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Why Are the Cutest Starters Always the Worst

ValorSugarcakes

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Why can’t we have a cute starter as the best starter????? Over the years the cute starter is always the worst out of the 3, and the tough and cool looking starter is always the best!!!!! I mean when was the last time we had a cute starter as the best because I don’t think we’ve had that before!!!!! Here are some examples of this stupid consistent pattern that Game Freak & TPCI need to end

Gen 4: Chimchar (best but looks cool and tough) & Piplup (cute looking, but is sadly the worst starter out of the 3 Sinnoh Starters)

Gen 5: Snivy (best but looks cool and tough) & Oshawott (cute looking, but is sadly the worst as well out of the 3 Unova Starters)

Gen 6: Froakie (best but looks cool and tough) & Chespin (cute looking but is sadly once again the worst starter out of the 3 Kalos Starters)

Gen 7: Litten (best but looks cool and tough) & Popplio (cute looking but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Alola Starters)

Gen 8: Grookey (best but looks cool and tough) & Scorbunny (cute looking, but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Galar Starters)

When will we ever get a cute looking starter as the best like seriously does TPCI hate cute pokemon or something?

#StopThisConsistentPattern
 
@ValorSugarcakes I’ve gone ahead and changed the title of the thread to be more suggestive of the actual topic. Feel free to change it to something else, but it should always allude to the topic at hand.

Anyway, I don’t really agree with the premise of the thread either way. The “best” starter is more than often a very subjective term as is “cutest”.

And if you’re basing things competitively, I’d argue that Empoleon is definitely not the worst. That would probably be Torterra. You could also argue that Torchic was the cutest and Blaziken was, by far, the best of the Hoenn starters for a while.
 
Could you provide some metrics as to how you rank Pokémon as best and worst? You list several starters as the worst of their trio when I'd argue that they're not, at least from a competitive perspective. For example, I'd say Scorbunny is not the worst starter of its trio considering its HA, Libero, is very good. Not to mention that its final evolution, Cinderace, is Ubers tier on Smogon and while Smogon tier placement isn't the only determinant of whether or not a Pokémon is good, at the very least it gives an idea of a Pokémon's potential.
 
Maybe you could use the competitive scene to try determine the “best” starter from each trio as close to objectively as possible with so many variables, but the cutest one being the worst is entirely subjective to your opinion.

For example, I find Grookey far cuter than Scorbunny, which by this logic would make the cute one the best (Cinderace is far better at competitive than Rillaboom, but that’s beside the point).
 
In addition to what everyone else here has already said, is this about in-game playthroughs or competitive? Because there are several starters that do reasonably well in one while simultaneously being not so great in the other, and your list kinda seems to go back and forth: you cite the Snivy line as the strongest Unova stater and the Oshawott line as the weakest, which is true in competitive but strangely sorta the opposite in a casual playthrough: since you can't get starters with their Hidden Abilities in a casual playthrough, Snivy won't come with Contrary, and its shallow movepool combined with its rather subpar attacking stats makes it somewhat tricky to use compared to the other two starters, while Oshawott has the notable advantage of being probably the best Water-type in the first BW games by virtue of Water options being oddly scarce in the first BW games. But then you claim Scorbunny is the worst of the Galar starters when it's literally the only one of the three that got banned to Ubers in some competitive circles, which would imply you're talking about it being the worst in a casual playthrough (which so far I don't think it's true: I'm currently using one in my replay of Shield and she's been pretty good, the only issue I can think of is that having Ember for STAB for so long when you're a physical attacker isn't ideal, but if you hold off on evolving Scorbunny only two levels, you get Flame Charge to replace it).
 
Why can’t we have a cute starter as the best starter????? Over the years the cute starter is always the worst out of the 3, and the tough and cool looking starter is always the best!!!!! I mean when was the last time we had a cute starter as the best because I don’t think we’ve had that before!!!!! Here are some examples of this stupid consistent pattern that Game Freak & TPCI need to end

Gen 4: Chimchar (best but looks cool and tough) & Piplup (cute looking, but is sadly the worst starter out of the 3 Sinnoh Starters)

Gen 5: Snivy (best but looks cool and tough) & Oshawott (cute looking, but is sadly the worst as well out of the 3 Unova Starters)

Gen 6: Froakie (best but looks cool and tough) & Chespin (cute looking but is sadly once again the worst starter out of the 3 Kalos Starters)

Gen 7: Litten (best but looks cool and tough) & Popplio (cute looking but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Alola Starters)

Gen 8: Grookey (best but looks cool and tough) & Scorbunny (cute looking, but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Galar Starters)

When will we ever get a cute looking starter as the best like seriously does TPCI hate cute pokemon or something?

#StopThisConsistentPattern
Its ok to have opinions even if they are wrong
 
Why can’t we have a cute starter as the best starter????? Over the years the cute starter is always the worst out of the 3, and the tough and cool looking starter is always the best!!!!! I mean when was the last time we had a cute starter as the best because I don’t think we’ve had that before!!!!! Here are some examples of this stupid consistent pattern that Game Freak & TPCI need to end

Gen 4: Chimchar (best but looks cool and tough) & Piplup (cute looking, but is sadly the worst starter out of the 3 Sinnoh Starters)

Gen 5: Snivy (best but looks cool and tough) & Oshawott (cute looking, but is sadly the worst as well out of the 3 Unova Starters)

Gen 6: Froakie (best but looks cool and tough) & Chespin (cute looking but is sadly once again the worst starter out of the 3 Kalos Starters)

Gen 7: Litten (best but looks cool and tough) & Popplio (cute looking but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Alola Starters)

Gen 8: Grookey (best but looks cool and tough) & Scorbunny (cute looking, but is once again the worst starter out of the 3 Galar Starters)

When will we ever get a cute looking starter as the best like seriously does TPCI hate cute pokemon or something?

#StopThisConsistentPattern
This really is just your personal opinion... What decides who's best in your eyes? Stats? The metagame? Evolution lines? In my opinion...

Gen 1: They're all equal. Until final evolution then squirtle falls flat because I dislike blastoise's design compared to the progression wartotle brought. Don't look like they're from the same line outside of colors. Smash two turtle lines together, call it a day. Woo gamefreak.
Gen 2: They are all equal. Though Chikorita's line is a brick wall of a mon and I will never choose Totodile as a starter because having to fight a rival Chikorita like is a nightmare. WHY WON'T IT GO DOWN.
Gen 3: Torchic and Treeko are the best. Mudkip becomes pretty bleh to me when it evolves... plus we already have a good axolotl pokemon, and its name is wooper. gently scoots mudkip under a table
Gen 4: They're all equal. Though for lack of many fire type options, Chimchar comes out on top. Especially if you're playing a nuzlocke and want a fire type.
Gen 5: They're allllll meh. Tepig wins because Emboar is cool looking especially its shiny.
Gen 6: Fennekin is the best and only. Froakie is the worst because it only looks dumber as it evolves. Chespin only gets good at its final form. FEK YEAH, WIZARD FOX OF DELPHI.
Gen 7: They are equal. Litten comes out on top because its a cat that becomes a heel wrestler. I love that.
Gen 8: They're equal.
Then how did Greninja become Pokemon Of The Year for 2020?????
Ninja weebs. :p /s
 
Cuteness is subjective. But then again, let me line up the strongest starters in every region based on fully evolved form and the type specialists (Read Gym Leaders and E4 members) in every region (And the cutest mons are based on my opinion)

Kanto
Bulbasaur is imo the cutest out of three and Venusaur is also the best to use in the Kanto games. Venusaur is strong against 4 out of 8 gym leaders (Rock, Water, Ground, Grass) and has 3 weaknesses (Ice, Fire and Psychic)
Blastoise is second best, since its strongest against 3 out of 8 gym leaders (Rock, Fire, Ground) and has 2 weaknesses (Grass/Electric)
Charizard is the worst. Only strong against 1 gym leader and 1 E4 member (Grass and Ice), while its weak against Rock, Water, Electric/Ground (Those 2 depend on Charizard or Charmander/Charmeleon).

While Venusaur has more weaknesses than Blastoise, it has more advantages. But the thing that truly elevates Venusaur over the other 2, is that Venusaur also resists Fighting (Bruno) and Surge (Electricity). And all starters pretty much resists the starter type they aren't weak against as well (And against their own type), which makes it Four resistances for Venusaur, against Charizards and Blastoise's 3.

In Johto, its really close between 2 (And only counting Johto, not the Kanto extension, since its post-game).
Typhlosion is the best, since it has no weaknesses and has three advantages (Bug, Ice and Steel).
Feraligatr is second best, despite having no weaknesses, it also doesn't have a specialty type its strong against.
Meganium. Chikorita is the cutest, but is the obvious worst mon (Arguably even the worst starter in a region ever), due to its glaring weaknesses (Poison, Ice, Flying, Bug) and no advantages.

In Hoenn, its not so close.
Mudkip is the cutest. However, Swampert has no speciality weaknesses due to its Ground typing, while itself is strong against Fire, Electric, Steel and Rock (And even if we take Steel away in Emerald it still the best).
Blaziken is second best, due to only having 3 weaknesses (Water, Psychic and Flying). It has five advantages (Rock, Normal, Dark, Steel and Ice) and 4 advantages in Emerald since then Steel away
Sceptile is the worst, due to it having 3 weaknesses (Fire, Flying and Ice), but also only has the advantage over Water and Rock

Sinnoh is funny, since all three starters have 3 type specialities they are weak against. So we have too look at the advantages.
Torterra is best since it has 6 advantages (Fire, Electric, Water, Steel, Rock and Ground)
Infernape has Bug, Rock, Steel, Ice, and Grass, as its advantages, which makes it the second best
Empoleon on the other hand, is only strong against Fire, Ground, Ice and Rock. Piplup is the cutest.

For Unova, Oshawott is the cutest.
Samurott is the best to use in the Unova games, since he has 2 weaknesses (Grass/Electric) in BW and 2 advantages (Ground/Fire) and in BW2 it has only 1 (Electric) weaknesses and 1 advantage (Ground).
Emboar is the second best mon to use in both Unova games. Has 4 weaknesses (Psychic, Ground, Flying, Water), but also has 5 advantages (Ice, Normal, Grass, Bug, Dark) in BW. Same weaknesses stay in BW2 and due to Ice and Grass leaving, losing two advantages.
Seperior is the worst to use in the Unova games. Has 4 weaknesses (Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice) and 2 advantages (Water and Ground) in BW. Its advantages stay in BW2, but it loses only one Weakness, despite Ice and Fire leaving, due to Poison being added. However, due to having more advantages and same amount of weaknesses, Emboar edges out Serperior.

Kalos. Fennekin is the cutest.
Delphox is the best. Has 5 advantages (Grass, Bug, Fighting, Ice and Steel). Has 2 weaknesses (Rock and Water).
Chesnaught is second best. Has 4 weaknesses (Fire, Psychic, Fairy and Ice) - Bug is neutral due to it being part Fighting. Has 3 advantages (Rock, Ice and Steel)
Greninja is the worst. Has 5 weaknesses (Grass, Fighting, Electric, Bug, Fairy). Has 3 advantages (Rock, Fire and Psychic).

Alola (Popplio is the cutest)
Primarina is the best. Has 3 weaknesses (Grass and Electric (Steel in USUM), but has 6 advantages (Fighting, Rock, Fire, Dragon, Ground and Dark - which in the Moon games it even has the advantage over Totem Raticate) in both games.
Incineroar is second best. Has 4 weaknesses (Water, Fighting, Rock, Ground). Has 3 advantages in (Ghost and Grass - USUM is adding Steel)
Decidueye reflects both Games. Has 4 weaknesses (Fire, Flying, Ghost, Dark). Has 4 advantages (Water, Ghost, Rock, Ground). However, considering Ghost is both weak and strong against eachother, it basically cancels eachother out, which makes me edging out Incineroar over Decidueye (But is pretty much interchangeable depending on ones interpretation)

For Galar, due to Switching Gym leaders of a different type (Which was only the case for 1 trainer speciality type in regards to weaknesses in Unova and Alola), i am putting in the Galar Starters for Both Sword and Shield (And Sobble is the cutest obviously)
Sword
Inteleon and Rillaboom are the best to use, due to having Inteleon only one weakness (Grass), but having 2 advantages (Fire and Rock) and Rillaboom is the same, with have Fire as its weakness, but the advantage over Water and Rock.
Cinderace is the worst. Has 2 advantages (Steel - Yes Chairman Rose counts cuz using one type of mon and Grass), but 2 weaknesses (Water and Rock).

Shield flips the tables, at least for Cinderace.
Cinderace is the best, cuz has 3 advantages (Ice, Steel and Grass) and 1 weakness (Water)
Inteleon is second best, due to having 1 weakness (Grass) and 1 advantage (Fire, since Rock isn't a thing anymore)
Rillaboom is the worst, due to having lost Rock as an advantage, but it has gained Ice weakness alongside Fire.

But in Galar, its really close regardless, so there is no wrong starter to pick in this region, depending on which one you deem cutest.

So as you see, depending on the interpretation of one starter being cuter than others, it pretty much doesn't matter if they are strong or not. The only one truly suffering is the Chikorita/Meganium and the only one having the superior advantage over the others in its region is Mudkip/Swampert (Since even if we don't count Swampert, Mudkip only has 2 weaknesses).

I also looked to take the Evil Bosses in this one, but the only bosses with a type specialty were either already covered (Giovanni being a Gym Leader), Maxie and Archie having types covered by gym leaders (Water and Fire), being neutral to all starters due to secondary typing (Guzma) and adding Guzma doesn't change the placement of Incineroar either. . The only one with a weakness over a starter that wasn't covered was Chairman Rose. You can Argue Cyrus is a dark type user, but considering its not clear, since he uses three Dark and three flying type mons in his final battle, i didn't think it was fair to include him as a flying entry or a dark entry due to that (And yes, the Ultra games don't count, cuz not in its own region).
 
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