Despite how on-the-face disappointing it was of Niantic to do a raid day for a Pokemon which can't be shiny, and despite me not getting a single good one, I had the most enjoyable time with today's Hoopa raid event. I'm stuck out in the countryside atm so was a little apprehensive about the ability of my two accounts to duo each raid, but I sprayed invites at random and nearly every time at least one person joined so none of them were tremendously difficult. And surprisingly, it was actually really easy to catch! I noticed that after a Golden Razz berry the catch circle turned a distinctly orange colour - barely any of them took more than three attempts to catch. Didn't lose a single one.
My crackpot theory based on today is that shiny Hoopa will be the eventual reward for a complete L:ZA dex on Home. That way, Niantic can get away with not releasing shiny Hoopa for 2026's Kalos tour - they'll probably have it in raids but with Hyperspace Fury - and then eventually drop the shiny in another raid day in three or four years. Diancie seems much more likely to be the Kalos Tour shiny mythical release.