>>52350485Well, yes, being a Pokemon is a very important part in this equation no matter how much people want to downplay that aspect. And yes I agree that it has "normie" appeal but "normies", if smash or pass reflects a reality, also like Pokemon like Lopunny, their smash percent difference is only 2% which is smaller than the gap between Braixen/Delphox and Lopunny at 7%, Lopunny, Delphox/Braixen, Lucario and even Vaporeon and Ninetales. The top three Pokemon in rule34 smash or pass were Gardevoir, Lopunny and Braixen and in pokesmash Gardevoir, Lopunny and Delphox with pretty close percents.
And furry appeal manifests in NSFW material made hence why I'm pointing out why certain Pokemon rarely get porn and why others do. My original point was that there's no fear of being perceived as a "furry" when talking about Pokemon attraction because that's not what you see in social media and the material that people make. If it was as much of a factor as the other poster said you would see a much different reflection than what we see now so that doesn't really explain why Gardevoir is popular since for most people it exists in the same framework as Lopunny, Lucario and the Eeveelutions and generally not as a separate thing. This was even acknowledge by the anime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfyr-5f_SfQ&ab_channel=PokeShortsAlolaSo I'm basically saying that's not really true and people don't tend to see Pokemon the way he's framing it. Instead I think it's more accurate to say that the biggest factor was just being there first and being among the first popular bipedal designs along with Blaziken and Lucario. The line was already attached to that identity long ago, the copypasta with the room mate even mentions the room mate wearing a Gardevoir suit.
