THE MASTER BALL
what is it? what can it do? who made it, and how or why was it created? all of these questions are extremely popular amongst conspiratorial crowds, even though the existence of such a ball is just an unconfirmed rumor.
WHAT IS A MASTER BALL?
although i likely don't have to introduce it, for those of you who don't know, the master ball is a theoretical pokéball which is able to catch any pokémon without failure– from someone else's pokémon, to ultra beasts, legendary gods, even possibly non-existent mythical pokémon. one swing of this thing and it'll capture it, just like that. although it is, technically, only theoretical, there have been rumors of its existence being used by terrorist and criminal organizations across the world. for example, the kantonese yakuza group known as team rocket was rumored to invent the ball while silph co was under their control; allegedly, they planned to use it to catch a mewtwo– pokémon which, again, is only rumored to exist.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
well, nobody is sure for certain. that's.. honestly the most i can say as someone who knows nothing about capture technology. some theories report it to be some type of mind control device, while others just believe that it is, at its core, a highly advanced pokéball such as an ultra ball, but without any chance of failure. there are a couple of scientific papers written by dr. gantetsu with a very scientific, technical breakdown of how it may work, but it is not something i can summarize, or understand, very easily.
if you are interested in the master ball, i recommend you read his paper theories on the mechanic of an unfailing capturing mechanism within the pokéball. it's a somewhat long, tedious read, but very informative nonetheless!
WHO'S BEHIND ALL THIS?
now, answering this question is where the theories start to get really interesting. i'll personally be breaking down the three most popular ideas, but just know that there are hundreds more theories out there– ranging from the realistic to the extraterrestrial.
team rocket: as i briefly mentioned, rocket was a kantonese yakuza organization, headed by the infamous gym leader turned crime boss, sakaki owari, better known by his pseudonym– giovanni. we know that team rocket was obsessed with and hungry for power, which resulted them in trying to catch mewtwo, a rumored legendary pokémon that is supposedly the strongest of all. in their pursuits to this goal, they had taken over silph co, where they allegedly began to attempt the manufacturing of a perfect pokéball. in my own opinion, this theory seems grounded and is the most realistic of the three– but, upon sakaki's sudden suicide and former rocket members' obstinate silence, we may never hear if this truly was the case.
lysandre labs: in kalos, this theory is one of the most popular out there. for those who are unaware, lysandre labs was owned by lysandre fleur-de-lis, the leader of a terrorist organization known as team flare who destroyed cromlac'h, or geosenge. lysandre labs, for years, was intensely popular due to its cutting edge innovations within every technical field– including the pokéballs which it manufactured. monsieur fleur-de-lis was known for his perfectionism, so it makes sense that he would've strived to create the perfect everything– pokéballs included. however, this theory is primarily conjecture, as there is little evidence of team flare or lysandre labs to be involved with the development of capturing technology; instead, they were primarily focused on making sure a ball's manufacturing was perfect, to prevent damage to the balls themselves. as a kalosian who is intimately aware of lysandre's actions, i personally don't believe this theory. after all, he was the one who wanted to raze the entire world, so why would he have a need for such a device?
dr. gantetsu: i'm unsure of where this idea actually came from, but it's a surprisingly popular idea that dr. gantetsu himself had created the ball, and is attempting to cover up that fact or mislead potential competitors with his "research". the reason for this.. varies, from simply wanting to make money, to more nefarious goals which tend to slander the man's name. although he is extremely well-known for his scientific contributions to the field of capturing technology and the creation of situational pokéballs, there is absolutely no reason to suspect he created the master ball. he, himself, has stated “i do not believe such a thing is possible, even if i find the idea intriguing. ethics and morality aside, the idea of a so-called master ball would be so time-consuming and arduous to create that it wouldn't even be worth the cost” (from: olivine times' article, leading scientist on a possible perfect pokéball). and, even as someone who enjoys conspiracy theories, i just can't really see any reason to suspect him of lying.
