It took me over 10 years, but as of April 6, 2024 I finally caught all 1,025 pokemon!
I would like to first and foremost thank my boyfriend, for allowing me to borrow his 3DS to transfer and trade pokemon back in the day. And for googling zarude events and finding out one was happening in Pokemon Go. I would like to thank my coworker who, back when Pokemon Go first became a thing, told me about doing Google Rewards surveys for Google Play store credits, ensuring that I didn't have to pay actual money for the zarude event ticket. And I would like to give a big Fuck You to GameFreak for making event pokemon a thing, and making those impossible to trade. I would have accomplished this 10 years earlier if not for that!
Here lies the proof.