>>57744683Early in development for the manga's RS arc, Sapphire almost got Treecko as her "starter" Pokemon, but it was eventually changed to Torchic. The damage this choice has caused to the reputation of other MCs with fire type starters is immeasurable. Instead of "Team Blast Burn is full of hot headed characters" for a long time the stereotype was "Team Blast Burn is full of utter retards" when in reality the only genuinely retarded one was Sapphire.
But now Whitley and Sun exist I guess. And no, Gold isn't stupid as Sapphire is. 