Mew @ Everywhere

One of the great things about Pokémon Go is its AR feature, which allows a player to actually catch Pokémon as they appear in the real world with the help of the device's camera. The feature also allows pictures to be taken of Pokémon with their actual surroundings. With a little patience and some effort, one can conceivably build up a collection of pictures. One case in particular is helped by the addition of research tasks, in particular the first Special Research task set featuring Mew.

It was theorized by someone on the Internet that one could, after completing all research tasks and obtaining the chance to encounter Mew, keep Mew not captured for an indefinite period of time and use it as a "virtual photo box", taking a shot of it in many places and various settings. Because of this, I have dubbed it as a project titled "Mew @ Everywhere". This was a project that I and another person in my raid group took on after we both had completed all the required tasks leading up to the Mew encounter. To say the least, it's an interesting project to take on after all the previous challenging research tasks that we had to complete.

For other Pokémon, AR mode is optional; they may be captured with or without AR. Mew, however, is different: it must be captured with AR mode on, and will initiate AR upon encounter, regardless of prior setting. This wasn't really a challenge, so much as what happens afterwards. Within a few seconds after encounter, Mew turns "invisible" until the Poké Ball provided for its capture - the only one, which never disappears - is thrown in its direction, which isn't exactly the point of this project. Therefore the best way to capture a shot with Mew visible in it is during the first few seconds of initiating the encounter, which takes some quick motions. Of course, the encounter may be restarted by running away, then going into the capture challenge again, which might be necessary in some circumstances. This was what we took advantage of for the project.

After taking on the project, I was able to take shots of Mew in 20 places that most represent the point of this project, which is to go to many places to take photos of Mew. Mew seems at home in a hut I found:

Mew also likes a quaint local park in the neighborhood:

At a post office, Mew is content to hang out:

The market is a cool place for Mew:

As well, Mew seems to show an interest in some books:

These are 5 of those 20 places that I took pictures of Mew in. The rest of the shots I took can be seen in a photo gallery at this link, as hosted on my OneDrive. As for this project, it has ended; shortly after I took my last photo, I threw the Poké Ball at Mew, capturing it and completing the Special Research. The next Special Research is most likely for the Mythical Pokémon Celebi, and the same technique should be perfectly applicable, so this will likely lead into a "Celebi @ Everywhere" project.

This kind of project is by no means limited to Mew, but it does seem very special to do it with Mew, given that it appears in a unique manner and only one can be obtained. It's something unique that can be done using the AR feature in Pokémon Go, and helped by research. With a little luck and some know-how, it really might not be hard to think that Mew is actually everywhere.

One year ago: What Kind of Pokémon Are You?