RE: Lovely Charming Villain - Jessie's Adventures in Sinnoh, a CMT Playthrough!
Ugh, this was much harder to pick than I thought it was. You guys gave me a lot of good options and I changed my mind about 15 times before finally deciding on a list.
Starter Tier:
Winning by a landslide despite a very slow start is Piplup! Piplup will be a new starter for me since I've used Turtwig in all my DPPt playthroughs so far, so that should be fun. Water/Steel typing is kind of interesting.
Screw It, It's My Favourite DPPt Pokémon Tier:
Welcome to the team, Shellos! You double up Piplup's Water typing, but add a nice secondary Ground-type after evolving, which is useful. Plus, you're just awesome. I breathed a sigh of relief when someone nominated you knowing that it meant I had an excuse to use you without having to bribe someone to post you.
Obligatory Psychic-Type Tier:
I was really, really tempted to pick Bronzor/Bronzong because it's one of my favourite Gen IV Pokémon, but that wouldn't really be fair when I've already brought a Pokémon on board just because I like it, and if I'm just going to make a team of my favourites, there's no point in this thing being a CMT. So, instead, I'll be bringing on board a Pokémon I've never used before: Gallade. The double-typing should be useful, and mostly I'm just kind of intrigued to use one.
Popular Opinion Tier:
I was surprised how many Pokémon got multiple recommendations from lots of people, with several getting 3 and one getting 4. The obvious pick for this tier would be Dusknoir, but again, I'd rather go for something new, so I'm actually going to be picking 3-vote Yanmega. Not only have I never used Yanmega before, I've never even seriously used ANY Bug-type Pokémon before. It fits well with Jessie apparently, too, even though Jessie's anime adventures in Sinnoh aren't canon for this story.
Recent Appreciation Tier:
I never really thought much of Rotom before, aside from his generic kind of cuteness and unique typing. However, I've gained a new appreciation for it since watching the anime again and seeing Rotom's hijinks with Professor Oak in the little end section of each episode. So, Rotom, welcome aboard. I don't have the mystery gift event item that would enable it to switch forms, so it'll just be the basic one.
You Look Weird & Fun So I'm Intrigued Tier:
For the last member of my team, I'll be bringing along Porygon-Z. I've never used Porygon or any of his evolutions, mostly since I've never really had the opportunity to do trade evolutions until recently and his basic form is underwhelming. He seems like he gets a bunch of weird shit. I have no idea what to expect with this, which I guess makes it all the better.
Runner Up Tier:
With Bidoof being one of my first suggestions and Starly and Machamp being some of the more popular ones, I've decided that I'll use both of them as HM sla- Pokémon, Bidoof/Bibarel for Cut & Waterfall, Machop/Machoke/Machamp for Strength & Rock Climb & Rock Smash, and Starly/Staravia/Staraptor for Fly & Defog. Since Surf is actually a pretty good move, I'll just keep that on Empoleon/Gastrodon.