>>58832218>>cover mascot of redAll three starters were cover mascots. So either all three are Shillmons which is just silly or being on a cover =/= artificial popularity. An actual Shillmon is Poliwhirl who was genuinely pushed early on by TPC
>Appeared everywhere during early Pokémania>Time Magazine cover>Merch saturation>Tajiri favoritism>Red's Starter in PokeSpeAnd what happened? It didn’t stick. That’s what actual artificial push without organic demand looks like. Charizard outlasted it dozens of “pushed” Pokémon
>>only one of ash's kanto starters to fully evolveAnd Charizard fully evolving caused obedience issues causing Ash to lose the Indigo League. If this were shilling, Charizard would’ve been obedient and flawless. Instead, it was a liability for entire arcs
>>was present in the gold and silver introThat was after the fact that Charizard blew up in popularity
>>was ash's way of steamrolling through johtoThat was also after Charizard was already a fan favorite and it was still removed for long stretches. A real industry plant wouldn’t be sidelined, it would dominate constantly
All of your other points come years after Pokémania. By the time FireRed released, Smash launched and Megas/Gmax existed, Charizard was already one of Pokémon’s top 3 most recognizable non-mascots globally. It's like accusing Mario of being shilled because Nintendo keeps putting him in games
