Saturday, February 18, 2012

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. 



11 comments:

  1. Hello, Hello! Been some time since I commented. Sorry, the past two weeks have been chaotic. How have you been?

    On topic, I just downloaded my Mewtwo for Pokemon Black and White but haven't played. But I have to say, I think it was the first Pokemon movie right? I think I cried when Ash "died". Haha. I used to heart that kid.

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  2. I've been fine.

    I wonder if he is even human.... look how long he hasn't aged! And I have a few questions on getting that Mewtwo. Er, What do I need to do to get it aside from getting White? I don't want to put time in only to find out I missed it or something.

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  3. I think he's only available for 15 days via the Nintendo WFC download. He was made available on February 12th and is going to be available until tomorrow the 26th!

    Though, if someone has him I think that person might be able to send it over to you...but don't quote me on that.

    Once you go into the main menu before game start up and connect to the Nintendo WFC after choosing "receive gift" or something like that, he'll pop up for download. You then go to any pokemon centre and go talk to the delivery man waiting for you there. He'll have your Mewtwo for you.

    Oh, and as much as I loved the never-aging Ash, I also really loved Brock and James. They were hilarious!

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    1. What? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Falls to the ground sobbing)

      And Brock and James were great too. I still laugh over the Vikings joke in the first movie too.

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  4. Awww, I know. That is crap on their part but now I'm seeing conflicting reports online for the end date is actually March 6th! http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/vg_bw_mewtwo_distribution-2012-02-06/

    I don't remember the Vikings jokes but I might have to watch some clips to refresh my memory.

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    1. Well, now it's time to see if I can find a cheap copy. Did you see that thing for Black/White 2?

      Oh, well, It's obviously an English joke but Team Rocket, in the first movie, show up disguised as vikings to offer Ash and co passage to Mewtwo's island.

      Brock: "I didn't know vikings still existed!"
      Ash: "They mostly live in Minnesota!"

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  5. That was totally an American football joke that I did not get but just watched the clip to see. That's pretty funny and cute in context actually. Haha.

    I did see that news. Black and White were my first Pokemon games. I might have to pick these up too. My sister was asking if I would get them for us. =) I'm trying to get her to play games with me these days. It's...working somewhat.

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    1. You're not in the US? I didn't know. And, yes, it was cute and funny in context.

      Black and White were your first pokemon games? I played Blue for a bit, but my first one I owned was Yellow. I've bought every generation. Finishing it, though, is another matter. I hope you get to play together. I would love to play with my brother but we never could get it to work out. Hopefuly he will get black and I will get white.

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    2. I actually am in the US (NY, woo!) but I was born in Trinidad in the West Indies and lived there for a long time before I moved here. I got my citizenship some time ago but I call it American football because I'm still one to call 'soccer' by its world title of football. Hence the need for me to always distinguish the two.

      Yeah, that'd be fun. I hope you guys can share a game together. My sister and I were playing Four Swords together which was hilarious. The next game I'm looking forward to playing "together" will be Animal Crossing. I'll sneak into her house and do things if they let me. Bwahahahaha.

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    3. Ah, cool! What Football team do you support? My brother love Man U.

      I used to play that with my brother on his DS. But he somehow wiped out his entire memory on his DS so the game isn't there anymore. It was fun while it lasted. And Animal Crossing sounds like fun ;)

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  6. I don't know what I would do if I lost my memory card saves... cry? Yeah, that sounds right.

    I don't really follow Football too much but I do have my little Man. U scarf. Heh. I tend to follow it more so when it gets to World Cup. In which case, I usually root for England. They always fail so bad! It's become a running joke amongst friends. And then there's Germany too.

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