>>35522331By essentials, Deci was the middle of the road choice with Robin Hood Owl. Prima went deep into the feminine side of things, even putting Delphox to shame in that regard, and Litten took a hard left into I AM THE FUCKING STRONG territory leading people to believe that the Fire/Fighting trend from Gens 3-5 was rearing its ugly head again. This combined with its perceived coolness factor led to many believing that Deci was going to be the new Greninja.
Then things started going south and quick. Sun in the Manga was given Litten, Deci's stats were middle of the road and outclassed in most cases by A FUCKING ANCHOR, and Prima turned out to be far and away the most competitively viable starter of the Gen and Roar was much better for in-game purposes. Still, it held tight to a nice brief chokehold on the TCG and enjoyed being the frontman of Pokken DX with the hopes that US/UM would bring good tidings.
And then it got worse as its place in the Card meta got taken out back and shot and then US/UM rolls around giving Incineroar an insane amount of utility, creating the VGC darling we have now, while giving the owl basically nothing useful and a Hidden Ability that's flavor at best. Even anime side, it's become clear that Rowlet is doomed to be Oshawott 2.0 and if the merch releases are anything to go by Roar is incoming by summer's end.
