Originally posted by punkrocker666
ditto ^
Ditto (メタモン Metamon in Japanese, Ditto in German and Metamorphe in French) is a fictional being in the Pokémon franchise, known as the resident shape-shifter in the Pokemon world.
In (Ancient) Greek the masculine adjective "dittos" (διττός😉 means "double", the neuter form of this adjective is the well known "ditto" implying the duplicate usage of certain things. "Ditto" is a slang word related to the Latin "dictum." Its use implies copying or reiterating an idea, this makes sense as Ditto's only attack most of the time is Transform, which allows it to "ditto" another Pokemon. Its Japanese name is Metamon, probably related to the word "metamorphose."
Characteristics
Ditto takes the form of an amorphous pink blob with a simplistic face. Despite apparently not having a brain or vital organs, Ditto acts and communicates like a normal Pokémon, and its pink body is lightning resistant.
Ditto demonstrates one of the most perplexing and amazing talents in the Pokémon world: Transformation. It is able to rearrange its cellular structure into that of another Pokémon nearby at will so that it both looks like that Pokémon and can wield its powers. It can do this with any Pokémon, no matter how large or complex, be it Onix or Wailord—Ditto can become large enough to resemble these giant Pokémon exactly. The way it can rearrange its cells to apparently expand in size to accommodate its forms as larger Pokémon forever baffles scientists studying it. Strangely, when a Ditto laughs while transformed, it cannot hold its transformation. This is a major weakness.
There are various intriguing properties that occur with some Dittos. First, some inexperienced Ditto who have not perfected their transformation abilities end up not transforming completely into whatever Pokémon they are trying to mimic, unable to change its retained simplistic face accordingly, making it look bizarre and artificial. Another uncommon Ditto property is that sometimes the individual Ditto involved has the disability to mimic the size of the Pokémon it transforms into. In these cases, when it does transform into Onix, it is still the size of a standard Ditto—small enough to fit in one’s lap. Most astounding of all is a property that seems to break the limits of what Ditto is advertised to be capable of: Some Ditto can transform into inanimate objects roughly their size, objects that may not be Pokémon-related at all, such as a book or a small artillery cannon (as seen in the Pokémon Anime).
In the Video Games
Ditto is found in the Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Firered, and Leafgreen versions, all generally in the same area.
Ditto, in terms of Pokémon battle, is purely a novelty, basically serving as an opportunity to have a Pokémon identical to the opponent (except for HP). Because its stats are readjusted to mirror the stats of the opponent, Ditto can end up being a menace to whatever it is battling, depending on type matchups of moves. But this does not happen often enough to warrant it in most professional players’ teams.
In areas where Legendary Pokémon are allowed in battle, Mew far outclasses Ditto in every respect, Mew being the only other Pokémon with the move Transform. This is due to the fact that Mew can have extremely variable movepools in addition to or in place of Transform, as well as the fact that every one of its statistics (including Hit Points) is literally twice as high as each of Ditto’s stats, so it can battle effectively even without transformation. And when it is used for transformation, the fact that it has double the hit points of Ditto makes a transformed Mew twice as hard to take down.
Glitches
For some reason, Ditto seems to have connections in the Red and Blue versions to the glitch Pokémon Missingno. and 'M. After an 'M is caught in the game during a battle, there will be an invisible Pokémon that will still be battling your Pokémon. When that is caught, the screen will say "you caught Ditto". (It might be another 'M.) Once it is caught it won't be invisible anymore. If a player-controlled Ditto uses Transform to change into the invisible Ditto, its image will turn into a Missingno's image, but it will actually still be a Ditto.
Also, in Pokémon Stadium 2, any Missingno or 'M that are uploaded to the game will get turned into Dittos. A Missingno that becomes Ditto will be a normal shade of pink but an 'M that becomes Ditto will have a slightly different color.
A famous glitch in Pokémon Gold and Silver can be used to Transform a Ditto into a Smeargle, allowing it to use Sketch to permanently replace Transform with almost any other attack.
Blue Ditto
Because of Ditto's ability to breed with almost any Pokémon, and also the fact that a Pokémon with a shiny parent of the opposite gender (or a shiny Ditto parent) has a 1 in 64 chance of being shiny in Gold, Silver and Crystal, shiny Dittos can be quite useful for breeding other shiny Pokémon.
However, because the baby will always be in the evolutionary line of the non-Ditto Pokémon, shiny Dittos cannot be bred as they are made of synthetic materials, so one would normally have to resort to finding one in the wild. However, because of a glitch in the programming of Red, Blue, and Yellow often referred to as the "Blue Ditto glitch", it is possible to generate a shiny Ditto without much effort. The glitch is as follows:
1. Take the shiny Red Gyarados from the Lake of Rage (any shiny Pokémon that can learn Mimic and can be traded to Red/Blue/Yellow will work, but Gyarados is the only one you're guaranteed to see), and trade it to Red, Blue or Yellow. Teach it Mimic using the TM.
2. Go to a place where wild Dittos appear. (Like routes 13, 14 and 15 in Red and Blue.
3. Gyarados must use Mimic. The list of Ditto's attacks will appear. (Of course its only attack is Transform).
4. Once you have copied Transform, Ditto will transform itself into Gyarados.
5. Use Transform too and copy the Ditto. Then, your foe may use Transform again, and then, catch it.
Ditto in 3D
6. Once the Ditto is caught, trade it to your Gold, Silver, or Crystal game and you'll have a Shiny Ditto.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Ditto makes an official appearance of sorts in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In the VS Tournament mode (either winner out or loser out) you can scroll through characters before starting your next battle. But, by pressing L and R, you change your character to "Random" which is represented by a Ditto (as if it transforms into whatever character you end up using).
In the Trading Card Game
Prior to the release of EX Delta Species, Ditto has seen several sporadic cards throughout the card game’s lengthy history, all as Basic Colorless Pokémon:
* Fossil
* Gym Challenge (as Koga’s Ditto)
* Skyridge
* EX Hidden Legends
However, once EX Delta Species was released, Ditto was given an entirely new image and role; Ten new Ditto cards were printed, all as Basic Pokémon, and they were almost all of different elements. The artwork on each card depicts a Ditto having transformed into a different Pokémon, but with its different, simplistic face still on it, much like the Ditto seen in the anime. There was one Colorless Ditto as itself, one Grass-type Ditto resembling Bulbasaur, two Fire-type Dittos resembling Charmander, two Water-type Dittos resembling Squirtle, two Lightning-type Dittos resembling Pikachu, one Ground-type Ditto resembling Geodude, and one Psychic-type Ditto resembling Mr.Mime.