Gotta Meme 'em All: The mother of all...: Difference between revisions

It might be strange that in a game about collecting or competing that a Pokémon that is literally the definition of gimmick should be so popular or highly sought after. In battle its utility is tempered by its ability[5] to transform[6], which depending on how you use it can be of some asset or a great hindrance. In contests you might have some luck since at least its sole move doesn’t bore the judges, although you’d be better off using a Claydol. Even for the sake of collecting or Pokédex completion it’s just one more entry. The actual strange thing is that its original transforming gimmick has taken the backseat to its most famous ability that was introduced later: the universal breeder.

Ditto is not just a Pokémon, it is an egg group[7] as well. In designing the breeding mechanics, Game Freak created two unique groups that cannot normally breed and produce offspring of their own species: all-male species and genderless species. Thus for Pokémon like Starmie or Hitmonchan who otherwise can’t obtain eggs from their own families, then Ditto serving as the universal breeder allows for those eggs to be obtained by providing a key exception to the standard rules that eggs take on the mother’s species and that you need oppositely gendered Pokémon to create an egg. It is this exception to the standard rules of breeding created by Ditto that gives birth to a myriad of consequences, and raises it from a fairly forgettable pink blob to a near-universal asset on the levels of an HM Slave.

The most obvious and glaring consequence of Ditto’s unique breeding prowess is its use to quickly breed Pokémon. For collectors, it aids in quickly obtaining new Pokémon and completing the Pokédex by allowing for the breeding of missing species instead of catching or trading for all of them. Competitive players may have several Ditto available with a variety of abilities and useful IV[8] spreads. Shiny hunters may even go one further and obtain a foreign Ditto so as to utilize the Masuda method[9] for breeding shinies. Communities have even popped up surrounding the sharing and obtaining of Ditto with useful traits for breedings[10]. Given its utility, one has to wonder that if Game Freak allowed for the tracking of genealogy, what percentage of Pokémon entered in official tournaments would have a Ditto in their ancestry?

To quickly go over the premises of the creative memes, let’s look once more at the key facts: Ditto can transform into seemingly anything, and it is capable of breeding with almost every Pokémon. Cue the sex jokes, because that is where it leads. There are comics and concepts galore of Ditto interacting with people like Professor Oak[11] and Brock[12], to Pokémon like Gardevoir[13]. Most interestingly, Ditto is often personified as either gender neutral or as the opposite gender of the Pokémon it is interacting with, which results in a variety of themes and motifs for how Ditto is “dressed up” for its attire.