18. Pidgeot

Your PIDGEOTTO has evolved into PIDGEOTTO WITH HAIR EXTENSIONS

Wait, that’s over the 10-character limit.

Indeed, it seems the Pidgey evolutions operate by the same principle as 80s rock stars: their power is directly proportional to their bigness of hair. Whether it’s the Ludwig van Pidgeot look in Gold and Silver, the classic L’Oreal model highlights, or Diamond and Pearl’s romance novel cover coiffure, Pidgeot knows how to work it.

Alas, Pidgeot is getting let down by its liposuctionist. In all too many of these recent sprites, its body is shaped like a bowling pin, and its wings look short and stubby. No no, this won’t do at all. It should trim off some of that baby fat and look more like Fearow.

It could also use a reinvention of its image. The name “Pidgeot” is kind of small-sounding, don’t you think? Pidgeotto sounds better. And the two are too easily confused; there’s a Pidgeot in the English dub of the first Pokémon movie that gets referred to as a Pidgeotto! How embarrassing. Not even people who work on Pokémon for a living can tell them apart! That’s why you never see Pidgey, Pidgeotto, or Pidgeot shown in the same poses successively in one game: differing poses are all the games have to keep the player from thinking, “Don’t I already have this pokemon,” when they evolve.

But in all seriousness, it’s not that difficult to make Pidgeot look amazing, as card and fan art shows us:

Despite my snooting, and lukewarm feelings for Normal/Flying types (would a pure Flying type be so bad? What’s so Normal about a giant bird that carries people around on its back?), and general preference for Fearow, I do think Pidgeot is pretty awesome and elegant. So why shouldn’t its sprites be too?

The Winner:
Yellow

I do like Diamond and Pearl’s and the original Gameboy sprites, only for having a nice flow to them and no real flaws. But Pidgeot really should be shown in action. It’s a big freaky bird; it should have better things to do than stand around looking nice.

This one from Yellow doesn’t have that glittery, golden eagle sheen of the others, but it’s the only one that shows Pidgeot in flight without having a dumb haircut or looking like a bag of sand with wings. It’s all talons, beak and feathers, just as it should be. And check out the face! Forget stoicism, this thing knows it’s boss. The darkness of it also provides a cool end to the sort of seasonal progression of its line; Pidgey is simple and summery, Pidgeotto is colorful and autumny, and Pidgeot is the cold, fatal claw of winter casting shadows on us all