>>20810709It is, as far as I know, the only Pokémon to have a movie based off it that isn't legendary, as well as appearing in more episodes than any other Pokémon except those owned by a main character. Every episode it is part of is forced to be centered around Lucario, with every problem being solved by Deus-Ex-Lucario. It's constantly used in promotional art despite not being relevant to many of the things, and is made available in every game. I know doing this makes sense because he's popular with young boys, but it kind of feels like he was designed to be a new mascot.
A lot of this goes for Pikachu as well though, I guess it's just because Pikachu is officially the mascot, and because Pikachu has cuteness instead of just toughness, that we're used to it.
