#081 - Magnemite
Electric/Steel (Electric Prior Gen II)
Magnemite and its evolution, Magneton, hold the distinction of the first (and for a long time, only) Pokemon to change Type, switching from a pure-Electric Pokemon to an Electric/Steel-type as of Generation II. This change probably didn't bother many folks, and didn't feel as unnatural as so many Pokemon becoming the Fairy-type in Generation VI, because at that point Pokemon was still fairly new, and Magnemite had only been around for a couple of years---the fact that Magnemite and Magneton weren't exactly common or popular Pokemon didn't hurt either, meaning many folks had likely never interacted with them much for their Typing to stick in their minds. Electric/Steel is a mix blessing as it gives Magnemite a 4X weakness to the all-powerful Earthquake, yet also gives it the most immunities of any Pokemon alongside a later Ghost/Steel family. Magnemite ended up playing a somewhat important role in Generation II as the "common Steel Pokemon line", as the others were either version exclusives, cross-generation evolutions, or evolved from a non-Steel Type Pokemon. Even today, Magnemite regularly appears in the Regional Dexes and usually acts as the common Steel-type family.
Magnemite is the first straight-up "object Pokemon", which many fans seem to absolutely despise---Magnemite's saving grace is that it's part of the original 151, and thus has somewhat of an immunity to cries of ruining the franchise forever. I actually like Magnemite, and don't mind object Pokemon whatsoever---how can someone claim they're not "true Pokemon" when they've been part of the series since Day 1 confuses me, and they're still in the minority---but you do gotta wonder where Magnemite actually came from. The usual theory is that Magnemite was perhaps an early "artificial Pokemon", like Porygon and Mewtwo, who was rather shoddily put together and ultimately abandoned but lived on within abandoned Power Plants. Presumably, Magnemite was intelligent enough to use its electrical powers to put together more Magnemite in order to expand its species. By the way, Magnemite is our first genderless Pokemon (well, as of Gen II when genders were introduced), meaning the only Pokemon he's capable of breeding with is Ditto. This means that genderless Pokemon have no way to pass on moves or learn Egg Moves, which limits them somewhat. I would love to see Game Freak introduce some unique "breeding facility" for the artificial genderless Pokemon one day to fix this...
Another theory is that Magnemite's body isn't its real body, and it's actually an electrical entity that merely uses metal as a shell to protect itself---there's a Pokemon introduced in Generation IV, Ghost/Electric, who can posses machines and offers up a bevy of new speculation regarding the truth about Magnemite. However, Generation VI really throws a wrench into things, as a flashback to the great Kalos War taking place 3000 years in the past clearly shows a Magnemite, making us reconsider what we think about this seemingly mechanical Pokemon. The Mysterious Dungeon series, devoid of humans, also features Magnemites, once more calling into question if they're actually related to human technology like most people think, or if in fact they came first and may have inspired various inventors through history. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin was electrocuted by a Magnemite in the Pokemon World's history? We may never know, and it's a hot-button issue among Pokemon fanatics such as myself.
Magnemite is so named for the twin magnets on its body, which are capable of emitting electromagnetic waves that neutralize gravity allowing Magnemite to float through the air. Despite this, it wasn't till Generation IV where the move Magnet Rise was introduced that Magnemite was actually able to resist Ground-type moves, prior to that getting absolutely wrecked by them and probably its greatest weakness. It's said that if Magnemite runs out of power, it'll be unable to float and thus be ultimately helpless, so they're somewhat of a pest within the Pokemon World as they're attracted to power-lines and generators and are known to siphon energy for their own use. Using a Magnemite means quite a high electricity bill to keep it fed, I imagine. Of course, it can apparently eat despite lacking a mouth as Generation VI shows...
Magnemite gained a bit of popularity during Gen V as the most traded Pokemon via the Global Trade System, apparently due to a trick popularized by Japanese players to expand the Join Avenue area in B2/W2. Magnemite seems to have simply been chosen because its original name "coil", apparently tied into the idea of "coiling" together or something like that from my understanding, really its role could've been done by any readily available Pokemon, but it was in part due to appearing quite early in B2/W2 as well. I recall that even after B2/W2, trading Magnemite over GTS was still rather popular.
Magnemite's actually had a fairly nice role in the show over the years, its first appearance having it "fall for" a sick Pikachu. It's also appeared under the command of Wattson, Clemont, and one arc in Diamond and Pearl had Brock control one for a brief period of time. I really wish the show would've dedicated at least one episode to exploring the "origin" of Magnemite and why it's so robotic in appearance, but sadly Pokemon nowadays is usually a bit timid to offer their own insights into the nature of various Pokemon unlike how in the old days they invented their own plotlines and lore for Pokemon constantly.
#082 - Magneton
Electric/Steel (Electric Prior Gen II)
Magneton is the evolved form of Magnemite, and thus the second Pokemon to change its Type. Magneton during the early days around Gen II and Gen III was a fairly popular Pokemon thanks to its Ability Magnet Pull, which made it a great counter to popular Steel-type Pokemon like Scizor and Forretress. Although its usage has gone down a bit as its new evolution in Gen IV has taken its place, those with nostalgia will find that Magneton still has a niche to fill, and hasn't become entirely redundant even though truth be told its evolution can pretty much do everything better---but hey, Original 151 for life, right? Magneton is also used by Blue in Pokemon Yellow (unless his Eevee becomes Jolteon), and has since become a popular Pokemon for Rival Characters, being used by Silver and Wally as well.
Unfortunately for Magneton's popularity, it's committed two major sins among Pokemon fans---first, as mentioned with Magnemite, it's an object-based Pokemon, and second, it's another one of those Generation I evolutions that are thrown together, literally. Magneton is simply three Magnemite stuck together, raising all the usual questions about how this works. I don't really blame GameFreak for this, because hey, it makes sense to have a magnet Pokemon evolve in this way, but at the same time it does feel sort of cheap and some folks who get worked up about "realism" in Pokemon will find this extremely bothersome as well. But once more, Magneton has the grace of being an original Pokemon, and there's a Pokemon introduced in Generation V who has the same evolution style, yet pulls it off twice, thus Magneton feels a bit more creative in comparison. Despite all this, Magnemite evolves into Magneton simply by leveling up, even though it could've had a bit more clever evolution method. It's unknown if Magneton can separate and return to being Magnemite, but I imagine it's quite task for them to pull themselves apart from one another---although Clemont's was shown briefly separating in the show.
As you'd expect, three Magneton placed together have extremely strong magnetism, and are known to be a massive hazard to the Pokemon World as their electromagnetic abilities can completely destroy electrical equipment. It's surprising more evil teams don't use Magneton, as they'd be the ultimate terrorist Pokemon, able to bring a city's infrastructure to a grinding halt, cause planes to malfunction and crash, assassinate a world leader by disrupting a pace-maker, and, well, just imagine what damage they'd do if they got too close to a hospital. They're one of the few Pokemon I can think of whose PokeDex addresses the danger of owning one, as it's said that Trainers with Magneton are warned to keep them within their Pokeballs presumably whenever they're anywhere near civilization. Getting near Magneton in general is dangerous, as their electromagnetic waves are so powerful they can raise the temperature and can even cause earaches---presumably long-term exposure to them would kill you, or at the very least fry your brain. Despite all this, I'm not gonna lie, Magneton are pretty adorable.
I talked about Magnemite's origin last time, and Magneton possibly implies they may have an extraterrestrial origin, as it's said to emit strange radio-signals which may very well be it communicating with someone "out there". Maybe it's an alien plant designed to weaken our electronic defenses for a future invasion? Magneton is also said to have a relationship to sun spots, appearing in mass when they occur, although perhaps it's the opposite, Magneton's magnetic powers being so strong that they're pulling the sun's magnetic field whenever they gather together. Sunspots, like Magneton, are also known to have a similar effect on radio waves and electronics as it does, although to a lesser extent such as minor interference. Perhaps Magneton has a special relationship with the sun?
Magneton didn't get a focus episode really until the Orange Islands, as it played a minor role in Sparks Fly For Magnemite, in which a traveling cowboy herded Magnemite around to provide electricty for nearby towns. In the end, one of the main Magnemite, #6, evolves into Magneton to stop Team Rocket. Despite there being plenty of Magnemite around to hook-up with, Magnemite is instead shown simply spouting two new Magnemite from its sides when it evolves into Magneton. Magneton like Magnemite usually appears under the command of Electric-type trainers such as Wattson and Clemont, but one appeared in the Johto League under the command of Jackson (or Vincent, as the dub of Legend of Thunder calls him), one of Ash's opponents. The Magneton was rather randomly Shiny, but unlike most Shiny Pokemon, this unique trait was barely drawn attention to. By the way, there's actually a Guitarist in Gold and Silver who shares his second dub name and original name (Vincent/Jun'ichi) and uses three Magnemite, but this is believed to be a coincidence as the character is believed to have been named after Jun'ichi Masuda, which the show has done throughout the years with Satoshi/Shigeru/Hiroshi.
#462 - Magnezone
Electric/Steel
Wow, it'll be awhile till I reach the Generation IV Pokemon, huh? Anyway, Magnezone is the first Cross Generation Evolution I've covered who was from Generation IV instead of Generation II, and there's a few important things to say about this fact. First, as I reach the newer Pokemon, I run out of material to talk about due to them not having as many PokeDex entries, game and anime appearances, and less nostalgic memories for me to discuss, but despite this, I'll still try my best to hopefully give a decent look at each of them and perhaps change some folks' minds when it comes to how they feel about the newer Pokemon. Second, I actually like the Generation IV evolutions overall more than the Generation II evolutions, but they have a lot working against them---coming for the most part so late after their original forms have been around leads to a bigger disconnect between the style of the old, and the style of the new, although now that I say this I realize that the Generation IV Pokemon have almost been around for a decade themselves, and many fans tend to find the Generation IV evolutions a bit overdone, although it's usually agreed upon that many of the new evolutions are useful in terms of giving some previously underused Pokemon new potential. Magnezone doesn't quite fit into that role, though, as Magneton was already a fairly good and useful Pokemon, and Magnezone just gives it more power at the cost of a slight reduction in speed.
That being said, I don't think Magnezone is particularly "redundant" because it does address an issue with Magneton that many folks had, that being its rather unremarkable and quite dull evolution. Magnezone, on the other hand, has a bigger change in design that still takes advantage of the magnet theme, and has one of my favorite evolutionary methods in the series, evolving when it levels up at spots known for their powerful natural magnetism. In its debut game, this was accomplished by training at Mt. Coronet, and future games have ensured this method was possible by including a similar location, except for Heart Gold and Soul Silver, where Magnezone is unable to be obtained unless you trade it from a Sinnoh game. Personally, I feel like they could've easily turned the Ruins of Alph into the evolution spot for Magneton given that it's associated with strange electromagnetic phenomenon, or possibly Kanto's Power Plant so players wouldn't obtain such a strong Pokemon prior to the Elite Four (but that might raise the question why all the Magneton within haven't evolved), or simply have made a unique item exclusive to Heart Gold and Soul Silver that could induce evolution. I imagine Game Freak probably doesn't intend to make sure that every future Generation has an area where Magnezone is able to evolve at, and one day we'll see an item that allows Magnezone to evolve to help simplify things, but for now I really appreciate them tying together lore and gameplay through a neat mechanic. Even better, the evolution method isn't too pigeonholed because they were smart enough to design another Pokemon evolution who evolves via the same method, so it feels slightly more fleshed out.
According to the PokeDex, the three Magnemite that compose Magneton are effected by the unique electromagnetic field at a molecular level, and thus end up completely fusing together and I imagine there's no way to reverse the process. Even more interesting is that the Pokemon World's scientist have yet to find a way to reverse engineer the process, and force Magneton to evolve in a controlled setting---the fact that Magneton's first canonical evolution (well, excluding ORAS, which takes place in an "alternate universe" apparently) happened at Mt. Coronet of all places, where the Sinnoh Region and possibly the entire world first came into existence, makes you wonder if the process is more magical than scientific. Anyway, you can tell how the three Magneton came together to form Magnezone, but there's additional bits and pieces which also suggest that there may have been some nearby metallic objects that were assimilated into Magnezone's body. What would happen if another Steel-type Pokemon got too close to Magneton during its molecular re-structuring, would they become embedded into the Pokemon like what supposedly happened to the unfortunate sailors involved in the Philadelphia experiment?
The origin of the Magnemite family has always been quite mysterious, as I've explained, but I do find it interesting how Magnezone resembles a stereotypical UFO---perhaps it's just a coincidence, or do Magneton travel to areas known for their strange electromagnetic phenomenon, pick up an extraterrestrial transmission that signals them to evolve, and then turn into Magnezone and depart Earth to head back to their home planet? I want to believe...damn Game Freak, you've teased so many extraterrestrial plotlines throughout the years, I just want you to give in one of these days and have one of the Pokemon games feature a full-on Independence Day scenario.
Magnezone first debuted in Movie 11 (its animated debut, not its overall debut), the Shaymin Movie, as the leader of the "Magnezone Army" under the control of the film's antagonist Zero. They proved to be pretty cool and threatening henchmen, but you gotta wonder---Zero's goal in the film was to take control of Giratina and punish the real-world due to how they were polluting the "Reverse World", but as I demonstrated before, it seems like having an entire army of Pokemon who can completely wreck any civilized city would do the job well-enough on their own. I mean, unleash the Magnezone Army on New York, and the whole city would descend into complete chaos. Magnezone later got a focus episode in the Diamond and Pearl series where it battled a Metagross, and recently appeared once more in an antagonistic role in X&Y, used by an unscrupulous scientist seeking to steal Clemont's inventions. However, it didn't stand a chance against the power of Kalos' Electric-type Gym Leader.