How Misty's Pokémon Story Mirrors Women's Struggles & Progress (RBY & GSC)

For Women’s History Month, we’re exploring the influential roles women have played throughout the core Pokémon series. From powerful Trainers and Gym Leaders to members of the Elite Four, women have helped shape the Pokémon world just as women have helped shape ours by navigating challenges, defying expectations, and leaving lasting legacies.

To begin this series, we’re taking a closer look at one of the franchise’s most iconic female figures: Misty, the Tomboyish Mermaid of Cerulean City.

Gym Leader Misty - Pokemon Red & Blue

"What is your approach when you catch Pokémon? My policy is an all-out offensive with Water-type Pokémon!"

Nicknamed “The Tomboyish Mermaid,” Misty embodies a dynamic and bold personality that stood out sharply in the early days of Pokémon. As Cerulean City’s Gym Leader, she wasn’t portrayed as soft-spoken or passive like many female characters in games of the time—she was fiery, confident, and unapologetically direct. Misty didn’t just lead with Water-types—she made a statement with them.

Her aggressive style in Pokémon Red & Blue, characterized by moves like BubbleBeam and Water Gun, reflected a simple yet fierce strategy: hit hard and don’t hold back. While male Gym Leaders often showcased nuanced tactics like defensive endurance from Brock or strategic speed from Lt. Surge. Misty’s style was portrayed as purely offensive. But this wasn’t just about game mechanics, it reflected something deeper.

Misty’s characterization subtly pushed back against the narrow roles women were often placed into, both in games and real life. While many female characters were relegated to nurturing or supportive roles, Misty demanded respect on her own terms. She wasn’t a sidekick or a caretaker—she was a challenge, a competitor, a symbol of strength. In many ways, Misty gave young women permission to be assertive, to take up space, and to lead with conviction.

Her nickname, “The Tomboyish Mermaid,” reflects this duality. The “mermaid” evokes classical femininity like beauty, grace, mystery. The “tomboyish” half, however, embraces traits like toughness, independence, and assertiveness. Together, these identities tell a story many women know too well: the balancing act between societal expectations of softness and the internal push toward confidence and power.

This blend made Misty more than a Gym Leader, it made her a reflection of the changing identity of women in the 1990s and early 2000s. She was complex in a way that few female characters were allowed to be at the time.

While Misty’s aggressive approach felt empowering, it also exposed limitations in how female strength was portrayed. Her battle strategy described explicitly as “all-out offense” lacked the strategic complexity often attributed to male counterparts. Where Surge or Blaine might be praised for power and unpredictability, Misty’s boldness was rarely framed as intellect or flexibility.

Ironically, this runs counter to the core philosophy of Water-type Pokémon. Water adapts. It flows around obstacles. It changes form when needed. Yet Misty’s portrayal as a Trainer didn’t evolve with that symbolism. Her singular focus on offense, while inspiring in its defiance, also risked reinforcing a different stereotype: that strong women must be aggressive, even at the expense of depth.

Many women can relate to this paradox. Society often demands that women prove themselves by being louder, tougher, or more assertive, but then critiques them for lacking “femininity” or balance. Misty’s character invites us to examine those double standards, both in games and in real life.

Gym Leader Misty - Pokemon Gold & Silver

Misty’s return in Pokémon Gold & Silver, set years after her debut in Red & Blue, offers players a more mature and evolved version of the Cerulean Gym Leader. This is no longer the fiery “Tomboyish Mermaid” who relied solely on overwhelming offense, this Misty has grown. Her battle style reflects a shift toward adaptability, endurance, and tactical intelligence, qualities often tied to long-term leadership and personal growth.

Misty's Pokemon Team (GSC)

Where once she favored brute strength and straightforward attacks, Misty now embraces a more balanced strategy that draws out the full potential of her Water-type Pokémon. Her team in Gold & Silver includes moves like Disable, Rain Dance, and Recover—choices that reflect thoughtful control, prediction, and staying power. These subtle but impactful changes reveal that Misty’s strength isn’t just rooted in her boldness anymore, but also rooted in her ability to adapt, endure, and think ahead.

This shift mirrors a larger cultural transformation of women, both in media and society, were increasingly being recognized not just for their determination, but for their intellect, resilience, and strategic leadership. Misty’s progression from a headstrong battler to a composed, thoughtful leader reflects how the perception of female strength was evolving, no longer confined to assertiveness alone, but expanded to include flexibility, insight, and foresight.

Her GSC moveset tells a layered story:

• Disable shows her ability to neutralize threats and outmaneuver opponents. A symbolic shift from reacting with force to anticipating moves with insight.

• Rain Dance enhances her offense while also showcasing long-term planning, subtly echoing the reality of women learning to play systems to their advantage.

• Recover embodies resilience, the ability to bounce back, regroup, and keep going, both a battlefield asset and a life skill many women come to master.

Together, these choices reflect a shift in how women were beginning to be portrayed—not just as strong, but as smart and adaptable leaders in complex environments.

Quagsire, Lapras, and the Strength of Flexibility

Misty’s growth is reflected not only in her tactics, but in her team composition. In Pokémon Gold & Silver, she adds two powerful and symbolically meaningful Pokémon: Quagsire and Lapras.

• Quagsire’s Ground typing neutralizes one of Water’s greatest weaknesses: Electric attacks. In a symbolic sense, it shows Misty preparing for her vulnerabilities and actively building defenses into her team. A skill essential in both leadership and life.

• Lapras, with its Water/Ice typing, gives her tools to handle Grass-types via powerful moves like Blizzard, while also adding support options like Perish Song and Rain Dance. Lapras is calm, graceful, and formidable, qualities that embody quiet strength.

These additions represent more than strategy. They reflect the broader reality of how women grow into their roles over time. In her early days, Misty fought hard to prove herself through sheer will. Now, she leads with grace, insight, and flexibility, values that resonate with real-world journeys of women learning to evolve beyond society’s limitations and expectations.

Misty's Quagsire

Water-types are traditionally weak to Electric-type attacks—a symbolic vulnerability. But Misty’s inclusion of Quagsire, a Water/Ground-type, upends that expectation entirely. With its Ground typing, Quagsire is immune to Electric moves, nullifying one of Water’s biggest weaknesses. This isn’t just a clever team choice, it’s a powerful metaphor.

Just as Quagsire redefines what a Water-type is capable of, Misty redefines what strength looks like in a female leader. Quagsire symbolizes Misty’s ability to rise above societal expectations, to adapt in ways that make her not only stronger but also harder to undermine. Where once she may have relied on raw offense, she now fortifies herself against common counters showing that maturity and resilience can evolve from struggle.

Many women have faced pressure to conform to roles that don’t fit them. Misty’s Quagsire reminds us that the ability to resist expected weaknesses, to adapt and become stronger through it, is leadership in itself.

“Quagsire doesn’t resist Electric-type attacks. It ignores them entirely. That’s not just defense—it’s transformation.”

Misty's Lapras

Lapras has always been known as a Pokémon that ferries others across the sea—a role of guidance, safety, and care. Misty’s use of Lapras represents more than team diversity. It symbolizes a shift in how nurturing and leadership can coexist.

Where women were once confined to behind-the-scenes support roles, Lapras shows that helping others is not weakness, it’s power. Misty’s Lapras carries that message with quiet confidence. With Rain Dance, Blizzard, Perish Song, and Water-type strength, it is graceful and commanding, a blend of the traditionally feminine with undeniable strategic utility.

In including Lapras, Misty doesn’t reject her nurturing side, she claims it as a source of leadership. She reminds us that being supportive doesn’t mean being secondary. It means knowing when to lead, when to protect, and when to strike with precision.

“Lapras doesn’t race ahead—it brings others with it. That’s what real leadership looks like.”

Misty's Golduck

Golduck may not be a Psychic-type, but its associations with telekinetic powers are well-known. More importantly, Golduck evolves from Psyduck, a Pokémon often portrayed as helpless, confused, and plagued by headaches. This evolution is symbolic in every sense.

For decades, women were viewed as emotionally fragile or incapable of high-level leadership. Psyduck embodied that stereotype. But Golduck? Golduck is sleek, fast, composed, and powerful. Its transition mirrors the growing realization that women are not only emotionally resilient—but intellectually strategic.

Misty’s Golduck marks her shift from raw emotion to intentional, decisive leadership. It proves that women can lead with both strength and intellect, breaking through stereotypes that once held them back.

“Golduck is what happens when underestimated power is finally given space to evolve.”

Misty's Evolution from RBY to GSC

Misty’s team progression from Pokémon Red & Blue to Gold & Silver is more than an update—it’s a symbol of growth, of shifting expectations, and of women rising into complex, multifaceted leadership roles. Societal norms were being challenged by a new generation of women who were independent, career-focused, and determined to balance tradition with modern ambition.

Misty’s growth mirrors theirs. She retains her assertiveness, but channels it with maturity and thought. Her team evolves to embrace not just power, but protection, strategy, and emotional depth. In doing so, she becomes a character women can see themselves in—not because she’s perfect, but because she’s evolving.

“Misty doesn’t reject her past—she builds on it. That’s what growth looks like.”

As the first female Gym Leader introduced in the series, Misty was groundbreaking. But she’s more than just “first.” She showed that women in games could be fierce competitors, thoughtful leaders, and emotionally complex characters all at once. Her presence helped pave the way for richer, more diverse female portrayals in Pokémon and gaming overall.

Through her transformation, Misty reminds us that strength is not one thing. It can be resilience, compassion, cleverness, or composure. It can be loud or quiet. Fierce or nurturing. And it can change over time.

Just like we do.

Which part of Misty’s story resonated with you the most?

Join the conversation on social media, and tag us with your thoughts.

🎧 Want to hear real women share their personal journeys with Pokémon?

Listen to the Women Pokemon Trainers Playlist — a curated series of stories, memories, and reflections from female fans, creators, and Trainers from all walks of life.

Let’s keep celebrating the power, growth, and complexity of women in the world of Pokemon. One character at a time!

Women of Pokémon Video Games (Gen I–IV)

Agatha | Bertha | Candice | Clair | Cynthia | Erika | Fantina | Flannery | Gardenia | Glacia | Janine | Jasmine | Karen | Lorelei | Maylene | Misty | Phoebe | Roxanne | Sabrina |  Whitney | Winona