Happy bisexual visibility day! For this day (or whenever you answer this) could you talk about some pokemon that mate with any gender?

And to you, @evetype, as well as to all of our bisexual followers. Although it’s quite late in the day for us, we hope that everyone has spent this day well, whether it was by reflecting on your own identity or by connecting with others in the LGBT community (online or off). The editor and I know that it’s difficult for all of you in the rest of the year, but you’re here! You exist! You are valid! And may you see change for the better—more acceptance, for one—by the next Visibility Day.

That having been said, to answer your question, I’d like to begin by saying gender and sexuality are complicated topics among pokémon. Certainly, we scientists classify pokémon as male, female, or gender indiscernible (or unknown, if you’re a trainer—which itself is different from the human concept of being nonbinary), but the human definitions of what gender and sexuality mean don’t exactly apply to pokémon. We don’t, for example, know for certain if transgenderism is a concept to pokémon at all. I say all of this as a disclaimer, as the rest of this post will be describing pokémon in those three unfortunately rigid categories of gender, even though that is not what it means to be bisexual as a human. In other words, I apologize in advance for sounding rather dated when speaking about pokémon.

That having been said, bisexuality is actually hugely common. In fact, most species on this planet that can mate also exhibit some level of bisexuality or even homosexuality among its members. (Interesting case: The mareep line are famous for their males. Ten percent of all male mareep are attracted exclusively to other males, and somewhere around twenty-two percent of male mareep are considered to be bisexual.) Even gender-exclusive species such as jynx are largely bisexual and not, as once thought, homosexual; they simply show attraction towards not only fellow jynx but other compatible species. For example, when placed in a room with a jynx and a hitmonchan, the jynx is just as likely to select the hitmonchan to be her mate as she is the other jynx.

In truth, in a way, pokémon are far wiser than humans because to them, the subject of sexuality is not a taboo at all. I know I’ve said a moment ago that pokémon don’t see sexuality the way we humans do, but it’s very true. While all pokémon (that can breed) clearly have preferences, these preferences can sometimes be fluid, and even then, pokémon never see any point in hiding what they prefer at any given time. They simply are, and this state of fluidity is rather normal for them. All of this is only a fairly recent discovery to humans because we have the unfortunate tendency to stick to our preconceived notions of what identity means to us while dismissing any definition that deviates from these notions. And of course, it probably doesn’t help that we conflate breeding with mating, and thus, we forget that what a pokémon will do in the wild (where it’s free to choose a partner) is entirely different from what it will do in captivity (where its options are far more limited).

Hopefully, that answers your question sufficiently enough, dear reader … unless this was a request for an entry, at which point, I apologize deeply for that as well. I suppose the short of it is any pokémon would fit this description short of perhaps voltorb, staryu, magnemite, porygon, or their evolutions—which is to say you share this world with fantastically powerful beings who are, in a way, just like you, readers.

Thank you so much for helping me and my togepi! I was just wondering if there was a way to tell if a pokemon want sto be caught by you? (There’s this Gible that keeps bugging me, but I think that’s because I feed him scraps all the time.)

You’re welcome, @evetype. I do hope you and your togepi—or, perhaps, togetic by now—are doing well.

To answer your question, pokémon tend to give off different signals when they wish to be caught, depending on their individual personalities.

One possible signal is the tendency to want to challenge you, personally, to a battle. If the gible focuses primarily on you and isn’t attempting to intimidate you (signs of this include standing tall to make itself look bigger, baring as many of its teeth as possible, and hissing), then this is a sign that it wishes to test you and push you into trying to capture it. Engage in battle, then throw a poké ball at it. Even at its weakest, it should be able to dodge if it’s decided it doesn’t want to be with you after all.

If it doesn’t appear to be challenging you, pull out your poké ball and present it to the gible. Ask it if it would like to come along. If it seems enthusiastic by the appearance of the ball or responds positively to your question, then yes, it wishes to battle you.

Finally, if it does neither of these things, walk slowly home or to wherever you’re staying for the night. If it follows you all the way there, even after you’ve made it clear you have no desire to continue feeding it scraps for the day, then it wishes to remain by you. Alternatively, approach it slowly. If it allows you to get closer, chances are it trusts you enough to be interested in your companionship. Proceed by offering a poké ball to it.

Conversely, if it jumps and keeps its distance whenever you try to approach it, if it immediately abandons you when you make it clear you have no more food, or if it goes through the intimidation tactics mentioned above whenever you pull out a poké ball, take it as a sign that it wishes to be left in the wild. It may also be a good idea to stop feeding the gible scraps.

My Togepi wanders of a lot and I’m worried that when she evolves, she’ll just fly away! I really don’t want to lose her somewhere…

It’s certainly a legitimate concern, @evetype, but I assure you that once evolution happens, most pokémon tend to calm down. Your togepi’s wanderlust is actually a trait most of its species experience in varying degrees, and it’s directly related to togepi’s natural curiosity. Once it evolves, the bond between togetic and its trainer takes precedence over any remaining curiosity it has, and thus, it will be more inclined to stay put.

For the most part, anyway. It’s certainly true that this is a generalization and that there are togetic who still feel strongly about wandering, especially if their trainers did not travel much. If you notice that your togetic is still prone to wandering after evolution, there are two things that you should do.

First, be sure that she’s in an up-to-date poké ball that’s linked to both your pokédex and your storage system account. You can track her using either your PC or your pokédex, should she somehow break free.

Second, the above will only work if she also has an implanted chip. Many trainers of pokémon capable of flight make it a point to chip their pokémon, and the procedure itself is both harmless and performable at any licensed pokémon center. Simply take your togetic (or even togepi, as the chip will not harm a pokémon undergoing evolution) to your local Nurse Joy and ask for a chip to be implanted, and she’ll walk you through the rest once the procedure is over. Typically, the whole appointment involves not only the implantation but also the syncing of the chip to your trainer accounts and pokédex, as well as a national database of pokémon. That way, no matter where your pokémon is, she can be found, identified, and—eventually—brought back to you.