Grusha

About

Grusha is an Ice-type gym leader revealed during the Pokémon Presents stream in August 2022 for the video game Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The character was initially considered to be a girl by many fans watching the stream, but official materials soon revealed that the Glaseado Gym leader is actually a boy. This revelation prompted several Pokémon fan reactions about the character's visual presentation and their attraction to him as a viral debate ensued online. Grusha also inspired various memes and fan art following his reveal.

Origin

On August 3rd, 2022, Pokémon's official YouTube^[1] channel streamed a "Pokémon Presents" segment to reveal characters and regions in the then-upcoming Pokémon game Scarlet and Violet. Later that day, the official Twitter ^[2] account revealed information about the Paldea region in the new generation. In addition to several new Pokémon, like the fan-favorite Fidough and the Poison-type Paldean Wooper, the Twitter thread also discussed the introduction of the new gym leader that had been showcased in the "Pokémon Presents" stream — a blue-eyed, long-haired trainer named Grusha identified as "he" (seen below). The tweet received over 10,000 likes, 1,400 quote retweets and 1,800 retweets in roughly two days.

Spread

Fans of the game quickly reacted to the reveal on August 3rd, 2022, to express their surprise at the new gym leader's gender, many having mistaken him for a girl after the "Pokémon Presents" stream. Reactions to the character's gender varied in tone and surprise, such as a 4chan thread^[3] that same day where the anon expressed his horror at having been attracted to a fictional male character (seen below).

On August 3rd, a tweet posted by Twitter^[4] user @Al_theBoi used a reaction video and caption to create a meme about the community's reaction to Grusha, which gathered over 34,000 likes and 4000 retweets in a day (seen below).

Throughout the day on August 3rd, 2022, other fans continued to post various reactions to the new information about the gym leader, commenting on his "pretty" design and adorable demeanor, among other sentiments (examples shown below, left and right).^[5][6]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References