#122 - Mr. Mime
Psychic/Fairy (Psychic Prior Gen VI)
It's Mr. Mime Time! Oh boy, here we go, out of all the Pokemon Game Freak introduced in Generation I, most people would probably say Mr. Mime was their second biggest miss---now me, I'm down with the clown, as a kid I didn't care for him but as an adult I've grown to love him, but I can see where the issue lies. It seems Game Freak didn't have much faith in Mr. Mime either, as it's yet another Pokemon that was basically thrown into the game as a Pokemon you can only receive through an in-game Trade, and in a rather unremarkable house most players likely won't visit till they're exploring at the end looking for the last few Pokemon. Mr. Mime's never been the greatest Pokemon, among Psychic-types it was rather unremarkable, and while Gen VI spruced him up by giving him the new Fairy-type, quite unexpected all things considered, he's still not exactly a threatening Pokemon. You could say Mr. Mime has always struggled to find his place, as he's not exactly the most visually appealing design, and he's not powerful enough to make up for that, and it's quite a shame since I kind of applaud Game Freak for taking a risk by including a Pokemon like this among the initial 151. Here's hoping he gets a Mega Evolution soon, and ends up totally taking the competitive scene by storm.
As you can guess by the name, Mr. Mime is a mime. We've had a few humanoid Pokemon introduced so far in Generation I, and there are quite a few introduced in later games, but I still think Mr. Mime probably wins the award for looking the most unflinchingly human and for a few folks, that's quite disturbing. Pokemon's always had a pretty weird thing where some Pokemon are quite humanoid that it makes you question why they're under the command of humans and not living as their own advanced species, Pokemon like Alakazam for instance who clearly should be the dominant species on the planet based on its extremely high intelligence, but Mr. Mime takes this to a level that causes discomfort for a lot of folks. Take one of the recent episodes of the show, where we see Mr. Mime sitting on the floor alongside Pikachu eating Pokemon food from a dog bowel and, yeah, we have a problem. And Mr. Mime has only gotten more humanoid over time as originally he had four fingers, but now sports the normal five---what happened? Apparently Japan has a weird issue with giving cartoon characters four fingers, I've heard it's both offensive towards an old caste in Japan who were considered untouchable and one of their fingers were cut off as a symbol of their status, as well as being representative of yakuza members who also cut off a finger as a symbol of loyalty. Either way, it really does seem to be a thing, as Bob the Builder when aired in Japan was given five-fingers, although some cartoons don't seem to have an issue with it, and it may be an urban legend and Mr. Mime was simply given five fingers for reasons unrelated to the issues mentioned above. Either way, pre-FRLG, he had four fingers, since then, he's got five fingers.
Despite being a mime, usually known for their silence, Mr. Mime has a "cry", and a pretty memorable voice in the show as well. Maybe Game Freak should've made the species completely silent without a cry to fit the theme better? Finally in Gen III with the introduction of abilities this trait of mimes was referenced through the Ability Soundproof, giving Mr. Mime complete immunity to all sound-based moves. You think Game Freak would perhaps keep up the theme and make sure he doesn't learn any sound-based moves, but he's capable of learning Snore, which is passable since that's not really talking, but also Round, so he's not above singing. Oh, and he couldn't learn Mimic naturally till Generation IV, although to be fair, Mr. Mime's Japanese name doesn't actually name his as a "mime", even though he's obviously meant to be one based on his general appearance and abilities, so I can't really defend that oversight and why it took so long to fix it. Mr. Mime's powers are an extension of the abilities of a real mime, as he can actually create those invisible walls that mimes only pretend exist---there's a bit of ambiguity to this, however, as some PokeDex entries claim Mr. Mime does this through its psychic powers, using suggestion to trick the opponent's mind and body into thinking the invisible objects actually exist, while others claim he can vibrate his fingers to manipulate air molecules to create actual, physical barriers. I actually like the idea it's just the power of suggestion, fitting his Psychic-type, but I'm guessing Game Freak probably goes with the idea that Mr. Mime is possible of molecular manipulation.
So, yes, there are female Mr. Mime. But that's the fault of the localization team, who decided the best way to handle an already disturbingly humanoid Pokemon was to give it a decidedly humanoid name, and one of a specific gender. In Japan, he's known as "Barrierd", which I get why they changed that, but sounds more like an actual Pokemon name and doesn't limit it to one gender. Now, I don't think the localization team had that much faith in Pokemon honestly, I feel they wanted it to sell well but didn't expect it to prove such a smash hit worldwide that would continue for years, so I don't blame them for not foreseeing the next game would introduce genders and Mr. Mime wouldn't just be a throwaway character in one game, but would return for every sequel from then on. And in a way, I think Game Freak probably should've made Mr. Mime a male-only species, as he was already compared to another humanoid Pokemon that was made all-female in the sequel, and he has a rather stereotypical masculine appearance so it wouldn't be a stretch. There are some folks I think who still don't realize there are female Mr. Mimes, since it's not a Pokemon you encounter too often in the games to notice really. Plus by Gold and Silver Pokemon was a worldwide phenomenon, and Mr. Mime was known as "Mr. Mime" in basically every country but Japan and Germany, so they really should've just gone with the flow. Well, no point in changing it now---by the way, the Mr. Mime we got in Red and Blue was nicknamed "MARCEL", after the famous mime Marcel Marceau.
Mr. Mime, "Mimey", is the house-servant/live-in boyfriend of Ash's mother Delia. This is one of those little plot beats that was introduced between arcs, there are actually a lot of little elements like this in the show, but like many of these plot beats it never really went anywhere and I wonder why they decided to give her a Mr. Mime in the first place. Some cultural deal where they didn't want a mother staying at an empty house by herself while her son was out exploring? To be fair, Mimey has gotten a few moments of spotlight in the Pokemon Chronicle episodes, but otherwise he just pops up between each major arc to remind us that he exists. Beyond Mimey, there hasn't been a lot of Mr. Mime in the show, and he always gets cheated out of Gym Battles, skipped over by both Sabrina and Valerie despite them owning one in the games. My favorite Mr. Mime episode was actually this one Battle Frontier filler where he was a chef and got into a cooking battle, although I also liked the episode where he was the partner of a Black Belt and a fighting master, oddly enough. I guess when you're Mr. Mime, you take what roles you can get.
#439 - Mime Jr.
Psychic/Fairy (Psychic Prior Gen VI)
Mime Jr. is the pre-evolution of Mr. Mime, bred using the Odd Incense and evolves into Mr. Mime when knowing the move Mimic. Mime Jr. was one of the many new Baby Pokemon introduced in Generation IV, which actually ties with Generation II for the amount of Baby Pokemon introduced. Mr. Mime was always a pretty weird Pokemon, and one you could find quite odd to hatch from an egg, so Mime Jr. sort of solves things by giving it a much cuter, less-humanoid looking Baby. I think this was a good idea for a Baby Pokemon, because I do think it made Mr. Mime slightly less odd and more Pokemon-like. As a Baby, naturally Mime Jr. doesn't have that much going for it competitively, but unlike the other Baby Pokemon we've seen so far, it has an extensive set of moves it's capable of learning and thus can hold its own among first-stage Pokemon. Likewise, it was one of the first Baby Pokemon introduced who was found roaming the Wild, implying it wasn't as weak as the likes of Pichu, Igglybuff, and Cleffa who presumably couldn't survive in the outside world. Any future Baby Pokemon introduced should follow this model, in my opinion. Plus, I really love Mime Jr., and it made me reconsider my feeling towards Mr. Mime for the better.
Well, the localization had named its evolution Mr. Mime, so it was no surprise when it was announced "Manene's" localized name would be Mime Jr. It's still stupid, but you know, sins of the father and all that. Compared to Mr. Mime, Mime Jr. is far less humanoid, almost looking like a living piece of cotton candy wearing a jester's outfit. Mr. Mime doesn't look too much like a Fairy in my opinion, but I think Mime Jr. does fit the mold, as it has the coloring, "sweets" appearance, and general personality of the other iconic Fairy-type Pokemon, so I'm guessing it was what influenced the decision to make the line Fairy more so than Mr. Mime did. Compared to Mr. Mime, who focused on the "invisible wall" aspect of mimes and thus was known as the Barrier Pokemon, Mime Jr. is based around the "miming" nature of mimes, a playful Pokemon who loves to mimic everyone it seems. Perhaps in this way it makes sense that Mr. Mime never learned Mimic till Mime Jr. hit the scene. Despite Mime Jr. being known for its mimicking, learning the move Mimic is what causes it to evolve to Mr. Mime, which is quite odd when you think about it since that seems like an inherent ability of Mime Jr. and not one that would signify it maturing into its evolved form. Actually, Mimic isn't really Mime Jr.'s signature move, it's actually the signature move of another Pokemon who became the Mime family's counterpart in Generation II, and whose Baby form also evolves through learning Mimic which I think makes more sense for that family. Like with Tangrowth and Ancient Power, perhaps Game Freak already had a perfectly good evolution method created for another Pokemon and decided to give it to Mime Jr. as well? I think having Mime Jr. evolve upon learning Barrier (and not make it a starting move for it, of course), which its evolved form is named after in Japan, would make far more sense.
Mime Jr. was introduced as a preview Pokemon for Generation IV, and made its franchise debut in the Lucario Movie in a minor role. In the show, it later became Jame's signature Pokemon, popping up in Battle Frontier, where it basically replaced another one of Jame's Pokemon as his cute, Psychic-type mascot Pokemon. Mime Jr.'s role was rather simplistic, basically popping up during the motto and looking cute, and never did anything interesting---throughout much of Diamond and Pearl, James only had one battling Pokemon, so I wish they would've evolved Mime Jr., but I guess they didn't want the villain having a Pokemon owned by the protagonist's mom. At the end of Diamond and Pearl, all of Team Rocket's Pokemon were left at the Rocket Base and except for one exception, none of them have returned. Considering how much James loved Mime Jr., I like to think he actually sent him back to the summer home where it lived originally rather than leaving it in the care of Giovanni. It seems with a new Fairy-typing, bringing Mime Jr.. back for XY would've been cute and marketable, but the writers decided against that I guess. James really needs a second Pokemon in XY though.
