I don't really bother with transferring Pokémon between games. I never put that much effort into competetive play and usually I'm fine to just use a Pokémon egg and start fresh with my Pokémon.

I wouldn't say I play competitively, but I do put in the time to raise my Pokemon so that if I lose a match, then I do so not because of numbers. Either way, it's more about using strategies and Pokemon I like, and I'm still unable to use some of my favorites.

Yeah, the whole Pokédex thing is still a slap into the faces of many fans. But at least we can still play the old games and enjoy those to their full extent, right? <:3

I suppose. The main problem with Pokemon as a franchise though is that the games frequently remain so similar, most new entries are essentially just the same game as before but improved upon, making it oftentimes hard to go back to previous entries. It's not like other franchises like Final Fantasy where each game is similar but also unique, or Mega Man where the fundamentals are always the same but the gameplay differs drastically based on enemies and weapons. With Pokemon all the same content tends to persist, just with more options and features stacked on top, making previous generations feel almost immediately obsolete.

The expectations sure went high when "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" basically created a new subgenre with its game. <X3

I don't know about that. Breath of the Wild was probably the first main series Zelda game to release on a console that I had zero interest in because they went too far with its scope for me to care.

Oh, I guess that can happen if a series tries something somewhat different in its approach. I personally had a wonderful time with the game. It sure has a larger scope but was still something that I could enjoy well with how natural landmarks and placements of settlements and the sort felt. Gave me a nice feel of exploration and appreciating the various vistas, characters and history of that world. I still feel it plays like a typical Zelda game but with added freedom on how to get through everything. While there weren't the typical dungeons you still got a lot of fun challenges out of the world and various ruins that in different ways dare you to try and reach a lot of cool looking spots.

I don't like open worlds, and am not a fan of having freedom in how progression is approached in games. The player's freedom should be restricted to character customization, strategies for overcoming obstacles, and decisions of whether to do things like side quests. The main story however should be linear with little to no deviation aside from maybe the occasional choice, but even then I rather choices not have long-term impacts on how things play out in regards to the story.

Who do I gotta blow to get a Galarian Breloom...

Ideally somebody who won't screw it up.

once those pokemon are sent to home, aren't they trapped there, unable to be used or transferred anywhere?

Pretty sure Pokemon can only be sent to Sword/Shield from HOME, but it's not like they'd be doing me any good in my Moon version anyway since I wouldn't be going back to play the previous generation's version for multiplayer purposes. So either way they'd just be waiting to be available in the correct game so they can be used.

my problem is that a correct game might never exist. there are so many features that have been added and then dropped (Mega evolutions are likely never coming back), i completely expect there to be pokemon that "don't exist" anymore.

Then they will continue to wait. Either way they do me no good sitting in my Sun/Moon game, because I won't be playing that anymore for multiplayer purposes. At least in HOME they're safe from being deleted should I decide to play through Sun/Moon's single player mode again.

It wouldn't be as much of a problem though, but not a single one of the strategies I have with any of them can be recreated with different Pokemon that are available, with the exception of Butterfree working well as an alternative to Vivillon since they both have very similar stats, abilities, and moves. A lot of my other favorites though like Serperior, Staraptor, and Delphox are simply impossible to recreate with the given resources, so it's either them or nothing.

That's honestly surprising given how many Pokémon there are. I don't do the online in Pokémon, so it hadn't occurred to me that strategies would be lock out as well.

I also still wonder why it took until gen 5 for there to be a pure flying type.

That's because despite there being so many Pokemon, no two are alike. There will always be some sort of distinction that sets them apart, such as their ability, or moves, or stats. It can be something as simple as Serperior being the only Pokemon with Overgrow that can learn Glare, or Staraptor being the only dual-type Pokemon with the Reckless ability plus the right moves and stats to take advantage of the sweeping potential of having two high-power, STAB recoil attacks of differing types for type coverage for taking out opponents before they can strike.

There are certain Pokemon that are definitely better than others, but I find that there will almost always be something, albeit not always an effective something, that one Pokemon can do which no other can in the same way.

Well, as they released a "definitive edition", I think there's not going to be another DLC or update.

Just because there's no more DLC doesn't mean there can't be more updates, or those Pokemon won't be made available in a future generation. Until then, they will wait.