Staraptor, honestly... Is a pigeot clone. I see little point in things like that. Luckily for it, it looks a lot better. And I understand different base stats, and different move sets. But honestly, why make it so similar then? Why 3 evolutions that you get right from the start of the game?
Also, I am really sick of fire fighting type starters. The newest should have been fire dark instead. Wouldn't that have been amazing?
My favorites however, have got to be luxray, yanmega, gallade and weavile.
I think the design is getting progressively worse since 2nd gen though...