Never.
Okay... what?
I have
major problems with your argument:
- You don't think Sakurai would pick starter Pokémon... when of all the 9 Pokémon already chosen, a little over half are starters (specifically, Pikachu, Ivysaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Greninja; 55%).
- Decidueye, Incineroar and UBs like Buzzwole have just as good designs as Zeraora, some would say better (I wouldn't necessarily, but I'm not everyone)
- Zeraora has untested popularity (yes, this was also a problem for Greninja, but Greninja's also a starter)
- Datamine debuts aren't official debuts.
- Being the last Pokémon in the Pokédex means literally nothing. Otherwise we'd get Mew, Celebi, Deoxys, Arceus, Genesect or Volcanion. Oh wait.
- Zeraora was probably held off from Sun and Moon because he was unfinished. That's a major downside compared to the presumably finished SM Pokémon Sakurai could have picked.
- Zeraora isn't getting pushed besides getting a movie. This didn't help Deoxys, Zoroark, Arceus, Marshadow... and many, many more. Lucario got a movie, but it was among the first Gen IV Pokémon revealed and was immediately popular.
I get it, you like Zeraora, but he isn't likely.
Okay, so first of all, I'd like to say that I'm very angry. It was extremely disrespectful of you to deliberately imply that I am biased and "like Zeraora" because I wouldn't back down. Because I EXPECT him. I'm sure you would be irritated if I accused you of only expecting Decidueye, Incineroar, or Buzzwole for NO other reason then that you like them.
Second of all, I'm infuriated by your characterizations of everything I said, which could also be interpreted as deliberate.
- I never said "I don't think Sakurai would pick starter Pokemon".
- I never said anything about Decidueye, Incineroar, Buzzwole, or Zeraora's design.
- I never said anything about Zeraora being popular, or the other candidates being unpopular.
- I never said datamines are official debuts. I simply used the term "debut" for lack of a better word because that is in fact his first introduction to the video game community.
- I never said Zeraora was being pushed, and I never characterized "being in a movie" as a determining factor. I listed it as one of many things to take into consideration.
- I never said I liked Zeraora.
So yeah, to end that all off with "I get it. You like Zeraora." is pretty infuriating. I don't know why you decided to turn this into that, but it's disrespectful and belittling. You just declaring that he isn't likely is you're way of claiming victory and then declaring that I like Zeraora, is to dismiss any future argument I make as being biased and therefore invalid.
You can disagree, but in my opinion, dismissing someone's argument by claiming they "like" a character, is one of the most insulting things you can do when speculating about newcomers. I don't care how much you or anyone else believes that to be the case. It's disrespectful and frankly pisses me off.
I gave genuine reasons why I BELIEVE Zeraora is most likely the Pokemon newcomer. Just because you disagree with them, doesn't mean you get to invalidate them via strawman. I could care less who the Pokemon newcomer is.
