Yeah, I suspect when it first appeared it was a short form of 尾羽. I’m not sure the exact kana limits they had, but I could see the extra two in おばね being too far.

クロトリ getting the literal “Blackbird” treatment is a good example of how impossible direct localization is. It’s why I appreciate–and support–injecting similar vibes elsewhere in scripts that may not have literal connections to the original Japanese. I think Woolsey got there in this particular case with Flea, Slash, and Ozzie. Not so much with the gurus.

I think, though, the answer to “why did we end up with this Woolsey-ism?” is no more complicated than him sitting bleary-eyed with a spreadsheet at 2am because of insanely short deadlines, and getting zero feedback. I’ve always figured that’s how we ended up with phoenix down.