A romance between Wallace and Steven is everything but outright confirmed in the latest Pokémon Masters update. DeNa’s Valentine’s Day patch brought a few changes to the game that fans were quick to notice.
First, Reddit user u/fossil-arm pointed out dialogue between some of the characters that undoubtedly hinted at some of the game’s most popular ships.
Most notably, Steven and Wallace go off on their own to “collect rocks,” and share some beautiful moments. “Building a friendship with someone as bright and encouraging as you has been a big part of my journey,” Steven says to Wallace. In response, a little music note rings out to acknowledge how touched Wallace is by the comment.
On its own, the subtext in the main story’s dialogue is easy to see. When you consider that this update came on Valentine’s Day, it becomes nearly impossible to deny DeNa’s intentions—even if they don’t come out and say it in a straightforward way. Barry sums it up best with, “Wait! Maybe he and Wallace are… Nah!”
It doesn’t end there. To make it even clearer, rainbow-colored flags now hang in the lobby as part of the update. The carousel of letters above the front desk features LGBTQ colors as well.
Still, not everyone is buying into it. If you accept it as part of the canon, the Pokémon Adventures manga more strongly hints at a relationship between Wallace and Winona. After all, the series says that Wallace becomes a gym leader so that he can be closer to Winona. As a result, some fans refute the claim that Wallace could, in fact, be in a relationship with Steven.
But why not both? As u/fossil-arm wisely points out, perhaps Wallace is a “bi king.” Even if Wallace and Winona were an item in the past, there is no reason why Wallace and Steven couldn’t be together now.
No matter which ship you’re shipping, it’s almost impossible to ignore DeNa’s desire to champion inclusivity in Pokémon Masters.
The Valentine’s update also brought a new sync pair to the game: Professor Oak and Mew. Players have until March 16th to complete Chapter 2 of the main story and power up the pair. Steven and Metagross are another sync pair added to the mobile game and are available via Spotlight Scout.
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