Several pages behind so I'll just jump to the biggest news:
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Not official, drawn by Red on crossvideodays.com)
Hisuian Zorua & Zoroark, Normal/Ghost-types. Not the Schodinger's Cat many were hoping for, but still neat to finally have that Type combination and paired with a regional variant of a popular(?) Pokemon. So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty:
- Design: The Zorua family is based on both the Kitsune (specifically a fox with the power to create illusions and shapeshift) and Kabuki & Noh (specifically the make-up that the actors wear). Their Hisuian counterparts don't actually detract much from those two aspects, though while normal form is more focused on the Kitsune side the Hisuian form is more focused on the Kabuki/Noh (being all white with bright red markings). And of course the Hisuian form adds on a ghostly element to them to reference their Type change: the hair wisps. I always liked the way they Zorua family were designed so I'm glad the Hisuian forms don't change too much but adds in enough new elements to make the design fresh.
- Type: Going from pure Dark to Normal/Ghost will certainly give them some attention if nothing else. If you're wondering about the Type interaction, it's only weak to Dark; resists Bug & Poison; and is immune to Normal, Fighting, & Ghost. Notably only being weak to Dark, a usually niche offensive move, is very nice that even if attacked by Dark it may be able to survive it unless it's something like Crunch. The immunity to Fighting is also nothing to sneeze at, and to a lesser extent Normal. Everything else is just a bonus, though does mean against most Types its receiving neutral damage. Also, being a Ghost, it cannot be trapped which may play an important part to its playstyle which I'll get to.
- Stats: The normal forms are glass cannons leaning on the special side. The only major difference I can see them doing is either swapping or equalizing their offense stats. Being Normal/Ghost has the downside that Normal is usually Physical focused while Ghost is Special, and the way it charged the researcher makes me think it'll lean Physical. Now of course we have Shadow Claw and Poltergeist (and Phantom Force and Shadow Sneak for what having those are worth) so it's not left without any options.
- Moves: However, being how much GF loves to give Signature Moves, and the Zorua family has a Signature Move, Night Burst, which is Dark-type so no longer matches with the Hisuian forms, think it's safe to assume it'll probably get a new one. Possibly a Physical Ghost-type?
- Ability: And we can't talk about the Zorua family without mentioning their Signature Ability, Illusion. Now this is a big question mark as it looks like Legends: Arceus won't have a Pokemon's Ability be a factor in their battling system (we don't know whether they're completely gone or if there's maybe a mechanic where some Pokemon have special traits about them akin to Abilities they would normally have). Still, I think the research video gives us a clue what Hisuian Zorua's family Ability is like, and it's not Illusion. While Illusion lets the normal forms copy the appearance of another Pokemon, in gameplay this being the last party member, in the video we see that Hisuian Zoroark appeared out of the shadows to ambush the researcher. So, adding the Regional Variant Twist, instead of disguising itself as another Pokemon the Hisuian forms hide and/or obscure themselves in shadows/darkness. How this will translate as an Ability is numerous but, taking a note what they did with the Galarian Yamask's family, here's what I'm thinking: Instead of taking the form of the last Pokemon in the party when sent out, the Hisuian Zorua family's Ability creates a shadowy/darkness fog around them when they use an attacking move. This shadowy/darkness fog stays around them until their attacked which disperses the fog. HOWEVER, if the switch out, the party member sent out will instead be hidden by the fog and your opponent won't know what Pokemon it is until they attack. This is why I mentioned the Ghost-type's non-trapping trait will be handy, one less thing to worry about getting in the way of playing mind games with your opponent what Pokemon is hiding in the dark fog. They could even further play with this idea via its Signature Ability, maybe make it a Ghost-type version of U-turn; no matter who moves first, H-Zorua/Zoroark will attack, create a fog, and switch out either leaving the opponent's Pokemon attacking an unknown target or next turn has a mystery to go about what Pokemon they're now up against.
Also, with the video cleaned up, I can now see this having been "filmed" on the Arceus Phone. Though GF does know that the video degradation they showed isn't how digital videos work, right? It's videos on filmstrip that, when they decay, causes those static-y lines; Digital decay is more pixilated.
Alright, I don't mind that. If there's time-based evolution or encounter rates it would make those much easier.
Respond to other responses later.
