>>37023528Not the anon you're replying to but I don't think popularity matters, they just evolve what they want to promote (what they like). Litten was actually as popular as Rowlet in Japan (and pretty much eslewhere) before its popularity dropped like a rock when they revealed Incineroar, but they clearly intended for it to evolve very early anyway despite this. Popplio was the least popular first form, yet it's still a Popplio 100+ episodes in. Rowlet makes a bit more sense, but it could have gone differently if they wanted to. I feel like these decisions are made very early on and they just stick with them.
