#150: Mewtwo

Giovanni facing 'his' Mewtwo, disguised in its robotic suit, at
Team Rocket's HQ.

You know, out of all the evil teams in the Pokémon franchise, Team Rocket was probably the most wicked. And with Team Rocket I don't mean those pathetic fuck-ups who go by the names of Jessie and James; I am talking about the organized-crime syndicate led by Giovanni. You see, Giovanni is a first-class mob boss, aiming to become - and remain - the most powerful and wealthy criminal in the Pokémon world. He heard of the legend of the mythical Pokémon Mew and decided he wanted to create a Pokémon more powerful and terrific than that, and through cloning he managed to create Mewtwo (well, his scientists did). Giovanni even used Mewtwo, disguised in a robotic suit, in a Gym battle against Gary Oak in the 63rd episode of the anime's first season, "The Battle of the Badge". This resulted in Gary losing the battle. Not that Gary needed the Earth Badge to begin with, as he had ten badges already, but still... Anyway, two episodes later, in "Showdown at the Po-ké Corral", Mewtwo causes an explosion at Team Rocket's HQ and escapes to New Island.

Dr. Fuji's clones from left to right: Charmandertwo, Squirtletwo,
Ambertwo, Bulbasaurtwo and a young Mewtwo.

That's when the very first Pokémon movie comes into play: Mewtwo is the center of attention in this movie and we see its actual backstory in a ten-minute anime short added to TV airings of the film in Japan. That short actually also focuses on Dr. Fuji, a scientist who lost his daughter, Amber, and seeks to bring her back to life by cloning her. When Giovanni's explorers find fossilized remains of Mew in Guyana (which is a real country, by the way), Giovanni takes interest in Dr. Fuji's ambitions and asks him to extract DNA from the remains and make a succesful clone of Mew. Dr. Fuji accepts the offer and succeeds in cloning Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Amber and Mew, whom he calls Bulbasaurtwo, Charmandertwo, Squirtletwo, Ambertwo and, of course, Mewtwo. The clones fail to show consciousness, but they are able to communicate with each other by using telepathy. However, the clones of the Kanto starters die and Ambertwo follows soon after, which leaves only a highly emotional Mewtwo. To calm it down, the scientists inject a memory-wiping serum that allows it to slowly mature while it sleeps.

This serum is very important, because it is assumed that this caused Mewtwo to have lost its ability to be compassionate. Also, it is said that the reason that Mewtwo is the only clone to have survived is because the creature it originates from, Mew, possesses an immortal life force. Makes sense.

The official poster for the first Pokémon movie.

The rest of Mewtwo's story we see in Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, in which Mewtwo breaks out of the tank it was cloned in. Upon finding out that the scientists saw it as nothing more than than result of their project, it blows up the whole goddamn place, presumably killing everyone inside. That's when Giovanni's helicopter arrives. Giovanni persuades Mewtwo to join him so that it can become stronger, but Mewtwo starts to develop a hatred towards mankind and soon becomes tired of being used by Giovanni. It then escapes, which we also see in "Showdown at the Po-ké Corral", and vows to begin its reign on Earth. Using a Fearow to spy on Trainers and a Dragonite to deliver invitations, Mewtwo lures the best Trainers to New Island, where it rebuilt the laboratory it was born in, in order to clone the Trainers' Pokémon and prove that the originals are no match for its clones. To succeed, Mewtwo created a variation on the regular Poké Ball, which is very much like a Master Ball in the sense that it captures any Pokémon without failure, but the only difference is that the Mewtwo Ball can also capture a Pokémon from inside its regular Poké Ball! A fight breaks out between the original Pokémon and their clones (including Mew and Mewtwo), until Ash steps up and demands the fighting to stop, only to get hit by two blasts of energy from Mew and Mewtwo. This caused Ash to turn into stone, much to the sadness of Pikachu, who fruitlessly attempts to wake Ash up by electrifying him over and over again. After Pikachu starts to cry, the other Pokémon follow Pikachu's example, and the many tears magically resurrect Ash. This is the point where Mewtwo realizes that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant: it is one does with the gift of life that determines one's destiny. It reasons that it would be better if no one remembered the events that had transpired, and erases the memories of all people and Pokémon on the island and transports them back to the mainland.

This creepy piece of Mewtwo fan art is
awesome!

Its Pokédex entries are a little different from the Mewtwo we see in the movie. Yes, it was engineered to be the ultimate battle machine, but that is not the reason why it can only think of defeating its foes. Although Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald state that the scientists who created Mewtwo failed to endow it with a compassionate heart, this is not entirely true. Mewtwo did show compassion after the loss of Ambertwo, but because the scientists at the lab on New Island gave it a serum to calm it down and let it forget what happened, it developed a hatred towards the human race. Then again, these Pokédex entries stem from the video games, in which Mewtwo's origin is an entirely different story. According to scientific logs found in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island, Mewtwo was born of a pregnant Mew found deep in the jungles of Guyana, whose embryo had been tampered with in order to alter its DNA. It was held in the mansion, where a scientist performed horrific gene-splicing experiments that made it vicous and very powerful. It eventually broke free from the mansion, destroying it in the process, and sought shelter in Cerulean Cave, which the player can only enter after proving their skill at the Indigo League. Of course, the story provided in the video games wasn't really sufficient for the anime, so the anime creators needed a whole other Mewtwo story for the movie. Such a backstory is fine for Red, Blue and Yellow, but Mewtwo just sits in Cerulean Cave waiting for you to catch it in your Master Ball, which is hardly proper material for a full-fledged movie. Also, I can only imagine the horror-like shenanigans described in the games aren't suited to be used in a children's cartoon.

Mewtwo's Mega evolutions. On the left you can see Mega Mewtwo X, on the right
Mega Mewtwo Y. Both are drawn by Ken Sugimori and serve as their respective
official artworks. 

As for the competitive scene, I dont really have to explain that you can just go out there and commit cold-blooded murder. With a base stat total of 680, Mewtwo is one of the strongest Pokémon ever. It is bested only by Arceus, Black and White Kyurem, and several Mega evolutions - including its own - and equaled by a few other legendaries, usually game mascots depicted on the box art (with the exception of Hoopa Unbound). Its lowest stats are its defenses, which sit at base 90 and are very reasonable at worst. Mewtwo is also really versatile, because it can learn physical- and special based moves of so many different types and it can make good use of all of them, too. Especially as one of its Megas (like Charizard, Mewtwo has two), its attacking stats are off the charts, with Mega Mewtwo X being the strongest physical attacker in the game and Mega Mewtwo Y being the strongest special attacker. And I mean the strongest of all time. Damn.

Cloned Mewtwo floating in its tank while Mew is looking on. 

So, Mewtwo probably has the most extensive and versatile backstory I've seen so far. Well, while discussing the Pokémon on this blog, anyway. Design-wise it doesn't resemble Mew in the slightest; it looks more like an alien and doesn't have any feline traits that Mew does have, at least in my opinion. But that's not why I'm not giving it a perfect rating, something others tend to do because it is one of the original legendaries. Mewtwo is great, but because I like Mew a whole lot more, I'm giving Mewtwo half a star fewer.

By the way, what the fuck is UP with Mega Mewtwo Y? Mega Mewtwo X is pretty cool, and the Shadow version of it in the recently released Pokkén Tournament looks pretty goddamn awesome, but the Y Mega looks utterly ridiculous, with its skinny appearance and its tail on its head. Ugh, it shouldn't have existed in the first place. Well, here you have yet another reason why Mewtwo is not getting 5 stars from me.

Rating: 4.5/5

#146: Moltres

Moltres as it appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii.

So, the third and last Kanto legendary bird is Moltres, and I have to say that its flavor is less interesting than Zapdos's and that it's generally a whole lot less impressive than Articuno. That's how I think about it nowadays, at least, because I actually disliked Zapdos as a kid, as I mentioned in the previous entry. And when I say that Moltres's flavor is not all that interesting, I mean that it's downright bland. Every flap of its wings causes a dazzling flash of flames (no shit, its wings and tail are made of fire), it can heal itself when it dives into an active volcano (not impressive either, Magmar can do that as well), and it can bring an early springtime to cold and wintry lands. Moltres is obviously based on the phoenix, a quite well-known mythical firebird creature that has little mystery to it anymore due to its appearance in several fantasy films and TV shows, most notably the Harry Potter series. It has to be said, though, that Moltres doesn't entirely go up in flames and rise from its own ashes when it dies (I don't even know if it dies at all), so it is most likely based on a combination of the phoenix and firebirds from other folklores. And there are quite a few of them, so let's get started.

I absolutely LOVE this piece of fan art of Articuno (left), Zapdos (right) and Moltres
(middle). SO AWESOME!!! 

It shares traits with the Egyptian Bennu, a deity linked with the sun, creation and rebirth that may have been the inspiration for the phoenix in Greek mythology; the Iranian legend of the Huma, a bird from Persian mytholoy that is said to live its entire life flying invisibly high above the Earth and is commonly depicted as phoenix-like; a firebird from Slavic folklore called the Zhar-ptitsa or Zhar-ptica - depending on what country in the Balkans you're visiting - that is described as a large bird with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange and yellow light, one single feather being able to light up an entire room; and the Vermilion Bird, which is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations and is a bird from Eastern Asian mythology (it is known as Zhū Què in Chinese, Suzaku in Japanese, Jujak in Korean and Chu Tước in Vietnamese) that has a five-colored plumage perpetually covered in flames. If you google the last one in the images department, you're bound to think that was the main inspiration for Moltres, not in the least because Pokémon spawned from a Japanese game company. And Japanese folklore isn't seldom the inspiration for many Pokémon, so at least it's a very plausible theory.

Phew. And now I'm done describing each and every goddamn firebird. I don't have all fucking day, y'know.

This is so cute.
(At the request of the creator, Lyns, I'm including the link to her DeviantArt. Definitely
check it out, she's made some cute watercolor drawings, including Pokémon ones.)

As far as other fire/flying types go, Moltres is easily outclassed and outchosen by Charizard, Ho-Oh and Talonflame in competitive play; the first because it has two very useful Megas, the second because it is stronger and has a more diverse movepool (although it can only be used in the Uber tier), and the last because of its ability Gale Wings. Moltres has none of those things, so it'll have to fall back on its stats instead, which are pretty good. It has excellent base special attack of 125, very good base attack of 100 and decent HP, defenses and speed. It's too bad Moltres has such a good attack stat, because it's not gonna use it. Plus, its speed kinda needs a boost. You could surprise the opponent with the Power Herb/Sky Attack combo, but that's more hassle than it's worth, so you should focus on its excellent special attack instead. Actually, there is one way to use Moltres properly, and that is to run a Timid or Modest one with Fire Blast, Hurricane, Will-O-Wisp and Roost, holding a Life Orb or the Choice Specs. Flamethrower or Heat Wave could replace Fire Blast for some more accuracy (and therefore reliability), and Hurricane may be replaced by Air Slash for the exact same reason. Having Moltres hold the Choice Scarf is an option, but due to its very decent HP and defenses it's able to take a hit anyway, so the above set is the best option.

Moltres's official artwork.

While writing this article it dawned on me that I forgot to mention Articuno and Zapdos's abilities, but all legendary birds have Pressure as their main ability, which deducts one additional PP from a foe's move if Moltres is directly targeted by that move. In other words: it's nothing special. Unless you want their hidden abilities, but Zapdos and Moltres come equipped with Static and Flame Body, respectively, which have a chance to paralyze or burn the foe, respectively, which in turn can be more easily accomplished by just using Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp, respectively. The only interesting hidden ability may be Articuno's Snow Cloak, which raises its evasiveness when it's hailing on the battlefield, but you're generally better off with Pressure after all, as hail isn't such a popular weather condition to pull off.

Hmmm... Maybe I'll have to adjust my opinion about Moltres a little. There are a plethora of folklores and legends that have been the inspiration for its design, which I still like better than Zapdos's. But because it will never exceed Articuno as my favorite legendary Kantonian bird, I just can't give it a perfect rating. Consequently, Moltres will have to do with a 4.5-star rating, which is still nothing to sneeze at.

Rating: 4.5/5

#145: Zapdos

Mystery Dungeon art of Zapdos. Pretty cool, I'd say.

You know, I never liked Zapdos when I was a child. You'd think a gigantic cool-looking electric bird thing would be one of the favorite Pokémon of an eight-year-old boy, but it definitely wasn't mine. Now that I'm older, I notice that I don't mind Zapdos at all; and as I'm doing research about Zapdos to write something about it for this article, I find that it actually has an interesting background. Zapdos seems to be based on the Native American legend of the thunderbird, a supernatural bird known for being the spirit of thunder, lightning and rain, most commonly in the form of a bald eagle. This bird of prey only lives on the continent of North-America (the USA and Canada), so not surprisingly, it was chosen as the emblem of the United States of America in 1782 because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, all characteristics that represent the thunderbird as well. It is said to create thunderstorms by just flapping its wings, an exact trait that Zapdos shares with it. It's even attracted to thunderstorms and it has the tendency to make thunderclouds its habitat. And, uhm... well, that's pretty much it. It gains power when hit by a lightning bolt, but I guess that applies to any electric-type Pokémon, so I don't think that's overly special.

Look at Zapdos (up) gracefully soaring through
the thunderous sky, accompanied by Moltres
(down) and Articuno (middle).

To be honest, I think Zapdos is more special in competitive play. With its electric/flying typing, it exchanges a weakness to a common type it would otherwise have (ground) for two less common typings in competitive play (ice and rock). Also, Zapdos has great speed and excellent special attack, with some very decent defensive stats all around, so it's capable of taking a hit or two while hitting hard and fast at the same time. It doesn't have very diverse type coverage when it comes to its moves, but that is not to say it can't have a useful moveset. First off, you're probably gonna have to choose between STAB-moves Thunderbolt and Volt Switch; the latter is weaker, but it enables you to get Zapdos the hell off the goddamn battlefield in a problematic situation while still doing some damage first. As for coverage when it comes to doing damage: Zapdos only learns Heat Wave, Ancient Power and Signal Beam, and of those moves only Heat Wave is recommendable. So what about the other moveslots? Well, just teach it Roost and Defog, so that it can heal (be careful there, as Roost makes Zapdos lose its flying type for exactly one turn after use, making it vulnerable to ground-type moves!) and remove entry hazards from the battlefield (again, be careful, because it also removes any entry hazards you have set up on the opponent's side of the field). Of course, Zapdos very decent HP and defenses make it eligible to go the defensive way - Bold when physically defensive, Calm when specially defensive - so a stalling Zapdos holding the Leftovers and with the moves Defog and either Toxic or Thunder Wave isn't uncommon to see. However, it would be a shame to let that attacking potential go to waste, so what I'd personally go for is a Timid Zapdos with Choice Specs or a Choice Scarf. Heck, I'd even drop Defog and slap Thunderbolt on it, or maybe even Signal Beam (it isn't that bad of a move; 75 power is nothing to sneeze at). I guess everyone has its preferences.

There is a lot of amazing fan art of Zapdos to be found on the Internet, but this is
definitely one of the better pieces.

I've gradually taken a liking to Zapdos, but it will never surpass Articuno as one of my favorite legendary Pokémon. Ever. It may have a type advantage over the other two Kanto birds and the trio's master, as Articuno, Moltres and Lugia are all weak to electric, but Articuno and Lugia are two of my all-time favorite legendaries (Lugia is even my second favorite Pokémon in existence) and I believe that they are way too specially defensive to be knocked out by a Zapdos in one hit. No one wins from Articuno and Lugia! Anyway, however I may have disliked Zapdos as a kid, I actually like this Kanto bird now, so I'll give it a very neat 4.5-star rating.

Rating: 4.5/5

#144: Articuno

So now it's time to review the first ever legendary Pokémon in the National Pokédex, and also the first of the three legendary birds of Kanto: Articuno. In fact, its name already indicates that it's the first in the series of legendary birds, as uno, dos and tres (Spanish for 'one', 'two' and 'three', respectively) are clearly evident in the names of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. So without further ado, let's get into this.

Sugimori art of Articuno.

Articuno is one of the few existing ice-type Pokémon in Kanto, and it is inarguably the best. Dewgong isn't that good, Lapras is more of a tank than a powerhouse, and Jynx and Cloyster are as frail as ice crystals; the former on the physical side of the spectrum and the latter on the special side. That's not to say they're not usable (I like Lapras and Cloyster a lot), on the contrary, but I'm just putting it out there. Articuno, on the other hand, is a pretty well-rounded Pokémon with a base stat total of 580! It's the highest base stat total we've seen so far, even though it's by far not the highest in the games. Its well-roundedness, with a slight preference towards its defenses, makes it extremely versatile in battles, although not too much by any means. You see, Articuno lacks move diversity, and the only viable special-based moves it can use are Ice Beam, Freeze-Dry, Hurricane and Signal Beam. It doesn't even get STAB from Signal Beam, so I wouldn't recommend using it at all, unless you feel you really have to. You're gonna have to fall back on some very useful status moves that Articuno can make perfect use of due to its bulk. Don't worry though, I'm going to offer you some sets that will definitely help you out. Hopefully.

Badass Articuno wallpaper.

First off, Articuno's natural bulk allows you to run a Timid or Modest nature. Both lower its attack, but Timid boosts its speed stat, which it desperately needs, while Modest boosts its special attack. A Timid nature is perfect if you want a tanky Articuno that can hit some things at moderate speed. You'll probably ask yourselves whether that is at all possible, but the answer is yes: invest in Articuno's speed and special attack, let it hold the Leftovers, teach it Substitute and Roost as well as Hurricane and either Ice Beam or Freeze-Dry, and you'll be set. Freeze-Dry is weaker than Ice Beam, but it hits water types super-effectively, so it's your call. As for a Modest set, you'll be better off with a Life Orb and some of its STAB moves in combination with Agility. This move basically doubles its speed, so it'll outspeed quite some Pokémon after setting up just one. Going all-out offensive with Choice Specs isn't a bad idea either, because it lets Articuno hit like a truck but limits it to using only one move. Agility will be out of the question if you decide to go for the Choice Specs, but I guess you gotta have to make a choice here. You could also consider giving it an Assault Vest instead, which limits it to using only damaging moves but increases its already crazy special defense by 50%. I don't really recommend it, but I guess it's not a terrible choice, considering the fact that I'm mentioning it at all.

We're so lucky to have amazing drawers in 'our' fan base,
otherwise we wouldn't have such awesome fan art such as this.

Enough about Articuno's battling capabilities; what is this thing all about? Well, it's a giant arctic bird that likes cold, isolated locations such as mountain peaks and even appears before doomed travelers lost in icy regions. The anime even shows that Articuno aids lost travelers and guides them home. It is believed to create snow (blizzards, even) out of water vapor in the air by just flapping its seemingly translucent wings, that are said to be made of ice. There's no doubt the designers at Game Freak meant for Articuno to be gentle and gracious, at which I can honestly say they didn't fail. Its benevolent nature is probably referring to the Iranian legend of the Simurgh, a mythical flying creature often depicted as a gigantic bird, which developed further as the rukh (Persian) or rukk (Arabic) in other Arabic-speaking countries. Well, its etymology is somewhat uncertain and therefore debatable, but it seems the English-speaking countries refer to this humongous bird as the roc. (Fun fact: there is actually an enclosed rollercoaster ride in the Dutch amusement park Efteling called Vogel Rok, which translates to "Bird Roc" and is based on the adventures of Sinbad and the roc bird from the 1001 Arabian Nights.) Appearance-wise, however, Articuno shares traits with ordinary birds such as the quetzal and the white-throated magpie-jay. Hey, I'm not making these names up, okay?

Is this what Articuno would look like in real life?

Look at Articuno. So elegant, so graceful, so magnificent. It has always been my favorite of the three legendary birds, and I don't think that's ever gonna change. Quite honestly, I often found myself appalled by Zapdos's appearance when I was still a kid, and I didn't like Moltres either. I'm 25 years old now, however, and I've learned to think rationally (except in the case of Lickilicky - I despise Lickilicky), so I have no problems with either of them now. Still, Articuno holds a special place in my heart, if only for being the one bird I always caught (and used!) in Red, Blue, Yellow and their remakes before taking on the Indigo League.

Rating: 5/5