Ditto’s transformation in Pokémon Pokopia raises big questions about its stomach

Pokémon anatomy is something that rarely crosses my mind. I’m not even bothered by how many legs a Pokémon has or how concerningly buff it might be. Yet after playing Pokémon Pokopia, I find myself preoccupied with thinking about the inside of Ditto. There’s a good reason for that, though, and it’s not as weird as you might think.

Ditto, transformed into the likeness of their former trainer, has a stylish little satchel like all trainers. Sometimes, Ditto puts items in there and removes them. Sometimes, Ditto puts items directly into their stomach by using the Stockpile move, then pukes the items up when they’re needed. There’s not even a rhyme or reason to which item gets what treatment other than whatever Ditto feels like at the time. Ditto puts a magazine rack in the bag, but brings it up from the depths of their guts when it’s time to decorate. Pick up one berry? Into the satchel. Need to grab several? Forget using hands and bags. Just inhale the suckers and take them out of the bag later.

Image: Koei Tecmo, Game Freak/Nintendo, The Pokémon Company via Polygon

So we can use a basic logical formula to draw some conclusions about Ditto.

• Ditto’s belly and Ditto’s satchel contain the same items.
• There are no restrictions on what kind of item can go in either location and how it must come out.
• Ergo, Ditto’s satchel is Ditto’s stomach.

This comes with some corollaries as well, namely:

• When Ditto expands inventory space, Ditto is expanding their stomach, too.
• Ditto’s stomach can exist outside of their body.
• Ditto’s stomach contains neat little compartments to slot stacks of similar items in without taking up additional space.

Forget Palkia and Dialga being the only lords of space and time. Ditto contains a small pocket dimension in its insides. Forget Leon Kennedy’s amazing briefcase-packing skills. Ditto could fit half a planet in their belly and still have room for 50 pieces of lumber and the neighbor’s bed.

Pokopia explodes the concept of Pokémon biology and just rolls merrily along like it’s no big deal. Like what, you can’t take part of your internal organs, turn them into something else, and still have them function like normal? Skill issue. Pokémon academia has clearly lagged too far behind and invested too many resources in the wrong areas of study. Understanding evolution isn’t the key to understanding Pokémon. The key is in Ditto’s tummy. Maybe even literally.