Which Starter do you associate with which Trainer?

[Mythical-Moonlight]

Fascinating thing I was thinking about yesterday.

Some of you may know (or some of you didn't that's fine too) that Gloria is set to get a new Figurine coming. And interesting enough, her chosen Partner is Sobble.

So when they make these Figurines do they just randomly pick a starter to pair up with the female protag?

I ask because May's Figurine paired her with Mudkip despite her usually being associated with Torchic?

And now we have Gloria paired up with Sobble despite her having a Scorbunny in the manga.

But then again, Serena has the Froakie in the Manga, despite having more association with the Fenniken line in the Anime.

Dawn usually gets Piplup everywhere EXCEPT Pokémon Masters. Where she has Turtwig in that game.

Perhaps this means that the Figurine designers, Anime Directiors, Masters Creators and the Manga writers all had different personal interpretations of what Starter they thought matched the girls

So it brings me to my original question.

What Starter does YOUR mind personally associate the Protagonists/Rivals with?

For me personally my mind says:

Female Protags/Rivals:

Leaf with Squirtle (Or Bulbasaur)
Kris with Totodile
Lyra with Chikorita
May with Torchic
Dawn with Piplup
Hilda with Tepig
Bianca with Oshawott
Rosa with Snivy
Serena with Fenniken
Shauna with Chespin
Selena with Rowlet (or Popplio)
Gloria with Sobble

Male Protags/Rivals:

Red with Pikachu (or Charmander or Bulbasaur work too)
Blue with Squirtle (or Eevee or Charmander again)
Ethan with Cyndaquil
Silver with Totodile
Brendan with Treecko
Lucas with Turtwig
Barry with Chimchar
Hilbert with Oshawott
Nate with Emboar
Hugh with Oshawott
Cheren with Snivy
Calem with Froakie
Elios with Litten
Hau with Rowlet
Victor with Grookey
Hop with Scorbunny

 

[Leonhart]

I associate Kouki (Lucas) with Naetle (Turtwig), probably because in the Pokemon Special manga his counterpart owned one, too. I associate Silver with Waninoko (Totodile) simply because when I played Silver version, that was his Starter.

 

[Storm the Lycanroc]

Personally in terms of the main series games I usually associate one specific starter with each player character.
Red - Charmander
Leaf - Squirtle
Ethan - Cyndaquil
Lyra - Chikorita
Brendan - Treecko
May - Torchic
Lucas - Turtwig
Dawn - Piplup
Hilbert - Oshawott
Hilda - Snivy
Nate - Tepig
Rosa - Snivy
Calem - Froakie
Serena - Fenniken
Elio - Rowlet
Serene - Popplio
Victor - Sobble
Gloria - Scorbunny

 

[NovaBrunswick]

• Red - Charmander
• Leaf - Bulbasaur
• Ethan - Cyndaquil
• Kris - Totodile
• Lyra - Chikorita
• Brendan - Treecko
• May - Torchic (since she had one in the anime)
• Lucas - Turtwig
• Dawn - Piplup (again because she had one in the anime)
• Hilbert - Snivy
• Hilda - Tepig (in the Adventures manga, her counterpart White has a female Tepig called Gigi)
• Nate - Oshawott
• Rosa - Snivy (the animated B2/W2 trailer had her battling Cheren's Stoutland with a Serperior)
• Calem - Froakie
• Serena - Fennekin (yet another anime reference)
• Elio - Rowlet
• Selene - Litten
• Victor - Scorbunny
• Gloria - Sobble

I noticed that I mostly associate the trainers with either the Fire or Water starters, with only Leaf, Lyra, Lucas, Hilbert, Rosa and Elio having the Grass starters.

 

[Mythical-Moonlight]

• Red - Charmander
• Leaf - Bulbasaur
• Ethan - Cyndaquil
• Kris - Totodile
• Lyra - Chikorita
• Brendan - Treecko
• May - Torchic (since she had one in the anime)
• Lucas - Turtwig
• Dawn - Piplup (again because she had one in the anime)
• Hilbert - Snivy
• Hilda - Tepig (in the Adventures manga, her counterpart White has a female Tepig called Gigi)
• Nate - Oshawott
• Rosa - Snivy (the animated B2/W2 trailer had her battling Cheren's Stoutland with a Serperior)
• Calem - Froakie
• Serena - Fennekin (yet another anime reference)
• Elio - Rowlet
• Selene - Litten
• Victor - Scorbunny
• Gloria - Sobble

I noticed that I mostly associate the trainers with either the Fire or Water starters, with only Leaf, Lyra, Lucas, Hilbert, Rosa and Elio having the Grass starters.

You gave Brendan the Grass Starter too xD

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Will try to not make it a completly list-only post

Red - Charmander

Mostly because the character's name fits the pokémon type. Also both are super popular.

Leaf - Squirtle

Squirtle feels to me a better counterpart to Charmander than Bulbasaur so it's fitting for Red's female counterpart

Chase - Pikachu

Yes, that's technically cheating but whatever. Anyway, since Chase is a bit inspired by original Red with elements of Ash from the anime, those seem like the best combo

Elaine - Eevee

Similar to above. Most of the time the show had an Eevee in the main cast, they gave it to the girl character so it's fitting here in my opinion.

Ethan - Cyndaquil
Kris - Totodile
Lyra - Chikorita

Grouped together. It's the same way Pokémon Masters split the starters but I actually agree with DeNA. Cyndaquil and Totodile fit their trainer's color scheme and Chikorita seems like a good fit for Lyra's personality.

Brendan - Treecko

Those two are a good fit. To be honest, Brendan and May work with any of the starters but if you have Brendan be Norman's son, than the speedy and cool Sceptile seems the better pick

May - Torchic

I second the folks who grouped them together because that's what the show did. Though I think Mudkip would be a good fit as well. As I said above, any of the Hoenn starters match them perfectly.

Scottie/Bettie - Mudkip

Yeah, they shouldn't be here so what? Not going to let Mudkip alone. I don't mind Masters giving them Torchic though. My headcanon is that they are from Hoenn even if it's implied Pikachu is their starter. So in a way, they are kind of like Brendan and May in the sense they can fit any of the three. Which is just more reason for me to love the Hoenn starters and consider them the best set overall.

Lucas - Chimchar

I normally don't mind him being paired with Turtwig but I think Chimchar is a good fit as well

Dawn - Piplup

Blaming the anime here again haha Oddly enough on Platinum I paired Dawn with Turtwig.

But on another hand both fit the same case as Red with both being very popular in their gen

Hilbert - Oshawott

Mostly out of bias since Oshawott was my favorite and I really like Hilbert's design.

Hilda & Nate - Tepig

A fire type is fitting what Hilda's look imply his personality as being. As for Nate, he could go with any of the others and it'd be a good fit but since I'm giving Snivy to Rosa, let's get Nate to have the fire type haha

Rosa - Snivy

Pokémon Masters really sold me into those two as a team.

Calem - Froakie

Chespin is my favorite but there's no denial Greninja is the most popular.

Serena - Fennekin

Not as much because of the anime but because both seem a good fit. Fennekin's evolution go in the way of elegant/magical which fits a female character better in my opinion.

Ash - Chespin

I'm cheating again but I got a bias. And said bias puts me in a crusade! #giveAshaChespin #AshsChespin #SatoshinoHarimaron



Elio - Litten
Selene & Ailey - Poplio
Ray - Rowlett

Another pseudo-cheating here: I'll count them as different characters. Elio with a name referencing the sun fits the fire type. Selene for a similar reason and also the same situation as Serena above. Ray - which is too cool of a name to go unused - gets the one that's left

Victor - Scorbunny
Gloria - Sobble

Not much to say here. Scorbunny fits Victor's default color scheme. Sobble being the more elegant/stylish starter in the final evolution suits Gloria.Though for Gloria, Grookie also fits the colors a bit. It's mostly a 50/50 where I did my choice based on favoritism

On a final note I don't hate Grookie and Turtwig (as I said earlier Twig was my starter on Platinum and I was using Dawn there haha) but I couldn't fit them with the playable characters. Maybe future remakes/new PCs can change that

 

[Mythical-Moonlight]

On a final note I don't hate Grookie and Turtwig (as I said earlier Twig was my starter on Platinum and I was using Dawn there haha) but I couldn't fit them with the playable characters. Maybe future remakes/new PCs can change that

Grookey for Hop and Turtwig for Barry then

(Personally I love the idea of Hop having Scorbunny because of his name. XD How do Rabbits normally move around? )

 

[NovaBrunswick]

May - Torchic

I second the folks who grouped them together because that's what the show did. Though I think Mudkip would be a good fit as well. As I said above, any of the Hoenn starters match them perfectly

Wasn't May originally going to have Mudkip as her starter in the anime?

Elio - Litten
Selene & Ailey - Poplio
Ray - Rowlett

Another pseudo-cheating here: I'll count them as different characters. Elio with a name referencing the sun fits the fire type. Selene for a similar reason and also the same situation as Serena above. Ray - which is too cool of a name to go unused - gets the one that's

I think the US/UM protagonists are the same people as the S/M protagonists, just in different designs. Ray and Ailey were just pre-release names, like Xavier and Yvonne for Calem and Serena.

 

[Redstar45]

Well To me i tend go for The Main Anime/The Origin/Special manga.

Red/Satoshi/Ash-Hitokage. (Charmander) i know that Red in the Pokemon special manga /Let Go games has Fushigidane as his few Pokemon next to Nyorozo (Poilwhirl) X Pikachu and Satoshi has his Pikachu in the Pokemon Animeverse but in the Animeverse he seem do well with HitoKage 's 2nd Evolve form Lizardo in m20 and later in the os-bw era/during the Movie in 3rd evolved form as Lizardon ! And in the Origin anime ....Red had an HitoKage which it is can go a Mega Evolved in it's 3rd evolved form as Lizardon as the Mega Lizardon X to beat Mewtwo ! And in The Masters as he had his Lizardon as Syco Pokemon!

Leaf/Blue (F) -Fushigidane. (Bulbasaur) i know i know, She own Zenigame (Squirtle) as one of her in the Pokemon special manga/Let Go Games but i leaning toward idea of Fushigidane served a tool to knock out her foes by use many of the it's status moves in her thief lifestyle, and the Masters her Syco outfit is in sort Green and her most famous name is Leaf/Green in the west !


Chase/Kakeru- Pikachu.

Elaine/Ayumi-Eievui.

Gold/Kenta/Jimmy -Hinoarashi. (Cyndaquil)

Crystal/Marina-Waninoko. (Tolodile) hey she had it in masters game.

Kotone/Lyra -Chikorita.

Sapphire/Haruka/May-Achamo. (Torchic)

Ruby/Yuki/Brendan-Mizugorou.(Mudkip)

Platinum/Hikari/Dawn-Pochama.(Piplup)

Diamond/Kõki/Lucas-Naetle.(Turtwig)

White/Touko/Hilda-Pokabu.(Tepig)

Black/Touya/Hilbert-Tsutarja.(Snivy)

Lack-2/Kyōhei/Nate-Mijumaru.(Oshawott)

Whi-2/Mei/Rosa-Pokabu.(Tepig)

Y/Serena-Fokko.(Fennekin)

X/Calam-Harimaron.(Chespin)

Moon/Mizuki/Selene-Mokuroh.(Rowlet)

Sun/Yõ/Elio-Ashimari.(Popilo)

Shield/Yūri/Gloria-Sarunori.(Grookey)

Sword/Masaru/Victor-Hibanny.(Scorbunny)

There! I am done .

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Wasn't May originally going to have Mudkip as her starter in the anime?

Never heard of this story, honestly.

 

[Redstar45]

Never heard of this story, honestly.

i think that they're referencing the Mizugorou that She use to save the Professor in her first episodes in the AG Era Before she chose Achamo over it because that Pokemon shooting water at her face .

 

[shoz999]

Fascinating thing I was thinking about yesterday.

Some of you may know (or some of you didn't that's fine too) that Gloria is set to get a new Figurine coming. And interesting enough, her chosen Partner is Sobble.

So when they make these Figurines do they just randomly pick a starter to pair up with the female protag?

I ask because May's Figurine paired her with Mudkip despite her usually being associated with Torchic?

And now we have Gloria paired up with Sobble despite her having a Scorbunny in the manga.

But then again, Serena has the Froakie in the Manga, despite having more association with the Fenniken line in the Anime.

Dawn usually gets Piplup everywhere EXCEPT Pokémon Masters. Where she has Turtwig in that game.

Perhaps this means that the Figurine designers, Anime Directiors, Masters Creators and the Manga writers all had different personal interpretations of what Starter they thought matched the girls

So it brings me to my original question.

What Starter does YOUR mind personally associate the Protagonists/Rivals with?

For me personally my mind says:

Female Protags/Rivals:

Leaf with Squirtle (Or Bulbasaur)
Kris with Totodile
Lyra with Chikorita
May with Torchic
Dawn with Piplup
Hilda with Tepig
Bianca with Oshawott
Rosa with Snivy
Serena with Fenniken
Shauna with Chespin
Selena with Rowlet (or Popplio)
Gloria with Sobble

Male Protags/Rivals:

Red with Pikachu (or Charmander or Bulbasaur work too)
Blue with Squirtle (or Eevee or Charmander again)
Ethan with Cyndaquil
Silver with Totodile
Brendan with Treecko
Lucas with Turtwig
Barry with Chimchar
Hilbert with Oshawott
Nate with Emboar
Hugh with Oshawott
Cheren with Snivy
Calem with Froakie
Elios with Litten
Hau with Rowlet
Victor with Grookey
Hop with Scorbunny

That's interesting. For her manga counterpart, she gets Scorbunny. I like this picture above, funnily makes her look like a Disney Princess introducing the Wild Area like it's Disney Land together with her Disney mascot, Scorbunny. Getting Disney vibes lol.

As for me, if I'm going by the games, for me it's Red gets Bulbasaur, Blue (rival) gets Charmander, and Green (Fem) gets Squirtle. With that being said, I hope they announce Let's Go Johto this week. I really REALLY want to know what GameFreak thinks Ethan's, Krys's, and Silver's starters should be since they often get the final say in such matters.

 

[Mythical-Moonlight]

Sun/Yõ/Elio-Ashimari.(Popilo)

This one's interesting. What makes you associate Elios with Popplio?

 

[NovaBrunswick]

Never heard of this story, honestly.

i think that they're referencing the Mizugorou that She use to save the Professor in her first episodes in the AG Era Before she chose Achamo over it because that Pokemon shooting water at her face .

I think I meant that Mudkip was the starter that May originally had her eyes on, but when she was trying to save Professor Birch from the horde of Poochyena, Mudkip aimed its Water Gun at her instead of at the Poochyena. She also said that Treecko looked creepy.

 

[Redstar45]

This one's interesting. What makes you associate Elios with Popplio?

I did same thing for Touya with Tsutarja as it is nice guys get more Feminine type Pokemon you know ?
With rival like Silver/Black i actually have him use Chikorita as same reason why i give Fushigidane to Blue/Leaf .

 

[NovaBrunswick]

And as for the rivals:

• Gary (Blue) - Squirtle
• Silver - Cyndaquil
• Barry - Piplup
• Bianca - Oshawott
• Cheren - Tepig (one of the TCG cards shows him with a Tepig)
• Hugh - Oshawott
• Tierno - Froakie
• Trevor - Chespin
• Shauna - Fennekin
• Hau - Rowlet (since he has one in the anime)
• Gladion - Litten
• Hop - Scorbunny (a bit of a pun on his name, as @Mythical-Moonlight said )

 

[Redstar45]

And as for the rivals:

• Gary (Blue) - Squirtle
• Silver - Cyndaquil
• Barry - Piplup
• Bianca - Oshawott
• Cheren - Tepig (one of the TCG cards shows him with a Tepig)
• Hugh - Oshawott
• Tierno - Froakie
• Trevor - Chespin
• Shauna - Fennekin
• Hau - Rowlet (since he has one in the anime)
• Gladion - Litten
• Hop - Scorbunny (a bit of a pun on his name, as @Mythical-Moonlight said )

Unless you say that Red is Satoshi/Ash then he is just Green/Blue (M) .

 

[Zoruagible]

Red: Charmander
Blue: Squirtle:
Leaf: Bulbasaur

Gold: Cyndaquil
Silver: Totodile
Lyra: Chikorita

Brendan: Treecko
May: Blaziken

Lucas: Turtwig
Barry: Chimchar
Dawn: Piplup

Hilbert: Oshawott
Hilda: Tepig

Calem: Froakie
Serena: Fenniken

Sun: Litten
Moon: Popplio

Hipster(Forget his name lol): Sobble
Gloria: Scorbunny

 

[Storm the Lycanroc]

Another thing I like to do whenever a new set of games comes out I usually play as a male character in one and the female character in the other. Out of the three starters I give my number one favorite to the male character and my second favorite to the female character. Suppose after years of doing this I've grown to associate specific starters with a specific player character.

 

[Mythical-Moonlight]

Hipster(Forget his name lol): Sobble

His name is Victor! XD