Personal Thoughts on Starter Pokemon
Since I was a kid, I loved Pokemon, from the video games to the anime series. Each league was different, yet unique and as I later found out when I grew older, based on a certain area. However, I've noticed that throughout every league, each of the starter Pokemon were always Water, Fire, and Grass. Although I didn't mind starting off with a Pokemon of that said type, I wondered why we didn't get different starter Pokemon like a Dark, Psychic, or a Ghost Type. So I did some digging. There were lots of hardcore Pokemon fans that had answers and I found them very interesting.
Someone on the Pokemon Database website back in 2013 said it was because, "Fire, Water, and Grass are one of the most important elements of the earth. They are also primordial elements." This answer makes sense to me as I remember watching plenty of Discovery videos in my science and history classes that talked about the origin of Earth. Water molecules formed in space before Earth existed and most of the ocean came from icy asteroids that collided with the planet long ago. Grass or vegetation originated from organisms with photosynthesis 50 million years ago, shaping the ecology of Earth. As for fire, I thought it originated from volcanoes, but it actually comes from heat and chemicals: fuel and oxygen. Pretty fascinating with the things I learned in school. Memorizing it for a quiz or final exam, not so much.
Anyway, a YouTuber in 2023 believed that, "This dynamic creates this perfect triangle, an intuitive Rock-Paper-Scissors combat system. Fire burns Grass, Grass absorbs Water, and Water extinguishes Fire. This balance teaches beginners core battle mechanics along with type advantages and disadvantages at the start of the game."
I really had no idea, but once again it makes sense. These 3 elements not only have a strength against another element, but also a weakness too. Just like the childhood game of Rock-Paper-Scissors: Rock breaks Scissors, Paper covers Rock, and Scissors cuts Paper. So going back to my thought of having a Psychic, Dark, or Ghost Type for a starter Pokemon instead of Water, Fire, and Grass, I'm realizing that this wouldn't be a perfect balance for a few reasons:
One, Psychic Type Pokemon's attacks have no effect on Dark Type Pokemon. They have a type disadvantage over not just Dark but also Ghost Types too.
Two, Dark Type Pokemon, at the time, didn't exist until Gen II (Johto) came out. Plus, they have a type advantage against both Psychic and Ghost Type Pokemon.
Three, Ghost Type Pokemon have the advantage over Psychic Types, but not against Dark Types.
As you can see, this is an example of a very unstable balance. It doesn't make a perfect triangle because Psychic is highly disadvantaged against Dark and Ghost. Dark is highly advantaged against Psychic and Ghost. Ghost is advantaged against only Psychic while disadvantaged against Dark.
To be honest, I'm wondering if this balance is also used with Duel Monsters from "Yu-Gi-Oh," but I'll look into that later in a different post.
Thinking back to my journey with Pokemon, I've always done it alongside my 2 brothers. They had their own reason for choosing their partner, and I had mine. One of them was based on power and the other was liking their final evolution. As for me...at the time, I didn't have a reason. I remember having a difficult time choosing due to all 3 of them being so cute. I believe my reason soon came when fans began fighting online about Water Pokemon being better than the others, or Fire being better, or Grass, etc. You get the idea. Unfortunately, my brothers ended up getting stuck in that fight but against each other. It wasn't a pretty sight, esp. when one of them, I don't remember who, said that their Pokemon was weak or bad. Weak seems to be a trigger word for me when it comes to both Pokemon and Duel Monsters. As I've learned from Jessie's Ekans and James's Koffing, there are no bad or weak Pokemon, only bad Trainers. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but they're right. So every time my brothers would say one of the starters was weak, I'd select it as my partner, no matter what they say. It's our job as a Pokemon Trainer to live and grow with Pokemon in harmony, not judge or harm them. Sadly, as I've discovered, all Trainers are different, having their own strategies and ideas on how to raise Pokemon or make them stronger. It's people like them who I believe don't deserve to call themselves a Pokemon Trainer, especially if their ideas leads to types of abuse or trauma. That's crossing the line in my book and I wish I could teach those Trainers a lesson, but it's against the rules to do so. So as you can imagine when it comes to me, it's VERY hard to keep my temper under control.
Throughout my journey, I have raised a starter Pokemon in each of the elements of Water, Grass, and Fire, but in different leagues.
In "Pokemon Moon" and "Ultra Moon," I chose Popplio as my partner in my favorite league: Alola. It's the same starter Lana has as a partner and has fully evolved into a Primarina. He's one of my strongest partners in the games, aside from Pikachu. I loved having Popplio as a partner. I loved petting the top of his head, his nose, and flippers and found out he doesn't like being pet by his collar. It was also cute feeding him Poke Beans (Plain Indigos are his favorite). I also made sure he was healthy in case he got poisoned, burned, paralyzed, and more during training in Pokemon Refresh. As a Brionne, he liked being petted by his pigtails, but not his flippers. I was amazed at what he could do, especially when he evolved into Primarina, changing to a Water and Fairy Type. He liked being petted by the decorations on his head, but not his left flipper. He also had his own Z-Crystal and signature Z-Move: Oceanic Operetta, beautiful and powerful like the strings from "Trolls World Tour." Not to mention that Primarina was based on mermaids, which is my favorite mythological creature. Primarina has a Careful Nature, and is capable of taking hits.
In "Pokemon Sword," I chose Scorbunny as my partner in Galar. It's the same starter that Goh caught and has fully evolved into a Cinderace. He's one of my strongest partners in the game besides Pikachu. There's just 1 difference: Cinderace can Giagantamax while Pikachu can only Dynamax. I'm aware that Pikachu can Giagantamax, but I don't like how he looks, so I don't give him the soup. Surprisingly, this was my 1st time using a Fire starter Pokemon as a partner. Why it took so long, a lot of the Pokemon games back then were only for the DS and I couldn't afford it. I bought a Switch as my birthday present and "Pokemon Sword" was the 1st game I bought for it. It felt different using a Fire Type since I'd done Water or Grass in the past, but I had no problems with it. I enjoyed having Scorbunny as a partner. He's a rabbit, which is one of my favorite animals and literally has a fiery spirit throughout its evolution and its Giagantamax form. His signature move, Pyro Ball is sick, especially when it's during Giagantamaxing. His favorite food is any type of Curry and Rice that's Spicy, but doesn't like anything Sour. He also loves to play with the ball during Camp. Cinderace has a Lonely Nature and takes plenty of siestas.
In "Pokemon Violet," I chose Sprigatito as my partner in Paldea. It's the same starter that Liko has as a partner and has fully evolved into a Meowscarada. Once again, he's one of my strongest partners in the game besides Pikachu. I love having Sprigatito as a partner. My 1st friend was a cat, so I'm a cat person and the choice was personal. Not to mention that Meowscarada was designed like a magician, which is cool since I love magic. Once again, I was amazed at what could he do, especially when it evolved fully into Meowscarada, changing to a Grass and Dark Type. His signature move, Flower Trick, literally steals the spotlight and is very strong. It's even more beautiful when he's Terrastallized. At Picnics, I love kicking the ball with him and washing his fur, which surprises me since I know cats don't like water. When it comes to Sandwiches, Meowscarada doesn't seem to have a personal favorite. At least, not that I've seen and I've made plenty of different Sandwiches. I like making Sandwiches with Sweet combinations and I've noticed that Meowscarada seems to like those the most aside from Pikachu. Must be a type thing or something. Anyway, we have yet to travel to Kitakami and the Blueberry Academy. But if Meowscarada's as strong as he is, I'm sure it's nothing he can't handle. However, I must remember not to underestimate my opponent. Meowscarada has a Serious Nature and is strong willed.
My journey with each of the starter Pokemon based on the elements has gained me many experience and see things from a different perspective. I've discovered some of the challenges each of them face, but not all of them. I've also noticed some of the challenges I have yet to face. One of them being my bonds to different types of Pokemon. I'll probably start off with the basic elements first in a different post and then work my way up towards the rest of the types. Now I know why the starter Pokemon are always Water, Grass, and Fire.
