Regional variants of mons were a poor idea in hindsight. I get the appeal of seeing a remix of an older design, and some of them do look neat, but there was no reason the new regional variants couldn't have took their concepts and made a unique new pokemon with it. Of course just messing with an existing design is the cheaper and lazier option when compared to taking the new concept and making something more visually distinct with it. I just feel like it's a missed opportunity when you consider how sparse the dex has been in recent gens when it comes to new pokemon ever since gen 5.
Also it makes the national dex more confusing to read especially for kids and new players who are probably wondering why two different mons are so different despite supposedly being the same species. It means that the names can get thrown out of whack too, such as Alolan Sandslash having nothing whatsoever to with sand.
It just shines a spotlight on the imbalance inherent in these games too when the new variant ends up being a lot better or a lot worse than the original. Plus it's unfair when a new variant gets an exclusive evolution or broken new move or ability and the original gets nothing to compensate. Look at Farfetch'd who's been complete garbage since day 1, and people begged GF endlessly to let it evolve into something good, and then Gen 8 rolls around and everyone's dreams come true, but it's only the new regional variant who's allowed to evolve and OG Farfetch'd is left in the dirt. They could have given original farfetch'd a samurai themed evolution to contrast against the Galarian knight-themed one, but nope.
Honestly I've been feeling less than inspired by the design of new mons in general and this is just the broader trend. And I'm not saying that to be a genwunner, my favourite dex of mons overall was gen 6, it's only been since gen 7 when things really started going downhill imo.
