>>56863732>>56862973>>56865716pokémon that became mid-evo cross gen don't count
when the evolution tree is 3 stages from it's conception the designer usually thinks of the cute critter and the badass monster it evolves into first, then has to think of something inbetween
actually that's something they haven't done yet, a mid evo that appears in a later gen but evolves back into the original evolution
maybe it can learn some specific moves you can't teach the pokémon otherwise so you actually have a reason to evolve it into that first
