All hail Tandemaus, gay icon and Pokémon Scarlet/Violet raid event star
On Thursday, Serebii.net revealed that there will be a raid event in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet from February 13-15 that will focus on fairy-type Tandemaus. This is confirmed on the official Pokémon website, which lists the Tandemaus raid as part of the “Valentine Event Period.”
Tandemaus, and its evolution Maushold, have also garnered a bit of an online reputation for being gay icons. This is because when Tandemaus evolves, the two little mice turn into a family of either three or four (there’s a 1 in 100 chance of a three member family instead of four). The parents in these evolutions can be of the same gender, which would indicate that some Mausholds are queer. That’s not even to mention their fairy typing, which will become their primary typing for the Valentine’s event.
It’s also a known fact that these gay little mice pack one mean punch in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Though it seems relatively harmless at first, when Maushold reaches level 53 it learns the move Population Bomb. This move allows Maushold to attack up to ten times in one turn with Normal-type physical damage. If any of these attacks miss, the rest are cancelled, but the move has a 90% accuracy rate, so it isn’t very likely to miss.
Fans have also taken to making jokes about which of the mice wears the pants, or hat, in the relationship, as the terrastilized form wears a little fairy crown, but only on one of the mice’s heads. Tandemaus seems to be another part of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s quiet and imperfect LGBTQ+ representation. The game also removed gender locking on its clothing and hairstyle options, but still insisted on referring to the player as “mistress” or “master” depending on which body type they chose.