Murkrow and Honchkrow (and the Dark Type)

Way back in our first-generation reviews, I said I'd hold off on talking about the dark type until we arrived at the first one ever actually revealed, and today's the day! The lovable Murkrow was one of the first few Gold & Silver pokemon ever leaked, which makes it the entire world's introduction to the dark type, and a corvid couldn't be more fitting, let alone a gloomy, ragged looking corvid whose feathers evoke a broom and a witch's hat (AND I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS APPARENTLY IN A MINORITY FOR NOTICING THAT). A superb design. I just love the awkwardness of Murkrow's little pencil neck, oversized head, crooked schnozz, scrappy looking feathers and that look of morose weariness in its eyes, excellently capturing our image of crows as unscrupulous, scheming pests. SOLID five here, love this little goth bird.

So our first taste of a sneaky, conniving type was a sneaky, conniving crow, but poor little Murkrow's low stats and lack of an evolution would relegate it to the sidelines until, once again, the fourth generation came to its rescue.

....Kiiiinda.

Honchkrow sort of looks like it upgraded from a "witch" to a "wizard," (AND I ESPECIALLY CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ONE OF THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO SAW THE PATENTLY OBVIOUS WIZARD ASPECT, SHEEEEEESH IT'S RIGHT THERE, COME ON, THE "DON" THING IS ONLY HALF OF IT AT BEST) which I guess follows thematically and all, and I suppose its newfound look of confidence does as well, but lots of pokemon look that way. There's nothing really special or unique to be had here.

Murkrow looks like a gangly, sarcastic dork. The Daria of flying-type pokemon. I related to Murkrow. Murkrow felt like an underdog. Maybe I'd have liked Honchkrow if its beak were just a little more bent, its feathers just a little more disheveled, its eyes just a little baggier and sleepier, but as-is, I simply can't bring myself to care half as much about this pompous bird as poor little Murky.

Who does this beardo think he is!?

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