Trainers, we are not sure how to start this post. The new “Ditto cog” Pokemon and Kecleon is appearing in Australia and the Oceanic region, it turns into Ditto or Chickorita on catch (can be shiny also), and I’m (honestly) sitting completely confused at home in Croatia, having my morning coffee and trying to figure out what is happening.
Let’s see the facts behind one of the most mysterious events in Pokemon GO to date.
Nutto (Cog Ditto, Pokemon 891) encounters and facts
Here’s what we know about “Nutto”, aka cog ditto, aka Pokemon 891 from the network traffic:
- There are widespread encounters with “Nutto” (fan made name) all across the Oceanic region
- On capture, the Pokemon turns into a Ditto, with whom it apparently shares a body, or a Chickorita
- Nutto’s cry is the recently discovered updated Kecleon sound we found in our Pokemon GO 0.119.1 APK analysis: Kecleon sound update, Crabhammer, EX Raid Pass sharing, PokeStop submissions
- You can interact with it in any way you normally interact with Pokemon during capture encounters
- Nobody seems to understand why this Pokemon / whatever-it-is is appearing, but it seems completely intentional, as Niantic’s head of marketing for Pokemon GO is tweeting about it (yeah)
In short, something is happening and nobody knows what’s happening. This Pokemon is currently piggybacking on Kecleon’s IDs, sound files and that makes even weirder, as Kecleon is also appearing in the wild!
???#ポケモンGO pic.twitter.com/LFLtB12qJH
— Kento Suga(須賀健人) (@kentosuga) September 22, 2018
??? SquishyNut’s Attack Animation!!
With @trnrtips #pokemongo #squishynut #newpokemon #mysterypokemon #pokemon pic.twitter.com/MACXoQrtPF— PkmnMasterHolly (@PkmnMasterHolly) September 22, 2018
Currently, the leading theory is that this is some form of cross promotion between Pokemon GO and Pokemon Let’s Go! games, which in all fairness does make sense, as it does three things:
- Promotes Pokemon GO as the platform to see a new Pokemon
- Promotes Pokemon Let’s Go! as the platform to obtain the new Pokemon
- Promotes both games through a mystery, which is one of the most effective ways to engage an audience
Kecleon is also here (at least the model?)
To make things even more weird, Kecleon, the Pokemon on top of who’s code and asset infrastructure Nutto lives, is also appearing in the wild. You can catch it, only for it to switch into a Ditto or Chickorita afterwards. <insert shrug emoji here>
Kecleon but upon capture appearantly turns into Ditto 🧐#PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/7UKrw3BZlJ
— 【🔴 LIVE!】REVERSAL (@REVERSALx7) September 22, 2018
The reactions to these Pokemon are split, with massive confusion on both the player and content creator’s side. In these confusing times, the only source of truth seems to be contextual evidence: an official tweet here or there, time and place of release, Let’s Go! release coming soon, etc…
To end, here’s a wild theory from Twitter:
WHAT IF THIS IS HOW THEY INTRODUCE KECLEON IN POKEMON GO! 😫
It doesn’t make much sense having a camouflage Pokémon just cruising around the overworld. Maybe all we’ll see on the map is it’s eye + tail and the ditto placeholder just holds the coding for the “oh?” dialogue 💀 pic.twitter.com/IUrjrFkJHC
— Xania the Witch Ⓙ (@SkinnySnubbull) September 22, 2018
