Mr. Mime (Mime Jr.)

Spectaculi ioculator

Nomenclature

Unusually, this entry must begin with a note on a species name. The species whose adult form is usually referred to as “mr. mime” does not appear to have a biological sex. They reproduce by a bonded pair manifesting a physical egg. No physical contact is required to do this. The species does not communicate telepathically with even very experienced psychics. As such, they cannot directly communicate whether or not they have a gender identity. Individuals given access to human clothing tend to use both male- and female-coded items indiscriminately. Most quickly get bored and stop putting on any at all. There is substantial debate as to whether or not a gendered clothing preference would even matter.

In 1997, the Department of Agriculture renamed mr. mime to mime sr. After the most recent volume of this text was published, the government abruptly reversed that decision without a notice and comment period. Unusually, they did not provide a statement justifying the decision.

While we are ordinarily hesitant to speculate on the reasoning of the Department of Agriculture, the current President of the United States once said during a campaign speech: “Folks, men are under attack. When I grew up it was mr. mime, now it’s, get this, ‘mime sr.’ Can you believe that? We­—they always say, look, women need to be proud right? Well, what about men? Why can’t men be proud? In China they’re proud. That’s why they’re winning. [Eleven pages of transcript discussing China, automobiles, CNN, his hotels on the Arabian Peninsula, an actress, three primary opponents, his hands, European clocks, daylight savings time, and recycled plastic have been omitted.] And let me tell you, when I’m president we’re going to make mime mr. again. Believe me. Believe me.”

Reflecting the formal guidance of the Department of Agriculture, future versions of this guidebook will be updated to change references from mime sr. to mr. mime. For now, the online and pokédex models will begin with this note. The rest of the entry will refer to the adult form of the species as mr. mime.

Introduction

Pokémon are usually grouped into three superkingdoms: the organics, the machines, and the phantoms. Organic pokémon more or less obey the rules of biology, with a few quirks and biologically inexplicable powers. Machines at least imitate biology, even if they reproduce asexually and are based on silica rather than carbon. The phantoms usually don’t have any sort of recognizable biology.

There does appear to be a ‘missing link’ between the organics and phantoms that is still very much alive today: the true psychic family. True psychics imitate biology when alive and often have typically mammalian hairs and body shapes. They even DNA that appears to determine phenotypes.

Everything else about them is bizarre. They appear to feed on emotions, thoughts and other mental and spiritual energies like the phantoms often do. Their bodies disappear when they die. True psychics also distort the dimensional fabric around them to a much greater degree than even the phantoms.

Mr. mime was originally native to Kalos. They became a popular companion of traveling bards for their uncanny ability to mimic the movements of others and to create invisible barriers out of thin air. They were steadily exported to other regions as bards traveled farther and farther with advances in naval technology and international trade routes. Backlash often followed. The king of Paldea found them to be creepy and demonic, and he tried to cull every single mr. mime in the country as a response.

In 1956, a circus was set up in Hau’oli. While initially popular, it found itself deeply in debt and with declining attendance. The owner decided to close the circus and release all of the pokémon in it. This established the first colony of mr. mime on Alola. The DNR determined that Mr. Mime are relatively harmless, don’t compete for organic food, and are popular with competitive battlers, wealthy families, and some children. They are thus a low priority for removal.

Mr. mime are incredibly solid battlers, often willing to help with routine chores, and do not require their trainer to purchase and carry around food for them. Trainers trainers can put up with their need for attention and creepy appearance should strongly consider adding one to their team.

Physiology

Both mr. mime and mime jr. have an undisputed psychic-typing. Both have historically regarded as fairies in Kalos and are often found in fairy courts. This makes their fairy-typing also relatively uncontroversial.

Mime jr. generally have short, stocky bodies. Their legs are very short and they have no knees. The lower portion of their body is coated in blue fur, the exact shade of which varies between individuals. Their upper body is covered in pink, purple or red fur. The one exception is their head, which is covered in long, thick, blue hair that tends to clump together and stick up. Mime jr. like to seek out a pearl, bead, or other round object to put on top of their hair. They try to keep the object balanced and will cry if it falls off.

Mime jr. have long, thin arms. They also have two small red growths on their body, one on their navel and one on their nose. Neither mime jr. nor mr. mime has ears. They do have eyes and a mouth, but no vocal cords or lungs. Mr. mime never have any apparent reproductive organs. They may have a heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, intestines, appendix, or gall bladder. They may also not have any or all of those organs. In any case, the heart does not beat and none of the other organs appear to function.

Mr. mime has a disc-like torso covered in white fur. They have the same red outgrowths as mime jr., but much larger and located at the base of their limbs, their navel, and on their cheeks. They have four small red growths on the ends of their fingers. Mr. mime has the same red fur as mime jr. on their face. They lose their visible nose but retain a nasal slit. Mr. mime also lose their eyelids. Instead of one long clump of hair, mr. mime usually have two with one jutting out from either side of their head. They usually outgrow their habit of balancing objects by this point. All of mr. mime’s limbs are long, thin, and coated in a layer of white hairs. Mr. mime have four joints on each limb and are double jointed on all four. At the end of their legs, mr. mime have long feet that curl up at the end. They are usually the same color as their juvenile blue fur, except they are hard structures made of keratin. Mr. Mime have long, broad hands. Their fingers are double-jointed and have more joints than the average human hand.

A fully-grown mr. mime usually has a mass of about eighty pounds. Fully extended, they can reach heights of sixty inches. The lifespan of mr. mime in the wild and in captivity closely tracks the average human lifespan in the area.

Behavior

Rather than normal food, mr. mime and mime jr. appear to feed off of human attention and fascination. They prefer to live near large human settlements and will often venture into cities to give performances on street corners or in public parks. Mr. mime used in arenas or other places with many people being entertained (see Battling) usually have brighter fur and more energy than the average specimen. When they are not performing, mr. mime find a secluded area and sit down, fold their limbs to appear small as possible, and stop moving. During their resting state they remain smiling with their eyes wide open.

Mr. mime hate interacting with conspecifics. They only seek each other out to mate and they abandon their mate and child immediately after reproduction occurs (see Breeding). The one exception is that mr. mime held in very active public places will sometimes tolerate each other, but they will not interact unless ordered to do so and they will constantly try to upstage the rest of their circus.

Mime jr. will usually seek out surrogate parents. These can be humans, other true psychics (or alakazam), fey courts, or individual fairy or bipedal pokémon. They are very nervous when they are not being watched over by their surrogate parent. When they feel safe, mime jr. are very playful and will constantly play games with themselves or attempt to perform for someone else. They are perfectionists and will often break down in tears at the slightest mistake, even though they are not yet very skilled at mimicry or even graceful movement.

Mr. mime never speak, even telepathically. They lack ears but can understand spoken commands. They cannot understand music and recorded voices. Mr. mime ordinarily use telepathy to read the nervous systems of similarly structured creatures. This allows them to perfectly mimic the movements of humans. Less well known is their ability to project their own movements onto humans and other bipeds. This is usually only possible after a psychic link is established through mimicry. Mr. Mime never cause the being they are controlling to speak or write.

Husbandry

The species is generally safe around humans. There are three broad exceptions. Mime jr. or mr. mime in a fey court are every bit as dangerous as every other member of a fey court. Most mr. mime will lash out violently if their performance is interrupted or mocked. Finally, some specimens become too attached to one individual and become addicted to their attention. If this attention is ever withdrawn, the pokémon may kidnap the target of their affection and, if necessary, keep their body controlled and performing gestures of affection forever. Trainers of mr. mime are strongly urged to keep another pokémon as well to prevent this from happening. Bringing other humans in to watch the mr. mime or having multiple family members give the pokémon roughly equal amounts of attention is also advised.

So long as these warnings are followed, mr. mime are excellent partner pokémon. They do not require food. They can sleep up to sixteen hours a day. They are also fascinated enough with humans that they can sometimes be convinced to do routine human tasks such as sweeping, mopping or cleaning dishes. If a mr. mime does not want to do these things, they should never be forced to do them.

The main drawback of keeping mr. mime is their need for attention. They will expect their trainer to spend several hours with them a day, either venting to the mr. mime (they are very good listeners), watching a performance, or allowing them to mimic their trainer’s movements while in public or doing a complex task. On rare occasions, they may take over their trainer’s body for an hour or so.

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Mime Jr. are even more demanding in their own way. They are typically content to just watch what their trainer does and try to imitate it, but they will sometimes want to perform. Both present problems. Mime jr. will inevitably make mistakes in their spontaneous imitations and performances, causing them great emotional distress. Their trainer will then need to drop whatever they were doing and console them. It is speculated that they even make mistakes on purpose from time to time to get attention. They are also less used to linking their nervous systems than mr. mime are; this can sometimes result in involuntary twitches or inexplicable sensations in nearby humans. Sometimes weirder results such as full body or perception swaps can occur.

Mr. mime should be given a secluded place to sleep in, ideally one humans rarely enter. Mime jr. should be allowed to sleep in their trainer’s bed. They are more than tough enough to survive a human rolling onto them and they can’t choke on blankets because they don’t breathe. Their pokéballs should be used very sparingly, ideally only when the pokémon is injured or right before major formal matches.

Illness

When a mr. mime receives insufficient attention, they may become withdrawn, lethargic and bitter. This, ironically, results in the pokémon receiving even less attention than they were before. Taking a day and doing nothing but playing with a Mr. Mime can usually reverse this.

The vast majority of trainers will experience only temporary maladies from mime jr. attempting nervous systems links. The more serious cases tend to be spotted fairly quickly. Some powerful human or pokémon psychics can resolve these problems without permanent side effects.

Evolution

When a mime jr. has enough confidence in their own mimicry abilities, they will evolve. They are not gradual or flash evolvers; they are in a rare third category that simply disappears and reappears a moment later in their adult form. This process is literally faster than blinking. There is no bright flash of light. Evolution simply happens. Curiously, the new mr. mime will almost never acknowledge that they were ever a juvenile and will immediately begin acting as if everything is normal.

Evolution cannot be accelerated by battling, but can be hastened by the mime jr.’s surrogate parents spending more time with them. Trainers who want to evolve their mime jr. quickly should play with their pokémon whenever possible and never stray more than a few yards away.

Battling

Mr. mime are seen on almost every professional battlefield—on the sidelines. A rhydon cannot go all out with a seismic attack without leveling all but the sturdiest of structures around them. A missed hydreigon draco meteor could easily kill several spectators. Arguably, high level professional battling is only possible because of mr. mime. The pokémon put on a show at the start of most professional matches, although this part is usually omitted from telecasts. This gives the pokémon a boost in power and confidence that allows them to form shields around the battlefield. These barriers keep attacks, field effects, and pokémon inside of the arena while still allowing all but the harshest of lights and sounds to pass through.

Mr. mime form these shields in one of two ways. The more powerful method is belief. If someone nearby believes that their walls are real and can block attacks, they spontaneously become real. These walls persist until physically broken, the belief falters, or the last believer leaves the area. Mr. mime can also create temporary barriers by using small vibrations of their fingertips to still molecules in front of them. They can create a feedback loop where the temporary barrier visibly holds, convincing bystanders that it is real. This, in turn, causes the barrier to become far stronger, which fosters more belief in the power of the barrier, which causes the barrier to become stronger, and so on. This makes mr. mime shields uniquely powerful in large stadiums where powerful attacks routinely hit their shields without breaking them.

There is some debate as to whether trainers themselves should be allowed to use mr. mime in stadium matches, or whether stadium capacity should be limited for professional battles where one side has a mr. mime. It has been repeatedly shown that trainer’s Mr. Mime are less powerful in isolated matches, such as remotely telecast matches fought on top of Mt. Silver or on desert islands. Mr. mime on the battlefield do not appear to receive assistance from specimens on the sidelines of the battlefield. This is not surprising given Mr. Mime’s antipathy towards others of their species.

In 2006, at the peak of baton pass teams’ popularity, eleven of the top one-hundred trainers used a mr. mime on their main team. Rule changes to punish the playstyle have decreased mr. mime’s prominence, but they are still among the top thirty most used pokémon in major tournaments.

Every baton pass team, and a fair few bulky and hyper offense teams, have a mr. mime at their core. The pokémon can temporarily distract an opponent through disable, encore, taunt or torment. Then they start to set up the shields. Only the very strongest of opponents, or those with unique shield-breaking abilities, can get around the barriers in less than one minute. In the meantime, mr. mime meditate through nasty plot or calm mind. They periodically fortify the shields as needed and then resume boosting up. Once the switch timer runs out, they immediately baton pass to either another link in the baton pass chain or to an offensive pokémon. A hydreigon with fifteen minutes of nasty plot boosting and mr. mime shields behind it (and maybe other boosts from the rest of the chain) can sweep most full, healthy teams.

Most baton pass counters, such as merciless offense, toxic, perish song, and taunt, do not work on mr. mime because of their shields, bizarre biology, or deafness. Instead, their weakness is their relative lack of offensive presence. Some trainers will let mr. mime do whatever it wants behind the barrier. In the meantime, they have their own pokémon set up. This can take the form of stat boosting or arena control. The above hydreigon can theoretically sweep a team, but not if their first opponent also has several minutes worth of boosts or extremely favorable arena conditions

Mr. mime can use their own offensive abilities and shoot out attacks such as dazzling gleam or charge beam through the barrier. But even with several minutes of boosting (or baton pass boosts of their own), mr. mime are only powerful enough to match the average top tier offensive pokemon. And every second spent attacking is a second that mr. mime isn’t boosting or fortifying their barriers. While they lack conventional weak points, mr. mime are still rather fragile and can’t take many hits once their walls come down.

As such, mr. mime is increasingly viewed as an insurance policy: one way or another, the winner of the matchup right after mr. mime baton passes out is going to take the match. If a trainer has had a very bad match and is left with only mr. mime and a special attacker, they can effectively wipe out the rest of the match beforehand. This has led to some rumblings about banning baton pass altogether because it “takes the skill out of battling.”

Island Challenge battles are not fought in front of sold out stadiums. Only the champion, the challenger and a referee are allowed in the throne room during title defense matches. The elite four chambers and the throne room are all guarded by technology derived from bronzong and partially fortified by ninetales, not Mr. Mime, to get around the lack of crowds. The Malie Gym uses mr. mime, and Alola Stadium (still under construction as of this volume’s publication) will use mr. mime.

The lack of attention diminishes effectiveness, but in turn not many enemies can dish out professional tier attacks. This means that mr. mime can still make shields that hold off most opponents for at least a minute, even with relatively few spectators. After evolution or capture mr. mime should be taught a few offensive attacks such as charge beam and dazzling gleam. Then training should focus on boosting moves. A mr. mime can do very well for themselves up until the elite four without knowing baton pass. The default strategy for using mr. mime in casual battle is to disrupt the opponent, set up shields, boost for a minute or so, and then start firing out attacks. Opponents who take the time to counter-boost can be troublesome, as mr. mime has no good way to boost their defenses outside of their barriers.

Mime jr. should only be battled with in very controlled settings against weak opponents. They strongly prefer friendly play to battle and losses can upset their self-confidence for days or even weeks.

Acquisition

Mime jr. and mr. mime can be captured, adopted, or purchased with a Class III license.

They are most commonly found in the suburbs of Hau’oli, although they sometimes venture into more rural areas or into the heart of the city. Mr. mime are most often seen while performing. These performances should never be disrupted, as the mr. mime will fly into a rage and, if captured, never trust their trainer. Mr. mime are creative, vindictive, and have psychic powers; angering one and then keeping it close is folly of the highest degree.

Mr. mime are best captured by simply approaching one moving between locations or sitting down next to a resting mr. mime. Showing the pokémon a pokéball and watching a full performance with suitably vigorous applause at the end will usually gain the pokémon’s trust and they will allow themselves to be captured. They feed off of attention and are entirely willing to be trained by humans if it means a constant source of food.

Mime jr. are somewhat trickier to capture. A mime jr. that has not found a surrogate parent after a few hours will usually cry very loudly until either a predator or potential parent approaches. Walking around the woods north of Hau’oli or the suburbs of the city and listening for tears is as good a way to find one. Any unclaimed mime jr. will be very friendly to potential surrogate parents and will make no effort whatsoever to resist capture. If a mime jr. already has parents or shows disinterest in capture, it is best to leave the pokémon alone to avoid angering their parents.

Breeding

Mr. mime do not need physical contact to breed. In fact, a pair have successfully mated through a video link while sixty miles apart. When two receptive mr. mime see each other, one will spontaneously begin performing while the other watches. The other will reply with a performance of their own. If both are reasonably impressed, they will begin a synchronized routine that lasts for one to two hours. Then both will stand motionless for several minutes until a mime jr. spontaneously appears next to one of them. Both parents will then immediately ignore the child and each other. Mr. mime can mate several times throughout their lives, but they will never mate with (or even acknowledge) a past partner again.

Relatives

There is a second known species of mr. mime. Mr. Mime was banished from southern Galar during The Protectorate and largely moved north and away from human civilization. Deprived of their usual energy source, they turned to entertaining wild pokémon in harsh environments. On occasion they have been known to kidnap travelers to have a literally captive audience. The captive will usually be let go when a new human comes along. Northern mr. mime (S. gelidapedes) are ice-types that can freeze the ground beneath them and move through snow and ice without problem. In addition to telepathic barriers, northern mr. mime can also create elaborate ice sculptures and walls. Some have been known to form mazes of ice and invisible walls.

Northern mr. mime can evolve into mr. rime in the same disappearance-reappearance manner as their first evolution. Mr. rime are slightly shorter than their counterparts and always carry a prop made of ice. This is usually a cane. Their prop has an enormous amount of elemental energy stored into it and can be used as a focus point for powerful attacks. However, they are not quite as fast as mr. mime. They tend to evolve from specimens that engage in a lot more combat than is typical for the species. The loss of speed and stamina matters little if the mr. mime historically has not been able to avoid fights, anyway. Mr. rime do not run, but they can unleash devastating effects and form ice constructs that appear to move and breathe. They often use their constructs to entertain others. Their mimicry abilities also seem to have been dampened by evolution.