>>43636411They should have just been their own Pokémon. Explicitly derivative even in lore, but with their own names (hell, Alolan Vulpix already has one in lore, it's called Keokeo), Dex numbers and perhaps more design changes. Even the concept would still be the same, Darwinian evolution.
I'll give more examples to better get across what I am talking about.
>Alolan Sandshrew and Sandslash become Slushrew and Slushslash >similarly, Galarian Yamask becomes Yamaglyph while Runerigus stays as it is. >Koffing can evolve in either Weezing or Eksalin (Galarian Weezing). Works identically to pretty much every gen 2 or gen 4 era split evolution>certain regional evolutions (Sirfetch'd, Cursola, Mr. Rime) become simply standard evolutions. Most regional variant concepts aren't even that specific, it's merely the label that forces the region that they were originally introduced as a bigger part of their identity that it has to be. Alolan Ninetales is just an arctic fox, it could fit in in any cold region. Galarian Linoone is based on an European badger instead of an Asian badger, it could fit in any region based on Europe. Muk and Weezing become purifiers instead of polluters, it's a concept that could fit literally anywhere. Even the most specific ones could more easily be waved away if they were to appear in a future region if they didn't have the "Regional" designation, it's not like for example Runerigus is that much more specific than Spiritomb.
Honestly, the same also applies to other permanent form changes like Lycanroc and Toxtricity. They also feel like Game Freak being afraid of introducing more Pokémon species.
