Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 17: Elio/Selene, Hau, and Professor Kukui)

[Psytrainer]

And so, we've reached the end.

Links to All Previous Polls: Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 1: Red), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 2: Blue Oak), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 3: Green/Leaf), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 4: Ethan), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 5: Kris/Lyra), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 6: Silver), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 7: Brendan), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 8: May), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 9: Lucas), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 10: Dawn), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 11: Barry), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 12: Hilbert), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 13: Hilda), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 14: Cheren), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 15: Bianca), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 16: Nate, Rosa, and Hugh), Preferred Trainer/Starter Pairings (Part 17: Calem, Serena, and Shauna)

 

[RK9]

Selene gets Rowlet while Elio gets Litten.

HOWEVER.

This does not mean Kukui gets Popplio, he instead has an Incineroar that was left as a Litten from in the past. Hau, too, doesn't get a traditional starter, his acual starter just being his first mon, namely Alolan Raichu.

 

[Nicolas721]

Litten has to be with Kukui because of the Royal Mask thing. That leaves Hau with Popplio, which have decent chemistry, and the PC with Rowlet. I think Elio and Primarina make a great couple, who cares if she's feminine, so in this case the PC would be Selene. She has some small flower and leaves motifs in her designs so it makes perfect sense.

Getting away from game conventions, my choices would be the same, except that Hau would go with another Decidueye.

 

[Esserise]

To be quite honest, it's hard for me to really get a bead on the SM protagonists' personalities for some reason. As a result, I think I mostly just default to pairing them with the mascots that match their shoes, so, Litten for Selene and Popplio for Elio, which doesn't create any objections in my mind. It leaves Hau with Rowlet, which I think is an interesting pair. And of course Kukui would have his own Incineroar. None of the poll choices correspond to this arrangement, however.

 

[Sakuraa]

Since I'm a female, I'm answering the poll for Selene. For me Selene gets Litten (as I did), Hau gets Rowlet, which leaves Kukui with Popplio.


I used to envision Elio getting Popplio, but Primarina doesn't look fitting for a male (yes, I know my own pairing puts it with Kukui, but there's literally no other option), so now I tend to picture him also with Litten since I really just can't picture Hau with anything other than Rowlet.