>>32380785Maybe back when Pokémon 2000 came out Lugia was more popular. Gamefreak has definitely promoted it more (it got its own movie, it was on the cover of Gale of Darkness, it could be obtained earlier in gen 2, etc.).
But despite the fact that Ho-Oh has never been in a movie, and the fact that it was kind of hidden in Pokémon Colosseum compared to Lugia being on the box of XD, I still think Ho-Oh is more popular now. Basically everyone knows that Ho-Oh was in the first episode, and Ho-Oh is just cooler. Everyone knows it's supposed to be a phoenix, whereas Lugia is just some weird aquatic bird/whale thing.
