>>33411773>the entire iconic phenomenon of the pokemon franchise is thanks to shilling, allegedly unimportant, character designs on cereal boxes and postcardsNo.
Game Freak designers follow trends. You can see this with every generation. The Gen 1 designs were very 90s friendly and became iconic because of it. Gen 3 designs fell in line with the anime styles of its own time, fitting in with the Beyblade and Digimon Tamers designs. Gen 7 designs are very late 2010s friendly, and can be compared to the design trends of things like Yokai Watch.
Game Freak makes designs accordingly. Believe it or not they actually know what they are doing.
If ANY generation had been the first gen, it would've been a completely different outcome. Even literal physicists will agree with what I just said, but you won't, because you refuse to accept how the world words.
You can't just throw something to the wall and hope it sticks.
