Oh, GodDAMMIT

[Katuko]

Originally Posted by Ludge

Wow. I kind of thought Bard was just something you guys made up to mess with us new guys.

Sorry to spoil the fun, guys (I know being assholes is the purpose of this forum), but it is made up. Bard was a once-off joke. Him being "deleted" means that we wouldn't remember him. Which we can't because he was never there.
They are just messing with you.

Now, Thief wearing red actually was in there. His ninja outfit was originally red like the FF1 ninja, but Brian thought it looked stupid, so he changed it. Then he edited the three or so comics with red Thief so that he was black there too.
Black Mage lampshaded it.