Why do the gays love Pokémon so much?-Shaun Kitchener-Entertainment – Metro

Although I was relatively late to the party, I still haven’t left it – and have no plans to (Picture: Pokémon)

Pokémon is, many will argue, a children’s game.

They have a point; it’s certainly kiddie friendly. The playable character is very young (as young as 10 in the TV anime), the titular creatures are cute and colourful, and the villains are zany at best, inoffensively bland at worst.

Yes, battles are a key part of the gameplay, but they’re done in a very mild, cartoonish way: even if a critter is blasted with flames, electrocuted at high voltage, poisoned, frozen solid and buried alive in a Rock Tomb all in the space of one fight, there won’t be any damage that a quick visit to a Pokémon Centre won’t fix.

It’s very tame, very gentle, very suitable for anyone over the age of seven – and I, at 33, absolutely love it.

I had Pokémon Red (and then Yellow) as a young kid, I splashed my pocket money on Silver and Ruby as a teen, and earlier this year – after staying with it ever since – I felt all serious and mature as I got lost in what is truly the thinking person’s Pokémon epic: Legends Arceus.

One group that has very definitely been enjoying Pokémon well into adulthood is the LGBTQ+ community.

At the Mighty Hoopla Weekender back in January, myself and my husband dragged-up for a TV-themed fancy dress night as Jessie and James, two of the campest baddies to ever exist; and I write this very piece in a hoodie with the three original starters emblazoned on the front.

I can’t tell you how many gays dressed as Ash or Pikachu wanted pics with Jessie and James at Mighty Hoopla (Picture: Supplied)

I’m not an anomaly, or part of some quiet niche: 26 years on from its debut, Pokémon remains huge, across multiple age groups in multiple territories.

At time of writing, the newly released Scarlet and Violet editions occupy the Top 2 on the UK videogame chart, with the biggest physical games launch of 2022 – eclipsing the latest output from both Call of Duty and FIFA.

Back in 2017, following the launch of Pokémon Sun and Moon a year earlier – which came hot on the heels of the enormous Pokémon Go – Nintendo revealed that the franchise had enraptured more players in their 20s and 30s than ever before.

And it’s not hard to find queer folks on Twitter getting excited whenever new games are announced, new species are teased or new gameplay footage is trailed. I can’t tell you how many gays dressed as Ash or Pikachu wanted pics with Jessie and James at Mighty Hoopla.

But why do we love it so much?

For me, the most obvious element is nostalgia. As a child, I was obsessed with the games, the show, and the trading cards (yes I had a shiny Charizard, yes I managed to lose it). Although I don’t watch the anime anymore and – in my case the trading cards were just a childhood fad – a love for the games has remained.

That seems to be a common thread.

The newly released Scarlet and Violet editions occupy the Top 2 on the UK videogame chart (Picture: The Pokémon Company)

I spoke to a few other queer Pokémon fans, and 34-year-old Ben – currently on holiday in Morocco with his new copy of Scarlet – said: ‘I think we reach a certain age where we have fond memories of our childhood compared to the world we live in today – see also Spice Girls, Tamagotchi, etcetera.’

David, 30, who co-hosts the epic podcast Critical Ditto, pointed out that when we were kids, literally everybody was obsessed with it – which ties it all up in a sense of belonging that we haven’t often found since. ‘Everyone liked Pokémon, so I was just… normal. Which was rare, as a gay kid,’ he says.

That’s true for me, too. In fact, in Year 6 I remember being the last of my friendship group to join the bandwagon (I nicked my brother’s copy of Pokémon Blue before getting my own Red) and being met with funny looks when I said I ‘was stuck on the bit with the Bug Catcher’.

But although I was relatively late to the party, I still haven’t left it – and have no plans to.

Life is continually challenging for queer folks, for a whole multitude of reasons both obvious and complex – and there’s certainly something to be said about wanting to lose yourself in a colourful, innocent world where – sure – queerness doesn’t seem to explicitly exist; but nor does queerphobia, intolerance or the so-called culture wars.

Plus, Matt, 26, points out something I hadn’t even considered: there is hardly any explicit romance among the core human characters.

He says: ‘This was a big deal with the Classic Doctor Who fandom too, which had a large queer following because there was no hanky panky in the Tardis. Even Mario has Princess Peach, looming their heterosexuality over you.’

Pokémon is exceptionally camp (Picture: Supplied)

‘I don’t think we consciously think about it but there is a comfort to… if not being seen, not being unseen.’

To that effect, David adds: ‘Nintendo’s inability to engage with queerness in any way, across all their games, somehow creates incredibly queer visuals, and it’s undeniable that Pokémon is the Nintendo franchise that queers hang on to the most.’

And let’s not overlook the fact that it’s exceptionally camp – something every single person I spoke to pointed out.

Jynx? High drag! Jigglypuff? Main pop girlie! Farfetch’d? An icon who loves an accessory! And that’s just Generation 1.

Shout-out too for how flamboyantly a lot of the humans dress. Another queer fan, 26-year-old Julia, says: ‘Lots of the characters in the games and the anime very much present out of the hetero/cisnormative ways of dressing and acting and I think that appeals. I’m thinking of characters like May’s rival Harley as a good example.’

‘And I know lots of queer folk who had Pokémon characters they had an attraction towards who seem queer coded,’ Julia added. ‘For me, it was Flannery from Gen III, a fire gym leader who seems very much like a femme lesbian. Again, presents with camp, queer clothes and style.’

The franchise plays to the gays outside of the actual games, too, even if it doesn’t mean to: Katy Perry releasing an earnest empowerment bop as a Pokémon tie-in (Electric) was highly iconic, as was a scientist played by Rita Ora seemingly being killed by a Mewtwo in the Detective Pikachu film.

Factor in the elements of expression in customising your blank-slate of a character (whose lack of speech means you can essentially project your own self onto them), of picking your own team, of nurturing said team up to their most powerful evolutions… It all makes for a world that’s as inviting in adulthood as it was when we were little.

Gus, 28, says: ‘For me personally, it’s just a part of my childhood that I’ve always felt drawn to. I’m not a massive gamer anymore but Pokémon is one of the few franchises that I’m without a doubt still attached to. I never get bored of it.’

I’m the same: most of what’s in my collection now is either a remake of or a sequel/spin-off to something I enjoyed as a child: think Crash Team Racing, or Mario Kart, or Lego Star Wars. The simpler the better.

And Pokémon is incredibly simple at its core. While certain mechanics have been tweaked over the years and the technology has evolved, it’s essentially the same game every single time – whether you’re picking up a version from the 1990s or the one that came out just the other week.

‘Pokémon is the most incredible comfort blanket,’ David says. ‘It’s a shame we always know exactly what we’re getting from Pokémon – but it’s also why I play it. I don’t eat chip butties for the excitement, but I couldn’t live off molecular gastronomy. You need both. That’s Pokémon for me.’

Can you blame us for always craving that comfort blanket? Every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, there’s something in the news – however prominently – about some sort of evil befalling our siblings around the world.

This week alone has been heartbreaking and infuriating on multiple fronts. There’s a lot to be said for a good bit of escapism.

‘Children’s game’ it may be, but will I be forking out for Generation 48 should I still be here in my 80s? It’s as certain as finding a Zubat in a cave.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

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