>>28029088I think part of the anger and frustration about the leaked final evos is that people don't understand why the circus theme wasn't used for the final evos, and how Popplio went from circus seal to mermaid, and how Litten went from quadrupedal cat to bipedal wrestler. But the thing is, the circus theme was only ever fanmade headcanon. Game Freak is absolutely allowed to completely change the direction of a pokemon's evolution. We saw it with Oshawott and older Pokemon like Remoraid.
I think people had very clear expectations and got surprised again. It really reminds me of the time when the gen 6 starters were announced. Pretty much all of the Fennekin fakemon evolutions were just bigger quadrupedal foxes of some sort. I see the same thing happening with Litten, and it's getting just as much hate.
Of course, outside of 4chan, Delphox is actually fairly popular and well-loved. I think the hardcore fans, such as those who browse and post on /vp/, were the ones who were most disappointed.
I showed my friends these leaks and they loved them. One of them even called Litten3 "badass". So while they may get hate on here, I'm pretty sure they'll be well-received elsewhere. Only Pokemon that are truly bizarre get what seems to be universal hate, like Jynx. But even then, Jynx does have her own little legion of fans.
