Pokemon Champions accidentally produced a queer icon, with a game tutorial including a Gallade--historically a male-only Pokemon--labeled as female. But it looks like the game's developers are taking this trailblazer away, stating that the gender of some Pokemon seen in tutorials is one of many glitches to be patched.
Players can battle against trans Gallade in a tutorial segment focused on status effects. Gallade evolves from a male Kirlia when exposed to a Dawn Stone; Kirlia can also evolve to Gardevoir when reaching level 30, regardless of gender. A female Gallade should be technically impossible, so several light-hearted social media posts celebrated the unexpected trans representation, intentional or not.
And unintentional it was indeed, with developers releasing a statement in Japanese (translated by Serebii) listing "some genders of Pokemon in the tutorial" alongside other known bugs, such as the Lightning Rod ability not working as it should. The developers state that bugs will be fixed in future updates. Fans on social media are already mourning the loss of trans Gallade.
The brief moment of trans joy aside, the launch of Pokemon Champions has been messy. Players have complained that some content seen in trailers is not accessible in the game at launch, and a particularly egregious bug trapped some Pokemon in Pokemon Home when attempting to transfer them to Champions. The game's developers say that this bug has since been patched.
Other bugs present in the game that developers noted include the Leech Seed move having an incorrect description, Pokemon Mega Evolving in an incorrect order during battle, and players being unable to select a move if hovering over the Mega Evolve option while pressing the B button.
Per Serebii, Pokemon Champions will undergo maintenance tonight at 7 PM ET for two hours, though it is unclear which issues or bugs will be addressed during this period.
Source
Players can battle against trans Gallade in a tutorial segment focused on status effects. Gallade evolves from a male Kirlia when exposed to a Dawn Stone; Kirlia can also evolve to Gardevoir when reaching level 30, regardless of gender. A female Gallade should be technically impossible, so several light-hearted social media posts celebrated the unexpected trans representation, intentional or not.
And unintentional it was indeed, with developers releasing a statement in Japanese (translated by Serebii) listing "some genders of Pokemon in the tutorial" alongside other known bugs, such as the Lightning Rod ability not working as it should. The developers state that bugs will be fixed in future updates. Fans on social media are already mourning the loss of trans Gallade.
It's over guys they're taking trans Gallade from us https://t.co/L6yG3J1iNy pic.twitter.com/e1yUdF8et3
— Iron Valiant (@IronValiantOU) April 9, 2026
The brief moment of trans joy aside, the launch of Pokemon Champions has been messy. Players have complained that some content seen in trailers is not accessible in the game at launch, and a particularly egregious bug trapped some Pokemon in Pokemon Home when attempting to transfer them to Champions. The game's developers say that this bug has since been patched.
Other bugs present in the game that developers noted include the Leech Seed move having an incorrect description, Pokemon Mega Evolving in an incorrect order during battle, and players being unable to select a move if hovering over the Mega Evolve option while pressing the B button.
Per Serebii, Pokemon Champions will undergo maintenance tonight at 7 PM ET for two hours, though it is unclear which issues or bugs will be addressed during this period.
Source