Earlier today, during Pokemon Presents,GameFreak shared our first look at Mega DragoniteinLegends Z-A, highlighting its new Dragonair-inspired features, like the giant wings on its head and the pearl attached to its tail. Finally, the evolutionary line feels more cohesive — but not everyone is a fan.
Ona Reddit threadsharing the Mega Dragonite reveal, commenters complain about how “tacked-on the mega aspects look”, calling the design “lazy” and “disappointing”. Others are just confused why they’re a Dragon/Flying type and not Dragon/Fairy, hoping to at least see some unique abilities that better fit with the Dragonair visuals.
Some fans have even pointed out that it looks strikingly similar toa fan-made Mega Dragonite mockup from 2015.
“This design would be my all-time favourite if they just put the wings on the back,” u/supremo92 said. “Looks weird and less threatening than regular Dragonite,” u/JDilla64 added. “Kinda bothers me that they’ve added the feathered wings, yet the ones on its back are bat wings,” u/catplace said. “Of all the typings… why this,” u/bubblesmax commented.
“Meh”
Over on Twitter, things aren’t much better. Sifting through the quote retweets on the official Pokemon’s post, fans are calling it “wack” and “ugly”, or worse yet, “boring”.
“A simple mega can work, but this clearly wants to be one of the grander reinvention type of megas, and all it is is a pair of shi**y looking wings on the head and a bulb on the tail,"@TenbeiHazard said. Similarly,@JuustMoose tweeted, “Maybe I just don’t see the vision, but compared to other megas this one just looks idk kinda bland”.
“This design I terrible. I will die on this hill. My favorite Pokemon of all-time, they butchered him,"@shiba_seto said.
Generational swing and miss.
Granted, there are some positive comments tucked between all the negative ones, like@snowconedeitee’s tweetwhere they say that “Dragonite has always been a lovable oaf” and that “he’s not meant to aura farm”. Likewise, u/nitasu987 said that the new design is “cuuuuuute!”, while some, like u/Ryker2000, “like the wings being on the head”.
So, not everyone hates Mega Dragonite, and you’ll find even more examples sifting through the comments. Some of the naysayers are even “coming around” to the new look. But, unfortunately, even with GameFreak trying to marry the Dragonair and Dragonite designs after years of fan outcry, it’s proving to be controversial.
