Skyla was originally conceived as a Dragon-type gym leader, while Iris was conceived as a Flying-type one. These attributes were swapped relatively early into development: examining character pitches for both gym leaders found in the Teraleak (a large-scale breach of internal server data from Game Freak in 2024), the earliest recovered revisions are the only ones which describe them with their initial type specializations. From the second revision of the documents onward, they bear the same types seen in the final game.

Of note is that Iris' later pitches describe her Dragon-type specialization as stemming from a connection that she felt since birth. Given that these subsequent drafts change her ethnicity from "indigenous" (likely Mesoamerican given her use of "Aztec-style" hair decorations) to "Middle Eastern," these traits imply that she is intended to be multiethnic (as within Middle Eastern cultures, dragons are found in Canaanite, Mesopotamian, and Persian mythology, while her outfit, a galabeya, is generally associated with rural Egyptians).