I like to think that Puka from the episode “The Pi-Kahuna” was the inspiration for Alolan Raichu. He surfs, has blue eyes and seems to even have some psychic abilities with his ability to sense waves. In fact, since he washed ashore from some unknown place, it’s possible that he was an Alolan Pikachu (though there isn’t a different form for them).

What are some other times that newer designs may have been influenced by older things in the franchise? For instance, the pokemon that Misty sees in a vision in one episode looked very similar to how Mega Gyarados ended up looking over a decade later.