My Friend Named Marshall

Okay, I want to set a few moments aside to talk about Marshall. Marshall is a friend I've had for a number of years now. First, here is a picture of him.



Now, before you all think I'm crazy or something, give a minute to explain. I'm well aware that my close friend here is a Pokemon. An Azumarill to be precise. A piece of code. I know that it's a magical water rabbit from a video game, but this special guy shares a history with my life, as well as a very interesting trait. This Pokemon is also trans.

Now, before you think I'm crazy AGAIN, this Pokemon's evolution line has had a special trait since generation 3 when its baby form "Azurill" was created to be the first form of the two Pokemon Marill and Azumarill (what Marshall is!). Now, for those of you that don't know, each Pokemon is programmed with a gender ratio. Most are 50/50. Now, Marill and Azumarill are like the norm, programmed with a 50/50 gender ration. However, as Azurill was added later, it was given a 75% chance of being female and 25% chance of being male by mistake. This created a glitch in the game where a female Azurill has a 1 in 3 chance of changing sex upon evolution. Marshall is one such Azurill who this happened to. In an interesting note, gamefreak did not "correct" this glitch in future games, meaning they don't mind it being in the game, which I think is pretty cool.

HOWEVER, Marshall is even more special than this. Marshall is also a shiny Pokemon. Basically, each Pokemon has a very rare alternate colour palette (starting from gen 2) that you only have a 1 in 8,192 chance of finding upon entering a battle. Now, I found this baby Azurill in Pokemon Pearl back in 2008 and he was a shiny! I had often used this line in generations 2 and 3 because it is one of my favourites. I was ecstatic. Even had an Adamant nature, which meant his attack was better than normal. I decided to do a lot of complex and ridiculous training methods (EVs for those who know Pokemon mechanics) and levelled him up to level 100. He is now on my team in the most recent games and I can't wait to see him in 3D in the upcoming ones.

The thing about Marshall, the reason I consider him a friend more than just a piece of code, that is, is that he saved my life. Seriously, I know it sounds ridiculous, but this little dude helped me to come to terms with my depression and my gender identity. He is an incredibly rare variant of one of my favourite Pokemon and happens to have a glitch that makes him seem like a transman. I did add my extra little spin on the guy by applying the trans label to him, but I feel it's really fitting in context.

He feels almost like some sort of sign. One little glitch in one little game applied to a shiny Pokemon of all things and this Pokemon became something I can relate to. If he wasn't shiny, I problem would've knocked him out and continued on my way. But he caught my eye and managed to even send me on the path of discovering what transgender meant and discovering who I really was. The complete unlikelihood of this situation is incredible, but it has become really important to me. I just want you all to know that even if you feel like a glitch, you still have traits that only you have. You're unique. You're incredibly to rare; there's only one of you even. The chances of finding anything else like you are nothing. Despite your "glitch", you have something that will make someone out there happy. You will be very important to someone. Someone might tell the programmers to fix the "weird glitch", but it's the glitch that make you who you are.

Embrace your glitch and be awesome.

 

He does have Huge Power! He's an amazing revenge killer and generally just wrecks everything when in the rain.

 

That's a super cool idea! I think that's part of what makes Pokemon so successful. There's a very real connection created between and player and their Pokemon. Whenever I play Pokemon, my inner child is awakened. It's magical.

 

Hehe, so glad everyone liked this XD