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When did you first heard of Pokémon Trainer Red?

Shadao

Aim to be a Pokémon Master
This question is for fans who grew up with Pokémon during the late 90s and early 2000s. Recently, I've been looking through old, surviving websites to see what the fandom reception towards Ash like back in the day, and I realized that the character that Ash was based on, Red, was rarely mentioned if at all. Nintendo Power's strategy guide back in 1998 called Red "Ash" and Ash was pretty much synonymous with main human protagonist as far as mainstream media is concerned. Yet I know that the character Red rose to prominence as a separate character from Ash in the late 2000s, but I don't know when and how exactly that started.

I only came into online Pokémon fandom as a lurker in the late 2007, so I don't know what exactly happened before that time period. And since the late 90s/early 2000s was the era of early Internet that saw many website defunct in present, it's going to be a hard one to find on my own. So I ask fans from the 90s and 2000s, when and how did you first heard of Red?
 

WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
First heard of it via Red and Blue.
 

WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
Ah, the games. I wonder though... Did you think it's just Ash with a different name, or did you already differentiate him as completely separate character?

The former tbh. Silver/Gold pretty much said as such with Red having Ash's team, Pikachu included, when you go to face him on Mt. Silver.
 

giradialkia

Well-Known Member
GSC were basically the only games I played as a kid. Whatever it was, I couldn’t get enough of them and would play and replay them.
I was blown away when I first found Red atop Mt. Silver. I’d played Yellow before Gold, but repeatedly got stuck in places like Seafoam Islands or Silph Co. I was one of those players who used all the starters given to us. So Red very much was a representation of my character from Yellow, and that stuck with me for at least a decade.

I’ve been forever disappointed that they haven’t let us battle past protagonists since. I had hopes for B2W2, but it just fell short on that front.

I’d always differentiated Red from Ash; it was clear that Ash was loosely based on Red, but the fact that Red never spoke (quite the opposite of Ash) made it easy to distinguish.
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
The manga, Pokemon Adventures around 2008 when I got into Pokemon. Also, maybe a Nintendo Power magazine for the game version of him.

Yes, I know Red from adventures does not equal Red from the games. But, still.
 

Sakuyamon

Well-Known Member
I called him Ash when I played the generation one games because I didn't know he had a default name at that point. I first started calling him Red when I read the Pokemon Adventures manga.
 

Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
"Red" was not made his de facto name until gen 2, official gen 1 marketing stuff kept flipflopping between calling him Satoshi/Ash and Red. The initial promo material for the anime also called the anime protagonist Red.

The idea that Satoshi from the anime is "based on Red, but not ACTUALLY Red" is some weird nonsense that came later. None of the gen 1 anime characters were all THAT similar to their video game counterparts, he was a closer equivalent than most.
 

TwilightBlade

Well-Known Member
I found out his real name when I battled him on Mt. Silver. In my head I just used to think of him as Ash from the Pokemon cartoon.
 
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