The Pokemon Company Apologizes For Magnemite Plushie Mistake

The Pokemon Company has issued a formal apology for making an interesting and cuddly mistake – forgetting what Magnemite looked like and getting an important detail wrong in a plushie it released.

Magnemite, an electric/steel-type Pokemon that’s been around since the series began decades ago, is a floating metal sphere with magnets attached to its body as if they were hands. The designers behind this interesting character made sure to indicate where the north and south poles on those magnets are positioned using colors, but it appears that The Pokemon Company itself forgot about it.

The Pokemon Company created a Magnemite plushie and sold it in Japan starting July 2020 until January this year, Kotaku reported. The plushie was sold via Pokémon Centers, Pokémon Stores and Amazon Japan.

The plushie looked like the Magnemite fans know and love: a rounded center, with one huge screw attached to its top and two smaller screws attached to its bottom part. The plushie also had the signature magnets to the left and right side, but the company made a clear mistake: one of the magnets was placed upside-down.

Magnemite’s magnets are originally designed with their polarities reversed (see above). Its right-hand side magnet has red on top and blue at the bottom. The magnet on its left-hand side, as mentioned, has blue on top and red at the bottom.

The plushie sold in Japan had the left-hand side placed upside-down, meaning it has red on top and blue at the bottom. This means the two magnets’ polarities are now placed the same way (see below).

The Pokemon Company sincerely apologized for this mistake and promised to make sure that problems like this will never happen again in the future.

It also offered to replace affected Magnemites for free, provided that consumers bought them from official outlets between July 15, 2020, and Jan. 15 this year and will return the faulty stuffed toys to the company through those outlets as well.

Those in Japan who have purchased the affected Magnemite plushies, however, have the option not to return it to the store where they bought it.

Nintendo Life said the impacted plushies might fetch a higher price in the future, saying, “There may be a collector in thirty years who just can't wait to get their hands on a slightly wrong Magnemite plush.”