#519 PIDOVE, #520 TRANQUILL, #521 UNFEZANT
Time for me to take a look at some Pokémon from Generation 5 that, because of their dull normal/flying for like the fifth time or more pigeon design, I've mostly ignored. Oddly enough, I actually knew the names of these Pokémon (mostly cuz I just started playing Black 2 again) and I hope I can glean something compelling from these feathered fellows.
Right off the bat, I'll address my biggest grievance with this evolutionary tree of bird Pokémon-- it's pretty much nothing that we haven't seen before and/or seen better. Personally, of all the normal/flying bird Pokemon is Braviary (my fave normal/flying is Togekiss) because of his awesome physical sweeping potential that made it useful through out the 4th Gen games. Unfezant, the final evolution of this trio, doesn't really have that same appeal. Competitively, these guys just aren't interesting and, design-wise, I'm not crazy about them. But that doesn't mean that I can't find something I like in their individual designs, right?
Pidove is boring. When looking at Gen 5 Pokémon, it is often a good rule of thumb to take off the nostalgia glasses and compare the Pokémon to a Gen 1 counterpart. Pidove's Gen 1 counterpart is Pidgey. The fact that they felt adding another pigeon Pokémon seems lazy and, combined with the mostly grey color scheme, makes this Pokémon pretty bland. I understand that if Unova region is a US allegory that it would make sense, thematically, to have a pigeon Pokémon, but I can't help thinking that it could've used some more color or a more interesting typing.
Tranquill is also pretty boring. It does get some points for at least looking less like a cartoon pigeon and something more fantastic. The red brow gives it a certain intensity but, like Pidove, it doesn't really bring anything compelling in its design.
Now, Unfezant has some dramatic design appeal and flavor that makes it far much more compelling. The male Unfezant's red mask and colorful green underbelly, clearly resembling the dramatic coloring of male birds in real life, combined with the thematically dull but complementary female design, allows this bird Pokémon to shine a little more luminescently. But I still feel a little more color and design work to make these guys shine would've helped and...in general...
