Judge a Pokémon Express: Solgaleo and Lunala

Guest Facebook Reviewer: Victor

It feels hard to discuss Solgaleo's design, and I think that the reason for that might just be its lack of distinctiveness. It's a white lion. It has a couple of minor adornments here and there. That's pretty much it. I do love the starlight visor that forms the upper half of its face, because of how I feel like it evokes an astronaut's helmet, but the rest of the design just feels bland. We've even seen a similarly parted mane before on Pyroar. The design isn't bad. It's just not outstanding or remarkable in any way. Plus there's that whole thing where its mouth, when open, makes it look like it has no lower jaw, which is awkward. Things do change a bit, though, when we view the fully animated 3D model. Because it hasn't departed too much from the actual body shape of the animal that it's based on, its physiology is natural and its movements are convincing, which is more than I can say for its lunar counterpart. Plus, it does still successfully pull off the fierce, regal presence that a lion should. Beyond its visual design, however, probably the most interesting thing about Solgaleo is the fierce back-and-forth about its typing. The Pokémon fan community always seems to forget that we're TERRIBLE at guessing typings before they're revealed. Yes, Fire is an obvious typing for a Pokémon associated with the sun, but I also still remember when Zekrom was obviously going to be a Dark-type. Reasonable justifications for the sun lion's Psychic / Steel typing are already everywhere, and everybody has already read them, so I'll just say that I think the theory of alchemical symbolism actually makes Solgaleo's thematic design pretty clever. The one thing I will say I think folks are justified in not liking, though, is how blatantly similar this legendary ends up next to Metagross. They even look like they might have similarly physically oriented stat spreads. I think that if the developers had at least given Solgaleo a different ability, then folks wouldn't have had such a negative reaction. Heck, if they wanted to just copy an existing ability with a different name, I think Chlorophyll's effect would have been super interesting to see on a non-Grass-type. But Full Metal Body just feels disappointing, like a wasted opportunity for the Pokémon to actually stand out. Overall, between the two cover legendaries, I think that Solgaleo's design is superior, but only because it played it so safe, and that's nothing to brag or get too excited about. I'm definitely still excited for these games, but not because of the legendaries.

Guest Facebook Reviewer: Victor

I hate to say it, but I think that Lunala's design was poorly executed. Before I get into why Lunala doesn't work for me overall, though, I do have a lot of positive things to say about it. After all, the official Sugimori art is gorgeous. The indigo coloration of its wings blends seamlessly into the night sky. The ghostly glow from behind its skeletal breastplate subtly communicates that its heart is dedicated to the moon. The starlight "visor" that forms the upper half of its face brilliantly evokes an astronaut's helmet, and this feature was the perfect choice for it to share with its solar counterpart. The upturned palms are definitely not anatomically appropriate for a bat, but even that works, lending to its powerfully divine presence. Overall, Lunala's design seems to be filled with so much more nuance than Solgaleo's, and I definitely appreciate that. The biggest advantage that I think it has over its co-star, though, is how distinctive it is. Both are based on animals that Pokémon has tackled before, but it's far more difficult to compare Lunala's design to Golbat's or Swoobat's than it is to compare Solgaleo's to Pyroar's. Just comparing their silhouettes is enough to demonstrate which is more unique. If this were Gen IV, I'd certainly be praising Lunala's design. But this isn't Gen IV. We're not going to spend the game looking at still sprites. We're going to spend the game looking at fully animated 3D models. It used to be that a Pokémon could just be designed to look good standing still, and if it didn't look believably realistic moving, then the anime could just avoid doing very much with it and we'd never have to worry about it. But the ante has been upped since then, and motion must now be an integral consideration. Lunala simply does not look convincing in motion. I'd bet this is part of the reason they decided to make its idle animation almost motionless. When it does beat its paper-thin-looking wings, they move far too stiffly and even look like they might tear from the weight of the heavier-looking scythes and tassels attached. The real killer for me, though, comes when it uses its signature move, Moongeist Beam. Just pause its pose when it forms the beam, and take another look at it. What the heck happened to those scythes, those wing tassels, and that tail pendulum? They're all shaped and sized completely differently all of a sudden. Maybe I'm wrong and its other animations will also involve these features morphing and do so more visibly, but otherwise I can't approve of this unnecessarily inconsistent physicality.