>>58220114Yeah desu I remember FRLG being "the arc that tried to give Pokespe Red angst" but he never had angst before so it's just weird. Maybe Kusaka wanted FRLG to be like RS, but the protagonists in RS (Ruby and Sapphire) were designed from the ground up to be le deep, while Red at least in RGB/Y was never that complicated. Which isn't even a bad thing, it's just in FRLG they're trying to squish Red into a role he doesn't fit I guess.
I can barely remember the HGSS arc either so take this with a brain of salt. But I remember thinking something similar was happening to HGSS Gold, where he's suddenly having angst, except it worked better than Red angst since GSC had (poorly) established that Gold had these issues prior. But where HGSS Gold's development from here hit a wall is where he knows he must mature if he wants respect, but his whole gimmick is being an immature delinquent to a degree. So there's only so much he can change without losing his marketable appeal. So the HGSS story ends up being about Gold and his Togepi's relationship instead and Arceus hating everyone or something.
But looking at the character arc Kusaka seemed to be trying to recreate, RS Ruby could change so much because he was written to do so from the start. He didn't get an angsty character arc slapped onto him long after his debut like Red or Gold, from the start of RS Ruby was always unstable and on the verge of change, heading towards a direction planned out long in advance. So Ruby's character ends up relatively flexible, to the point he can even end up with shit like a canon girlfriend which no other MCs have so far. Yeah I'm just rambling now.
