If you had the power to make any other Pokemon besides Pikachu the mascot, who would it be? (I would choose Poliwhirl)
You know, I’m honestly not sure that I would. Pikachu being the mascot, like a lot of other stuff from Pokémon’s early development, kind of happened by accident. Pokémon didn’t really have a mascot at first; Pikachu gained the spot because of the popularity of the anime, for which he was largely responsible. But Pikachu being Ash’s starter and the most prominent Pokémon character in the anime was a last-minute change; he was originally supposed to be a Clefairy, and it’s not entirely clear why they made the switch. Ultimately, he’s the mascot because people love him, and people love him because, objectively, he is adorable as f$%&. Much as I like to complain about Pikachu spawning a line of irritating knock-offs in subsequent generations, it’s hard to deny that he earned his popularity. So yeah. I’d keep Pikachu.
Pokémaniacal 