XY Canon Starters for Playable Characters?

[signofzeta]

I kind of wish there were official canon starters for each player and character so it makes it easier for me to chose which starter to use each generation. It is hard to know what is canon because each source material shows each character with different starters, so the source materials aren't consistent enough to know what character uses which starter. I go by anime, usually, but some changes has to be made, such as in the case with generation 3.

We have 6 generations.

Let's say that each generation has 3 characters. The male player, the female player, and the rival.

For this discussion, here is a rule that you must follow. The Male player character starter is strong against the female player starter which is strong against the rival which is strong against the male player starter.

Assume you are the male character for generations 1, 2, 4, 5 and most generations so that it fits the above rule.

In the case of generation 3 generation 6, the rival is the player character of the opposite gender, so assume in this case that you are the female character for every generation where the opposite gender player character is the rival to fit the above rule.

I also want you to tell me if you agree with my variation of "canon starters" based on many source materials, the way they dress, how they look like etc. Also tell me what you would do differently.


Red Green Blue Yellow Firered Leafgreen

Red's starter is Charmander
Leaf's starter is Bulbasaur
Blue's starter is Squirtle


Gold Silver Crystal Heartgold Soulsilver

Ethan's starter is Cyndaquil
Kris/Lyra's starter is Chikorita
Silver's starter is Totodile


Ruby Sapphire Emerald Omegaruby Alphasapphire

Brendan's starter is Mudkip
May's starter is Torchic
Wally's (I guess) starter is Treeko (RSE never really had a 3rd character that took a pokemon)


Diamond Pearl Platinum

Lucas's starter is Turtwig
Dawn's starter is Piplup
Barry's starter is Chimchar


Black White

Hilbert's starter is Oshawott
Bianca's starter is Tepig
Hilda's starter is Tepig (in my case, female player character always gets the pokemon weaker than the male player character)
Cheren's starter is Snivy


Black 2 White 2

Nate's starter is Tepig
Rosa's starter is Snivy
Hugh's starter is Oshawott


X Y

Calem's starter is Froakie
Serena's starter is Fennekin
Shauna's starter is Chespin


I am pretty much stuck on Pokemon Y because I can't decide which generation 1 starter to choose for Serena haha. (I play the male character for the first game, that is, (fire)red (heart)gold, ruby, diamond, black, black 2, X, while I play the female character in the second game, that is, blue/leafgreen, (soul)silver, sapphire, pearl, whitle, white 2, Y) I've narrowed it down to either Bulbasaur or Squirtle,.

The male and female characters sort of wear clothing related to the version of the games as well, sort of. At least this is sort of true with the later generations. This makes me kind of wish that May wore blue clothing instead of red. Calem's clothing makes him look like Xerneas, while Serena's clothing makes her look like Yveltal in terms of colors. I could say the same with Nate and Black Kyurem, and Rosa with White Kyurem. I don't know if this is intentional, but it seems to be the case with Black 2 White 2 X and Y.

 

[Cinesra]

RE: What do you think is the canon starter for each character in the games?

I kind of wish there were official canon starters for each player and character so it makes it easier for me to chose which starter to use each generation.

Why does the canon choice make it easier for you to chose a starter?

Let's say that each generation has 3 characters. The male player, the female player, and the rival.

Why do you assume both player characters exist canonically in all games? You never see the pc of the opposite gender in FRLG or Crystal and there's no reason to assume the other pc gets the third starter in HGSS and BW

For this discussion, here is a rule that you must follow. The Male player character starter is strong against the female player starter which is strong against the rival which is strong against the male player starter.

Again, why? Who decided that the male pc must be strong against the female pc and for what reason?


IMO:
Red - Pikachu (Johto games, anime, manga, etc) I could see him having a Bulbasaur because of manga and he's shown with one a lot in promo art.

Ethan - Cyndaquil (manga and that anime side story)

May - Torchic (has a Torchic in all anime and manga depictions)

Dawn - Piplup (anime and manga)

Hilbert - Tepig (most depictions have him and a Tepig)

Nate - Tepig (trailer)

Serena - Fennekin (anime) I could see Calem and Chespin.

 

[signofzeta]

RE: What do you think is the canon starter for each character in the games?

For this discussion, here is a rule that you must follow. The Male player character starter is strong against the female player starter which is strong against the rival which is strong against the male player starter.

Again, why? Who decided that the male pc must be strong against the female pc and for what reason?

Because Pokemon adventures says so I guess. The following are the male characters in the games. Pokemon Adventures always names the male character after the first version of the games.

Red has a Venasaur
Gold has a Typhlosion
Ruby has a Swampert
Diamond has a Torterra
Black has an Emboar
Lack-Two, aka Black 2, has a Dewott
X has a Chespin

The female counterpart in pokemon adventures always has the starter weaker than the male player character. Always. This means that in Pokemon Adventures Serena gets a Froakie, and she did use it for a while though.

For my reasoning why I think it is the way it is, it is as follows. I follow the anime more than the mangas so I place Ash as the role of the male character. I also follow the whole Pokemon Adventures rule where Male Player gets has a Pokemon who is strong against the Female Player's starter. Even if they don't co-exist in some games, (Red Green Blue, Firered Leafgreen), they do co-exist in all others. (Kris does not show up in Gold and Silver, but Lyra shows up in Heartgold and Soulsilver).

In Generation 1, Gary has a Blastoise. It is also true with the Pokemon Origins. Red with a Charmander, Blue with a Squirtle.

In Geneatoin 2, or should I say 4, Lyra has a Chikorita and a Marill in the anime, but the only way for that to happen in the games and still follow the Pokemon adventures manga rule of Female PC starter weak against male PC starter, Ethan would have to have a Cyndaquil.

Generation 3, 4, and 6, May, Dawn, and Serena have a Torchic, Piplup, and Fennekin respectively.

Generation 5, Cilan has more screen time than Chili or Cress. Even in the games, Cilan talks more than Chili and Cress. To face Cilan in the games, you must start with Oshawott.

For Black 2 and White 2, I just used the trailer.

For the games, I made it so that I use the male character in the first version, and the female character in the second version. Each version has different events happening, as if they are alternate universes of each other. As with Pokemon adventures, where the Female PC starter is weak against Male PC starter, even if they do not co-exist (only for Firered and Leafgreen), when I play X, I chose male with Froakie, but with Y, it is female with Fennekin.

Let's take generation 3, 4, and 6. Assume that Ash takes the role of the Male player character

In generation 6, the player character's mom is a rhyhorn racer, and Serena's mom is the Rhyhorn, leading to the fact that Ash should have the Pokemon stronger than Serena, because if you pick Serena, Calem gets the pokemon that is stronger. In the anime, Serena has Fennekin, while Ash has Froakie.

In generation 3, Norman is the father of the player character, which suggests that picking the girl is more canon. This is a tough one, because Brendan, your rival chooses Mudkip, while Ash has a Treecko. If you swapped it around and the Brendan was the player character instead, that makes Brendan have a Treecko, while May has a Torchic (if May has to have a Torchic). This fits Ash and May in the anime, but in this case, May would have to be Birch's daughter.

In generation 4, Ash has a Turtwig and Chimchar, while Dawn has a Piplup. Dawn's mother in the anime is based off the player character's mother in the anime. If Dawn was the player character, that means Lucas has a Chimchar, if Dawn chose Piplup. Barry gets Turtwig in the case. If Lucas was the player character, Dawn would no longer be related to Johanna, but is Rowan's assistant. To make Dawn have a piplup in this case, Lucas has to choose Turtwig, while Barry gets Chimchar.

Here is the way go with the canon for the games. I always play male in first version and female in second version. Combined with the Pokemon Adventures rule, where Male player starter is strong against female player, here is how it goes.

Firered, Heatgold, Sapphire or Alphasapphire, Diamond, Black, Black 2, and Y are the canon games. That is for me only, but it could be different for you. In the first version, I pick a starter. In the second version of the same generation, I pick the starter that is weak against the starter that I picked in the first version.

To make this simpler for you, if you only played as the female character, which starter would you choose based on other source materials? I based mine off the animes.