is even 38, a reference to 1938, where Superman debuted in Action Comics #1. 

So 'Zero form' Palafin is basically Palafin in disguise, and it will change its appearance only if it hears its allies calling for help. But it will only 'transform' if there isn't anyone looking at it... just like how Clark Kent would rush into a telephone booth and super-speed change his clothes to become Superman while everyone's paying attention to Lex Luthor's giant robot mecha. In practice, Palafin needs to switch out before transforming into its unique form, the 'Hero Form'. Thankfully, it learns Flip Turn naturally, a previously move-tutor exclusive move that's basically Water-type U-Turn. 

The dex entries note that Palafin's Hero Form is the result of it 'awakening its ancient genes', allowing it to swim at 50 knots, lift a cruise ship with one fin, and saving drowning people and Pokemon... wait, is that why they made the dolphin Pokemon a superhero? To capitalize in the 'rescuing people in trouble' trope often associated with dolphins? 

 

Palafin's design is more or less what you expect when you say 'muscleman dolphin'. And the weird snot-water-ring that Finizen has ends up being used by Palafin to cover his eyes, and give him some extra gloves and an "almost-cape" that extends out of the shoulders. The heart on Zero Form has expanded into a very superhero-esque chest crest. While I'm not sure that there's anything in common with the legend other than the idea of a 'shapeshifting dolphin', one of our commenters below did note the existence of a South American myth about Boto, a shapeshifting dolphin that can transform into a man -- and would later be attributed as a common name to several types of river dolphins. 

Ultimately I'm actually not a fan of Palafin's Hero Form design visually. But I love basically everything else about it mechanically and conceptually, which is a rarity. More than almost any other Pokemon in this generation, I really do appreciate the creativity displayed with Palafin here. 

 4/6.

#965-966: Varoom & Revavroom

• Types: Steel/Poison [both]
• Japanese names: Buroron, Burororomu
• Categories: Single-Cyl [Varoom], Multi-Cyl [Revavroom]

Very unexpected. The 'single cylinder' Pokemon Varoom is just a sentient internal combustion engine, and I will not talk too much about what it might be inspired from because I only know the bare minimum of engineering knowledge. We really haven't gotten a 'sentient mechanical device' Pokemon in a while, huh? We did get a couple of possessed items, but not really something like Varoom here. And he's Steel/Poison, with the steel part being the engine, and the poison part being the toxic fumes it unleashes. 

Varoom himself is a pretty simple but fun design, too, with a metallic body and a bunch of rocks that form its lower body and a bunch of wheels that are not too dissimilar from the Rolycoly line. I love the eyes on the sides of the body, and the 'mouth' being on like a stalk or something. The exhaust vent forms a 'tail' of sorts, and the overall anatomy looks pretty interesting! The Violet dex entry explains the rocky portions of Varoom, noting that the stel section is Varoom's actual body, while the rocks are something similar to a hermit crab's shell -- those are rocks and whatnot that Varoom latches onto, and it converts the minerals within into energy. So do Varoom prey on Rolycoly and Charcadet, then? They are found in similar biomes...

There's also a very interesting note about its origin, becuase an 'unknown poison Pokemon' entered and 'inspirited' an engine in a scrap-processing factory. It really does sound like a possession, and everyone's favourite Poison/Ghost gas ghoul Gastly is an obvious culprit... but some people theorize something like Koffing merging with the gas engine or something. 

Whatever the case, Varoom evolves into a full-on car, Revavroom, and I absolutely love the design continuity here. The rocks form the main body of the "car", while the Varoom body evolves just into the epic hot rod engine, the exhaust vents and the, uh, front bars of the car? My car anatomy jargon isn't that good, sorry. It sure goes from a single-cylinder engine to a multi-cylinder one for sure!

But I love the purple-tinged exhaust vents, and it's something that jumps out at you, but that isn't Revavroom's actual "face". Sure, the eyeball is there, and there's a small hole under the eyeball, but that's not its mouth. Rather, Revavroom's mouth is the hot rod engine on top of it, the puck-shaped organ with jagged jaws. He even has a very cartoony tongue that juts out in its animations! This small detail makes Revavroom so much more interesting than just 'car, but Pokemon'. 

Also, despite having wheels and a car body made by rocks, Revavroom and Varoom actually just defy gravity and fly around, which I thought was fun. Revavroom still continues to consume rocks, and spews toxic gas everywhere. Its signature move, "Spin Out", is meant to represent a car changing gears so fast for a burst of acceleration (or damage in this case) and losing future contrl (or speed in this case).  Not my favourite design, but it's such a creative thing than just making the Revavroom into a 'it sure is a sentient robot' like Magnemite!

I can't end this without mentioning the Starmobiles, which are gigantic pimped-out cars with musical stages on top, which serve as final boss battles with the five Team Star characters, and apparently 'designed' by Ortega. And instead of having a rock body, we get to see a Revavroom attached to the hood of the car -- something that's actually rather lost to me the first time I saw one of these Starmobiles. Also, there are two Varooms pushing the car from the side, whih is even harder to spot with how loud everything is. This is based specifically on dekotora (short for 'decoration truck') in Japan, where trucks will be modified with elaborate murals, steel parts and LED lights.

Also, all the Revavrooms have had their types entirely changed to mono-types based on the people wielding them, and... I'm not sure how the Starmobile got changed into Fighting or Fairy type? (Dark and Fire, on the other hand, make sense). It is a very interesting little 'oomph', somehwat similar to Eternamax Eternatus from the previous generation where a Pokemon has a completely unobtainable 'boss' form... it's kinda weird, honestly, and while I'm a bit peeved that there's a form you can't get, well... y'know, insert your own National Dex rant here. 

 4/6.

#967: Cyclizar

• Types: Dragon/Normal
• Japanese names: Mototokage
• Categories: Mount

Ah, Cyclizar. A Dragon/Normal Pokemon that doesn't evolve, Cyclizar's existence is... well, it's kinda interesting becuase it's basically the basis of the game's two legendaries, and it's hard to discuss Cyclizar without discussing Miraidon and Koraidon. Basically, Cyclizar is a 'present-day' showcase of what the species (?) looks like when it's all mortal and mundane and stuff. It's green like a lizard, the wheel parts are all black, and it's basically the most generic you could make the design that they used for Koraidon and Miraidon. 

And... I've gone on record on saying that I'm not a big fan of the bike-lizards, though my opinion on them have softened a lot after playing through the games. All three of the bike-boys are based ultimately on the fan-necked lizards of the genus Sitana and Sarada. Only instead of a massive fan of flesh, Cyclizar and its legendary brethren inflate a neck-pouch (not too dissimilar with frogs) and turn it into wheels. Simultaneously, it rolls up its tail and it turns into a rear wheel. You could also see that there is a convenient flap of flesh that work like a motorcycle or a bicycle 'seat', and indeed, Cyclizars are used all over Paldea as the replacement for the previously-ubiquitous bicycle. Of course, our protagonists ride on much cooler legendaries, but I do really like the bit of world-building where there are Cyclizar parking lots in cities and Team Star pimping out their Cyclizars like yakuza bikes. Love the little detail of symbiosis where Cyclizar finds enjoyment by having the rider's body heat help to heat its own cold-blooded body up. 

I also like a lot of little subtle references to other lizards, too -- Cyclizar's head resembles the shape of a motorcycle windshield, but it's also reminiscent of the head-crests of something like a chameleon or a casquehead lizard. The tip of Cyclizar's tail is white, which I think is meant to inspired by a lizard like a gecko which has shed its tail and has a paler 'regrown' tip. Which is represented in combat by its almost-Signature Move (Cyclizar shares it with Orthworm, below) Shed Tail, where Cyclizar basically casts Substitute and switches out -- a reference to how geckos will leave their tail behind to distract a predator and cover for the main body's escape. 

And... again, I still think it was a bit of a forced concept, but my respect for Cyclizar has risen a lot after taking a closer look at its artwork here, especially side-by-side with the two legendaries (my original drafts had Cyclizar stuffed with its prehistoric and futuristic counterparts at the end of the dex). The idea of a lizard-bike seems like a lazy Ninja Turtle toyline gimmick, but the idea of 'how can we make a bicycle into an organic, natural-looking Pokemon'... yeah, I can respect Cyclizar a bit more now. 

Also, because I can't really think of where else to put it, Cyclizar has features that 'bridge' Koraidon and Miraidon, like having its middle toes partially fused (whereas Miraidon has its middle digits fused, while Koraidon has the two only connected by a membrande), Cyclizar shares the crest and subtympanic shields with Miraidon, and the tire anatomy, lack of claws and black paw-pads of Koraidon. 

Still ultimately never going to be a design I love, but I can respect Cyclizar and his legendary brothers. 

 3/6, could be 4. 

#968: Orthworm

• Types: Steel
• Japanese names: Mimizuzu
• Categories: Earthworm

A worm is another animal that I wanted to get turned into a Pokemon, because we've got a bunch of snakes and caterpillars, but never an actual worm that's not an insect. And just like the dolphin and grasshopper, we're just checking off a lot of the animal species that aren't represented in Pokemon yet! And the humble earthworm is... not a Ground-type, no, but a pure Steel-type. It's a rather wacky-looking creature, too, with the segmented body of an annelid, but with the goofiest face with a gaping mouth and adorable beady eyes that the game even makes fun of. 

Orthworm lives in deserts, mainly, and turns its body metal after a diet of consuming iron in the soil. It's not a Ground-type, sure, but its signature ability, Earth Eater, allows it to convert Ground-moves to energy. That's a cute way of acknowledging the real-life inspiration while also still giving it a less-common typing. A particularly large Orthworm serves as one of the Titan Pokemon in Paldea, making its home in a mine and basically being a neat little shout-out to all those giant subterranean Dune-based worms in media. Just... more goofy. (The actual species isn't much larger than a snake). 

Orthworm has a very pronounced clitellum -- that's the silver second segment -- and those blue circles there are actually hiding arms. Which really caught me off-guard the first time I saw Orthworm, but it's basically a surprise tactic, where Orthworm will unleash its "tendrils", and then pelt the opponent with punches. The Wiki notes that this might be based on Polychaetes, a class of marine worms closely related to earthworms... but it might just very well be that it's a funny detail to have. Anyway, a simple, but cute weirdo. 

 4/6.

#969-970: Glimmet & Glimmora

• Types: Rock/Poison [both]
• Japanese names: Kirame, Kirafuroru
• Categories: Ore [both]

Another surprising one! I wasn't sure what Glimmet is supposed to be, and honestly, I still am not! Sharing the same Rock/Poison typing as the eldritch Ultra Beast Nihilego. So you can bet that we're in for some utter weirdness this time around. And Glimmet is some sort of... creature based on a plant or sea sponge, except that it's also made up of poisonous rock. The design is pretty weird, with a bulbous 'stem' that Glimmet floats around with, terminating in a flower with two glowing eyeballs in the center. So this is some kind of purely-rock creature like Onix or Geodude, only instead of looking like an animal, this species looks like a plant! Which... when I put it that way, isn't super-weird in regards to the Pokemon world's ecology. 

So what makes Glimmet Rock/Poison? It absorbs nutrients from cave walls, and considering that it's most numerously found in Area Zero (though it can be found in other caves, too), apparently Glimmet also absorbs all the poisonous things in the cave walls, creating petals of crystallized poison. Like some plants, Glimmet will scatter these poisonous crystal fragments "like pollen" as a way to protect itself, represented in the ability Toxic Debris, which casts the move Toxic Spikes when Glimmet gets hit. 

Many fan speculation also note the similarities between Glimmet with demosponges from the clade Cladorhizidae, and there are many species of sponges to use mineralized spicules as a way to deter predators. I will admit that I haven't really read all that much about sponge behaviour, and once I do, I'll probably update this paragraph a bit more. It really is very interesting that Glimmet and Glimmora live like deep-sea creatures, while living in a completely different biomes, in this case caves. 

Speaking of inspirations for this species, some people have considered the copper mineral chalcanthite, or the 'copper bloom', as a possible inspiration for the rock crystal parts. While chalcanthite isn't any more poisonous than other copper compounds, if you eat it you'll still get copper poisoning! More dangerous is that the copper sulfate dust that it leaves behind (since those can get into your mouth less noticeably), which is also similar to Glimmet's Toxic Debris ability.

Far cooler, however, is the evolved form, Glimmora. The official artwork for Glimmora shows it in its 'closed-up' state, where it just looks like a weird swimming comb jelly or something, a weird closed-up flower with a little pokey head from which two eyes are glowing. But if you see Glimmora moving around in the wild or in battle, you get to see it in one of the two poses shown in the in-game Pokedex's page, with the petals spread wide like a massive flower-creature. In the wild, Glimmora will stab itself onto the walls of the subterranean cave walls, 'head' first, showing off the rest of its body which really does look like an exotic flower of sorts. Very, very cool, and, again, I really do love that a fair amount of the Paldean Pokemon really do feel like they are designed to interact with the environment of an open-world game.

As the dex notes, Glimmora's huge petals are made out of crystallized 'poison energy', and even the pokedex notes that these petals resemble the Tera Jewels that cause all sorts of wacky phenomenon in the Paldea region. Not coincidentally, while Glimmet can evolve naturally, wild Glimmora can only be found (and are very plentiful) in Area Zero, where all these Tera Crystals are located. Again, I really do like the visual imagery of these Glimmoras 'swimming' through the air as they plant themselves onto the cave walls, looking like some sort of alien deep-sea creature. 

The flower part of Glimmora have been compared to the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) or the blue passion flower (Passiflora caerulea), both of which are blue-coloured poisonous flowers. It's a pretty creative design regardless if either, both or none of these flowers are the specific inspirations for Glimmora, combined with the reputation of Chalcanthite as 'copper bloom'. 

 5/6.

#971-972: Greavard & Houndstone

• Types: Ghost [both]
• Japanese names: Bochi, Hakadoggu
• Categories: Ghost Dog [both]

Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? Yes you are, yes you are!!!

Greavard is our third (!) dog line this generation, and it's the most interesting! More interesting than angry mob boss dog and the pastry fairy dog for sure. This is a hairy dog with a fun, massive set of chompers... and it's also dead! And Greavard, being a good boy or girl, is so adorable that it's going to follow whoever that gives it attention forever. You can see that it's got a candle on top of its head, which looks remarkably similar to fellow ghost-type Litwick... and just like Litwick, Greavard will unknowingly drain the life-force of the human it hangs around with. Oh noes!

Greavard's backstory is kind of sad, too, with the dex entries noting that it used to be a dog Pokemon that died in the wild without ever interacting with a human, before being reborn as a Pokemon. If the in-game books are accurate (and they definitely are), one of the gym leaders, Ryme the DJ, literally resurrects her own dead dog into a Greavard with her song. A fun trope on the loyal-to-the-death dog trope. I also love that Greavard has also kind of taken over the role of a 'mimic' style Pokemon, burying itself in the ground so that only the tip of the candle is seen... and in the 3D engine, it looks like the sparkle of an item on the ground! The idea, of course, is that Greavards will pop out of the ground like zombies rising from the grave!

Also, the name is actually not based on 'grave' (I mistyped him as 'Graveard' so many times) but on greaves, which is a type of solid residue in the creation of tallow. The tallow is used to make candles (among others), while the greaves are historically used to make dog food. 

  

Greavard evolves into Houndstone, and it's a lot less cute, but I still appreciate that it retains the massive set of underbite. Love your big dogs even when they're not puppies! More interestingly, though, is that after years and years, Houndstone is actually our first 'skeleton' Pokemon! The closest we ever get to a proper skeleton Pokemon are Cubone and Marowak; plus maybe Vullaby's accessories. I think this has to do with the censorship laws? But Houndstone's design with the shaggy fur does disguise it a bit. I say a bit, becuase those legs are clearly very bony, and that's before you take into account the segmented tail and the nose-hole on the skull. 

Unlike Greavard's candle, Houndstone has a whole gravestone on top of its head, and if you take into account the hump of Houndstone's back, the appearance when Houndstone is buried does look like a burial mound with a grave marker. In-game, of course, only the gravestone is seen when Houndstone is hiding, but I do 'get' what they are going for with the darker shading.

There are a bunch of potential dog spirit inspirations from Spanish mythology, like the Pesanta or Dip, but I do really think that it's mostly a rather generic adaptation of an undead loyal happy dog. I really do like the trope, as a dog owner myself, about how this is a "lovingly mourned" dog that was reborn, and how it is always super-loyal to its master. It's a simple concept and design, admittedly, but... I'm a fan of this one. He's a good dog!

 6/6. Would be 5/6, but they're good dogs, Brent.

#973: Flamigo

• Types: Flying/Fighting
• Japanese names: Karamingo
• Categories: Synchronize

We're closing off this page with something that's... not the most interesting. But the flamingo is yet another very common picture-book animal that doesn't have a Pokemon counterpart, and... we get a Fighting/Flying flamingo that's basically... a flamingo drawn funny. Or, well, more likely, one of those plastic flamingo lawn ornaments? Or a flamingo balloon? I like Flamigo a bit more than Squawkabilly because the super-thin legs and the tied-up neck are at least something. Also, a flamingo is at least something that looks distinct compared to the many small birds we already have in the game.

There are some rather weird dex entries about Flamigo, too, where the base of its neck is tied into a knot... "so that the energy stored in its belly does not escape from its beak". Hello? Okay? I don't get this joke and frankly the idea of your neck being tied into a knot sounds disturbing. 

Like real-life flamingos, Flamigos also do the behaviour known as 'synchronizing'. In real life, flamingos do elaborate, synchronized courtship dances which actually look rather glorious if you look them up online. In Pokemon world, this translates to a flock of Flamigos attacking enemies simultaneously in perfect harmony, symbolized by its signature ability 'Co-Star', which allows it to copy an ally's stat changes when it enters battle. Anyway... yeah, it exists. I had to make sure I didn't typo 'flamingo' and 'Flamigo' so many times in these three paragraphs. 

 2/6.