Judge a Pokémon Express: Magearna
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Introduction
skylight
Forget about Pokémon Z, instead we've got Pokémon Bun-ny! Legit though, Magearna has entered the Pokémon world. In what capacity? Nobody really knows, but what we do know is that I've got four people here ready to analyze this lost bunny. Aurora and Tikitik return, and Codraroll and DHR-107, who you might know from other panels, are joining in this time too. Let's analyze.
Magearna
Aurora
If Game Freak was looking to design a Pokémon that screams 'unholy mixture', it has exceeded expectations with Magearna. With the body shape of Diancie, the head of Klink, the Poké Ball motif of Voltorb, Electrode, and Amoonguss, and the ears of Bunnelby, this Pokémon is the face of diversity in the Pokémon world. Who would ever have guessed that a bridesmaid with eyes, a sentient gear, a mushroom (or an exploding ball, depending on your interpretation), and a rabbit could come together to produce something so esoteric? Magearna is most likely the cute, adorable pixie Pokémon of Generation VI that will come with base stats of 100/100/100/100/100/100, and it still looks pretty appealing for how unusual its design is. Unfortunately, Magearna's reveal comes at a terrible price: it has exposed the people at Game Freak behind its design as nothing more than liars! Since the released of FireRed and LeafGreen, we have been convinced by masterfully written Pokédex entries that the humble Porygon was the first Pokémon created by the hands of humanity. However, in one fell swoop, Game Freak has tipped this completely on its head, with Magearna allegedly created 500 years ago! Unless the Pokémon world developed advanced computing technology during the Renaissance, Porygon's position has well and truly been usurped by this new Pokémon. I do wonder how poor Porygon feels about this. Does it feel hurt that, after it lived for years under the false impression that it was the first Pokémon made by humanity, Magearna revealed itself out of nowhere as a 'forgotten' creation of the past? I sure would. Game Freak's staff knew this while they were designing Magearna and coming up with its lore, and for that, the company should be ashamed of itself for hoodwinking not only its fans, but an innocent Generation I Pokémon as well. For shame.
Tikitik
Magearna's puppet-like appearance along with its mechanical theme makes for a great design, a particularly adorable one! This man-made Pokémon that really resembles a maid was given a massive Poké Ball motif, seeing as the bottom half of the body is basically a Poké Ball gown, most likely to indicate that they were present even during the time of Magearna's making, 500 years ago. One could say that this is basically a Diancie made out of gears and Poké Balls, but I think Magearna has enough elements to make her design unique, especially with those blue and red dots (or holes?) making for the cutest facial expression I've seen in a while. Other than probably being the adorable metallic rabbit you'll get used to loving sooner or later, I'm really excited to see if the fact that those ears could complete the Poké Ball gown into a full sphere is just a coincidence or if we're looking at a transformation similar to that of Genesect's when it wants to fly. If not flying, I'm sure this transformation would at least enhance her traveling abilities, though how exactly those mechanical parts will fold up is something we'll just have to be patient and wait for. It could even just curl up in a ball to assume a defensive form, who knows.
Codraroll
One of the first words that popped into my head when I first saw Magearna was "complicated". Some people say Pokémon designs have adhered to the same rules since the days of RBY and that the Pokémon of today are functionally no different from those of Gen I, but there's absolutely no way that this design could have been reproduced on a Game Boy screen with any degree of accuracy. The dots above the red-and-blue button on the Poké Ball on its thorax, the eyelash antennas, the kite/shield shape on its dress... Magearna has things going on everywhere. It's strange, then, that the second word I thought of was "generic". Magearna is a robot maid. That appears to be it. If not for the repeated Poké Ball motif, it could have been inserted into any sci-fi cartoon series without anybody batting an eye.
On a design note, I find its ears kind of interesting. Without them, Magearna's design would have been very bottom heavy. The ears help put its face closer to the center of the design, drawing your eyes to the face and thorax. It's a smart move that helps balancing the design without the viewer noticing. When you look at it again and think it over, though, the ears make no sense. Why would a robot maid need bunny ears? Why do they stick out at that angle? Wouldn't they get constantly in the way when it's swinging the head around? Come to think about it, the strange protrusions on its legs look like they'd make walking unnecessarily difficult. And why have hands with no fingers? Yeah, the three terms I'd use to describe Magearna would be "complicated", "generic", and "makes no sense".
DHR-107
Magearna's sudden appearance has thrown a lot of people off what Game Freak is doing. After months of speculation about Zygarde and its formes, Game Freak turns everything on its head and releases this brand new Pokémon. At first glance, its design seems incredibly busy, with lots of small splashes of color amongst the bulk of grey that is its body. The head gear makes it look like a baby; but the elegant Poké Ball gown makes it look older. The face is an interesting design. The small blue and red dots look like a nose and mouth, while the traditional huge Pokémon eyes have eyelashes that match the colors of the other design cues on the dress. The bunny ears seem like they could cover the foot gap in the dress, allowing Magearna to hide within the ball.
I am most confused about the design of the central part of the body. What I assume is some sort of power core in the center (also shaped like a Poké Ball) has arms attached that are akin to Genesect's hanging off each side. What use would a maid-like Pokémon have with pointy "hands" rather than digits? She could, of course, be designed as royalty, similarly to Diancie. Her feet follow a similar design, so it may just be down to how the whole design ties together over practicality. The fact we know that Magearna is man made makes a few other things clear. Porygon was not the first man-made Pokémon, and Poké Balls are far older than we expected. The flip side of this is that it is possible that Magearna's design was the influence for how Poké Balls look. We will have to wait and see what is in the film to know that...
Conclusion
skylight
Join us next time for the next most popular Facebook-voted Pokémon! Unless of course there's a new Pokémon announced yet AGAIN, in which case you'll be seeing us again sooner.
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