#145: Zapdos

Mystery Dungeon art of Zapdos. Pretty cool, I'd say.

You know, I never liked Zapdos when I was a child. You'd think a gigantic cool-looking electric bird thing would be one of the favorite Pokémon of an eight-year-old boy, but it definitely wasn't mine. Now that I'm older, I notice that I don't mind Zapdos at all; and as I'm doing research about Zapdos to write something about it for this article, I find that it actually has an interesting background. Zapdos seems to be based on the Native American legend of the thunderbird, a supernatural bird known for being the spirit of thunder, lightning and rain, most commonly in the form of a bald eagle. This bird of prey only lives on the continent of North-America (the USA and Canada), so not surprisingly, it was chosen as the emblem of the United States of America in 1782 because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, all characteristics that represent the thunderbird as well. It is said to create thunderstorms by just flapping its wings, an exact trait that Zapdos shares with it. It's even attracted to thunderstorms and it has the tendency to make thunderclouds its habitat. And, uhm... well, that's pretty much it. It gains power when hit by a lightning bolt, but I guess that applies to any electric-type Pokémon, so I don't think that's overly special.

Look at Zapdos (up) gracefully soaring through
the thunderous sky, accompanied by Moltres
(down) and Articuno (middle).

To be honest, I think Zapdos is more special in competitive play. With its electric/flying typing, it exchanges a weakness to a common type it would otherwise have (ground) for two less common typings in competitive play (ice and rock). Also, Zapdos has great speed and excellent special attack, with some very decent defensive stats all around, so it's capable of taking a hit or two while hitting hard and fast at the same time. It doesn't have very diverse type coverage when it comes to its moves, but that is not to say it can't have a useful moveset. First off, you're probably gonna have to choose between STAB-moves Thunderbolt and Volt Switch; the latter is weaker, but it enables you to get Zapdos the hell off the goddamn battlefield in a problematic situation while still doing some damage first. As for coverage when it comes to doing damage: Zapdos only learns Heat Wave, Ancient Power and Signal Beam, and of those moves only Heat Wave is recommendable. So what about the other moveslots? Well, just teach it Roost and Defog, so that it can heal (be careful there, as Roost makes Zapdos lose its flying type for exactly one turn after use, making it vulnerable to ground-type moves!) and remove entry hazards from the battlefield (again, be careful, because it also removes any entry hazards you have set up on the opponent's side of the field). Of course, Zapdos very decent HP and defenses make it eligible to go the defensive way - Bold when physically defensive, Calm when specially defensive - so a stalling Zapdos holding the Leftovers and with the moves Defog and either Toxic or Thunder Wave isn't uncommon to see. However, it would be a shame to let that attacking potential go to waste, so what I'd personally go for is a Timid Zapdos with Choice Specs or a Choice Scarf. Heck, I'd even drop Defog and slap Thunderbolt on it, or maybe even Signal Beam (it isn't that bad of a move; 75 power is nothing to sneeze at). I guess everyone has its preferences.

There is a lot of amazing fan art of Zapdos to be found on the Internet, but this is
definitely one of the better pieces.

I've gradually taken a liking to Zapdos, but it will never surpass Articuno as one of my favorite legendary Pokémon. Ever. It may have a type advantage over the other two Kanto birds and the trio's master, as Articuno, Moltres and Lugia are all weak to electric, but Articuno and Lugia are two of my all-time favorite legendaries (Lugia is even my second favorite Pokémon in existence) and I believe that they are way too specially defensive to be knocked out by a Zapdos in one hit. No one wins from Articuno and Lugia! Anyway, however I may have disliked Zapdos as a kid, I actually like this Kanto bird now, so I'll give it a very neat 4.5-star rating.

Rating: 4.5/5