Official Smash Ultimate Discussion

[The DanMan051]

Yeah, how dare we sully the name of a guy who made a fake leak just to promote his YouTube series!

A guy who's a professional graphics designer, and thus more suited to analyzing and judging this than any one of us here.

I sense saltiness here.

 

[Das Koopa]

My long-winded case for this being fake.

1: Several bits of evidence that people relied on to argue this was real have shifted or been disproven. More on that in a bit.

2: While it isn't impossible for there to have been background art changes later on, the circumstances behind it seem unlikely.

So, okay, for 1 - what do I mean? Well, we started with "French guy who works for printing company that does stuff for Bandai Namco, which is working with Nintendo, releases workprints of displays showing the mural."

That's so compelling at first that the later background art details COULD be irrelevant depending on how ironclad the story behind the leak is: HOWEVER, it has become less credible for a number of reasons.

#1: ACP has no references listed. We don't know if they're working with anybody. Mariana was a stronger link, but we know definitively that Bricard doesn't work for them and instead works for ACP. Now, we know ACP does media work including gaming-related displays, but that doesn't tell us who they work with. We'll likely never know if they don't publicly list it because it's likely under NDA. This puts us at a stalemate, forcing hypotheticals to be created for that information to be true.

#2: Eric Bricard is 40-50+ years old. Per his LinkedIn, he graduated in the early 1980s, yet for some reason an experienced industry worker who likely has a lot to lose goes "**** Nintendo lol"? It's possible - but very odd. I do not take his apparent denial as evidence since him admitting to faking it (or admitting to actually leaking it) would be career suicide.

Now, for #2, it could be that someone is framing him. A co-worker, for example. It is even hypothetically possible that a Mariana worker is using his name to throw him under the bus. Snapchat names, to my knowledge, can easily be changed. There is no definitive proof whoever took the snapchat even is Eric Bricard, and as a result, a major piece of evidence in favor of the leak becomes a giant unknown full of hypotheticals nobody can prove or disprove.

3: The Grinch Renders, while an interesting factor, mean nothing.

Since we know those Grinch renders already existed, as I had brought up earlier, this may simply be a case of somebody attempting to make their leak look legitimate. If you are an industry worker, you know the equipment & materials used: Therefor, how hard is it to realistically fake a print and slap existing promotional material in the form of a print to make your fake leak look more legitimate?

For #2 - the background - let me start by saying that, as I remember it, the ESRB leak had a number of supposed discrepancies that turned out to be things that helped add to its legitimacy. The closest thing we have to that - as of now - is the Sprout, which could be any number of different items. Outside of that, we've only seen the credibility of the mural degrade.

-Sections of the stage are missing.

-Elements of the stage are missing.

-These are present on the E3 empty banner.

-They are not present on the official banner because they are concealed.

-The only areas where the leak is different are areas where characters had concealed things in all prior official murals, outside of the highly obscure blank E3 mural.

-Every attempt - and there have been at least a dozen separate ones - to try and point out the background of the mural changing has ended in failure, usually because people are tripped up by the characters on the mural collectively shifting right/left.

It is probably the greatest fake, just by virtue of the background. None of this even debunks it 100% because it really could be changes made that we are not privy to - but the longer this goes on, the more you have to invent or hypothesize to argue it has a serious backing. Former strong points in its favor are now simply unknowns.

As said before - due to the uncertainty of many claims made, especially regarding the background of who leaked it, a lot of the posts claiming that faking this would be a herculean effort do not hold water. It would be very elaborate, but far from impossible.

Lastly, I don't care about insiders. I do not trust insiders. I don't necessarily believe they are all lying, but they are taking information from sources no one can vet, meaning you require a long track record of correct information in order to take that source/insider seriously. I do not believe their rebukes of this matter because they aren't saying why, or if they say why, they are providing evidence beyond "trust me guys", words said by numerous people who turned out to be wrong. So, when I'm writing this, I want people to keep in mind that my "lean fake" position is not based on what Vergeben or anyone else said.

So, here's my take -

-Don't believe the leak because it has characters you want.

-Don't disbelieve it because it has characters you dislike or think can't be in. The latter has especially never turned out well.

-Don't be an absolutist about the leak itself until we get hard evidence one way or the other.

I don't think anything else is going to come of this short of an admission of it being fake until we get another direct, fwiw. The Wendy's thing was a hail mary coincidence that won't happen every day, in which case, we're in for a lot of dead days where we can only contemplate on what is and isn't real. I don't think it is.

 

[Ura]

The fact his name was included but the top part wasn't scribbled out, leaving it easily decipherable, has me thinking it's what you said; someone used his name to send people on a wild goose chase.

And in which case is an incredibly ****ty thing to do and said person should get sued for libel.

 

[skylanders fan]

After all this speculation, I still have no idea who those chorus kids are, would anyone care to elaborate?

characters from rhythm haven franchise that obviously sing. They were part of a big leak in Smash 4 and were planned for Smash 4 but cut for some reason. Assets to them are in Smash 4.

 

[TCT~Phantom]

If you're going to provide nothing of substance to the discussion and just be a passive-aggressive ******* that posts pointless sarcasm over anything said, then don't post anything at all.
No one wants to see that ****, and no one cares what you have to say on the matter or thinks it's cute.

And you providing nothing of substance with this post and being openly aggressive is ok?

In terms of the leak, I think what makes this one stick out so much is the lack of a pokemon. Honestly a gen 7 mon always seemed like a lock, but in hindsight it sort of makes sense.

Gen 8 is coming next year, and alola is on the way out. Yes the anime is still going, but with the shift to the switch it is clear alola is going to be not a huge deal to promote.

While at first in the project plan it makes sense for a gen 7 mon, based on the timing I would say a Gen 8 mon would be the most likely thing as DLC.

 

[Saelind Genesis]

https://youtu.be/C2faBO4RKH4

5 VIDEOS now from LaxChris on this one leak, the man has no shame.

Mate there's a quarter million messages on this thread about this one leak. pls.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Serious question: How the hell is Shadow able to swim?

The same way Inklings are.

 

[Deleted member]

This. I genuinely hate everyone assuming their fave is in because of this. Its gonna turn ugly if only a few characters get in.

My fave is in. He's a giant Gator boy.

 

[Das Koopa]

Oh, and my position on the sprout is

1: It's a localized healing item since it bears resemblance to the Healing Field item. You pick it up and it heals you.

OR

2: It's Golden Sun-related and creates a vine/ladder.

Very little else makes sense to me after combing through everything, but 1 is as likely as 2, and 2 doesn't confirm the leak even if it creates a real support network for it.

 

[Mellowy Yellow]

Seeing the recent messages has gotten me to a conclusion that we have hit a definitive wall with this leak for now.

 

[Deleted member]

The difference being, Banjo & Kazooie are platforming characters that Sakurai himself said in that very statement were an "obvious inclusion". The only barrier he mentioned was legal issues, and so I don't think this strains as much credulity as people think (as I've been saying for months).

Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto were (briefly) considered for Sm4sh.
WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HECK.

 

[gloop898]

- The print shop you mention is not the one he's currently working for (it's the old one), who has not responded to any comments except that the person works there.

- Randomly chose the Grinch? Really?

- The person has a legal obligation to deny anything. It also doesnt have to be him, it was a picture taken with a receipt that had his name on it

- Insiders have to prove why they think it's wrong. If Its just "Not the characters i was told" then you have to be really careful here because it's been known Nintendo has been giving fake characters out to spot leakers.

- a badly photoshopped character is not even comparable to this. The characters are not at all badly photoshopped. They all have depth to them and have been individually placed in front or behind other characters, while moving around nearly all of the characters due to that and requiring the person to create new art for many characters.

- so no, It doesn't prove it's fake....at all. It only proves that it's different and we still can't come to conclusions about anything.

Except it doesn't. It also changes art we can visibly see in the August banner. The castle behind Zeldas hand is missing from the leak background, and the cloud above Bayonetta has been changed, both of which are clearly visible the whole time.

-From what I understand the original print shop was the one connected to Bandai Namco, the new one which hasn't made a statement has no connection to them.
-The Grinch stuff could potentially be real, as the person who made the leak likely works in a print shop.
-It's true that he probably has to deny anything, but its equally likely he just doesn't know whats going on. It's 50/50 so it can't be taking into account either way.
-If Insiders could prove something they would, but people's jobs are on the line. They can't risk somebody's job just to disprove our "fan fictions." A lot of them have decent past credibility. I wouldn't bet money on their word but it lends a bit of credence.
-The photoshop/art skills at display here are impressive. But so was Omni's Rayman leak. So was the Mario Odyssey Delfino leak. Impressive or hard work doesn't equate to it being real. My main point of the "badly photoshopped" thing is that one piece of evidence against something is often enough to disprove it, even if everything else points to real. One fake thing can make the whole thing fake. One bad apple spoils the bunch after all.
-Some changes in leak art were visible in the official art. But its possible the 'leaker' simply missed those. Especially the Zelda one, which wasn't super obvious, unless you were really thinking about it.

 

[The DanMan051]

And in which case is an incredibly ****ty thing to do and said person should get sued for libel.

Another reason why nobody's going to come out and say it's fake; they wouldn't out themselves as having done that.

 

[Gentlepanda]

Oh, and my position on the sprout is

1: It's a localized healing item since it bears resemblance to the Healing Field item. You pick it up and it heals you.

OR

2: It's Golden Sun-related and creates a vine/ladder.

Very little else makes sense to me after combing through everything, but 1 is as likely as 2, and 2 doesn't confirm the leak even if it creates a real support network for it.

The item is interesting, and I'm on board with the idea that it's Golden Sun-related. I wouldn't be surprised to see Isaac, but I don't think it has any bearing on the leak being real or not.

 

[Rigumaro]

Yeah, how dare we sully the name of a guy who made a fake leak just to promote his YouTube series!

1. That doesn't have anything to do with what I was talking about.
2. You imply there something wrong with making a fake leak like that, but I fail to see it. He did it as a graphic design exercise, a test of his skills. He never harmed anyone, and in fact, he did a "make of" video afterwards that many people learned from. And he even changed everyone's expectations and approach of future fake leaks. If anything, the Rayman leak was a service to the community.
3. He didn't do it to promote his channel series. He planned Smashified after the surprising popularity he got, and the requests of people to make more. But then again, even if he did, nothing wrong with that. Guerilla marketing is a thing, and if done properly, it's completely respectable.

 

[DarthEnderX]

While I think this leak is fake, I will say that I'd be happy to see Banjo get in, for no other reason than, that'd be one step closer to getting Battletoads.

 

[FalcoXP]

Indeed it is.

Morning, all.

You know, one of the biggest points of contention with the Grinch Leak is that it's "Too Good to be True", that we expected Ken, Incineroar and "nebulous Square Enix rep", and most of the leak sources say this, when what we're actually getting is "Ken, Shadow, Isaac, Geno, Chorus Kids, Mach Rider and Banjo".

But... maybe that's the point?

It wouldn't be that hard to either: A) put out a fake character list to catch leakers or B) pay off known leakers to say Ken and Incineroar; to intentionally back up Sakurai's statements to not expect much, to eventually blow our minds when the truth outs and it turns out it's more than we're getting.

We already know that Nintendo is changing their tactic regarding leaks this time, but maybe, just maybe, the method we assumed that they'd be using was wrong?

I mean, we got Simon,K Rool and Ridley.... and got back Snake...

This Smash edition is practically "Fanservice Edition"... so I wouldnt be surprised if this leak turns to be real.

 

[osby]

Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto were (briefly) considered for Sm4sh.
WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HECK.

I keep saying, fans take character inclusions more seriously than Sakurai.

 

[Ura]

Another reason why nobody's going to come out and say it's fake; they wouldn't out themselves as having done that.

Even so that's a ****ton of things to fake if it was a hoax. The promotional material, finding the company associated with the Grinch movie and Bandai Namco, as well as finding an employee working at the aforementioned companies.

Wouldn't make it any less ****ty but man that's a lot of work to do just for internet fame.

 

[Deleted member]

I keep saying, fans take character inclusions more seriously than Sakurai.

Huh.
WAIT.
WAIT.
Oh. My. GOD. ZOE COULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN
huigaidxgbkcdvgkfvgzfhgSVAKGDUhsILHDAFELIHFEGBCASKHVXDhkagDGDAWYGEGFCSAUIXHCShdgwdfuwgxusgyuGAIguidgwusgdeuifgcsaucgbukvcas

 

[skylanders fan]

"yeah guys I uhh made this leak and uhh used my old coworkers name to not get caught so now let me explain who I am and how I did it." Yeah if for some reason its fake no way he is coming out willing he will gets sued like crazy and possible jail time for 15 minutes of internet fame

 

[Deleted member]

You know what I want more than proof of the leak being real or fake? More than the reveal of another character?

I want some freakin' gameplay on Simon or Richter! I mean, come on already; why hasn't more of them been shown? Are they super buggy? Are they ridiculously unbalanced? Have they been cut post announcement? What's the deal with them?!

 

[ZephyrZ]

Alright, as a vocal member of Team Fake, I'd like to make a couple things very clear.

1) I really do want this leak to be real. I'd actually be very excited to play as Isaac if it turned out to be true. Not to mention that it would mean more characters then I expected otherwise. It's not like I hate fun or want everything to suck for everyone.

2) I will switch to team real if I see decisive evidence. As in indisputable proof that it's real. Like, if we get a character reveal and they're in the exact same pose and position as in the Grinch mural. I was a firm believer in the ESRB leak after we saw the Shulk render after all (although if I recall correctly I had believed that leak a little before that). It's just that there's no real concrete evidence so far, just "it'd take a lot of work for just one person to fake this".

3) Going off of that last point, I could potentially see this leak being real, I just think it's very suspicious. But I'm not totally ruling out the possibility that it could be true.

 

[T3Z3R1]

If the banner was confirmed to be fake, and then where's source for arts of Geno, Banjo Koozie, Shadow, and others that were shown in grinch leak?

Also, I'm pretty sure that we are missing incienroar in that banner according to some insiders (including mystic), if he was actually implicated in grinch leak and then I believe that we would have many problem with this SINCE we were pointing how fake it was. However, hold your hype if you want this leak to be real, you need to wait for rumored final smash direct to be announced.

Really, I feel like we're grasping the straws here in regarding evidence that could prove this leak as fake or real. It would be better to wait for more informations.

 

[Nekoo]

B) pay off known leakers to say Ken and Incineroar; to intentionally back up Sakurai's statements to not expect much, to eventually blow our minds when the truth outs and it turns out it's more than we're getting.

This would been truth if we could get things only from like GameExplain or Serebii...

But the fact remains that people who have no link to Nintendo and usually give leaks and rumor about other things decided to themselves put in team Fake/ Team not convinced

 

[sdpdude9]

While I'll remain somewhat skeptical until official reveals, this leak has a ton going for it and little against it. The things against it are tiny minor nitpicks and it all feels all too much like ESRB all over again. If you go looking for issues, you can pick out little things, even in official stuff. Too much makes sense with this leak and it would take the perfect person or persons to concoct such a perfect leak. I just don't see it. But time will tell.

 

[Flyboy]

So for me right now everything about the leak seems really solid except two points:

1) The background discrepenices and
2) The original origin story for all this

Let me break down the issues I have with both of these points (keep in mind I have been Team Real the whole time, but these two issues are the ones in which I dont feel we have very solid counterarguments for).

Starting with the background: There are obvious changes made between the E3 background and the leak background, with which Team Real has been saying “they could have changed the background since E3”. This is very true, and no one can really fully deny this possibility. The question then becomes WHY would they change the background to be generally less appealing than the E3 background, and why are the discrepancies only in spots where there were previously characters in front? I personally have not seen a great argument as to why these changes would be made. Not arguing that they COULDNT have been made, but, if its real, why? In my own headcannon Ive been telling myself that because the background would be on a wristband and other small displays, as opposed to a gigantic E3 background, the details present in the E3 background not only would be unnecessary, but might actually make the image look worse when scaled down to something like a wristband than the less detailed background shown in the leak.

Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated.

My final hangup is with the original story itself. If Im not mistaken, the story goes that the snapchat video had screenshots taken of it, then those screenshots were posted to a discord, then those posted to 4chan, where they were found and went all over the place. Why hasn’t the person who actually saw the video and took the screenshots spoken up? With this blowing up like it has, youd think we’d hear about this person(s) and they could add some more credibility to this, but as is we kind of just have to take a 4chan user at there word that the images did come from video screenshots, and not from someone just making it appear that way.

Overall, this is the most fun/hype period in Ultimate for me (and I literally cried tears of joy when my boy Snake was revealed to be back) and I’ve been enjoying the forum a lot. But these are the two points that, while Im still Team Real, give me pause. In the back of my mind im being cautious about the veracity of the leak, but let me just end with saying if this is real, Sakurai has taken an already “All-Time great roster”, and propelled it through the stratosphere into “Greatest media crossover achievement of all time” territory.

I just want to shout out this post. I was also Team Real but I fully admit these are potentially damning counterpoints. I'm clinging to it because even if it's fake I lose nothing in the long run outside of five minutes of being slightly disappointed and I'm also a firm believer in weighing all the evidence. There's a reason Phoenix Wright is my most-wanted.

 

[ZephyrZ]

If the banner was confirmed to be fake, and then where's source for arts of Geno, Banjo Koozie, Shadow, and others that were shown in grinch leak?

Assuming it's fake, it's probably original artwork made by the leaker.

 

[CosmicQuark]

Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto were (briefly) considered for Sm4sh.
WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HECK.

And despite Mii Fighters being the compromise (as demonstrated in that awesome reveal), people still ask for Reggie. I can't blame them, though.

 

[JoyStar]

I can forgive this, if you only use YouTube as a source for Smash news you'd be in the dark about most of this debate.


Honestly, I'm in the middle but theres a lot of cockiness happening from Team Real all over here and Twitter.

I've seen cockiness on both sides to be honest. Still on Team Schrodinger.

 

[Poopyhead]

If the banner was confirmed to be fake, and then where's source for arts of Geno, Banjo Koozie, Shadow, and others that were shown in grinch leak?

The characters are literally just drawings, they could get any number of artists to do it (or do it themselves), especially considering how blurry they are. I think the real question would be about the backgrounds of the stages.

 

[mbvswb]

Seems the box for the Switch Bundle (not of box theory infamy) doesnt credit Rare, Camelot, etc.

 

[Jovahexeon Joranvexeon]

I know there are tons of "sides" and outcomes, but when it comes to the speculation the two major ones that have been it for a long time are either "Ken and Incineroar are our last two characters" or "the Grinch leak is real".

I'm not getting Elma or Phoenix Wright in base either way.

On the contrary. We have a shot at Phoenix Wright getting in base if the Grinch leak turns out to be real and just incomplete, as opposed to Ken and Incinnie being the absolute last.

 

[Squirtle/Mario guy]

If the banner was confirmed to be fake, and then where's source for arts of Geno, Banjo Koozie, Shadow, and others that were shown in grinch leak?

Also, I'm pretty sure that we are missing incienroar in that banner according to some insiders (including mystic), if he was actually implicated in grinch leak and then I believe that we would have many problem with this SINCE we were pointing how fake it was. However, hold your hype if you want this leak to be real, you need to wait for rumored final smash direct to be announced.

Really, I feel like we're grasping the straws here in regarding evidence that could prove this leak as fake or real. It would be better to wait for more informations.

Well the Chorus Kids have been found and the so called conducter's head is a VIllager's net
https://twitter.com/Darkinlp/status/1055222507693838336
btw i like the leak my wishlist besides Wah

 

[osby]

And despite Mii Fighters being the compromise (as demonstrated in that awesome reveal), people still ask for Reggie. I can't blame them, though.

That reminded me Miis' reveal trailer. Any other newcomer can only dream having a reveal as cool as that.

 

[CosmicQuark]

I've seen cockiness on both sides to be honest. Still on Team Schrodinger.

This still aligns with my Quantum Theory--every single character possible is in Ultimate (in some part of the wave function).

But boy did we end up on one of the more weirder parts of the wave function.

 

[KMDP]

Another thing that doesn't add up for me is these picks are very 'internet cultured' picks.

If you don't understand what I mean, look at Smash 4's additions; they added characters like Pac-man, mega man and even the wii fit trainer. These guys most people can recognise. But if you ask most people aka family members or people who even are aware of video games they won't know who half these guys are, and I'm not sure if Sakurai would want this. But then I could be stupid for saying this due to the additions so far, and it seems like this game is more for 'hardcore' Nintendo and smash fans.

Well, the thing is, those culturally known characters (i.e. PAC-MAN) are already in the game.

And once they're in the game, where do you go from there? There are only so many well known characters, and most of them are third party (meaning licensing costs). Not to mention that Shadow and Ken are two of the most well known video game characters, after the ones that are already in.

Besides this, not being known to wider audiences isn't really the barrier to entry people seem to think it is; since they could use Smash to make them more well known.

Yes, Sakurai decided not to use Takamaru for that exact reason, but maybe that was only one of the reasons? Like, Nintendo probably has no intention of doing anything with Mysterious Murasame Castle. Ice Climbers are the obvious counterpoint to this, but they probably would have been a one-off thing had they not gotten popular, and are now being Grandfathered in for the fans.

Unlike Takamaru; Isaac, Geno, Chorus Kids, Mach Rider, Banjo Kazooie, Shadow and Ken have all seen worldwide releases within their lifespan, and have the potential to please casuals (and will definitely please hardcore Smash fans).

Casual fans aren't just made up of people that only care about contemporary releases and/or who is the best known, they are a wide, varied bunch, just like all people.

 

[CantGetRidOfTheRidley]

Seems the box for the Switch Bundle (not of box theory infamy) doesnt credit Rare, Camelot, etc.

This really doesn't give us much, copyright stuff if updated when the character is revealed, even in the game. Itoi's copyright stuff in Smash 4's title screen doesn't appear until you unlock Ness and Lucas.

 

[Paperchampion23]

-From what I understand the original print shop was the one connected to Bandai Namco, the new one which hasn't made a statement has no connection to them.
-The Grinch stuff could potentially be real, as the person who made the leak likely works in a print shop.
-It's true that he probably has to deny anything, but its equally likely he just doesn't know whats going on. It's 50/50 so it can't be taking into account either way.
-If Insiders could prove something they would, but people's jobs are on the line. They can't risk somebody's job just to disprove our "fan fictions." A lot of them have decent past credibility. I wouldn't bet money on their word but it lends a bit of credence.
-The photoshop/art skills at display here are impressive. But so was Omni's Rayman leak. So was the Mario Odyssey Delfino leak. Impressive or hard work doesn't equate to it being real. My main point of the "badly photoshopped" thing is that one piece of evidence against something is often enough to disprove it, even if everything else points to real. One fake thing can make the whole thing fake. One bad apple spoils the bunch after all.
-Some changes in leak art were visible in the official art. But its possible the 'leaker' simply missed those. Especially the Zelda one, which wasn't super obvious, unless you were really thinking about it.

Going to quote myself here because I don't have time

No, not the point.

Ill break it down for you. If fake, here's what the leaker has accomplished miraculously:

Art:
1. Successfully recreated the background of the banner to various degrees of success (this would be his one problem)

2. Moved and shifted nearly 40 characters on the banner, all to pretty logical locations and to make room for new characters (a photoshopper knows this is a lot of work)

3. Moving said characters required like 50% of them to receive additional art (Jigglypuff, Roy, Greninja and more have body parts hidden behind other characters, and moving them causes those parts to be revealed.) If fake, the leaker has drawn all the additional art needed.

4. Create 7 handcrafted renders for 7 new characters, all of which have no reputable source for inspiration (in fact, a troll tried disproving Chorus Kids render by making a fake one themselves, similar to Duck Hunt in Smash 4). After nearly 36 hours, NOBODY has found existing renders. All of them are original.

5. Of the 7, Isaac is using psyenergy people normally do not associate him with, and The Conductor is the central character in the chorus kids render, something most people wouldn't do.

6. Caused the Smashified team to claim the Banjo render as theirs, only to get hopelessly shut down and memed.

7. All 7 new renders fit in with the art style and from what we can see and people BELIEVE IT.

Background of the leaker:

1. The leak was made to look unintentional through Snapchat. Sends it to a friend or friends. Said friends leak it. Weird but okay, not posted directly on 4chan or another leak site. Basically they leaked it with the apparent plot twist of acting like they didn't want to leak it. Amazing.

2. The leaker created images with all of the above 7 points I made in the art section, only to print it out using Autocad, cardboard paper provided by his job, complete with fold out instructions of how to display it. On top of this, the leaker makes sure to take an image from really far of his good ****ing artwork, all to doop people into thinking it's a cardboard advert.

3. Said leaker plans and attaches Grinch artwork from the office to further solidify his leak. He thinks "if they find out my background, they'll surely see that job also makes these!" Amazing.

4. Said leaker scrubs out a receipt with his name or the name of his co-worker poorly! On purpose! Because he knows the internet will try and find the name! That said name will lead them to his LinkedIn page that connects him to his job. This plan was made YEARS in advance to carefully accomplish his goal of fooling people he has a legit leak at his job. Amazing.

5. Said leaker knew people would get this far, but said leaker apparently didn't think about the consequences of him getting arrested or dragging his or his colleagues name through the mud to find more work. Totally plausible.

/s


See where I'm going with this? It is 9000x harder for me to see it being fake, than to actually believe it's real. I cannot, for the life of me, logically see how someone can manage to do ALL of this, without a major inconsistency ****ing it up. And so far, it hasn't.

 

[Garteam]

And you providing nothing of substance with this post and being openly aggressive is ok?

In terms of the leak, I think what makes this one stick out so much is the lack of a pokemon. Honestly a gen 7 mon always seemed like a lock, but in hindsight it sort of makes sense.

Gen 8 is coming next year, and alola is on the way out. Yes the anime is still going, but with the shift to the switch it is clear alola is going to be not a huge deal to promote.

While at first in the project plan it makes sense for a gen 7 mon, based on the timing I would say a Gen 8 mon would be the most likely thing as DLC.

I still think a gen 7 'mon is possible for DLC, given that we're still a year or so away from gen 8.

Granted, popular is now a factor for this race, so that could drastically change things.