Speculation Is SM set before XY?

[Esserise]

Hugh's mention of five years, that doesn't determine when a game takes place, only that Plasma's been doing its shtick for longer than we see them in-game

Right.

Which is yet another reason why that article is trash.

But even aside from that, there's still the fact that "at least three years" doesn't necessarily mean "three years." The gap between Gen 4 and Gen 5 is still completely undefined.

 

[DoctorWhy]

Right.

Which is yet another reason why that article is trash.

But even aside from that, there's still the fact that "at least three years" doesn't necessarily mean "three years." The gap between Gen 4 and Gen 5 is still completely undefined.

It's also trash because it fails to account for the fact that we have two separate universes/timelines. Everything from Gen I-Gen V is in a separate universe from XY-present.

Original universe:
RBGY/LGFR, GSC/HGSS, RSE, DPPt, BW, B2W2

Megaverse:
XY, ORAS, SM

And I would like to note that since the only games in the Megaverse we have are XY, ORAS, and SM, that means that we can only speculate on the lore and timeline regarding all the other regions since we have no Megaverse versions of anything Gen I-V except ORAS for III.

Unless of course the NPC was in on Kukui's idea of creating Alola's league all along. Ohoho.

Or they just hadn't fully fleshed out SM yet.