>>58540536If there's a new type, 100%, it's the perfect and basically only time to do it.
10th member of the Eevee family tree, 10th generation, 30th anniversary, and a new poster child for a type, just like how Sylveon is still the poster child of fairies as a whole.
Why new type only? Because then they don't have to worry about a design overlapping too much with a pre-existing JPN fan design, which is what deterred them from making a Flying Eeveelution in Gen 7, proving they had interest in making more but were held back by wanting to dodge controversy over design similarities and not wanting to seem draconian or otherwise encourage even MORE fanart by "hey kid, if your design looks too much like one of ours, we'll give you hush money to pull it all out so we can assert our own design." becoming a new source of income for JPN artists with too much free time.