A while back I found a likely Yōkai connection I haven't seen anywhere yet, neither on Bulbapedia nor in a Lockstin & Gnoggin video.
Since the release of Scarlet & Violet™, Bombirdier's design has struck me as odd. Looking, to my untrained eye, rather Japanese for an Iberia-based region. Almost as if mimicking old Japanese artwork. Its eyes, hairstyle and overall visage striking me as out of place in Paldea, whilst making its beak and legs stark red seemed like a confusing choice in comparison to the typically orange depictions of European storks.
So there I was one day, watching an educational YouTube video on the topic of Japanese mythology, when the commentary got to Tengu—a winged devilish-looking Yōkai, who I've already been familiar with before. They began recalling numerous myths of Tengu dropping rocks from the sky on folk traversing the mountain paths.
…and then it hit me (not a rock).
Bombirdier very possibly draws inspiration from Tengu, replacing the traditional image of the stork as a baby-carrier with the Yōkai's rock lobbing obsession. By the way, this occurrence is called Tengutsubute and was obviously used as an explanation for natural phenomena in the past.
This would explain the coloration of Bombirdier's beak and the inexplicable nudge at the end of it, shaping it to resemble a Tengu's nose. Its traditionally Japanese looking eye contour and hair/feather bun would follow suit to reinforce the Japanese nature of the creature. Even the color-scheme of red, black and white consists of the colors primarily associated with Tengu.
My case may not be the strongest, but I do believe it lends an explanation to several previously rather ambiguous design decisions regarding the Pokémon.
PS: I'm quite aware Shiftry is likewise based on a Tengu itself
___Illustrative image for the purposes of easy visual comparison.
by Loxeres
24 Comments
[OC]
Colouring wise, it’s just a white stork. They have red beaks and legs from eating crayfish, and they can be found in Spain.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_stork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_stork)
Submitted to various YouTubers, hopefully they give you credit.
boy u trippin
Kind of a stretch
…no ? Its an evil bird.
Sure some tengu legends show them throwing rocks or even boulders but i think thats a coincidence. Its a stork that carry rocks instead of babies, thats it.
The color scheme is not really japanese inspired, its just literally the color of a normal stork. The design is not japanese inspired either, if you squint maybe, but its just a maids apron, the little bun on its head is more so to make it look like either a headdress that maids used or a hair bun. The evil eye “the way japanese folklore drew” isnt really pointing toward tengus and its not really a japanese only design choice, a lot of depiction of mischievous characters use that eye.
If its based on the tengu it would definitely be more on the nose about it.
Stretch. Just like a lot of the youtuber slop
not even Delibird can pull stuff like that outta his ass
I think this theory makes some pretty massive leaps in logic and relies heavily on retroactively assigning meaning to design traits that could just as easily be explained by style or coincidence.
The biggest issue is that almost every point presented is subjective and unfalsifiable. “Japanese-looking eyes,” “Japanese-looking hair,” and “Japanese-looking overall visage” are extremely vague observations, especially in a franchise where creature designs constantly blend influences across cultures and aesthetics. Once you decide ahead of time that something is Tengu-inspired, suddenly every curved shape and red accent starts looking like evidence.
The “Tengu nose” connection especially feels like a stretch. Bombirdier’s beak already has a clear gameplay and biological purpose as part of a bird design, so interpreting the tip of the beak as a symbolic Tengu nose requires skipping over the far more obvious explanation that it’s just… a stylized beak.
The color argument is also weak because red, black, and white are incredibly common Pokémon color palettes and are not remotely exclusive to Tengu imagery. If those colors alone are enough evidence, then an enormous number of unrelated Pokémon would suddenly become “Tengu-inspired.”
The rock-dropping connection is probably the strongest point in the theory, but even that doesn’t necessarily prove anything. Birds dropping objects from the sky is already a real-world behavior, and Bombirdier is clearly designed around aerial bombardment and cargo delivery parodying storks. The existence of a Japanese myth involving thrown rocks doesn’t automatically mean Game Freak intended a Tengu reference.
What this theory really does is take ambiguous details and reinterpret them through a Tengu lens after the fact. That’s not evidence of intentional design inspiration; it’s pattern matching. Possible? Sure. But the post presents it like the details suddenly “click into place,” when most of them only work if you already accept the conclusion first.
You’re trying too hard
it is not, because we already have Shiftry…
Shiftry is a tengu.
Bombadier is a stork.
It’s obviously a stork as others stated, but also I’m pretty sure the apron is similar to the French Sapuer, normally used to keep soldiers safe from debris, but also used to sometimes carry gunpowder.
https://preview.redd.it/jckcgch0v31h1.jpeg?width=333&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=145324b32bf104bc3dd2fd485cb0bb6d273cb353
It’s just a vaguely spoonbill-ey White Stork with an apron. The rock thing is based on the myth of storks carrying babies, I’m pretty sure.
I don’t think it stands out in a spanish region, the Storks here look pretty much like that.
I don’t see it
Sir its a stork, storks just look like that
I can almost see it, but I think it’s designation as a stork is distracting enough that it’s a tough sell. Color scheme and beak shape are definitely there but usually when a tengu is depicted in art it is not subtle at all.
It’s probably close enough that if they leaned into it a little more officially I guess I wouldn’t be surprised.
AI slop post
Could be a neat reference to Japanese culture. I think the effect of the creators’ native culture on the product, despite their dedication to basing new regions on various parts of the world, is very interesting. Even though Bobirdier is clearly based on the stork-baby myth, it’s interesting to think that it could also be inspired by Tengutsubute.
I completely forgot this mon existed
Look yall, I just made some bullshit
This is a cool theory, although I’m not sure if there is an actual connection. However, one also of Bombirdier’s design that does support your theory is the crest on its head, which kind of looks like a fan. Tengu are famous for using fans to conjure strong winds (that’s why Shiftry uses leaf fans). Still, I feel like they would have probably integrated more overt tengu references if Bombirdier was actually a Tengu. It is a really cool idea though!
As an Iberian, wtf do you mean orange European storks? The storks here have bombardier’s colours. It makes sense for paldea