>>44110559I don't think the intention (initially) was that deep. They serve more as a good tutorial to the game's mechanics, and the core type matchups Fire > Grass > Water > Fire. While there is starter pushing in the early days, because of course there is when it's assumed that most fledgling trainers from Pallet have one of these starters, their popularity was more organic and it was more that people just liked using them. Nowadays every aspect of the franchise is expected to utilise the starters for marketing, many people even on /vp/ feel uncomfortable not using a starter, to the point where they'll complain if they see someone box it. To that degree I will agree that the use of them nowadays is rather cynical though.
Normalfags love things like the starter pick because it can give them some sort of sub-identity that they can latch onto for social points. This goes for other things as well like Pokémon GO teams and FE3H's houses, I'd say that's why it's such a beloved concept. The Pokémon social media team only exacerbated this by literally asking their followers if they're "#ScorbunnySquad" or whatever every other week.
It's definitely a form of social conditioning that's pretty sad, because the options Pokémon presents you with are great, but like you said people only choose to be the same.
