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So is James in Pokemon supposed to be gay or was that unintended?

Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,407
It's the interesting thing about James. James was always the feminine boy to Jessie's masculine girl. While there's nothing that says that he is gay in the show, his second voice actor, Eric Stuart played him as though he was.

Not to mention that James was always crossdressing as a girl. (My first memory of him is dressed as a girl saying "Cooooool".)

But honestly, I think the portrayal of James in Pokemon helped kids such as myself become more tolerant towards people like him. James was different, but he was still a person and the episode that shows his rich, controlling parents is one of my favorites from the original series.
 
Tbm24

Tbm24

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,470
To be honest I never really thought about it. As a kid his portrayal or his costumes never registered to me like he was different.
 
Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
23,965
honestly, both Jessie and James are bi in my head lol
 
TheGummyBear

TheGummyBear

Member
Jan 6, 2018
8,850
United Kingdom
ZDyko6m.jpg


We stan for our trans/queer icon!
 
pbayne

pbayne

Corrupted by Vengeance
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Oct 27, 2017
8,460
I think he had a wife(from an an arranged marraige that he ran away from if i remember right lol)
 
spyroflame0487

spyroflame0487

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,103
Rosebud said:
Yeah his parents arranged a marriage and that's why he ran away and joined Team Rocket

... which brings more questions lol
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Not really. That episode showed that his wife to be, Jessebelle was a huge bitch and even insulted his beloved Growlithe.

She looks just like Jessie which is kind of funny, and i think the point was that he left his arranged marriage to go after Jessie in Team Rocket.
Honestly though, now that i'm reading Bulbapedia for both Jessie and James, their origins kind of blend together with each new series so i don't know if there was any one particular instance that kind of swayed them to go to Team Rocket.
 
Panquequera

Panquequera

Member
Feb 8, 2021
1,209
James has blue hair and Jesse has violet hair just like the bi flag, coincidence? I THINK NOT

Edit: ok not violet hair but I don't know the expecific word for her hair color lol
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
For some reason, what comes to my mind with the question in the OP is that he has a rival named Butch.
 
Digital Dinosaur

Digital Dinosaur

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,098
Rita Repulsa's Moon Palace
Well, both Jessie and James are highly theatrical, especially echoing the tradition of Japanese theater. This has always encouraged character designers to defy conventions and break molds with them.

Even if they were not originally intended to be bi or non-binary in terms of their personal identities, the way they function makes them by design perfect for such an interpretation.
 
Dice

Dice

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,667
Canada
Jess and James are non-gender-conforming icons for a reason 👍 There are fan artists who almost exclusively draw them
 

Deleted member 25606

User requested account closure
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Oct 29, 2017
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Uzumaki Goku said:
kids such as myself become more tolerant towards people like him. James was different, but he was still a person
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In the future could you be a little more careful of your phrasing. You may not meant it but your still othering him. Between the more tolerant and different your basically saying he's not normal but you learned to tolerate him. Queer people may be lower in numbers but we are just as normal and part of the cycle of life as everyone else, and we need to be accepted full stop, not tolerated.

As for the character themselves I never really got too into Pokémon I was just above the age when it debuted, but I have always liked what I saw of team rocket, always got major trans vibes off them, and considering how little positive representation trans people get in media even to this day I am going to take it that way even if it's unintentional.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,407
Jessi77 said:
In the future could you be a little more careful of your phrasing. You may not meant it but your still othering him. Between the more tolerant and different your basically saying he's not normal but you learned to tolerate him. Queer people may be lower in numbers but we are just as normal and part of the cycle of life as everyone else, and we need to be accepted full stop, not tolerated.

As for the character themselves I never really got too into Pokémon I was just above the age when it debuted, but I have always liked what I saw of team rocket, always got major trans vibes off them, and considering how little positive representation trans people get in media even to this day I am going to take it that way even if it's unintentional.
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I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in a negative way.
 
OP
OP
Uzumaki Goku

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,407
jph139 said:
Jessie and James are ultimately different characters than Musashi and Kojiro, though. The Pokémon dub makes enough changes that it should probably be classed as an adaptation in its own right.
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Yeah, in the Japanese version they make jokes that Japanese children would get, 4Kids changed it to be something American kids would get.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
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Apr 16, 2018
43,878
Jessi77 said:
As for the character themselves I never really got too into Pokémon I was just above the age when it debuted, but I have always liked what I saw of team rocket, always got major trans vibes off them, and considering how little positive representation trans people get in media even to this day I am going to take it that way even if it's unintentional.
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As a non-conforming kid it was the first time I saw something like that, and the in-universe acceptance was so good, no one cared at all. Pokemon is my favorite IP to this day.

e52f3e8ec100e9b4ffb8eae6b15b7afe.jpg
 
Inugami

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
Absolute icons, both of them. I need to go rewatch the original couple series again at some point.
 
lunarworks

lunarworks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,278
Toronto
jph139 said:
Jessie and James are ultimately different characters than Musashi and Kojiro, though. The Pokémon dub makes enough changes that it should probably be classed as an adaptation in its own right.
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That was pretty much most anime that was televised in North America in the '90s. Sailor Moon was heavily adapted as well in certain aspects, as was Dragon Ball Z.
 
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