How Do You Make Certain Pokémon More Popular and Loved?

[Tepig Pignite Emboar 969]

I would like to make certain Pokémon more popular and loved, especially the ones I really like. I feel like some of the Pokémon I like are hated unfairly and I just wish they were loved and more popular. So I want to know how to make certain Pokémon more loved and popular?

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

You don't. It's not up to you to decide what others like or dislike. Just deal with it that others can have different preferences from you, that's life.

 

[Palamon]

You can't? That's just not possible. One person can't bring a Pokemon to higher popularity. I suppose memes can bring an unpopular Pokemon back to relevance. However, that's not easy.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Impossible to execute intentionally. Think about how many TV shows that networks end up cancelling becasue they aren't popular enough. They wouldn't have greenlit them in the first place if they hadn't thought the show might be popular. Just love the Pokemon you love.

 

[sutellakiara]

It's really hard to predict what may end up popular but you sure as hell can help guide the process.

Let's take a look at an all time favorite: Lucario.
Had appearances before Gen 4 started. Was the super duper ultra mega hyper legendary explorer™ in mystery dungeon. Was a main character in a very good movie where the Lucario itself had a very good character arc and tragic backstory and heroic death.
And then the Gen 4 games happened, and what do you know? You are given a Riolu egg mid-game yes or yes. Lots of trainers also have a Lucario, too.
That is a lot of exposure for a Pokemon, everyone will come to know it because of that. That alone is a massive boon.
And then you take into account other things like how it has a special snowflake™ ability in Aura.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Lucario is also a very good Pokemon in terms of stats, movepool, ability, etc. It's very usable, and during its debut generation it was a very good Pokemon in competitive. People really underestimate how much usability influences in a Pokemon possible popularity.
It would have been a miracle for it to not become popular.

Now let's look at Zoroark.
Has a cool unique ability... which was immediately made useless thanks to team preview and has next to none real... what is the word... well, it's pretty much useless during a normal playthrough.
How do you get a Zorua or a Zoroark? (Forget which one is that you're given) through an event. Hard to obtain. Barely has any appearances through the game and pretty much all the ones it has are with N. Became highly associated with just one trainer rather than something anyone could have.
And last but not least there's the movie, where it had an appearance before Gen 5 started... As bratty, snarky, bullheaded, annoying Zorua and a mom trying to find her child. It may be unfair, but let's be honest, not many people think of "cool" when told the word "mom".
And if there's one thing everyone agrees they hate about Pokemon movies is childmons like that.

You can see why one succeeded and one failed.

So basically...
>Lots of appearances through the various media, specially the anime, appearances where the Pokemon is on a role of importance and the portrayal is favorable
>Be good competitive-wise and in-game
>Be easily accessible and easy to obtain so that everyone can shove it on their party
That's the trifecta, I think.

Of course there's a lot of other factors to take into account. You can do all those things done with Lucario and do them with, I don't know, Rellor, and Rellor wouldn't be popular at all. Looks matter. And Rellor is ugly as sin.

At the end of the day not all Pokemon are made equal. There will always be surprise hitters, like, say, Dracovish, but at the end of the day when you go and look at which Pokemon are the popular ones and which ones are the unpopular ones the reasons as to why their levels of popularity are as they are very obvious at first glance.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

It's really hard to predict what may end up popular but you sure as hell can help guide the process.

Let's take a look at an all time favorite: Lucario.
Had appearances before Gen 4 started. Was the super duper ultra mega hyper legendary explorer™ in mystery dungeon. Was a main character in a very good movie where the Lucario itself had a very good character arc and tragic backstory and heroic death.
And then the Gen 4 games happened, and what do you know? You are given a Riolu egg mid-game yes or yes. Lots of trainers also have a Lucario, too.
That is a lot of exposure for a Pokemon, everyone will come to know it because of that. That alone is a massive boon.
And then you take into account other things like how it has a special snowflake™ ability in Aura.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Lucario is also a very good Pokemon in terms of stats, movepool, ability, etc. It's very usable, and during its debut generation it was a very good Pokemon in competitive. People really underestimate how much usability influences in a Pokemon possible popularity.
It would have been a miracle for it to not become popular.

Now let's look at Zoroark.
Has a cool unique ability... which was immediately made useless thanks to team preview and has next to none real... what is the word... well, it's pretty much useless during a normal playthrough.
How do you get a Zorua or a Zoroark? (Forget which one is that you're given) through an event. Hard to obtain. Barely has any appearances through the game and pretty much all the ones it has are with N. Became highly associated with just one trainer rather than something anyone could have.
And last but not least there's the movie, where it had an appearance before Gen 5 started... As bratty, snarky, bullheaded, annoying Zorua and a mom trying to find her child. It may be unfair, but let's be honest, not many people think of "cool" when told the word "mom".
And if there's one thing everyone agrees they hate about Pokemon movies is childmons like that.

You can see why one succeeded and one failed.

So basically...
>Lots of appearances through the various media, specially the anime, appearances where the Pokemon is on a role of importance and the portrayal is favorable
>Be good competitive-wise and in-game
>Be easily accessible and easy to obtain so that everyone can shove it on their party
That's the trifecta, I think.

Of course there's a lot of other factors to take into account. You can do all those things done with Lucario and do them with, I don't know, Rellor, and Rellor wouldn't be popular at all. Looks matter. And Rellor is ugly as sin.

At the end of the day not all Pokemon are made equal. There will always be surprise hitters, like, say, Dracovish, but at the end of the day when you go and look at which Pokemon are the popular ones and which ones are the unpopular ones the reasons as to why their levels of popularity are as they are very obvious at first glance.

Lucario literally had an extra year of being around before any other Sinnoh Pokemon because the games got delayed. I could also point out that Zoroark isn't as popular because it's constantly compared TO Lucario due to both being bipedal canines. Switch their roles but leave everything else about them the same, and suddenly Zoroark is the more popular one and Lucario is seen as an inferior copy.

Being good competitive-wise is absolutely irrelevant to most players (competitive players wildly overestimate how popular something will be to the general public based on its competitive performance), as is being easy to obtain, see: every event mon before WiFi was widespread.

"Looks matter". Yes, that thing that is entirely subjective matters. I mean, Greninja is hideous with its tongue scarf and somehow it's popular despite that.

Something being promoted constantly doesn't mean it's popular. Consider the Kanto cycle: Kanto gets promoted, kids see Kanto Pokemon everywhere, either receive a Kanto game as a gift or buy one, most of the kids grow out of Pokemon, they only remember Kanto Pokemon when they're buying Pokemon things as adults, so Kanto Pokemon merchandise makes more money, which leads to Kanto being promoted, and so on, while the kids who stayed with Pokemon genuinely tend to want new Pokemon, and hate having to deal with Kanto resurfacing every few years.

 

[Victreebong]

Popularity is fluid. It’s superficial and capricious. What is popular today can be unpopular tomorrow, and can have a resurgence next week. The company’s pretty good about giving each Pokémon their time in the Sun to the best that they can. A TV show with devoted episodes, multiple movies, multiple games, merchandising, hundreds of variables. If it doesn’t click then that’s all there is. But we can always love the ones that are not popular, and most of us do.

 

[mehmeh1]

as is being easy to obtain, see: every event mon before WiFi was widespread.

Tbh the only huge event mons popularity wise are Mew and Arceus. Mew due to being the first, and Arceus cuz of its lore.

 

[Archangel R.J.]

You can't because clearly not everyone will have the same likes as you. The only way unpopular Pokemon become more popular is if they go viral or receive a new evolution or regional variant but even that's not always a sure bet.