Although Mew, like Marshadow, was a Mythical Pokémon, that did not mean the two truly enjoyed equal standing. In the Kanto Region, Mew was actually far more popular than Marshadow. It was like comparing a popular foreign singer from Heath's previous life with a popular Chinese singer: in China, the Chinese singer would certainly be more popular.
People always paid more attention to those who came from the same place as themselves. Few people knew foreign celebrities unless they were superstars or first-rate stars, and even those at the very top could not compare with the top stars at home.
The same was true of Mew. Countless trainers and children in the Kanto Region had grown up hearing legends about Mew, and there were plenty of Mew brands in the Kanto Region too, such as Mew sports cars, Mew restaurants, Mew sanitary pads, and so on. That showed just how popular Mew was in the Kanto Region. Fortunately, Mew was a Pokémon and had no awareness of copyright, or it could have demanded image licensing fees from those businesses and quickly gone from poverty to riches.
Even in some other regions, Mew was very popular.
Not to mention that, in the future Pokémon Journeys, there was a One-Ball Superman who could never stop thinking about Mew, only to keep failing to encounter it.
Mew rarely appeared, and sightings were even rarer. As a result, on some Kanto Region forums, the same few photographs of Mew were circulated over and over. Anyone who did not know better might think the forums were stuck in an annual loop, because those old photos of Mew were brought out and posted again and again, like an endless cycle.
So if Heath could get Mew to help him-for instance, by offering a limited-edition serving of