History Characters / PokemonGenerationVIIRowletToComfey

Alola's Grass-type Starter, Rowlet is a Grass/Flying-type owl, and is the first starter to be dual-typed in the first stage since Bulbasaur. It turns its head 180 degrees to look at its trainer for instructions, and can pelt enemies with the razor-sharp leaves that grow in its feathers. Rowlet evolves into Dartrix, who appears to be snobbish in personality, but is actually a bit of a birdbrain. When Dartrix reaches its final evolution, it becomes the hooded archer Decidueye, with bow-like wings that help it fire its arrow quills more accurately. It switches its Flying Type for a Ghost Type and learns the move Spirit Shackle, which pins the opponent from switching or fleeing from battle.

** Decidueye is based on the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilt-owl Stilt-Owl]], a species of owl native to the Hawaiian Islands that went extinct when humans first started settling the islands around the 1st millennium A.D. This is why Decidueye is a Ghost-Type and has long legs. Furthermore, Stilt-Owls were predators of honeycreepers, the species Oricorio is based on, which is referenced in its debut trailer by one-shotting Sensu form Oricorio with Spirit Shackle.
** Furthermore, Decidueye's Ghost-Type is a reference to the many cultural associations between owls and the underworld; African folklore, many Native American tribes from Northern to Southern America, even the Romans and Europe, have all believed owls to be agents of the underworld, emissaries of death, or otherwise servants to sinister forces. Some cultures also regard them as a disguise for vampires or blood-sucking witches, such as the Roman Strix, the Romanian Strigoi, and the Seminole Stikini, or as the icon of dark spirits, such as Marinette, a particularly feared [[UsefulNotes/{{Voudoun}} loa]].
** Decidueye has two toes forward and two facing backward, much like real owls.

%%* CuteLittleFangs: Mareanie has these.

* ShownTheirWork: Their favorite food is the coral Pokémon Corsola (or at least the coral growing on Corsola's back, which they can shed to escape further harm). The real life crown-of-thorns starfish has a huge appetite for coral to the point of being able to decimate coral reefs and being an ecological nuisance.

** Its hidden ability, Oblivious. It keeps the Pokémon from being infatuated, falling for taunts, or being affected by Intimidate. Infatuation is a crippling debuff, but can only be caused by one single move which is rarely used as a result of being a SituationalSword (it only works on opponents of the opposite gender). Taunt prevents the target from using status moves, but Salazzle's stats are more suited to all-out attacking: the few status moves it would run are Toxic (in which case it would prefer to have its other ability, Corrosion, to maximize its value against Poison and Steel-types) and Nasty Plot ([[NotCompletelyUseless which it admittedly does appreciate not being locked out of]]). Intimidate drops the target's Attack, which is completely irrelevant as Salazzle's physical attack is underwhelming in the first place.
** Its main ability Corrosion is '''also''' not great on it. It would have been fantastic on a defensive GradualGrinder StoneWall, which Salazzle absolutely '''isn't''', typically instead capitalizing on its impressive Speed and Special Attack, as well as access to Nasty Plot, to sweep. At the very least it can use Toxic to frustrate Poison-type walls that try to switch into it (Steel-types usually won't do this '''anyway''' because of its access to Fire STAB), but that's a fairly niche strategy and it's often better to just run more coverage moves.

[[[Characters/PokemonCosmogLine Cosmog Line (789-792)]] | [[Characters/PokemonNecrozma Necrozma (800)]] | [[Characters/PokemonUltraBeasts Ultra Beasts (793-799, 803-806)]]] -]]]

* LifeDrain: For some reason, they can learn Leech Life via TM. Incineroar can also learn Drain Punch via tutoring or TM.

* LifeDrain: For some reason, they can learn Leech Life via TM. Incineroar can also learn Drain Punch via tutoring.

* ArcherArchetype: Decidueye is cold, quiet, and calculating, in addition to turning part Ghost-type. It's also an archer that uses its quills as arrows and one of its wings as a bow. Its Hidden Ability is Long Reach, which means that moves that would normally make contact with the opponent don't, which comes in handy when facing opponents that can burn, poison, paralyze, infatuate, etc. opponents on contact.

* FriendToAllChildren: Incineroar loves the adoration they get from children despite acting nonchalant in their presence. This, like many of Incineroar’s traits, is inspired by Manga/TigerMask, who discarded his heel persona to be an idol to children.

* FriendToAllChildren: Incineroar loves the adoration they get from children despite acting nonchalant in their presence.

** Crabrawler acts as Kahuna Hala's ace. It evolvves into Crabominabe in his later matches.

* CatSmile: Torracat, unlike Litten, is constantly smiling like this.

* TheBusCameBack: Three of the twelve Pokémon who spent five years on the bus after ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' before coming back in "The Indigo Disk".

* BlowYouAway: As per usual with the early-route bird Pokémon, it's part Flying-type.

* PutOnABus: Three of the twenty-one Pokémon who haven't been usable in a main series game since ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' in 2017, although [[https://youtu.be/TwhCpI6KIEE?si=MeZw99O7-UzO66RJ&t=242 they have been confirmed to be returning]] in ''The Indigo Disk''.

* FriendToAllChildren: Incineroar loves the adoration they get from children despite acting nonchalant in their presence. This is inspired by Tiger Mask,

* FriendToAllChildren: Incineroar loves the adoration they get from children despite acting nonchalant in their presence.

* {{Heel}}: Incineroar is designed with this persona in mind. It is even known as the Heel Pokémon. ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'' lampshades the "Incineroar is the bad guy" concept. Incineroar is TheAce of Ash's latest [[TheRival rival]], [[JerkAss Cross]], literally putting Incineroar into a position where the audience is ''supposed'' to root against him.

!!!Grass Quill Pokémon, Blade Quill Pokémon, Arrow Quill Pokémon

!!!Fire Cat Pokémon, Heel Pokémon

!!!Sea Lion Pokémon, Pop Star Pokémon, Soloist Pokémon

!!!Woodpecker Pokémon, Bugle Beak Pokémon, Cannon Pokémon

!!!Loitering Pokémon, Stakeout Pokémon

!!!Larva Pokémon, Battery Pokémon, Stag Beetle Pokémon

!!!Boxing Pokémon, Wooly Crab Pokémon

!!!Dancing Pokémon

!!!Bee Fly Pokémon

!!!Puppy Pokémon, Wolf Pokémon

!!!Small Fry Pokémon

!!!Brutal Star Pokémon

!!!Donkey Pokémon, Draft Horse Pokémon

!!!Water Bubble Pokémon

!!!Sickle Grass Pokémon, Bloom Sickle Pokémon

!!!Illuminating Pokémon

!!!Toxic Lizard Pokémon

* PlayingWithFire: Part Fire-type.

* PoisonousPerson: Part Poison-type.

!!!Flailing Pokémon, Strong Arm Pokémon

!!!Fruit Pokémon

* GreenThumb: They're Grass-types that resembles walking fruit.

!!!Posy Picker Pokémon

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Decidueye is an odd and different Ghost-type, as it is a clearly alive and tangible creature. In battle, it boasts the same Ghost-type immunities to Normal and Fighting-type moves as the rest of them. Its Ghost typing most likely comes from channeling spiritual energy for its attacks, similar to Alolan Marowak, and possibly also its mythological inspirations (particularly the Seminole [[WickedWitch stikini]] and the Roman [[OurVampiresAreDifferent strix]]).

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Decidueye is an odd and different Ghost-type, as it is a clearly alive and tangible creature. In battle, it boasts the same Ghost-type immunities to Normal and Fighting-type moves as the rest of them. Its Ghost typing most likely comes from channeling spiritual energy for its attacks, similar to Alolan Marowak.

** Furthermore, Decidueye's Ghost-Type is a reference to the many cultural associations between owls and the underworld; African folklore, many Native American tribes from Northern to Southern America, even the Romans and Europe, have all believed owls to be agents of the underworld, emissaries of death, or otherwise servants to sinister forces. Some cultures also regard them as a disguise for vampires or blood-sucking witches, such as the Roman Strix or the Romanian Strigoi, or as the icon of dark spirits, such as Marinette, a particularly feared [[UsefulNotes/{{Voudoun}} loa]].

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Incineroar's [[SecretArt Darkest Lariat]] ignores all defensive and evasive stat changes made by the opponent, also doubling as a psuedo-AlwaysAccurateAttack. It can still miss if Incineroar's accuracy has been lowered and will not hit as hard if Incineroar's Attack has been reduced, and does not ignore evasion-based Abilities like Sand Veil and Snow Cloak or Defense-based Abilities such as Marvel Scale and Fur Coat.

* GlassCannon: Salazzle hits hard and moves fast, but its defenses are lacking. This affects the way it makes use of its Corrosion ability, which would arguably be more fitting on a StoneWall: instead of targeting a specific Steel or Poison-type and stalling out a full health bar through poison damage, it uses the combined threat of Toxic and its high special attack to create a Catch22Dilemma for the opponent - either they withstand its monstrous attacks, or they switch into a Toxic that will cripple even their Steel-type wall for the rest of the battle - and the only way out is to KO it first.

* GlassCannon: Salazzle hits hard and moves fast, but its defenses are lacking. This affects the way it makes use of its Corrosion ability, which would arguably be more fitting on a StoneWall: instead of targeting a specific Steel or Poison-type and stalling out a full health bar through poison damage, it uses the combined threat of Toxic and its high special attack to create a Catch22Dilemma for the opponent - either they withstand its monstrous attacks, or they switch into a Toxic that will cripple even their Steel-type walls for the rest of the battle.

* CloseRangeCombatant: Compared to Alolan Decidueye who prefer to attack at range, Hisuian Decidueye like to get up close and personal with their opponents in order to overpower them. Fittingly, it trades in the Long Reach ability for Scrappy, which lets their stronger Fighting-type attacks hit Ghost-types.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Hisuian Decidueye's bio mentions that it mainly attacks with kicks; however, thanks to the limited move selection of ''Legends: Arceus'', the only kind of kick it actually does in-game is from its signature move Triple Arrows, and even then only as the first half of a longer attack (though its physical attack animation does show it slashing opponents with its talons). ''Scarlet and Violet'' gives it Low Kick and Low Sweep, but only through {=TMs=}, and its movepool overall is still unusually devoid of kicking moves for a Pokémon who apparently specializes in them.

* GreenThumb: Like many Grass type starters, the line's primary type. Rowlet and Dartrix also have a bowtie made of leaves.

* SoulPower: Decidueye becomes a Ghost-type upon evolving.

* UndergroundMonkey: Hisuian Decidueye is part Fighting-type and its feathers form an insulating layer to protect it from the cold.

* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Spirit Shackle deals heavy Ghost-type damage and prevents opponents from fleeing. As a part-Ghost-type, Decidueye itself is immune to being trapped, and can escape from battle without fail.

** From looking at Incineroar, people could be forgiven for assuming it's '''yet another''' Fire/Fighting fully evolved starter, like Blaziken, Infernape and Emboar. Surprise, its secondary type is Dark.

* BossBattle: The ace of Team Skull's Plumeria. It later gains the ability to do Z Moves in her Title Defense matches.

* ExactWords: Corrosion says it allows the line to ''poison'' Steel- and Poison-types. Steel-types are still immune to Poison-type ''attacks''.

* FragileSpeedster: Salazzle's Speed stat is high but its defenses are poor.

* GlassCannon: Salazzle hits hard and moves fast. However, her defenses are lacking.

* UniversalPoison: Even more so than is normal for Pokémon, as it can poison even Steel and Poison types, which are normally immune to poisoning.

** Its Corrosion ability. Being able to poison Poison and Steel-types is nice, but [[GlassCannon its stats]] mean it can't stall them long enough to incur much poison damage and is better off attacking foes directly. This ability also makes them vulnerable to be [[SuperpowerDisability poisoned by a Toxic Orb]], which otherwise will not affect Poison types without the ability.
** Its hidden ability, Oblivious, is this to a lesser extent. It keeps the Pokémon from being infatuated, falling for taunts, or being affected by Intimidate. Infatuation is a crippling debuff, but can only be caused by one single move which is rarely used as a result of being a SituationalSword (it only works on opponents of the opposite gender). Taunt prevents the target from using status moves, but Salazzle's stats are best suited for being an all-out attacker ([[NotCompletelyUseless at least it can avoid being locked out of setting up Nasty Plot]]). Intimidate drops the target's Attack, which is completely irrelevant as Salazzle's physical attack is underwhelming in the first place.

* CloseRangeCombatant: Compared to Alolan Decidueye who prefer to attack at range, Hisuian Decidueye like to get up close and personal with their opponents in order to overpower them.

* FighterMageThief: The Thief of the Alolan starters. It may not be fast, but it has balanced physical and special attacks and its archery theme demonstrates an emphasis on skillful attacking while its Ghost-subtype emphasizes stealth.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Hisuian Decidueye's bio mentions that it mainly attacks with kicks; however, thanks to the limited move selection of ''Legends: Arceus'', the only kind of kick it actually does in-game is from its signature move Triple Arrows, and even then only as the first half of a longer attack (though its physical attack animation does show it slashing opponents with its talons). ''Scarlet and Violet'' gives it Low Kick and Low Sweep, but only through TMs, and its movepool overall is still unusually devoid of kicking moves for a Pokémon who apparently specializes in them.

* {{Ronin}}: Hisuian Decidueye is based on the archetypal wandering, masterless {{Samurai}}. It travels the region while never fully settling down, and being part Fighting type means it's more of a close combat fighter than its regular counterpart. The feathers on its head also resemble a traditional Japanese [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasa_(hat) kasa]] hat.

** Only Alolan Decidueye gets Spirit Shackle (that makes its target unable to flee from battle or switch out) and its Z-Move version, Sinister Arrow Raid.

* ActionInitiative: Decidueye learns Shadow Sneak as a level-up move in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. It also always had Sucker Punch to begin with, too.

* AscendedExtra: Rowlet is a newer starter Pokémon and managed to make it into ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', but was shunted into being "just another starter" after the Alola games concluded. However, it returns in ''Pokémon Legends: Arceus'' as the Grass starter, where the line's archer theming meshes with the feudal Japanese environment quite well.

** Rowlet starts off with Flying as its secondary type. However, upon evolving into Decidueye, it loses its Flying-type in exchange for Ghost-type, or Fighting-type in the case of Hisuian Decidueye as its secondary type.

* BowAndSwordInAccord: Decidueye can learn Leaf Blade, and both its {{Secret Art}}s, Spirit Shackle (for regular Decidueye) and Triple Arrows (for Hisuian Deicidueye) involves archery.

* CriticalHitClass: Hisuian Decidueye's Triple Arrows boosts its crit rate by 2 stages when it's used, meaning that any move with innate crit, like Leaf Blade, will become ''guaranteed'' to crit [[{{Combo}} after a single use of Triple Arrows]].

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Downplayed and maybe outright averted with Hisuian Decidueye. Its Bio mentions that it mainly attacks with kicks; however, thanks to the mass move cut of Legends, it doesn't actually learn any kicking moves. Its physical attack animation does show it slashing opponents with its talons, playing this straight.

* LongRangeFighter: Invoked — its Hidden Ability is called "Long Reach", which basically turns all its contact moves into non-contact ones.

* MightyGlacier: Decidueye has high offenses in both physical and special attack as well as decent defenses, but its 70 speed leaves it lagging behind many opponents (though it does outpace the other two Alolan starters' final forms). Then again, owls are adapted for slow, silent, precise flight.

** Only Decidueye gets Spirit Shackle (that makes its target unable to flee from battle or switch out) and its Z-Move version, Sinister Arrow Raid.

** Its hidden ability, Oblivious, is this to a lesser extent. It keeps the Pokémon from being infatuated, falling for taunts, or being affected by Intimidate. Infatuation is a crippling debuff, but can only be caused by one single move which is rarely used as a result of being a SituationalSword (it only works on opponents of the opposite gender). Taunt prevents the target from using status moves, but Salazzle's stats are best suited for being an all-out attacker. Intimidate drops the target's Attack, which is completely irrelevant as Salazzle's physical attack is underwhelming in the first place.