Starter Pokemon Will Never Be the Same 

Wanted to echo what I said in the video that starters becoming more humanoid and more like characters is NOT necessarily a bad thing, I’m just making the point that we may never see starters that don’t have that trait again which makes me a tad sad. I love some starters of newer generations, especially Decidueye, Greninja, and Rillaboom and think they are amazingly designed Pokémon. If you’re new here and like Pokémon though feel free to subscribe and check out the channel! I’ve got a nuzlocke on the way that I can’t wait for everyone to see! And be sure to like the video if you did enjoy it!!

Remember when squirtle was just a cute turtle but the anime decided to turn him into a delinquent in charge of a group that terrorised a community? You could do that “because” there wasn’t a pre established character.

I’ve had these exact thoughts for years now. Ever since Gen 6, starters have stopped feeling like species and started feeling like characters. I agree that it would be great to see them go back to something that feels more like a believable species of animal, and that yeah the starters with the best balance between species and character is definitely Gen 4.

The reason why the bird is with skeledirge is due to it being excess energy from the starter line itself. In crocalor it's an egg. Some birds have a co dependency on crocs in real life to get food from their teeth and by doing so clean the crocs teeth in the process. Same thing here

I personally don’t mind the second role they have to fulfill. I just really hate the fact that most of them are becoming humanoid less animal like.

Just popping in to say as always be said a million times before: *The Gen 3 starter trio is as absolutely perfect as you can get.*

Inteleon actually isn't based on "guns." Its based on James Bond and super spy films in general. XD

Emboar is meant to be a Chinese warlord, not a wrestler.

I don't like the humanification, at what point do we have to give them the right to vote

I miss the starters being chunky. These skinny starters don’t do it for me

You know something always bothered me about the starters the past few years and after watching this, your thoughts perfectly explained what I was feeling. They feel overly complicated while being too simple as well. Makes sense why Bulbasaur/Venasaur are still my favorite.

Gen two failed mostly because they had awful movesets

I appreciate gen 5 starters for basing their designs on different cultures as Unova is based in America and America is a melting pit of cultures.

Emboar is based off of the Pig demon Zhu Baije that Sun Wu Kong encounters along his journey and a chinese general Zhang fei from the romance of the 3 kingdoms. Unova's starters were supposed to be melting pot of eastern and western designs as seen with their designs which makes me like them alot compared to the other gens.

They basically became less animalistic and more human like

Personally, I prefer starters that look like something that would evolve naturally within the Pokemon world instead of being forced to fit a theme. Also, I’d like them to be less humanoid because it gets weird, especially if the final stage’s body type skews heavily towards one gender like Incineroar. I mean, the idea of a female Incineroar is just weird because they all look like they should be male due to the humanoid male body type.

the water type starters have been wack as hell last couple of years

I find it easier to bond with my starter when their design isn't telling my what their personality and traits are supposed to be like. The design doesn't have to be simple, but it does have to feel neutral, to give space for its identity to grow as our journey together progresses. I want a pet that feels like a creature, rather than a humanoid with animal features (and a profession for some reason). Then again, I am pretty much a boomer when it comes to this topic, and I guess the good folks at the Pokemon Company know what the kids want, and what will sell the most lunchboxes.

I think people are forgetting they're Pocket Monsters and not actual animals, meaning ofc the starters are based on real life species but will always have a monster form of twist to them

I think the paldea starter trio is million times better than galar starters

decidueye's the only starter i've really clicked with in the entire 3D era, aside from Hisui's variations of old favorites. it's not so much the simplicity vs complexity (i love the johto trio) as it is how intensely humanized they are - galar doesn't have a starter trio, it has a panel at ConFuzzled.

While I don't necessarily hate the new approach taken for starter Pokémon I'd like to see less humanoid designs. I remember someone interpreting these design as the Pokémon taking traits from it's trainer upon evolving, but I prefer my starter to just be a pet that becomes cooler looking upon getting stronger. There are some animals with which the antropomorphic design works like frogs, which have a similar anatomy to humans, or birds which are bipedal by default but you know, a goat that for one is just a goat that happens to spit fire just works. It also helps convey more than one single personality rather than the one you're going to assume from a design like that of more recent starters. And before someone accuses me of disliking the new generations' starters know Emboar was my first starter and I love all of the Alola trio

The Chickorita line’s simplicity is why it’s my favorite line, with the Sprigatito and rowlet line close behind

The bird on Skeledirge is supposed to represent a Plover. It's a kind of bird that will stand on an Alligator's snout. They create a symbiotic relationship, the bird eats leftover food from the alligator's teeth and acts like bait for the alligator to get food.

This video is so great love your channel

I literally played through scarlet without using my starter lol 💀

I think if there wasn't such a nostalgia bias towards gen 1 that gen 3 would be the most popular trio. That or gen 4. Just pure perfection. They all look sooo badass.

The bird is a reference to real live birds that sit on crocodiles and eat bugs that tend to gather around their eyes.

And I'm thankful for that.

Not only the starters. Some pokemon are becoming like robots or over detailed digimon. They used to be just animals that had special powers.

I really don't like humanoid pokémon, and they keep getting more and more humanoid. I'm 33, and I've followed pokémon since gen 1, so I've felt they're differentiation through the years. Since gen 6, my favorite starter is Skeledirge, probably because since then it's the least humanoid, but I'm still bothered by the exaggeration in his details. I like simple, rustic pokémon. From new generations, I like Pokémon like Glimora, which looks like and early gen pokémon. I much much prefer older starters. But really I'm just commenting to help grow the channel. ;)

8:47 that movement is wild😅😂😂

Gen3:ers hating on Gen2 just has to be a meme at this point.

Latest Pokemon took it to more cute looks over wild for catching younger audience. But for me I felt chills watching a baddass wild pokemon more even in my childhood. Back then they had a balance between cute and wild looks

Quality content man. Subbed!

Erm actually the first 3 starters are based on pets you have lizard,turtle and frog🤓

What is really crazy is I was feeling this whole video subconsciously until I found it. I agree wholeheartedly. Like I remember when I found out I could upgrade bio-domes in Violet to get other starters, boy I did just that. Spent an unreal amount of time farming 9k bp (couldn’t go for all 4 domes without unaliving myself lol) then bred the starters I wanted transferred the newly hatched level 1’s to Home, then started a new play through MY way. Best play through I’ve had yet.

It makes me tear up not even about the quality of any of the Pokemon but the fact that they're all obtainable across 7 generations of games. Even the most forgettable of Pokemon are not forgotten and are even updated. Classic handheld main series Pokemon is my favorite rpg series for this reason.

0:52 “a dragon with a flaming tail” “ACKTUALLY🤓”

My issue with gen 8 starters is how shallow their movepools were. I like how the starters over old had diverse move sets as it allowed them to be that ol’reliable

Something I think a lot of fans feel conflicted about is that Pokémon aren’t animals, or rather, game freak doesn’t really see them all as just “animals” they are monsters, almost humans. And a bunch of fans don’t want that.

Tbh, while I definitely do want more traditional starter Pokémon that aren’t humanoid, I don’t really mind the humanoid designs (inteleon and meowscrada are my favorite mons as of recently) but having an actual cat starter (water type ofc) that doesn’t stand on two feet would definitely be cool.

Now imagine gamefreak sees this video and decides to simplify everything and then 10th generation is, a fire t-rex, a grass turtle, a water dragon.

You should check out Lockstin and Gnoggin. He does a deep dive into each starter

I can agree with the Sword and Shield starters, they were the first trio of starters I didn’t like. With the cons outweighing the pros.

I literally just realized it but i think skeledurges bird is because there is a type of bird that has a sybiotic relationship with crocs, and they also used it to be the microphone. This realization made me like skeledurge a bit more.

Imo Gens 1-3 were the best ever. All the pokemon from starters to the legendaries were the best looking etc. Gens 4 and 5 were alright tbh, I liked them too but just not as much as 1-3. Gens 6 onwards not so much. Still played those as well but honestly nothing beats 1-3.

I love watching Pokémon finally start to use more Digimon looking designs .. Digimon always had the designs on lock 🔥

If your saying theme: (just my opinion) Gen 1 could be fantasy style with lizard with wings, a walking flower and turtle with canon. Gen 2 could be realistic with crocodile on water, weasel torn as fire, sauropod ate leaf. Gen 3 seems like a martial art to me with fire as karate, water as sumo and grass as kung fu nunchuck. Gen 4 historical icon Gen 5 mix of jpn chs history and martial art with fire zhang fei, water samurai, grass as an emperor that uses grappling judo Gen 6 more like a kingdom theme where u choose knight, ninja or wizard kingdom Gen 7 obviously circus where there’s stuntman wrestler, clown and the archer that shoot apple on top of head. Gen 8 more like rare occupation Gen 9 entertainer

The Khantonian starters are based on uncommon little house pets that are common around lakes and streams! Turtles, Frogs, and Lizards.

Like what you did with the music❤

I mean, the gen 1 starters all kind of look prehistoric.

So from my understanding the design choice for the bird on skeledirge is due to crocs often having birds rest on their backs or noses while they skim the top of the water as well as functioning as a will o wisp/phoenix representing the death aspect further

Also newer starters are truly fitting for the region now. I never want to see them go back to the old design philosophies, because that's too boring for your partner Pokémon. The first one you get should be special, not just element + animal. I feel very strongly about the lorigins™.

I have mixed thoughts on modern starters too. Personally, I like the idea of Galar's starters, being pretty simple with real world inspiration, but execution wise they dropped the ball a bit Also, this video was very well constructed. You earned a sub, keep it up Bruv 🔥💯

I feel like the first 3 gen starters were more like wonder of nature.. and that's what make pokemon charming in my opinion. Their branding as whole still about that tho. But starter wise : NOPE. They were more like *"what if- homo sapiens like this"*

That's the reason why I didn't evolve my starters since Gen 4 :D

My biggest thing with Pokémon is, I’d like to imagine what it would be like to have them irl, if you get a pet cat and then it ends up being like basically a grown man with fur, walking around with that thing would make you look so weird bruh 😂

So many people in this commont are misses the point a pocket monster that does not mean that it feels any different just because it has a job it's a standard look of a Pokemon design not some feeling natural nonsense it doesn't have to be one to one animal.

The starter Pokemon design have definitely got more interesting over the years

They tried a reset with gen 5 and people hated it, and for some reason they took that to heart with not only their game style but their starter designs. To be clear, the general public only began dickriding gen 5 later on, at first it wasn’t as well received, just like every other pokemon game. It isn’t to say that gen 5 isn’t good, they’re among the best of the series, but yea. Greninja was the beginning of the end

Did the gen 5 starters actually get signature moves? What were those moves? And how was the introduction of hidden abilities a knock on those three? It was a mechanic widely distributed amongst most Pokemon, and included all of the previous starters

Honestly, it doesn’t bother me that we’re going down this route of starters being identified by their other role instead of just being an animal for two reasons. A. These roles help make them stick out compared to other Pokemon, and in a good way. Gives them an identity that isn’t just “fire fox”, “water penguin”, or “grass owl”. B. The formula has proven to work , at least for me, as it gave me plenty of personal bangers. For example, Cinderace is one of my favorite pokemon ever, in my Top 4. It’s a rabbit with soccer player elements blended together. It takes things I really like of both the animal and role and fuses them into a Pokemon I enjoy a ton. Like how can you not love it igniting pebbles into fireballs? That’s incredible! That being said, I get why people would love the starters being just animals. Hell, I like some of them too. But the idea that these identities are ruining starters now I think is wrong. It’s moreso they can give more or take away from the starter that I can understand

The bird represents an Egyptian Plover; a bird which stands on crocodiles and eats food scraps left in their teeth 🫡

I think the gen 8 starters are so good because they tie in to the region so well

If they made the similar concepts over and over again then we will get tired of it. Charizard is a just a dragon nothing unique about it and blastoise is a big turtle the new designs are actually more creative then that

Gen 3 and gen 1 are the only generations where I genuinely have a hard time picking a starter because they're all incredible

I personally wanna see a different type trio for gen 10, like fairy, fighting, steel. It would be a nice change of pace imo

9:57 i always forget how large Venusaur is

I heard the reason Meowscarada is a magician/jester is because Spain had famous Jesters from a local from Spain who used frequent a toy shop i worked at in a mall, i dunno if its true or not but there was a famous jester named Calabazas, who was a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain depicted in a famous painting.

First game I ever played was Pokemon Blue on Gameboy Color back in 1999(at the time, I was 4 years old). I’ve played every entry in the series and while I’m a huge fan of Gen 2 starters, I can agree with you on them being a bit too simple. However, I also always loved how different the Cyndaquil line was from all the other fire starters, but Cyndas one of my top 5, so I guess I’m bias with it. Diamond and Pearl was the first game that I actually had trouble picking the starter. Up until Sword and Shield, the others were much easier to chose from. Tepig, Froakie, and Rowlet. I didn’t really care for the starters in Gens 8 and 9. Especially 9, though I picked the Gator for it

Personally I think ever since gen 5, the starters never seemed like pokemon that fit in with the rest of the cast. So much so that I end up benching them most of the time

In other words, modern pokemon tend to feel more like a Digimon instead of being a Pokemon.

I think a lot of folks are more drawn to the first gen starters because of the nostalgia factor. If these starters were to appear in gen 9, they wouldn’t get the same respect that they would today and the Pokémon community would call them lazy designs

I recall someone saying that Skeledirge’s head a stage. The bird is a singer and the flames on it’s head are pyrotechnics

You can only make some many animals before it just becomes Neopets and I think that's what they wanted to avoid by giving them themes and a more humanoid appearance which in the world's lore makes sense obviously Pokémon would evolve to become more human like that's kind of the whole premise of Pokémon to begin with.

i only ever played gen 2. Will always only like gen 2 and 1 pokemons. Yes im nostalgic....

nothings holdin me back from meowscarada

I find funny that the lastest Pokémon Gen are more designed to be their own characters instead of being their own species and still no new Mystery Dungeon have arrived to exploit that. Personally I don't like them to be characters but I don't like them to be just an animal with an elemental detail either, I prefer a perfect balance, but good enought for people to add them any kind of personality, I have read a webcomic of a naughty Abra, it was hilarious how it caused a lot of trouble to the trainer 😄.

By no means a genwunner here. I even find great enjoyment in lots of the newer games and Pokemon designs. But the starters just ain't it. The mass appeal of the first starters were their Kaiju like final forms. Now they can keep their gimmicks for some. But it would be nice if each generation had at least one starter just become some kind of gimmick-less Kaiju creature like Charizard, Feraligatr and Sceptile.

0:42 been a thing since gen four arguably gen one if you count there cryptid theming Venasaur is a living dinosaur cryptid Charizard is a fire salamander Squrtle is based on a minogami Gen 2 has the theme of the past totodile literally evolves into a caveman crocodile Gen 3 is nature Of course you all know the rest Ps. The reason charizard isn’t dragon type is because its not one in the fire salamander myth there mistaken for dragons so charizard is that brought to a cartoony pokemon style

Blazekin kinda looks like a Digimon character like Fladramon.

Feels like this started happening in Gen 3 to me

I personally tend to like more of the newer starters because of how they tend to go a little extra. I mean it’s not like you can capture them in normal gameplay so giving them that extra touch seems warranted. Also I do feel the gen 8 starters should have been dual typed so they can get more aspects to them, and probably be better received by most players ( I want my water/ghost inteleon).

I think something between the gen 4 and 6 would be ideal!

If you think Gen II’s starters are simple, you should see the Gold and Silver Space World 1997 build’s starters. Only Chikorita made it to the final build, although it’s middle form was different

I am biased with Gen 7 and I think they’re all really cool(decidueye is my favorite) but I don’t mind Gen 8 either

how many pokemon come and go. the connections Ash had with Squirtle, Bulbersaur and charmander where on another level.

Alright here are my starter animal ideas A grass zebra A fire platypus And a water elephant I think this would be cool

Delphox is actually based on Delphic origins which explains why it can see into the future.

They are looking more and more like neo pets, OG pokemon for the win!!!

I grew up with Pokemon, since the 90's and i seen Pokemon change through out its timeline, especially Ash himself till he finally finished his journey to which still baffals me. So, I did not see too much of the issue with the Starters that we have currently, hence designing new Pokemon is becoming not easy anymore, therefore the best way to bring new Pokemon species at this point is adding variants because it would make more sense to add variants to Pokemon that may had a different appearance at a certain time period. Over all, I did pay attention to your whole video, therefore you elaborate the issues very well in a professional way from a Artist's stand point and additionally, i do agree to an extent if i have to be honest even as someone that grew up with Pokemon ( 34 here still enjoy).

A good mix of both is the way to go. Diamond & Peral/XYZ did it great.

About Primarina being a sea lion thing, Gaijin Goomba had it covered.

Gen 8 starters are based on pop culture and goes along with the commercial nature of Galar. Sports (a soccer bunny, and soccer/football is the most popular sport in the world and especially the UK), music (a drummer in a band, i guess like the drummers from old school UK pop music), and movies (the most famous spy, 007)

Tbh a "Pokemon Zero" where they reboot the game in all aspects is probably long overdue. Take the evolution of Final Fantasy as an example. I don't exactly like those games, and if I'm being honest I like the standard turn based combat a lot... But Nintendo could definitely get away with ONE single mainline entry where they just toss every single old idea in the trash and remake the whole concept, then try to sell that new idea entirely on its own merit as a new idea and not as the next gen in the series

Another problem would also be the latest starters being way too extra, lanky, and humanoid without their gimmicks being cool enough to compensate for it Like they thought infernape and greninja are popular due them having these traits forgetting the fact that both of these mons have gimmicks that are actually badass, it's hard to top frog ninja and monkey king inspired mons if your gimmicks in comparison are dancing, football, magic, etc....

I don’t like how starters final evolutions have now turned into digimon

I think it would be cool if they made starter Pokémon with a different elemental triangle just to shake things up. We all know the grass/fire/water triangle but it would be fun to start with something different

Gen 8 pokemon design is pretty great except the starters. That why I don’t have any of them on my team in Sword and Shield.