First of all, it vexes me why people insist on the existence of "Pikachu clones". From what I understand of the term, the fact that two Pokemon are remotely similar is enough justification to shout "CLONE", despite the fact that the style between all Pokemon is similar and that if every single Pokemon looked nothing like the other, the art style of the franchise would be horribly inconsistent.
On the subject, I dislike Pikachu. Pikachu is not "the" Pokemon as far as I'm concerned, so having a single Pokemon represent all of them (more than 649) is incredibly obnoxious, in my humble opinion. Pokemon does not need a mascot, and even if it did, there are plenty of other Pokemon that could share the spotlight, without hogging it.
That being said, Pikachu fans will still have their Pokemon to love. I'm not saying I want Pikachu gone, I just dislike how much it used to hog the spotlight. Honestly, apart from the already mentioned anime, manga, etc, Pikachu is not often remembered anymore, with the exception of among its fans, anyway, and I think everything relating to Pikachu is perfectly fine as it is right now.
To be absolutely frank, like others have stated, I think people are overthinking things. Pikachu has always been and will
probably continue to be a normal Pokemon within the games, and a marketing tool for Gamefreak outside of the games.
I'm honestly hard pressed to find anybody who has a whole lot of zeal for the Pokemon today in a very broad, all encompasing sense in the way that is was even back in the 3rd generation. Even nostalgics who only recognize the first generation only put higher emphasis on the starters and Rattata (no complaints from me on Ratatta recognition :P).
I know this may seem a little weird, but could you explain what you mean to me? (Maybe send me a PM or something...?) I'm curious and I couldn't quite understand what you meant. Sorry for the nosiness! :3
