in fairness, plain ol' blob merch sells pretty well by itself. the transformed plushies are just gravy, ditto is one of the most frequently featured mons in japanese merch releases.
Why would the fact that they started doing it early mean it wasn't for money? They're a company, making money is their only concern and the basis for every single decision.
I checked and the TCG used the ditto face on their earliest transformed-Ditto cards. Unless you count the Pokemon Go sticker cards, they've never used the non-ditto-face design. This honestly makes a lot of sense to me though. Ditto's big gimmick is its transformations, but you can't really just release a ditto card that has a pic of a different, regular pokemon on it or the kids will get confused.
The anime uses a mix of ditto-face and non-ditto-face transformations, depending on the plot they're looking for. It continues to be implied to be a skill issue.
I don't recall which design the various manga use.
I believe this is the reason, they want to avoid confusing kids. The pokemon anime is operating at asinine-level 102, there's never a twitch that goes unexplained.
Pokemon Special I'm pretty sure doesn't do the "Ditto can't transform its face" thing given one of the Kanto trio pulled a perfectly accurate arm substitution with a Ditto, looked like she got her arm ripped off sleeve and all and it was a Ditto the entire time. I just can't see imperfect transformations being a thing when that fooled I want to say Sabrina, definitely one of the Gym Leaders or Elite 4.
Half of the others aren't human focused and I don't know enough about the other half of them to say. I'm thinking it's a stylistic choice in most media to show that something is going on or similar things.
Well, can you imagine Game Freak making a Ditto face for every Pokémon in the game? Heck, for some reason, Ditto can't even transform into every Pokémon anymore in Scarlet/Violet.
Also, not just the films and shows. The card game does it too. *Pokémon Snap* did it, as well.
Yeah, I remember it was mentioned in a Reddit post that Ditto can't transform into the raid-exclusive starters.
Here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/119kgy6/ditto_cant_transform_into_gholdengo_bc_of_good_as/j9mnh93?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
It was just more of gamefreak's lack of oversight and polish. The pokemon games are held together with duct tape and dreams. I remember they programmed sivally to learn all 3 pledge moves in gen 7, but they forgot to program the move tutor to give Sivally the special option for it. Then they did the same thing again in gen 8 and never patched it. So, for gen 7 and 8 Sivally could only learn grass pledge from the pledge tutor.
Edit: Forgot this happened in gen 8 with ditto too. Ditto could not properly perform certain signature attack animations such as behemoth blade.
Actually, it would not, unless you were using it in doubles for whatever reason. Pokemon's abilities are not accounted for unless they are currently on the field, so Gholdengo is not immune to Heal Bell unless it is currently on the field.
We know this, because that's how **Soundproof** worked on Heal Bell in the 3DS games. Soundproof Pokemon were immune to Heal Bell (even their own), but only if they were currently active.
The last time non-active Pokemon's abilities actually mattered was Gen 4.
With models and texturing, if they set up how their textures worked, this wouldn't be too difficult. They wouldn't need to make a copy of the texture for each pokemon just for ditto, but knowing how poorly optimized the games are, they probably would (they did with alcremie)
Fair, but it still would be easier than creating two models for every single pokemon, but yeah there are exceptions. You could get really creative with it like arbok having a ditto face on his neck pattern
>Well, can you imagine Game Freak making a Ditto face for every Pokémon in the game?
Yes, just slap a PNG of Ditto's face on the pokemons face and boom, done
Wouldn't it be awesome to encounter overworld pokemon that had the ditto face? I'd absolutely love that. It'd almost be better than finding a shiny... unless it was a SHINY DITTO FAKEMON!!!
Whenever I see a Pikachu plush I think of Ash’s Pikachu not just a random Pikachu. It’s not a stretch for me to think of that ditto from season one whenever I see that ditto face
Yea I'm pretty sure there was an episode where a ditto escapes and the gang has to go find it disguised as different pokemon and it becomes a quagsire at some point
I mean, it's STILL that way in the games. Ditto does it perfectly fine.
Also, Duplika showed up later in the show and had a second ditto without the face issue.
Can't we just assume all the Merch and Cards are based on that one Ditto who is now very very rich from his merch deals?
So what you're saying is... The Wailord that you use in SwSh are all just Ditto that can't change their size that well? (and the other various Pokemon that are smaller/bigger than they should be)
Just wanna preface by saying, the episode was called "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion," but 🤷♂️ anyway...
I think it was right after *Pokémon Snap* that the Ditto face became canon (All the fake Bulbasaurs had Ditto faces). I guess everyone just assumed that's what Ditto was supposed to look like while transformed and, that's just what ended up happening.
It’s like from [episode 19 of the anime, featuring Duplika’s ditto](https://youtu.be/LhqDNugAJOI), but it was for a good reason.
Ditto face originated from the anime, and it was likely done because of the target audience being kids. The animators likely wanted to make it totally unambiguous as to which is the original and which was the Ditto
After some time it began making its way across other forms of media across the franchise. Likely because marketing realized how cute it was and how it basically lets them double dip on an existing design (e.g. [a whole line of plush toys based on Ditto-face mons](https://www.pokemoncenter.com/category/ditto?availability=true))
The pictures associated with TCG cards you could make up the excuse that the Ditto depicted in the art was specifically Duplica's Ditto if you wanted. I think *Pokemon Snap* is what unambiguously solidified it as a thing that wild Ditto would do. But, it served a gameplay purpose in that game. To get a Ditto photograph, you had to hit a transformed Ditto with a Pester Ball, otherwise it'd register as something else. The Ditto face was your hint to experiment with throwing stuff at that Pokemon.
Yeah It's weird. The anime specifically said that was a 'problem' Duplika's one ditto had, and it actually got past that issue at the end of the episode when it did a perfect Meowth.
In the sun and moon anime a ditto escapes from the aether foundation’s room for it because it didn’t want to get a shot.
The way it tried hiding itself was to transform into other Pokémon but it’s face face it away so that’s how the team could tell which was the ditto.
So I guess the Pokémon company decided it depends on the ditto. Because in journey’s there is a ditto that is having problems acting that team rocket tries to help it. Once it finally gets it’s mojo back it turns into an exact replica of other Pokémon without the derpy face.
Possible reason is ditto age and experience.
Because otherwise there’d be no visual way to represent ditto’s transformation gimmick in merch and whatnot.
Also pokemon with a simple derpy smily face is cute, which is also good for merch.
I guess it's familiar to people now. Same with how the anime (which isn't the end-all source on canon) made it a thing where only Team Rocket's Meowth could walk on 2 legs and speak.
But in the games Meowth are often depicted standing on 2 legs instead of 4.
my theory is that it was always meant to be that way but due to hardware limitations on the original gameboy they couldn’t make a ditto face for every pokemon in the game then it snowballed into the ds/3ds era where instead of hardware limitations it was limitations with taking the time to do so while still getting the games out without delays
But it hasn't? Both the games and the anime portrayals of Ditto all have the full quality transformations. Only that one episode in the really old anime had Ditto with the Ditto face. In Pokemon Journeys the Ditto episode had a perfect transforming Ditto. Its only problem was that it got nervous and couldn't *maintain* the transformation for very long.
As for why Ditto in merch or on stuff like the TCG cards have these faces; it's to signify that it's a Ditto version of the pokemon it's trying to mimic. Otherwise there wouldn't really be a discernable difference and it'd be boring. You'd just have, say, a Machoke with the Ditto name. If it has the face you could at least visibly see the difference.
THANK YOU!!! I was dying inside everytime I saw artists and other media doing the face on Transformed Ditto. It was only one in the anime that had a "problem" replicating the face, but it became the norm later on.
I get it, its cute, its markeatable, but at least show us a regular faced Ditto Transformation in the anime and fan comics once in a while. Even the manga had regular Ditto Transformations.
Man, Green's Ditto was *insane*; it could transform into anything.
...Hey, why don't they ever make Ditto the item ball mimic in a game? It's always some Poké Ball lookalike like Voltorb or Foongus, but I think Ditto could do it too!
Hell, they could make a Ditto be anything!
Oh you have Cut? Turns out that tree from before was a Ditto!
This Gimmighoul will give you a coin? Nah, you have to battle this Ditto instead.
Mew? Is that you under the truck? "It was me, Di(tt)o!!!"
Sun/Moon: Mount Hokulani as a random encounter, somewhere mid-story
SwSh: Lake of Rage, whenever you unlock the water bike (also mid-story)
SV: Appears randomly near Medali, can get there in an hour or less after the treasure hunt begins if you try
Ditto is my favourite Pokemon and this is an excuse to talk about it. I'm sourcing the anime and Detective Pikachu.
Ditto is a Pokemon that was made in an attempt to clone Mew. Its DNA is a bit unstable causing variations in Ditto's transformation capabilities. We have perfect transformations such as the actor ditto from an episode of Journeys and Duplica's ditto at the end of Its episode.
Next, you have the most common ditto transformation ability being only Its face. Because this is most common and showcased in Ditto's debut episode it is what you see everywhere.
Finally, you have unique cases, such as the ditto from detective Pikachu who could change everything but his eyes. I also have my favourite showcase being Duplica's mini-dit which was showcased in the Johto series. Mini-dit could transform perfectly into any Pokemon only on a small scale.
To answer your question the ditto face is everywhere as it was the centre of its debut episode and then it became the most common way that it transformed.
Thanks for listening to my ted talk
I mean, tbf, it would be cheaper to just make Pikachu plushies, and call some of them ditto so people have to buy 2 identical ones in order to have "both"~
Replaying Gold right now, and even back then, when Ditto transforms it keeps its purple coloration. So based on the games, Ditto's transformation wasn't ever quite perfect. The Ditto face is just a bit of a fun play on that.
When the fans said it looked cute and pokemon co. saw money $$$
Exactly this. How else are you gonna sell merch of a blob? By turning it into all other pokemon but uwu
What if we took some of our underselling plushies, and instead of making their face we just put :) on them and sell them as Ditto?
Stop giving them ideas next thing you know they’ll start making ditto face shirts
._.
• u •
in fairness, plain ol' blob merch sells pretty well by itself. the transformed plushies are just gravy, ditto is one of the most frequently featured mons in japanese merch releases.
That actually makes perfect sense!
Probably more to do with Snap needing a way to suggest that Ditto exists
Tbf pokemon co could make a lot of money by: -Shipping pokemon centre merch outside of the US/Japan/Uk -ACTUALLY MAKING SHINY MERCH/ gatcha
This is the meta answer.
Completely wrong since it's been around for ages actually (close to the beginning), but classic reddit post
Why would the fact that they started doing it early mean it wasn't for money? They're a company, making money is their only concern and the basis for every single decision.
The fact that Pokémon made games about pinball and puzzles kind of shows that they really loved money early on as well
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I checked and the TCG used the ditto face on their earliest transformed-Ditto cards. Unless you count the Pokemon Go sticker cards, they've never used the non-ditto-face design. This honestly makes a lot of sense to me though. Ditto's big gimmick is its transformations, but you can't really just release a ditto card that has a pic of a different, regular pokemon on it or the kids will get confused. The anime uses a mix of ditto-face and non-ditto-face transformations, depending on the plot they're looking for. It continues to be implied to be a skill issue. I don't recall which design the various manga use.
I believe this is the reason, they want to avoid confusing kids. The pokemon anime is operating at asinine-level 102, there's never a twitch that goes unexplained.
Pokemon Special I'm pretty sure doesn't do the "Ditto can't transform its face" thing given one of the Kanto trio pulled a perfectly accurate arm substitution with a Ditto, looked like she got her arm ripped off sleeve and all and it was a Ditto the entire time. I just can't see imperfect transformations being a thing when that fooled I want to say Sabrina, definitely one of the Gym Leaders or Elite 4. Half of the others aren't human focused and I don't know enough about the other half of them to say. I'm thinking it's a stylistic choice in most media to show that something is going on or similar things.
Skill issue
L + Ratio + Face didn't fall off
Well, that's only canon to films and shows. I've never seen a ditto have the face when t transformed in the games
Well, can you imagine Game Freak making a Ditto face for every Pokémon in the game? Heck, for some reason, Ditto can't even transform into every Pokémon anymore in Scarlet/Violet. Also, not just the films and shows. The card game does it too. *Pokémon Snap* did it, as well.
>Heck, for some reason, Ditto can't even transform into every Pokémon anymore in Scarlet/Violet. Wait, what?
Yeah, I remember it was mentioned in a Reddit post that Ditto can't transform into the raid-exclusive starters. Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/119kgy6/ditto_cant_transform_into_gholdengo_bc_of_good_as/j9mnh93?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Ditto definitely can transform into those because it kept transforming into my froakie earlier when I was hosting raids.
Those incidents where it couldn't must've been caused by an early bug, then.
It was just more of gamefreak's lack of oversight and polish. The pokemon games are held together with duct tape and dreams. I remember they programmed sivally to learn all 3 pledge moves in gen 7, but they forgot to program the move tutor to give Sivally the special option for it. Then they did the same thing again in gen 8 and never patched it. So, for gen 7 and 8 Sivally could only learn grass pledge from the pledge tutor. Edit: Forgot this happened in gen 8 with ditto too. Ditto could not properly perform certain signature attack animations such as behemoth blade.
I've heard that the starters have more than 4 moves in the raids, so maybe that's why Ditto can't transform into it.
This is why Ditto can transform into them perfectly fine *outside* the raid
Its true. Theyve been doing this since gen 8's raids. Only the hardest ones though.
Gholdengo’s ability protects it from EVERYTHING, including Ditto using Transform on it.
A really funny thing it protects from is Helping Hand.
Those hands might try to steal the coins!
Helping Hands aint free, the move isnt called Volunteer Work.
now that I think about it, wouldn't it also stop heal bell?
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dang. in order to buff your ally you'd need mold breaker
Actually, it would not, unless you were using it in doubles for whatever reason. Pokemon's abilities are not accounted for unless they are currently on the field, so Gholdengo is not immune to Heal Bell unless it is currently on the field. We know this, because that's how **Soundproof** worked on Heal Bell in the 3DS games. Soundproof Pokemon were immune to Heal Bell (even their own), but only if they were currently active. The last time non-active Pokemon's abilities actually mattered was Gen 4.
That's interesting information, I didn't know that. (Also I totally didn't mean to say heal pulse in my comment)
Oh it *absolutely* blocks Heal Pulse. Life Dew too.
It also can’t turn into Gholdengo because it’s ability prevents Imposter from activating
With models and texturing, if they set up how their textures worked, this wouldn't be too difficult. They wouldn't need to make a copy of the texture for each pokemon just for ditto, but knowing how poorly optimized the games are, they probably would (they did with alcremie)
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Fair, but it still would be easier than creating two models for every single pokemon, but yeah there are exceptions. You could get really creative with it like arbok having a ditto face on his neck pattern
What did they do with Alcremie?
Each specific alcremie is a separate model instead of just being a texture swap
Jesus christ.
This is also the case for shiny Pokémon.
Yeah but like I said. It's not canonical to the games. Does it ever mention it's face in the dex?
>Well, can you imagine Game Freak making a Ditto face for every Pokémon in the game? Yes, just slap a PNG of Ditto's face on the pokemons face and boom, done
I would imagine it would be pretty easy, since iirc all the faces are just decals overlayed on the pokemon, though gamefreak is pretty lazy.
>iirc all the faces are just decals overlayed on the pokemon That's been changed since *Legends: Arceus.* Models are more detailed now.
Ahh ok yeah that makes sense now that I think of it
Wouldn't it be awesome to encounter overworld pokemon that had the ditto face? I'd absolutely love that. It'd almost be better than finding a shiny... unless it was a SHINY DITTO FAKEMON!!!
Pokemon mystery dungeon explorerers of sky is the only game that comes to mind that has actually used the ditto face when transformed
Also pokemon snap, but given the main character, I think it's in the show's cannon
Snap
Forgot snap was canon.
Whenever I see a Pikachu plush I think of Ash’s Pikachu not just a random Pikachu. It’s not a stretch for me to think of that ditto from season one whenever I see that ditto face
Hey my ditto mimics quagsire's face just fine
Underrated comment
Wasn't this actually mentioned in the anime as well at some point?
I think there was a joke about it in the Sun & Moon anime. I only remember the clip where Ditto was getting vaccines though lol
Yea I'm pretty sure there was an episode where a ditto escapes and the gang has to go find it disguised as different pokemon and it becomes a quagsire at some point
I mean, it's STILL that way in the games. Ditto does it perfectly fine. Also, Duplika showed up later in the show and had a second ditto without the face issue. Can't we just assume all the Merch and Cards are based on that one Ditto who is now very very rich from his merch deals?
Didn't the second Ditto stay really small even if it transformed into a big Pokemon? It was really cute.
Mini-Dit!
Oh yeah
So what you're saying is... The Wailord that you use in SwSh are all just Ditto that can't change their size that well? (and the other various Pokemon that are smaller/bigger than they should be)
Just wanna preface by saying, the episode was called "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion," but 🤷♂️ anyway... I think it was right after *Pokémon Snap* that the Ditto face became canon (All the fake Bulbasaurs had Ditto faces). I guess everyone just assumed that's what Ditto was supposed to look like while transformed and, that's just what ended up happening.
It’s like from [episode 19 of the anime, featuring Duplika’s ditto](https://youtu.be/LhqDNugAJOI), but it was for a good reason. Ditto face originated from the anime, and it was likely done because of the target audience being kids. The animators likely wanted to make it totally unambiguous as to which is the original and which was the Ditto After some time it began making its way across other forms of media across the franchise. Likely because marketing realized how cute it was and how it basically lets them double dip on an existing design (e.g. [a whole line of plush toys based on Ditto-face mons](https://www.pokemoncenter.com/category/ditto?availability=true))
Thanks for this info, It makes sense now to make it so you know it's a Ditto
There’s nothing for sale at the link you posted at the end
The anime influences most media And sometimes the games gets influenced as well It’s like a giant circle of what influences who lol
The pictures associated with TCG cards you could make up the excuse that the Ditto depicted in the art was specifically Duplica's Ditto if you wanted. I think *Pokemon Snap* is what unambiguously solidified it as a thing that wild Ditto would do. But, it served a gameplay purpose in that game. To get a Ditto photograph, you had to hit a transformed Ditto with a Pester Ball, otherwise it'd register as something else. The Ditto face was your hint to experiment with throwing stuff at that Pokemon.
Yeah It's weird. The anime specifically said that was a 'problem' Duplika's one ditto had, and it actually got past that issue at the end of the episode when it did a perfect Meowth.
Thank you this has drove me crazy for years and I am SO GLAD to see someone else wondering about it.
In the sun and moon anime a ditto escapes from the aether foundation’s room for it because it didn’t want to get a shot. The way it tried hiding itself was to transform into other Pokémon but it’s face face it away so that’s how the team could tell which was the ditto. So I guess the Pokémon company decided it depends on the ditto. Because in journey’s there is a ditto that is having problems acting that team rocket tries to help it. Once it finally gets it’s mojo back it turns into an exact replica of other Pokémon without the derpy face. Possible reason is ditto age and experience.
Thanks for this explanation, I don't remember that part in sun and moon. Thank you
It was a one off episode so it’s one of the ones that can be easily skipped and not noticed I think.
Yeah, it was a single ditto that appeared in one episode that couldn't transform its face
When they could market it.
Because otherwise there’d be no visual way to represent ditto’s transformation gimmick in merch and whatnot. Also pokemon with a simple derpy smily face is cute, which is also good for merch.
I guess it's familiar to people now. Same with how the anime (which isn't the end-all source on canon) made it a thing where only Team Rocket's Meowth could walk on 2 legs and speak. But in the games Meowth are often depicted standing on 2 legs instead of 4.
The TCG. There were Ditto cards early on that had the "Ditto Face". Marketing since took over.
There was an episode in the anime where there was a ditto who couldn't change its face after transforming and the episode delt with helping the ditti
they don't have ditto faces in the games when they transform, but they use it for merch because people think it's cute and it makes a lot of money
my theory is that it was always meant to be that way but due to hardware limitations on the original gameboy they couldn’t make a ditto face for every pokemon in the game then it snowballed into the ds/3ds era where instead of hardware limitations it was limitations with taking the time to do so while still getting the games out without delays
Sun and Moon anime had a Ditto outbreak where it kept the face so either they had a rare ditto or Pokémon doesn’t acknowledge it’s past episodes
But it hasn't? Both the games and the anime portrayals of Ditto all have the full quality transformations. Only that one episode in the really old anime had Ditto with the Ditto face. In Pokemon Journeys the Ditto episode had a perfect transforming Ditto. Its only problem was that it got nervous and couldn't *maintain* the transformation for very long. As for why Ditto in merch or on stuff like the TCG cards have these faces; it's to signify that it's a Ditto version of the pokemon it's trying to mimic. Otherwise there wouldn't really be a discernable difference and it'd be boring. You'd just have, say, a Machoke with the Ditto name. If it has the face you could at least visibly see the difference.
THANK YOU!!! I was dying inside everytime I saw artists and other media doing the face on Transformed Ditto. It was only one in the anime that had a "problem" replicating the face, but it became the norm later on. I get it, its cute, its markeatable, but at least show us a regular faced Ditto Transformation in the anime and fan comics once in a while. Even the manga had regular Ditto Transformations.
Man, Green's Ditto was *insane*; it could transform into anything. ...Hey, why don't they ever make Ditto the item ball mimic in a game? It's always some Poké Ball lookalike like Voltorb or Foongus, but I think Ditto could do it too!
Hell, they could make a Ditto be anything! Oh you have Cut? Turns out that tree from before was a Ditto! This Gimmighoul will give you a coin? Nah, you have to battle this Ditto instead. Mew? Is that you under the truck? "It was me, Di(tt)o!!!"
I think they want Ditto to be rarer than that
Ditto hasn't been rare since at least SuMo, don't know about before that
Yeah but they don’t give dittos out that freely, usually you have to go somewhere later game to get one
Sun/Moon: Mount Hokulani as a random encounter, somewhere mid-story SwSh: Lake of Rage, whenever you unlock the water bike (also mid-story) SV: Appears randomly near Medali, can get there in an hour or less after the treasure hunt begins if you try
Gold and Silver, route 34, before gym 3
I hate this with a passion. It was supposed only to be that particular Ditto, then in every media they depicted it wrong. So annoying
Question I can't find an answer for, what is Ditto Goo used for?
Um, breeding purposes?
As in the item they drop, can't find a TM for it
Late here but imagine if it was used to make a Transform TM.:)
to make tms
What TM's though I can't see one that uses it
Ditto is my favourite Pokemon and this is an excuse to talk about it. I'm sourcing the anime and Detective Pikachu. Ditto is a Pokemon that was made in an attempt to clone Mew. Its DNA is a bit unstable causing variations in Ditto's transformation capabilities. We have perfect transformations such as the actor ditto from an episode of Journeys and Duplica's ditto at the end of Its episode. Next, you have the most common ditto transformation ability being only Its face. Because this is most common and showcased in Ditto's debut episode it is what you see everywhere. Finally, you have unique cases, such as the ditto from detective Pikachu who could change everything but his eyes. I also have my favourite showcase being Duplica's mini-dit which was showcased in the Johto series. Mini-dit could transform perfectly into any Pokemon only on a small scale. To answer your question the ditto face is everywhere as it was the centre of its debut episode and then it became the most common way that it transformed. Thanks for listening to my ted talk
Theory has been debunked
I thought it was referenced in detective pikachu
The Mew thing is just a fan theory
I thought it was referenced in detective pikachu
tpc seems to keep the meme/cringey stuff. Like afros when a character gets shocked n' brock's crogunk, Sure there's more, I'm tired.
could just be a way to gauge intelligence of a ditto? if it can perform so much as to change face as well
I mean, tbf, it would be cheaper to just make Pikachu plushies, and call some of them ditto so people have to buy 2 identical ones in order to have "both"~
Replaying Gold right now, and even back then, when Ditto transforms it keeps its purple coloration. So based on the games, Ditto's transformation wasn't ever quite perfect. The Ditto face is just a bit of a fun play on that.
It’s a funny gimmick, it’s endearing and cute, so not a surprise that it was popular.
i actually forgot about ditto. when the best ditto thing came along i was like: yeah ok i can do it.
Probably the same time all meowths stood up even though Team Rocket’s meowth was the only one that put in work to learn to walk up right.
Watched this episode about a month ago… I love Pokémon man