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I don't know if or really think it ever failed per se, since it's cemented itself in the Mystery Dungeon spinoffs and that side of the fandom.
But among the early shilled Gen 3 Pokemon like Blaziken and the Lati@s, I feel like Kecleon kind of failed to be pushed into deeper popularity or cemented as the first Pokemon in most casual and hardcore fan's heads when they think of Gen 3 like the aforementioned or say Gardevoir or the Regis, despite being one of the first shown Gen 3 Pokemon, and also having a special Purple coloration that for some reason just wasn't and still isn't the fucking Shiny.
Also got cucked hard with Protean but that's completely unrelated