Probably your typical "Lost Woods" thing. You enter the general vicinity if the Southern Island, maybe a fog or slight visual distortion starts happening, and before you realize you've been turned around and heading back from where you came with no clue what course you took.
We're talking about the same people who designed Galarian Yamask's ludicrous evolution method.
Cyrus being 27 despite looking older is a point of his character (I forgot who, but someone in the game even mentions the difference between age and appearance so it's on purpose). I think they were trying to get across that Cyrus is such a nihilist about how things are he doesn't care to keep up his personal appearance that goes beyond being healthy. Being Cyrus's main objective is recreating the universe in his image, why should he care when it won't matter if he gets his way or die trying (or, as it turns out, choosing to be left behind in a pocket dimension without space or time or any living creature; alone at last in a world without spirit).
Recent protags I think have been in their midteens. Obviously they don't mention exact age, but starting with the Gen V character which I believe a discussion in an artbook with Sugimori reveals they were designed to be older than previous protags and this looks to have carried over (except for remakes such as ORAS, Let's Go, and BDSP).
There was an interview with Tajiri I think recently where he explained that for Gen I he based it on his childhood experience of him and his friends riding as far as they could on their bikes before having to turn back. I take this to maybe meaning originally the Kanto region isn't meant to be as big as an entire state but more the size of a local network of close communities, a size which one could ride all around of on a bike. Gen II expanded upon that idea as it was based on the next threshold in his life: getting to ride on the train and visit far away cities and towns. While in the actual games you can only go back and forth between Johto and Kanto, in the beta remember that Kanto was severely shrunken down to fit at best as it could into a city space. While later on it was said Iwata helped compressed the game so they could fit a more "complete" Kanto in, I wonder if they did originally want to make Kanto only as big as a city to get across the feeling of you're using the Magnet Train to travel long distances between major cities now. Nowadays the canon seems to be that, though the player may feel they're on a grand expanding adventure, in-world they're honestly not travelling that far or for that long and there's adults all around & safe places to go. Of course no one would ever expect for a kid to get tangled up in a conspiracy by an evil team who are planning on using a Legendary's power to take over the world, but you're just that special you not only do discover it but are able to handle the situation.
As I said, in-world, I think only a few days or weeks pass. Enough time to theoretically fit in all that happened during the main story & post game stuff, but not so much time that the player and everyone around them would have experienced any major aging change.
So from what it sounds like it's just a derivative of an Apricorn that serendipitously resembles the later invented Poke Ball.
Though, since the Poke Balls in Legends: Arcues are improvements upon the Apricorn Poke Balls, that means the Apricorn Poke Balls must exist. And the Apricorn Poke Balls were presented as being essentially the "first Poke Balls" as they're just a hollowed out Apricorn. Sinnoh does have a connection with Johto, heck Sinnoh is now the second region to have shown at one point been able to grow Apricorn trees, so could be possible the invention made it over to Hisui. And though it seemingly didn't take off there, it somehow left a mark via Hisuian Voltorb becoming a thing. Maybe has to do with Arceus?
Actually, expanding on that theory, since the plot of L:A also involved Arceus sending the player back in time, I guess there's also the possibility of Arceus deciding to seed (no pun intended) the Voltorb family throughout Pokemon history upon its accidental creation when the first manufactured Poke Ball was made. Why would it do that? Well, with how important the Poke Ball is, or at the very least the Poke Ball symbol, maybe it holds importance to Arceus and by placing the Voltorb family throughout history it may subconsciously push forward the Poke Ball concept into humanity's mind to invent it as early as possible.
I know a lot of people who like paleontology hate how GF has botched how old the fossil Pokemon should actually be (since it's not that hard to even search up), so my personal headcanon is that the Pokedex is full of it. Not like we haven't come across a Pokedex entry that seems off or even wrong before, it could very easily be so here or has outdated info that no one but those who use the Pokedex would see (and I imagine actually scientists would use academic notes then a device a regional professor had a few kids help fill out).
Like, maybe the player character was told by some random NPC "oh, that fossil is like 300 million years old" and the player just took it as fact and wrote it down in the Pokedex. Meanwhile I'd say their placement in the history of the Pokemon world is actually identical to their real world counterpart.
Blue probably didn't know Giovanni was the head of Team Rocket. He just battled Giovanni for the badge (and being Giovanni was more waiting for Red than Blue, Giovanni probably just either threw the match or used Blue to test his team so didn't care if he lost; "there, you won, congrats, here's your badge, now get out of my Gym").
As for Red, being Giovanni disbanded Team Rocket right in front of Red and vowed to start anew, Red would have probably just let him be. As far as he can tell he's not running a criminal organization nor is he hurting anyone, best to leave him to his own devices cause he may very well start causing trouble if pressured.
Or, if you want to look at it from an Interpol perspective (assuming Red reported Giovanni's reappearance to them), this could be the first sighting of Giovanni in possibly YEARS. Sure they could rush in and arrest him, hoping he doesn't get spooked and run away, or they could let him go about his day while they know where he is, having people spy on him, both to see if they could potentially discover anything they'd otherwise have to coerce out of him & to figure out when would be the best possible moment to arrest him.
Not to mention, if you think about it, the PWT should also have a batch of other characters we've never seen before who were either former Gym Leaders or new Gym Leaders (revealing some of the Gym Leaders we knew had retired). Also there's the issue where some of the children/teenager characters should be either late teens/young adults now.
At the time I remember Pokecharms had quite a big list of custom made trainer sprites, many which were from anime & manga (both well known and obscure). My guess is it was probably either added as a joke & was forgotten about or whoever approved it was sent it as a random trainer sprite with no context and approved it as on the surface nothing looks wrong about it. Now whether people have reported the sprite we don't know, if no one did well they probably didn't know it was even there among the hundreds of other; if it was reported well then its a bigger mystery why it wasn't removed.
That's always been my theory. Though I don't think BDSP was made to appease the "corporate overlords" but rather, after being a bit into Legends development and all the references to Sinnoh being included (notably the ancestors), GF decided that they did need actual Sinnoh remakes so gave ILCA (who had worked on HOME so they've already done work with Pokemon and likely were still available) the opportunity though under very strict guidelines. BDSP doesn't exist to be a remake like the previous remakes, it exists to remind old players and inform new players about Sinnoh and its characters so that they would get *most* of the references in Legends: Arceus. Oh and it comes with a $60 price tag. Oh and even though we have characters who references characters introduced Platinum they're not going to have any of the meaningful Platinum content. #GameFreakLogic
Maybe a case of wanting both a cartoony and realistic owl? As R_N noted, beta Noctowl kept with the cartoony aspect of Hoothoot (and I agree with their assessment about the clock elements, they were pretty much added just because of the new time mechanic as Hoothoot was one of the Pokemon used to feature it). But I wouldn't be surprised if some point during development they took a harder look at the Hoothoot line and thought "Hoothoot is cute but only vaguely resemble an owl. Does Noctowl really need to resemble it that closely or could we make it a more mature looking owl?".
Ooh boy, a lot to talk about here! Best to go one at a time:
- Badge Representation: As you've noted, Badges can reference one of three things: The Type, the Town/City, or the Gym Leader.
- Japanese Badges/Colors Of Kanto: As Siggu brings up, we have to also keep in mind the Badges have different names in Japan. While the Kanto Badges were named after the Gym's Type in English (mostly), in Japan they were named after the color they were. Of course the colors were picked to reference the Types. Won't go over them all as some many are obvious, though I do feel some could be looked into:
* Thunder/Orange: A bit odd it's not the color usually associated with electricity, yellow, though I imagine with Sabrina's being the Gold Badge they wanted a more unique color.
* Rainbow: Now in addition to maybe referencing how flowers come in a wide range of colors, it's also a reference to Celadon City's Japanese name: Tamamushi City. "Tamamushi-iro" refers to a specific shade of green that certain Jewel Beetles are. So it's understandable why the English translator would choose a shade of green. However a thing about Jewel Beetles is that their shells are iridescent; while green seems to be their base color, in the light their shells will flash a whole spectrum of colors (which also slightly goes into the City's theme of being a sort of cultural center of Kanto). Hence why Celadon's Badge is the Rainbow Badge.
* Soul/Pink & Marsh/Gold: First off, note the "mix-up" thing only refers to the English names of the Badges. Makes more sense for the poisonous ninja to be associated with marshes and the powerful psychic with the soul. Also, while "Soul" would reference Sabrina's Type specialty, Marsh may have have been picked as it could be stretched to fit all three criteria: Marshes have certain poisonous/acidic aspects to them, Fuchsia City (and the connected Safari Zone) has a few ponds in it possibly hinting it to be close to a wetland, and wetlands like marshes and swamps would be pretty ideal locations for a ninja to stealth around. So, why "Pink" in the Japanese version? Well, buckle up for this one. The "Pink" the Japanese Badge is referencing isn't exactly the English pink. The Japanese "pink" in this case is the color associated with the peach blossom. Peaches are member of the Prunus genus which includes apricots. Why did I just include that random fact? Because Koga's Japanese name is "Kyo", which is the apricots Japanese name. BTW Koga's Badge isn't a heart, it's supposed to be in a shape of Tabi socks which have been associated with ninjas, yet another example of the badge referencing the Gym Leader aside from name. Thankfully where "Gold" comes from is more simple: for some reason, gold is just associated with psychic powers in the Pokemon franchise; my best guess why that is maybe because the occult has ties with alchemy and one of alchemy's goals was making gold out of lead.
* Earth/Green: While an obvious connection between Ground representing Earth thus nature thus green color, I'm more curious was it always the Green Badge from the start. Cause it would make more sense to give the Grass-type Gym Leader the Green Badge, and the reason she doesn't is because they chose to have her Badge represent the name of the Gym's City instead. So was it always the case Erika gave the Rainbow Badge and Giovanni the Green Badge or did Erika originally have a green badge, they got to Giovanni, realized the color that would make most sense in brown, and decided for a more memorable badge and checked with other color they could give him instead, coming to green by making Erika's badge reference Celadon's name (in Japanese).
- Gym Type Change/Storming Chuck: Very true, it's a reasonable idea that, while probably first needs to be approved by the League, that a Gym can change its Type specialty if it switches Gym Leader. But, then again, it would also come to reason that the new Gym Leader would then introduce a new Badge that more represents them & their Type. Chuck's Badge is a closed fist, that's definitely a Badge designed for a Fighting-type Gym. Why would he then keep an old Badge's name instead of calling the new badge something like the "Fist" or "Martial" Badge? This combined with the Japanese name being "Shock Badge" (which I guess is in reference to a shockwave or simply striking your opponent so hard that you physically stun them) means I think the name of the Badge is just referencing Chuck's "roaring" personality. Actually, this reminds me that there is a Fighting-type Move called "Storm Throw" (it was actually Throh's Signature Move). I checked its Japanese name which not only is "Mountain Throw" but leads to a link which reveals that is actually a name of a throw used in Judo. Now I think Chuck is meant to be more of a karate expert though he could have partook in some Judo on the side, looks strong enough he can throw someone around (infact when you meet him in the Johto games he throws a big rock next to him to show how strong he is).
- Blue Holding Down The Gym: Blue becoming the Viridian Gym Leader always felt like something he was doing on the side. Like, it wasn't until Let's Go he really showed any enthusiasm about the position, before then he was more focused on having been a Kanto Champion. And even though Let's Go has him proudly proclaiming to be the Gym Leader for now on, I can also see that just being proud boasting at the moment (also Let's Go is a different timeline). Heck, we know Blue isn't Gym Leader anymore because he became the co-leader of Alola's Battle Tree alongside Red. So I don't think we can really count how Blue handled taking over the Viridian Gym since, at least in the core series, he wasn't too invested in it so didn't really change much. Also Blue taking over was a joke in the original Japanese as Blue's Japanese name is Green. So we have Green giving out the Green Badge, which fits with his personality as he can be egotistical.
- Basic Cheren: I don't think its that the Basic Badge is "the Unova Normal Badge" but rather the Basic Badge fits both Lenora and Cheren. The Basic Badge is based on a (spine of a) book, it's a Badge that doesn't reference its Type but the Gym Leader (and maybe the location you get it, but not the City/Town entirely). For Lenora it fits with her being a museum curator and her Gym being a library. For Cheren it fits as he originally was depicted as the studious type in BW and he's the head teacher of Aspertia's Trainer School. With Lenora retiring (likely to spend more time on her work and hobbies), my guess is that Cheren simply asked Lenora if he could give out the Basic Badge feeling it suits him both in character and that he's the new Normal-type Gym Leader. Cheren likely could have created a new Badge, but he already saw an appropriate Badge existed and is not being used.
Well if they don't want to use Gym I guess they could use "Fitness Center" or "Health Club"? But I don't think anything is wrong with also calling it a Gym. Maybe a "Fitness Gym" or "Workout Gym" if there must be a difference. I also imagine context would make it clear what someone means when they're going to the "Gym" which one they mean.
Very likely the same ROM (in UK versions have they ever used the UK version of words instead of the English, like the Department Store having a "life" instead of an "elevator"). Not only that, but since they're either likely the same ROM or close enough it only took a few days to make the UK version, they likely would have the alpha version ready to be sent out if not packaged. Therefore if they make any European changes and want it to be in the UK version they would have to recall all the copies, some which have likely already been shipped. They would likely just replace them with new carts, but the question then becomes what do they recall with the recalled carts? Do they go through the process of unpackaging them (possibly having to discard the package), reprogramming the cart, and then re-package? Or would they just destroy them as reprogramming would be a major hassle. So, yeah, guessing thy just decide the changes aren't big enough to outweigh the cost of a recall.
Reminds me how the music for HGSS's Pokewalker & Let's Go's Communication Channel is the printing error music for the GB Printer and XY's Victory Road is an unused Gen I track that might have been met as a leitmotif for Giovanni when you encounter him:
All coral are actually really old Corsola. Corsola keep on growing and growing as they age and, unless their branches are cut off, they eventually get to a state where they're so overgrown they regress into a sedimentary life style on the ocean floor losing their limbs, face, and organs.
FINALLY CAUGHT UP! And I did so because I came across a new mystery:
An old 2021 Pokemon merch collab was brought to my attention. It was called "Gararu Nyasunohi" (which I think translates to Galarian Meowth Day?) and the idea behind it was Galarian Meowth inviting a batch of the other cat Pokemon to hang out. In addition to Galarian Meowth and Perrserker we got your usual suspects like normal Meowth (to have a Gen 1 rep), Skitty, Glameow, Purrloin, Espurr, and Litten. Missing a gen 2 rep, they included Sneasel which has enough cat-like traits to pass. And with that we have every gen represented... so then comes the oddball. If you click the link you'll see the art drawn by the collab artist, Kino Takahashi, and you may notice a random Trubbish has been included. But it's not just in the drawing, the collab merch does indeed include Trubbish.
So is Trubbish a cat Poekmon? Were the trash bag ties also supposed to double as cat ears and we never got it? Or is there another reason why it was included, like it's Kino Takahashi's favorite Pokemon?
