Does anyone else feel the starter choices are very random?

[Satoshi no masara]

Greninja would make sense for the setting of this game. Not only that. The outfit and color that Pre-Hikari and Pre-Kouki are wearing look similar to Greninja's design and color. But I like the starter choice still At least we're not getting Charmander again, eh? eh? This is probably the first time I'll be conflicted to choose between all three starters

 

[Locormus]

I don't know anything really about the design choices and concept-lore they might go for, but Rowlet and Oshawott just seem to fit right in.

As for the Fire-type:
- Charmander: Very present in SwSh
- Cyndaquil: ...
- Torchic: Had a Mega Evolution back in Gen6.
- Infernape: BDSP.
- Emboar: Them refusing to put in two GenV-starters.
- Delphox: Mèh? Granted, they could've used it, but the mage thing doesn't work for me in this context.
- Incineroar: Same reason as Emboar and lol would it look out of place.

So in my eyes, the only two realistic not overused options were Typhlosion and Delphox. I'm fine with them picking Typhlosion since it's criminally underused.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I think it’s to show some love to other Gens’ Starters and for all Pokémon as a whole. The Gen II Starters tend to get the short of the nostalgia stick quite often with the Chikorita line getting the worst of it. They don’t get any signature moves or form changes or even Megas. Cyndaquil is a nice way to give it some more love and attention.

 

[Manbis]

meh doesnt help that the Oshawott line has the cooles looking stage 1 form and then turns into the worst looking stage 2 pokemon and destroys the entire theme....

 

[Smeargle-Sketch]

meh doesnt help that the Oshawott line has the cooles looking stage 1 form and then turns into the worst looking stage 2 pokemon and destroys the entire theme....

Not really, still a sword wielding samurai otter. Just more sea lion into the look.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Samurott could have been awesome.

But no, designer had to see a random sealion in a zoo and think that'd be a good idea. Terrible decision IMHO

 

[Reinhardt]

For a long time I didn't even realise that Samurott had swords, because you never see it unsheath them in the games (or at least not in Black and White, I've never seen its 3DS era battle animations). I've always seen Samurott as a "IMMA JAB YOU WITH MAH HELMET NARWHAL HORN" kind of attacker.

 

[Ophie]

I would like to say that but GameFreak sure doesn't treat them like their fan favorites. Hell, the most well-known Typhlosion in the Pokemon series isn't even from the anime. It's from the manga, Pokemon Adventures. You know how many times Typhlosion appeared in the anime? Only two. One was a forgettable cameo in the Hoenn series, the other was his first major debut in a movie special that didn't release in the west until Gen 3. Since then, GameFreak and the Pokemon Company rarely show any love to Typhlosion. Which is funny because I always thought the Typhlosion line was the most popular oh the Johto starter lines and yet, you see the Feraligatr and Meganium line getting more love from the Pokemon Company. Weird don't you think?

I just want to point out that Typhlosion has seen a lot less tournament usage in the Trading Card Game compared to Meganium and Feraligatr too. Meganium is the go-to Pokémon when the card designers want some heavy-healing Pokémon (even more so than Alomomola, who in the TCG instead has a motif of summoning other Pokémon from your deck), while Feraligatr is used if they want another Water energy accelerator. Typhlosion, on the other hand, is all over the place (but generally doesn't synergize well with other Pokémon). Typhlosion also didn't appear at all in Generation V and appeared just once in Generation VII.

 

[shoz999]

For a long time I didn't even realise that Samurott had swords, because you never see it unsheath them in the games (or at least not in Black and White, I've never seen its 3DS era battle animations). I've always seen Samurott as a "IMMA JAB YOU WITH MAH HELMET NARWHAL HORN" kind of attacker.

To activate it, you have to use Razor Shell which I think is just stupid. It should have access it in all of it's offensive Sword-like moves. Or heck, make it the default offensive animation. They kind of do it with Aegislash and non-Sword-like moves.

 

[Taodragon]

meh doesnt help that the Oshawott line has the cooles looking stage 1 form and then turns into the worst looking stage 2 pokemon and destroys the entire theme....

It actually keeps the conceptual theme very well as the whole line is it going from a young Samurai to a strong Shogun commander, which fits with its growth. The issue that many have is that while it makes sense to have it be bulkier like a sea lion, it is jumpy from the pre-evolutions, and while it's not the first time Pokemon has done such a jump it is the first for the Starters to do it to that extent.

Personally I like Samurott as a design and I do get why they went the route they did, but I will concede they could've telegraphed the change a bit more.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

I just want to point out that Typhlosion has seen a lot less tournament usage in the Trading Card Game compared to Meganium and Feraligatr too. Meganium is the go-to Pokémon when the card designers want some heavy-healing Pokémon (even more so than Alomomola, who in the TCG instead has a motif of summoning other Pokémon from your deck), while Feraligatr is used if they want another Water energy accelerator. Typhlosion, on the other hand, is all over the place (but generally doesn't synergize well with other Pokémon). Typhlosion also didn't appear at all in Generation V and appeared just once in Generation VII.

To add a bit...

Typhlosion is completly eclipsed on Pokémon Masters. Not just because of the hype Charizard users (Red and Leon) but even fellow fire types like Hilda.

 

[Pokefan_1987]

I would like to say that but GameFreak sure doesn't treat them like their fan favorites. Hell, the most well-known Typhlosion in the Pokemon series isn't even from the anime. It's from the manga, Pokemon Adventures. You know how many times Typhlosion appeared in the anime? Only two. One was a forgettable cameo in the Hoenn series, the other was his first major debut in a movie special that didn't release in the west until Gen 3. Since then, GameFreak and the Pokemon Company rarely show any love to Typhlosion. Which is funny because I always thought the Typhlosion line was the most popular oh the Johto starter lines and yet, you see the Feraligatr and Meganium line getting more love from the Pokemon Company. Weird don't you think?

Typhlosions stats were literally copied from Charizard back from Gen 1. The main difference is no 4x Weakness to Rock types.

Personally i'm interested for these mixed starters. I winder if the rest are available in the wild. Otherwise it might be possible to just import them into the game through Pokemon HOME.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I haven’t come to a conclusion on why, but I can’t really see a trio with these 3. Perhaps it’s cause they have nothing in common, perhaps it’s strange 2 of them have a singular type, it’s very complicated. I’m not mad though, Samurott is my favorite water starter. Just confused.

Cyndaquil actually makes sense, as it's implied Johto and Sinnoh are connected in some way, what with the Sinjoh ruins from the Arceus event.

 

[Yveltal91057]

On an unrelated note, shouldn’t Sinnoh be directly north, south or west of Johto? That would make even more sense than where Sinnoh is currently located.

 

[Reinhardt]

Rowlet evolves into an archer
Oshawott evolves into a samuray
Cyndaquil ... ?

You can make the argument that Typhlosion when standing up and its fire quills are burning sort of looks like an erupting volcano, and there are plenty of active volcanoes in Sinnoh's real world counterpart Hokkaido. But I realise that is a bit of a stretch.

 

[Red and Blue]

You can make the argument that Typhlosion when standing up and its fire quills are burning sort of looks like an erupting volcano, and there are plenty of active volcanoes in Sinnoh's real world counterpart Hokkaido. But I realise that is a bit of a stretch.

I don't think it's a stretch at all. Typhlosian is literally called the Volcano Pokemon in its Dex entries

 

[Pokefan_1987]

Yeah, I like that they went with a mix- at least it's not Charmander again.

I didn't think of the historical Japanese connection with their three final forms, that's pretty cool.

Actually Typhlosion has always been a direct copy of Charizards stats. Except it isnt 4x weak to stone and can get faster with Flame Wheel which seemed like it wasnt a Chimchar invention. Many who didnt play gen 2 could easily mistake chimchar for inventing it.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I wonder what the starters for the other regions will be, should they get legends.

 

[ckd89]

I want kanto johto and hoenn in legends so I imagine they're going backwards all the way to kanto cyndaquil is my starter

 

[PCN24454]

Typhlosion is the Volcano Pokémon, and Japan is known for having volcanoes. It's as simple as that.