I mean they could always try to use Regional Variants as a way to fill in the gaps for those Pokémon if they want to do BW again. They seem to be using regional variants as a way to create new Pokémon but with also restraining themselves to go over the thousand mark, though I’m not sure what’s the point since they are going to be introducing new Pokémon anyway, and the 1000 mark will be reached within the next two generations anyway. Regardless, it seems that the way Regional Variants are handled is that they are mechanically new Pokémon, but are the same Pokémon due to name. That’s the vibe I get. A game like BW would require at least 150 Pokémon. That’s a lot, but assuming that 70-80 are new Pokémon, regional variants would be the remaining 70-80. A lot, but it does give opportunity for a more balanced distribution of regional forms for different Gens than before. Not to mention BW was hated on for using only new Pokémon, new regional variants would be a compromise, like: Here’s Galarian Mothim! It’s Mothim, but mechanically speaking it’s not Mothim if that makes any sense.
Interesting idea. I also feel that they seem to be using regional variants as a way to create new Pokémon without actually creating new Pokémon as regional variants are only new forms (and because of that, I do personally not count them as new Pokémon - the same goes for Megas and other kinds of forms as well). But I really like regional variants, especially now in Gen 8 when they did very well with both the concept and the execution regarding them. Unfortunately, I see several problems with doing a "B/W" again, but with both regional variants and new Pokémon. You listed all of the problems I could think of. And at this point, I fear that having only 150 Pokémon again in a regional dex would feel very small since having larger regional dexes with 3-400 Pokémon is something that at least I have gotten used to at this point since it has been in all non-remake games starting from Gen 6. In comparison, the remake dexes have felt smaller since they have had considerably less Pokémon in them. That is something I fear will feel different in the upcoming remakes as well, but I'll talk more about that in the right thread when it opens again. Either way, as much as I loved what B/W did, and as much as I like both regional variants and new Pokémon, I don't think we'll ever see something like another B/W again in the future.
I also wanted to say some things about some other topics that were brought up recently.
Would "Z" have saved Kalos?
Depends on how you look at it. If you ask me, both yes and no. My unpopular opinion (or at least I think so) is that I really liked X/Y, I think they were amazing games and I really don't think they had to be "saved" as much as other fans often seem to claim. X/Y had excellent gameplay all around (way better than S/M) with very few issues. They didn't need a regional dex expansion, what they could have done if they wanted to change things a bit was to either revamp the dex a bit, or shuffle around the encounter slots. Or both. I don't think that including more Pokémon in their regional dex would have changed things since the Kalos dex is already very big and X/Y had very many Pokémon available on the whole. I don't care much for story in Pokémon games, but I do believe that "Z" would have changed the X/Y story for the better (like what Platinum did to the D/P story). But there's the X/Y chapter of Pokémon Adventures, so I can just read that if I want a good Kalos story.
If anything, I think the biggest issue with X/Y was their lack of content. This is something I am convinced that "Z" would have fixed, no matter if it had been a third version, sequels or alternate versions. If we look at the three most recent instances of each type of follow-up game (Platinum, B2/W2 and US/UM), each of them added a lot more content to their first pairs. Because of that, I think "Z" would have done the same. And for me, that would have been enough. As said, I think X/Y are excellent games. They are my third favorite games in the series and my favorite main series games for the 3DS. Seeing as they were excellent to start with, I am convinced that "Z" would have been even better. I think it would have done an even better job than X/Y at being the closest to rivaling the Gen 5 games as my favorites in the series.
In comparison, I think S/M had much more and considerably bigger issues than X/Y. I always felt that it was way more necessary for them to be "saved" compared to X/Y. Fortunately, that happened, because we got US/UM. I think those games did a great job at improving upon S/M. They did not fix every issue with S/M, but they improved upon them in many imporant areas and they added much more content. I think they are clearly the superior Alola games, no contest whatsoever. It is partly because S/M were decent to start with (not sure if I'd call them "good" anymore as my opinion of them has sadly fallen quite a bit in recent years, but I still think they were decent at least). Fortunately, US/UM went past that and made Alola great! US/UM are my fifth favorite games in the series, while S/M are my least favorites from the main series games games that were released for the 3DS. I think X/Y are even better than US/UM though.
Barbaracle
I like Barbaracle, though I wouldn't go as far as it is one of my overall favorite designs. It is still really great though. I really like how unexpected it feels, I never expected Binacle to become likes this when it evolved. It is a bit ridiculous in a good way and I really like that. I used a Barbaracle on my in-game team in Y and from what I remember, it was quite good.
Charmeleon
Like some other posters here, I really like Charmeleon. I like it way better than Charmander and Charizard. If anything, I think Charizard loses a lot of its coolness when it evolves from Charmeleon (sorry, Charizard fans). IMO, Charmeleon and Mega Charizard X are the best members of the Charmander line.
Lastly, I have a new unpopular opinion. At least I don't think I have posted it here before, not sure though. Either way, my unpopular opinion is this: I have never been annoyed by mandatory tutorials in Pokémon games. Most notably, the mandatory capture tutorial which appears early on in (almost) every main series game. I'm not sure why, but I guess the reason is because I rarely replay Pokémon games and the tutorials are only a small part of the games (for the most part). So they have never annoyed me. While I can sort of think it would be better if they were just optional, it should at the same time not be too easy to miss them for new players. While mandatory tutorials seem to annoy many other players, I have personally never been bothered by them.