#142: Aerodactyl

Yo, what is it with these prehistoric Pokémon being so fucking VICIOUS?

Amazingly dark fan art of Aerodactyl. 

Now, if we take a look at its Pokédex entries, it becomes clear that Aerodactyl was a carnivore living in the dinosaur era. Due to its ferocious attitude and sharp serrated fangs it was able to tear enemies apart, often charging at their throats. Even back then it was fearsome, gliding high in the skies while shrieking high-pitched cries. Even the Pokémon who lived during that era were terrified of Aerodactyl, which is clearly shown in the anime: in the 46th episode of the first season, "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon", Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket become stuck in a cave after joining the Fossil Rush (which is basically a fossil excavation competition) and soon find themselves chased by Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto and Kabutops, who were awoken by the explosion caused by Team Rocket. However, the fossil Pokémon run even deeper into the cave, and it soon becomes evident why: they are scared of Aerodactyl, who swoops in and knocks down Ash's disobedient Charmeleon. Aerodactyl then firmly grabs Ash with its claws, flying out of the cave with Pikachu and Charmeleon being able to jump onto its back just in time. Once out it drops Pikachu and Charmeleon, and the latter, who was annoyed by Aerodactyl earlier, wants to battle it, only to get angry because it gets taunted by the prehistoric Pokémon. This event is important, because it triggers evolution in Charmeleon, who changes into Charizard in order for it to fight Aerodactyl in the sky. Ultimately, that annoying-ass Jigglypuff saves the day, making everyone - including Aerodactyl - fall asleep. Except for Charizard, of course, who puts its fingers in its ears and saves a falling Ash from a painful death.

Some more dark fan art of Aerodactyl. I think eerie area's, like
this volcanic area, are perfect to help show Aerodactyl's
personality. 

The fact that even Omstar and Kabutops - who aren't really the definition of adorable, to say the least - are scared of Aerodactyl means that it was a ferocious hunter that even other carnivores were afraid of. It even looked ferocious, as its newly-discovered Mega evolution (well, it's been around for approximately two and a half years, but you get my point) shows it how it looked like 65+ million years, before it became fossilized. But rather than being able to get revived from a regular fossil, it can be resurrected from an Old Amber. That sounds weird, as the Old Amber looks nothing like Aerodactyl at all, but reviving it happens by extracting DNA from amber first. That is something different than getting resurrected from an entire fossil, and maybe that's why regular Aerodactyl doesn't resemble its original prehistoric counterpart. Some parts of a genetic code can often get broken or lost during all those years, even though Aerodactyl's DNA is preserved in the best possible ways. Even in Jurassic Park, which I consider nothing more than science fiction, the genetic codes of dinosaurs had to be filled up by reptilian or amphibian DNA to make up for the DNA that got lost.

Official art of Mega Aerodactyl, drawn by Ken
Sugimori. 

But this is not a biology lesson. The big question is, 'How does Aerodactyl fare in the competitive scene?' Well, not bad at all. With base 135 attack, base 150 speed and the ability Tough Claws (which boosts the power of contact moves by 33%) as Mega Aerodactyl, it is a force to be reckoned with. This Pokémon has access to a variety of physical-based moves such as Iron Head, the elemental fangs, Crunch, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Aqua Tail and Iron Tail, although it lacks some good physical STAB flying-type moves. Both Sky Attack and Fly require a turn to charge, even though the former works great if you give Aerodactyl a Power Herb to hold instead of the Aerodactylite, and moves like Wing Attack and Aerial Ace are only okay after a Tough Claws boost. At least they're potent enough, but it's a bit of a shame. Anyway, Aerodactyl's huge movepool gets even better, with Hone Claws to increase its attack and accuracy by one stage each (nice in conjunction with Stone Edge) and Roost to heal half of its HP. There are so many possible move combinations you can make that there isn't even room in this paragraph to mention them all. Just do whatever works best for you, as you can't go wrong with Mega Aerodactyl anyway, but make sure you're slapping a Jolly nature on it in order for it to make full use of its outstanding speed stat. Also, I'd recommend to stay shy of running a so-called 'bulky' Mega Aerodactyl, because that is just a waste of its potential. Well, in my opinion, at least... Besides, regular Aerodactyl are pretty fragile and are most often used as a 'suicide lead', setting up Stealth Rock and using Taunt to prevent opponents from removing said rocks with Defog, providing it survives the foe's hit first (a Focus Sash would come in handy here).

I can't get enough of this kind of art. It looks so pretty... 

I absolutely love Aerodactyl, especially its Mega. When I was a little kid, I was completely into dinosaurs and my mother let me watch Jurassic Park over and over and over again, although it was a couple of years after the movie came out. I was more in awe with all those dinosaurs running around than I was scared of what they were actually doing. My fascination with dinosaurs lives ever on, and the fact that Aerodactyl is based on a pterodactyl (a genus of pterosaurs) makes me love this thing even more. In 2014, paleontologists even named a species of pterosaur after this Pokémon, aerodactylus scolopaciceps, which makes Aerodactyl the only Pokémon to have a species/genus named after it. Reasons enough to give it a perfect rating, right?

Rating: 5/5