>>36414081That’s not true at all, Incineroar was always the designated shillmon, appearing early in the 20th anniversary movie, having 2 signature moves, had more thought put into its stats, ability and moves (even move tutor a year after), and the build up Litten had in the anime compared to even the humans at that time.
Decidueye was the one that got more popular because of the initial backlash Incineroar got because 7th bipedal and 4th fighting themed fire starter, but it did get better as the gen went on, you could argue it’s still more popular despite Dream poll, or it could just have a really loud fanbase.
GF weren’t really interested in shilling Decidueye all that much, even Pokken was a decision ultimately made by Namco, even after it came to light how popular it is, most likely because of Rowlet, but I’m not sure.
Decidueye’s popularity in smash speculation was mainly because “we need a grass rep to compliment Charizard and Greninja”, bringing up any Pokémon at that time was brushed off, that’s why things like Lycanroc and Mimikyu started gaining popularity after E3 and the Incineroar was easily believable to them.
