>>55512134>Decidueye and IncineroarI think Incineroar was planned to be the shill, but GameFreak half-way pivoted to Decidueye because I think they underestimated it (And Rowlet's) popularity. Incineroar got shilled more in the mainline games, anime, and Smash. Decidueye got shilled more pretty much everywhere else. Overall I'd say their treatment was even, and they both remain quite popular.
>CinderaceDefinitely pushed hard in the anime, given totally-not-Protean to make it as competitively strong as possible, and made appearances in other games like Unite. In the end, I feel its popularity mostly stemmed from all the Gen 8 starters being pretty lackluster.
>ZoroarkThey really wanted to do another Lucario, but they kneecapped it so hard. You couldn't get it in the original Black and White without some external event Celebi, which hurt people's exposure to it. At least you could get Riolu in an egg. It got a movie like Lucario did, and it was a gift in Black2 and White 2, but it had already missed its first impression. Not to mention its ability became irrelevant in Gen 5 competitive when they introduced team view. At least it got a cool regional form, and it was our first Normal/Ghost type. Plus its in Unite. Clearly they still like Zoroark, but I feel they just don't know what to do with it.
>SceptileOut of the Hoenn starters, Sceptile and Blaziken have been neck-in-neck in terms of popularity and special shill treatment by GameFreak. Multiple star roles in the anime (Ash's and Sawyer's), its pre-evolutionary form Grovyle was a PMD star, etc. Blaziken I think started being more pushed once they noticed it had an edge over Sceptile in competitive play. I love Blaziken to death, but I do wish Sceptile and Swampert were able to get some more spotlight. Really hoping Torchic ISN'T the starter for Legends Z-A.
