Smogon Wi-Fi's 7th Annual Secret Santa Giveaway! [Santas Revealed!]

[SpiritGuy]

Alright, I just gave my gift to Max. Optimizer which is none other than:

"Wheke"

♀
Etienne | 599603 | Paniola Ranch (Alola)
Careful - Contrary
31 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 31 | 31
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Knock Off / Superpower / Rest / Sleep Talk

The nickname is a reference to Wheke, a female giant calamar which have been fished in New Zealand in 2000. It's exposed in the Great Gallery of Evolution in the Paris National Museum of Natural History after being offered to France by New Zealand and plastinated. It's also the only plastinated specimen to be observable in museums.

​

As usual, I planned a gift in advance for each participant, and the reason why I choose Malamar for Max Optimizer is because first, it's a Dark Type, one of his favourite types, secondly, its colors matches the Lure Ball's ones, his favourite type of ball, thirdly, because he prefers powerful Pokémon and finally, it's a Pokémon Max Optimizer doesn't have yet in his collection. When looking for a nickname, I was lucky to run into Wheke and her history, and given that Max Optimizer likes to give names in references to real animals exposed in zoos, I think it could be a good name idea for his gift.


Merry Christmas to everyone !

 

[Rain Moon]

Merry Christmas, folks. My recipient was none other than Buckert, the man with basically every flawless mon. So, I thought I might go for a fun and slightly silly novelty RNG. It took me 7.5 million years to think of a fitting gift for you, but here's what I got.

═════════════════════════════════════════════
#0372 - Metagross "Deep Thought" the Historic Genius (X)
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Nature: Brave | Ability: Clear Body
IVs: 4 / 2 / 4 / 2 / 4 / 2
EVs: 42 HP / 42 Atk / 42 Def / 42 SpA / 42 SpD / 42 Spe
Moves: Facade
OT: Rain/000042 | Game: Ultra Moon
Notes: Met date of 4/2/2042, and it has learned Facade, aka TM42. ;)
Disappointed to report I could not also manage a PID of 42, but it did get a 42 inside of the hidden weight stat by pure luck.
═════════════════════════════════════════════
​

Just a couple of things. Firstly, I hope you don't mind it was nicknamed. I wanted to do something to go with the 42, of course, and felt that while Metagross was a fitting choice due to being a supercomputer, it might not be clear without the nickname. I was debating between this and Golbat (Natdex no. 0042) but Metagross also had the bonus of looking pretty good in a Lure ball! If you prefer, I can remove the nickname.

Second is that I am maybe not quite done with the ribbons yet... I really wanted to get them to make this project a bit more special, since this monster isn't that noteworthy on its own despite the funny numbers. But, they are super time-consuming to get, (especially for the first time when I don't have any prepared battle tower streak/etc) and I didn't quite manage them all by the time of this post; I'm very sorry about that. I'm doing my best to speedrun them all, so hopefully I will have most of em ready by the time I deliver this to you!

I really hope you can enjoy this one despite there being a bit of deviance from the type of thing you usually collect. :)

 

[Lunaflare]

Happy holidays to all! I hope Bobsican likes their shiny new Kingambit! Or a new shiny Kingambit...

Luke's Kingambit

Adamant / Supreme Overlord / Tera Dark
31/31/31/31/31/31
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Swords Dance / Kowtow Cleave / Sucker Punch/ Iron Head
Notes: Bred from my backed-up save in Moon! My timezone is EST -1 when you're ready. I picked this out because the pre-evos are from gen 5, the colors matched the moon ball, Steel-type, and it's blue! Unnickamed because I couldn't think of anything.​

 

[Buckert]

Merry Christmas, dear friends! Big shoutout again to Tatertot for hosting this giveaway this year. Very much appreciated!

My recipient was Chlora, a user I recently met in our Discord Channel. I didn't know much about Chlora, nor did I know anything about the non-Pokémon games that were listed, but I did my very best to come up with a nice gift to match their input. :) The nickname of this Pokémon is a reference to a demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series. It's not a 100% fit, but the closest I could find :)

"Kelpie"

#0647 Keldeo | OT: Wouter | ID No: 439602
Nature: Timid | Ability: Justified
31 | 00 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31
Secret Sword | Sacred Sword | Swords Dance | Hydro Pump

​

 

[Bossk]

The recipient of my Secret Santa is Xen !

Xen, due to your love of Johto, water types, and different shades of blue - and my assumption that you have an army of qwilfish at your disposal - I produced for you a very special mantine! However, you can't have a mantine without the remoraid! Their name, Mylio comes from the order of animals manta rays are from, Myliobatiformes. I thought the prefix sounded cute for our adorable ray friend, and coupled with the Great Friend title, it just sounded too good to pass up on. I gave it this title because of its adoring face, and how I want you to feel treasured by all of your great friends and family this holiday season. In getting this title, I found myself becoming very attached to Mylio, as I never used the cooking features in Sword and Shield before and taking them through the Pokemon League and EV training for all three of these Pokemon. All hatch and catch locations are all by various water sources, and I hope you can bond with them as I have!

Mylio, the Great Friend

#0226 - Mantine (♂) Lvl 100
Item: Heavy Duty Boots
Nature: Bold | Ability: Water Absorb
IVs: 31.6.31.31.31.31
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Moves: Scald, Tailwind (EM), Hurricane, Haze (EM)
OT: Mason ID: 262251
Hatch Location: Motostoke Riverbank, December 11th​

You can't have a mantine without their remoraid! I wanted to be sure to include one of these Pokemon, even if they're not useful even in a low tier. Looking to theme this around their unique gun-inspired design but also give some more flair, I looked into your interests. You mentioned you like Yu-Gi-Oh, and I've seen you talk about it before. Employing a big Yu-Gi-Oh fan friend of mine to look through aquatic cards with me, we found a set of cards called Fishborg Blaster and Fishborg Launcher (images hyperlinked for those interested). One of them being a fish in a robotic suit with weapons, and the next being an octopus in a robotic suit! Feeling like this fit remoraid who turns into octillery, I developed:

Fishborg, The Catch of the Day

#0223 - Remoraid (♀) | Lvl 100
Item: Wide Lens
Nature: Jolly | Ability: Hustle
IVs: Hyper Trained!
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moves: Lock-On, Gunk Shot, Waterfall, Seed Bomb
OT: Mason ID: 262251
Catch Location: South Lake Miloch, December 23rd​

Alongside this level 100 remoraid, I kept having ideas for another remoraid as I couldn't decide between physical and special (it has base 65 in both stats), so I decided to finish the name of the card and continue the gun-focused moveset. I realized a couple days ago that I had messed up the Pokemon due to switching my perfectionism between "just a joke Pokemon" and "FISHBORG WILL RULE THE SEVEN SEAS" -- but that did not deter me in continuing with:

Blaster, The Once Vigilant

#0223 - Remoraid (♂) | Lvl 5
Item: Scope Lens
Nature: Modest | Ability: Sniper
IVs: 31.x.31.31.31.31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moves: Lock-On (EM), Octozooka (EM), Ice Beam, Mudshot
OT: Mason ID: 262251
Hatch Location: Motostoke Riverbank, December 23rd​

This remoraid I not only wanted to keep up with the gun theme and keep Mylio locked and loaded under each fin, but I wanted to make the Pokemon viable in its own way! It is tailored for Little Cup, given its level up moves as egg moves and kept at level 5. A lot of these moves, as unnecessary as it is, just are supposed to be a hopefully fun way to embrace the Pokemon .

I had so much fun making these and thinking of this all for a friend! I hope you can feel the love and will enjoy your new friends for the years to come. Please feel free to message me on either this forum or discord to receive your gifts. I know you preferred to receive them in Scarlet and Violet, but I had too much invested in providing you with Johto's aquatic creatures and this is the most modern game they're available in.

I also want to provide a huge shoutout to Tatertot who not only set up this event, but let me bounce a few ideas off of him, and even provided the last bit of XP candies and ability capsule I needed when I was running out of time! Thank you again Tate!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! ​

 

[TrueIssue]

I had the privilege of being the Secret Santa for Bossk . This is my first time participating, so I apologize if it is a little lackluster compared to other gifts, but this was fun to do! Without further ado, I reveal:

JabbaTheHutt the Clodsire!

#0980 - Clodsire (♀) | Lvl 100
Item: Leftovers
Nature: minted to be Careful | Ability: Water Absorb
IVs: Hyper Trained in HP, Atk, Def, SpDef
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpDef
Moves: Earthquake, Spikes, Toxic, Recover
OT: Issue ID: 779914

Looking through your answers, the main things that stuck out to me was you like Poison types, and the color purple. While looking for ideas I happened to run into a wild shiny P-Wooper, and it kinda clicked from there. I kinda see this guy as purple, and then I happened to see that you are a Star Wars fan. I remembered there was a blob of a creature named Jabba The Hutt, so I thought it'd be fitting to have this blob of a mon be named after it. Made it to be bulky on the physically defensive side since it already has decent special bulk. I chose to go with Water Absorb over Unaware since with the DLC, water types have been on the rise so it can come in and sit on their wet attacks. When they are forced to switch it can set Spikes (instead of Stealth Rock since I've seen most rock-weak mons use HDB) or throw off a Toxic. Overall this was fun to make, and I hope you enjoy! Shoot me a DM and we can set a time where I can give you your gift, as I am currently typing this out at work.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays everyone!

 

[Chlora]

Merry christmas to you all.


My giftee this year is Jim Bailey! Here's what i got you:

Braviary-Hisui (of the Distant Past

) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic
- Hurricane
- Calm Mind
- Roost​

Although your favourite color, blue, isn't the primary one, i hope you'll like it still. I really wanted to give it a mark, but i both wasn't lucky enough in the Rufflet i caught and not patient enough because it takes a long while just for a shiny to show up (since i was trying in SV for the Beast Ball catch). So, instead, i opted for the Hisui Ribbon. I understand you don't want nicknames, so you might not want titles either, so i disabled it, but you can equip it again if you'd like.
Originally, i wanted to RNG manipulate a shiny marked Reuniclus in SWSH, but discovered fog makes it very hard to due to frame fluctuations, i tried dozens of times over 10 days and had no luck, sorry.
Let me know when i can give it to you!

 

[Cutefluffysheep]

Merry Christmas everyone!
My giftee was SpiritGuy
Here's what I got them:

♂★✚
#419 | Floatzel | Nickname: Haddock | Level 50
OT: Atharv | ID: 516465 | Choice Band
Adamant | Swift Swim | Seafolk Village
IVs: 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 (HP: Dark)
Liquidation | Brick Break | Aqua Jet | Ice Punch
Egg Moves: Switcheroo | Helping Hand | Soak | Baton Pass
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Tried to hit as many of SpiritGuy’s preferences as possible. A “goofy” Sinnoh water type with a pastel color shiny that matches Beast Ball. The nickname is a reference to Captain Haddock from The Adventures of Tintin, who I felt resembled Crasher Wake. The hatch location was chosen because Floatzel is often found near fishing hamlets.​

 

[Bobsican]

Gotta talk of the process and other stuff for the gift I made for CPBBAE.

After thinking hard for a while, after browsing all shiny options, I decided to just settle with Medicham for a variety of reasons, for one it has a nice cyan-ish color fitting of CPBAE's taste, secondly the yellow means it makes perfect balltism with , and lastly, Medicham happens to also fall within a desired typing (Fighting) and favored generation (Gen III), I'd have given a nickname to also act as a One Piece reference, but the giftee didn't want one, so I've compensated with some marks and ribbons to act as vague references instead, plus a little extra.

I'm also aware that Kingambit was also an obvious option (lol Whitebeard memes), but my resources to get a nice Kingambit are far more limited, and I thought that thinking a bit outside the box would be a good idea here.

Medicham ( ♀ )
IVs: 31 / 31 / 31 / 1 / 31 / 31
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe
Ability: Pure Power
Hasty Nature
- Close Combat (3 PP Ups applied)
- Zen Headbutt (3 PP Ups applied)
- Ice Punch (3 PP Ups applied)
- Trick (3 PP Ups applied)

Ribbons and Marks:

This Medicham comes from Soul Silver, I used some cool RNG manipulation to get such sort of wild shiny with solid IVs and in a cool ball too, here's also the RNG proof BTW, of note is that I couldn't get a better nature (or a Sassy one) for Medicham within the RNG limitations, I even bothered looking around other locations in that game, obscene delays and advances with still similar results, so I've compensated by making Medicham include a Jolly Herb.

Given that some users were having issues with getting the ribbons obtained depending on the day of the week in BDSP, I'll note that I got them in ORAS instead, that game didn't even care for a modified date on the console for this, and thus I didn't have to touch CFW to play around it.

I probably could have added more ribbons, but I lacked the time (some personal IRL stuff, supervising a team in the PTPL), and I haven't completed some of the games to get some of those either way, but I think I managed to compensate well.

In any case here's an explanation for some of the particularly intended ribbon/mark references:

: Can do no wrong with this one, the title of "X the Treasure Hunter" is rather inherently fitting.

: Pretty and/or royal women are often brought up in One Piece, and given this Medicham is a girl, it's quite fitting.

: Tragic/interesting pasts that lead to good development is also common in OP, so there's plenty of options.

: Hardest ribbon to obtain here IMO, especially with Medicham's stats being poor without its ability and thus hitting the robotic balloons like a wet noodle. In any case it's no secret that several main OP characters fall well within its description:

A Ribbon that can be given to a Pokémon that has overcome rigorous trials and training.

Overall, even while no nickname is used, it can be used in favor to have fun playing around the title options granted by the ribbons and marks, I hope the gift is enjoyed as much I did preparing it.

 

[Lio]

This year, my giftee was Leesbra!

Majorita the Mismagius - ♀ - "the Sinnoh Champion" @ Choice Scarf

Timid Nature - 31/10/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Shadow Ball / Dazzling Gleam / Destiny Bond / Trick
Tera type: Fairy​

I was originally hesitating between two Pokémon, Gengar and Mismagius, due to Leesbra's preference for Ghost-types. Since he also likes Poison types, Gengar appeared to be a nice idea, but Mismagius had some other points for it, in that it is purple and pink, two colours among Leesbra's favorites. Besides, with its recommended set running Tera Fairy, this was yet another occasion for it to shine in pink. Besides, Leesbra had stated that the Sinnoh games had been his favorite, which justified the choice of Mismagius, "the Sinnoh Champion", even further. The Moon Ball matches the overall nocturnal nature of Mismagius.

She is named after Demon General Majorita, a secondary antagonist from the game Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance. Majorita is known as the Corpse Master Overlord, or the "Witch Who Controls Death". Following her motto, "kill and recycle", she puts down anyone she doesn't like to revive them as a corpse, devoid of free will and obeying her commands without question. This name suited Mismagius well, for it is a Pokémon with a witch hat who shows up to cause havoc on humans with its powerful incantations.

Since Leesbra stated a preference for competitive play over casual play, this set follows the Smogon analysis, but can naturally be used in console formats like BSS and VGC in order to have a fast revenge killer that can also trick its Choice Scarf onto annoying Pokémon like Toxapex or Wo-Chien, thus preventing them from stalling battles any longer. Hope Majorita can bring many victories to Leesbra!

Finally, thank you Tatertot for hosting this year's edition of the Smogon secret santa, thanks to Loethalion for providing the original Misdreavus that parented Majorita as a reward for winning the Wi-Fight event back in May, and thanks to the rest of the Smogon Wi-Fi community for generally being so welcoming despite the different aspects of the game everyone is interested in.

 

[Karmaloop3]

My Secret Santa this year was Rain Moon but Merry Christmas to everyone here on Smogon. And a big thanks to Tatertot for hosting this year. Hopefully it won't be the last time I'll be able to participate.

#0476 - Yanmega (♀) Lvl 100
PokeBall: Premier
Item: Heavy Duty Boots
Nature: Timid | Ability: Speed Boost
IVs: 31.0.31.31.31.31
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Moves: Bug Buzz, Air Slash, Tera Blast, Protect
OT: Shawn ID: 09333
Hatch Location: New Bark Town (HG), December 25th 2023​

Honestly, I really struggled with which Pokemon to go with. I obviously started with the Diamond/Pearl Pokemon since RM mentioned that Sinnoh was their favorite region. And they mentioned their favorite types were Psychic, Flying, Steel, and Dragon. That seemed to point towards the legendary Dragons (Palkia or Dialga), but that was a bit too cookie cutter for me. I wanted to do something that wasn't high on most people's list of wants, but something that was good enough and a subtly good shiny in its own right. Lucario was also briefly considered, but then GF managed to drop the shiny Lucario and that wasn't good enough either. Ultimately, it came down to 3 Pokemon: Yanmega, Bastiodon, and Bronzing. And they mentioned that Timid was the way that best described them, but neither Bronzong or Bastiodon would utilize a Timid nature very well. So out came Yanmega. And after this, I felt it was wildly ironic that I ended up RNGing a Yanma given that this is the first year I got into RNG manipulation and was following Imablisy's videos when it came to RNG manipulations. I wanted to give it a nickname to tie into Stormlight Archive or Library of Ruina, but didn't want to give it a nickname without knowing about those well enough.

I should be free sometime this weekend to give you your gift.

 

[Kucanine]

Guess its my turn to reveal my gift for Lunaflare. Sorry I took a while as I didn't realize how difficult it was to obtain the partner mark (no wonder most of us have it on talonflames and brelooms).

"Farosh" the Treasure Hunter

#1005 - Roaring Moon | OT: Alexander | ID No: 399167
Nature: Adamant | Ability: Protosynthesis
HT/HT/HT/HT/HT/HT
252 attack/ 252 speed/6 special defense
Knock Off | Scale Shot | Thunder Fang | Dragon Claw
Tera type: Electric - Holding an Electric Tera Shard too:)

Given Lunaflare's top 2 favorite types were dragon/dark, I knew right away I would like to send them a Roaring Moon (RM) as a gift. Although the Deino line was a contender, I decided that RM was superior, as my giftee could RNG in previous generations, and also I hate Zweillous for making my RM shiny hunts so painful.

I could tell Lunaflare really likes blue color based on their favorite ball choices, but I thought featuring the shiny form might be more meaningful for the occasion, given the vibrant colors matches very well with the red and green colors we have come to associate Christmas celebrations with. The RM was also caught in a Dream Ball, which ties in very nicely with their love for Legend of Zelda.

I named the RM after the electric dragon from Breath of the Wild, Farosh. Moveset wise, I came up with something fun that references the item farming process with Farosh. Sadly RM doesn't get horn attack or horn drill, and we don't have any horn-based items in SV iirc, so I attached an Electric Tera Shard as a substitute.

Once again thanks very much Tatertot for hosting this event and checking to see if I needed any help along the way. Special thanks to PS user 20DollarBaller for helping me get the Master Rank Ribbon on the RM. Lastly, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ahead!!

 

[CPBBAE]

Big thanks to everyone for joining, this is my first Secret Santa Giveaway here in Smogon and it's been very exciting so far seeing all the gifts people have come up with!

My giftee this Christmas was QuantumShaddow!
It was a bit difficult to come up with something at first as I wanted to make sure I matched all the points that they had written on their post, but after thoroughly going through all of them, I found the right candidate. A Generation 3, Water/Dark Type, whose shiny matches the Moon Ball and that benefits from a Brave Nature...

#0342 - Crawdaunt | OT: Talitha | ID No: 351577

Nature: Brave | Ability: Adaptability
IVs: 0 SpA / 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Moves: Knock Off | Crabhammer | Swords Dance | Protect
Tera Type: Water
​

After a couple of thousand eggs, I hatched this guy in my main Violet playthrough and quickly transferred him over to a brand new savefile in order to hatch and get the OT: Talitha, which is QuantumShaddow's own OT! The IVs were chosen on purpose, as I felt they would make Crawdaunt more "perfect" in order to benefit from the Trick Room Sweeper role that the Brave Nature gives it. Furthermore, this little guy can be used casually as well as competitively. I mean, what Pokemon can tank an Adaptability boosted Knock Off/Crabhammer? Plus he's adorable.

I played it safe and I'm honestly proud of and happy my gift. The only thing I wish I could improve was to match more of QuantumShaddow's interests other than Pokemon (after seeing everyone else on the thread also do so!), while also adding more ribbons, to give it more of a personality and make Crawdaunt even more special. I, however, had my hands tied as I kept hatching Corphish eggs, so next Christmas, I think I'll stick to RNG Manipulation instead to make this a smoother process!

Once again, thanks to everyone and I hope QuantumShaddow enjoys their gift!!

 

[Tatertot]

Thanks everyone for all the lovely posts!

The one week gifting period is now complete. If you have still not yet heard from your Secret Santa, please send me a DM here or on Discord (tatertot74) and I’ll make sure you receive a gift from either myself or a substitute Santa. If you have not yet picked up the Wyrdeer and still want it, please feel free to send me a DM as well and we can set up a time to trade.

Thanks everyone, see you all again in 2024!

 

[QuantumShaddow]

Big thanks to everyone for joining, this is my first Secret Santa Giveaway here in Smogon and it's been very exciting so far seeing all the gifts people have come up with!

My giftee this Christmas was QuantumShaddow!
It was a bit difficult to come up with something at first as I wanted to make sure I matched all the points that they had written on their post, but after thoroughly going through all of them, I found the right candidate. A Generation 3, Water/Dark Type, whose shiny matches the Moon Ball and that benefits from a Brave Nature...

View attachment 585018
View attachment 585016 #0342 - Crawdaunt | OT: Talitha | ID No: 351577 View attachment 585019
Nature: Brave | Ability: Adaptability
IVs: 0 SpA / 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Moves: Knock Off | Crabhammer | Swords Dance | Protect
Tera Type: Water
​

After a couple of thousand eggs, I hatched this guy in my main Violet playthrough and quickly transferred him over to a brand new savefile in order to hatch and get the OT: Talitha, which is QuantumShaddow's own OT! The IVs were chosen on purpose, as I felt they would make Crawdaunt more "perfect" in order to benefit from the Trick Room Sweeper role that the Brave Nature gives it. Furthermore, this little guy can be used casually as well as competitively. I mean, what Pokemon can tank an Adaptability boosted Knock Off/Crabhammer? Plus he's adorable.

I played it safe and I'm honestly proud of and happy my gift. The only thing I wish I could improve was to match more of QuantumShaddow's interests other than Pokemon (after seeing everyone else on the thread also do so!), while also adding more ribbons, to give it more of a personality and make Crawdaunt even more special. I, however, had my hands tied as I kept hatching Corphish eggs, so next Christmas, I think I'll stick to RNG Manipulation instead to make this a smoother process!

Once again, thanks to everyone and I hope QuantumShaddow enjoys their gift!!

I LOVE him! I did end up nicknaming him Sebastian to tie into the Disney love I have too, so you did include the interests by being able to get my OT on it

 

[Leesbra]

Hello everybody! I know it's been... uhhh...
.

...a while since this whole thing started. But today, me and my giftee were finally able to get the whole gift giving process done! So now that we have everything sorted out, it's about time to show what their lovely gift was!

Witzbauch the Galar Champion

Ability: Prankster | Item: Light Clay
EVs: 252 Attack, 128 HP, 64 Defense, 64 Sp. Defense
Nature: Serious (minted to Relaxed)
Moves: Spirit Break, Sucker Punch, Reflect, Light Screen
Tera Type: Steel
​

Now that I actually got this gift to them, it's time to answer some important questions that I am definitely not making up myself.
Where does the name Witzbauch come from?
Witzbauch is actually a combination of two different words, both relating to what Grimmsnarl is. Witz is German for the word Joke, and is part of the word Witzbold to mean Prankster or Joker. Bauch is a shortening of the name Bauchan, a type of Scottish hobgoblin that shares much of its personality with Grimmsnarl.
Why was Grimmsnarl chosen, and why the other stuff?
Grimmsnarl was chosen as the Pokemon to give due to many reasons listed by my gift receiver, including the typing (Dark and Fairy were both listed as favorite types of theirs), the region (Galar was listed as their second favorite region), and the color (Green was listed as their favorite color, and though Grimmsnarl is mostly black, it has green in its core). With the mentioning of wanting to get into the competitive scene, and with the fact that Grimmsnarl is a simple but potentially great support Pokemon for the team, I figured honing into this support role was the best, so I gave it moves, EVs and the ability to make it better, with the item also potentially helping. Finally, the Galar Champion ribbon was the last detail put on, to further connect it to the Galar Region.
How was Grimmsnarl raised up?
Witzbauch was born right in the end of me doing a Grass Mono story play through of Shield, meaning I didn't have much on me for breeding resources. Thankfully the breeding process actually didn't take long, especially with the goal of maxing out the IVs except the Special Attack and Speed (which I aimed for below average in). After Witzbauch was born, all it took was having it ride through a champion ribbon battle (I kept it dead so it got no XP), using rare candies on it to level it up, give it the moves and EV train it against wild Pokemon in Paldea. I'd say that even though it didn't take long, it was sure worth the time spent. Now finally...
Why did it take 3 months to get the gift through? And who was your giftee?
Well, most of the time was spent trying to connect to where we could trade and trying to find dates to trade in. While I have had NSO for the longest time now, my gift receiver hasn't always had it, which made the first two months of trying to connect very tricky and confusing, especially with the fact that trading via Pokemon Home was going to mean losing the item. It only became today that my giftee and I were able to connect while they had NSO in Violet, meaning we were able to trade (and we did)!

Happy late, late, late, late Christmas, Unviewed ! And enjoy your Witzbauch!
(or is it early early early early early early early early early Christmas?)​