>>55599140I don't disagree at all that a ton of its popularity is because it's gen 1 and that nobody would give a fuck if it wasn't an original starter and box mascot, hence Feraligatr being more cool in my opinion and not having even comparable popularity, but why do you think it's the most popular in the context of being one of the original 3 starters/first partner pokemon?
Because kids looked at the box art and start screen, saw a dragon, went "that's so cool!" and wanted the dragon they thought was cool, and then later generations did the same as Gamefreak kept putting Charizard in their view as one of the first pokemon kids see.
It's not rocket science, anon. Nobody is looking at Charizard and saying "that's so cute" or "that's so inspired" or "that's so well rounded". His fans are saying "wow, this nigga's cool" which is what Pokemon wants them think in order to make more Kanto bucks
