Character Design - Mewtwo

Mewtwo is my favorite character of all time.  My love of him was heavily influenced by the movie, but even without the movie, his unique design inspires interest.
Here's his Red/Blue (US) sprite:

And here's his Black/White Sprite

So, just looking at him, what do we know?

Unlike the rest of the pokemon, he's not natural.  He has no basis on things we would see in everyday life (or that we could be reasonably assumed to have seen at least once)  Bulbasaurs are clearly plant based, the legendary birds have enough resemblance to birds we can get it, but Mewtwo?

If anything, he looks like some bizarre, skinless, cat.  But cats don't have a tail, ears, or neck thing like that.

We know from in game materials that Mewtwo is a genetic experiment. His genetic code is a form of Mew's.

(This is Mew)

Mew is... well, I think Mew is cosmic.  At the very least Mew was never supposed to be explained.  It was just some coding put into the game as a joke since they had some space left.  (That being said, Mew was mentioned briefly in the journals found on Cinnabar Island, but that is the only reference in normal game play.)

Now we can see some similarities to Mew, but there are many differences that mark Mewtwo apart.



1) The "breastplate" Mewtwo  appears to have breast plate grown into his chest.  It makes him come off as a bit aggressive, since he has ingrown human armor.

2) The tube that connects his head to his body.  It in no way looks natural.   Again, marks him as different and a genetic experiment.

3) The tail looks too much like a weapon.  I have also never seen a tail like that in real life.

4) Color Scheme.  He's colored in very muted grays and purples (except for his piercing eyes) All of the official art for the rest of the Pokemon have the sufficiently vibrant colors.  He doesn't. That being said, we do find him in a cave and it could camouflage him there.

5) The feet. They look ungainly, but powerful.  If it wasn't for the fact he doesn't have knees and floats everywhere then it would look like the feet of some sort of fast cat.

6) His hand!  Yeah, there is no way those hands are natural or can be used for picking anything up. Even if he is telekinetic, his hands are still one of the most obvious ways he appears unnatural.

That being said, he was not unprecedented.  Many people who worked on Pokemon previously worked on Mother 1. Gigyas, the final boss, possesses a final form in Mother 1 that has a strong resemblance to Mewtwo.  They also have an affinity for being "final bosses" (Mewtwo is the last Pokemon you can find.  He lives in Cerulean Cave which can only be accessed once you beat the Elite 4 and Gary.)  And they both use powerful psychic attacks.