Giving Genders to Pokemon

[MachopGirl]

With the exception of the gender-specific ones, did you ever give your Pokemon genders in your fanfic?

For me, giving genders to Pokemon sometimes give them character. I just hated referring them as "it" for many of them in mine as well as breaking a few stereotypes. (Why do you think I made my Machops and Machokes female in my fics?) Even the legendaries were given genders.

 

[Dilasc]

I always give genders. It just makes them... well, Pokemon. After all, it helps definte personalities, and grants an important aspect of breeding and the fun of having Pokemon with awkward moves, such as Rattata with Flame Wheel.

The only Pokemon that I don't give genders to, other than genderless beasts, are legendaries.

 

[Yami Ryu]

I give all my pokemon genders, except for ones like Lunatone or Solrock, that really have no genders, though untill I figure out what gender the pokemon is going to be, I do refer to it as an 'It'.

 

[Psychic]

I always give Pokémon genders. They seem like robots otherwise. If they're just an 'it' for the entire fic, then they seem less 3-D and real. I mean, how many animals don't have genders? So Pokémon should be just like them-with genders. Sometimes, their genders could also have an impact on the trainer, not only their personalities. So this could also make things more diverse.

There are some times when you could encounter Pokémon who apperantly have no genders. IF you take maybe an Voltorb, it *is* hard to imagine it as being male or female, plus there's the part about reproduction...(but let's not get into that)

I usually give Legendaries genders as well, though I rarely use them at all. Sometimes its hard to decide what gender they would be, but I go with whatever makes more sense.

~Psychic

 

[Saffire Persian]

Like everyone else says, I always give my pokemon genders. The only exceptions are ones such as Magnemite and Voltorb. They are truly 'its' but for the sake of simplicity, I often have the character who owns one, give it a gender anyway, even if it's not technically either.

 

[Dragonfree]

I stuck with calling my Pokémon "it" for twenty-two chapters of the original Quest for the Legends, and then I started writing chapter 30 in advance and realized that writing a definitely male character talking about his love life and calling him "it" do not mix.

So I saved myself round a corner by making the human characters decide in chapter 23 that they should be referring to their Pokémon by their proper genders, and in the next revision I made them do that from the start.

 

[Ash_Junior]

I give Pokes genders, as logn as they aren't gender neutral from game canon.

in which case I refer to them as hir (him/her) and s/he (for obvious reasons)

I picked this up Star Trek: New Frontiers where there was a member of the crew whose species was simaltaneously male and female.

o.0

far out, I know...

 

[Insincerus]

Sometimes, it's difficult to decide whether you want genders or not in fics that use Ash/Red, because following Ash/Red is Pikachu, and we...don't have a freaking clue what Pikachu is

 

[Negrek]

I give genders to all gendered pokémon, and do not give genders to most non-gendered pokémon. Most of these are mechanical and I can't really think of them as having genders (is my porygon2 male or female?). However, there are some exceptions--I give shedinja a gender because it had one when it was alive, and so on.

I also give the legendaries genders. It's so awkward to write "it" usually, and when I do, the pokémon usually start sounding real machinelike. This works for the machinelike pokémon, though.

 

[The Big Al]

I give most Pokemon Genders. For one thing, it allows me to work more with there personalities.

 

[Bu†cH]

Always do, always will.

 

[Kiyohime]

I give my legendaries genders as well. XD And I like to flout the usual conventions by making my Fighting-pokemon characters female. They're my favorite type. <<; Males are boring tesosterone machines if put into conventional roles. ><

 

[Orion-Sama]

Giving genders is important to me, at least with Pokémon that do have genders. However, I just do that with the main Pokémon, or those that are likely to appear again. In the case of recurring characters that don't ge much involved with the main character, I refer to his/her Pokémon as "it", but might be called "he" or "she" if they re-appear later on. That's a bit more important when writing in first person. You can estate that the character can figure the Pokémon's gender just by hearing its voice or by looking at it, or just lack this vision.

It's cool to give genders too. You can build up a personality based off it, and also makes the Pokémon more than just a "creature"...

 

[Faerie]

Giving genders to Pokemon is definetley a good thing. Just because they're not humans dosen't mean that they can't be portrayed like humans. If they're in a story, absolutley give them a gender. [/animal rights supporter]

I don't use Pokemon in many of my stories (except Untamed Serenity, of course), but if I do I give them genders.

 

[BirthdayPirate]

I give the Pokemon genders, not because it helps their personalities, but just because they have them. Not giving them a gender is like calling your dog an "it" all the time; it just doesn't work.

 

[Pinecone Tortoise]

^^ Put in a yes from me. Gender influences personality too much for it to be disregarded. Perhaps that's why I don't use Magnemite and Voltorb and other such genderless pokemon a lot. Their personality never seemed quite clear to me.

Piney.
;204;;324;

 

[Dragonfree]

Heh, I don't give my legendaries genders (in my fic, they're godlike, immortal and one-of-a-kind, so it wouldn't make sense for them to have any genitals and thus it's pointless to try to talk about their genders) but I nonetheless don't refer to them as 'it' simply because they don't like it and prefer to be referred to as 'he' or 'she' even if that's not really what they are.

 

[The Big Al]

I never saw legendaries as immortal or Gods and I do give them genders. Like one idea I had was that the Articuno in the seafoam islands was the last of her kind and protecting a massive collection of eggs that would repopulate the species.

 

[pokeplayer984]

As anyone who reads my fics know, they all contain romance, and it goes too far. Of course, anyone here knows what happens when romance goes too far, right? In that sense, gender is VERY important.

I've always imagined Mewtwo being a he. With the voice and everything, it would just be a sin to make Mewtwo a she. *shudders at the thought.*

I've always had Mew as a she. (Works well with the Mewtwo&Mew ship.) Celebi a he. Ho-oh a he. Raikou a he. Entei a he. Suicune a she. Deoxys a he. Jirachi a he. (I think that's about it for legendaries.)

With my stories, it just wouldn't make sense if they didn't have a gender.

 

[+Chaos Blade+]

It makes the most common sense that somewhere along the story, you give Pokémon genders, because genders also help in the personalities of some Pokémon. Who knows, there might be a female Scyther who acts much like a male and a male Hitmonlee who likes doing things Jynx does.

It can also create humor, I suppose. XP

+Chaos Blade+