Ash's Staraptor
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 Ash's Staraptor | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
In the anime
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 one 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 Pursuing a Lofty Goal!, a PokéRinger competition was held in Squallville 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.
In Sliding Into Seventh! it was used in the gym battle against Candice, where it was easily defeated by her Abomasnow after winning against her Medicham.
It battled in Ash and Paul's full battle in Pedal to the Mettle! where it went up against Torterra and Weavile. It managed to defeat Weavile. In Evolving Strategies! it also fought against Paul's Ursaring, but lost quickly.
Staraptor was used in DP183 against Nando's Roserade. It was able to defeat it with a powerful Brave Bird attack, but was defeated by Nando's powerful Armaldo.
In DP186, it was used against Paul's Gastrodon. Ash realized that Paul's Gastrodon can also use Counter Shield, and Staraptor was hit by the technique. When Gastrodon slammed it on the ground, it managed to use Close Combat on the ground to get away, but was hit with an Ice Beam in the process. It started to show signs of tiring, so Ash decided to recall it in place of Buizel.
Moves used
| Using Close Combat | Move | First Used In |
|---|---|---|
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| Whirlwind | Two Degrees of Separation! | |
| Gust x | Two Degrees of Separation! | |
| Quick Attack | Two Degrees of Separation! | |
| Wing Attack | Two Degrees of Separation! | |
| Aerial Ace | A Staravia is Born! | |
| Brave Bird | Crossing the Battle Line! | |
| Close Combat | Pursuing a Lofty Goal! | |
| An x shows that the move cannot be legitimately known by this Pokémon in the games. | ||
| Moves used recently are in bold unless all moves all fit this case. | ||
In the TCG
Ash's Staraptor is featured in the TCG as a Pokémon 
. The following is a list of cards named Staraptor .
| Name | Type | Level | Rarity | Set | Set no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staraptor M |  |
41 | - | Movie Commemoration Random Pack (no English release) | 018/022 |
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 ga, mukumuku shinka, Mukubird "Mukkuru evolves abruptly, Mukubird."
- Though Staraptor is confirmed to be male, the Czech dub refers to it as female. The same happens in the Latin American Spanish dub.
- Upon evolution into Staravia, it was the 40th Pokémon species Ash has owned, counting the technically unofficial Larvitar and Haunter.
- Staraptor's method of evolving to its final stage is similar to Ash's Swellow, through a PokéRinger competition.
- The evolution is also similar to that of Ash's Grotle, having evolved against Paul's Honchkrow.
- Upon its final evolution, Staraptor became the 50th Pokémon that Ash has obtained, including evolutions and counting Seaking and Haunter. However, Haunter was not officially his and Seaking was released as part of contest rules.
- Staraptor is Ash's second Pokémon to evolve while battling against one of Ash's rivals, the first being Ash's Grotle.
- Staraptor is Ash's only Normal/Flying to go through two stages of evolution while in his care. While Pidgeot is a second evolution Pokémon, Ash caught it when it was already a Pidgeotto.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Starly, Staravia, and Staraptor.
External links
- Mukuhawk's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
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| For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here | ||||||
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
