>>53486609The mascot itself is supposed to be some sort of genderless little cartoon character, which is pretty common in Japan (see: Kirby, Ash's Pikachu before gender differences were introduced, etc.) because it can appeal to a broader audience or something like that. But the one who's dressing up as "Ball Guy" is clearly a buff man, and I assume that because "ボールガイ" really does just read as "Ball Guy", it might be some Engrish on Game Freak's part since the term "guy" is actually supposed to be masculine in most cases. But Ball Guy isn't some ~nonbinary icon~, it's just not known what gender its supposed to be. It's like if you went to Disneyland, and you saw Goofy walking around and would say "It's him!", but inside the costume the actor is actually a woman. It's not about the one in the costume, it's about the mascot. Pic related is what the actual mascot looks like without the buff body weirdness of the guy inside of the suit.
