If they decided to change pokémon's official mascot from Pikachu to some other pokémon now (and for example, ditched Ash and Pikachu and got a new protagonist in the anime to make this more clear) what pokémon would be the best for that job? Basically: if Pikachu was not the mascot, what pokémon should be?
Extra question: what pokémon do you think would be the absolutely worst mascot they could choose to represent the pokémon franchise? And of course - why do you think that?
Hmm...
Charizard :t006: and
Mewtwo :t150: immediately came to my mind...other than Pikachu, they seem to be 2 of
the most recognized Pokemon from my experience, even from people who only have cursory knowledge about the
Pokemon franchise... And I recall Charizard winning an IGN poll recently, which counts for something, even if not much IMO... And the awesomeness that Charizard exudes simply is unparalleled by any subsequently-introduced Pokemon...Pokemon like Generation 4's Lucario and Generation 5's Kyurem come close, but none seem to outright match Charizard.
Charizard (Lizardon in Japanese) also, from my experience:
-is a Pokemon introduced in Generation 1
-is essentially the full manifestation of one of the original starter Pokemon
-was one of the first two mascots of a
Pokemon game, and has been the mascot of an original game (
Red Version), a remake (
FireRed Version), and a large number of other home console and spin-off/side games.
-has a ridiculously awesome name (English
and Japanese), anime cry, and design (normal variant and Shiny variant)
-can fly
-breathes, manipulates, and uses fire (not to mention sporting one on its tail, which is representative of its life-force)
-is reminiscent of dragons, which seem to be widespread throughout "pop culture"
--due to its 'relation' with dragons, Charizard manages to be "legendary" (which dragons in general seem to be) without actually being a legendary Pokemon
-isn't actually Dragon-type, but is essentially a Dragon by way of perseverance (design, numerous Dragon-type moves in its movepool, part of the Dragon Egg Group, etc.)
-can learn Steel-type moves (which, when combined with a Fire/Flying Pokemon, equates to awesomeness)
-shares the same type combination as Moltres (one of the originally introduced legendary Pokemon) and Ho-Oh (a notable legendary Pokemon, debuting in the 1st episode of the
Pokemon anime), both of which are phoenixes (which are excellent), all of which serve to enhance Charizard's coolness (or hotness? :P)
-looks totally awesome whenever Seismic Toss is used in the anime (particularly, Ash's Charizard)
-is owned by Ash, also being one of Ash's first "outsider Pokemon" (Pokemon with a different Original Trainer)
-has a a whole freaking valley dedicated to it in the anime
-went toe-to-toe with
Entei (a legendary Pokemon) in the 3rd
Pokemon movie, and has a lot of appearances in the anime, similar to how Ash's Pikachu has also faced legendary Pokemon and has a slew of anime appearances to its name
-has appeared in the first three games of the
Super Smash Bros. series, eventually being fully playable in
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
-did that really cool thing in the
Pokemon anime where it uses a Fire-type attack while Blastoise uses a Water-type attack, both of which collide to 'form'...
Ash's first hat! ^_^
-its evolutionary line is nicely representative of the concepts of metamorphosis and/or evolution. Any school boy can catch a salamander, but only the great can tame a dragon(-ic creature).
Then again, any school boy can probably catch/train/evolve/hack a Charizard as well....
-can maximize its Attack in one turn, something a lot of Trainers are itching to do with a lot of Pokemon
-seems to be among the most well-liked starter Pokemon
-lots of other good reasons not mentioned here XD
Mewtwo also, from my experience:
-is a Pokemon introduced in Generation 1
-starred in the first
Pokemon movie (with its own 'pre-movie' introduction) as well as 2013's
ExtremeSpeed Genesect movie, has appeared in a few specials/side-stories, and appeared in playable and Trophy form in
Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, respectively
-was among the first legendary Pokemon to be introduced, and was the first one sighted in the English Pokemon anime's opening
-is the most powerful Generation 1 Pokemon in terms of Base Stat Total (680 FTW)
-was apparently absurdly powerful in Generation 1 games due to its exceedingly high Special stat
-is associated with the concept and ethics of cloning
-had quite a bit of character development in the 1st movie, which some viewers could relate to
-was the 1st Pokemon that was a 'Trainer' (again, 1st movie)
-was a 'Champion' in one of the
Pokemon Stadium games
-epically mocks Ash's "I'm going to win!/I'm gonna win!" quote in the Nintendo 64's
Pokemon Puzzle League
-has a terrific English name, game cry, anime 'cry' and design ('Normal Forme' and 'Awakened Forme')
-has a cool 'walking/floating' animation in
SSB Melee, along with great Japanese voice clips for its victory poses
-has been voiced by Dan Green, immediately cementing its voice in
Pokemon legend
-seems to be among the most well-liked legendary Pokemon
-has a signature move, Psycho Break (AKA 'Psystrike', bleh)
-from what I've seen, is among the most wanted veteran characters/combatants/Smashers for
Super Smash Bros. 4
-lots of other reasons not mentioned here
It would have to be Charizard, I mean really. No other Pokemon has that kind of universal popularity or notoriety.
This.
Pidgey Yeah, I agree with Eevee. Basically, it's a Pokemon who's based around evolutions, one thing Pokemon is really well known for (and one which has also stirred up a lot of controversy :p), and as said, could represent all the types that the Pokemon world has to offer (despite not even having half of them, but it's some of the most well-known typings, so yeah). Two of those evolutions so far are based around friendship, which is something Gamefreak are trying to promote in Pokemon, aka it isn't all mindless battling, so all in all, it just has a lot of the qualities needed from a mascot, as well as it appeals to just about everyone, being a mixture of cute, as well as strong when you take all of its evolutions into consideration. Also, the whole thing about how you can choose which of all the eeveelutions you want it to be just promotes another aspect of the games; that you have a free choice over which team you want to go through the game with, instead of following a linear setup of characters like most other RPGs :p
Another Pokemon that could probably fit the role as mascot would be Mewtwo, since it was such an iconic Pokemon back in the day, being the strongest and all, having an elaborate backstory to it, as well as just being a favourite of many. Only problem is that they're trying to target several age-groups as well as both genders, and I reckon Mewtwo appeals far more to boys than to girls :p
Great comments for both Eevee and Mewtwo!
Aside from
Charizard,
Eevee, and
Mewtwo (in that order, with reasons noted above),
Bidoof would be good (due to its simplicity and derpyness), and
Clefairy maybe (as it was primed for the role prior to Pikachu's explosion in popularity power).
Ditto also works well (its origin, the smiley-face, seems to be a commonly-used symbol in the world; it represents the concept of transformation (which typically seems to be appealing to people); and it's essentially every single Pokemon combined into one (by virtue of the move Transform and the Ability Impostor)! :)
Mew works well, too, since it contains the DNA of all Pokemon, its rarity is quite famous, can learn 'all'/most moves & Machines (Hidden and Technical; HMs & TMs), and also possesses the move Transform (not to mention its spectacular "last moment" inclusion in the coding of
Red/Green as well as the sheer myriad of rumors and stories surrounding it and being the only Pokemon legitimately unobtainable in-game in Generation 1, IIRC).
Aerodactyl,
Blissey, and
most Dragon-type Pokemon would probably qualify, particularly because they seem to evoke a reaction every time you see them.
-Aerodactyl: "AAAAGH, it's gonna outspeed me and KO my Pokemon!"
-Blissey - "Sigh.....this is gonna take a while to bring down... T_T"
--after using Substitute, Softboiled, and/or Double Team, and/or surviving with a Focus Band up to 3 times in a row: "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??!?! asdfghjklKSGDRSJFDKOEDKI" >:(
-most Dragon-types: "Crap....hopefully, this thing doesn't KO my Pokemon.... >.<"
The
worst Pokemon mascot IMO would undoubtedly be
Jigglypuff, because it's generally annoying (in my opinion) in the
Super Smash Bros. series; in the SSB series, it somehow has appeared more often in playable form than Mewtwo and Charizard's playable instances
combined (as of 2013, Jigglypuff has appeared in
SSB64,
SSB Melee,
and SSB Brawl; with Mewtwo to date only being playable in
Melee, and Charizard to date only being playable in
Brawl), and in the main series games, it's pitifully weak compared to Charizard and Mewtwo. However, excluding the SSB reasons mentioned above, I probably would have said that Jigglypuff was somewhat more viable in the Generation 1 and 2 days, particularly because it had a lot of humorous anime appearances, as well as whole songs dedicated to it in RBY and the
Pokemon anime.