Totodile CD
Next community day is Totodile on January 12th.
Bonuses include 3 hour lures, x4 effectiveness on incubators, and up to one hour after the event to evolve Croconaw to get (presumably) Hydro Cannon.
Answers
Not quite the same. Feraligatr with Water Gun/Hydro Cannon is incompatible as far as we know. This only changes if unlocking a second move on an existing Feraligatr during the event will grant Hydro Cannon instead of one of the other two charge moves.
EDIT: Checking PvP settings in the DPS/TDO sheet, Blastoise still mops the floor with WF/HC Feraligatr in terms of DPS and TDO at a 1500cp cap. At a 2500cp cap they have similar DPS but Blastoise still sports notably higher TDO. Feraligatr's only chance at being outright better across all formats is if buying a second move will give HC to WG variants.
If it comes down to the difference between Water Gun (Blastoise) and Waterfall (Feraligatr), then WG does a bit less damage but a bit more energy.
And the movesets aren't exactly the same. Blastoise has Hydro Cannon, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, and Flash Cannon, while Feraligatr has Hydro Cannon (we hope), Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, and Crunch.
Flash cannon isn't the top move, but it's not trash in PvP like it is in gym and raid battles. Gives Blastoise a different counter coverage.
Feraligatr also has closer to balanced stats, which I speculate is ideal for PvP. (It's possible that a bit less attack is optimal, but not a lot. Blastoise might be too defensive.)
HC Feraligatr will become the best non-legendary water DPS, Blastoise wasn't even close. So that's a good thing for people who want better water attackers but can't afford powering up multiple Kyogres.
I agree that it's not the most exciting thing ever, but it's not surprising that they kept with the starter every 2 months pattern.