Kid asks for non-binary Pokemon in sweet letter; check Ninendo's reply

Nintendo may be considering to introduce a non-binary Pokémon after a young fan scribbled a sweet letter requesting for one on Twitter. According to the post shared by a Twitter user Slate the Japanese multinational gaming company responded to their child’s handwritten letters who had asked for a more inclusive Pokemon character without gender-based signage that can appeal to everyone. “I think it would be cool,” wrote the kid, adding that it would also make all the non-binary people “more comfortable.”

The user shared the official letter posted by Nintendo dispatched to the child with a caption, “My kid wrote a letter to Nintendo and they wrote back,” along with the weeping emoticon.  In the letter, the company's customer service representative Liz Daniels shot a response saying that it was indeed an excellent idea and would "make sense" to stop the genders, adding that the company would look into it. "We want to make sure that people of all genders are welcomed and feel comfortable while playing our software," the Nintendo's representative said. 

The toy manufacturers and gaming companies have recently started to explore the prospects of non-binary toys and characters as they are now scrapping the gender-specific labels to give kids more freedom to play with or relate with the product. In recent years, toymakers have started to avoid reinforcing the gender stereotypes such as “dolls are played by girls, trucks are mostly bought by boys”. More and more firms have stepped forward in manufacturing ‘inclusive’ toys that can cater to all kids, equally. Children also freely explore fields earlier reserved for boys such as mechanical engineering and scientists, or for girls such as grooming and fashion, with a more neutral outlook.

The character Blanche, leader of Team Mystic in the mobile game Pokémon GO, is non-binary. The official Pokémon narrative uses ‘they’ instead of the gendered pronouns that they use for the Team Valour and Team Instinct leaders. 

In the Pokemon world, although, there are still creatures that are gender-based such as Buizel, that has two spots for males and one for female on the back, and Nidoranthat has both female (grey coloured) and male (purple coloured) version. Pink-coloured Pokemon Chankey that evolves from Happiny meanwhile is a ‘she’ and is seen carrying oval stone like that of an egg in a pouch. Another Pokemon Floette that evolves into Florges is seen in two ponytails and a red rose above its head. This female-only Pokemon can come in 5 different coloured flowers.

Hasbro dropped 'Mr' from Mister Potato

Earlier similarly, American toy company Hasbro announced that it was dropping the “Mr.” From its famous toy previously called mister potato head to propagate gender inclusivity. The firm, which has been into the manufacture of potato-shaped toys omitted the gender-based title from its toy line. Further, the company also rolled out a new playset obliterating the Mr. and Mrs. Titles from its popular plastic toy series.