>>39328197They are still YOUR Pokemon whether you play as Ash or not, the games all had trainers and Ash is no different. Only difference is he's actually marketable. If people didn't identify with Ash then we did so many people cosplay as him in the Pokémon Go hype, the most successful Pokémon media ever?
He might not be well liked on 4chan, but 4chan is just a small bubble of the overall fans.
Also this wouldn't be a spin off, it would replace the mainline games.