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FACT: Charizard is not a "Shillmon" and the people calling him that are just fans suffering from sour grapes and wished their favorite Pokémon had won the cultural lottery.
Charizard’s popularity is overwhelmingly organic, and pretending otherwise ignores both history and basic marketing reality.
1. You don’t accidentally design an uncool fire dragon. Charizard is a flying, fire-breathing dragon in a franchise aimed at kids. That’s not artificial popularity, that’s inevitable popularity. Dragons are a cheat code. Fire types are flashy. Wings + flames + attitude = instant favorite. If this were “manufactured,” then every fire starter would dominate the same way.
2. It wasn’t even the most pushed Gen 1 Pokémon at first. Pikachu was the mascot. Mewtwo was the hype legend. Charizard didn’t get special treatment early on. Ni unique storyline, no mascot status, no anime focus until after fans latched onto it. The anime didn’t create Charizard’s appeal; it amplified what was already there. A true Shillmon is someone like Poliwhirl who apoeared everywhere at the height of Pokémania and was even center stage on the cover of Time Magazine.
3. Kids chose it first. Nintendo followed later. This is the part Charizard haters always reverse. Charizard was already insanely popular before it became Game Freak’s golden boy. Nintendo didn’t shove Charizard down people’s throats and hope it would work, they noticed fans obsessing over it and leaned in. That’s reactive marketing, not planting.
4. If popularity were artificial, it wouldn’t last 25+ years. Artificial hype burns out fast (see Cinderace). Charizard has survived multiple generations, competitive metas, redesigns, gimmicks (Megas, Gigantamax), and still sells merch like crazy. You don’t maintain that level of relevance unless people genuinely love the thing.
Charizard’s popularity is overwhelmingly organic, and pretending otherwise ignores both history and basic marketing reality.
1. You don’t accidentally design an uncool fire dragon. Charizard is a flying, fire-breathing dragon in a franchise aimed at kids. That’s not artificial popularity, that’s inevitable popularity. Dragons are a cheat code. Fire types are flashy. Wings + flames + attitude = instant favorite. If this were “manufactured,” then every fire starter would dominate the same way.
2. It wasn’t even the most pushed Gen 1 Pokémon at first. Pikachu was the mascot. Mewtwo was the hype legend. Charizard didn’t get special treatment early on. Ni unique storyline, no mascot status, no anime focus until after fans latched onto it. The anime didn’t create Charizard’s appeal; it amplified what was already there. A true Shillmon is someone like Poliwhirl who apoeared everywhere at the height of Pokémania and was even center stage on the cover of Time Magazine.
3. Kids chose it first. Nintendo followed later. This is the part Charizard haters always reverse. Charizard was already insanely popular before it became Game Freak’s golden boy. Nintendo didn’t shove Charizard down people’s throats and hope it would work, they noticed fans obsessing over it and leaned in. That’s reactive marketing, not planting.
4. If popularity were artificial, it wouldn’t last 25+ years. Artificial hype burns out fast (see Cinderace). Charizard has survived multiple generations, competitive metas, redesigns, gimmicks (Megas, Gigantamax), and still sells merch like crazy. You don’t maintain that level of relevance unless people genuinely love the thing.
