About

Mewtwo's Birthday is an annual event for fans of Pokemon. It takes place on February 6th, the canonical birthdate of Mewtwo. As it is one of the few birthdays in Pokemon history to be explicitly stated in-game, many Pokemon fans take this opportunity to celebrate with fanart and public recognition in social media.

Origin

Mewtwo is a Legendary Pokemon with Psychic abilities, with an imposing extra-terrestrial design^[1]. One curious detail about this particular Pokemon is that it was given a canonical birthday. Mewtwo was birthed by Mew^[2], which – according to the Pokedex – is a separate species.
Present in Generation 1 of Pokemon, the player travels into the Pokemon Mansion for a key to unlock the 7th Gym. Along the way, their character can stumble across a variety of diary entries strewn across the building. One entry in particular has the text "Feb. 6. Mew Gave Birth".^[3]

This diary entry can also be found in the GBA remakes of FireRed/LeafGreen--^[3]

-- As well as in the Switch Re-remakes of Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, with minor text alterations.^[3]

Spread

While existing as trivia since Pokemon Red and Blue, internet culture wouldn't start picking up on celebrating it until the late 2000s and early 2010s. The earliest found image about Mewtwo's Birthday can be found on Deviantart in Feb. 6 2009, created by user Vye-Brante (Below, Left). Another example would be made in Oct 18, 2009, created by user Natty354 (Below, Right). While it was about Mewtwo celebrating a birthday alone in sadness, the posted date was several months off, with the artist's description appearing to comment on their own birthday experience as an inspiration.

The earliest known example of someone celebrating Mewtwo's birthday – on the day of – was on February 6th 2011, by user "floooooooooooooooood" (Shown Below, upper-left). The user showed two in-game examples of the text describing the date of Mewtwo's birth in the Pokemon Mansion. A year later, user Vincenzo Balistreri would upload a song about Mewtwo to celebrate (Shown Below, upper-right).

Eventually, around 2012 would be when the trivia info became more mainstream knowledge. More Youtubers would gradually recognize and wish Mewtwo a happy birthday, with two examples seen below:

(W.I.P.)

Examples

(W.I.P.)

(plenty to come soon, I just really want Knowyourmeme to celebrate Mewtwo's Birthday before it's too late today)

Search Interest

External References

^[1] CBR – 29 Years Ago Today, MEW Gave Birth

^[2] Wikipedia – Mewtwo's Birth

^[3] Bulbapedia – Pokemon Mansion Journals