Thread: Pidgeot vs Noctowl vs Swellow vs Staraptor vs Tranquil

In each region, Ash always have a unique bird like pokemon. Usually caught early and is used most of the time against Team Rocket or as scout. So which is the best Flying Pokemon companion?

Pidgeotto (later evolved to Pidgeot)


Noctowl (Shiny)


Swellow (Caught as Tailow)


Staraptor (Caught as Starly)


Tranquill (Caught as Pidove and hopefully evolves to Unfeazant)

- Which was the most memorable?
- Which was the most useful?
- Which is your favorite?

Memorable: Personally, I believe that Pidgeotto had the closest bond with Ash. Alongside being his first Flying-type, it was highly obvious that you could see the bond that they shared. Even beyond the battlefield, they still stayed close and helped out eachother when in need. In fact, Pidgeotto was usually the one who worked in the background to keep Ash safe, whether it was from Team Rocket or a giant Tentacruel. Also, though a somewhat arguable example, in the episode Snow Way Out he helped keep Ash warm. I've never seen such a display of friendship from any of the other birds that he's owned, correct me if I'm wrong. But I always believed that Pidgeotto always covered his back in any given situation, making him both memorable to me and Ash.

Useful: Most certainly Staraptor. He was able to quickly pick up on new moves and used them skillfully to his advantage. For instance it learned and perfected Aerial Ace upon evolution, while for Swellow it had to practice in order to use it to its full potential. In a battle standpoint, Staraptor was of great use to Ash, taking down a slew of difficult opponents, including Paul's Weavile and Honchkrow. It also took out Maylene's Metitite and Machoke with ease.

Favorite: As a personal preference, my favorite Flying type that Ash owned was Swellow. I always was a big fan of the design and color scheme, and it was a highly useful ally in the R/S/E games, where I beat the Elite Four with one in all three games. Ash's Swellow was always a favorite to me because of its tough and somewhat stubborn personality. It would never give in no matter how dull or bleak the situation was, and I always looked up to that in a sense. It's hard not to back down when the cards were stacked against you, but Swellow never did.

Honestly, it seems that Swellow was most useful for Ash, especially in the leagues.

Moved and waiting approval.

Approved.

In terms of battle I'd say Swellow and Staraptor were by far the best. They had the most battles and won tons of matches too.

Noctowl would have been great but thanks to the Johto saga's terrible writing, it never got much of a chance to show its battle skils afetr Morty's Gym. However it did get a great match against Conway.

I honestly like Tranquil the LEAST, as its yet another generic boring bird that can't differentiate itself from the others. No mention on Pidgeot.

Oosubame will destroy all of them with THUNDER ARMOR. Therefore he is the most memorable, and my personal favorite.

The most useful is Mukkuhawk I think, though. He had a number of powerful moves at his disposal - Brave Bird and Infight/Close combat, and was a very formidable ally and scout.

Swellow was undoubtedly the best fighter, despite the limited amount of moves it had to work with. There have been cries of it being cheap, but I thought it's ability to take so much damage and still keep on dishing out smack-downs was beyond cool. The dude pretty much destroyed any notion that the bird 'mons could only meet their potential in the form of popping balloons and searching for lost Woopers, and for that, you've gotta give him props.

But ultimately, he's not my favourite.
Muku.BIRD.
Funny hair. Hillarious voice. Brain damage (both pokeball AND self-inflicted!).
Nothing will top him.

Memorable: Pidgeotto

Useful: Staraptor

Favorite: Staraptor

This question is hard for me because I just don't remember that much about these pokemon. It may end up being a tie between Swellow and Staraptor for being useful, as they were both powerful and served Ash well in their respective sagas. I'm afraid I don't have a favorite, as I don't usually think that way. Most memorable? Perhaps Swellow. It not only thrashes most of the Hoenn League, but it wins against a Frontier Brain, too. (sorry, being Ash's first Flying type and the first Flying type to fully evolve is not enough for Pidgeot, and Staraptor, while good, falls short since it was the fall guy to Paul in the Sinnoh League)

Swellow has the best track record. It remained a powerhouse(a considerable feat when you look at Ash's Hoenn and BF team.) It was also the only one which had anything resembling a personality.

Staraptor is a close second. Like every other Ash's Sinnoh Pokemon, it was ignored in favour of Infernape later on.

So naturally, Swellow is the most memorable and most useful of Ash's normal/flying types making it my favourite.

Staraptor, because I don't remember anything about the others (except Tranquill).

Plus, that Poké-Ringer match with Honchkrow was just awesome.

Technically Ash's Charizard is also a flying type. So yeah the overrated pseudo dragon wins again in all three departments for me.
Out of available choices I think staraptor was most useful to Ash. Besides it had more memorable moments in compared to others. My personal favourite is swellow though.

Is it possible to change the name of this thread to "bird pokemon" instead of "flying-types?" Ash has had a lot of other flying-types in his possession when he travelled through the four regions. If we include pokemon like Gliscor, Charizard, and Butterfree in the mix, it'll be much harder to give credit to Ash's "bird pokemon" since they were used less often in battle. For the purpose of the OP, I'll only include the pokemon that were designated in the contest.

Memorable: The original series always had my best regards. Pidgeotto was clearly the most memorable of the five birds. Even though it was used less often in battle compared to the other birds, Pidgeotto was seen in many Kanto episodes.

Favorite: Noctowl is clearly the most unique of the five birds. Not only is it an alternately colored member of its species, but Noctowl is very unique amongst most flying-type pokemon Ash has had in his possession thus far. Ash has not obtained Psychic-type pokemon yet, so it is interesting that one of his pokemon can use offensive Psychic-type moves. It is because Noctowl was not treated as the "token bird" that I tend to prefer it over the others. It was such a shame that the writers didn't make this pokemon battle more often.

Most Useful:

Swellow has had the best battling record amongst the five mentioned birds. Even though it won very few battles prior to its evolution, Swellow has proven to be resilient when it is in contact with several types of attacks. Swellow was able to resist Electric-type attacks, such as Pikachu's Thunderbolt, even as a Taillow. Swellow has proven its worth in battle. Up until its battle with Tobias's Latios, Swellow has successfully defeated at least one pokemon in every one of its major battles after its evolution. (The tie with Morrison's Gligar counted as a defeat in my books since the pokemon also fainted.)

Pidgeotto/Pidgeot's strength in battle differentiates depending on the context to which it is used in battles. In some cases, Pidgeotto is easy pickings for TRio's pokemon whenever they get into contact. On the other hand, Pidgeotto has had a fair share of victories prior to its evolution and release. It's very difficult to gauge Pidgeotto's strength as it hardly battled prior to its evolution. It's safe to say that Pidgeot has improved a lot in speed and strength after it evolved, as it was able to defeat a Fearow that it was unable to contend with as a Pidgeotto. Still, we have not seen this bird since the end of the Kanto Saga so we cannot hope to gauge its power.

The same could also apply in Noctowl's case, except Noctowl has been used in a fair amount of battles. Even though it is smaller than other members of its species, Noctowl is able to compensate for its smaller size through its intelligence and resourcefulness. Unlike the other birds in Ash's possession, Noctowl has access to Psychic-type moves like Confusion, Hypnosis, and Extrasensory. It also has access to Foresight, an interesting move that allows Normal and Fighting-type moves to attack Ghost-types. Noctowl was able to use powerful Flying-type attacks like Air Slash and Sky Attack in Ash's battle against Conway in the Sinnoh League. Even though Noctowl has a lot of variety to its moveset, this pokemon is very fragile. Noctowl was knocked out by Conway's Dusknoir's Thunderpunch after Dusknoir's Trick Room was activated. Noctowl also failed to defeat Harrison's Steelix and Clair's Kingdra in Johto. Noctowl has a lot of potential, but its presence is underwhelming because it was used in very few battles.

Ash's Staraptor was very underwhelming in its earlier stages. Starly evolved into a Staravia and it learned moves like Aerial Ace very early into DP, but the pokemon still struggled to defeat Grass-type pokemon like Gardenia's Turtwig. Staravia also faired poorly against its opponents in the Hearthome Tag Battle. Staravia has proven its worth after it learned Brave Bird in Veilstone City, and its subsequent victories over Gym Leader Maylene's Meditite and Machoke in the next episode. Staravia was horribly underused compared to Ash's five other pokemon at the time. Staravia got a kickstart to its development once it evolved into a Staraptor. After its evolution, Staraptor became a loose "powerhouse." Staraptor defeated the likes of Paul's Weavile, Nando's Roserade, and Candice's Medicham. However, Staraptor has also suffered a streak of losses in nearly the same fashion (i.e. Nando's Armaldo, Paul's Ursaring, Paul's Drapion, Candice's Abomasnow). Staraptor can be considered a bulkier, physical version of Noctowl. Both pokemon have a lot of potential as final stage flying-type pokemon, but have suffered massive losses. That's not to say that they aren't useful, but their track records are hit-miss.

Tranquill was recently obtained by the trainer, and it hardly competed in battle. Similar to Staraptor, Tranquill has started out as a first-stage bird pokemon that evolved fairly early into the series. Tranquill has not battled any serious opponents since her evolution. Most of her use thus far was battling against TRio. In those cases, Tranquill has rarely, if ever, defeated TRio's Yamask and Woobat. As a Pidove, Tranquill lost many battles that were resolved very quickly. Pidove lost against Jessie's Woobat and Trip's Frillish only mere seconds after they were pitted in battles. Tranquill may become stronger as the series progresses, but right now she is not as useful as some of the other birds in Ash's possession.

Swellow is the most useful of Ash's birds because of its near perfect battling record. Staraptor and Noctowl has suffered a lot of losses in addition to their victories. Pidgeotto and Tranquill were almost never used in battle.

Title changed.