Pokemon fans have opened a can of worms over the franchise’s most anomalous Pokedex entry, Ditto. The amorphous pink blob has becomefamous for being able to mimic any other ‘mon— and humans — but how?
Occam’s razor dictates thatPokemonis a work of fiction and therefore doesn’t need to play by the rules of real-world physics, but that’s the boring answer.
The same question has been posed toRedditusers, in turn eliciting hundreds of responses attempting to dissect Ditto’s uncanny trait with the power of science.
“Ditto’s HP stays the same, it’s not changing mass. It’s imitating the opponent,” one theory suggests, though it is immediately debunked by another. “Ditto’s weight DOES change though. It needs to change weight for weight-based moves such as Low Kick, Grass Knot, and Heavy Slam. Thus it is changing mass.”
One inventive hypothesis states that PP (Power Points) Pokemon need to perform attacks in the mainline series could hold the key.
“PP is a form of stored energy that the Pokemon’s biological processes are capable of using to fuel various effects. That’s where the extra mass comes from. It’s converted directly from PP. That’s also where a water Pokemon’s oceanic supply of liquid artillery comes from.”
Sound reasoning, but it’s worth noting that an unfathomable amount of energy is needed to convert it into matter. Unless Ditto’s hiding the power of a thousand suns inside its wobbly form, this is a no-go, too.
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Ditto will forever remain an enigma unapproachable by feeble human minds. It’s time to accept that some mysteries can never be explained.
Joe Pring is a Weekend Editor on Dexerto’s UK team, specializing in Gaming. His coverage areas include Destiny, Pokemon, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and other first-person shooter games. He also has bylines at WhatCulture and We Got This Covered. You can contact him at: joe.pring@dexerto.com
