For months I’ve been tracking the clues that point to a new Eeveelution in the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. It started with Chloe’s Eevee, an Eevee in the current anime series that has “chaotic DNA” and after more than 70 episodes still hasn’t evolved. Chloe’s Eevee was struggling to figure out what it wanted to evolve into when it met Chloe, who was also having a hard time deciding what she wanted to be when she grows up.
While we’ve been waiting to find out what happens to Chloe’s Eevee, there’s been a constant stream of Eeveelution content on Pokemon’s social media channels. In May all of the Pokemon Twitter accounts switched their banners to an Eeveelution theme, while the UK Twitter account tweeted a picture of a different Eeveelution every day for a week. Just last week, Pokemon’s Instagram posted videos of Eevee evolving in Espeon and Umbreon for friendship day. The Pokemon YouTube channel started uploading random Eevee clips from the show almost every day for two weeks. Espeon and Glaceon were both added to Pokemon Unite in the last two months. On top of all that, Espeon and Glaceon were both added to Pokemon Unite in the last two months. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to connect the dots here.
Last week, the Pokemon anime paused its big World Coronation Series tournament - the grand finale of the three-year series - to air a clip show that recaps all of Chloe and Eevee’s story beats. It’s not uncommon for an anime to have a filler episode in the middle of a big important arc like this, but choosing to focus on Chloe’s Eevee isn’t a coincidence, either. The next episode on August 5, called Chloe And Eevee: The Possibilities Are Endless, might finally reveal which Eeveelution it will become - though it’s almost guaranteed not to be a new one.
If you believe Pokemon leaker Centro Leaks, then we already know that Scarlet & Violet will not have a new Eeveelution. The leaker said that while there will be a lengthy sidequest that predominantly features Eevee, Game Freak isn’t adding a 9th Eeveelution this generation, and all of this build-up has been meaningless. There’s still a chance we’ll get some kind of pay-off for Chloe’s Eevee and it’s chaotic DNA, whether that’s a Gigantamax form or the reveal of a new mechanic that allows Pokemon to devolve and re-evolve, as some people are expecting. That could be what “The Possibilities Are Endless” means, since Eevee would theoretically be able to evolve back and forth between all eight Eeveelutions. That would be an exciting reveal, but not nearly as exciting as a new Eeveelution would be.
Regardless of whether a new Eeveelution is coming, the Pokemon Company has done a lot to contribute to the hype. While I don’t expect anyone from Game Freak of TPCi to come out and say “sorry folks, no Eeveelution this time”, I also think there’s something cruel about promoting Eevee in social media campaigns when they know everyone is going to read into it. If the leaks are true, if Chloe’s Eevee doesn’t evolve into a new form, and if there’s no new Eeveelution in this week’s Pokemon Direct, then Pokemon has done its fans a disservice. It’s clearly aware of the demand, and it’s been feeding people clues for months. There are times when fans have no one but themselves to blame for getting overhyped for reveals, but this isn’t one of them.