Maniacal Engineer
Mushy Emotionalist
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2014
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In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect. Every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. This week, in honor of his birthday on February 6th, it's Mewtwo!
Mewtwo, the Legendary Pokémon and genetic recombination of Mew, was the very first Pokémon that children in the United States were ever introduced to, being the first Pokémon shown in the Indigo League opener. But this Pokémon's origins remain shrouded in mystery even 20 years later.
Depending on whether you read the manga, watch the anime, or play the games, Mewtwo has a different, though similar, origin story in all three continuities.
In the anime, Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, was desperate to find the Legendary Pokémon, Mew. He dispatched one of his top agents to South America to track down the rare Pokémon, but she was lost.
Eventually, though Mew was never located, a Mew fossil was found, and the DNA material was extracted and modified. Bankrolled by Giovanni, a series of genetic experiments, lead by Dr. Fuji, were conducted and, ultimately, resulted in Mewtwo's creation.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Mewtwo has a similar origin story. Instead of Dr. Fuji, however, Team Rocket scientist Blaine is responsible for Mewtwo's creation. Not being able to extract enough genetic material from the sample, Blaine added in his own DNA to compensate, making Mewtwo part Pokémon and part human.
In the core series games, by reading the diary entries scattered in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnebar Island, you can read about how an expedition to Guyana discovered a new Pokémon, christened Mew, and brought it back for studying. On February 6th, that Mew gave birth, and the newborn Pokémon was named Mewtwo. Oddly, the scientific logs do not mention any form of tampering with Mew's embryo or any form of genetic modification whatsoever. To find any evidence of genetic tampering, one must check Mewtwo's PokeDex entries. Also absent from this origin story is Giovanni, as it seems like the discovery of Mew and the creation of Mewtwo were merely accidental in this version.
Whether it was due to the agony from being constantly experimented on and having his genes manipulated, or if it was merely an oversight or byproduct of his creation, Mewtwo is said to have the most brutal heart of any Pokémon. Indeed, the purpose for Mewtwo's creation, at least in the anime and manga, was to be the ultimate unstoppable Pokémon. So how does it perform in battle?
There has never been, and likely never will be, a Pokémon quite as powerful as Mewtwo was in its debut in Red, Blue, and Yellow. At the time, the Special stat took the place of what would later be divided into Special Attack and Special Defense. A single Amnesia not only boosted Mewtwo's resistance to special moves, as it would in later Generations, but also boosted its already significant offensive special stat as well. Additionally, Psychic Pokémon had only one weakness in Gen I, Bug type, and Bug's only offensive moves were laughably weak. Psychic also boasted an immunity to Ghost and was only resisted by other Psychic types.
Since then, Mewtwo has been significantly nerfed, but continues to remain a force to be reckoned with in Smogon's Uber tier.
Gen V at last gave Mewtwo a signature move, Psystrike, a 100BP special attack that deals physical damage. In Gen VI, Mewtwo received two Mega Evolutions, making it one of only two Pokémon to receive multiple Mega Evolutions.
Mega Mewtwo X is Psychic/Fighting, and gains significant physical offensive capabilities, while boosting both of Mewtwo's defensive stats.
Mega Mewtwo Y trades some physical defense for special defense, and has gains in all offensive stats.
Lastly, I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't remark on Mewtwo's appearances in the Pokémon movies. He served as the main antagonist in the very first Pokémon movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, creating an army of cloned Pokémon as a means of getting revenge on humans. The same Mewtwo appears in a feature special, Mewtwo Returns, where he is acting as the protector of the cloned Pokémon he created in the first movie.
Interestingly enough, the next major appearance of a Mewtwo in a feature film or special episode was in Mewtwo - Prologue to Awakening and Genesect and the Legend Awakened, although this was a different Mewtwo.
Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.
-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
-Why do you think that Mewtwo is Pokémon #150, while Mew, the Pokémon from which Mewtwo was genetically modified, is Pokémon #151?
-Which of Mewtwo's origin stories do you like the best?
-What are some of your favorite theories regarding Mewtwo?
If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!
Thanks to @Rick for suggesting this Pokémon of the Week!
Previous Pokémon of the Week:
Mewtwo, the Legendary Pokémon and genetic recombination of Mew, was the very first Pokémon that children in the United States were ever introduced to, being the first Pokémon shown in the Indigo League opener. But this Pokémon's origins remain shrouded in mystery even 20 years later.
Depending on whether you read the manga, watch the anime, or play the games, Mewtwo has a different, though similar, origin story in all three continuities.
In the anime, Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, was desperate to find the Legendary Pokémon, Mew. He dispatched one of his top agents to South America to track down the rare Pokémon, but she was lost.
Eventually, though Mew was never located, a Mew fossil was found, and the DNA material was extracted and modified. Bankrolled by Giovanni, a series of genetic experiments, lead by Dr. Fuji, were conducted and, ultimately, resulted in Mewtwo's creation.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Mewtwo has a similar origin story. Instead of Dr. Fuji, however, Team Rocket scientist Blaine is responsible for Mewtwo's creation. Not being able to extract enough genetic material from the sample, Blaine added in his own DNA to compensate, making Mewtwo part Pokémon and part human.
In the core series games, by reading the diary entries scattered in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnebar Island, you can read about how an expedition to Guyana discovered a new Pokémon, christened Mew, and brought it back for studying. On February 6th, that Mew gave birth, and the newborn Pokémon was named Mewtwo. Oddly, the scientific logs do not mention any form of tampering with Mew's embryo or any form of genetic modification whatsoever. To find any evidence of genetic tampering, one must check Mewtwo's PokeDex entries. Also absent from this origin story is Giovanni, as it seems like the discovery of Mew and the creation of Mewtwo were merely accidental in this version.
Whether it was due to the agony from being constantly experimented on and having his genes manipulated, or if it was merely an oversight or byproduct of his creation, Mewtwo is said to have the most brutal heart of any Pokémon. Indeed, the purpose for Mewtwo's creation, at least in the anime and manga, was to be the ultimate unstoppable Pokémon. So how does it perform in battle?
There has never been, and likely never will be, a Pokémon quite as powerful as Mewtwo was in its debut in Red, Blue, and Yellow. At the time, the Special stat took the place of what would later be divided into Special Attack and Special Defense. A single Amnesia not only boosted Mewtwo's resistance to special moves, as it would in later Generations, but also boosted its already significant offensive special stat as well. Additionally, Psychic Pokémon had only one weakness in Gen I, Bug type, and Bug's only offensive moves were laughably weak. Psychic also boasted an immunity to Ghost and was only resisted by other Psychic types.
Since then, Mewtwo has been significantly nerfed, but continues to remain a force to be reckoned with in Smogon's Uber tier.
Gen V at last gave Mewtwo a signature move, Psystrike, a 100BP special attack that deals physical damage. In Gen VI, Mewtwo received two Mega Evolutions, making it one of only two Pokémon to receive multiple Mega Evolutions.
Mega Mewtwo X is Psychic/Fighting, and gains significant physical offensive capabilities, while boosting both of Mewtwo's defensive stats.
Mega Mewtwo Y trades some physical defense for special defense, and has gains in all offensive stats.
Lastly, I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't remark on Mewtwo's appearances in the Pokémon movies. He served as the main antagonist in the very first Pokémon movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, creating an army of cloned Pokémon as a means of getting revenge on humans. The same Mewtwo appears in a feature special, Mewtwo Returns, where he is acting as the protector of the cloned Pokémon he created in the first movie.
Interestingly enough, the next major appearance of a Mewtwo in a feature film or special episode was in Mewtwo - Prologue to Awakening and Genesect and the Legend Awakened, although this was a different Mewtwo.
Here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.
-Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
-How is this Pokémon in-game?
-How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
-Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
-How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
-If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
-Why do you think that Mewtwo is Pokémon #150, while Mew, the Pokémon from which Mewtwo was genetically modified, is Pokémon #151?
-Which of Mewtwo's origin stories do you like the best?
-What are some of your favorite theories regarding Mewtwo?
If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!
Thanks to @Rick for suggesting this Pokémon of the Week!
Previous Pokémon of the Week:
Pokémon of the Week #1: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, & Venusaur
Pokémon of the Week #2: Scraggy & Scrafty
Pokémon of the Week #3: Gulpin & Swalot
Pokémon of the Week #4: Porygon, Porygon2, & Porygon-Z
Pokémon of the Week #5: Emolga
Pokémon of the Week #6: Rufflet & Braviary
Pokémon of the Week #7: Ditto
Pokémon of the Week #8: Wynaut & Wobbuffet
Pokémon of the Week #9: Sneasel & Weavile
Pokémon of the Week #10: Murkrow & Honchkrow
Pokémon of the Week #11: Houndour & Houndoom
Pokémon of the Week #12: Exeggcute & Exeggutor
Pokémon of the Week #13: Gastly, Haunter, & Gengar
Pokemon of the Week #14: Smoochum & Jynx
Pokémon of the Week #15: Beldum, Metang, & Metagross
Pokémon of the Week #16: Bidoof
Pokémon of the Week # 17: Deerling & Sawsbuck
Pokémon of the Week #18: Munchlax & Snorlax
Pokémon of the Week #19: Hoppip, Skiploom, & Jumpluff
Pokémon of the Week #20: Nincada, Ninjask, & Shedinja
Pokémon of the Week #21: Pumpkaboo & Gourgeist
Pokémon of the Week #22: Mudkip, Marshtomp, & Swampert
Pokémon of the Week #23: Froakie, Frogadier, & Greninja
Pokémon of the Week #24: Rattata & Raticate
Pokémon of the Week #25: Mimikyu
Pokémon of the Week #26: Mareep, Flaaffy, & Ampharos
Pokémon of the Week #27: Delibird
Pokémon of the Week #28: Espeon
Pokémon of the Week #29: Rowlet, Dartrix, & Decidueye
Pokémon of the Week #30: Popplio, Brionne, & Primarina
Pokémon of the Week #31: Litten, Torracat, & Incineroar
Pokémon of the Week #32: Woobat and Swoobat
Pokémon of the Week #33: Vulpix & Ninetales
Pokémon of the Week #2: Scraggy & Scrafty
Pokémon of the Week #3: Gulpin & Swalot
Pokémon of the Week #4: Porygon, Porygon2, & Porygon-Z
Pokémon of the Week #5: Emolga
Pokémon of the Week #6: Rufflet & Braviary
Pokémon of the Week #7: Ditto
Pokémon of the Week #8: Wynaut & Wobbuffet
Pokémon of the Week #9: Sneasel & Weavile
Pokémon of the Week #10: Murkrow & Honchkrow
Pokémon of the Week #11: Houndour & Houndoom
Pokémon of the Week #12: Exeggcute & Exeggutor
Pokémon of the Week #13: Gastly, Haunter, & Gengar
Pokemon of the Week #14: Smoochum & Jynx
Pokémon of the Week #15: Beldum, Metang, & Metagross
Pokémon of the Week #16: Bidoof
Pokémon of the Week # 17: Deerling & Sawsbuck
Pokémon of the Week #18: Munchlax & Snorlax
Pokémon of the Week #19: Hoppip, Skiploom, & Jumpluff
Pokémon of the Week #20: Nincada, Ninjask, & Shedinja
Pokémon of the Week #21: Pumpkaboo & Gourgeist
Pokémon of the Week #22: Mudkip, Marshtomp, & Swampert
Pokémon of the Week #23: Froakie, Frogadier, & Greninja
Pokémon of the Week #24: Rattata & Raticate
Pokémon of the Week #25: Mimikyu
Pokémon of the Week #26: Mareep, Flaaffy, & Ampharos
Pokémon of the Week #27: Delibird
Pokémon of the Week #28: Espeon
Pokémon of the Week #29: Rowlet, Dartrix, & Decidueye
Pokémon of the Week #30: Popplio, Brionne, & Primarina
Pokémon of the Week #31: Litten, Torracat, & Incineroar
Pokémon of the Week #32: Woobat and Swoobat
Pokémon of the Week #33: Vulpix & Ninetales