(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Sonikku A]

Something I realized after doing the dynamic palette patch by Ghoulslash, I hate how the player and other objects stick out full bright no matter the weather in RSE

NPCs are vanilla*
Doesn't really obscure much for the player, and makes them feel like they belong in the world as opposed to "I'm over everything!"

Edit: And I just realized this was a glitch due to using old saves... Oops

 

[CPU]

The dogs v cats debate has gone on for years at this point and it's not one that needs reviving (personally I think there's a perfectly fine argument to be made for either) but I believe the person who designed them did say they're meant to be based on a tiger, lion, and leopard respectively.

Though I've always thought that calling them "beasts" is neater (and complements the Kanto "bird" trio) and usefully sidesteps whether they're meant to be dogs or cats. Personally I've always felt that Entei looked somewhat canine while Raikou is unambiguously a feline, and Suicune doesn't really lean towards either. And that's without getting into the theory that Suicune, Entei, and Raikou were once a Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon which just makes things even more convoluted since Eevee is more like a fox (or vaguely a rabbit).



View attachment 316169

Regarding the "dead Eeveelutions > Legendary beasts" theory, it seems more likely that there ARE "original" versions of the beasts before they died and were revived by Ho-oh, but they will never be shown (in full, at least) to the general public. Mostly because they don't need to.

In a video by Tahk0, he argues this mostly by using their beta designs, and the silhouettes used in Pokémon Generations. It's kind of a rambling video but he argues that the Pokémon franchise's style guide wouldn't have let such a high-quality production relay incorrect information. Thus, the pre-fire beasts shown in the animation are at least intended to be generic/indistinct, if not meant to be actual representations of their original forms.

Not saying it's a guaranteed thing or anything, but it definitely seems reasonable to me. In the same vein, we'll likely never see Kyurem's true form, Mawile with its "horns" before they changed, or the full fossils used in the Gen 8 amalgamations, even though there could very well be art for them.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Regarding the "dead Eeveelutions > Legendary beasts" theory, it seems more likely that there ARE "original" versions of the beasts before they died and were revived by Ho-oh, but they will never be shown (in full, at least) to the general public. Mostly because they don't need to.

In a video by Tahk0, he argues this mostly by using their beta designs, and the silhouettes used in Pokémon Generations. It's kind of a rambling video but he argues that the Pokémon franchise's style guide wouldn't have let such a high-quality production relay incorrect information. Thus, the pre-fire beasts shown in the animation are at least intended to be generic/indistinct, if not meant to be actual representations of their original forms.

Mostly because they don't need to.

And that's just it. Yes, it's interesting what we now know of the beast's beta sprites and in generations the "pre-revival" beasts were canines, but it doesn't matter. At most the thought process went "say we need three vague silhouettes for the beast's pre-revival forms" "how about me make them canines as a small reference to their beta sprites" "sure". But honestly what's more likely the case was "we need three vague silhouettes for the beast's pre-revival forms" "just make them dog-shaped". We're never going to see the Beast's pre-revival forms because what the Beasts are now is the important thing. They could have been a Mareep, Ponyta, and Slowpoke for all it matters; point was due to being non-special three Pokemon were forgotten in the tower and perished, Ho-Oh taking pity on them and turned them into Legendaries.

In the same vein, we'll likely never see Kyurem's true form, Mawile with its "horns" before they changed, or the full fossils used in the Gen 8 amalgamations, even though there could very well be art for them.

From what we know of Pokemon development, there's likely no art of Mawile with "horns". An artist drew a futakuchi-onna Pokemon, and then people in charge of the descriptions (and form what we know it's not the art team) decided to "justify" it having a second mouth was that they were originally horns that evolved to clamp down like a set of jaws. For all we know the artist intended it to be an actual second mouth (it having teeth and a pink inside is kind of a strange additional thing to grow/change when it's not actually functioning as a mouth), but the descriptor thought otherwise (in addition to maybe wanting it to be more "natural", they may have also been trying to think up a reason why it was Steel-type).

Galar Fossils is a bit tricky. I imagine they first thought of the "Fossil War" theme, infact maybe they weren't even thinking about Fossils but then learned about the Fossil Wars and that inspired them (Cara Liss does feel kind of thrown in...). As for having full drawings of the "pure" versions of each fossil, I'm going to doubt that. Infact, I'm willing to bet the parts we have (raptor head, dunkleosteus head, stegosaur(?) hind, plesiosaur(?) hind) were the very last things to be officially designed once they knew what they wanted to do. I can see when the first thought of the idea them just drawing vague images of various dinosaurs, splitting them in half, and thinking of ways they would go together (no doubt they probably heard about the case where early paleontologist put a dinosaur's head & tail backwards). After coming with probably dozen of designs (and settling on how many fossils there will be), they picked the best two fronts and best two hinds and officialized them.

Kyurem on the other hand I can see there being an initial idea what the original dragon looked like. If not for BW1's development than certainly BW2's development. Now they knew they wanted the complete forms, though I can see them being unsure about wanting a complete form, so better safe than sorry they likely designed an initial beta of Kyurem-complete. However once they decided it was not needed it now remains an unfinished concept. AND if they ever do decide to do Kyurem-complete it may still remain unfinished as GF may decide to make a whole new design from scratch (design philosophy changes over the years and they may feel the beta Kyurem they came up with no longer matches current Pokemon designs). So for this I'm more willing to say there's a beta Kyurem-complete art... but if they do intrduce a Kyurem-complete it'll be a completely different design.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Regarding the "dead Eeveelutions > Legendary beasts" theory, it seems more likely that there ARE "original" versions of the beasts before they died and were revived by Ho-oh, but they will never be shown (in full, at least) to the general public. Mostly because they don't need to.

The Pokemon Generations shorts support the latter theory, for the record. From what was seen there, the original versions of the beasts were just some unknown dog/cat-like Pokemon that aren't really known of to anyone in terms of what they were or what they looked like. So it's likely they were three unknown Pokemon whose original appearances and identities are now unknown forever: what is known is that they were not any other Pokemon that people know of today.

 

[Pikachu315111]

The Pokemon Generations shorts support the latter theory, for the record. From what was seen there, the original versions of the beasts were just some unknown dog/cat-like Pokemon that aren't really known of to anyone in terms of what they were or what they looked like. So it's likely they were three unknown Pokemon whose original appearances and identities are now unknown forever: what is known is that they were not any other Pokemon that people know of today.

I actually disagree. Infact, I would say them being special one-of-kind Pokemon doesn't make any sense.

Let's think back to how the events would have played out. For one thing, there was likely at least Buddhists in the tower when the lightning struck in addition to many more Pokemon than just the three which perished. When the fire started to spread, the Buddhists hightailed it out of there likely also trying to evacuate any Pokemon they came across. However, despite that, three Pokemon were still left behind in the tower. If the three perished Pokemon were special one-of-a-kind Pokemon, wouldn't they be the very first Pokemon for the Buddhists to grab? Would there have been records saying the tower was home to three special Pokemon that later were transformed into the Beasts? But no, nothing of the sort is mentioned & they were forgotten by the humans in charge of taking care of them as they evacuated. Infact, now I'm doubting they were even the Eeveelutions. They were probably basic Pokemon, multiples of the same species the Buddhists took care of in the tower (their elements represented the events of the destruction not what Types they possibly were before perishing & reincarnated), and these three either hid themselves or the Buddhists were too in a panic/smoke & heat was making it hard to see they didn't double-check all Pokemon were evacuated. It's part of the tragedy of the event, it's not just sad the tower burned down but the humans in charge were negligent in their duties so three innocent Pokemon died; No matter how common of a species they were, they were still three lives lost. And so Ho-Oh, both sadden by the destruction and possibly angry at the people, revived them but not as they were originally but instead turned them into creatures that people would never forget; trying to teach them that every life has value shouldn't be overlooked.

We're putting too much value in Generations showing them as dog silhouettes. The point wasn't that they were canine Pokemon who's shape you couldn't recognize, the point was that they were a common Pokemon, much like how dogs are common to us in the real world. Heck, let's also remember that the person in Generation telling the tale was Eusine. How would he know what the perished Pokemon looked like? Heck, no one likely knew what the perished Pokemon were thus why we aren't told. And it doesn't matter, because what matter was three Pokemon perished due to a terrible accident (and possibly human negligence) but miraculously brought back to life as legendary creatures of great power.

Look, I get we all really want them to bring back the beta sprite back in some way, many thinking maybe as an alternate form/primal reversion/regional variant of the beast trio. But honestly, maybe better that if they're brought back to be separate species, at most maybe loosely connected via lore but otherwise allowed to do their own thing.

 

[Sonikku A]

Not saying it's a guaranteed thing or anything, but it definitely seems reasonable to me. In the same vein, we'll likely never see Kyurem's true form, Mawile with its "horns" before they changed, or the full fossils used in the Gen 8 amalgamations, even though there could very well be art for them.

Reminds me. Imposter Oak was a scrapped thing in Gen 2 dev, especially known now given the leaks
.....and noticeably for TCG

TCG, Adventures, and even the anime briefly still used it
So it's possible other things were fully designed and never shown

 

[Pikachu315111]

Reminds me. Imposter Oak was a scrapped thing in Gen 2 dev, especially known now given the leaks

What leaks?

Also they likely abandoned the Imposter Oak idea because Professor Oak wasn't a character in Gen III and either GF or the TCG makers realized each gen was going to take place in regions far away from Kanto with their own professor.

 

[Plague von Karma]

I don't know if this would be an unpopular opinion or if it belongs anywhere else.


Why isn't Granbull in Sword and Shield?

So as someone who is unfortunate enough to live in the UK, I see Granbull as a Pokemon whose inclusion in SwSh should go without saying. If we ignore the fact that bulldogs are considered the most iconic dog breeds in Britain to the point of being a national symbol, there's a lot more going on that only makes it seem more natural. While it does have good and bad connotations, it remains a symbol of British courage and pride. Like, fuck, there's a reason we compared Winston Churchill to a bulldog; that WWII speech he gave is still one of the most iconic of all time.

Granbull, considering its Fairy Egg Group, appears to be based on Cu-sith, a "dog fairy" in Scottish (and arguably Irish) mythology. It's also got a few callbacks to Cŵn Annwn in my mind, a mythical spirit hound from Welsh mythology. I take this as a minor form of representation, and it seems Game Freak does too with the Fairy type change in Gen 6. With this and the aforementioned bulldog/mastiff/etc breed in mind, I'd go as far as to call Granbull one of the most British Pokemon you could possibly get.

You could make the argument that including Granbull could be giving power to the negative points of bulldogs in British symbolism. The bulldog has historically been used in British Nationalist symbolism. Additionally, Winston Churchill himself is considered to be a bit of an iffy dude, with some...questionable political beliefs, as well as some war crimes. Regardless, I don't see these as intrinsic reasons for Granbull's exclusion and think they're largely irrelevant. As a "hate symbol", bulldogs aren't really used too often, they're moreso just a heritage thing. To be honest, every Pokemon should be in at the end of the day, but Granbull should have been included and used in a big way.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Yamper and Boltund replaced our pink friend, so they saw Granbull as an unnecessary addition. I can see why; Yamper seems to be a Welsh Corgi (or as we call it, Cymraeg Corgwn), and Boltund is an English Foxhound, though that's a reach. However, neither of these hold a candle to the level of influence the bulldog umbrella has had on British culture.

#JusticeForGranbull #DownWithBoltund

 

[R_N]

What leaks?

Also they likely abandoned the Imposter Oak idea because Professor Oak wasn't a character in Gen III and either GF or the TCG makers realized each gen was going to take place in regions far away from Kanto with their own professor.

The big gen 2 leaks that went around last year (/2019? been a while). There was an imposter professor oak in the spaceworld demo

 

[Plague von Karma]

The big gen 2 leaks that went around last year (/2019? been a while). There was an imposter professor oak in the spaceworld demo

Can verify. It was 2018, and an NPC resembling Impostor Oak was in a few houses. Nothing explicitly confirming it but the general placement implies it quite heavily.

 

[Celever]

I don't know if this would be an unpopular opinion or if it belongs anywhere else.


Why isn't Granbull in Sword and Shield?

So as someone who is unfortunate enough to live in the UK, I see Granbull as a Pokemon whose inclusion in SwSh should go without saying. If we ignore the fact that bulldogs are considered the most iconic dog breeds in Britain to the point of being a national symbol, there's a lot more going on that only makes it seem more natural. While it does have good and bad connotations, it remains a symbol of British courage and pride. Like, fuck, there's a reason we compared Winston Churchill to a bulldog; that WWII speech he gave is still one of the most iconic of all time.

Granbull, considering its Fairy Egg Group, appears to be based on Cu-sith, a "dog fairy" in Scottish (and arguably Irish) mythology. It's also got a few callbacks to Cŵn Annwn in my mind, a mythical spirit hound from Welsh mythology. I take this as a minor form of representation, and it seems Game Freak does too with the Fairy type change in Gen 6. With this and the aforementioned bulldog/mastiff/etc breed in mind, I'd go as far as to call Granbull one of the most British Pokemon you could possibly get.

You could make the argument that including Granbull could be giving power to the negative points of bulldogs in British symbolism. The bulldog has historically been used in British Nationalist symbolism. Additionally, Winston Churchill himself is considered to be a bit of an iffy dude, with some...questionable political beliefs, as well as some war crimes. Regardless, I don't see these as intrinsic reasons for Granbull's exclusion and think they're largely irrelevant. As a "hate symbol", bulldogs aren't really used too often, they're moreso just a heritage thing. To be honest, every Pokemon should be in at the end of the day, but Granbull should have been included and used in a big way.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Yamper and Boltund replaced our pink friend, so they saw Granbull as an unnecessary addition. I can see why; Yamper seems to be a Welsh Corgi (or as we call it, Cymraeg Corgwn), and Boltund is an English Foxhound, though that's a reach. However, neither of these hold a candle to the level of influence the bulldog umbrella has had on British culture.

#JusticeForGranbull #DownWithBoltund

I agree wholeheartedly, and I recall making a post about it when SwSh released. I think after that, the PokéTuber Lockstin also made this point in his video about how the Pokémon included in SwSh's base game are all linked to British culture in some way, albeit some of them were somewhat reaches based on territories that Britain colonised (so, everywhere).

What's strangest is that the Granbull line is one of very few to still neither be in SwSh, nor DPPt's dex. On the whole, Pokémon who are in the Sinnoh Dex were left out of SwSh's dex, which is the largest justification for the theory that Sinnoh remakes are coming in this generation. Omitting Granbull, therefore, doesn't even have that reason to fall back on, which has been used to justify Pokémon like Bibarel not being in Galar (Canada, one of Britain's most influential previous colonies and still part of the Commonwealth, isn't represented by a single Pokémon either I think, and yes it is relevant because Kangaskhan is probably in the base game to represent Australia).

Technically, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales aren't actually a part of Galar, however. The region is specifically only England's landmass, and the other territories are omitted. I think this is really dumb, and have posted before about how it would have diversified the style of locations you could include in the game. The Scottish highlands full of hardy Flying-Type Pokémon and wolves (almost like the PMD: Explorers dungeon with the boss battle against Skarmory, something Bluff iirc); Welsh castles where you can find Dragon-Type Pokémon; Northern Ireland where a Fairy-Type forest opens up into Giant's Causeway, where powerful, intimidating Pokémon like Tyranitar and Duraludon dwell. England is actually the part of the UK with the least interesting design potential, and certainly least varied. Focussing solely on it is a decision that will never make sense to me. BUT, this is the only reason I can think of for Granbull being omitted, because the Cu-sith is pretty solidly a Scottish concept and not English. Though this is still flimsy; the only reason this would matter is if A) we get a third version of SwSh, and B) it adds the rest of the UK, which is a complete pipe dream.

It's a pretty big indictment that the UK has a fairly small amount of biodiversity within it, and GameFreak couldn't even represent one of its most iconic native animals, though. Considering 24% of the UK owns a dog and 26% owns a cat (cat fans, you win this one...), I'd level the same criticism at Skitty being omitted, as it's also not in the Sinnoh Dex. We did get Purrloin, I guess, and Meowth received a regional evolution which I suppose they consider a new cat Pokémon, but Perserker loses a lot of cat elements from its design anyway!

 

[Plague von Karma]

Technically, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales aren't actually a part of Galar, however. The region is specifically only England's landmass, and the other territories are omitted.

Galar isn't based solely on England, at least in Pokemon representation; it's a mix of England and Wales. You could argue that the Duraludon VS Charizard dynamic is based on the battle between Y Ddraig Wen and Y Ddraig Goch, a Welsh concept, which I believe someone told me about on this very forum. It fits pretty damn well, since Y Ddraig Wen was kind of an intruder, symbolizing the invading Saxons. There are quite a few areas of Galar I would argue are similar to Wales as well, I believe Route 9 was theorized to be based on Cardigan Bay in Gwynedd. Hell, it's safe to say that Zacian and Zamazenta are based at least somewhat on King Arthur, which is heavily entrenched in Welsh folklore. Zacian is Caledfwlch (oft referred to as Excalibur, though based on etymology I'd argue it's inaccurate, but this isn't the thread for that), Zamazenta is Pridwen, no?

Focussing solely on it is a decision that will never make sense to me. BUT, this is the only reason I can think of for Granbull being omitted, because the Cu-sith is pretty solidly a Scottish concept and not English. Though this is still flimsy; the only reason this would matter is if A) we get a third version of SwSh, and B) it adds the rest of the UK, which is a complete pipe dream.

There's also this tweet, which largely debunks your theory, and I think it adds credence to the prior point.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1216731889920368643

So really, Granbull should have been in The Crown Tundra at the bare minimum...and yes, this DLC's representation of the regions is pretty odd...

 

[Siggu]

The Pokemon Generations shorts support the latter theory, for the record. From what was seen there, the original versions of the beasts were just some unknown dog/cat-like Pokemon that aren't really known of to anyone in terms of what they were or what they looked like. So it's likely they were three unknown Pokemon whose original appearances and identities are now unknown forever: what is known is that they were not any other Pokemon that people know of today.

Or they didn't want to "create" any form of canon so they deliberately made the forms as vague as possible.

 

[Bakugames]

Um actually the original forms of the beasts are elekid, magby and uuuuh azurill.
Source: dude trust me

 

[Imperial Magala]

You could argue that the Duraludon VS Charizard dynamic is based on the battle between Y Ddraig Wen and Y Ddraig Goch, a Welsh concept, which I believe someone told me about on this very forum. It fits pretty damn well, since Y Ddraig Wen was kind of an intruder, symbolizing the invading Saxons.

It was me. While on Duraludon rivalries, remember when people thought Tyranitar was going to be its main rival in-game, with the official site saying the two Pokemon share the same habitat?

Meanwhile in-game, Tyranitar is a Shield exclusive with the only trainer that uses one is Gordie, a Sword exclusive, in the tournament rematches. Guess Charizard is more worthy than a Pokemon whose whole existences is a Godzilla reference.

 

[Pikachu315111]

View attachment 317224
It was me. While on Duraludon rivalries, remember when people thought Tyranitar was going to be its main rival in-game, with the official site saying the two Pokemon share the same habitat?
View attachment 317228
Meanwhile in-game, Tyranitar is a Shield exclusive with the only trainer that uses one is Gordie, a Sword exclusive, in the tournament rematches. Guess Charizard is more worthy than a Pokemon whose whole existences is a Godzilla reference.

Could have maybe been out of necessity/making the game easier.

Because even though we got a Dragon Gym Leader (and in Galar the Gym Leaders are as strong as Elite Four members when not holding back) and the psuedo Legendary of this gen is a Dragon-type, Raihan doesn't use a Dragupult. They probably thought Dragupult was "too powerful" for the 8th Gym Leader so instead gave him the other notable dragon of gen 8: Daruladon.

Now, Leon and Raihan are rivals so that would mean that Leon should have a Tyranitar as it's the rival to Daruladon. However, Tyranitar is weak against Steel-type moves so thought it would look kind of fishy is Leon never lost to Raihan. Leon's ace should be something with some kind of advantage but also be memorable. At this point this could be where they read up/remembered the Welsh Red & White dragons and so to reference it gave Leon a red dragon... and after seeing they didn't have a satisfactory one instead gave Leon a red Fire/Flying dragon-looking Pokemon: Charizard.

 

[Bakugames]

gave Leon a red dragon... and after seeing they didn't have a satisfactory one instead

I know only his head is red but druddigon would be such a cool ace

 

[Plague von Karma]

I know only his head is red but druddigon would be such a cool ace

Druddigon would have made a bit more sense considering the Historia Brittonum story. Hell, the name even seems vaguely Welsh if you pronounce it as Druthigon, haha. The dragons live in Dinas Emrys and demolish a castle every night in some weird way. Once Dina Emrys is excavated the dragons are released for one final fight where Y Ddraig Wen is drove out. This all lines up much more with Druddigon given it's meant to be a cave dragon, if you think about it. Issue is, well, Duraludon would probably beat it pretty consistently if kids were piloting the two. Maybe Druddigon could have got an evolution that made it redder and stronger...

 

[DreamPrince]

I don't know if this would be an unpopular opinion or if it belongs anywhere else.


Why isn't Granbull in Sword and Shield?

So as someone who is unfortunate enough to live in the UK, I see Granbull as a Pokemon whose inclusion in SwSh should go without saying. If we ignore the fact that bulldogs are considered the most iconic dog breeds in Britain to the point of being a national symbol, there's a lot more going on that only makes it seem more natural. While it does have good and bad connotations, it remains a symbol of British courage and pride. Like, fuck, there's a reason we compared Winston Churchill to a bulldog; that WWII speech he gave is still one of the most iconic of all time.

Granbull, considering its Fairy Egg Group, appears to be based on Cu-sith, a "dog fairy" in Scottish (and arguably Irish) mythology. It's also got a few callbacks to Cŵn Annwn in my mind, a mythical spirit hound from Welsh mythology. I take this as a minor form of representation, and it seems Game Freak does too with the Fairy type change in Gen 6. With this and the aforementioned bulldog/mastiff/etc breed in mind, I'd go as far as to call Granbull one of the most British Pokemon you could possibly get.

You could make the argument that including Granbull could be giving power to the negative points of bulldogs in British symbolism. The bulldog has historically been used in British Nationalist symbolism. Additionally, Winston Churchill himself is considered to be a bit of an iffy dude, with some...questionable political beliefs, as well as some war crimes. Regardless, I don't see these as intrinsic reasons for Granbull's exclusion and think they're largely irrelevant. As a "hate symbol", bulldogs aren't really used too often, they're moreso just a heritage thing. To be honest, every Pokemon should be in at the end of the day, but Granbull should have been included and used in a big way.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Yamper and Boltund replaced our pink friend, so they saw Granbull as an unnecessary addition. I can see why; Yamper seems to be a Welsh Corgi (or as we call it, Cymraeg Corgwn), and Boltund is an English Foxhound, though that's a reach. However, neither of these hold a candle to the level of influence the bulldog umbrella has had on British culture.

#JusticeForGranbull #DownWithBoltund

Funny you bring this up, because I had a discussion with someone on the Bulbagarden Forums who told me that it was really a big shame that the Ducklett line wasn't in SwSh because swans are an important symbol in the UK, and its a crime to hunt certain specimens because they belong to the queen. I'm guessing they didn't include it because there was already four Water/Flying types, Gyarados, Cramorant, Mantine, and Pelipper, and all those are more useful than Swanna in a competitive sense, though I personally would have dropped Mantine since Galar had no seas until the Island of Armor.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Funny you bring this up, because I had a discussion with someone on the Bulbagarden Forums who told me that it was really a big shame that the Ducklett line wasn't in SwSh because swans are an important symbol in the UK, and its a crime to hunt certain specimens because they belong to the queen. I'm guessing they didn't include it because there was already four Water/Flying types, Gyarados, Cramorant, Mantine, and Pelipper, and all those are more useful than Swanna in a competitive sense, though I personally would have dropped Mantine since Galar had no seas until the Island of Armor.

Indeed, this is very true, but there's a bit more to this! In fact, I think you're understating it! The royal family claims ownership of all Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) in the United Kingdom. The law has existed since medieval times, and there's even a census for their numbers in the River Thames known as the Swan Upping, with very elaborate procedures put in place. They're even given checks for their condition, people from all over the UK attend! I'd argue these swans - which are noted as Least Concern by the ICUN - are more protected than most endangered species. Only COVID-19 has managed to stop this event from happening: outside of that, only partial cancellations have occured. Threatening these swans in any way is considered to be a serious offence. Mute swans are of immense cultural significance to the English! Have a look here for more information, it's intriguing!

So in regards to Ducklett itself, the only reason I can see for its absence is that its story is based on The Ugly Duckling, a Danish tale. Swanna, on the other hand, is clearly based on a mute swan, and the story itself has been appropriated by the English for a very long time. In my opinion, they should have scrapped Mantine. I don't even think we have rays in this country...never seen or heard of any.

 

[Celever]

Funny you bring this up, because I had a discussion with someone on the Bulbagarden Forums who told me that it was really a big shame that the Ducklett line wasn't in SwSh because swans are an important symbol in the UK, and its a crime to hunt certain specimens because they belong to the queen. I'm guessing they didn't include it because there was already four Water/Flying types, Gyarados, Cramorant, Mantine, and Pelipper, and all those are more useful than Swanna in a competitive sense, though I personally would have dropped Mantine since Galar had no seas until the Island of Armor.

Indeed, this is very true, but there's a bit more to this! In fact, I think you're understating it! The royal family claims ownership of all Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) in the United Kingdom. The law has existed since medieval times, and there's even a census for their numbers in the River Thames known as the Swan Upping, with very elaborate procedures put in place. They're even given checks for their condition, people from all over the UK attend! I'd argue these swans - which are noted as Least Concern by the ICUN - are more protected than most endangered species. Only COVID-19 has managed to stop this event from happening: outside of that, only partial cancellations have occured. Threatening these swans in any way is considered to be a serious offence. Mute swans are of immense cultural significance to the English! Have a look here for more information, it's intriguing!

So in regards to Ducklett itself, the only reason I can see for its absence is that its story is based on The Ugly Duckling, a Danish tale. Swanna, on the other hand, is clearly based on a mute swan, and the story itself has been appropriated by the English for a very long time. In my opinion, they should have scrapped Mantine. I don't even think we have rays in this country...never seen or heard of any.

To stick the knife in even more, Mantine is one of few Pokémon to be in both the Sinnoh and Galar dexes. Pelipper happens to be another one, too, though seagulls are an iconic part of the British coast so their inclusion is definitely warranted too.

Considering we got Mantine Surfing in Alola, someone high up at Game Freak probably just really likes Mantine. But I agree that even if we didn't get Swanna, a new swan Pokémon makes a whole lot of sense for Galar. Swans are another of our most iconic animals.

For the hell of it, I decided to take a look at other Pokémon left out of the Galar region and there are some other interesting omissions.

• While we did get Spheal, the Seel family being left out is strange, since some coastal Scottish and far-Northern English cities receive quite a bit of domestic tourism thanks to seal migration in some months of the year (and so the non-Ice-Type seal makes more sense since they're varieties who can survive warmer weather).
• Ledyba being left out strikes me as odd since ladybirds hold cultural significance in their own right, as the name "ladybird" itself comes from Britain in reference to our depiction of the Virgin Mary, its full name is "our lady's bird".
• Obligatory Mareep being pointed out, because sheep are almost as iconic to the UK as bulldogs and swans. Of course, we got a replacement in Wooloo, but Ampharos being a lighthouse has a double meaning considering the UK's extremely notable history of maritime trade and naval warfare. Really, in that sense, Ampharos fits Galar better than Dubwool does.
• Honestly, let's throw Stantler in here. Deer are everywhere in the UK, and are quite heavily protected in their own rights. Cities plan around forests or even small woods where deer dwell so as to not have to move them elsewhere, and so many towns and even some cities have significant deer populations in their greenspaces.
• If you have a pond in your garden in the UK, you also have a whole lot of water boatmen and striders living in it. For that reason, Surskit and Masquerain should absolutely be in Galar.
• Fireflies are also pretty common in the UK in the Summer months, so Volbeat and Illumise only make sense.
• Given the UK's contribution to our understanding of electricity, Plusle and Minun would have been a reasonable nod.
• Spoink and Grumpig actually would make a lot of sense for a couple of reasons. The first, obvious one is that they're pigs and the UK has a whole lot of both domesticated pigs and wild boars across the country. The second, is that they're one of few explicitly Christian-influenced Pokémon, and the UK is still a constitutionally Christian country.
• Dragonflies, darners etc. are also really common, particularly in towns with canal systems, so Yanma and Yanmega only make sense.
• I mentioned Skitty before, but Glameow was also left out and makes a lot of sense given how prolific cat ownership is.
• Otters are extremely important to British wildlife. Water pollution (hey, maybe Grimer and Muk should be listed too then) reduced their populations in the last few decades, so in 2010 they became a protected species and a lot of work is being done to build their populations back up. For this reason, Buizel and Floatzel should certainly be included; Mienshao is based on a stoat which is much rarer in the UK and has less history and cultural significance, so it doesn't scratch this itch.
• We did get Greedent, but come on the UK is very famous for its squirrels, in particular the wide diversity of species. Pachirisu should be here more than something like Emolga, which is included.
• So neither Stantler nor Deerling were included. Can someone let Game Freak know that deer are everywhere in the UK.
• Arguably, Gogoat is another shoo-in. Goats are significant in the UK both in terms of their domestic and wild populations.

So, including the aforementioned Granbull, Skitty, and Swanna, it seems that 19 Pokémon families with significant domestic populations in the UK were left out of Galar, meaning 33 individual species. Considering how many other Pokémon were included for pretty loose historical connections to do with British history, this is pretty crazy to me. Surely the domestic populations of animals should've been ticked off first, and then to fill the dex up further Game Freak should have looked at the UK's history to throw Kangaskhan in just because Australia or something?

 

[Codraroll]

think after that, the PokéTuber Lockstin also made this point in his video about how the Pokémon included in SwSh's base game are all linked to British culture in some way, albeit some of them were somewhat reaches based on territories that Britain colonised (so, everywhere).

Videos like that really annoy me. In most cases, they amount to the equivalent of seeing where the random shots landed and drawing a target afterwards to tell what they were aiming at.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Videos like that really annoy me. In most cases, they amount to the equivalent of seeing where the random shots landed and drawing a target afterwards to tell what they were aiming at.

While I like Lockstin's videos for the most part, sometimes he gets into topics he either doesn't really know what he's talking about or put WAY to much thought into (sometimes both). Like while I can believe the majority of Gen VIII Pokemon were made with UK inspirations in mind, all the older returning Pokemon feel like they were included on the developer's preferences rather then having any cultural parallels to the UK.

 

[ZB7]

One thing that annoys me a lot is how you can’t travel to other locations when you’re inside a building. I know that it probably makes sense considering the way to skip travel is by flying but what’s stopping the protagonists from stepping outside and doing it then?

 

[Hugin]

One thing that annoys me a lot is how you can’t travel to other locations when you’re inside a building. I know that it probably makes sense considering the way to skip travel is by flying but what’s stopping the protagonists from stepping outside and doing it then?

It makes scripting easier. If you make it so the player HAS to leave a building by walking, then at any point where you want to force a conversation/event to happen immediately after something else, you can put them both in the same building and set things up so the player absolutely can't skip it. If they can fly/teleport, then it becomes much easier to sequence break/softlock/waste time.