Abra Family
In terms of the National Pokédex, Abra serves as our introduction to the Psychic typing!
Abra is another ambiguous-looking monster, where it doesn’t clearly convey the animal it represents. Being that the Psychic typing is all about magic and supernatural powers beyond what mere humans can comprehend, I think Abra makes for the perfect poster boy. Its design evokes an air of mystery. One can look at it and ask, “What is that thing? What does it do?”
Bulbapedia suggests that Abra is based off of foxes, which… I guess I can see where they’re coming from? But when its head is the only vaguely foxlike part of its body, I argue that’s quite a stretch to suggest.
The website also suggests Abra could be a magical goat, which when I think back to other video games I’ve played…
…Yeah, I’m more inclined to agree with them on that idea.
(In retrospect, it’s kinda funny that The Binding of Isaac’s Satan got weaseled into this article. Religious extremists were absolutely frenzied over the “obvious” satanic influences children would pick up from an electric mouse. The 90’s were weird.)
I digress; whatever Abra is, I love it. Its segmented limbs and pauldron-shaped shoulders give it an exoskeleton or insectoid quality without explicitly being Bug-type. The way its body is connected by pitch black segments gives it a truly alien feel. Again, I’m highly intrigued by the sense of mystery in Abra’s design.
As for the extent of Abra’s powers, those too are a secret not fully understood. What is known is that Abra purposefully hypnotizes itself to stay asleep, as its psychic abilities cannot function without extensive rest. Since it can read minds, it can still sense danger even while sleeping.
To reflect this lore in-game, Abra will only ever use the move Teleport to escape wild encounters. And when it’s one of the fastest Pokémon at the beginning of the games, a starting Trainer usually has one option to catch it: throw a Pokéball and pray it doesn’t break free. It’s clever how valuable Abra becomes through this challenge (or stroke of luck, however you want to put it).
It’s worth noting that Abra can’t naturally learn anything except Teleport. You either have to wait until it evolves into Kadabra, or manually teach it a new attack through a Technical Machine. While an understandably annoying requirement, I love how rewarding it feels to train a Pokemon like Abra. Its true potential can only be unlocked through direct assistance from its Trainer.
Whether or not it’s a magical goat thing with an exoskeleton, Abra is a wonderful introduction to the Psychic typing! It captures that awe and wonder about the mysterious and magical that often captivates us humans.
Highest Praise!
I have to say, naming an entire line of mystics after the chants “abracadabra” and “alakazam” is clever. It’s one of those stupidly obvious puns; how is it that only Pokémon has made this joke?
Abra’s wonderful “exoskeleton” is preserved in Kadabra’s design. It maintains that alien aesthetic even while growing taller and more humanlike. I love how its arms and legs have elongated, but its chest-to-hip ratio is ludicrously exaggerated.
Kadabra’s tiny hips and legs somehow have to support the weight of its bulky upper body. It’s likely the reason for its fuller tail; the poor thing requires a tripod-like counterweight to keep itself standing! I love how all of Kadabra’s contrasting proportions come together. It’s altogether visually pleasing.
Oh, and then there’s the wicked mustache to top it all off. It’s not integral to Kadabra’s appeal, but its existence helps enhance it!
Most noticeably, Kadabra proudly wields a silver spoon in its hand. The Pokédex explains that this spoon helps amplify Kadabra’s powers. For the longest time, I assumed this was a reference to Neo bending a spoon in The Matrix. After all, he could only achieve that stunt by “freeing his mind” and realizing that “there is no spoon.” Instinctively, I connected the dots between the movie and the catalyst to Kadabra’s power. It’s so “obvious,” right?
To be fair, I can’t entirely blame my naivete. In the 1990’s, about the only knowledge the common American had about Japan was embarrassingly translated Anime shows and Akira. That, and The Matrix was one of the most influential films of its time. It was rare for the public to realize that maybe, just maybe Japan could get inspiration for their characters from other sources.
In reality, Kadabra’s origins are reflected in its Japanese name. “Yungerer” is a purposefully scrambled pronunciation of Uri Geller, a famous illusionist who claims to have spoon-bending powers. Being that Abra’s evolutionary family is based off of mystics, immortalizing Uri Geller’s talents into a monster design is an excellent tribute.
At least, it’s only a great homage if you’re not Uri Geller. Rather than take it as a compliment, Uri tried to sue Nintendo of America in the early 2000’s… because an alien goat-fox monster is clearly using his likeness without permission? Because a generic spoon represents his identity? Because a star and wavy lines is clearly referencing Nazis???
Well, it’s nice to know the 90’s had its equivalent to Steam Greenlight developer meltdowns. We’ll know of Uri’s passing when Kadabra can actually be printed on trading cards again. Smooth move, dude.
UPDATE:
Geller actually had a change of heart and dropped his lawsuits in 2020. He’s grown to appreciate Kadabra and even owns several pieces of merchandise. It’s awesome that there’s a happier ending that debunks my snarky comments from before.
If nothing else, Kadabra gained an interesting pop culture background. It’s a perfect snapshot of the public’s reaction to Pokémon when it was in its infancy.
As for everything else about Kadabra, I will always see it as an outstanding character, and a perfect evolution to Abra.
Highest Praise!
There’s some additional trivia to share that didn’t comfortably fit in the main article. There is a significance to the star and wavy lines on Kadabra’s body.
They’re symbols that appear in a deck of Zener cards, which were used to test for clairvoyance and other psychic abilities in the 1930’s. That’s some incredible research done for Kadabra’s design!
Alakazam goes with a straightforward, “more is better” approach to its design. More body armor, more spoons, and – most importantly – more mustache!
My overall opinions about Alakazam are unfortunately cut and dry. It’s not that I don’t like Alakazam, per se; it’s that I don’t love it as much as its previous evolutions.
Simply put, my personal tastes naturally find Kadabra to be “better-looking” than Alakazam. However, I still think Alakazam’s design has its merits. Its simple biography packs a punch, and I appreciate the subtle details that differentiate it from Kadabra.
For one, Alakazam is the only evolution in the family to lack a tail. It’s a little odd at first glance, but it also makes its design pop out in a unique way.
Now that I think about it, a long tail would likely look egregious on this character, when the giant, flowey mustache is the highlight of its design.
I also like that Alakazam’s “armor” is dispersed around its entire body. Instead of only having it on its chest, it now has the addition of arm and knee braces. This new armor keeps Alakazam’s limbs looking segmented like its predecessors, but with a different and equally appealing twist on the concept.
As previously mentioned, Alakazam has a simplistic biography, with most Pokédex entries overlapping each other. Luckily, what is written about this Pokemon is highly fascinating. Not only does Alakazam have a naturally high I.Q. rating, but its intelligence continues to expand as its brain builds new cells. This is a Pokemon whose brain never deteriorates its entire lifespan. What an awesome superpower!
At the same time, that superpower is also somewhat haunting the more I question it. Does Alakazam’s brain mass increase as it ages? Can its skull also expand, or is Alakazam cursed to feel its brain press against it for as long as it lives? Considering its limitless potential, does Alakazam have to create a pocket dimension to house its extra brains? The more I overthink this small detail, the more terrifying it sounds.
Even more, Alakazam’s muscles are so degenerated that it can’t physically hold up its head. It requires pure psychic power to even move in general. I reckon Alakazam’s brain can do this process automatically, but imagine if it had to constantly tell itself how to stand upright. Since the heart is also a muscle, there’s a chance it even has to tell the organ to pump blood and keep it alive.
I think now is a time to sprinkle my article with a swear word and say that Alakazam is straight-up badass.
While most of my discussion has been theory work, I believe Alakazam’s open-ended Pokédex entries are a compliment, not a detractor. It all fits in snugly with my talk about the mystery and awe with this evolutionary line.
At the end of the day, I personally prefer Kadabra for its visual appeal. But there’s also no denying that Alakazam – and it’s whole family – are an outstanding collection of psychokinetic alien creatures.
Two Thumbs Up!
To my knowledge, Alakazam has always done well in the competitive scene. This is especially true in the original 3 games (4 if you count Green Version), where Gengar and Beedrill’s Twineedle were the only reliable counters to the beast (remember, Dark types didn’t exist until Johto)!
With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that X and Y Versions graced Alakazam with a Mega Evolution to keep it in the spotlight.
It’s difficult for me to explain how I feel towards Mega Alakazam. It’s easy for me to point out the great parts of its design, but it ultimately doesn’t click with me like I’d expect.
Perhaps the all-powerful wizard motif is “too predictable?” That doesn’t mean it’s “wrong” for Alakazam to take this path. It just makes me think, “Cool, now Alakazam’s a proper wizard,” instead of, “HOLY CRAP, ALAKAZAM IS A WIZARD NOW!”
But I digress; Mega Alakazam still has some noteworthy points to its design. For one, I love the comical aura of spoons hovering above its head. Normal Alakazam has one more spoon than Kadabra? No, it obviously needs more than that!
Mega Alakazam’s exoskeleton continues to keep the design interesting with more subtle modifications. Changing it to medium purple works superbly with the rest of its color palette. Only the shoulder and arm guards have modified their shape, but they create an unmistakable nod to a wizard robe. I like that this concept is indirectly communicated, without resorting to a literal robe.
Even the small alterations to Mega Alakazam’s head stand out in a positive way. I like that it has additional horns to create a star shape. The gem on its squared forehead, while a cliche to include on a magical creature, still fits in nicely with the rest of its design.
Funnily enough, the only part of Mega Alakazam I don’t care for is its mustache-beard combo. Somehow, I feel it’s too exaggerated.
Perhaps the beard itself is where I feel it all goes overboard. Where regular Alakazam’s mustache was exaggerated but balanced with the rest of its composition, Mega Alakazam’s is fighting with the rest of the design. It obscures most of the Pokémon’s body. And while the stark white isn’t terrible with the rest of the color pallette, the sheer size of the beard causes that white to call too much attention to itself.
There’s one recommendation I have to fix Mega Alakazam’s composition. Take only the mustache and braid the two halves around each other. Mega Alakazam has enough hair that it could still be illustrated as a beard, but this way it doesn’t clutter the design as much.
I know that stereotypical wizards have long, flowing beards, while dwarves have the fancier braids. But there lies the problem: stereotypical wizard characters have the massive beards. Who says Mega Alakazam can’t break the tradition with upkept facial hair?
Mega Alakazam is still a decent design, make no mistake. The wizard theme isn’t completely out of place with this evolutionary family. Yet, I feel it needs a little more adjusting to thrill me in the same way as Abra, Kadabra, and regular Alakazam.
Thumbs Up!
