962: Bombirdier

The second-to-last bird of the Gen is another fun bird. This is Pokemon's shot at a stork, which feels like a long-time coming. Feels like a Pokemon that should've been the mascot of breeding/the egg-hatching mechanic back in Gen 2! Bombirdier looks like the spitting image of a stork at first, right down to having the black and white plumage and long, burnt-orange bill. Its one big fantastical feature being that big apron made of shed feathers it has, as well as holds with its beak while flying to hold objects. So there you have it! With the high-contrast color scheme and apron, that would make Bombirdier a "nanny" or maybe even a "maid" Pokemon, right?

Well, except for the part where it's Flying/Dark type. Bombirdier LOOKS like it's going to be an average take on a stork, but turns out it's actually just a huge jerk! Instead of carrying baby Pokemon or anything like that, they apparently love to lift boulders with their apron and drop them on unsuspecting people and Pokemon for its own sick, twisted amusement. It even gets the ability "Rocky Payload", which is essentially Steelworker but for Rock type.

Bombirdier, in that way, is a funny subversion on the baby-delivering trope associated with storks. But storks are also somewhat known for a much more gruesome behavior involving babies. It's a behavior most paternal animals express sometimes, but it seems like storks or birds in general have the most attention on them in this regard, perhaps something to do with having "nestcams" on them so often. But storks will sometimes "reject" one of their own young, either due to stress or scarcity of food, because they usually do this to the smallest, weakest chick of their nest. And storks will even drop these rejected babies out of their nest entirely, if not just do their best to snap its neck. You know, just one of those grim reminders nature doesn't really have a moral right or wrong, just a cold indifference as animals do what they can to survive.

Back to Bombirdier itself, it's a fine enough design that works. Could have a little more visual pizazz, but there's an appreciation to be had in just a nice little understated bird design. Though also that said, that was already kinda what Squawkabilly was. So Bombirdier is kinda running it out of a job. It really is a huge jerk!