>>58777641>It’s popularity predates all the shilling from nu-Pokémon era. If we can credit it to some sort of old shilling was the first season of AshnimeIt predates even that, anime didn't start until April '97, an entire year and more since Pokémon was released and by the time Ash had his team of starters, the anime was ALREADY planning 'Zard's evo, by scaring Bulba and Squirtle into refusing to evolve with "Venustoise". They wouldn't have done that, if there wasn't already a clear and obvious preference for the fire breathing flying dragonalike, just like they didn't try and push Clefairy or Poliwhirl beyond their boundaries, despite one being the original intended mascot and one being the director's absolute favourite pokémon ever, as the public percention in no way warranted it. And as an oldfag who'd bought his own copy of Red, instead of having mummy give it to him, I fucking chose Red version, because the badass fire-breathing bastard on the boxart looked cooler sat next to the mildly retarded looking turtle.
