Character Spotlight: Blue

Manga and Game-wise, he's alright. Anime… oh lord did they do him a disservice. If your role is to be a rival, Gary was FAR from that during Indigo League. He didn't even battle Ash until after he had come back from winning the Orange Islands(118 Episodes in or so) and it was mostly to give red meat to the fanbase with a Pokémon Yellow battle(Pikachu vs. Eevee). Gary obviously won because he had to in order to push Ash towards doing Johto. Gary didn't battle him again(if memory serves) until Silver League(aka Johto League) so we basically went like 250 Episodes(spitballing here because I forget the exact number) before we really had a rival fight. Only then for him to become a Researcher like his Grandfather and effectively a NPC no one really gives two cents about for the rest of Ash's tenure in the Anime.

Well…
I've only had so much experience with him (Ultramoon, Let's Go Eevee, manga…)
I enjoyed him in the manga. He was actually a really well thought out character and later on he felt distinctly impressive, in an entirely different way from Red.
In the games… he's not bad, but he seems mostly just… cocky, big ego.