>>54743636Cool, how long did you work for Game Freak?
I doubt your "explanation" holds any water - they rarely just bullshit evolutions or new pokémon up inbetween games or projects (USM's UB additions were supposed to be included in SM - Riddlerdex having a fireworks space but no fireworks pokemon in SM and even archaludon seems a realisation of a concept a couple years in genesis. And don't delude yourself toffee apples are some niche fucking thing, they do them every Halloween in the UK and last I checked, Galar was based off the UK). There's more pointing to Dipplin being thought up for Gen 8, but missing the boat, just like Shellos was supposed to be a Hoenn 'mon, but got held back until Gen 4 to fix it than Game Freak suddenly deciding to make an entirely new pokémon + evo, just because they tangentially touch upon Japan again, while continuing the Paldean story, going to an entirely different country (where the reference to "japanese summer festivals" falls flat on its hole) before returning to Paldea to finish the fucking tale.
