>>6836028When did this separation of this character start? When I was a kid and the only games were Red and Blue, nobody even knew the trainer was called "Red". Everyone, including official Nintendo publications and promotional material, just called him Ash (even Japanese publications used the name "Satoshi"). The only time I saw official stuff call him Red was that Pokemon Adventures manga, which sold like shit back then compared to the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga.
Even when the next gen finally came, and Gold/Silver games referred to the Ash and Gary like characters as Red and Blue, nobody was flipping their shit trying to claim they were completely separate entities as opposed to just different versions of them.
Even today, it's only with Red/Ash that I see people flip their shit, never with Blue/Gary. Is it all just because of how Ash never conquers a region in the anime?
