Which Starter do you associate with which Trainer?

[Rainbow-Rain]

Interesting thing that I was wondering about.

Do you guys ever notice how the Pokémon Company gives certain Starters to certain Trainers?

Pokemon Masters, Merchandise, Pokémon Manga, the Anime, etc all of them seem to have different interpretations of which Starter goes to which to whatever Trainer.

For example:

Red is usually associated with the Charmander line. Sometimes he's associated with the Bulbasaur line.
Sometimes he has all 3 Starters.

Kris got Chikorita in Adventures but got Totodile in Masters

Serena is normally associated with Fenniken. But her Manga counterpart Y got Froakie in Pokemon Adventures.

May gets Torchic usually but her ORAS figurine gave her Mudkip and Masters gave her Mudkip as well (tho to be fair Origins gave her BOTH Torchic and Mudkip)

Brendan has Treecko everywhere EXCEPT in Pokemon Adventures where his counterpart Ruby had Mudkip

Dawn usually gets Piplup everywhere EXCEPT Pokémon Masters. Where she has Turtwig for some odd reason???

Gloria's counterpart got Scorbunny in Pokemon Adventures but Merchandise of Gloria keeps pairing her with Sobble instead.
Also Masters Datamine Spoiler Alert!
She also has Inteleon as her Starter in Pokemon Masters

Perhaps this means that the Figurine designers, Anime Directiors, Masters Creators and the Manga writers all had different personal interpretations of what Starter they thought matched the characters?

So it brings me to my original question.

What Starter does YOUR mind personally associate the Protagonists/Rivals with?

For me personally my mind says:

Female Protags/Rivals:

Leaf with Squirtle (Or Bulbasaur)
Kris with Totodile
Lyra with Chikorita
May with Torchic
Dawn with Piplup
Hilda with Tepig
Bianca with Oshawott
Rosa with Snivy
Serena with Fenniken
Shauna with Chespin
Selena with Rowlet
Gloria with Sobble

Male Protags/Rivals:

Red with Charmander
Blue with Squirtle
Ethan with Cyndaquil
Silver with Totodile
Brendan with Treecko
Lucas with Turtwig
Barry with Chimchar
Hilbert with Oshawott
Nate with Emboar
Hugh with Oshawott
Cheren with Snivy
Calem with Froakie
Elios with Litten
Hau with Popplio
Victor with Scorbunny
Hop with Grookey

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Maybe because of the anime influance, but I always thought it was really odd giving Serena a Froakie in the Adventures. They probably thought of not going with "too obvious" choice but Chespin would have made a better fit than Froakie in my opinion.

Well Y is a VERY different character from Anime Serena despite both being based on Game Serena

But I agree it's really weird

 

[Sakuraa]

My opinions are based off of the Pokemon Adventures manga, the main series anime, and my own playthroughs. Example, I've only ever picked Chimchar in Sinnoh, so for me, I envision Barry with Piplup 99% of the time. But PA allows me to also see him with Chimchar.

Red-Bulbasaur
Blue-Charmander
Green/Leaf-Squirtle
Ethan-Cyndaquil
Kris/Lyra-Chikorita (or Totodile)
Silver-Totodile
Brendan-Treecko (or Mudkip)
May-Torchic
Lucas-Turtwig
Dawn-Piplup
Barry- Piplup (or Chimchar)
Hilbert-Tepig
Hilda-Snivy
Nate-Oshawott (or Tepig)
Rosa-Snivy
Cheren-Snivy
Bianca-Tepig (or Oshawott)
Hugh-Tepig
Calem-Froakie
Serena-Fennekin
Shauna-Chespin
Elio-Litten
Selena-Rowlet (or Popplio)
Hau-Rowlet
Victor-Sobble
Gloria-Scorbunny
Hop-Grookey

 

[nickdt]

Tbh, regardless of manga or other adaptations, i was only influced with my Kanto choice
Red: Bulbasaur
Blue: Charmander
Green: Squirtle
Yellow: Pikachu
Ethan: Totodile
Lyra/Kris: Chikorita
Silver: Cyndaquil (Also mainly because of his red hair do i think he is a Fire type kinda guy)
Brendan: Mudkip
May: Torchic
Dawn: Piplup
Lucas: Turtwig
Barry: Chimchar
Hilbert: Oshawott
Hilda: Tepig
Rosa: Oshawott
Nate: Snivy
Bianca: Tepig
Hugh: Oshawott
Calem: Chespin
Serena: Fennekin
Shauna: Froakie
Tierno: Froakie
Trevor: Chespin
Elio: Popplio
Selene: Litten
Hau: Rowlet
Victor: Sobble
Hop: Scorbunny (Mainly because of Bunny Hop, but it also gives him a connection to Leon, since both then started with a Fire type, which also kinda reflects his dream to defeat Leon)
Gloria: Grookey

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

May: Torchic
Dawn: Piplup
Serena: Fennekin

 

[Plaid]

Since I almost always pick Snivy in Black and White runs, Cheren and Bianca have become closely associated with Tepig and Oshawott respectively in my brain. For similar reasons, I've also got Barry/Turtwig, Hau/Rowlet and Hop/Grookey (which is going to make Barry/Chimchar feel weird in future DPPt runs; I plan on picking Turtwig myself from now on).

 

[DarkPro64]

According to me:
Red: Charmander
Blue: Squirtle
Leaf: Bulbasaur
Chase: Pikachu(Partner)
Elaine: Eevee(Partner)
Trace: Eevee
Ethan: Cyndaquil
Silver: Totodile
Kris: Chikorita
Lyra: Marill
Brendan: Treecko(as both rival and player)
May: Torchic(as rival) or Mudkip(as player)
Lucas: Chimchar
Dawn: Turtwig
Barry: Piplup
Hilbert: Oshawott
Hilda(doesn't appear along Hilbert): Tepig
Bianca: Tepig
Cheren: Snivy
N: Zorua
Nate: Tepig
Rosa: Snivy
Hugh: Oshawott
Calem: Chespin and Charmander
Serena: Fennekin and Squirtle
Shauna: Froakie and Bulbasaur
Tierno: Corphish
Trevor: Pikachu
Elio:Litten
Selene: Popplio
Hau: Rowlet
Lillie: Clefairy
Gladion: Type Null
Victor: Scorbunny
Gloria: Sobble
Hop: Grookey
Bede: Hatenna
Marnie: Morpeko
Avery: Abra
Klara: Venipede
Rei: Oshawott
Akari: Cyndaquil and Rowlet(I know they can get only one starter but there are only two trainers so I decided to give Akari two so all of the starter pokemons would have a trainer.)
Florian: Fuecoco
Juliana: Sprigatito
Nemona: Quaxly(Her starter pokemon have type disadvantage against player's starter so Juliana is player here.)
Penny: Eevee
Arven: Skwovet
Carmine: Poltchageist
Kieran: Applin
This is based on latest Pokemon information.

 

[guzmania]

In region order:

• Red + Charmander/Pikachu, Leaf + Bulbasaur, Blue + Squirtle (Eevee as well, but to a lesser extent), Elaine + Eevee, Chase + Pikachu, Trace + Pikachu
• Ethan + Cyndaquil, Lyra + Chikorita, Silver + Totodile. I've never associated Kris with any particular starter except maybe Totodile.
• Brendan + Treecko, May + Torchic. Don't have a person for Mudkip, sorry.
• Dawn + Piplup, Lucas + Turtwig, Barry + Chimchar
• Hilbert + Oshawott, Hilda + Tepig, Cheren + Snivy, Rosa + Snivy, Hugh + Tepig, Nate + Oshawott. Bianca and Tepig is to a very small extent as I tend to picture her with Munna/Musharna above all else.
• Serena + Fennekin, Calem + Froakie, Shauna + Chespin
• Selene + Rowlet, Hau + Popplio, Elio + Popplio. I heavily associate Kukui with Incineroar but not necessarily Litten.
• Gloria + Scorbunny, Victor + Sobble, Hop + Grookey
• Rei + Rowlet, Akari + Cyndaquil (yeah yeah, I know)
• Juliana + Fuecoco, Florian + Quaxly, Nemona + Sprigatito

 

[Sheeer]

Ooooh fun topic. Just doing the players cuz the rivals get a bit confusing for me ahaha.

Spoiler: Long

Red = Charmander
Leaf/Green = Bulbasaur
Ethan = Totodile
Lyra = Chikorita
Kris = Cyndaquil
Brendan = Treecko
May = Torchic
Lucas = Chimchar
Dawn = Piplup
Hilda = Tepig
Hilbert = Oshawott
Rosa = Snivy
Nate = Oshawott
Serena = Fenekin
Calem = Froakie
Selene = Rowlett
Elio = Poplio
Chase = Pikachu
Elaine = Eevee
Victor = Grookie
Gloria = Sobble
Rei = Rowlett
Akari = Cyndaquil
Juliana= Sprigatito,
Florian = Fuecoco

 

[BorealRookidee]

Nemona has Skeledirge. Absolutely.