The raccoons an okay early mana rock, so its not like youll just be holding onto the card until you can use its more powerful ability
If Grist, Voracious Larva leaves the battlefield while its triggered ability is on the stack, you can't exile it from the zone it's put into, so you won't return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control
These cards are item cards, and are only treated as Pokmon when in play
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria If control decks are more your jam, Pioneer offers no shortage of win conditions: Elspeth, Suns Champion
Having transform/DFCs return was the best way to represent the final bosses (when was the last time FF had a single phase final boss?) and characters who changed
See also: Binder layout planner What are the chase cards in Detective Pikachu? The top chase card in Detective Pikachu is Ditto (Holo Rare) at $10.77