From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Ash's Staraptor (Japanese: サトシのムクホーク Satoshi's Mukuhawk) is the first Pokémon that Ash Ketchum caught in the Sinnoh region. Its Japanese voice actor is 小西克幸 Katsuyuki Konishi. As a Starly and Staravia, it was voiced by 古島清孝 Kiyotaka Furushima in Japanese and Sarah Natochenny in English.
History
Ash caught it as a Starly in Two Degrees of Separation while searching for Pikachu, who was missing due to the antics of Team Rocket. Aipom was swinging through the trees and accidentally bumped into Starly, so the two Pokémon battled. Weakened by Aipom, Starly was captured and immediately used in the search for Pikachu. In When Pokémon Worlds Collide, Starly had its first battle against another Starly belonging to Paul and lost.
In A Staravia is Born, Starly evolved into a Staravia during a battle with Team Rocket. Immediately after its evolution Staravia had perfectly learned Aerial Ace. Evolving has also allowed it to grow much stronger and become very useful in searches.
Staravia was the only of Ash's Pokémon who didn't participate in Ash's first Sinnoh Gym battle against Roark; however, Staravia helped out in Ash's second Sinnoh Gym battle, defeating Gardenia's Cherubi. After seeing Reggie's Staraptor use the powerful Brave Bird attack, Ash was inspired to teach it to Staravia. In the third Sinnoh Gym battle, Staravia defeated Maylene's Machoke and Meditite, as well as successfully mastering Brave Bird.
In DP118, a PokéRinger competition was held in Wind Town where Ash entered and won with Staravia, who evolved into a Staraptor in the process. Shortly after its evolution, Staraptor learned Close Combat and defeated Paul's Honchkrow, earning Ash his first victory over Paul.
Unlike Pidgeot or Noctowl, Staraptor is closer in use to Swellow in that, while Pidgeot and Noctowl were mainly used for scouting purposes, Staraptor is occasionally used in battles and is one of Ash's most reliable team members. This is possibly due to the Flying type lacking a visually-impressive attack outside of Sky Attack prior to the advent of Aerial Ace in Generation III and Brave Bird in Generation IV.
Moves used
Moves that have been used most recently are italicized.
Trivia
- Despite the fact Ash's Staraptor and other members of his evolution family know Gust, it is impossible for Starly, Staravia, or Staraptor to learn it in the games. This error was also present in the Japanese version. The dub changed it to Whirlwind in Starly's initial appearance, but left it as Gust until One Big Happiny Family, when it was dubbed as Whirlwind again, and has been since.
- For Shapes of Things to Come, Professor Oak's lecture is about Ash's Staravia. He writes this Pokémon senryū about it: ムックルが ムクムクしんか ムクバード Mukkuru mukumuku-evolved; Mukubird
- Judging by the pattern on Staraptor's head, it can be assumed that this Pokémon is male. However, the pattern does change shape occasionally in some scenes, therefore it cannot be properly determined.
- However, in DP103, it falls in love with a Staravia doll that was designed to appear female, showing that Staraptor is male. It is noteworthy that Staravia's "dot" is noticeably larger than that of the doll's.
- In the Czech dub, Staraptor is constantly referred as a female Pokémon.
- In the Latin American dub, Staraptor is referred to as a male Pokémon.
- Staraptor was the 40th Pokémon species Ash has owned, counting Larvitar, Haunter, and Raticate.
- Staraptor's method of evolving to its final stage is similar to Ash's Swellow, through a PokéRinger competition.
- Upon its final evolution, Staraptor became the 50th Pokémon that Ash has obtained, including evolutions and counting Seaking, Beedrill, Haunter and Raticate, even though Haunter was not officially his, Beedrill was given away nearly immediately, and Seaking was released as part of contest rules.
- Staraptor also took the most amount of episodes so far to evolve to a certain stage in the Sinnoh series out of Ash, Dawn and Brock's Pokémon, taking 105 episodes to evolve from Staravia to Staraptor.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Starly, Staravia, and Staraptor.
External links
