This Cool Pokemon Metaphor Expresses My Trans Life So Well

I’m obsessed with Pokemon.

And strangely enough, ice pokemon make me think of my trans life.

First, some background info for those unfamiliar with Pokemon.

Ice is one of the eighteen Pokemon types. The others are water, fire, grass, ground, rock, steel, ghost, flying, electric, poison, psychic, dark, fairy, dragon, normal, fighting, and bug.

Each type possesses strengths, weaknesses, resistances, and even immunities against other types.

An obvious example is that water beats fire, and electric zaps water. Water resists fire. But electric doesn’t resist water. Not all typings will make intuitive sense.

My favorite type is ghost, and my second favorite is ice.

One peculiar thing about ice types, is that they only have one resistance — ice resists other ice Pokemon.

There is only one other type that has just one resistance — normal. Normal is immune to ghost. But immunity is better than resistance, since immunity means getting zero damage, while resistance only halves the damage.

So ice types are arguably the most fragile and weakest in defense. It has many weaknesses, too: fire, rock, steel, and fighting.

The Power of Ice

However, ice types have more strengths than most.

It’s super effective against flying, ground, dragon, and grass. Its power over dragons is especially impressive, since dragons resist a lot (resists water, fire, electric, and grass). Dragon types are only weak to other dragons, fairy, and ice.

Before Nintendo introduced fairy types in generation 6 of the games, ice was the only type other than dragon that could counter dragons.

It was dangerous to use dragon against dragon, of course, since your opponent could also nuke you.

So ice types had an amazing advantage. Even with their many weaknesses and limited resistance.

A Memorable Lesson from a Pokemon Tournament

Ice types are cool, beautiful, and strong, but also vulnerable. They’re easy to break.

But just because you’re fragile and “easy to break,” doesn’t mean you can’t rebuild yourself.

You can build teams for Pokemon battles in the same way.

Once, I went to a Pokemon Go tournament where we played as gym leaders. Gym leaders specialize in one type of pokemon for their whole team.

Some of their pokemon can have dual types, as long as they contain their gym type.

At first, I wished to make an ice-type team. But friends warned me not to, since ice is so brittle. It’s full of weaknesses and only resistant to itself. So I went to build an electric team instead.

My performance was shabby. Partly because I wasn’t a great battler. But I also wondered: What if I took my original ambition of building an ice type team instead?

A big part of the gym strategy, was to have some dual types to protect yourself.

For instance, Lapras, a water and ice type pokemon, is less vulnerable to fire, because water resists fire. Lapras is less vulnerable to steel as well, since water resists steel. So steel and fire do neutral damage to the water and ice type Lapras.

Alolan Ninetales, an ice and fairy type, can use fairy moves to defend against fighting types, since fighting is weak to fairy. Fairy resists fighting, too.

Alolan Sandslash is ice and steel. Steel resists both rock and steel. So rock and steel only do neutral damage to Alolan Sandslash.

Steel is also the most defensive type in the game. Steel resists grass, dragon, psychic, bug, flying, rock, steel, fairy, normal, and is immune to poison. So Alolan Sandslash gets these resistances as well.

Froslass is an ice and ghost pokemon. Ghost is immune to fighting, so Froslass is an ice pokemon protected from fighting moves.

A Cool Parallel Between Ice Pokemon and My Life as a Trans Person

I feel like an ice pokemon.

Why?

I’m out as trans online, got hormones, surgery, and ID changes. And I requested that people call me by a different name and pronouns.

So, I’ve made myself more vulnerable and exposed to danger. Though usually emotional rather than physical. I’ve been harassed by transphobic trolls online, and not everyone in person is kind, either.

However, I’ve also gotten a lot of wins and satisfaction. While I don’t identify as male (I’m non-binary), I still feel happier being read as male than as female.

Yes, there’s the risk of being discovered in the men’s changing room. In fact, I’ve had some close calls.

A few months ago, this guy ranted to his friend about the existence of trans and nonbinary people, while I changed my clothes just a few meters away. (Thank you, medical transitioning, for helping me hide and stay safe!)

In my Pokemon Go battle tournaments, I was out to almost nobody, and it was a very male-dominant environment. Thankfully, the guys just read me as one of them.

It felt thrilling to “pass.” I wasn’t exactly lying, but I was relieved to be read as a cis guy — I was safe from transphobes.

In case you were wondering, yes, I did encounter transphobes even in our Pokemon Go Toronto community.

Yes, there were allies who stood up for trans people. But I didn’t want to come out at the time. I was also out to some as gay but not as trans.

One cis female friend insisted that people would be accepting. I think many would be, yes. But it would suck to have to deal with the bad apples.

The weird thing was that even with some friends I knew would be accepting, I still didn’t say anything. I felt giddy that I wasn’t “found out.” Or maybe I was but they never mentioned it and just treated me like a dude, which was a relief.

Honestly, it was a relief to be treated like a fellow human who loved pokemon. I didn’t want to think about my gender 24/7, you know?

Thus, there are some risks I take as a trans person, which vary depending on the setting.

In some settings, I would be open about my identity. In some others, I would be out but mostly avoid talking about my gender, not because I’m afraid of transphobes but because I want to talk about our common interest instead, such as Pokemon.

And there are settings where I just hide and pretend to be a cis guy, like in the men’s changing rooms.

Yes, I’m a fairly privileged trans person, with a lot more protections than you would expect. I live in Toronto, which is more trans-friendly than most other cities in the world.

Even most of the gender-affirming surgeries are covered by public health insurance. The name and gender marker change procedures, aren’t too hard compared to most other countries.

While I’m not rich, my parents are willing to support me so I have a safety net. I also work as a therapist, writer, editor, and fiction book coach in mostly LGBTQ+-friendly places. All of these are great protections.

It’s like being a Lapras. I am quite blessed. The water type protects me from fire and steel threats. My water moves can defend against rock types, too, since water is super effective against rock.

Risk can truly be worth taking.

As a metaphorical ice type pokemon, I’m more fragile, vulnerable, and exposed. But I’m also freer and more powerful.

And even if I break, I can rebuild myself. I actually break a lot, but I would pick up the pieces and put myself back together.

Have you thought about using pokemon metaphors to describe our human experiences? What do you think about my ice type analogy for taking risks as a trans person?

If you want more cool stories about being a transgender person, connect with me here!