>>29940638I'll admit it's anecdotal evidence at most I used to work in Japan from 2006 - 2013 and I would stop by the Pokemon Centers quite a bit.
Plusle and minun had a lot of lines of merch that were being produced well into 4th gen, overshadowing Pachirisu, and a lot of it sold out. Their popularity caused them to be included in a lot of promotional material and commercials and were inserted into the spinoff games like Ranger as well as a result.
The Squirrels on the other hand... Well there were these Emolga hoodies that were actually made but they sat in the Pokemon Center unsold for a long ass time.
I still go to Japan at least 3 times a year due to work and while I can't exactly observe the merch levels at the Center any more, it's hard to ignore little kids with Dedenne merch and imitating Bonnie by keeping Dedenne dolls in their bags.
As for Plusle and Minun, they still get featured in merch even today - they even reissued the Plusle and Minun kitchenwares recently - salt and pepper shakers, lunchboxes, napkins, egg molds...
