Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is over two years old, but it remains the primary main series game for Pokemon fans to enjoy. Like any open world game that’s received a few expansions, there’s plenty left to discover even once players complete the main story. As fans complete a second playthrough or just continue trying to fully fill their Pokdex for all three in-game regions, new discoveries and small details continue to pop out. That’s the case for one player, who recently noticed a small Torchic detail that’s easy to overlook.
Videos by ComicBook.com
For all its faults, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet does have some fun attention to detail in its characters and, apparently, its Pokemon designs. One of the primary activities players are enjoying while waiting for the next main series games is Shiny hunting. After crafting the perfect Shiny sandwich, trainers take to the wilds to try and snag a Shiny version of every Pokemon in the game. It was seeing a ton of Torchic while Shiny hunting that led one player to notice a small detail near its tail.
Redditor @Soyuu96 spotted a small black pixel next to Torchic’s tail, which they initially believed to be a glitch. Given the “falling through the map” of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, it’s a fair assumption. However, others fans steeped in Torchic lore noted that this tiny detail isn’t a glitch – it’s actually part of Torchic’s gender differences. Apparently, this player was running into a lot of male Torchic, because that little pixel only appears on male variations of the species.
Male Torchic’s Gender Mark is a Real-Life Chicken Reference
As cool as spotting a never-before-noticed detail so tiny can be, the Torchic beauty mark situation gets even cooler. According to Bulbapedia, Torchic was the first of the starter Pokemon to display any gender differences in the main series games. To this day, it’s still the only first-stage starter to show a difference between male and female Torchic, which makes this tiny Pokemon Scarlet and Violet detail pretty cool.
It’s also a reference to how chicken farmers can tell the difference between male and female chicks when they’re young. Torchic, being a chicken Pokemon, can be determined as male or female in a way that’s similar to spotting a male chick in real life. Much like actual chickens, the gender difference gets more pronounced a Torchic “grows up.” By the time it evolves into Blaziken, the difference in the length of its top feathers is much more noticeable.
RELATED: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Gifts Players With Free Flying Tera Type Eevee
The specific reference is thought to be to the fact that male chicks often have slightly longer, more pointed saddle feathers as they get older. This is a tiny, difficult-to-spot difference, much like a one-pixel black mark near the tail for Torchic. Other players on Reddit suspect that the black dot might be a different, more straightforward reference to a male chick’s cloaca, which can also present differently from that of a female chick.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet isn’t the first game to show this difference between male and female Torchic. However, it’s one of those tiny details that’s nice to see carry over from earlier games once the additional starters were added to the dex via Blueberry Academy.
