Rumor has it that fans have been getting upset over some of the new starter Pokemon evolutions due to them being, well a little too feminine. We here at Nerd Union are wondering why exactly this is the first time anyone has made a fuss over “feminine” looking Pokemon.
Now let’s be clear before we start. Everyone has a constitutional right to dress or look however they want up to a point of breaking public indecency laws and we are in no way trying to tell anyone how they ought to look based on their gender! (at least in the U.S. they do. I don’t know about other countries.) That being said in this post we are going to talk based on what has been historically seen as “looking masculine or feminine,” due to the nature and content of what many on the internet have been discussing regarding Brionne and Dartrix.
When the starter evolutions were revealed some fans rejoiced while others were thoroughly upset. Fans were upset for various reasons but many in particular seemed to be upset over Brionne and Dartrix having a “Feminine” appearance. Like I said before, We here at Nerd Union certainly aren’t aiming to tell anyone how they should look or anything like that (In fact one of our staff is a big fan of bearded Leia,) but we wanted the critics of Brionne to maybe just give their opinion on a few other more “feminine” Pokemon who happen to go all the way back to gen 1.
Clefairy and all of its forms
Jigglypuff and all its forms
Beautifly
Volbeat
Vivillion
Altaria
Togepi and all its forms
Gardevoir!!!!
Mawile
Audino
Goodra
Spritzee and its forms
Swirlix and its forms
Sylveon! (Which is actually, mostly male)
There are even more but I think I have plenty of examples above. People didn’t raise a stink about how feminine and girly those pokemon looked before. Heck, even Togekiss became notorious for being able to take down any Pokemon due to its serene grace ability and moveset. The look of any of these Pokemon has never stopped anyone from using them before. We also have never heard of anyone complaining of a Pokemon being too masculine either, (Machamp, Abomasnow, Scizor, Electabuzz, etc …) but hey double standards don’t matter since they are common and its not like those previously mentioned Pokemon can be female … oh wait, yeah they can. But again, there was no uproar about how masculine they looked or anything like that so why do we care now? I am a pretty conservative Christian guy when it comes to various issues and morality and my Faith and such but really? Are we seriously getting mad that a water Pokemon that has its theme based around blowing carnival bubbles and dancing happens to have what looks like a skirt or looks “girly?” Does it have any impact in game that they look to be a certain gender? NOPE. Thus, it is not a big deal at all. Maybe we need more “Feminine things” in games anyways. The Popplio line has a certain thematic to it and maybe it is more feminine in nature but you know what? It works for it. Ever seen a female Sea lion in real life? They look just a big and scary as a male one does. IN ACTUAL LIFE! What makes it strange that Brionne looks how it does for both genders? Can we not do better than this and just enjoy the game instead when it comes out? Don’t let something like the appearance of a Pokemon not ruin the whole game for us, especially since this has zero impact on the actual viability of the Pokemon. So what if it looks feminine? We haven’t gotten mad about masculine looking Pokemon so why did we get upset over Dartrix and Popplio? (I don’t think Dartrix looks feminine personally but some apparently have said Dartrix does.)