Hootpla! Hootpla!

163: Hoothoot

Hoothoot is an adorably simple little owl. Birds are some of my favorite animals, and owls are some of my favorite birds, so as you can imagine, I got an affinity for lil Hoothoot here. As far as the regional bird's first stages go, Hoothoot is easily up there as like, possibly my second of third favorite.

Hoothoot's design on first brush seems little more than a fun cartoon owl, but it's got quite a number of fun elements to it! Most notable of which is its one visible leg. It still has two legs, but most of the time only one is visible at once. Then comes that really nice eye mask it has encircling those COOL bright red eyes! And the arrow-shaped eyebrows that look like clock hands are super neat! Owls have a tendency to be associated with clockwork aesthetics, and while I think Hoothoot could've leaned harder into it, it definitely is a respectable "basic" bird!

Personal Score: 8/10

Link... good to see you again!

164: Noctowl

It IS then fairly disappointing Noctowl doesn't really take Hoothoot's clock-like aspects anywhere. It's a perfectly serviceable owl design, of course, but not much special is happening with it. Its eye markings giving it the illusion of baggy eyes is neat, but man I really wish those eyes stayed entirely red.

It's a real shame cause I've seen the clockwork owl look done so well for creature designs, most notably in Lechku and Nechku from Okami. Obviously, they wouldn't quite "fit in" with Pokemon's choice of aesthetic since they seem to avoid partially mechanical designs, but couldn't Noctowl at least have kept the clock hand eyebrows? Or at least have had them turn into a mustache? I think it'd also be neat if Noctowl's movements in 3D games looked uncannily mechanical and artificial; a lot like how Lechku and Nechku are animated.