Pokémon in the Shadows: To Clone, or Not to Clone?

Hello, Fanaticals! As we continue our insightful and interesting week on Pokémon, we are going to talk about theories surrounding cloning! Cloning has always been a big thing, especially in tv shows and movies. The Island, for example, was a huge hit back in the day that was literally all about clones who were "insurance policies". The 6th Day with Arnold Schwarzenegger is another example of an older but thrilling sci-fi action film that explores the ethical dilemmas of human cloning.

In fact, even Pokémon: The First Movie is found to be about a cloned army of Mewtwos. Ever since Dolly the Sheep, the topic of cloning has become a popular theme to see on the big screen; it's that avenue of popularity that we pull today's theories from, as well as an extra theory from the shadows. When you introduce the topic of cloning into a fandom, it's like the topic of time travel: a whole slew of fan theories, and even fanfictions, pop up. Pokémon is no different, although some may be a bit interesting. Let's take a look!

Ditto

This theory is that Ditto is a failed Mew clone. There actually is a pretty decent piece of proof behind this to make it true, which is the fact that not only do they share the same base stats, but they also have the ability of Transform. Supposedly, Mew has the DNA of all Pokémon out there, something that is quite possibly shared with Ditto considering that most trainers know that Ditto can take the shape of any Pokémon.

In general, Pokémon don't share DNA outside of their own type so the fact that not one, but two, Pokémon seem to share the DNA of just about every Pokémon out there seems a bit out there for a normal Pokémon. Ditto being a failed Mew clone is actually pretty plausible.

Jessie and James

There is a theory floating around the internet that Jessie and James are clones. There was a Jesie and James at one point, but according to theory there was a Pokémon battle-probably during one of their Team Rocket break-ins-that they didn't survive. Considering that Giovanni and Team Rocket had been attempting the cloning of Mew, leading to the creation of Mewtwo in the first movie, as I had mentioned above. This shows that, should something happen, Team Rocket knows how to replace their trainers.

James and Jessie being clones can actually make sense, as clones may or may not have the same muscle memory every time they are brought back. There are quite a few explosions and badly ended incidents that involve James and Jessie, but yet they always seem to come back and never (for lack of better phrasing) smarter. They always do the same tricks, but they're also the comic relief of the series because of it.

However, the fact that they seem to not learn from their mistakes shows that they may be stuck in an endless loop of their personalities, which could be explained by that was who they were at the moment that their hair was pulled to clone them.

Gengar and Clefable

Gengar is a shadow Pokémon that bears a very strong resemblance to Clefable. Similar to the theory that the skull on Cubone's head is very similar in shape to Charizard's head, it is a theory that Gengar is actually a shadow of Clefable.

The evidence outside of the fact that they look extremely similar also comes from the fact that they cannot perform any form of stabbing attacks on each other.

A secondary theory to this is that Gengar is Clefable's ghost. This one you would have to do a bit more work for to convince me, or any hardcore Pokémon fan, as Gengar is a shadow and not a ghost-type, but with a far enough reach it could also be a bit plausible.

Whether a Pokémon be a shadow or a clone, there are random hidden connections that many fans don't think about right away. What do you think? Come join our community and tell us your thoughts about these theories! Come join me tomorrow as we look into some more theories similar to Gengar and Clafable's. Until then, keep on theorizing, Fanaticals!