>>1033809
It's one of the few, if not the only gimmick to be present at several mainline games, and in several spin-off games, so it's hard to believe it's not popular. Megas were shilled to hell and back by media outlets at the time, and jewtubers cry to this day that Megas haven't returned, well, until Z-A of course. Again, it's a Super Saiyan transformation fueled by the power of friendship, so it's peak Shonen shit, it's bound to be popular.
>they're not real evolutions
Megas are usually too powerful to be full blown evolutions, even for Mons that evolve once or not at all, there are exceptions of course, but my point still stands.
Also
>they're really strict with retcons
If they don't stone the Eevees, they won't make Megas into evolutions. But tbh, I respect GF to stick to their decisions, even if they're bad ones, devs in current year are way trigger happy to change their entire game on a single update, and with a franchise as big as Pokemon, certain traditions have to be maintained, otherwise where the line will be drawn? On the 4th evolution? 5th, 6th? That's why I believe they hold back certain radical changes, even if their teams propose a lot of then.