About Sapphire...
So Sapphire is my all-time favourite female dex holder. But not just for no reason, I have a very good long reason as to why I love her. So here goes :)
When I first read pokespe (RS) I was around 10 or 11, the same age as the protagonists. I enjoyed and related a lot to Sapphire since she was like me, tomboyish. I despised girly, over the top outfits and resorted to whatever random sweatpants I could find (lol). I read up to volume 18 but since I couldn’t find the rest in the local library, I stopped reading.
Around a year later (I was around 11 or 12), I found out I could read the rest online so I started from vol. 19 and onwards. By this point, I was a little more reasonable when it came to wearing outfits that were considered ‘girly’. Just like Sapphire around this point of the RS arc (kinda), in my opinion.
I finished up RS in a flash and loved it and proceeded to read FRLG/Emerald. Now, Emerald arc Sapphire was exactly me at that point. I was a little girlier but still on the more athletic/wild side, just like Sapphire, in my perspective. The Emerald arc was calm for Ruby and Sapphire (at the beginning, at least) ((Cough cough Guile Hideout cough)) which was my life, you know, just being 12 and enjoying summer vacation.
When I finally read ORAS, my initial thoughts were: meh this isn’t horrible, but not as action-packed as RS. Of course, I was young and had no idea how to properly analyze the plot and story. After a while, I learned to love ORAS. In ORAS, Sapphire is more accepting of her feminine side. She was ok wearing the contest outfit Ruby made (I was finally completely comfortable wearing things like that) and didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought of her outwards appearance anymore.
Now, Sapphire is still an awesome, feral, wild badass, just like me, but she became more accepting of herself (Thanks to Ruby, let’s not forget all of his hard work :) just like I did. I grew along with Sapphire in almost the same chronological order (age) and her character development was something I could deeply relate to. I’m still pretty tomboyish/wild and don’t wear over-the-top outfits on a daily, but I’m ok with them. Sapphire helped insecure, younger me accept myself and is an amazingly written character I could (and still can) relate to. She is one of my highest comfort characters and is an awesome badass who I greatly admire and will always hold a special place in my heart.
Did I just spent a good half hour writing about a fictional character? Yes... Do I regret it? No... Make fun of me all you want, but Sapphire helped young me (and current me) accept myself, reduce my insecurities, and I enjoy her as an overall character.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk!
