First thoughts on what
Yung Dramps said in their post:
LZA for Switch 1 then Gen 10 for Switch 2 makes enough sense to me. If Switch 2 has backwards capability that's no problem for LZA. Whether they'll cross-gen Gen 10, well from past experiences no. At their current capability GF is pushing the Switch hardware (they're not but GF refuses to adopt better programming practices; maybe this will be the Gen that Nintendo slaps them and forces them to higher better programmers) so they would want the extra power the Switch 2 will provide.
"Gaia" in Greek Mythology is the personification of Earth itself, and thus the name has become synonymous with "Earth" (as well as her Roman counterpart's name, Terra). In addition to this being the 10th core series gen, Pokemon's 30th Anniversary is coming up in 2026, so it sounds like GF is going to plan something big and global. "Gaia" may or may not be hinting at a Greece region (give me ALL that Greek Mythological Pokemon), though aside from that I would be guessing there's going to be plenty of references to all the other regions. Also, we jumped around to a small Asian-inspired region & equally are large location in the Unovan sea for SV's DLC, that could have been an experiment and hint of things to with DLC for Gen 10 taking us all over to familiar though new locations in past regions.
Well it was sure nice for the leakers not to spoil upcoming games... would have also been nice if they didn't dox GF employees too. Unfortunately this leak comes with some baggage that pushes it from morally in the grey (as past leaks have been) to absolutely criminal. You can argue or not whether GF (which also extents to Pokemon Company and further extent Nintendo) deserve to be hacked or not, but it's unacceptable for the employees to be targeted and have their personal information revealed.
LZA being finished I'll take with a grain of salt. There's a difference between the game being "alpha" (workable product but still missing planned content) to "beta" (product has all atm planned content and is now being polished) and especially "gold". If LZA is "finished" I'd be betting it was likely in the alpha stage, not only is there planned content still not fully integrated but also still needs polishing to HOPEFULLY look and run nicely.
Modders gonna have a fun time with HGSS & BW2 source code.
A "Synapse" is a structure between neurons (nerve cells) to pass an electronic or chemical signal to one another, it's how they communicate and pass information along to know how to function. I suppose that's a good codename for a Pokemon MMO project as, like with any other Pokemon game, a major feature of it would be players connecting with one another to battle, compete, raid & trade. And that's all I really have to say about that, unless there's further details it's a pretty generic codename if you think about it. As for ILCA being involved, well it's not a core series title so they don't have to worry about GF tying them down to decade old code so we'll see how they do (though I imagine for a MMO project they'll also have GameFreak, Creatures Inc, and maybe Nintendo also pitching in).
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I'll go over ALL the beta sprites & Pokemon at a later time. So looking through the posted website I guess the next things are the upcoming movies:
Pokemon Movie 24, Codename "Bauer". "Bauer" is a German word usually used as a surname thus I'm not completely sure if that's the word they're using or it's either a romanization of a Japanese word or Japanese version of an English word that was translated back. Unlike the recent movies which was a reboot but still featured an alternate version of Ash, this is a complete reboot with two protags in Kanto and features Mew (though I'm sure they'll fit Pikachu in there somewhere, probably Eevee too). It's meant to reconnect with lapse fans (and I'm guessing they're going for a global audience with both protags being the English and Japanese word for "light") and cover modern issues such as cyber bullying and suicide... well that got heavy quick. I sure hope Pokemon Company knows what they're getting into, those are very serious topics whose message you don't want to fumble.
12 Episode series, Codename "Reload" co-produced by
Twin Engine (the parent company of
Studio Colorido). This sounds to be more than just a stream series as it's going to be broken into four 3-episode groups (each episode is 21 minutes), be released throughout the year, and get a Japanese theatrical release simultaneously. Okay. Though a wrinkle: it was planned for 2023 and its current status is unknown (which means anywhere between its in production to it was cancelled). "Reload" doesn't really give a hint on what it could be, unless we're going to watch 12 instances from the perspective of the player character going through a Groundhog Day loop as the real world player keeps reloading their game to get a result that they want

.
"Game Boy", a Live-action movie grouped alongside Detective Pikachu & its sequel. While the title makes it sound like something that would be a real world thing, it more sounds like it takes place in a Pokemon world as in additional of exploring the bonds between people it also explores bonds between Pokemon themselves, huh?
So the Gym Leader design sheets I found don't include Elesa or Brycen (though oddly has Professor Rowan), so if those exist I'd appreciate if someone linked me to them.
Skyla:
First one and already a batch to unpack with her nickname being "Sexy Pilot". Not only that, further down it notes she's slim except has a large chest, she wears hot pants and a tank top (with a note saying "more exposure"), and the people she's compared to are "Isabella" Fontana (I think they meant Isabeli Fontana, a Brazilian fashion model) and Jennifer Lopez. She was also supposed to have dark eyes, though I guess that was changed last minute to blue eyes to match her Typing more.
She was also meant to be Hispanic, noted to have brown skin and thus compared to the Fontana and Lopez. In addition to the cheerful and bit flighty personality we know she has, she was also supposed to have a "ethnic temperament". (For the love of Arceus, just go to a porn site on your own time and keep your fetish out of your work)
She's apparently good at "water"/swimming... tell me she's not a good pilot by not telling me she's not a good pilot.
For the Gym it was originally going to be on the cargo plane instead of inside the warehouse, the Gym Trainers being the crew. The crew are all tough males though they admire Skyla and call her "aneki" (Japanese honorific for "older sister").
Finally some info on Mistalton City, since its high up in the mountains its secluded and many people working their are distant relatives, all originally immigrants who speak their home language.
Clay:
Was meant to be 55 years old.
His nationality was already revealed to be Japanese. Born into a poor family and struggling to make a living, he moved to Unova (codename NEWWORLD) in search of a dream.
Successful businessman, president of an excavation company in the neighboring Mt. Outstanding (huh, thinking about it we never got a name for the mountain that Chargestone Cave and Mistrlaton Cave are in). Super serious and treats everything business-like. Infact he's a Gym Leader in order to train his employees which are his Gym Trainers who respect him and call him "King". It also mentioned he fights with the player (not sure if they mean the Gym Battle or was supposed to be argumentative) but his business gets damaged by the "Hakai" group (codename for Team Plasma?). Also, apparently Lenora's father was a former employee of his.
It lists two things he's not good at: Judo (rather random) & Children (hilarious in hindsight; though the document notes he only has a wife).
Lenora:
Oh boy, we're already starting with her nickname: Big Mama (which is a little less subtle than "Natural-born Mama", her Japanese trainer title). Oh, but we can dig this hole deeper. Now, tbf, they note her occupation is "Scholar" (and she's also meant to be half African & half British). But then we get to family which includes: 3 sisters, 4 brothers, and 3 husbands (also, her sole dislikes: handsome men). But what does she like? Housework, especially sewing (GF why

).
Let's just jump to her description. Lenora is a biologist who likes to study Pokemon bones which also include fossil bone research (eh, mixing fields of study there GF. Studying bones is a field in biology, osteology, however its not quite the same as studying fossilized bones which is a part of paleontology). This was because when she was young her father (who worked for Clay, remember) would bring back fossil bones he found while mining as souvenirs. She still runs the museum, and the Gym Trainers all call her "Big Mama" because they're all her brothers and sisters who she had helped raise as the eldest daughter. Yes, that's why GF keeps calling Lenora "mama", it's because originally it was her family running the museum, a concept that got scrapped in development.
Physical appearance, it's not as shameless as Skyla, but they got pretty specific. Average chest, slender waist, and... voluminous buttocks. I take it back, it's just as shameless, especially when two of the people she's compared to are Beyonce and Pam Grier. "Easy delivery style"... did they just write down she had good childbearing hips?! That's it, we're done. WE'RE DONE! Only other interesting fact is she was going to be more dressed as a Professor wearing a white lab coat and glasses. Maybe it's a good thing Elesa was left out (as far as I know)...
Cilan, Cress, & Chili:
The "Naughty Triangle". No, they're still waiters. I got no idea.
They're British-white. They sure are.
Huh, apparently they have a sister, or at least originally.
So each has a favorite sport. Cilan likes baseball, Cress likes basketball, and Chili likes American football. Though apparently they have difficulty studying because they study together (I think that's what it's trying to say?).
Things get weird in the description because it's all singular. At first I thought maybe they were talking about the triplets father, but I think for some reason they're referring to the triplets as a single person. They're waiters and Gym Leaders in their parents restaurant, also holding Pokemon shows where they battle the adult patrons. And they're so busy with serving and performing they've never left their home city.
Appearance-wise the only difference between them was their eye color, they were all going to have blonde hair. Finally they were compared with two other groups. One is the Matsuno sextuplets from the manga Osomatsu-kun (a very popular gag manga) and the other, for some reason but at least explains why they were imagined with blonde hair, was American boy band Hanson (the three brothers aren't triplets but I guess they were going more for personality here).
Burgh:
Oddly Burgh has no codename. Though we do know from other interviews that Burgh was a Gym Leader made by committee by the woman staff members for what they find attractive in a guy, so let's see what the ladies came up with.
Ah, Italian, of course. And his special skills are woman and Bug-types; meanwhile he's not good with electrical appliances. 'kay.
Super famous artist whose medium is Pokemon (chosen due to how diverse Pokemon are in colors and shapes), the wealthy love his art. He owns an atelier (a workshop, which I guess is his Gym?) and his apartment is on the top floor of a skyscraper, but he's rarely in it because he has a wanderlust so goes looking for Bug-types along the road and in caves; not very social but an innocent & good character.
Yeah, it's all pretty much what we come to expect of Burgh. The people he's compared to is Vincent Gallo (who apparently has a huge cult following in Japan), Johnny Depp, and a Japanese comedy called "Ungirls".
Drayden:
69 years old, nice.
He was designed to be German, I can see it.
Family is interesting. Not only does it list him having both and son and daughter, but it also lists a grandson and notes he's living alone (
or rather at boarding school...).
Wait, personality is "gentlemanly, stubborn nihilist". Nihilist?
And now at hobbies I think whoever wrote this made a mistake. They wrote that a thing he is not good at is wrestling (& exercise)... except that's going to be contradicted several times.
Actually I think whoever is writing this must be getting tired, because I'm having a bit of trouble making heads or tails out of what is being written. From what I can read of his description, he excelled in his studies at a young age and went into politics becoming a city council member and eventually mayor. Under his leadership the city has grown huge but might now be at its limits. It's also here it says his body surpasses that of a professional wrestler and wrestling is one of his hobbies. But everything else is just a sentence with random words inserted in, I'm assuming this was all translated from Japanese so feeling especially here a lot of meaning has been lost in translation (or more likely just not translated very well). The only last bit I just figured out was that he met Iris (codename "W") by chance and, seeing her hidden potential, trained her to be his successor, something which we know from the games.
More random words for his appearance, did AI translate this? At least for his clothes we learn he was planned to wear a monocle, frock coat, and carry a stick (guessing a walking cane?) with a dragon design; like a buffed up Mr. Monopoly (who stole Mr. Peanuts monocle).
And if you're still not convinced he's a wrestler, one of the people he's compared to is Hulk Hogan. The others are Herbert von Karajan (a famous but controversial Austrian conductor, I guess he was picked for how he dressed) and Arthur Schopenhauer (a German philosopher who had nihilist views... still feels like an odd trait to give to Drayden).
Iris:
And finally Iris who is Middle Eastern.
Not really a lot here we didn't already know about Iris. Mentions she has a strong bond with a Pokemon that was born on the same day as her and treating it like a sibling, but we don't ever see this. Closest is Pokemon Masters mentioning her Haxorus used to be an Axew she knew from the Village of Dragons (even mentioning they were like sisters) and loved playing in her hair, but that's more of a reference to the anime. Though a notable change is that, instead of Iris agreeing to become Drayden's successor as long as she became a Pokemon Champion, this says Iris doesn't really understand the whole "successor" thing and wants to become a Pokemon Breeder.
No people Iris is compared to, instead the images provided shows fancy middle-eastern jewelry that she's adorned in. She was also described to be wearing a jellabiya though they didn't go that far in the end (and the most extravagant piece of jewelry she ever wears is a crown in her Champion dress).
Still have Rowan's to do but it's sort of a different design doc so I'll go over it next time.
Interesting they tried to give each Gym Leader a different ethnicity. If I had to guess, Elesa was probably French and Brycen was maybe Chinese.
I also wonder if the Elite Four and Alder were also supposed to be different ethnicities. If Lenora was half African/half British, than I'm going to say Marshal was completely African American. Grimsley is totally Central European with his vampire aesthetic. Caitlin is a bit of an odd one as she's from Sinnoh so is technically Japanese, though she's also dressed like a European princess. Shauntal I got no clue. However Alder I do get Latin American vibes from.
I'll try posting more tomorrow.