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Swellow

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Swellow
Swellow
National Pokédex
Taillow - Swellow (#277) - Wingull
Hoenn Pokédex
Taillow - Swellow (#026) - Wingull
Japanese nameオオスバメ (Oosubame)
Evolves fromTaillow
Evolves intoNone
GenerationThird
SpeciesSwallow Pokémon
TypeNormal / Flying
Height2 ft 4 in (0.70 m)
Weight43.7 pounds (19.8 kg)
AbilityGuts

Swellow (オオスバメ Oosubame in Japanese, Schwalboss in German and Heledelle in French) is a fictional character from the Pokémon Franchise.

Its name is derived from the words swallow and swell, since this pokémon is based in a swallow or a thrush. Ironically, its name is pronounced like the Spanish word "suelo," meaning "floor."

Biology

Swellow is a moderately large bird with dark-blue plumage, a largely white underbelly with a red geometrically-patterned top section, and two prominent tail feathers (remnants from its pre-evolution, Taillow). These tail feathers are apparently an indication of Swellow’s overall health; if they are standing at attention, Swellow is in ideal shape.

Swellow is an avian Pokémon with acute natural talents among other birds. It consistently flies elegantly at high altitudes, oftentimes performing graceful arcs in the sky. It lives as a migratory bird of prey; it constantly flies towards warmer climates in a migratory fashion, and the moment it spots its prey Swellow dives down at a steep angle and snatches the hapless victim tightly with its talons. It never misses its targets in this respect.

Swellow is quite fastidious with its own body, especially its wings. When it is not cleaning its wings and tail feathers regularly, two Swellow are gathered together and unhesitantly take it upon themselves to clean each other’s wings.

In the Pokémon video games

Swellow has an excelent speed. Its speed is in the top 2° of all Pokémon meaning it nearly always gets the first hit. Unfortunately, like most Normal/Flying birds, Swellow's defense and specials are paltry. These low defenses and special attack constrict its options into surviving hits in battle and forces Swellow to attack rather than use boost stat moves like Agility. In terms of a physical attacker, it haves 85 base attack, is so decent and acceptable, but is criticised by many people as mediocre (if not blatantly subpar) . Its saving grace is probably its incredible speed and Guts trait. Its ability, Guts, ups Swellow's Attack 1.5x times when it is under the status problems Burned, Paralyzed or Poisoned. In the games, it is similar to Pidgeot, Fearow and Dodrio relatively speaking.

As a Normal/Flying Pokémon, Swellow is immune to ghost-type and ground-type attacks, and is weak against rock-type, ice-type, and electric-type attacks. However, it can learn Steel Wing with TM47 to counter its weakness against rock-type and ice-type Pokémon. Anyway you can teach Hidden Power-Ground with TM10 to cover its rock-type and electric-type weakness, too.

Competitively speaking, Swellow is generally employed as a Choice Bander. Its rigid movepool hurts its versatility and constricting stats prevent it from doing much else. It has been known to use Endeavor on odd occasions. It is one of a few Pokemon that can learn Aerial Ace by leveling-up. It can also learn Sky Attack as an egg move.

One move that may be perfect in Swellow (and Raticate and Ursaring too, due to they have the same Guts ability) is Facade (TM42). One of this Normal-type move benefits is that gains STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus). Swellow is a Normal/Flying type Pokémon, and receives a bonus to the power of attacks which match their own types, multiplying the damage the attack causes by 1.5x times. Facade also does 1.5x more damage when Swellow is Burned, Paralized or Poisoned (That's right, it does the same Guts ability things). These added effects move, combined with the ability Guts and the STAB, makes Facade a pretty good move, so useful and may be deadly. Facade does 70 base damage, with the STAB bonus it is increased to 105, if it is just Poisoned its Guts ability increase Facade to 140, and with the Facade's added effects it is increased to 175. That will be even stronger and convenient than a Hyper Beam, having more power, more Power Points, the same STAB and the benefit that it doesn't need to recharge next turn (Hyper Beam needs to do it). Add to all this a Choice Band (an item held to a Pokémon that max out the power of one move but only allows to use that move) held to Swellow and Facade will be the strongest Swellow's move ever seen.

Any experienced trainer that uses a Swellow seriously in battle, surely knows what is he or she doing, so be careful and don't even understimate what this bird can do. It is easy to train, just maxing up its Attack and Speed and it will be useful in no time. If you feel that it isn't necesary to continue increasing its Speed anymore, train Swellow to increase its Attack. And if you want to have an "always strike Swellow", have both Aerial Ace and Swift (acquireable in Pokémon Emerald by Tutoring) in its moveset to always strike the enemies gaining STAB too. Aerial Ace is a Flying-type move, so gains STAB, and Swift is a Normal-type move, so gains STAB too (because Swellow is a Normal/Flying type Pokémon). Both moves are special, they never miss so always strike the enemy no matter the user's accuracy or the oponent's evasiveness.

In the Pokémon anime

In the anime episode "That's Just Swellow", Ash Ketchum's Taillow evolves into Swellow but the first time we saw it was when Vito of the Winstrate family used one to protect his family in the episode "Candid Camerupt". In "A Sky High Gym Battle", Winona, the Fortree City gym leader, had a Shiny Swellow and used it in a battle against Ash. While the Swellow knocked out Ash's Grovyle, it, ironically, lost to Ash's Swellow.

Swellow later (and is currently) fulfills the same duties as Pidgeotto and Noctowl (Ash's Stage 1 Flying-types before Swellow). However, unlike his former flying pokémon, Swellow has been given actual character development, rather than simply popping Team Rocket's balloons, for Ash has used Swellow in every Hoenn Gym Battle since its evolution, all his 6 vs 6 matches in the Hoenn League, and two of his Battle Frontier matches. Ash's Swellow is known for surviving attacks, especially electric attacks, that would have knocked it out. Additionally, although a trait of its species, Swellow has displayed exceptional persistence in battles.

After completing the Battle Frontier challenge, Ash leaves Swellow (as well as Corphish, Sceptile, and Donphan) at Professor Oak's lab before heading off to Sinnoh.

In the trading card game

Swellow has a comparatively healthy showing in card format. It has made the following stage-1 Colorless appearances. It also appeared in EX Dragon Frontiers as Swellow δ:

  • EX Ruby and Sapphire
  • EX Sandstorm
  • EX Deoxys
  • EX Emerald
  • EX Delta Species
  • EX Dragon Frontiers (as Swellow δ, Fire type)

References

Publications
  • Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-439-15404-9.
  • Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-930206-15-1.
  • Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 1-930206-50-X
  • Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4761-4
  • Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1-930206-58-5
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