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[[INFORMATION]]
Character Name: Mewtwo
Character Canon: anime/movieverse.
Character Age: unknown chronologically – probably not more than a few years. Physically an adult.
Canon Point: after Mewtwo Returns
Character Canon History: wiki
Character Personality: Perhaps the first word that comes to mind when describing Mewtwo is troubled. This is a creature that does not understand his place in the world, who repeatedly asks who he is and why he exists, and is never given any real answers. His first remembered interaction with humanity is one in which he is told that he is an experiment, created not by God but by man, and made to be a copy of someone else. Rejecting that only leads him to being used as nothing more than a tool by the man who funded his creation. Obsessed with the idea that he is unnatural and inferior, he has lashed out several times at the world. Although he has certainly matured a lot since his first movie, he continues to question what his purpose is and whether or not he should be allowed to live as normal Pokemon do.
Mewtwo Strikes Back may give the impression that Mewtwo is a villain, but it would be inaccurate to say that he is simply “evil”. His first instincts are violent, and he commits crimes such as kidnapping and theft without regard for the morality of them, but these actions are the result of the injustices and callousness of those who created him rather than any inherent “evilness” of his character. By Mewtwo Returns, he has tempered any remaining violent impulses, outright stating that “fighting is senseless” and refraining from hurting his enemies, and uses his powers to protect instead of destroy. He remains perhaps somewhat difficult to get along with, of course – though Ash and his friends have proven that not all humans are bad, he remains wary, keeping his existence a secret and living hidden and shadowed. (At one point he states that he "could never feel compassion for humans", but Meowthtwo suggests that he may be growing more compassionate towards them and would simply rather not admit it.)
Whether or not he cares for humans, Mewtwo does certainly care for his friends. The events of Mewtwo Returns demonstrate that he is protective and loyal once trust is gained: he has taken his fellow cloned Pokémon and found a place for them to live without fear of encroachment by man. When Giovanni arrives and threatens to use the clones for experiments – ones that will probably end up killing them – Mewtwo sacrifices himself and submits to torture so that they might be spared. After he is freed, he also saves the spring whose waters healed him, hiding it away so it cannot be polluted or overrun.
He speaks formally and often waxes philosophical on the meaning of life, existence, etc. He is clearly very cunning, having made quite the elaborate plan and setting for his revenge in the first movie, and may have a knack for the mechanical as well (having made a giant cloning lab under his castle, somehow connecting the TV up underneath Mount Quena, etc). His default mode seems to be “intensely serious”, as he takes no amusement in Jesse and James’ antics. Despite doubts about his worth as a living being, he remains proud (“no trainer can conquer me”, “do not test the limits of my power”) and may actually be a bit of a show off (he built that huge elaborate castle and everything…).
Regarding pronouns: obviously in this application I have referred to Mewtwo as male; officially Mewtwo is actually genderless, as are most legendary Pokémon. I thought about this situation for a long time and came to the conclusion that I would write using male pronouns, but that others should be free to use gender-neutral ones if they’d prefer. ICly, Mewtwo remains genderless, and if asked would explain that technically neither “male” nor “female” is accurate for him. I decided to use male pronouns for a few different reasons.
First, Mewtwo’s voice is quite masculine, especially in the dub with Philip Bartlett and Dan Green’s bass. The upcoming movie features Mewtwo with a female VA, but at the time of writing available sources suggest that it is a different character than this one. When we get translations on what happens in the movie, I may switch to gender-neutral or female pronouns if appropriate.
Second, in the Japanese CD Drama “The Birth of Mewtwo”, a young Mewtwo uses “boku”, which is a pronoun generally reserved for young boys. In contrast, Ai (Amber) uses “watashi” to refer to herself in the same conversation ("Watashi wa ningen.” "Boku wa ningen ka!"). Although it is possible for a girl to use “boku”, it is somewhat unusual. (source here.)
Finally, although it is never brought up in canon, from what we know of Mewtwo’s thought processes I’m not sure if he would really like to be called “it”. In English, when used to refer to nonhuman entities, “it” can be somewhat, well, dehumanizing, and to be thought of as lower than humans would obviously annoy the character.
In the end, I do want everyone to be comfortable using whatever pronouns they wish for Mewtwo; male pronouns are just what I think currently works best. Please feel free to use whatever ones work best for you!
Character Abilities: Mewtwo is an extremely powerful psychic Pokémon. Demonstrated abilities include:
- Telepathy, towards a group or an individual
- Telekinesis of pretty much any matter (even through a TV screen!)
- Weather manipulation (may be a subset of telekinesis)
- Levitation/flight, of himself and others
- Mind control and memory erasure (obviously these are pretty godmode-y and would be used very sparingly and with permission and planning with other players)
- Energy shields
- Shadow ball/energy projectiles
- Transportation of huge amounts of matter, such as a lake
He is also capable of understanding other Pokémon.
Flaws:
- Anger management issues and a lot of fragile pride/inferiority issues. He is predisposed towards violence, even if he’s now learned to temper it to “not destroying the world in a storm of biblical proportions”, and frankly doesn’t seem to like himself very much. Even much of his time on Mt Quenya is spent wondering if he is as deserving of life/happiness/peace as natural-born Pokemon.
- Possibly somewhat amoral. While Mewtwo seems to understand by the second movie that all life is valuable, there’s never much of an indication that he actually regrets the deaths he caused in the first movie. Possibly just a narrative oversight - he does protect human lives in Mewtwo Returns - but also possibly not.
- Serious trust issues with humans although that’s pretty reasonable given the circumstances but still
- Super melodramatic and probably writes shitty poetry like jesus man
Character Canon: anime/movieverse.
Character Age: unknown chronologically – probably not more than a few years. Physically an adult.
Canon Point: after Mewtwo Returns
Character Canon History: wiki
Character Personality: Perhaps the first word that comes to mind when describing Mewtwo is troubled. This is a creature that does not understand his place in the world, who repeatedly asks who he is and why he exists, and is never given any real answers. His first remembered interaction with humanity is one in which he is told that he is an experiment, created not by God but by man, and made to be a copy of someone else. Rejecting that only leads him to being used as nothing more than a tool by the man who funded his creation. Obsessed with the idea that he is unnatural and inferior, he has lashed out several times at the world. Although he has certainly matured a lot since his first movie, he continues to question what his purpose is and whether or not he should be allowed to live as normal Pokemon do.
Mewtwo Strikes Back may give the impression that Mewtwo is a villain, but it would be inaccurate to say that he is simply “evil”. His first instincts are violent, and he commits crimes such as kidnapping and theft without regard for the morality of them, but these actions are the result of the injustices and callousness of those who created him rather than any inherent “evilness” of his character. By Mewtwo Returns, he has tempered any remaining violent impulses, outright stating that “fighting is senseless” and refraining from hurting his enemies, and uses his powers to protect instead of destroy. He remains perhaps somewhat difficult to get along with, of course – though Ash and his friends have proven that not all humans are bad, he remains wary, keeping his existence a secret and living hidden and shadowed. (At one point he states that he "could never feel compassion for humans", but Meowthtwo suggests that he may be growing more compassionate towards them and would simply rather not admit it.)
Whether or not he cares for humans, Mewtwo does certainly care for his friends. The events of Mewtwo Returns demonstrate that he is protective and loyal once trust is gained: he has taken his fellow cloned Pokémon and found a place for them to live without fear of encroachment by man. When Giovanni arrives and threatens to use the clones for experiments – ones that will probably end up killing them – Mewtwo sacrifices himself and submits to torture so that they might be spared. After he is freed, he also saves the spring whose waters healed him, hiding it away so it cannot be polluted or overrun.
He speaks formally and often waxes philosophical on the meaning of life, existence, etc. He is clearly very cunning, having made quite the elaborate plan and setting for his revenge in the first movie, and may have a knack for the mechanical as well (having made a giant cloning lab under his castle, somehow connecting the TV up underneath Mount Quena, etc). His default mode seems to be “intensely serious”, as he takes no amusement in Jesse and James’ antics. Despite doubts about his worth as a living being, he remains proud (“no trainer can conquer me”, “do not test the limits of my power”) and may actually be a bit of a show off (he built that huge elaborate castle and everything…).
Regarding pronouns: obviously in this application I have referred to Mewtwo as male; officially Mewtwo is actually genderless, as are most legendary Pokémon. I thought about this situation for a long time and came to the conclusion that I would write using male pronouns, but that others should be free to use gender-neutral ones if they’d prefer. ICly, Mewtwo remains genderless, and if asked would explain that technically neither “male” nor “female” is accurate for him. I decided to use male pronouns for a few different reasons.
First, Mewtwo’s voice is quite masculine, especially in the dub with Philip Bartlett and Dan Green’s bass. The upcoming movie features Mewtwo with a female VA, but at the time of writing available sources suggest that it is a different character than this one. When we get translations on what happens in the movie, I may switch to gender-neutral or female pronouns if appropriate.
Second, in the Japanese CD Drama “The Birth of Mewtwo”, a young Mewtwo uses “boku”, which is a pronoun generally reserved for young boys. In contrast, Ai (Amber) uses “watashi” to refer to herself in the same conversation ("Watashi wa ningen.” "Boku wa ningen ka!"). Although it is possible for a girl to use “boku”, it is somewhat unusual. (source here.)
Finally, although it is never brought up in canon, from what we know of Mewtwo’s thought processes I’m not sure if he would really like to be called “it”. In English, when used to refer to nonhuman entities, “it” can be somewhat, well, dehumanizing, and to be thought of as lower than humans would obviously annoy the character.
In the end, I do want everyone to be comfortable using whatever pronouns they wish for Mewtwo; male pronouns are just what I think currently works best. Please feel free to use whatever ones work best for you!
Character Abilities: Mewtwo is an extremely powerful psychic Pokémon. Demonstrated abilities include:
- Telepathy, towards a group or an individual
- Telekinesis of pretty much any matter (even through a TV screen!)
- Weather manipulation (may be a subset of telekinesis)
- Levitation/flight, of himself and others
- Mind control and memory erasure (obviously these are pretty godmode-y and would be used very sparingly and with permission and planning with other players)
- Energy shields
- Shadow ball/energy projectiles
- Transportation of huge amounts of matter, such as a lake
He is also capable of understanding other Pokémon.
Flaws:
- Anger management issues and a lot of fragile pride/inferiority issues. He is predisposed towards violence, even if he’s now learned to temper it to “not destroying the world in a storm of biblical proportions”, and frankly doesn’t seem to like himself very much. Even much of his time on Mt Quenya is spent wondering if he is as deserving of life/happiness/peace as natural-born Pokemon.
- Possibly somewhat amoral. While Mewtwo seems to understand by the second movie that all life is valuable, there’s never much of an indication that he actually regrets the deaths he caused in the first movie. Possibly just a narrative oversight - he does protect human lives in Mewtwo Returns - but also possibly not.
- Serious trust issues with humans although that’s pretty reasonable given the circumstances but still
- Super melodramatic and probably writes shitty poetry like jesus man