Pokemon you're surprised aren't more popular than they actually are

General
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What are some Pokemon you are surprised aren’t so popular? This could be based on their appearance, their origin, etc.

Three that immediately come to mind for me:

Snubbull

This one really puzzles me. Snubbull is a pink dog, it’s really cute and I think people forget that it appeared alongside of Marill in “Pikachu’s Vacation,” making it one of the first Gen 2 Pokemon revealed. Given all of those attributes, you would think it would have been a very popular Pokemon in Gold and Silver, but it was relegated to somewhat of an afterthought fairly quickly.

Teddiursa

It’s a cute little teddy bear. How was this thing not beloved by everyone upon release?

Phanpy

People love elephants, especially baby elephants. Also, Donphan was one of the first Gen 2 Pokemon we saw, as it appeared in the “Mewtwo Strikes Back” movie.

And just for good measure, here are my favorite cards for each of these little guys:


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Poor Raichu is despised by Gamefreak itself.

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They could’ve least made him good, maybe then he’d have at least 1% of Pikachus following. :rofl:

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I wonder how Darkrai’s typing has affected his popularity.

I am 110% convinced that the only reason he isn’t Dark/Ghost is because it would’ve made him even more ridiculously overpowered than he already is. They nerfed Dark Void even after giving him another weakness. Being a Ghost type would’ve bumped him up at least a few notches, both in terms of exposure and Ghost type cool factor.

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112

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4SaMJXl

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My all-time favorite Pokemon.

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Get’s too little love, and based on history and design should be a lot more popular!

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Absolutely! Technically the first Pokemon ever made.

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034Nidoking
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I feel like darkrai is popular

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Beat me to it!

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Tuaros

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Oh definitely, just not as popular as I would’ve thought.

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Arcanine takes the cake

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Any starter from any generation.

I always felt it to be strange that beyond the likes of gen 1, many starters dont really see a huge fanbase. I mean 2 and 3 do have their mild to moderate popularity, but as time went on a lot of these guys kind of just fell flat even with the usual heavy promotion with their release. Theres a lot I dont personally like myself as most already know, but id at least expect more people to be head over heels for them like a lot of us were in our first discovery of Pokemon.

Or maybe im wrong and anything sucks aside from Charizard. Who knows.

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Ones only found late in gen 2. Houndour only found in Kanto is a great example. A Dark/Fire type that very few actually had on their team in G/S/C

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I’d say Arcanine is pretty popular. Whenever it’s in a set, it’s generally always one of the more popular cards, and people tend to love using it in the games.

I’d actually argue your avatar (Houndoom) over Arcanine, but I’d say even Houndoom is fairly popular.

The fact that Houndour (as well as several other Gen 2 Pokemon) couldn’t be caught until Kanto was just asinine. I wouldn’t say it’s unpopular, though. Houndour and Houndoom typically do pretty well in the TCG as far as popularity is concerned, and many people would probably rank them among their favorite Gen 2 Pokemon.