Should the 'Flying' type be replaced?

[Fast_shoesXx]

Make an addition rather than a change.

All of the "bird" flying types (Pidgeotto, Swellow, Staraptor, Braviary, etc.) become Bird/Flying instead of Normal/Flying. Implies that they are, in fact, bird Pokemon (similar to the Fighting type representing Pokemon that resemble fighters) while also having the ability to fly (hence keeping the flying type).

Pokemon who can fly - but are not birds - don't change (ex. Jumpluff, Aerodactyl, Charizard, etc.).

Seems fair, no? The only thing left to do would to give the "bird" typing different qualities of "flying". This is just an idea that I personally think would work...

Bird pokemon are resistant to fighting/ground attacks (seems redundant for most; however, consider birds that cannot fly)
Bird attacks are weak against Steel/Rock/Ice
Bird attacks are strong against bug/water
Bird pokemon are susceptible to Ice and Poison attacks.

This gives the formerly normal/flying pokemon more advantages. They become 4x resistant to fighting attacks which is makes pokemon like Pidgeot suddenly much more appealing. They also give these unused pokemon more appeal in that they can combat water types (water types can afford to take this hit).

The new 4x weakness to Ice isn't so bad (most currently die to an ice attack anyways) and gives Poison types something to be good against other than Grass. Also gives Ice a second resistance which it desperately needs (ice is terrible defensively, currently only resistant to itself).

I don't see any problems with this. No pokemon become overpowered, and desperately underused normal/flying types suddenly become useful.

Spoiler: Bird/Flying Pokemon (Last Stage Only)

The following pokemon would certainly see the type change:

Pidgeot
Fearow
Farfetch'd
Noctowl
Swellow
Staraptor
Chatot
Unfezant
Braviary

Spoiler: Unique Circumstances

These pokemon resemble birds. However, changing their flying types to the bird type would drastically change the playing style and use of each. Perhaps it is best that these pokemon keep the flying type.

Altaria (Dragon/bird)
Zatu (Psychic/bird)
Skarmory (Steel/bird)
Ho-oh (Fire/bird)
Pelipper (Water/bird)
Honchcrow (Dark/bird)
Archeops (Rock/bird)
Swanna (Water/bird)
Mandibuzz (Dark/bird)
Zapdos/Articuno/Moltres (Electric/Ice/Fire & Bird)

Spoiler: Debatable

Togekiss
Dodrio

 

[Ememew]

Except that they are Normal-types for a reason. The addition of Tornadus (pure Flying) pretty much demonstrates that they could have dropped the Normal type from Normal/Flying if they had wanted to, but instead they assigned the Normal-type to them anyway because they have the characteristics of Normals as well as of Flyings (plus it gives STAB Returns, Ghost immunity). Yes, it took 5 Generations for this to happen, but really, there was nothing preventing them from making, say, Farfetch'd, a pure Flying beyond the fact that it pretty much had as many Normal characteristics as it did Flying (see movepool, etc). Normal =/= Type-less, so things that are Normal or part Normal have that type for a reason.

Look at the Serebii Pokedex. Search by Flying-type. You'll see that there aren't really that many Normal/Flyings in comparison to other Flyings, and that they're mostly the regional birds. What fits a regional bird better than Normal?

Pidgey line (regional birds), Spearow line (might as well be regional birds), Farfetch'd (looks "normal" to me), Doduo line (it's a flightless bird, but still Flying, so what better than normal to go with it - especially with Tri-Attack as one of it's main moves?), Hoothoot line (regional birds), Togetic/Kiss (evolved from a Normal-type), Tailow line (regional birds), Swablu (guess they didn't want it to be a dragon right away, normal seems to suit it just fine), Starly line (regional birds), Chatot (what else would you give it?), Pidove line (regional birds), Rufflet line (again, what else suits it, and since it's counterpart is a dual-type, shouldn't it be, too?). Of all the Normal/Flyings, the only one I can really see dropping the normal type is Swablu, and that's only because it loses that type upon evolution. The rest (including Swablu) seem to have the characteristics found in other Normals (like Girafarag, Bibarel, etc.). I don't see how making them "Bird/Flying" would help anything.

Would it make sense to turn the fish Pokemon into Fish/Water to imply that they're fish while also having the ability to live in water? Type =/= species it's based on.

 

[Fast_shoesXx]

What fits a regional bird better than Normal?

(looks "normal" to me)

Subjective. I can't argue against your opinion and you can't use it as an argument against me.

I don't see how making them "Bird/Flying" would help anything.

Please re-read my post. They become more useful in a competitive environment.

A point you mentioned was that I over-looked was the immunity to Ghost attacks. However, I don't see much importance in this as Normal/Flying pokemon are not defensive. However they would no longer be able to switch into such attacks which is a con. And yes, the loss of STAB Normal does hurt, but is the STAB Bird not even more useful with the abundance of bulky water types?

Do you fully believe that remaining normal/flying is an advantage? Why? You have yet to prove that the cons outweigh the pros of my theorized change.

 

[Dragoniteftw]

it would make more sense to not change anything.

 

[Ememew]

But I'm not arguing that they would be any better or worse competitively, just that Gamefreak had its own reasons for applying the types they did to the Pokemon that have them.

I understand your point about subjectiveness, but what you're suggesting is that Gamefreak change a Pokemon's type just to make it better in competitive play.

My first example with Farfetch'd (a paragraph up from that quote) stated that a reason it "looked normal to me" had to do with it's movepool, which is similar to that of a lot of Normal-types (i.e. a lot of Normal moves, while those that aren't are making use of it's physical characteristics of jabbing and slicing the way Persian gets similar moves related to its claws). At most with Farfetch'd, I could see a Grass-type addition (because of the leek), but its movepool does nothing to support a Grass-type over Normal. Regional birds share many characteristics with the Normal regional rodents, and often have a number of Normal attacks in their movepools.

What I'm basically saying is that Gamefreak decided to make them Normal-types because Gamefreak (who made them) decided that they had the characteristics of Normals. They don't really care about the effects this has on competitive play or the tiers fans put together. When I say it "looks like a Normal" it has nothing to do with whether or not I think it looks like a Normal-type, but rather that I can see what made Gamefreak decide it fit into that particular category. Sorry if I worded it poorly last time.

 

[Clubinhand]

I don't thinking Flying types need to be altered. Although if they are readdress to be called bird types they should lose there super effective damage on grass and pickup new prey. Grass has too many problems they need some room to breath. Flying although is not an overwhelming powerful type that you will see in almost every team like a dragon, steel, or dedicated wall. Not a type but I feel every team should have one.

Personally I think there should have been an 18th type thought up a while ago cause simply 17 isn't an even number. The trickiest thing with designing an 18th type would be how it type combos with others or would its mix of resistances just cause more problems for already struggling types or an unnecessary immunity such dark>psychic comes out of the equation. Hell when they designed dark I wonder if someone later went hey guys derp dark/ghost no weakness's 3 immunities, yeah man sounds cool. With that in mind If an 18th type is ever designed I wouldn't care if there are one or two type combination's that are purposely overlooked and never brought together. Flavor wise its also really hard to get an agreement on what would be balanced while making sense of what we know with nature/ mythology In digging for a new type.

 

[Grassette]

it would make more sense to not change anything.

I shall correct the above statement.
It would make sense to not change anything.
Birds fly. So they are flying types. Massive banana dinosaurs fly. So they are flying types.
I believe it is much simpler this way, no?

 

[Nebbio]

Why bother changing anything. Most people are happy with the typings. It would be confusing to change it now.

 

[Ampersand]

I shall correct the above statement.
It would make sense to not change anything.
Birds fly. So they are flying types. Massive banana dinosaurs fly. So they are flying types.
I believe it is much simpler this way, no?

turtles swim..so they should be swimming types
rats run...so they should be running types.

do you get what im saying here? is the basis of a type formed on how the pokemon gets from a to b, or on the element it can manipulate? the reason fire pokemon are fire type is because they can manipulate fire into attacks.

Because a Bronzong with both Levitate and Heatproof or a Gyarados with both Intimidate and Moxie sound so fun to fight? I get what you're saying, but I prefer the one ability, one item, up to two types format. It's not like any Pokemon were "mis-typed." Changing it's name to "Air" might make more sense (especially for stuff like Gyarados), but the idea that changing the name of the type would change who had that type is a little odd. Plus, there's Tornadus. The pure Flying Pokemon that pretty much exemplifies the "wind/air" component of the Flying-type. After seeing this called flying, I'm pretty sure most people would realize that Flying basically means, in Poke-world terms, "air/wind" already.

Im not saying all pokemon should have two abilites...just like all pokemon dont have 2 types. and theres no reason why game freak could re-do some of the abilities so it doesnt end up being too unfair. heck..it doesnt even have to be an ability...but some sort of new concept they introduce hopefully on the 3ds with the new games...something that basically negates ground moves being able to hit pokemon that are flying or levitating. if this was to be done...then yes certain pokemon would either lose the flying type and it would be replaced by something else. charizard would become fire and dragon, with the ability of flight and maybe a few air moves for example.

 

[Sonikku]

To arguments saying that the bird type couldn't replace flying over the fact that some flying types do not look like birds; read my post. I said that any flying pokemon which don't fall under the category of a Bird will simply be able to avoid ground type moves whilst still having their own abilities, whilst the bird type recieves new unique characteristics.

Unless GF are willing to give it to just tornadus and perhaps difloon, a 'wind' or 'air' type wouldn't work. Typing comes down to what a Pokemon is, its skills, or what elements it consists of. The only typing which is none of these and shouldn't be a proper typing is flying, which is why im bringing up this argument in the first place.

I think your rant is coming from the fact that your favourite Poke is stuck with a part Flying type, while some dragons like Reshiram get to have their own unique typing.

Rant? Whos ranting? Its called discussion.

I shall correct the above statement.
It would make sense to not change anything.
Birds fly. So they are flying types. Massive banana dinosaurs fly. So they are flying types.
I believe it is much simpler this way, no?

Bedrill can fly, he is not the flying type.
Flygon can fly, he is not the flying type.
Venomoth, Dustox, Latias, Latios, Volbeat, Illumise, Volcarona, Hydreigon, Reshiram and Zekrom can fly, they are not part flying type.

Yes, very obvious and simple.

 

[Seem]

I'm a huge bird lover of the real world and Pokemon one, so probably bias here (haha!) but I think the idea is a good one in theory. I like the idea of Wind replacing Flying elemental type and Bird having it's own. So, Pidgey could be Bird/Wind whereas Swoobat would be Psychic/Wind and just get rid of Flying type altogether.

The whole "This Pokemon can fly but is not flying type" is a bit silly honestly. Several Pokemon can swim, that doesn't make them a water type. How odd would that be haha!

 

[Toge Tamer]

No.

There, said my bit.

 

[castlewars]

Theres always been much discussion over Pokemon typings and how they've been fairly limited to two slots, and we would need at least triple typings so every pokemon would get the types they deserve. This shouldn't be the case.

The best way to solve the problem would be to alter the 'Flying' type or even remove it altogether. Its the only type which seems to take the potential away from many Pokemon by taking up their second type slot, as the capability of flight is very common. Its an action, and should be considered more of an ability than anything. I wouldn't understand why flygon, reshiram and other dragons get to have their own unique types.

;017;

This is why I think a suitable typing would be a 'Bird' type, given to Pokemon like Skarmory, Pidgey, Dodrio and so on, alongside the moves like gust, arial ace and tornado. It would be more obvious why the Flying type has its strengths and weaknesses in the first place, and Pokemon which don't fall into the category of Birds could then finally recieve their own unique second typings whilst still being able to levitate and have access to Bird(flying) type moves.

Thoughts on this idea?

The Bird type was a glitch type in Red/Blue/Yellow.

 

[7 tyranitars]

I think replacing flying with wind/flying is a good idea because they are either wind based,gust/air cutter etc. or bird based pech/drill peck/aerial ace/etc.

 

[uprockingdude]

it is a tough dilemma i think the whole bird idea is a good one tbh but i just don't like the whole wind thing is a good idea there would have to be another type for pokemon that can fly and are not based off of birds. but still how would you solve the problem of the pokemon with two types that fly but are not a flying type or have an ability!

 

[Grassette]

The Flying-type was called the Bird type in Red/Blue/Yellow.

And they changed it for good reason.

Beedrill can fly, he is not the flying type.

I stand corrected.

turtles swim..so they should be swimming types
rats run...so they should be running types.

do you get what im saying here? is the basis of a type formed on how the pokemon gets from a to b, or on the element it can manipulate? the reason fire pokemon are fire type is because they can manipulate fire into attacks.

*Changes opinion*
I understand this... then I look at someone elses point saying Wind types.
I guess if you just rename Flying to Wind it would make sense. But no way, bird pokemon... that would just corrupt certain people's brains (like my brother's, he can't tolerate such an amount of information...)

But still, nothing we can do to change it...

 

[Mister_SGG]

I don't think it should be replaced, more that it should be assigned to less Pokemon. Flying- isn't a bad type, but a lot of Pokemon like Squirtle Salamence got given a Flying-type where it was a blessing-of-sorts, like the extra resistances on top of Dragon-'s resistances... Salamence is a bad example of what I'm saying.

...I just think a lot of Pokemon got given the Flying-type just because they had wings of some kind, where another type could've been just as fitting... yeah. I think I said what I meant to.
EDIT:

To arguments saying that the bird type couldn't replace flying over the fact that some flying types do not look like birds; read my post. I said that any flying pokemon which don't fall under the category of a Bird will simply be able to avoid ground type moves whilst still having their own abilities, whilst the bird type recieves new unique characteristics.

That's a little over-complicated. This is a kid's game, right?

 

[Azulart]

They should have just call it Air type, or Aero type.
It sounds cool. And you can't fly/hover without air, right

 

[foodmetaphors]

Sort of related to the topic and I don't think it's been brought up ITT, but WHY is Dodrio Flying type? As a flightless bird, it shouldn't be able to avoid ground type moves. I think it should be changed to just Normal or Normal/Ground.

 

[knetz07]

Sort of related to the topic and I don't think it's been brought up ITT, but WHY is Dodrio Flying type? As a flightless bird, it shouldn't be able to avoid ground type moves. I think it should be changed to just Normal or Normal/Ground.

In Doduo's/Dodrio's cases, the BIRD type would be fitting. The Bird type and Wind type split of the Flying type is sort of appropriate but complicated at the same time, because it kinda ruins the typing of the other pokemons, probably having to change some of their type just to implement this change.