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Canon Teams for (Almost) Every Player Character

EmpoleonProd

Empoleon Master Trainer
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I've been toying with the idea of creating canon teams for every player character for years, but have taken it more seriously the last couple days as I've made lists for almost every PC over the past couple days. I've always been fascinated with the character of Red almost since I found out about him in around 2009-2010, when HGSS was announced, as a newer fan into Pokemon, my first game was Ruby, followed by LeafGreen. I always assumed the PC of LeafGreen was Ash, since my only prior knowledge about Pokemon was the anime, when I found out our PC was in the remakes as a final trainer battle, I became obsessed with Red and the concept of an NPC of a player character. Specifically, more recently, I've watched a ton of YouTube videos of people playing through games in a "gift Pokemon only" run, or more specifically, a "no catching run", where they construct a team out of only gift Pokemon, without ever throwing a Pokeball (unless required to for HMs or to progress the story). To understand Red's team, and by extension, what the canon teams for every other PC would be, you have to understand two types of Pokemon obtainable in the games:



First, Gift Pokemon.



Second, In-Game Event Pokemon.



The two classifications are almost identical, with most, if not all, gift Pokemon also being classified as in-game event Pokemon (since typically an event triggers the gifting of the Pokemon), but in addition to all gift Pokemon, in-game event Pokemon also includes special spawns, such as the two Snorlax in the Kanto games, or the static Drifloon in Sinnoh games, static Volcarona in the Unova games, and so on. Red's team (with only two recent exceptions, which I'll mention later) is comprised ENTIRELY of Pokemon that fit the above two classifications. Yellow is the most canonically manageable version of Red, so we will assume Red started with a Pikachu, obtained all three starters as gift Pokemon from their respective locations, caught one of the Snorlax, obtained the Eevee in Celadon City and the Lapras in Saffron City. These seven Pokemon make up all of his team showings from the first 7 generations. Only in LGPE did this change, as in this game, as a homage to the Pokemon Adventures Manga, they gave Red, Blue, and Green their respective manga Kanto starters and made some other team adjustments to make up for the absence of Charizard and Blastoise on Red's team, by giving him Arcanine and Machamp. Barring these two exceptions, Red's team is entirely comprised of Gen 1 and 3 gift Pokemon and in-game event Pokemon.



Using this formula with every other PC, it's not hard to come up with canon teams for just about every PC (with some exceptions, but I'll try my best).



We're gonna go down each and every generation, starting with Gen 2, since Gen 1 already has their canon teams. The only player characters from the Kanto games are Red and Green, with Green being added in the Gen 1 remakes in Gen 3. Red's team has already been covered and LGPE is Green's only appearance as an NPC, so I'm going to say that her LGPE team is her CANON team for the player character version of Green in FRLG.



Gen 2 is an interesting one to tackle because right off the bat we have three PC's, four if you're being incredibly picky about Ethan and Gold being separate characters, but I digress, Ethan is Gold so I will call him Ethan for simplicity's sake. We have Ethan in GSC and HGSS, Kris in Crystal, and Lyra in HGSS. Before Pokemon Masters, many thought Lyra and Kris were essentially just the same person but different variations of her, much like the PC's in SM and USUM are the same person, or how Leaf and Green are thought of as simply being one and the same, but this isn't actually true for Kris and Lyra, as both appear in Pokemon Masters.



I will preface all my team selections by saying this: in an effort to not overlap gift Pokemon across multiple characters for the same region, and to aid in choosing a starter, I may reference the mobile game Pokemon Masters, the anime, or the Pokemon Adventures manga to help with team selections.



Generation 2-



Kris:



-Feraligatr

-Wigglytuff

-Togetic

-Espeon

-Sudowoodo

-Hitmontop



For Kris, the logical thing to do is use some gift Pokemon exclusive to Crystal, as that is the only game that she's playable. Masters has decided that she started with a Totodile, so right off the bat she has a Feraligatr on her team. She has an anime counterpart named Marina, who also has a Jigglypuff on her team. This works out great because the Odd Egg that's exclusive to Crystal can hatch an Igglybuff, so Wigglytuff is a logical second Pokemon. Togetic as another egg gift Pokemon works fine. Espeon and Hitmontop are both evolutions of gift Pokemon obtained throughout the Johto portion of a Crystal playthrough, and Sudowoodo is obviously a one-time in-game event Pokemon.



Ethan:



-Typhlosion

-Togekiss

-Ampharos

-Umbreon

-Gyarados (Shiny)

-Dragonite



Masters, the Adventures manga, AND his anime counterpart, Jimmy, have all decided Ethan starts with a Typhlosion, so that one was easy. Togekiss is the new final evolution of the egg in HGSS anyways. Ampharos is from one of the Primo Eggs in HGSS, Umbreon is the gift Eevee, and I give him both the Lake of Rage Gyarados and the Dragon's Den Dragonite.



Lyra:



-Marill

-Porygon

-Tauros

-Bulbasaur

-Tangela

-Meganium



Admittedly I'm shafting Lyra here but I can explain, you see, her anime counterpart is the one with the Marill, just like the unselected PC has in HGSS, for this reason, I feel like canonically, Lyra is the one with the Marill. The next four Pokemon are all Pokemon she'll mention owning in PokeGear calls as the NPC. The Meganium is what Masters gave her, although it's spot on the team is debatable since the games never explicitly gave it to her, BUT, I believe the third Pokeball in Elm's lab does disappear eventually during a HGSS playthrough, so maybe she took it later.



Generation 3-



This one is easy, there's only May to cover. In my opinion, and according to the anime, May is the daughter of Norman, which means she is the canon player character, also May clearly has a huge interest in contests, something the unselected PC never expresses much of an interest in. You MIGHT counter this by saying that her Adventures counterpart, Sapphire, is the daughter of Professor Birch but since May is the name of the character in the games and in the anime, I prioritize using the anime over the Adventures manga in this case.



May:



-Blaziken

-Pikachu

-Wobbuffet

-Armaldo -> Metagross

-Castform

-Kecleon



Blaziken is obviously the starter Torchic May in the anime had, Pikachu is a gift contest Pokemon in ORAS, Wobbuffet is the evolved Wynaut from the egg. Armaldo is one of the two Hoenn fossils, but to avoid any discrepancies regarding the choice of either Armaldo or Cradily, I would swap Armaldo out for the gift Beldum in the post-game, evolved fully into a Metagross. Castform is a gift from the Weather Institute and static encounter Kecleons can be encountered throughout Hoenn.



Oh, and in case I didn't make it obvious for characters like Blue and Silver, and the unselected PC like Brendan, their in-game rival teams would suffice as THEIR canon team. So in the case of Brendan, if you pick Torchic as May, his team starting with Swampert would be his canon team.



Generation 4-



This is another easy one, for the same reasons as May, Dawn is canonically the Sinnoh PC. Dawn from the anime has the same exact mother, Johanna, and is also from Twinleaf Town, whereas the unselected PC is from Sandgem Town. Dawn also competes in contests.



Dawn:



-Empoleon/Torterra?

-Glaceon

-Blissey/Togekiss

-Spiritomb

-Porygon-Z

-Lucario



Empoleon is her starter Piplup, although if you feel inclined to prioritize staying true to Masters over the anime, Empoleon can be subbed for Torterra. For this reason, for a Sinnoh evolution of Eevee, Glaceon doesn't overlap in typing even if you decide Torterra is a better fit for her team. Blissey is the gift Happiny egg, Spiritomb is the one-time static encounter, Porygon-Z is from the gift Porygon, and Lucario is from the gift Riolu egg. I will note that if you want to, you could omit Blissey for Togekiss, as Dawn did have a Togekiss in the anime, and there is a gift Togepi egg but only in Platinum. Blissey makes sure this team works for Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum.



Generation 5-



This is where it gets to be a bit of a headache, as there are not two, not three, but FOUR player characters to sort through, and both BW and BW2 have unique rivals, so the unselected PC doesn't become your rival, this makes this even more a headache to sort through, but I'll do my best.



Hilbert:



-Samurott

-Simisear

-Archeops

-Zoroark

-Volcarona

-Zekrom



This was kind of the easiest one to do. In Pokemon Masters, Hilbert has a Samurott, and in the series of anime shorts, Pokemon Generations, he is shown with Zekrom. The rest I filled out with obvious gift Pokemon, the fire monkey since he picked Oshawott as his starter. Archeops as his fossil since he has no reason to have Carracosta and a duplicate Water-type. Zoroark can be obtained as a gift Zorua or Zoroark, and Volcarona can either be the static encounter of the Larvesta egg, even though it's a repeat type, I was going to have to force a repeat type either for Hilbert or Hilda, by swapping Musharna for Volcarona.



Hilda:



-Emboar

-Simisage

-Carracosta

-Musharna

-Darmanitan

-Zoroark



For Hilda, in Masters and some other media, she started with a Tepig, so Emboar is the no-brainer. Simisage is the matching Grass monkey, and Carracosta rounds out the Fire/Grass/Water core as her fossil. Then I gave her the late-game static Musharna, and a static Zen Mode Darmanitan, but there are now no more unique gift Pokemon, so I gave her Zoroark. Pretend that one of these two characters got their's as the gift Zorua, and the other got the in-game event Zoroark.



For Nate and Rosa, there is little media to go off of for deciding which gift and in-game event Pokemon they should get, other than their respective starters being shown in the BW2 Animated Trailer, so I'm just gonna half-ass the distribution of gift and in-game event Pokemon between the two to try and make somewhat balanced teams.



Nate:



-Emboar

-Jolteon

-Jellicent

-Sawsbuck

-Braviary

-Dragonite (Shiny)



Rosa:



-Serperior

-Vaporeon

-Crustle

-Blissey

-Mandibuzz

-Garchomp (Shiny)



Generation 6-



Gen 6 gets easier again, Serena in the anime is actually the daughter of the famous Rhyhorn racer, Grace, so Serena being the canon PC in the games makes the most sense, and this is what I have for her team.



Serena:



-Delphox

-Venusaur

-Snorlax

-Tyrantrum

-Lucario

-Lapras



Pretty easy team to come up with, Fennekin is her starter in the anime and in Masters, Lapras is a confirmed gift Pokemon so Venusaur makes the most sense to round out the type chart, Snorlax and Lucario are received in Kalos, and Tyrantrum makes the most sense as the fossil so as not to overlap with Lapras with the Ice-type Aurorus.



This is all I have so far, I haven't put much thought into Generation 7 since Gen 7 introduced actual alternate timelines in a major way, with the stories, and the Pokemon availability in SM and USUM are vastly different, so this isn't one I'm willing to tackle tonight, and Gen 8 isn't even done for sure but I could take a crack at both tomorrow perhaps.

Don't take any of this personally or anything, since this is just my interpretation of what canon teams could look like, in the end it hardly matters since YOU, the player, decide what your player character's team is.
 
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I don't like using (mostly) Gift Pokémon or Event Pokémon for this stuff. Trainers like May and Brendan get massively cucked through this and it's a really obvious path to take.

That said, nice to give a read, since I, too, have thought out and constructed '(head)canon teams' for the protagonists/playable characters. It's always nice to see someone else's process for construction.
 
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I don't like using (mostly) Gift Pokémon or Event Pokémon for this stuff. Trainers like May and Brendan get massively cucked through this and it's a really obvious path to take.

That said, nice to give a read, since I, too, have thought out and constructed '(head)canon teams' for the protagonists/playable characters. It's always nice to see someone else's process for construction.

For sure some regions are weaker than others, to be honest I thought Unova would be weaker but I managed to make four fairly unique teams for all four protagonists. Hoenn is definitely where it feels the weakest as there isn’t even a full lineup of gift Pokémon until ORAS lol.
 
I thought this was a pretty interesting read, since gift Pokemon aren't the kind that we usually focus on in headcanons. That would be fun idea for a challenge run, too.
 
Who would Victor and Gloria have?

I got a little burnt out doing all of Gens 2-6 in a row that I gave up at Gen 7 and 8 but I'm willing to revisit it lmao, do they have any notable manga, anime, or Masters appearances? If so we can get hints at teams to match up any starters or gift Pokemon.
 
I got a little burnt out doing all of Gens 2-6 in a row that I gave up at Gen 7 and 8 but I'm willing to revisit it lmao, do they have any notable manga, anime, or Masters appearances? If so we can get hints at teams to match up any starters or gift Pokemon.
They don’t, no. But if we’re going off of gift Pokémon, we can at least assume the starters and Toxtricity, plus G-Max Pikachu & Eevee, the fossils, Porygon, and Urshifu.
I don’t think Porygon has much to do with gen 8, but you could say:

Victor: Cinderace, Toxtricity-Amped, G-Max Pikachu, Dracozolt, Arctovish, Urshifu-Single Strike
Gloria: Intelleon, Toxtricity-Low Key, G-Max Eevee, Arctozolt, Dracovish, Urshifu-Multi Strike

It’s a pretty arbitrary list, and I don’t think the fossils really fit, but there isn’t much to work with in the way of gift Pokémon. And yes, I also realize that Kubfu isn’t given to them until the IoA. I guess you could sub it out with a Z-Wolf if you wanted to.
 
Now with “Gotcha” from Bump of Chicken out, I feel like Ethan’s team would be:
Typhlosion from Professor Elm
Ampharos from Primo
Togekiss from the Togepi Egg
Espeon/Umbreon from Bill’s Eevee egg (I’m leaning more towards Espeon as it works better in the context of Ethan being more of a camper during the daytime and it being a counter to most of Silver’s team.)
The Red Gyarados from the Lake of Rage
Tyranitar from the Safari Zone, caught as a Larvitar. (It was shown in a normal pokeball when thrown out against Red so that means it’s either a design choice without thinking about the Safari Ball or it’s bred from one at Lyra’s Grandparents’ place.)

As for Hilbert, I think I’d change Zoroark out for either Zebstrika or Excadrill because of two things:
Zoroark is an event-only pokemon in Black/White and after Cheren stops at the double grass and tells Hilbert about it, he could have gone in and caught a Blitzle or caught a Drillburr from the cave after fighting Team Plasma in there.
 
I've done a lot of digging around, so far I have come to 2 pokemon that Gloria owns. Starting out with her starter, which in most legit pokemon sources (especially the Japan music video for the Sw/Sh expansion pass) her starter seems to be scorbunny. Now with the only other pokemon I've been able to find a legit source to (that being Pokemon Masters EX) her legendary is Zacian, which in itself confirms that she's the proper main protagonist for pokemon sword

these are the only 2 pokemon I've been able to find factual sources on, her other 4 pokemon are (pretty much) currently unknown as of writing this

edit : actually... with her being the protagonist for sword, that somewhat takes away some possible pokemon due to version exclusivity
 
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For the gen8 protagonists, I always felt these combinations were the most fitting: the male using the Grass starter, the female using the Water starter, and the femal protagonist is assumed to be the canon protag and the rival uses Fire.
I can also see the male protag having Fire though too. Otherwise I feel like my choices are extremely fitting, but that’s just me.

The female protag having the Fire starter... I dunno. I just can’t see that at all even if an official source shows it. Other than that, with Pokemon masters in mind and most of the time it’s pretty accurate, the female goes with Sword...

So my takes on the official teams of the gen8 protagonists would be...
Female: Inteleon, Gigantamax Eevee, Zacian, Arctozolt, Dracozolt, Toxtricity
Male: Rillaboom, Gigantamax Pikachu, Zamazenta, Dracovish, Arctovish, Toxtricity

I also do remember there being a Type: Null gift in the postgame that could maybe replace the gigantamax mascots, I dunno.
 
Who would Victor and Gloria have?
If you are still interested I have made a cannon team for both Gloria and Victor. Along with their DLC teams. Last Edit
Main story
Gloria:
Scorbunny
Toxel ( Blue form) ( Toxtricity is lore heavy in the game and no one has its gigantamax form)
Raichu ( in trailer Gloria uses it to dynamax)
Dracovish ( most common parts found in main story)
Eternatus
Zamazenta

Victor:
Grookey
Toxel ( yellow form) ( Toxtricity is lore heavy in the game and no one has its gigantamax form)
Flygon ( in trailer Victor uses one in raid battle)
Arctozolt ( most common parts found in main story)
Eternatus
Zacian

DLC
Gloria:
Scorbunny
Galarian Slowbro
Venasaur
Kubfu- gift given by dojo (dark version since it was shown in the Isle of armor trailer as Gloria's pokemon)
Arctovish
Zamazenta

Victor:
Grookey
Galarian Slowbro
Blastoise
Kubfu- gift given by dojo (water version since it was shown in the Isle of armor trailer as Victor's pokemon )
Dracozolt
Zacian

Kubfu replaces Eternatus since Kubfu is also a legendary pokemon. Raichu and Flygon are replaced due to the first pokemon you have to catch to get to the Isle of Armor is slowpoke and Slowbro is a Isle of Armor exclusive. Toxel is replaced since you get a gigatimax Venasaur/Blastoise. Also I gave the Kanto starters like this because it fits the pokemon clause of what pokemon you get based on your starter. For example in Black and White if you chose tepig as a starter then you would get pansage as default from dreamyard. I did not include Porygon since it is an after game gift pokemon like Charmander from Leon, however you must catch Zamazenta/Zacian is why I still included the two in the DLC team
 
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Throughout his RB journey, Charizard (starter), Pikachu, Snorlax, Lapras, Marowak (the evolved child of the Lavender ghost), last mon could be anything but I like to think it's a Butterfree. First catch.
I think he would make a few changes in the Sevii isles journey. Scizor suits him and he gets the metal coat from the guy at the Onix grave. Could see him using Espeon since he has that in GSC.
In my headcanon he gets Venusaur and Blastoise from Blue and Green/Leaf.
Venusaur (starter)
Clefable (Pikachu rival)
Vaporeon (if it's her, not Red, that gets the Eeveelution)
Ninetales (just suits her)
Nidoqueen (early route mon)
Aerodactyl (a Flying mon and Red didn't use his fossil(s)).
Would switch her Venusaur for an Espeon and Vaporeon for a Mantine if the character is post-FRLG.
Espeon from Red in exchange for Venusaur, Mantine from the Sevii Isles travels.
Typhlosion (starter), Togekiss, Red Gyarados, Sudowoodo, Dragonite, Slowking (from the well) or Victreebel (referencing his time spent at the Sprout Tower + early route mon).
Meganium (starter), Umbreon (Gift from Bill and counterpart to Red's Espeon), Hitmontop (from Mount Mortar), Suicune (since she is the Crystal player), any of the mons you get from the free egg from the daycare (I'd say Raichu but Electivire and Magmortar also suit her), and Lapras from Union Cave.
I'd like him to have Swampert as his starter since I think that suits him the most, but most material gives him Sceptile
Latios
Metagross
Kecleon
Feraligatr (in Emerald as a present for completing the Hoenn dex)

Empoleon suits her the most out of the starters and most materials have her choosing Piplup
Lucario (given to by Riley as an egg)
Drifblim (the Valley Windworks event)
Rotom (Old Chateau)
Blissey (gift from an egg DP only, don't want overlap with Gold/Ethan's Togekiss)
Glaceon (gift from Bebe)

could swap one of these out for Mesprit if you think she captures it.

Torterra (suits him the most. I know it's the one strong against Empoleon but... if the manga can do it so can I)
Clefable
Kadabra (Alakazam if he evolves it? He's not serious when it comes to raising/battling)
Porygon 2 (from Veilstone)
Azumarril (headcanon but from the Trophy Garden)
Rapidash (pure headcanon but it suits him)
 
This is my "Head-canon" team that Is for the main protagonist that I researched very thoroughly.

Red's team is obvious.

Ethan:
Typhlosion
Ampharos
(GOTCHA)
Togekiss (Gift from mr. pokemon but later confirmed to came from the kimono girls and has meaning to it why you have it)
Tyranitar (GOTCHA)
Red Gyarados (Static Encounter that is important to the main story)
Donphan (Anime reference)

Brendan(ORAS):
Sceptile
Manectric
(a must pokemon in hoenn games)
Hariyama (this is my head canon for brendan fighting norman's slaking)
Gardevoir (head canon pokemon too with the purpose of contest, Lisia having a mega Altaria and Milotic for wallace)
Sharpedo (best water type pokemon in hoenn games because of it's overworld model for surf, and dive)
Salamance/ Latios (Assuming brendan didn't kept latios in his pokeball because you have been given the eon flute and doesn't make sense to use it since latios is literally in your pokeball, salamance however is seen with brendan in the artwork)

Note: Kecleon is a static encounter that is important to the main story so it's possible to have Kecleon to his team

Lucas(Platinum):
Infernape (There's an upcoming toy figurine of lucas with chimchar in his platinum outfit)
Staraptor/Togekiss (Staraptor is a must pokemon in the sinnoh games but in platinum(Platinum only) cynthia gives you an egg containing togepi so either staraptor or togekiss lucas kept)
Luxray( this is my head canon for lucas)
Floatzel/Gyarados (head canon for both of this, floatzel because it's very easy to find and early access and more fitting than shellos and for gyarados, just to rival cynthia's milotic because it's the complete opposite)
Glaceon/ Weavile ( ice types in very needed to beat cynthia's garchomp easily and weavile takes that spot, glaceon is there because you got an eevee from bebe in hearthome)
Garchomp ( head canon pokemon for lucas because (only in platinum), you can get gible very early in to the game)

Note: Porygon-Z is a gift pokemon and it's evolution items can be obtained in the main story, Lucario is also a gift pokemon but considering lucas picked infernape he doesn't really need lucario. Roseraid can also be his pokemon if he picked Staraptor for his flying type because he got 1 shiny stone in iron island at the near exit.

Hilbert:
Samurrot
Zebstrika/Excadrill
(part of the story where cheren explains the dark grass or the dust in caves)
Simisear (Gift pokemonfor challenging the 1st gym bianca and cheren has one of it's kind throughout of the story)
Archeops (Fossil pokemon that restored in the museum but it's my head canon)
Krookodile (head canon pokemon because of the 4th gym)
Vanilluxe ( head canon pokemon because after the 6th gym, there's too many dragon trainers on the road and so many spawns of vanillite or vanillish in the grass and is perfect for the lore of the dragons)

Note: Krookodile is note needed if excadrill already exist in the team, Haxorus can be a team member because it can be obtained after the 6th gym.

Calem:
Lucario (very important pokemon in the main story)
Chesnaught ( Pokemon Generations)
Charizard ( Pokemon Generations)
Lapras ( Gift pokemon and the only pokemon to have an overworld model for surf)
Meowstic M. (Pokemon Masters and the male counterpart for Serena's female meowstic)
Gengar/Xerneas (head canon pokemons, gengar is here because calem doesn't really have a counter to fairy types which kalos has INFINITE fairy type trainers and for the route before the Laverre gym is full of ghost pokemon, Xerneas however is here because of him catching it to fight Lysander)

Note: Greninja is seen in the official artwork with calem but doesn't really make sense if Serena has chenaught for her starter lol, Hawlucha is also seen in the artwork but the type overlap for Lucario and Charizard don't fit)


Elio(Ultra Sun):
Inciniroar (Official Artwork)
Toucanon (Official artwork)
Tsareena (Official Artwork)
Dusk Lycanrock (Official Artwork)
Alolan Nintales (Official Artwork)
Kommo-o (Since you're the 1st ever champion of alola and every champion of each region has a pseudo legendary pokemon and Alolan Raichu is already a pokemon of Hau)

Note: Naganadel is a gift pokemon after beating Ultra Necrozma and can be swapped out for Toucanon.

Victor:
Cinderace (GOTCHA)
Corvinight (Head canon pokemon to rival Hop's corvinight)
Toxtricity (Gift pokemon from the daycare)
Sirfetch'd (head canon pokemon because it's game is literally called sword & shield and it represents that and to rival Leon's sword & shield pokemon which is Aegislash)
Blastoise
( gift pokemon from honey and to rival Leon's Charizard)
Urshifu Single Strike (It literally says at the Isle of Armor artwork together with blastoise)

Note: Intelleon is seen with victor in Pokemon Evolutions but this will be a stretch because the default skin tone of victor is white and the one we saw in the Evolutions episode has a darker skin tone, so the darker skin tone victor chose sobble as his starter while the default one picked scorbunny, and also Gloria is seen to have Intelleon in Masters. (Do not think of this as a racist comment because that is not what I meant to point out)
 
Hey man! I'm recollecting all the mainline pokemon games. I came across your post on canon names and teams for generations 2-6. I freaking loved it! I'm currently following it in my playthroughs and having a blast! I'd like to ask if you ever gotten around to doing gen 7 and 8? I understand if you didn't.
 
As someone who spends way too much of their time overthinking and digging way too deep stuff like this, and also as someone who has gotten way too familiar to Pokemon XY, here's my proposal for the canon XY trainer/version/team, and why;

The canon protagonist would be pretty difficult to determine if it weren't for the anime, so Serena would be the PC of Kalos. There are other media that conflict with this like Generations and Evolutions, where it seems Calem would be the protagonist, but most would probably prefer Serena, so we'll just go with her. Also there is another reason it would be Serena but I'll get to that soon.

Whether X or Y is canon is surprisingly difficult and comes down to creative integrity/liberty, as the company themselves can't seem to decide which is canon. Sometimes Lysandre is trying to harness Xerneas' power, sometimes Yveltal's. Ultimately, Xerneas made more sense as Lysandre wants to preserve the beauty of Kalos, and perhaps Xerneas' power over life could sustain Kalos' nature for longer. Lysandre's plan is dumb, but at least this way you can at least maybe see his train of thought.

And finally, the team. Serena's team would change throughout the journey, as I'm sure not everyone's first full party is they're definitive final team. I will include a short list of extra Pokemon she'd have, but for the sake of ease, I'll just list her team she would have entering the Hall of Fame. I will explain my reasoning afterwards.
- Greninja
- Mega Lucario
- Florges
- Xerneas
- (free spaces that can be occupied by Snorlax, Lapras, Tyrantrum/Aurorus,)
- (also could be taken by Pikachu/Raichu, Farfetch'd, Steelix, Mega Gengar, Mega Abomasnow, Heliolisk, Meowstic, Garchomp, Kangaskhan)

Okay, so most would give her Fennekin because of the show and probably other media, but I have my reasons, and it mostly comes down to the rivals. Calem in this situation would get Chespin, which matches really well with Generations and the manga. This would leave Shauna to pick Fennekin, which in Pokemon XY, her starter will always be female, and Fennekin is definitely the most feminine of the Kalos starters. This also lines up with her anime appearance, as she wants to be a performer. That leaves Serena with Froakie.

I didn't give her any of the Kanto starters from Sycamore because (in an ideal Pokemon Z version), your rival friends would get the Kanto starters too, Trevor would get Mega Charizard (preferably Y), Tierno would get Mega Blastoise, and Shauna would get Mega Venusaur (based on the anime). This could make the rivals tougher and also get them involved a bit more, as well as giving us more fights with Mega Evolutions, since only three trainers in the game use Megas.

Mega Lucario is a no-brainer, it is a story-focused Pokemon, it gives her arguably the most iconic Mega Pokemon, etc. No one will argue against putting Lucario on the team.

Florges because Sina and Dexio ask if the PC has caught a Flabebe, and this is just a neat way to give Serena a Fairy type.

Xerneas was likely caught and used to defeat Lysandre. Whether or not Serena would use the Legendary afterwards is up for debate.

Snorlax, Lapras and the Kalos fossils are event-based but not as important/focused on as Lucario. Arguably Lapras is the least important, as Snorlax and the fossils are focused on a little bit more.

Pikachu/Raichu, Garchomp and Kangaskhan are based on the rivals making comments about what Pokemon you've caught or not, Shauna commenting on the PC finding a Pikachu in Santalune Forest, and Trevor commenting on catching a Kangaskhan and Gible whenever you compare Pokedexes (in an ideal game, when you fight Trevor, he'd have these Pokemon on his team).

Farfetch'd and Steelix are convenient in-game trades, Mega Gengar by talking to a Hex Maniac after catching someone from the Haunter evolution line right after the route where you can catch one, Mega Abomasnow is more of a narrative head-canon where one joins the PC after being saved from Team Flare (but in an ideal game, Wulfric would also have a Mega Abomasnow so this may overlap a bit), Heliolisk because you can trade in the Intriguing Stone to a hiker for a Sun Stone to evolve Helioptile, and Meowstic because Serena/Calem are frequently shown with them.

Sorry I couldn't make a definitive team for the PC of Kalos, but I needed to get my unhealthy level of knowledge of XY out there. Hope that helps someone with a rough guideline. I hope this causes some sort of discussion which could lead to a definitive team being formed. I'll very likely do this again with the Galar trainer/version/team.
- P.S. This is probably just a me thing, but I like referring to the Kalos protagonists by their beta names, Xavier and Yvonne. Same with ORAS with Orlando and Anna.
 
Hey man! I'm recollecting all the mainline pokemon games. I came across your post on canon names and teams for generations 2-6. I freaking loved it! I'm currently following it in my playthroughs and having a blast! I'd like to ask if you ever gotten around to doing gen 7 and 8? I understand if you didn't.
I could lend a hand. I had already made a canon team for Pokemon XY since I'm over-obsessed with that game and posted that team and reasons on this site. I was constructing canon (or at least head-canon) teams for each of the protagonists, even the recent Gen 9 protagonists that just came out. But keeping on topic, I can help with a Gen 8 canon trainer/version/team.

The trainer character honestly doesn't matter too much, I personally am of the opinion that there needs to be a good mix of male and female protagonists over the course of several gens. For Gen 8, while both Gloria and Victor are frequently interchangeable and don't matter much, I believe Victor may be a bit more canon, and I'll get to why.

The version of the events are pretty definitive, at least in this Gen as opposed to other gens which jump between versions. Hop almost always is seen with the shield relic and the PC is seen with the sword relic. There isn't much else to go off of, but it doesn't seem like they'll change that around, and I don't see a reason to either.

Okay, the reason you and I are here, the team. And honestly, this is relatively easier than some other gens. This is what I imagine his team would be before fighting Leon and becoming champion, as he gets quite a few new choices with the DLC. So Victor would have;
- Intelleon
- Centiskorch
- Toxtricity
- Sandaconda
- Arctozolt (or another one of the fossils)
- Eternatus or Gigantamax Pikachu/Eevee/Meowth (if you don't want to use Legendaries or event Pokemon, Sirfetch'd works here to represent Sword and Shield)

Intelleon is his starter for two reasons. One, if Victor chooses Sobble, it means Hop chooses Scorbunny and Leon gets Grookey. Scorbunny is a bunny, bunnies hop, and also makes a parallel to Leon also having a fire-type starter, and Leon has a killer Rillaboom in the anime. Also Victor has been seen with an Intelleon.

Centiskorch (or Ninetales/Chandelure) was caught in Kabu's Gym Challenge. I chose Centiskorch since it's a Gen 8 Pokemon, and I'd overall prefer give protagonists Pokemon from their own generation.

Sandaconda is a weak choice, as it is more of a narrative head-canon. After defeating a pair of Team Yell Grunts who were trying to keep a Silicobra asleep, the Silicobra wakes up and I'd imagine Victor could catch it.

Arctozolt is my pick because it's the easiest fossil to find and restore in Sword version, but any fossil can do fine too.

Eternatus because it's story-based, Gigantamax Pikachu or Eevee if you have a copy of Let's Go on your switch, and Meowth because that was an event for a while but I think the event is over. Again, if you don't want to use Eternatus or the event G-Maxes, then Sirfetch'd is another good choice.

Hope this helped in some way, and if not, I would love to discuss further. Hope you have fun with your playthroughs.
 
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