>>54990220Blaziken was the first specifically-made controversial starter pokemon. It's the first true pander/shitmon starter, it's whole purpose was to either make it or break it with the fans. Hoenn was designed with the possibility of disposable starters in mind, the starters were conceived with the sole objective of either going into the fan-favorites or the garbage bin.
I can't really say if they had furry visuals and pandering in mind when they made the Hoenn starter trio and it would be really weird to affirm, given that furries weren't really a thing in Japan and the community is still very insular to the point of barely existing in the public conscious, but bidepalism and anthropomorphism was a consistent and intentional part of their designs by part of Sugimori and team, said so by themselves, and you can't have furries without anthropomorhism, it's the pillar that made the community exist.
One way or the other, Hoenn starters were the first true "intentionally-made furmons" design-wise, you can't pin that shit on Gen IV.
