Doduo Family
I get to talk about more birds? Much appreciated, Game Freak!
Perplexingly, Doduo often slips from my memory as being a Pokémon that exists. But as soon as I I’m reminded of this adorable ball of fuzz, I fall in love all over again.
A fluffy pom-pom bird with beady eyes reminiscent of real-world fowls is an instant show stealer for me. Bulbapedia is quick to point out emus and the extinct moa as sources to its design, but I think its strongest ties are to kiwis.
Now, even as a fanatic, I understand that birds can look flat-out creepy to other people. They’re not universally accepted as “cute” in the same way that dogs and cats are. I feel that Doduo captures both ends of the cute/not-cute spectrum with one detail: its uncomfortably realistic feet.
The majority of Doduo’s design is highly cartoony and minimalistic. But attached to its body are two awkwardly long, spindly legs. And connected to those are surprisingly accurate zygodactyl toes. Depending on the artist who drew it, sometimes Doduo’s toes are complete with bony digits. Doduo creates an uncanniness to a degree even I can attest to, and I love it for that.
Doduo having not one, but two heads is a wacky bonus to its appeal as a character. And yet, such a straightforward concept seems to have the Pokédex at odds with itself. It’s as if a consensus couldn’t be met on how Doduo’s two brains exactly function.
Some games state that both of its brains are almost always identical, but others point out that they communicate to each other through telepathy. Does the Pokédex mean to say that the Doduo heads are twins that act independently of each other? Or is Doduo technically one creature with two brains, similar to the age-old myth that Stegosaurus had a second brain in its butt? I appreciate the level of detail the Pokédex tries to convey in such limited writing space, but Doduo’s flavor text would benefit from stronger grammatical choices.
Clunky Pokédex entries aside, Doduo is an effective character design, even if it’s on the simplistic side. Take the cuteness of a kiwi, make it as lanky as an ostrich or emu, and give it a second head, and I feel it’s just the right combination of endearing, bizarre and awesome.
Two Thumbs Up!
For some useless but fun trivia, Doduo is another Pokémon with minor sexual dimorphism. Introduced in the Generation IV games, only males have black necks, while females are found with tan.
Also, Shiny Doduo are nauseatingly yellow-green, but the original neck colors carry over.
When I try to apply real-world bird psychology, I get the feeling that female Doduo aren’t concerned about flashy plumage so much as fabulous necks on their mates. It’s a silly, wonderful idea.
Another Generation I Pokémon, another instance of “Multiply a body part and call it an evolution.” As an added bonus, Dodrio also gets those dumb triangle eyes! It’s two personally irritating features in one!
A roadrunner-kiwi hydra monster? That sounds awesome on paper! Too bad that in execution, Game Freak couldn’t be bothered to put in much effort.
The Pokédex discusses how each Dodrio head embodies a single emotion: joy, anger, and sadness. By pitching in their exclusive mindsets, they can solve complex situations as if one unit. For such a solid and exciting concept, Dodrio’s redundant design puts a huge damper on its effectiveness.
Further adding to my frustration is the fact Dodrio lost its awesome zygodactyl toes. When Game Freak took the time to accurately draw roadrunner feet on Doduo, why did they feel the need to backpedal for Dodrio’s? If it was done to make Dodrio more “distinguishable” from Doduo, then I’d argue that maybe they should have gone back to the drawing board and analyzed the design a little harder.
Also, I hate that ugly pink tail glued to Dodrio’s butt. What is it with Generation I bird Pokémon absolutely requiring pink highlights to go with their brown bodies? It’s an unnecessary and garish feature on Dodrio’s design.
It’s not enough to salvage the design, but I have an idea that would make Dodrio look a little better. Instead of all three heads having triangle eyes, what if the left and right ones still had Doduo’s original eyes? And just for fun, what if its boring pink tail was instead a malformed head?
Granted, Dodrio is still a pathetic evolution even with these modifications, but it at least brings more to the table. It’s weirder, and I believe more in the spirit of Doduo’s “wackiness.” By changing the tail as I illustrated, it also strengthens the concept that Doduo/Dodrio are bird hydras spawned from erratic genetic mutation.
On a humorous final note, there’s a glaring contradiction in Dodrio’s Pokédex entries. Despite having a drastically higher Speed stat than Doduo in the games, in writing Dodrio is actually slower than its predecessor by 20 miles per hour. It’s not as egregious a discrepancy as the sluggish “totally reaches mach speeds” Pidgeot, but the fact that such an error like this happens twice in the Pokédex is baffling to me. Did the programming and art departments not get the same memo?
I want to find humor in Doduo sprouting more heads when it evolves. The idea is there; I can see it! But no, instead it’s just a dreary excuse for an evolution. What a disappointing way to end an evolutionary family.
Ridicule-tier
