>>53120393They're both Pokémon which is, as far as I can tell, enough for most people. I will state as I've done many times that one can't ignore the context Pokémon find themselves in, in the series there's no distinction made between Pokémon for the most part. The series is far more concerned with the way they're portrayed and the series makers want a uniformed portrayal of them hence why the guidelines from the 2012 guide and what we know of the Detective Pikachu filmmakers working with The Pokémon Company.
Because of this, in my opinion, Pokémon attraction has a pretty unique context which extends to the way people perceive Pokémon and the way these results manifest themselves.
It's why I like using that "horsemen of the apocalypse" tweet with Vaporeon, Gardevoir, Lucario and Lopunny because it shows there is a consciousness on which Pokémon are sexualized and which exist in the forefront of Pokephilia. I think far more telling is how widespread the Vaporeon copypasta is, in public nsfw subreddits people constantly post it in Pokémon post that get traction including Gardevoir, and they also like the tiktok meme with Batman and Joker. YouTube channels like Sum and Pokemon Drunk Oak cycle through the same Pokémon and that includes the eeveelutions especially in the case of Sum. These are channels with a wide audience for what they create. The latest viralish video, furrymon, had a rapping vaporeon on the cover.
Eeveelution attraction has always been present, Sylveon, Glaceon and Umbreon attest to that, but the vaporeon pasta gave it a face to rally around. It's become so entrenched that Vaporeon can challenge established Pokémon in general spaces like Vaporeon taking the spot of the most upvoted picture from Gardevoir in rule34.
This is also acknowledged by the anime staff.
https://youtu.be/DuItIoZKghwThe choice of Glaceon is very deliberate, it may not be Vaporeon but it predates the blow up of the meme, they could have put Tsareena but didn't.
