By Jo
One of my earliest memories of Pokemon was watching the first movie released by the franchise, Mewtwo Strikes Back. I remember being so captivated by Mew, as I was a young girl who thought that the legendary Pokemon was quite cute. Its color scheme was pink and its design held similarities to that of a kitten – how much cuter could you get? However, even while being no older than 6 or 7, I understood that Mew’s clone, Mewtwo, was a seriously misunderstood creature that didn’t know how to respond to being an outsider.
According to the games, Mew is considered to be the ancestor of all Pokemon (even while Arceus is said to be the very first Pokemon to ever exist) and was thought to be extinct. Ironically, it is unable to breed and is called “the New Species Pokemon”, despite how old it’s supposed to be. Mew is incredibly intelligent, being able to learn every move in the games, and is said to posse genes of every Pokemon. It can shape shift at will like a Ditto and is said to be able to even make itself become invisible at will. Mew was actually a secret that was programmed into the games without even Nintendo being aware of its existence, though it was the first Pokemon trademark ever registered. In an interview with Tsunekaz Ishihara (the President and CEO of the Pokemon Company), he admitted to creating Mew two weeks before game development had finished. In the movie, Mew was carefree and playful though knew when to step in and use its power for the greater good.
Compared to what it had been cloned from, Mewtwo is much harsher. In the movies, its telepathic voice is very masculine while Mews remain feminine, and its design in earlier games could even be considered a bit grotesque. The tube leading from the back of its head to its spine horrified me as a child and its fingers made me think that it was some sort of alien – a sharp contrast compared to my love for Mew. Where Mew way bubbly and enjoyed playing with other Pokemon, Mewtwo was calculative was out for revenge against those that had tortured it. Because of its constant genetic manipulation, Mewtwo is larger than Mew. Its pokedex entries state that Mewtwo is the result of years of horrific gene splicing, which eventually made it cold and vicious. Mewtwo obviously came after Mew, as it is its clone. However, for whatever reason, Mew comes after Mewtwo in the pokedex. While it was meant to be stronger than Mew and has nearly the same DNA as it, Mew is still superior to it in many aspects. Mewtwo is unable to learn as many moves as Mew, has two potentially lower Pokeathlon stats, and has a lower Defense and Special Defense base stats.