Lugia is THE mascot of GSC, the others like Ho-oh or starters are usually behind in online polls. Because of Lugia being on the cover and being more popular than Ho-Oh, I feel that the highest amount of GSC's power would be transferred to it over any other Pokemon from 2nd gen.
This is probably all true and Pokemon GSC didn't do that badly all things considered. Lugia would likely be a good choice for a guru nom.
But he's not beating Dante.
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[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]