Do Fire Starters get too much Favoritism in the Anime?

[Kingsusiepen]

Also Serena's Braixen evolved. I hope Clemont's Chespin evolved but It didn't, Bunnelby evolved instead.

But hopefully prior to the next time Clemont and Bonnie return, Chespin could be seen as a Quilladin or a Chesnaught. (Poor Chesnaught)

 

[Broseph08]

I don't think they really do. Charizard is the only time where I think a fire type was head and shoulders given favoritism and even then the Kanto anime did right by Bulbasaur and Squirtle. Incineroar got a great showing but I don't think it was really favoritism since Piplup was basically the secondary mascot of Gen 4 while Turtwig got robbed. If you mean in terms of battling, then I guess you can add Incineroar but other than that, Bayleef and Rowlet seemed as important to me as Cyndaquil/Torracat in their respective regions.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

Fire-type starters often having the most appealing designs marketing-wise coupled with how well Fire moves are animated is a very likely contributor. The fact the series likes to portray Fire starters as the “strongest” starter is also why they always seem to evolve, even if their evolution is unpopular. And then of course, the excessive Charizard shilling that made me go on to despise the species as a whole…

I blame the fact most of the target audience, aka little children, tend to choose the Fire starter most in the games due to anime influence, and the fact Grass and Water starters tend to often in worst case scenarios be outclassed by another Pokémon of the same type, coupled with Fire mostly being nonexistent early game meaning the Fire starter doesn’t face much competition. Expect Fuecoco to fall under this treatment too, unless if its evolutions are so un-marketable that the writers don’t want it.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Fire-type starters often having the most appealing designs marketing-wise coupled with how well Fire moves are animated is a very likely contributor. The fact the series likes to portray Fire starters as the “strongest” starter is also why they always seem to evolve, even if their evolution is unpopular. And then of course, the excessive Charizard shilling that made me go on to despise the species as a whole…

I blame the fact most of the target audience, aka little children, tend to choose the Fire starter most in the games due to anime influence, and the fact Grass and Water starters tend to often in worst case scenarios be outclassed by another Pokémon of the same type, coupled with Fire mostly being nonexistent early game meaning the Fire starter doesn’t face much competition. Expect Fuecoco to fall under this treatment too, unless if its evolutions are so un-marketable that the writers don’t want it.

Keep in mind that the Tepig line is probably one of the least popular (or at best most controversial) Starters overall, and tends to be less liked than the Snivy and Oshawott lines, as evidenced by the fact that not a single member of the Tepig line made it to the Top 30 of the Gen 5 Pokemon in the 2020 popularity poll... and yet despite that, Emboar still somehow managed to get far more screentime and spotlight than Serperior and Samurott, and Ash's Tepig vastly overshadowed both Snivy and Oshawott both battle-wise and character-wise what with him participating in anw winning more battles than the two others combined, managing to get an arc of his own, and getting to evolve. Meanwhile, what did Snivy and Oshawott get? Snivy just played supporting character for Tepig's arc while Oshawott was unfunny comic relief.

When the writers give the Fire Starter all the attention even when it's the most unpopular of its trio, you know this type is favored.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

Keep in mind that the Tepig line is probably one of the least popular (or at best most controversial) Starters overall, and tends to be less liked than the Snivy and Oshawott lines, as evidenced by the fact that not a single member of the Tepig line made it to the Top 30 of the Gen 5 Pokemon in the 2020 popularity poll... and yet despite that, Emboar still somehow managed to get far more screentime and spotlight than Serperior and Samurott, and Ash's Tepig vastly overshadowed both Snivy and Oshawott both battle-wise and character-wise what with him participating in anw winning more battles than the two others combined, managing to get an arc of his own, and getting to evolve. Meanwhile, what did Snivy and Oshawott get? Snivy just played supporting character for Tepig's arc while Oshawott was unfunny comic relief.

When the writers give the Fire Starter all the attention even when it's the most unpopular of its trio, you know this type is favored.

It’s definitely biased. Tepig is the overwhelming least popular starter of all time, and yet they still gave it preferential treatment. Knowing the trend, Fuecoco will definitely evolve at least once and the fandom will get tired of the Fire favouritism.

 

[Daren]

You know, it's actually sort of telling that neither of Ash's non-fire type starter Aces were given a really major battle victory.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

You know, it's actually sort of telling that neither of Ash's non-fire type starter Aces were given a really major battle victory.

Greninja yes but Sceptile beat a fricking Darkrai

 

[Daren]

Greninja yes but Sceptile beat a fricking Darkrai

That wasn't a victory, though. Ash lost the battle.

 

[Enzo]

That wasn't a victory, though. Ash lost the battle.

I mean I get your point, but even if the ultimate result was a loss for Ash, managing to beat Tobias's Darkrai, one of the most busted Pokémon in existence and whom had never been defeated before (much less even touched) is one hell of a win, even if Sceptile didn't had any sort of previous narrative connection to it.

 

[Kingsusiepen]

Fire-type starters often having the most appealing designs marketing-wise coupled with how well Fire moves are animated is a very likely contributor. The fact the series likes to portray Fire starters as the “strongest” starter is also why they always seem to evolve, even if their evolution is unpopular. And then of course, the excessive Charizard shilling that made me go on to despise the species as a whole…

I blame the fact most of the target audience, aka little children, tend to choose the Fire starter most in the games due to anime influence, and the fact Grass and Water starters tend to often in worst case scenarios be outclassed by another Pokémon of the same type, coupled with Fire mostly being nonexistent early game meaning the Fire starter doesn’t face much competition. Expect Fuecoco to fall under this treatment too, unless if its evolutions are so un-marketable that the writers don’t want it.

There is a good chance that Fuecoco may not evolve and be the first fire starter to not evolve.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

There is a good chance that Fuecoco may not evolve and be the first fire starter to not evolve.

That would be historic if that happened. Depends entirely on how marketable the writers find its evolutions though.

 

[Enzo]

That would be historic if that happened. Depends entirely on how marketable the writers find its evolutions though.

Yep. There's really no way we can predict the outcome of this trio when only the base forms have been just teased to us.

I don't know if I'm recalling things wrong, but there wasn't a thing in which a lot of people really liked Fennekin and Braixen when they were first revealed, but then saw Delphox and Greninja and basically everybody ditched Delphox and then jumped to Greninja? Again, I wasn't around for the early XY talk, but I heard some people saying that back then, Braixen was shaping up to be XY's IT girl until the final forms appeared.