Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: 2021 Holiday Event, Galarian Darumaka, Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go

Shiny Galarian Darumaka & Shiny Spheal Coming To Pokémon GO

Yesterday, we announced the details of Pokémon GO's Holiday 2021 event. The details were given to us in advance (thanks Niantic!) but sometimes, the blog posts end up having more information than the actual PR that Bleeding Cool readers may find relevant. We can now confirm a few further details about this year's Holiday Event including the release of Shiny Galarian Darumaka.

That's right, the Shiny form of Galarian Darumaka will be made available in Pokémon GO during Part Two of the Holiday Event. That means the drop date will be Thursday, December 23, 2021, at 10:00 AM. It will be featured in Tier One raids, 7KM Gift Eggs, and Field Research encounters. It's looking like we won't be getting wild spawns. The Galarian forms generally are raid/egg-only and thus have the raid/egg-only Shiny rate, though, so this is going to be a long-term enrichment to raids and eggs.

We are also getting Shiny Spheal, but there's a bit more to this addition to Pokémon GO that complicates this Shiny release. Here's what I noticed from the blog:

• The blog outright confirms that Spheal can be encountered in its Shiny form in its costume.
• The blog doesn't outright say but does suggest that Spheal will also be encounterable without its costume. In the text for their Collection Challenge which includes Spheal, they write: "Spheal (Doesn't need to be costumed)."
• There is no reference to whether or not standard Spheal will be Shiny.

Now, normally, I'd assume that a Shiny release for the costumed form is a Shiny release for the standard form. The reason I don't want to outright say that Shiny Spheal will be unlocked in its standard form after the event is because of something said in this year's Fashion Week announcement. Shiny Blitzle debuted in Pokémon GO in its costume. In the blog, Niantic explicitly clarified that it would be encounterable in its Shiny form out of costume after the event. They did not say the same of Spheal. This could well be just another communication failure on Niantic's part, though, so stay tuned to Bleeding Cool during and after the event as we wait for Spheal to sparkle without its costume.

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