Mainseries Pokemon characters who can be argued to be bisexual-coded (due to their implied crush on the player)
1. Shauna (Pokemon X and Y)
Kalos takes place in France, and Paris is the city of love. So, in the words of Junichi Masuda, "I wanted to implement some elements of romance with Shauna when playing as a boy and express a deep friendship when playing as a girl."
However, due to the VERY few dialogue changes between female vs male protags (as well as actions Shauna takes that are intended to imply romantic interest being the same across all player types, such as her staying behind with the player in the early-game forest), this can be argued to be unintentional bisexual-coding.
2. Lillie (Pokemon Sun and Moon)
Lillie is implied to have a crush on the player. When the player character is female, on Exeggutor Island, she says, "I want to become a Trainer, and learn all the things you know, Selene..." When the player character is male, she says, "I think... I'd like to become a Trainer, too. And travel together with you, Elio..."
Obviously, the difference between these two dialogues makes it pretty clear that they want her dialogue with Elio to be interpreted as more romantically-inclined. However, much like Shauna, Lillie's actions and dialogue varying VERY little otherwise between female vs male protags can be read as unintentional bisexual-coding.
3. Kieran
Kieran is the first character here to receive absolutely zero dialogue changes across player gender. Additionally, I'd say he's the character that we get the strongest hints regarding romantic feelings towards the player with.
Kieran has multiple moments where he's implied to feel romantically towards the player. These include, but are not limited to:
His sister saying that he's "been all googly-eyed over you" since you met, and that he "wouldn't stop talking about you - even at home. I seriously couldn't get him to shut up." Kieran reacts with embarrassment when she says this to the MC.
Him saying, "You're...you're special," before pausing, then getting embarrassed and rushing to change the subject.
When the MC calls him a friend, he responds, "What?! R-really?! We're friends? F-friends... I feel all tingly and funny hearing that... Ehehe..."
After the MC changes into their festival outfit, Kieran says, "Whoa...", when seeing them for the first time.
The player can even seemingly flirt with Kieran; when Kieran describes letting Ogerpon move into his home, the player can teasingly ask when they, themself, can move in with Kieran.
These are all very common romantic tropes. I think Kieran is the closest thing that we have to a canonically bisexual mainline character at this moment.
4. Carmine
Carmine has a fewer number of specific moments compared to her brother, but she can still be easily read as having feelings for the player.
Her extreme reaction to Drayton asking the player on a date is the best example, with her bringing her hands up to her face, and saying, "A wha-?!" Once Drayton leaves, Carmine continues fuming. (This can also be chalked up to her general dislike towards Drayton and how he can be manipulative, but the fact that it's that request that sets her off specifically makes this also easily read as jealousy.)
And speaking of...
5. Drayton
While, like Kieran and Carmine, Drayton doesn't have any dialogue changes between if the player is male and female, it's not really clear how he actually feels about them.
He tells the player, male or female, that they can go on a cafeteria date to talk, which the game fully acknowledges as a romantic phrase via Carmine's extreme reaction. He also tells the player, "From one charming catch to another..."
This is very obviously him flirting with the player, but, due to his laid-back and just-a-liiittle-bit-sleazy nature, this more so comes across as him trying to tease the player character, rather than anything earnest.
If nothing else, he's at least confirmed to be comfortable with romantically teasing male classmates, which I would consider a win.
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jackie taylor x reader
how have I not written about her yet??? anyways, doing the lord's work (aka what shauna should have done).
everyone stood in shock, watching as jackie stormed out of the room after her explosive argument with shauna. you glanced at the door and back at shauna, unsure whether or not to chase after her or stay and comfort your friend.
tai was by shauna's side immediately, comforting her as the girl sobbed into her chest. still, none of the girls made a move to follow jackie outside.
you weren't stupid. it was hard not to notice how it was getting colder recently, or how all the animals were stocking up and going into hibernation. you knew winter was just around the corner, and feared that jackie could fall prey to it.
you didn't want to be that girl who followed after her, since shauna was a good friend to you and you didn't want to show her you were picking sides. however, you knew that if you didn't do something, no one else would; jackie was one of the most stubborn people you'd ever met, she wasn't going to come inside on her own volition. no, she'd have to be convinced.
at first, you found yourself standing above coach ben, who was still shocked from watching the argument unfold. "coach, you need to do something about that. jackie can't sleep outside," you whisper, glancing back to see if anyone was watching you.
he shook his head, "sorry, but I don't want to get involved in you girls' arguments," he replies, groaning softly as he moves to readjust himself into a better position.
"you're an adult. jackie will listen to you," you beg, but to no avail. ben shakes his head and refuses again, forcing you to look elsewhere. your eyes land on nat, who—granted held a bit of disdain for your captain—would surely see the consequences of leaving jackie outside to freeze.
however, you were no longer sure when travis pulls her in and whispers something in her ear; they both glance towards the door and you knew they'd be no help.
you stared out the window, watching jackie's pathetic attempt at starting a fire with pity. she really wasn't made for the wilderness, that was obvious. it was clear from day one she wouldn't contribute much, since all she'd done was complain, whinge and refuse to help with the chores. but you still remember the sweet and inspiring team captain on your soccer team; you can't help wonder what went wrong.
finally having enough, you quickly slipped outside, going unnoticed by no one. you'd take the dirty glares and rude comments if it meant coercing jackie back inside. you always listened to your gut rather than what people had to say, and right now, your gut was yelling at you to go talk to her.
jackie's gaze lingers on you as you sit beside her. after a beat of silence, she crosses her arms over her and chest and says, "if shauna sent you out here—"
"no one sent me out here," you reply, watching the flickering flames about to go out. it's silent again as you work up the nerve to beg her to come inside and she tried to work out why you were talking to her.
jackie sniffles, trying to hide the fact she'd been crying; it doesn't matter, since you can tell from her red eyes. "she's my best friend and she hates me," jackie mumbles, resting her arms against her legs and her chin on her lap. you're silent, happy to listen to jackie vent—it was for the best, because you weren't going to pretend to know anything about her relationship with shauna. "and you know what's the stupidest part? I don't even love jeff. . . I don't know if I even like him. she broke my heart and I don't know why."
"talk to her about it—and I mean talk, not argue," you reply earnestly, not sure how else someone was supposed to react to this situation. "you feel betrayed, and she feels overshadowed. you still have time to sort this out. fuck! we're in the woods and no one's coming to find us. you have plenty of time to tell her how you feel," jackie looks up at you with tears in her eyes. she's lost for words, and you smile at her gently, assuring yourself that she'd listen.
she shakes her head and sits up, however, making your smile fade. "no, she doesn't want to talk to me right now," jackie mumbles, kicking at one of the stones and accidentally sending it flying into the fire. "and I don't want to talk to her," she adds hastily, making you raise your eyebrow questioningly, "she's in the wrong, I shouldn't have to apologise to her," you roll you eyes at her stubbornness.
"fine, but I'm not leaving until you're inside with me," you snap. you watch her rub her arms up and down, and notice how chill the weather had gotten. was it always like this at night? how did jackie expect to survive through the night. "come on, jackie. I don't want to wake up in the morning to you looking like a smurf."
jackie burst into laughter, making you join too. "god, I'll be fine. don't worry. no frosty the snowman here," she promises. but you're no stranger to the cold. to snow. "I'll be alright, I just can't stand to look at her right now."
it falls quiet again, as you both mull over what she said. you can't help yourself, fearing the worst, you blurt out, "dying isn't worth it, y'know," she raises her eyebrows, "jackie taylor, you're the pettiest person I know. . . but to freeze out here because you're mad at shauna? that's a lot, even for you," you softly explain.
jackie scoffs, rolling her eyes before shivering again, "oh my god, I'm not going to die out here. I have a blanket, I'm wearing a jacket and a roaring. . . well, not roaring, but I have a fire," she points out. "it's not just gonna randomly snow in the middle of the night," you sigh, realising that she was convinced. there was no bringing her inside—and it was getting cold, even for you.
you bite your bottom lip, getting up to kiss her on the forehead. "I love you, okay? I don't want anything bad to happen to you," she looks up at you in shock, "come inside when you're ready, but please, don't stay out here all night. if not because of the weather, then because the wolves that attacked van are close by," she nods, and turns to face the weak fire again as you walk off.
"wait!" she calls out, standing up and chasing after you. your body fills with warmth as you silently rejoice at convincing her to come inside. "what do you mean you love me?"
you froze in your spot, feeling your heart race and your cheeks fill with heat. "I think you know," you reply, hoping that if she didn't feel the same way, she'd assume you were talking platonically.
jackie stares at you, breathing heavily, before she pulls you into a hug. "thank you, for caring enough to come out here," she whispers. you smile softly in return; she leans into you, kissing you gently on the lips. you were in shock for a moment, in complete disbelief that jackie liked you that way—that she liked girls that way. soon, you realised that the kiss was real, and that she wanted you; savouring the sweet moment, you mourned the loss of her lips on your own. "wow, your lips are so warm," you laugh at her, glancing back at the cabin ready to grab her hand when she flinched out of your grasp. "I'm not ready yet. . . stay out here with me?"
you nod, joining her to sit on the log again. you added some kindling to the fire as she snuggled up close to you. it was nice to feel her this close, and know she liked you back—even if it seemed like it was because she was lonely. it didn't matter to you, however, as you focused instead on the way she relied on you for warmth, and the way the flames danced.
after what felt like half an hour (but was closer to two hours) you notice the lights turning off, "it's cold, I'm going back inside," you announce.
jackie nods, "okay. I'll just be a little longer," she replies, shooting you a reassuring smile. you kiss her forehead again, and take sullen steps towards the cabin.
you glance at her once again, tempted to drag her inside, kicking and screaming, but you decide to leave her be. you receive dirty glares when you come back inside. you feel even smaller knowing you'd failed to bring her back in, so it was for nothing.
you accidentally lock eyes with mari, before glancing back at the ground. once you reached the fireplace to warm up, that's when the comments began. "of course you'd chase after jackie," mari snipes, shaking her head.
"it's so cold outside! I was worried she'd actually sleep out there and freeze," you reply, defending yourself.
you heard tai scoff, and looked for shauna, only to find her missing. "she chose to go outside," van mumbles, staring at the floor to avoid your gaze. you stare at her in disbelief.
you glance around the room, seeing no one agree with you—not even misty. nat and travis stared at the ground, also avoiding your eyes. "guys, now is not the time to be petty, she could've been in serious danger," you cry. no one responds, and you can't help but groan and roll your eyes.
"we saw you kiss her," misty announces. you look taken aback, but don't say anything. "three times," she adds, and you bite back the retort you were ready to sling at her.
instead you walk towards your bed, slipping under the sheets and pretending like you didn't notice everyone's gaze on you. eventually, tai heads upstairs and you hear everyone shuffle into their beds—but still no jackie.
your eyelids grow heavy, and as they do, you could swear you hear a door creak open. you smile in your dreamy state, knowing that jackie had finally come back inside. . .
"no, no, no, no, no!" shauna screams, jumping over you and racing outside. you jolt awake, your heart racing as you look around at all the confused faces of the girls. suddenly, it occurs to you, jackie's not one of them.
scrambling to your feet, you and tai are the first ones out the door after shauna. you have no idea why she's carrying on when you finally realise the ground had changed from green to white overnight. shauna was hunched over something in the snow, which at first glance, looked like a log.
it takes you a minute to process the scene in front of you; when it does, it feels like you've been hit by a train. your stomach drops and you feel your heart shatter into a million pieces.
shauna was on her hands and knees, screaming and crying while shaking her best friend. "jackie, wake up!" she wails. tai is by her side immediately, holding onto her and trying to comfort her.
your hand flies to your mouth as you begin to sob as well. no, no! this isn't right! jackie came inside last night! I heard her! you can't help but think. you could've sworn the door was opened. . . but here jackie was, covered in a blanket of snow, as you fell to your knees and mourned the girl you'd had a crush on since middle school.
you feel a pair of arms on your shoulders, as you lean into them for comfort, letting your tears run freely. you couldn't stand to look at the sight anymore without feeling guilty. you'd done everything you could, but was that truly enough? you should've done more! you should've dragged her inside! slapped some sense into shauna or the coach! you should have stayed by her side! tried harder to convince her! or at least kept her warm all night!
but you didn't, and you knew that would haunt you til your dying breath.
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i'm tired of the "jackie taylor couldn't be mean" concept because people can be mean even with the best intentions, and while i don't think she would purposely hurt anyone without reason, she's not immune from being an ignorant teenager.
(long post, if you wanna argue i'll be annoyed bc this is just what i think and i GET why ppl are saying what they're saying.)
she was a privileged, selfish teenager. those aren't negative things, but they do mean she's got blindspots.
there are so many explicit times she isn't kind to shauna and thinks she's being helpful in the pilot alone; she shuts off shauna's music the moment she gets into her car and insults it, she offers randy (who is clearly disgusting) to shauna as though he's on her radar, she insults shauna 3x before telling her "you're the best friend I've ever had, you know that, right?". sure, part of this is shauna's fault for not calling her out when she hurts her, but that doesn't change that it happened. are these all heinous, terrible things? no. but they grow on someone.
she's learned love from an abusive mother. she doesn't know how to express it in a healthy way. she is a teenager, teenagers rarely have that emotional intelligence.
the reason jackie's ghost is kinda mean is because it's exaggerating what shauna's memory of jackie is. we have to believe what shauna says about jackie pre-crash because the evidence supports it.
when jackie does absolutely nothing to help the girls in the wilderness? no one is surprised, they don't bother her about it because there's no use - she only listens to shauna.
when the girls figure out she's gone off with travis? van says "that is so jackie".
when she insults nat and slut shames her? no one looks surprised.
taissa, actually, looks surprised when jackie says something nice and true about her in the pilot.
we also see her purposely be mean to shauna (which shauna deserved don't get me wrong) when she says "I'm just trying to get you help for your baby" and "I wouldn't want us to fight over some guy" and when she forces shauna to tell everyone she's pregnant.
jackie may not INTEND to be cruel, but she is capable of it. to say she couldn't say something mean is to ignore reality - people can be hurtful even if they don't mean to be. and she did hurt shauna, even if shauna waited until the last possible minute to tell her, even if she didn't mean to.
like i've been the jackie in this scenario before. she doesn't know she's hurting anyone! that's not her fault! she's just selfish! she can be well-intentioned and bitchy sometimes, it's the duality of fucking existence. let your faves have flaws.
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goatman anon again - my only other theory is that Crystal didnt exist and was Misty’s imaginary friend or the like and thats why the other girls shout for Shauna in the snowstorm rather than Crystal. But tbf up until Natalie acknowledged Walter (at the gate) I also thought he was going to be an imaginary friend lol. Wouldve been an interesting comment about Misty if she made her own friends up and then ended up harming them :(
welcome back goatman anon, happy to hear more theories. >:)
going to put my response below the cut, since it includes spoilers from s2ep5
OKAY SO. I kind of love the idea of Misty having imaginary friends, and how fucked it could be when it is revealed that they didn't exist at all.....the tragedy of Misty fucking Quigley everyone!!! Would be interesting to see something like this, especially because Tai has hallucinated Sammy, so people not actually being there is not out of the question.
However, skeptic me is still in full swing (my apologies) so I don't think Crystal is fake. We see the other girls get pissy about her singing in s2ep1, no one seems shocked when Misty gets back to the cabin yelling about her, and Misty is clearly devastated to have killed her.....I don't think even she is so unstable to create an imaginary friend just to kill them off? Like, she doesn't want to actively HURT any of her friends I would argue. She just wants them to stay and will do what it takes to make that happen.
I am assuming that only Misty calls out for Crystal during the storm because quite frankly the other girls do not care about her. She is associated with Misty, and thus an outsider to them. Which makes her "betrayal" more painful for Misty. Crystal throws that outsider status back in her face by reminding her of her failures: "you aren't a very good actress/what are you going to do, poison me?" Crystal and her, despite how badly they both wanted to be, are NOT cut from the same cloth. Crystal could never be a true outsider!!!!!!! Misty is in a class of her own!!!!!!
Misty is my favorite character tbh, and I wish we got to see more of her home life pre-crash. What made her into this kind of person? How she justifies her own actions, how she twists other people's words to suit the narrative she needs to believe in.....brilliant. I think Ricci especially does an excellent job with her. Sorry, I could ramble about my Misty thoughts forever so I will cut myself off.
The tldr is I think Misty having imaginary friends (and how she would treat them.....) is such a cool concept, and if it get incorporated into the show I would be delighted. BUT I do think Crystal is real. May she rest in peace. Someone say a prayer before they roast her for dinner 🙏😋
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