NINTENDO recently hosted a twenty-minute Pokémon Presents revealing the newest gym leader to the series.
Grusha was the only new gym leader revealed in the trailer, battling alongside Cetitan, a new ice-type Pokémon for the Paldea region.
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Fans have taken a shine to the Glaseado City Gym Leader, and fan art began emerging all over social media.
Artists love Grusha’s cosy aesthetic, wrapped in a thick scarf with long ice-blue hair.
However, people were surprised when they took a look at the gym leader’s bio posted on the official Pokémon website.
It reads: “Grusha used to be a professional snowboarder, but he is now the Gym Leader of the Glaseado Gym full-time.
“He is an Ice-type specialist who has Cetitan as his partner.
“He is usually coolheaded, but when battles get heated, he starts showing the emotions he usually keeps pushed down.”
Despite his effeminate looks, Grusha canonically uses he/him pronouns.
This is not the first time that Pokémon has featured an androgynous male character.
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Most recently, Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ main antagonist was Volo, a man based on generation four champion Cynthia.
One of your rivals in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield is Bede, a stylish young man who later becomes a gym leader.
Despite this unexpected revelation, fans have embraced Grusha whole-heartedly.
Taking to Twitter, one user wrote: “I must protect him.” Another added: “He’s so beautiful. I can’t.”
Some are so attracted to Grusha’s design that it has caused them to question their sexuality.
One person wrote: “Grusha is for real giving so many people an unexpected gay awakening. You love to see it.”
Whatever Grusha’s gender, it appears that fans love the new character.
August’s Pokémon Presents revealed a lot of new information about the upcoming games, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
It will be the first fully open-world RPG in the series, and will feature a whole new gameplay mechanic called Terastalisation.
Raid battles will return, and players can team up online to catch Pokémon with rare Tera forms.
The new entries in the main-line Pokémon series come out on November 18.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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