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I've always liked Aerodactyl, as a Flying type trainer and fan of prehistoric beasties. For some reason, he's almost always suffered from missing out on what he SHOULD have. In Gen 1, for some reason he was missing Rock Slide and Earthquake unlike the other Rock-types. Would've been a real monster with those options at his disposal, but instead his only trick was high-speed Hyper Beam.
He picked up Earthquake in Gen 2 and Rock Slide in Gen 3, which made him a real powerhouse. Gen 4 brought Stone Edge and Stealth Rock, but once again he failed to learn the new powerful STAB moves that would've worked with his Rock Head ability: Head Smash and Brave Bird. He managed to make a living as a suicide lead, but that fell through with team preview in Gen 5, and he didn't get much to make up for it.
Now, MEGA Aerodactyl is a pretty cool guy. Tying for 5th fastest Pokemon is a huge deal, his bulk is slightly improved, and he has high attack along with a great offensive ability in Tough Claws. Personally I like the design. He isn't winning any beauty contests, but not every Pokemon needs to be adorable. Mega Aero is imposing and intimidating, and he looks like a proper Rock-type at last. Even so, there's still a slight lack of synergy between his movepool and ability. It improves his lower-powered coverage moves and allows him to be a great cleaner and revenge killer, but he really wishes he had strong STAB contact moves. Maybe someday the stars will align.
