Almighty Zard
He has returned.
I feel like it's kinda similar to the whole deal with mythicals/legendaries, in that for a VERY long time the show didn't budge with these guys, the champions and Elite Four were always this greater scope that the main cast couldn't hope to match. Only Diantha all the way in XY was shown to be "mortal" and the fact it was to hype for Ash's "victory" left people a bit cynical about that one. And yet now suddenly EVERYTHING is free game.
I definitely feel like JN could have done with tracking Iris' performance more, even just an extra episode or two showing what she's achieved.
I think I get it, all things have to end eventually, but perhaps the transition was too fast.
Either way Greninja started it.