Back to it after a couple days without one! Today it’s a mix of mythological creatures, dinosaurs, and our early bird!
Phorm is the oddest first stage early bird Pokemon by far. The reason being, well, it’s not a bird. The Phorm line is based on the Phoenix, and something left out in pretty much every depiction is the fact that they start life a worms. Yup. Phoenix start out as small worm-like creatures, and Phorm is just that. Phorm is a pure Fire type worm, with a mouth shaped like a beak, and colored red and gold. It’s definitely not what you expect from the early bird Pokemon, but I’m all for subverting the usual formula.
Fearnix is the Fire/Flying Phoenix Pokemon, resembling an eagle. Like Phorm, it’s primary color is red, with gold as the secondary color. Fearnix looks like an eagle, because that’s what phoenix look like. They aren’t even described with similar features, it’s straight up said that they have the same size and shape of an eagle. Fearnix would also have an extra long tail and crest, just to add to the magnificence of a big red and gold eagle
Sporting an awesome name is Fenitheft, who takes the phoenix into a different direction, from Fire/Flying eagle to Fire/Dragon…super ancient eagle. Fenitheft is based on a species of raptor known as the pyroraptor, and let me just get it right out of the way, a raptor Phoenix is awesome. Replacing Fearnix’s beak is a raptor’s toothy maw, and the tail and claws of one as well. Fenitheft doesn’t have any real connection to the phoenix, but the dinosaur it’s based on has pyro in the name, so there’s at least an attempt to connect it to the fire theme of the phoenix.
The Phorm line is a little shakier with it’s Dragon typing than our previous Fakemon, but it does a better job than the Vega phoenix I reviewed. There is an attempt to connect the Dragon typing to the phoenix myth instead of just slapping it on there. That’s why the Phorm line gets three Questing Beasts out of five.