Blue in RBY was a Scumbag. Not “morally complex,” not “secretly insecure,” not “actually your friend.” He was just an asshole who was better than you for most of the game and enjoyed the fact that you knew it. He gets badges before you, beats you repeatedly, becomes Champion before you, then greets you like you’re some irritating provincial who has wandered into his office. “Smell ya later.” Perfect.

That worked because Gen 1 was still a mainstream 1990s children’s product. Pokémon was for everybody. It was not yet a therapeutic lifestyle brand for adult men who have owned the same Pikachu mug since the Bush administration.

The game could let another kid be cooler than you. It could let him dislike you. It could humiliate you a little. The world did not exist to validate the player.

Silver is probably the last real holdout. Different species of Scumbag. Blue is the smug rich kid who would steal your girlfriend because it amused him. Silver is some fucked-up delinquent punching lockers because Giovanni never hugged him. But he still has hostility. You are not his treasured growth partner.

Then the rivals start going soft.

May/Brendan: pleasant acquaintance.

Barry: annoying friend.

Hau: permanently smiling lunch enthusiast.

Hop: emotionally injured by the horrifying discovery that you are better at Pokémon than he is.

This is where the whole thing becomes incredible. Blue beats you and you think: I am going to fuck this guy up.

You beat Hop and the game starts acting like you have caused a workplace mental-health incident.

That is not random. Pokémon gradually stopped being merely a children’s phenomenon and became one of those franchises whose most dependable customer is the person who never really left. So the product becomes less interested in antagonizing the player and more interested in preserving him.

And the preservation requirements keep getting lower.

The rival cannot be too mean.

The rival cannot actually make you feel inferior.

The rival should admire you.

The rival should have a personal growth arc.

The rival should thank you for helping him become a better person after you beat his ass for the ninth time.

Everyone should be friends.

Everyone should be affirming.

Nobody should emit enough social dominance to make the Low Loser holding the Switch feel, even for thirty seconds, like somebody else in the room might be cooler than him.

That is the State of Pokémon fandom now. The old product could survive Gary Oak walking onscreen, insulting you, winning, and leaving. The modern product increasingly has to behave like HR has reviewed every interpersonal interaction for emotional safety.

And the funniest part is the audience is often older now.

You are 36 years old.

You have $4,700 in graded cards.

You are watching a Nintendo Direct at 9 AM on a Tuesday.

And apparently Blue would be too abrasive.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5903695&forum_id=2Reputation#50134538)