Mewtwo – Pinkie's Paradise

A Rare Candy? Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution Review

This Pokémon Movie has been on Netflix for a good while now and while I originally planned to review all the Pokemon movies leading up to it, I have felt the call call of nostalgia. Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution is the CGI remake of the first Pokemon movie. It’s weird animation style caught the eye.. and the critique of many. So is this movie truly an evolution or did I wish the original had it’s everstone equipped?

Update: I found out I can’t make Netflix Screencaps! So while I actually had an impressive selection of cool screenshots.. we will have to do with stock google images.

How does it Look?

I think it is best to address the elephant in the room first and that is this movies looks. It uses a fairly strange CGI look that has gotten a lot of fans scratching their heads. Ash looks like a young boy! Also everything looks almost as if we are watching a weird claymation cgi hybrid. Models can feel a bit oily and this doesn’t really match with any pokémon style we have seen so far. After seeing the entire movie twice now though I must say, I am not opposed to this , I am not in love with it but I think it has some big advantages over the old style on the one hand and comes with a few downsides on the other. A mixed bag of negatives and positives.

Let’s start with the negatives as most people out there come in with a negative mindset about this movie, rather than scaring you off by proving your are wrong right away, I will side a bit with the haters first. While modern animation is increasingly moving towards fluidity in motion and stripping things of non essential elements to increase focus on what is important, this is not what can be seen in Evolution. There is a level of clunk to the motions, the models seem to polished and glossy and Ash his redesign seems odd. Brock feels a lot more dishevelled, team rocket seems a bit overly moe and way less “mean spirited” and there are some odd choices when it comes to certain pokémon. As a result this definitely is a style we need to get used to. It doesn’t feel right and that feeling is indeed hard to turn off. Due to the clunkiness in some motions but the focus on detail it’s flaws really stand out as well.

Yet to me there is a charm to this clunk. A lot of the clunkier attack animations really reminded me of playing Pokémon Stadium again or the later Coliseum games. There is a level of mechanicalness that conveys something computer game esque.. and for a series that started out as a video game, I actually kinda see a lot of charm in that. I would love to see a pokémon game in this graphic style someday, and while Ash design is weird, for the first time I believed he was 10. Misty and Brock are visibly older than Ash which validates his demeanour a lot more. While I watched the original run I often find myself annoyed at Ash. Stupid choice!.. Now I see him much more as a naive kid and I feel much more in tune with his mindset.

The action also feels a lot nicer in this 3d style. While the animations to fire off an attack can feel clunky, these models have more weight to them.. smoke animations feel more simulated, dust clouds more calculated. If Charizard is dropped in the sand.. it feels like someone just threw a heavy creature in the sand. Fire has more “heat” to it, water actually feels wet..instead of being a spirally blue beam. Pokémon eyes feel more alive, where watering eyes in normal anime style are usually a cycle of frames there is more motion to them. While this does not apply to all pokémon and less to the humans this version had a sense of gravitas in some of it’s graphic design. Which I think is very important in things like these.

I can see people hate this and would not think they are wrong but I can also see people really liking it. It has that Jump Force feel to it and that isn’t for everybody but I do think it makes battles more exciting.. and that’s an important part of pokémon. Now regardless if you like the style or not this movie has some stunning cinematography. Shots are really beautifully framed. Camera angles are so much more carefully chosen. It feels a lot more cinematic in the big moments. The moment Ash rises from the clone laboratories followed by all the other pokémon nearly dropped my jaw. The end framing and the secret ending again..both beautiful shots! Regardless if you like the style or not, the shot choice was among the greatest in pokémon history.

How does it sound?

Now that you all think I am nuts for being positive on the looks let’s throw my credibility further in the trash by talking about how much I loved the sound design. The weird star trek and star wars stock sounds that were everywhere in the first movie have been replaced by long standing sounds in the pokémon anime. When Mewtwo activates stadium lights we no longer hear the first tones of a lightsaber and when Mew is waking up under water we don’t hear star trek effects from his shield. Explosions sound like proper explosions now and feel like they are canon to the pokémon series but done really well. It seems all the voices have been re-recorded as well to match the new animation flow a lot better than using the old tracks would…unfortunately that doesn’t always pan out.

Not all the voice work in this movie is great. Mew firstly feels a bit less cutesy than it did in the original..which was a source of great joy for me. The original mew sounded a lot more dreamy, while this one sounds a bit more kiddy. It isn’t bad just not as great as the original..I kinda cringed while it laughed once. It’s giggle is pretty bad. Speaking about bad. Jessie and James have been voiced really poorly in this movie. I could not decide who was worse. James voice lines really feel phoned in.. but match the character while Jessie tries harder but really REALLY feels off brand to me. Her normal tones of arrogance and disdain are gone. While the new voice does line up with the cuter model more.. I can’t help to constantly think these are not Jessie and James. It somehow makes them have even less impact on the movie than before. Misty and some of the other trainers are a bit meh as well.The ace trainers who use their Blastoise Shellshocker and a Venussaur called Brute-Root I really had trouble understanding. At least when they called out their pokémons nickname.
Misty was okay but at times she was a bit flat.

Ash and Mewtwo are quite okay and Brock has his highlights but the real star is the voice actor of Pikachu. You can sense Pikachu’s emotions so well from the Pika Pika’s. During the chase by Mewtwo’s pokeballs we really can hear the fatigue in it’s cries, but the best moment is absolutely following Ash’s death/petrification. The anguished cries of Pikachu felt so real.. there was so much pain inside just the word Pikachu being repeated, it was crazy. Never EVER have I felt so much for Pikachu. I could tell exactly how distraught it felt and it’s tears weren’t even show! Instead of constantly focussing on Pikachu.. that cinematography cuts away .. allowing us just to hear its voice as we can hear it’s little spirit break. Some great sound design in that scene and some incredible voice acting.

The music and the sound design are amazing in general. Gone is “Brother my Brother” that melodramatic song from the first version that I absolutely hated. Instead they choose for much more neutral background music that sound like they could be in a Final Fantasy game.
Which again enforced that video game movie feeling for me. Where the vocal song had issues keeping up with the story beats and felt poorly timed and thus melodramatic this version goes for a different approach. Silence, during a few scenes this movie decides to fade away the sounds only leaving some impact sounds or for a brief period even nothing at all. It works so well as you see the seen as Ash sees it.. something terrible. The Final Fantasy esque music oddly really fits the setting of Mewtwo’s castle as well and keeps for a much more neutral accompaniment of the story. It boosts the story and scenes rather than trying to explain it on it’s own and overall I’d say this movie does it waaay better than the original.

How did it change?

I am not going over the movies story again because I think this story is so famous it would be redundant and I already embellished way too much again on looks and sound. Are there any significant changes to the story? Yes and no again honestly. The story is mostly a one on one translation of the original. However this time we get the extended cut.. not the Pikachu’s vacation stuff that was placed there to hide the dark and twisted beginnings of the original! This time…. ..it’s darkest part is still skipped. We get a set up for Mewtwo.. but the story about Fuiji’s cloned daughter dying in front of Mewtwo is completely emitted from the story again, so if you want to see that you will still have to watch the first movie, in Japanese.

Missing this however causes a slew of narrative problems that the first dubbed version also had. In the sub version we see a young mewtwo growing up in the tank. Sharing a collective dream with the three starter pokémon and a young girl. They are happy together and monster 150 learns about friendship. Something goes wrong and all the clones end up destabilizing/disintegrating including the little girl which taught Mewtwo about humanity. Her disappearing is accompanied with him crying.. the girl tells the ultimate pocket monster that he should not cry as she has to go and it can not be helped. However when a Pokémon sheds true heartfelt tears it is claimed to have some healing powers. We then see Mewtwo being picked up by Team Rocket and strapped to another machine.. alone.. his humanity fading away. While the second part is included as we start with Giovanni finding Mewtwo.. we see the evil part.. however the good part.. and the big reason why he has his change of heart are omitted and it is a worse movie because of it.

However this movie knows it had to censor that important scene so they make their fair attempts to rectify this. While Mewtwo is the 2 dimensional version of himself they use Mew’s dialogue as a reason to snap him awake more. Mew,although somewhat uncharacteristically , tells Mewtwo that true strength doesn’t come from the advanced techniques his clones have.. it comes from the heart. This prompts Mewtwo to make his clones attack without using techniques or their special ability he will just win with their presence. This explains why the pokemon suddenly just try to slap each other and why they get so tired and hurt with it.. they don’t have the heart for it. It lifts up one of the weaker scenes in the original and it gives Mewtwo a makeshift redemption arc in the fact that due to seeing Pokémon truly care.. and their heart is more in stopping the fight and everyone siding with Ash that he can acknowledge their strength and stops thinking of himself as a superior. It isn’t as strong as feeling his heart again but at least it’s something.

Other than those changes not a lot has been altered, some lines are a bit different here and there. For some reason Jessie and James don’t show up as vikings anymore.. but now dress like sailors on a paddle boat, which was random. The best joke from the movie is a alteration when Brock tries to seduce a girl with his “famous Jelly Filled Donuts” hinting at that dubismn and there have been some changes to the layout of the arena. Which makes much more sense the way it is now. It’s all fairly minimal but I would say that this version has a lot more consistent world building.

Did it Evolve?

So is this movie a true evolution? Honestly?! Maybe… It fixed almost all the issues I had with the initial version but replaced them with some others. Storywise it’s a step up from the dub, sound wise three steps up from the dub and visual.. well that depends on the person. So if I had to say if it is an evolution I’d say yes. However it isn’t a particularly useful evolution. It’s like your typical normal or bug type evolution. It helps your Pokédex out but you don’t really gain that much more from it otherwise. It’s a more contemporary , cohesive and impactful version of the story. It looks weirder now and packs a bit more punch, but in the end it has the same moveset and really doesn’t add anything to your team. It’s nice that it’s there but the memories you made with the pokemon come from when it was unevolved. Back then it mattered.. right now..only for completing.

Since it is on Netflix I do feel it is the perfect medium to see such a movie, so I do recommend you take a peek at it. I really hope they will do something else with this visual style.. preferably a coliseum like game for the switch or so. For this movie it’s fine, I did not waste time watching it but I also gained little experience. It’s like using an old rod to get a Magikarp in order to train your level 60 Zapdos. Sure it can be fun to blow the fish away and it offers even some experience, but if we put it in perspective it hardly seems to matter. It’s good with my favorite moment being the “death” scene by the great voice acting. Yet it is also very inconsequential.

XO
Pinkie

Review: The First Pokémon Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back

Dear subjects, we are trying to experiment a bit with the content we are putting out, where our in depth talks about the Pokémon Mimikyu bombed last week te are trying to examine it it’s the subject or the day in question. A safe bet to always draw in people would be a review, but unfortunately for Chibi Pinkie, this is not something she can play, nor does it fall under series or toys. That means someone with the right opinion will review for once! Me! Princess Pinkie. Over the course of the next few weeks I will discuss every pokémon movie that has been released and of course we start with the first. This review will contain spoilers…for a 21 year old movie. So.. be warned… ?! Do note we rate the movie as on the japanese dvd with english dub option as it contains the first 10 minutes of the movie that got cut in the VHS version for Europe and America (the version I grew up with)

How does it Look and Sound?

Let’s talk about the the looks and sound first. Once looks is very important , you will not buy a book with an ugly cover nor will you have a poster of Susan Boyle no matter how much you like her singing. The First Pokémon Movie : Mewtwo Strikes Back, as this movie is called nowadays has that distinct 90’s look to it’s animation. Which is a good thing, it’s animated quite a bit better looking than the regular anime with a lot more detail and effects going on. There is an occasionally blurry Pokémon here and there but nothing to noticeable or distracting. It could have used a bit more visual spectacle near the end but overall this was quite pleasing to the eye, at least for it’s time and compared to the series. There are a bunch of neat lighting effects and it just really works. There are a few effects though that look horrible. Like the fire in the earlier scenes of the movie. There are very little frames to the fire and it has no impact on the environment.. it’s just there sometimes placed on spots that don’t even make any sense. The fire cycles through just a handful of frames, ik kind of looks like they added fire.gif to the scene, and not a good gif either.

Soundwise this movie is interesting to say the least. Voicewise the cast does a stellar job to convey emotions, please note I watch the dub because opposed to the sub which I would have preferred had all the names been the same. With big name changes I vastly prefer the dub because i know the characters as Ash and Misty and seeing them be called Satoshi and Kasumi just feels off to me. Overall the music is quite solid with one exception. Brother my Brother by Blessid Union of Souls. People love this song but I felt it was very out of place. While it does make the scene of Pokémon battling their super clones more emotional as they battle to the death it feels .. unpokémon. It feels like something that belongs in the Disney Tarzan movie rather than my pokéworld. The emotional build up to not fight like this is not there and only established somewhere in the middle of this song. While it calls for the right emotion and cues us in how to feel in this scene like it should it feels slapped on there. Should it have started 30 seconds earlier I might have been fine with it but this really made me wonder, what are they doing here. It’s a good song but it’s time wrong and it doesn’t seem to flow along nicely with the scene. Had the Mewtwo and Mew battle not been in the scene and it just focussed on the battle against clones it might have worked.. but for me it really didn’t now. However by far the weirdest thing about the sound is the choice of a few sound effects. Like when Mewtwo switches on the lights in his arena you hear the actual sound of a lightsaber being ignited but only the first half (it’s not even a sound alike that’s the actual effect) when Mew flies out of the amazon he dispells his sleep-bubble with the sound of a star trek teleportation, again no sound alike it’s the actual one from the shows. It’s odd but hilarious.

How does it feel?

Atmosphere is very important to a show, how good is the world building, any weird mistakes , does it keep your attention? This is what we discuss in this part of the review. Let’s start to say that the english dub is loaded with mistakes. One of the elite trainers calls his pidgeot and pidgeotto, a guy claims he only use water pokémon has a nidoqueen, (but it’s blue herpaderp) and Jessie and James can’t tell an Alakazam from a Scyther, the last one while a mistake is at least credible. A trainer not knowing the name of their own pokémon though is not. So the dub can be a bit sloppy. A subplot in mewtwo’s plans for example is missing , changing him from a misguided pokémon to a classic movie villain. The dubbers believed the western audience was unable to comprehend a morally grey antagonist with more subtle motives so they made Mewtwo a lot more black and white. As a result the ending doesn’t really connect. From out of nowhere people see this villian have a change of heart and accept it without any context. It makes the movie feel more odd than it should be. Bringing up the improperly edited song, the weird sound effects the mistakes and the simplified plot makes the movie feel quite sloppy. Ash first death was quite impactful on everyone who saw it nonetheless, but did you know the whole reviving mechanic isn’t nearly as cheesy as it’s in the original version?

The uncut version actually explains what happens and does confirm that Ash is not just petrified he is actual dead. Seeing the build up added in this version pardoned a lot of the sloppy stuff for me as at the end we do get a feeling of a well rounded story. Now all we need is a proper ending and we got a very solid movie. … ‘Wait what? It’s one of those?…… well fizzlesticks’ Unfortunately..yet understandably the movie ends with a big middle finger towards the audience. Ash and his friends get send back in time for a bit and don’t remember anything, so nothing ever really happened Such a buzzkill. With Pokémon however it does make sense, the franchise was so big that it’s young audience would wonder why no one talked about it in the anime. Since the movies aren’t cannon at least it’s placeable inside the universe we knew.. but this ending hasn’t aged well at all. Other than that it doesn’t feel all that dated actually, even knowing what we know nowadays about the franchise there is little to nothing conflicting about it there. Well .. except for one weird plot hole…

How is the plot?

The movie we know begins with Mewtwo escaping from Giovanni, but that is not how the movie actually starts. It starts with Mr Fuji on an expedition to find Mew.. who is secretly following him but is never seen. However inside a temple Fuji finds a Mew fossil…….. Mew is a one of a kind pokémon that is the only one of his species by all existing media.. yet somehow they find a fossil of Mew. How?

Question to my readers:

How do you think Mr Fuji obtained Mew’s fossil.. while Mew is still alive?

Weirdness aside the uncut version actual dus a great job of setting up Mewtwo as a character. Growing inside a tank it mentally connects to the mental presence of Ambertwo a clone of Mr Fuji’s deceased daughter. The man tried to recreate her because he can not move on without her, causing his wife to leave him. While they explore a dreamlike state together, Ambertwo explains Mewtwo what is is to exist and answer some of his existential questions but then she destabilizes and disintegrates dying all over again. While Mewtwo is crying for losing her she tells him what crying is and explains he should save his tears because pokémon tears contain valuable life essence. This bit is majorly important for the rest of the story but the original western version left this out. It’s probably the best written part of the entire movie! Mewtwo murders Mr Fuji and joins with Giovanni to rule the world together.

While I can see why they cut this part out of a kids movie, because it’s pretty messed up, so much in the movie never made sense to me as a kid but this version manages to tie everything together quite neatly, with the exception of the dub making Mewtwo more of a genocidal villain rather than a deluded pokémon amidst a existential crisis much like how he is portrayed in the sub. Ash has a decent arc to go trough in this story and his famous demise is still quite impactful to me. While Brock and Misty as well as the other trainers really are throw-away characters in this movies it actually puts the spotlight on the pokémon. Again Mewtwo’s plan makes less sense in the dub, but the first 10 minutes leave enough room for us to understand both versions of the genetically superior pokémon, as he could have re-remembered Amber which wile unspoken could have driven him off the edge. He said he remembered ‘something’ so it’s plausible enough. Knowing what is to come in the franchise however I would have preferred the more nuanced version. It’s a compelling story what a nice lesson at the end about taking control of your own identity rather than taking one on at birth and about friendship versus servitude alongside the way how pokémon SHOULD and should not battle. While that last one is quite powerful I do feel that one could have been executed a bit better, the battles between pokémon and clones felt weird.. which is how they are supposed to feel.. but for a life or death battle I expected something a bit more visceral rather than slap battles.

What is the Verdict

The first Pokémon Movie is a great nostalgic view that is well written enough to hold some merit for those who are not watching with rose coloured specs. It’s a sparkling mix of 90’s cheese, pokémon and even a hint of disney. Fun enough for any pokémon fan to have a blast with even if it is all done quite sloppily. Yet this movie to me is more than just the sum of its parts. It is something that rises way above its mistakes. My rating system is based n the emotion I felt rather than a numerical score and I can not help but to be crazy about this movie. No matter how much I watched it as a kid.. this version, which was new to me made me appreciate it even more. This movie is an icon from my youth.. something I loved deeply as a kid and something i still treasure now. Any flaw I found was endearing to me and made me love it even more because now I know those flaws and I still love it to bits. With that being said I give this movie my highest possible rating! I love it, and always will.

With one movie down I only have 22 more movies to go. I didn’t see a lot of them, in fact I only saw the next one in a glimpse and a few other ones in the same fashion. I can not help but wonder which of them will be the very best.

The Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again
XO
Pinkie

Pink-Poke-News Week 31

While this post is going online, I am getting ready to let my Pokémon pen and paper roleplaying group hunt for some shinies in Kalos. So should there be any breaking news. It will be in the next one. That being said. This week was a sloooooow news week for Pokémon. Slower than a Shuckle. These news flashes are all somewhat lackluster and very region specific. Given my followers are literally spread all across the world it means we are going to have a bit creative. Luckily at Pink-Poké-News our catchphrase is ‘the news….but way less objective’ So that being said…. *imagine a nice news theme again please*

Top Story: Pinkie breaks 25 followers
Good day little monsters, reporter Pinkie Cherryblossom here with today’s top story.
With a grant twelve days to spare Pinkie’s Pokemon has now grown with over 25 followers. With about 40 to 60 views per day, this means the site has now become stable enough to move forward to a paid plan. This will lead to some amazing new features in the new future. What can the followers expect? Pinkie, unable to speak directly to me, mostly because I am her and not psychotic enough today to interview myself, has issued a statement on the matter. ‘First of all we will get some minor designs. Of course the Pokéball theme and general layout will remain the same. However the banner as well as the background when viewed at pc will get a small overhaul. Some minor elements in posts might be changed as well, if we can figure out the tools. Expect some changes to be held in some categories. Mon-days for example will most likely change to Professor Pinkie’s Pokédex. While Theory Thursday will be replaced by Detective Pinkie’s Casefiles. In the latter will we not only be able to discuss pokémon theories but also rumors and analytic pieces. Categories will no longer strictly be bound to a day. While my aim is to still follow the old schedule, this allows more liberties to create content. Categories will be based on several Pinkie Persona’s. Going into content a bit more specific , you can expect more of the same with just a dash of added flavour by the several personas. I also hope to add some interaction with followers, how I will do it will remain a surprise for now. Expect a lot of updates , alongside your expected content in the very near future. With that said it’s time to set a new goal of 50 followers. Having no insight in how long it would take to grow from here we will just say, we hope to see some progress towards this goal by Pinkie’s birthday , being November 17th. It’s time for Pinkie’s Pokémon to evolve!
Once more we like to thank everyone making the dream of a Pokéblog a reality!

Plushies on the news!
The fact that these even make the news show how little news there has been in the Pokéfront. Sure I could tell you how the United States lowered the minimum points to participate in the world championship, I could tell Canada and Taiwan can play Pokemon Masters and that five star trainer good trainer drop-rates seem low and crystal are expensive as ‘playing together’ bell. (I wonder why i censor myself this much) but eh! I said all I could say about it in a single line of text. Now Plushies I can talk about! Pokémon Center USA, here we go again with the blipping regional POOchyena, has announced a few new plushies coming in their lineup. I will consider this news because usually when the usa center gets it, it isn’t as impossible obtain for others either, at least after a while. Why am I highlighting these? Well I find the quality of Meltan and Melmetal a bit off. The nut they have for their head doesn’t look defined enough for me and Melmetal looks a bit off.

That doesn’t mean they can’t or should be loved, I don’t want to hurt their feelings or make them sad (this genuinely is a concern for me .. I legitimately imagine them being saddened by my words, and feel guilty because of it.) but I feel it would have been better if these were more like the Steelix plush. Steel types plushies is a bit weird anyhow.. even though they of course deserve hugs as well. The second one I want to highlight is this Mareep

It’s a cute Mareep..but what makes it newsworthy? The fact that it’s a $500 dollar plushie!! That’s right, this Mareep can give you a lot of love but it will also cost you a lot of money! Why so much cash is needed for little thing? Well thats because it’s huuuuge! Sixty centimeters high (24 inches) and about over a meter long (44 inches) Mareep is basically a 1:1 scale model of the monster, without the risk of electrocution when you hug it. This one makes me double sad though! Not only am I about $700 dollars short of obtaining it my apartment is way too small to display a full sized sheep as well.

Unified Minds launched

Believe it or not, there was some actual news! Pokémon Go released some new shadow Pokémon, but in the eyes of this reporter that is not news because those are the laziest of lazy design. Just red eyes and black and purple flames. They suck! The Team Rocket Battles are extremely cruel! Today I had to take down 3 8200CP Shadow Snorlax using a team of 3 mons in the low 3000’s. Having failed, this news reporter had to conclude that this update truly sucks. It marginalises it’s news value, as this is only for the elite. I still managed to inform you all though! Speaking of updates, there has been one this week i really like. Namely for the TCG, that is short for trading card game for those who might wonder. This new cardset is amazing though. Like the last two sets Tean Up and Unbroken Bonds this set is all about the so called Team Up cards. Pokémon Cards that feature two pokémon. Their mechanics usually involve having a surplus of energy for improved effects. Unlike the last set however, being Unbroken Bonds, pull-rates seem to be favorable. The set features plenty of new cards of most types. Fairy-types and fighting types however have a weak presence in this set, so if you run a brown or pink deck this might not be the set for you.
Card Hunters should be on the lookout for the secret rare Cherish Ball, Full Art Misty’s and of course all the team-up ultra rare cards. Unified Minds is named thusly because of the presence of Mew and Mewtwo Team-Up. Their ability allows them to use the attacks of any EX or GX card on your bench or graveyard, making the unified minds name most fitting. The reporter , running an X&Y series brown deck as well as a desire to build a pink deck has little use for this set, yet can not help but be fascinated with some amazing card art in the set. She will probably end up buying at least a few packs to hunt for the Alternative (not Full) Art Raichu and Alolan Raichu card, because that is just so insanely adorably cute!

Let’s Go Sword and Shield Goodness
Though these are currently just circulating around in the United States or other countries available for the reporter, the Switch is finally getting some love as well.
First of all throughout several countries in Europe, including Germany and France, have begun distributing Giovanni’s Mewtwo as a special event Pokémon. It has all it’s stats maxed out knowing the moves Amnesia, Teleport, Recover and Psychic. Neat to have but I would have preferred a certain pink Pokémon that now costs about 40 bucks to add to the game. My Mewtwo is all candied up already because I really wanted to defeat that darn master trainer after all. We also finally got some insight in the benefits of buying a Pokémon Sword and Shield dual set, you know the bundle that cost exactly how much the two games cost separately! If you get it at a Pokémon center you get a keychain of each of the three starters. A nice way to sweeten the pot a little but now the reporter has a much worse pick to make. Sobble is already the starter I selected..but know I have to pick which of the other ones will be my first keychain…in order words which one do I have to leave behind? Perhaps we can get the third one as a plush! Zacian and Zamazenta will also get a little love in the form of their design decorating a new Switch Lite. You know that Switch that you can’t actually switch and is just a handheld. Though the design is beautiful , the reporter still questions the design choices about this device. I get just playing it handheld, but without the removable controllers, you can’t multiplayer, you can’t ever hook it up to your tv and you can’t mario party! That seems a steep price considering how much money you actually save. Maybe they are nice for a collector though! Still a neat goodie!

This concludes this week’s news!Tune in next week for more extremely biased reports and more PINK-POKÉ-NEWS. Likes and comments are always appreciated…except from you Nestle! I know you think my content is amazing, but you are being very non descriptive about it! As you could read, I am already planning for the future..not sure how you can help with that! See you in the spam folder? Same time? The rest of my dear little monsters Thanks for the support and I hope to see YOU in the comment section and in my follower list!
Stay Pink!

X

Mewtwo: The pokemon that can defeat god!

A boop on your snoot little monsters! Nice to have you reading this post
Another Monday , another Mon-Day. Time to discuss another little beastie in depth.
Today I have chosen to pick at least one that is at least a favorite of one of my followers, but I do think there will be more fans out there. The pinnacle of human creations, Mewtwo.

Dark Origins
Mewtwo was the first “final” pokemon in our games, the anime and movies connected it highly to team rocket, and since at least in Europe we got the anime before we got the game, Mewtwo has always seem very ominous, but with a few misconceptions. Many believe that Team Rocket has created this Pokémon, but this isn’t true at all. The true creator of Mewtwo is Mr Fuji and his science team. Mister Fuji is that nice guy , you meet in lavender town, who ends up giving you his Pokéflute after you put Marowaks soul to rest. He has shown great care for Pokémon and even orphans in general. However, it turns out this sweet little old man, at least in the past, wasn’t that nice after all. He was involved in some shady business. Going on an expedition to capture mew, to obtain it’s dna and from it create an embryo , which they would genetically alter to create the ultimate pokémon. The story here gets a bit vague as we have come conflicting sources, some claim that Mewtwo was grown in a testtube some say that Mewtwo was grown inside Mew, the manipulated embryo being placed back inside mew so it would carry it’s altered child. What we DO know for sure is that on the 6th of February Mewtwo was born.

The picture of the other birth was a bit to ikcy.

Research Disclaimer
Before I move any further, a little explanation on how things will be compiled. Only sources set in at least a remotely similar world to the game will be used. Humans and Pokémon both have to live there, with pokeball technology being a thing. Any lore from for example the mystery dungeon universe or the mobile game Pokémon Quest..alongside any fan made games, are not taken into consideration. Conflicting variations will be reported, however for the sake of cohesiveness we will not consider alternate timelines. If the anime shows something that isn’t explored at all in the games, it will be the only thing we go on and use it to sketch our profile of Mewtwo without constantly mentioning which source says what. That would not make this a fun read, nor would it tell us much about mewtwo if we only use one source. So let’s drop the judgment hammer and just enjoy a cool story about a cool pokémon.

A living weapon
Mewtwo is a bipedal feline-human like pokemon of extraordinary power. It’s coloured in a pale gray and purple colour scheme, it’s fingertips being balled as well as an appendix connecting his head to it’s lower back give it an alien like and ominous appearance. The shiny variation of mewtwo holds a military/natural green colour similar to the shiny colours used on many purple Pokémon, Espeon possibly being the best comparison. Both purple and green looks succeed in giving mewtwo this incomprehensible, what the frizzestick is this kind of look. You know when you see a Mewtwo something is not ‘right’ about it Which is completely true. Mewtwo in it’s very core has been designed to be “not right’. It was just designed to be the ultimate pokemon battler. This meant it had to be modified , to not have any compassion. That is exacyly what Mr Fuji did, he created a pokémon with remorse or compassion, so it would never lose focus at the task at hand.
They also killed Mew’s free roaming spirit from it’s design. Where we see Mew as something that likes to play and fly around in swirls and loops and the likes, Mewtwo was modified to not move when not needed, to conserve all his strength for battle.
Think of it like designing a chicken but instead of making it happy it can walk, it just sits there focussing on laying eggs. Any offspring it would create it would not care for..because it’s detrimental to what it was actually made for… making eggs for consumption. This is basically what Mewtwo is designed to be ..an emotionless, organisms only designed to deliver a product, in this case..battle victory. A weapon, that may live, but never was meant to have a life.

My ex-mother-in-law used to have those eaxct same eyes!

Evil eliminator or misunderstood antagonist?
One would say the difference between the game and the anime would create the biggest lore conflict, however this is not the case when we try to understand Mewtwo’s story. Though the manga depicts him as much more gruesome then the more commonly accepted media, that is a style spread throughout the whole series. With Pokémon death or trainer death actually incurring on a semi-regular basis. The world in the anime is much more gruesome and everyone is adapted for it. Mewtwo as well, but though he may completely destroy Blaine’s arm, Mewtwo’s motivations seem to stay fairly true at the source. Mewtwo is NOT the person who we Westerners believe him to be. He actually isn’t THAT evil. In the first Pokémon movie we see Mewtwo trying to destroy humanity with a large storm, his nihilistic cruel outlook on live , making him a classic archetype villain, the likes of Frieza from dragon ball Z for example. Only to have a change of heart when Ash dies.
However if we look at the “first” first Pokémon movie, we can see that this is actually not true.
‘But Pinkie, Mewtwo was the first first Pokémon movie!’ Yes.. dear reader you are right, however there is a MASSIVE difference between the japanese version, which outdates the western version. In the original version Mewtwo isn’t as evil He is a much more naive and conflicted pokemon that simply fails to feel any positive emotions, who is acting based on what he has seen so far. His motivations do not come from a deep hate of humankind, it stems more form a hate for those who harmed him and intents to stop the hurt people but pokemon trough. By force of course because that is all he knows.

Ash using a fighting move on a psychic type, and we wonder why he never became champion!

Human DNA
It is theorised that in order to make the ultimate Pokémon, it was infused with human DNA. The fact that Mewtwo looks a lot more human than Mew and the fact that there weren’t many other human like pokemon, let alone in their league is pretty compelling evidence towards said theory. People also use the fact that he can speak “human” as evidence for the theory. However that last one is poppycock! Mewtwo talks to people through telepathy, one can easily argue that when you project an idea in someone’s mind it will always be in the language you speak..because your brain would translate the electric pulse into ideas for you.
Pokemon also seem to understand humans extremely well, since Ash can tell Pikachu to sit on a bench and do three somersaults, with the latter actually proceeding to do it. So it makes sense Mewtwo can project the language regardless.
However if we go back to “good guy mr Fuji” and a deleted scene from the movie, once more evidence arises. In this scene we see Mewtwo floating in a tank alongside clones of the Kanto starters. In yet another tank however there is a young girl, mewtwo speaks too with telepathy, or at least is implied too. The young girl to be Fuji’s passed away daughter who he is trying to clone back. However the other clones deteriorate and die, mewtwo being the only one to survive. Heh, I wonder why they decided to cut this scene from a kids movie.
From this scene however it is clear that human dna at least was present in the experiment making it plausible at least. The final evidence comes later into the series, when Mewtwo Y was revealed as the first mega evolution. However Mewtwo was able to evolve himself, while everyone needs a human for that. Perhaps because it is part human?

So adorable, baby mewtwo talking to a dead(ish) child.

The power to defeat a god.
Speaking of mega-evolutions, when Mewtwo obtained the power to go even further beyond he became more mighty than the god of the pokemon world itself. He outclassed lord Arceus himself. The potential of a pokémon in the games is expressed in base stat totals. It’s a number to reflect how much stats a pokémon has without the meddling of any IV”s and EV”s.
Though not fully correct,due to how IV’s work let’s compare this with, how strong are they without a trainer. Regular Mewtwo’s base stat total of 680 was rarely matched, let alone surpassed in the games. However when Arceus was introduced it had a base stat of 720, and for the next few years Arceus ruled supreme. When Callum and Serena (protagonists of X and Y) found Mewtwonite X or Y, it all changed. Mega Mewtwo became the first pokémon to surpass the god. Nowadays only accompanied by Mega Rayquaza at a grand total of 780.
This would mean that a wild Mewtwo can take Arceus in a fight. Arceus arguably does have access to all types, and thusly would be able to play the type advantage game to keep the fight balanced. However here is where it gets scary. If we consider it’s human DNA, it would potentially mean that Mewtwo DOES have access to EV’s. Because only trainer owned Pokémon are able to get them. Mewtwo functioning due to its dna as their own master. Eliminating IV’s for the sake of.. he would not be able to reset himself, it would only grant him the ability to use the additional 510! (this is why EV training is important kids) stat points gained from EV training. Effectively that COULD mean that should a fight between Mewtwo and Arceus ensue, Mewtwo comes in at a power level of 1290 versus Arceus 720. Mewtwo being nearly TWICE as strong as Arceus in that case. If Mewtwo really does have human DNA the implications of a monster without sympathy being out there could be truly terrifying

It’s not alone
If you ask people what their favorite legendary Pokémon is, they would most oftenly say Mewtwo, though Marshadow is bound to get plenty of votes as well, its soooo good and super cute. Though technically still correct, it turns out Mewtwo might not even be a legendary pokemon. It would have to be the only one of it’s kind for that status in my book.
‘Well Pinkie there is only one..the one that escaped from the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar island’ No it’s not. The detective Pikachu movie , shown another Mewtwo being made in Rhyme city. Even if we don’t consider that particular mewtwo, even though it’s strongly implied to be set quite a few years in the future from Red and Blue, the anime and even the games imply there is more than one. The Mewtwo captured in Kalos is never claimed to be the same one Red would have captured, given it’s lore and the fact that Red would know how it is, it seems rather unlikely he would release a monster like that anyway. The anime as well also strongly implies there are multiple mewtwo’s, both in the movies as in the tv series itself. Since it’s a perfect clone it doesn’t seem too unlikely that people who still have the research could try it again, someone recreated it or even Mewtwo itself made more of itself to fufill it’s ambition. Who or whatever did this is unknown but there is very likely more than one godslayer out their, their name is Mewtwo. All thanks to that kind Mr Fuiji

Number 150 is to interesting to talk about in general to discuss battle sets and the likes, hes’s pretty much banned in each battle format anyway. If you do want a good build for Mewtwo you are always free to ask in the comments. What Pokémon would you like to see in the spotlight?
Please leave a like to make my day a little better and don’t forget to stay pink.
X