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Normal-type Reviews: Chatot

We’re back for the Normal-type reviews, and today we’re going to focus on Chatot, who has a unique ability to mimic speeches! If you are ready with this one, please proceed.

Selected Fan Art (Artist: CityOfEntropy)

Chatot, being based on a parrot, is made to take advantage of the ability to mimic speech. The Nintendo DS has a microphone. As such, we have this Pokémon based around the idea that you can interact with it through speech, which it will copy when Chatter is used. It sounds amazing if a real parrot copied what you say, but I am not so sure about the Pokémon version, since it’s not real, so there is no effort to succeed, meaning there’s not much of a reward in succeeding in this communication.

Being based on a parrot, Chatot is capable of mimicking human speech, though it does not necessarily understand it (it learns Mimic and Mirror Move, by the way). It also mimics Pokémon speech, and since Pokémon speaks by name, it is easy to imagine how they will sound. The advantage with this is that it is a form of self-protection, because the Pokémon will think it is one of them. It is possible that real parrots mimic speech to keep them from being target by predators as well. Chatot can be a bit of a copycat even among their own species, so whatever one of them learns will be learned by the rest of its flock. This can lead to situations where saying something will lead one into trouble because everybody will know what he or she said. It’s a good idea to think before you speak.

Its signature move, Chatter, might confuse the target depending on the sound, so there is a chance the sound you make will not even induce confusion. Interestingly, Chatot’s ability to use Chatter is the reason it is banned from battling online in Generation 5, likely because someone might say a bad or offensive word, which certain people will no doubt be offended. In this Generation, however, Chatot’s move will always confuse because sound is no longer recorded, making it a reliable attack because in addition to this, sound moves bypasses Substitute. Along with Nasty Plot and Boomburst, a new powerful move it picked up, Chatot can be a dangerous attacker even though its only good stats are Special Attack and Speed. Just remember that Soundproof will render this strategy useless.

Chatot’s name is strange. Even though it’s composed of “Chat” and “Parrot”, the latter part seems to be lost during the proper pronunciation of the name, since it is usually pronounced as “tot”, as in “tort” in “tortoise” without the “r”. Other languages combined the words for “speech” and “parrot” nicely, including Japanese and German. If the name is something like “Chatrot” or “Charrot”, then it gets the point across more easily, but now Chatot’s name is stuck, so we’ll call it Chatot like always.

There are different varieties of parrots, usually distinguished by their colours. The parrot in which Chatot is based on resembles the yellow-collared lovebird, judging by the black head, red beak, green belly and yellow breast. It also has blue wings like a blue-and-yellow macaw, so Chatot is more of a hybrid parrot with additional features.

The design for Chatot is not just based on a parrot. It has elements of music included. One of these elements is its head, which is an eighth note, or a quaver. Not only that, it has a tail that is shaped like a metronome, a device for measuring a rhythm (which is useful for calibrating your rhythm when playing music). It seems that a similar thing could be said for Chatot, because that’s what it used its tail feathers for.

Among the bird Pokémon, Chatot didn’t stand out quite as much as its brethren since it is not quite a big bird or a strong one, but it possesses some neat talents that keeps it relevant among the birds. Even on its own, it’s a neat Pokémon to have to have as a pet, similar to how real parrots are cool pets to have.

TCG Card

This card is about music, as the music notes indicate. It’s not known whether Chatot is composing music or singing the tune (or both). Either way, Chatot’s tendency to close its eyes halfway even shows here, as if it’s plotting something evil (or being serious, which works too).

Mimic

Parrots are known to mimic other sounds, so it’s fitting for this move to be featured for Chatot. Another move called Mirror Move also deals with mimicry (it’s known as Parrot Mimicry in Japanese), but that move is Flying-type, so Mimic is the closest you can get.

By using Mimic, the opponent’s last move will be copied, which will then replace the user’s Mimic. For example, when a Pokémon uses Flamethrower, then the user uses Mimic, they will have Flamethrower as their move instead of Mimic even though the user cannot learn Flamethrower, with full PP to boot. Ironically, Chatter cannot be copied by Mimic, but it’s not like Chatot needs to mimic it since it learns Chatter already (probably it will fail to repeat after another Chatot).

This move’s slow pace makes it a difficult move to take advantage of since the opponent gets to do something about your action, and the move you can get from the opponent isn’t reliable anyway. It’s more reliable to get an essential mover from an ally, but it should be rewarding to the user after that effort.

In the Japanese version of Diamond and Pearl, a glitch enhances Mimic’s effect by making the user copy a moveset permanently. By copying Transform, transforming into another Pokémon whose moveset you want to copy, and then faint, the user will retain the moves they transform to. As Mimic is a Move Tutor in Generation 3, many Pokémon from there could have any move they want. This is best used with a Smeargle for any moveset you want, but it’s generally illegal to exploit this glitch in official tournaments.

Mimic is also required to evolve certain Pokémon, namely Bonsly and Mime Jr., who, along with their evolutions, will naturally learn this move. Both of these Pokémon have a hand in mimicry that it’s not hard to see why they evolve through this method. Basically, Sudowoodo has a habit of imitating trees, while Mr. Mime is a mime, so it is talented in mimicking.

Having the ability to mimic anything is a great thing to do, especially if allows one to do things not normally possible. The ability for any Pokémon to mimic in this fashion allows for combinations that are normally not possible. However, the temporal nature of this move makes it more suited for entertainment purposes, since it takes a bit long to prepare for battle to be useful.

That’s all for today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.