What was the marketing hype for The Legend of Thunder?

[Shadao]

I've been looking into The Legend of Thunder! special lately, specifically the Japanese version that aired in 2001. And I realized just how little information there is about this special regarding the marketing or even behind the scenes interviews. Like, it just came and went. What was the intent of the special? Promotion of Crystal? Crystal already came out about a year ago. And it was about Suicune, not Raikou. Was it a test pilot episode for the Pokémon anime to not star Ash?

I tried to find answers to these questions, but I couldn't find anything beyond an airdate of December 30, 2001, Dogasu's list of 4Kids dub changes, some old fandom sites listing Jimmy and Marina as Yoshi and Dani, and Japanese DVD posters. I couldn't even find Japanese promos and previews of this special around that airdate.

So does anyone know what was the hype behind The Legend of Thunder?

 

[Dephender]

It was that year's new year's special, following the previous year's Mewtwo special, so they wanted to do something unique and different.

 

[wobbanut]

Jimmy and Marina were called Yoshi and Dani by that third guy, I can't remember his name, when he appeared in a league battle against Ash during the Silver Conference. "Hey Yoshi, hey Dani, I'm on TV!"