>>50241813>Retarded OCsIt's highly likely some of them were planned to be important NPCs for Z.
>Retconning Mega Evolution with the power of friendshipI don't think you know what the word retcon means though I'm sure you're talking about ash Greninja which isn't a mega. It's existence has no bearing on how mega evolution works.
>A cringy childhood crush with Ash that goes nowhereThere's the kiss at the end of the season and the writers decided to go out of their way to not have Serena cameo in SM so that when she eventually did come back the progress she's made with her goal would nicely align with ash's progress
>Villains are poorly fleshed out and come out of nowhereThe villain was introduced early on during the season and wasn't even a villain at first
>It's mostly pointless fillerThat's how every season is, at least it's nowhere near as bad as DP's filler hell and even then XYZ had so little filler you can count it all with one hand
>Characters are still boring and one note caricaturesThat's debatable but even then there are clear character arcs for the main cast aside from Bonnie though her character is enjoyable for what it is