I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Archen.
In the film Jurassic Park, paleontologist Alan Grant talks about dinosaurs evolving into birds only for a crowd of onlookers to laugh at him. In reality, by the time Jurassic Park released in 1993, it was widely accepted scientific consensus that birds evolved from Theropod dinosaurs. Even ignoring the similarities in bone structure which Grant describes in the film, since the 1880s we had been finding fossils of the Archeopteryx, a bird-like feathered dinosaur which works as a clear link between the two groups.
In fact, we now believe most of the two-legged dinosaurs to have had feathers. On top of that, we can see that modern birds are so close to their prehistoric ancestors that it’s actually completely accurate to call them dinosaurs! Now when we talk about the mass extinction 65 million years ago, scientists have to clarify that it killed the non-avian dinosaurs, as dinosaurs are still all over the world today.
Rchen is a small rock and flying Pokémon revived from a Plume Fossil in Unova, or caught in the mysterious Lost World-like Crown Tundra south of Galar. It resembles a bird with a more reptilian head and tail, with sharp teeth.
Black
Said to be an ancestor of bird Pokémon, they were unable to fly and moved about by hopping from one branch to another.
White
Revived from a fossil, this Pokémon is thought to be the ancestor of all bird Pokémon.
Ultra Moon
Restored from a fossil, this ancient bird Pokémon has wings but can't yet fly.

This is all in keeping with at least our earlier understanding of Archeopteryx, though we’ve found evidence of even earlier birds, and some studies show that maybe the Archeopteryx could actually fly.
Ultra Sun
Once thought to be the ancestor of all bird Pokémon, some of the latest research suggests that may not be the case.

Of course, we may not be talking about Archen not being able to fly yet in the grand evolutionary history of life on Earth. Instead, we may be talking about another kind of evolution, as this is only a young, childish form. At level 37, Archen evolves into Archeops.
With larger wings, claws, talons, tail and head, there is a slightly more serpent-like appearance to Archeops. It also adds green to the red, blue and yellow color scheme, making the Pokémon closely resemble the most famous artist’s rendering of the living Archeopteryx.
It needs a run-up, but now the monster is able to fly.
Black 2
It runs better than it flies. It takes off into the sky by running at a speed of 25 mph.
White 2

Black
They are intelligent and will cooperate to catch prey. From the ground, they use a running start to take flight.

This intelligent cooperation was depicted, to take things back to the start of this episode, as the behaviour of the raptors in Jurassic Park.
Moon
They hunted in flocks. When one Archeops had the prey cornered, another would swoop on it.

While the raptors in the Jurassic Park movies are portrayed as the ultimate killing machines, Archeops is a little more flawed. It has excellent stats and typing, but alas it is hampered by the ability Defeatist, which cuts its attack and defence whenever its low on health.
Perhaps this is in reference to the animal not quite being fully able to fly yet, or to the fact that the non-avian dinosaurs were in fact defeated by a big rock from space. Either way, it’s a little unfair on a cool monster based on an amazing paleontological find.
Music for Luke Loves Pokémon is composed by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. Writing, Producing and Editing is by me, Luke Summerhayes. Funding is provided by my lovely listeners. If you’d like to join them, to help keep the show online and find other podcasts by me and my pals, head over to Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius.
Coming up are Trubbish and Zorua, so if you have thoughts about those or any other monsters, hit me up with a DM @LukeLovesPKMN or an email to LukeLovesPKMN@Gmail.com. And of course, I’d love if you could leave a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Archen. And remember. I love you too.