Happy St. Patrick's Day! Doesn't look like the Ilima episodes are well-liked. Oh well, he was fine for an appearance. With the dub starting Season 21 next Saturday, I guess I can resume sharing thoughts with you by then.
I also noticed you've been involved in the Smash discussion, glad to read some posts you made there. I don't mind whoever gets in. Whoever is in, is in. It's up to Sakurai, after all. Are there still anyone you hope to see? Which character(s) not from Pokémon you hope to see, and which Pokémon do you think might come for this year? And since Sakurai has worked on the game in complete silence and the game being out later this year, I am sure that the character roster has already been finalized, much like Smash for 3DS and Wii U back then: finalized in 2012, out in 2014. The Smash Bros. Switch roster might have already been finalized back in 2016 and/or 2017. Unsure if there will be a Gen VIII rep, but it sounds a bit early for that. Maybe as DLC, who knows? Like you, can't see Pokémon for Switch being released this year, although not ruling out that it can still happen to be released this year.
I mean, sure, the investors hope for Pokemon to be released in 2018, but does Nintendo want Pokemon and Smash to be released close to each other? Probably not, that might cannibalize sales for one franchise. They'll probably handle the way Zelda and Mario Odyssey were released in 2017. 2018 sounds early for Pokemon, but 2019 is likely the sweet spot. In any case, looking forward to both games, regardless. In fact, when I picked up Kirby Star Allies from GameStop, an associate who knows me very well offered me to pre-order Smash for Switch, and I got it down already for $5.