Blanche’s Gender is Non-Binary According to Pokemon Go Blog Post
Team Mystic Leader Blanche is a Non-Binary Individual
Many suspicions about a non-binary character in the game have been proven.
This character, called Blanche ( Pokemon fans know this character as the leader of Team Mystic), last week was mentioned in a blog post which was giving information about in-game events. In these texts, Professor Willow said:
“We set out in hopes of testing (the Rocket Radar prototype’s) tracking abilities, but the prototype kept malfunctioning, causing us to be led aimlessly to random PokéStops. Blanche became visibly upset, which tends to happen when things don’t go to their carefully curated plans.”
As you can notice, the neutral pronoun “they” was used when Professor Willow was talking about Blanche. This is the only time that someone used a pronoun when talking about the leader of Team Mystic. Most of the time, the interaction with Blanche and the other leaders of the Teams has been revolving around training battles that the players can engage in.
Over the summer, as many fans noticed, the official Pokemon Go Twitter was continuously used gendered pronouns about the leaders of Team Valor and Team Instinct, but when Blanche came up, suddenly they referred to Blanche either by name or by the neutral pronoun “they.”
Fans on Twitter were quick to celebrate calling it a step forward for Pokemon Go.
pokemon go just casually confirmed a nonbinary character and I sWEAR I’ve been saying Blanche is nonbinary since the moment I saw their silhouette back in 2016 pic.twitter.com/3u0EXAG60Q
— Em Robin 🏳️⚧️ (@doctorwhoemst) October 26, 2019
I know it's like a few years since pogo's been out but i'm glad we finally got confirmation on Blanche being nonbinary/using they/them pronouns and us having a canon pokemon character who uses they/them
— Pls look @ roseyhyena thats my art account (@Pudkip) October 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/verelaurent/status/1188155955718082560
https://twitter.com/EvieGHJ/status/1188435412966084608
https://twitter.com/BossIsland2/status/1188150924436336640
To be fair, in other languages, they still use female gender pronouns with Blanche, even in GERMAN that has the pronoun “das” for neutral, they still use “sie” in reference to Blanche: “Blanche war sichtlich verärgert. Das ist allerdings typisch für sie, wenn ihre sorgfältig ausgearbeiteten Pläne nicht aufgehen.” Also to note, in the German translation, they use “their” (ihre), as seen in the English, but this is in concordance to the plural noun Pläne (plans). Suffice to say, I see very little refutable evidence supporting the notion of Blanche being non-binary, not that I’m not necessarily against it, I just don’t think it’s a part of Niantic’s plans when making POGO content. If anything, upon first reading it, just as in the other languages, “their” is meant to relate to “plans” and not necessarily Blanche herself.
This was my thought exactly. The use of “their” in this sentence is relating to the “plans.”
On a scale of one to stupid, this comment is absolutely moronic. The “their” refers to whose plans they are. Do I need to teach you first grade English?
As for other languages, many don’t have neutral pronouns. English is the default language of Pokemon Go, as it’s an American made game for a beloved franchise.
Both of you need to shove that homophobia/transphobia back in the closet where they belong.
Calma boneca! Sem exaltações.
So wait, when I read it, ‘their’ was referring to the plans not Blanche…….unless I’m just tripping.
This is rediculous. Their is refering to the plans. You make transfans, and pokemon go fans look like they failed basic english. Hell, if you want to say its tword blanche, she could also be an android.
Ridiculous . Utterly ridiculous . Until nintanic themselves actually say something on their social medias this is pure speculation.
I read it as the plans too but now they’re off and running with it so there you go…
You all are right, the lgtb community is irrational in their thinking process
They really are. Non tolerant as well. I mean I could care less but don’t run with it when it’s not been established.