Much Ado About Mew

Looking back, it's hard to believe it's been a whole twenty years since Pokemon first appeared on the Game Boy. I remember adventuring through the Kanto region as a little boy, just me and my Bulbasaur and the 151 Pokemon to be discovered.

What's that? There were only 150 you say? While it is true the 151st Pokemon was quite the mystery back then, Mew really did exist.

So to celebrate the 20 years of Pokemon, let's talk about Mew for a moment. Mew's Pokedex data lists it as number 151 in the National Pokedex. It's height is 1'04" tall, and it weighs a mere 8.8 pounds. It doesn't sounds all that impressive, but Mew was not only the first Mythic Pokemon, a Pokemon that cannot be obtained from any in game means (Aside from the above video) But also the first Pokemon to boast an impressive stat spread of 100 in every single stat. This would turn out to be a standard for mythic Pokemon of the future, as every generation to follow has had a Mythic Pokemon with a base 100 in every stat, except for generation 6.

Mew's legacy goes beyond just that. Back before 'internet for everyone' was a thing, there were whispers of a secret, 151st Pokemon that could not be obtained through regular means. It was the great Mew, the predecessor to Mewtwo.  People remembered the journals from the Cinnabar Mansion, speaking of Mewtwo's birth from Mew. And while there were many rumored Pokemon to exist back in the dark ages of the internet (Mewthree anyone?) Mew was one that was real. What wasn't real was the rumored way to obtain it.

Everyone remembers the strange truck near Vermilion City. Everyone thought that was how you got Mew. It's a truck after all, and where else in the game did you see one of those? It was unique! It was difficult to get to, and if you didn't go through the S.S. Anne the right way you lost your chance forever of seeing this elusive vehicle. The story was if you used strength and pushed the truck aside, Mew would be hiding underneath. Why is Mew hiding under a truck? Well why is there a truck out on a dock you can only reach by surfing? At any rate, the rumors turned out to be false, and players spent countless hours fruitlessly trying to push the truck, wondering why it wouldn't budge.

All the same, early Pokemon fans were fascinated with this rumored Pokemon. Mew was one of the first pokemon to be seen by viewers in the original Anime opening theme, falling second only to Mewtwo. That may have been why back in 1998, when Nintendo released the first in a legacy that was the Pokemon movie franchise, Pokemon the 1st Movie has the subtitle: Mewtwo vs Mew.

Mew in fact turned out to be the hero of the movie, and we got to see the anime's telling of how Mewtwo came to be from Mew. While it wasn't the 'birth' described in the video game, it was no less full of trauma and violence. Incidentally, Mew would be the first and as far as I know the only legendary pokemon in the movies to speak regular pokemon language and not english. usually Meowth from Team Rocket would be nearby to translate.

Mew is also one of a few Legendary Pokemon to feature in multiple movies. Mew was the co-star with the Regi golems and Lucario in the 8th Pokemon movie, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. As before, Mew did not speak English in this movie. Mew did however transform. And I mean a lot. This was the first time we got to see Mew use Transform in the anime. Transform is one of Mew's unique moves, sharing it with only one other Pokemon: Ditto.

Incidentally, Ditto actually shares a lot in common with Mew. Both Pokemon weight 8.8 pounds. They have a similar color scheme both in regular and shiny colors. Ditto is 1 foot tall, very close to Mew's 1'04", and Ditto is the only other pokemon capable of using Transform. Ditto, like Mew, also has the same base stat across all stats, except in Ditto's case it's 50 across all stats instead of 100. This has lead to some interesting theories regarding Ditto. In Pokemon Red and Blue, Ditto can be found in Cerulean Cave, which is Mewtwo's hiding spot. In Yellow version, the ONLY places where you can locate Ditto would be the Pokemon Mansion in Cinnabar Island, where Mewtwo was cloned from Mew, and again in Cerulean Cave. It would be strange to assume that the scientists who cloned Mewtwo from Mew got it right on the first try, and so many Pokemon fans theorize that Dittos may actually be failed clones of Mew. While this theory hasn't been confirmed, it would explain a lot about Ditto as a species.

Let's also talk about Mew's appearance in the 10th anniversary Pokemon special,  the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon. Once again it's Mew who comes to save the day, but this isn't even a real Mew. This Mew is an illusion, known as Mirage Mew. And that to me is a great little easter egg for those who have been paying attention. You see, while there weren't many ways to get Mew in the old games, he was still there. He even had a Pokedex entry in the original Red and Blue games. "So rare that it is still said to be a mirage by many experts. Only a few people have seen it worldwide." A mirage. Mirage Mew. Pretty amazing stuff.

And Mew was in fact pretty rare, even when they started to do special give aways of the Pokemon. Mew is one of the rarer Giveaways from Game Freak, where aside from this 20th anniversary event, Mew hasn't seen a distribution since 2010. At least in the states, don't get me started on how Japan gets triple the number of event pokemon than any other region (so jelly). The only way I knew how to get a Mew back in the day was to go through the painstaking process of depositing 999 Pokemon into the Pokemon Ranch on my Wii. Only then would Haley trade me a Mew. I literally traded her an unhatched egg for it, it was weird.

So that's it for Mew! What memories and experiences can you share about this OG of Mythical Pokemon? Let me know what you think, and be sure to stick around and check out my Youtube channel, where very soon we'll be talking about the Mythical Pokemon for this month, the Doctor Who of Pokemon himself, Celebi!