A "Favourite Starters!" Topic

[Linkachu]

We haven't had one of these in awhile, eh? And now with Generation V nestled comfortably in our minds, opinions we held in the past may no longer be the same. So here we go again!

Out of all five generations of Pokemon starters, which is:
- Your favourite starter of each element, at each stage of evolution.
- Your overall favourite at each stage of evolution.
And finally, the most annoying choice of all!
- Your overall favourite starter Pokemon line.

For the sake of discussion, "starters" refers only to our typical fire/water/grass trios. No Pikachu, Eevee, or related evolutions. >=o

--------------------​

Here are my picks.

Favourite base stage
Water Starter: Oshawott
Fire Starter: Chimchar, Tepig or Charmander (I'm really not sure)
Grass Starter: Bulbasaur
Overall: Bulbasaur

Favourite mid stage
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Monferno
Grass Starter: Grovyle or Ivysaur (Again, no clear choice)
Overall: Dewott

Favourite final stage
Water Starter: Samurott
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Torterra
Overall: Charizard

Overall Favourite Starter Line: This is tough for me because I'm not a huge fan of Venusaur but adore Bulbasaur and Ivysaur. I think ultimately my answer would be a toss up between Charmander and Oshawott's lines. I love all three stages for Chimchar/Monferno/Infernape as well, but not to the same extent as the other two.

 

[Coreysawrus]

First Stage
Water: Squirtle
Fire: Charmander
Grass: Snivy
Overall: Squirtle

Second Stage
Water: Wartortle
Fire: Quilava
Grass: Grovyle
Overall: Wartortle

Final Stage
Water: Swampert
Fire: Charizard
Grass: Serperior (I don honestly like any final form grass starters)
Overall: Swampert

Overall favourite line: Charmander's it would be Squirtles but there is something about Blastoise that makes me dislike it

I'm going to add in extra and do my least favourites

First stage
Water: Piplup
Fire: Torchic
Grass: Turtwig
Overall: Turtwig

Second stage
Water: Prinplup
Fire: Pignite
Grass: Grotle
Overall: Grotle

Final stage
Water: Empoleon
Fire: Blaziken, Infernape and Emboar
Grass: Meganium or Torterra
Overall: Blaziken, Infernape and Emboar

Overall least favourite line: Turtwig's hands down closely followed by Piplup's and Tepig's (Tepig's would be top but I like Tepig)

 

[Demelza]

Hmm, very hard choices but let's see..

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Totodile
Fire Starter: Charmander (I loved every fire starter apart from Torchic though).
Grass Starter: Chikorita
Overall: Charmander

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Quilava
Grass Starter: Bayleef
Overall: Bayleef/Quilava can't choose D:

Favourite final stage...
Water Starter: Feraligatr
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Meganium
Overall: Charizard

As you can tell second generation lines I truly did love. xD

 

[Magpie]

Favourite Basic stage...
Water Starter: Oshawott
Fire Starter: Charmander
Grass Starter: Bulbasaur
Overall: Charmander

Favourite Mid stage...
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Quilava
Grass Starter: Ivysaur
Overall: Quilava

Favourite Final stage...
Water Starter: Swampert
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Sceptile
Overall: Sceptile, with Charizard a very close second

Overall Favourite Starter Line: I'd have to go with the Charmander line. Charmeleon isn't a favourite of mine, but Charmander and Charizard are just epic. Charmander just because he brings back memories of that first play-through on Red. Good times, and Charizard for similar reasons + he just looks so awesome. Sceptile is my all time favourite starter, but I'm not a huge fan of his earlier two stages.

You'll notice a lack of Gen IV picks there, simply because I never liked any of those starters. In fact, the Piplup line is probably the only line of starters I can honestly say I really, really dislike completely :V

 

[SineCosineTangent]

This was rather tough because usually when I consider favorite starters, I go right for the fire types |3

Favorite base stage...
Water Starter: Oshawott
Fire Starter: Torchic
Grass Starter: Snivy
Overall: Torchic

Favorite mid stage...
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Quilava
Grass Starter: Grovyle
Overall: Quilava

Favorite final stage...
Water Starter: Samurott
Fire Starter: Blaziken
Grass Starter: Serperior
Overall: Blaziken by a long shot

Overall Favorite Line: Torchic->Blaziken. Not the biggest fan of Combusken, but the first and last stages make up for it c: In a close second is the Samurott line, because all three stages are pretty awesome, and easily beat out any other water starter imo.

 

[Weeds]

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Mudkip
Fire Starter: Cyndaquil
Grass Starter: Treecko
Overall: Mudkip
I liek Mudkips. Cyndaquil was really cute and cool, and Treecko was so badass... A minor part of why Mudkip won was because My Friend Mudkip gave me such an intense nostalgia wave this morning that I almost shed a manly tear on the bus.

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Charmeleon
Grass Starter: Grovyle
Overall: Dewott
Dewott is such a fucking ninja. Who doesn't love it? Charmeleon was always a real badass, though I think the Fire mid-stages are pretty mediocre in general. Grovyle is a cool lizard dragon thing that always makes me think of Smooth Criminal Grovyle would look so ballin' in a Michael Jackson hat

Favourite final stage...
Water Starter: Swampert
Fire Starter: Infernape
Grass Starter: Sceptile
Overall: Swampert
Swampert all the way. Swampert is the most amazing Pokémon in existance. It looks like a boss, has an amazing typing, and is powerful. Infernape is a real boss too, his head is on fire for Arceus' sake! Sceptile looks so amazing, a grass type dragon lizard? Aww ye! Not as awesome as Grovyle though...

Favourite line per generation...
1st Gen: Charmander->Charmeleon->Charizard
2nd Gen: Totodile->Crocognaw->Feraligatr
3rd Gen: Mudkip->Marshtomp->Swampert
4th Gen: Chimchar->Monferno->Infernape
5th Gen: Oshawott->Dewott->Samurott
Overall Favourite Starter Line: Mudkip->Marshtomp->Swampert.
Without a doubt. While Marshtomp always was kinda meh, Mudkip was always cool, and I've already explained my love for Swampert. The Charmander line is my favorite of the 1st Gen, though admittedly the Gen 1 lines don't really speak to me that much. Totodile may seem as an odd choice, after all, Cyndaquil was my only Gen 2 Poké on this list. The thing is I love Cyndaquil, but the rest of its line, not so much. Totodile+evos all look pretty cool, but Gen 2 wasn't really that good with the starters either, imo. I explained Gen 3. Infernape makes it for Gen 4. That guy looks quite damn cool, and he drags his line to the top of Gen 4. I've tried playing White with all three starters, but I always go back to Oshawott. I just find it the most useful line, I love the designs, the moves, everything.

What the heck, might as well do least favorite while I'm at it.

First stage
Water: Piplup
Fire: Torchic
Grass: Chikorita
Overall: Chikorita
I just find Chikorita incredibly bland. I never picked it when I played through Gold as a 7 year old. Piplup isn't THAT bad, but all other Water starters best it. Torchic I don't like very much, everyone picked Torchic when I was a kid with my Sapphire. Didn't help that May had one either. Same goes for Dawn and Piplup.

Second stage
Water: Prinplup
Fire: Pignite
Grass: Servine
Overall: Prinplup
I think Prinplup looks terrible. Hate the design. So much. Pignite is quite hideous too, though it gets plus points for combusting farts. Servine is really boring too, its arm stumps look terrible and it sounds like a spoiled teenage blonde.

Final stage
Water: Blastoise
Fire: Blaziken
Grass: Meganium
Overall: Meganium
Meganium... Ugh. It had a terrible sprite in Gold. Terrible. It's boring, and while defensively acceptable, it was weak offensively. Dislike. A lot. Blaziken... It's just the fact that everyone picked Blaziken. I just grew so tired of it that i started hating it -.- Blastoise is cool, don't hate on me. I think all the Water type final evos are very good, it's just that I think out of them, Blastoise is the one that stands out the least. But I still think it's cool, just not AS cool as the others

Per Gen
1st Gen: Squirtle->Wartortle->Blastoise
2nd Gen: Chikorita->Bayleef->Meganium
3rd Gen: Torchic->Combusken->Blaziken
4th Gen: Turtwig->Grotle->Torterra
5th Gen: Snivy->Servine->Serperior
Overall least favourite line:Chikorita->Bayleef->Meganium
Oh, the Gen 2 Grass line... It's just so bland and boring, and my rival always picked it >>; I dislike. A lot. Gen 1 was a bit iffy again, I guess it came down to the fact that I like Wartortle least of the Gen 1 mid line Pokés. I just don't see what everyone liked about the Torchic line... If it wasn't for Pignite, Combusken would be my most disliked Fire mid evo. Turtwig might be a bit similar to Totodile in the favorite lines list. It's just that Empoleon really saves it for its line, which leaves the Grass line. I don't mind them though. The Gen 5 Grass line is just... Snivy was my initial favorite Gen 5 starter, but Servine ruined it for them... Serperior is meh. I might like it more once Leaf Storm + Contrary is released.

Long post is ginormous >>;

 

[Shiny Motley]

Basic stage~
Water Starter: Oshawott/Squirtle
Fire Starter: Cyndaquil
Grass Starter: Snivy
Overall: Cyndaquil

Mid stage~
Water Starter: Dewott/Frogadier
Fire Starter: Monferno/Quilava
Grass Starter: Grovyle/Bayleef
Overall: Dewott/Monferno

Final stage~
Water Starter: Blastoise/Greninja
Fire Starter: Charizard/Infernape
Grass Starter: Meganium
Overall: Infernape

And by region...
Kanto: The Squirtle line, followed closely by Charmander’s line
Johto: The Chikorita line, ALL THE WAY. Cyndaquil’s second~
Hoenn: Torchic and Mudkip’s lines are pretty much tied...
Sinnoh: Chimchar line, Turtwig's being a close second
Unova: I love Oshawott’s line but Snivy’s is a REALLY CLOSE second
Kalos: Froakie and Fennekin are tied here as well

This is starting to look really tough for even me to figure out. It’s like, all over the place. XD But in the end...

Overall Favourite Starter Line: The Chimchar Line! This was almost a no-brainer in the end, because I love the entire line’s designs. The typing is also win, despite it being extremely redundant at this point. Also, Infernape is totally a shout out to Sun Wukong, and that just brings back all the nostalgia and memories of childhood to me, since I grew up hearing stories of that epic monkey and his comrades.

 

[Dark Soul]

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Mudkip
Fire Starter: Torchic
Grass Starter: Turtwig.
Overall: Torchic. Chimchar is pretty cool in its own right, but Torchic was my first PokeMon and god, I love him to bits.

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Dewott
Fire Starter: Combusken
Grass Starter: Grovyle
Overall: Combusken. What can I say? I take a lot of joy from being in control of a pyrokinetic young fowl who can Double Kick all Rock-types to oblivion. Monferno is a close second.

Favourite final stage...
Water Starter: Swampert
Fire Starter: Blaziken
Grass Starter: Torterra
Overall: Have you figured out a pattern yet? Blaziken will always be my favourite PokeMon, due to its looks and abilities. I love its original Emerald moveset, with gems like Mirror Move. Within the same pattern, I do love Infernape as well.

Overall Favourite Starter Line: The Kung Fu Chickens.

 

[Stark]

Favourite Basic stage...
Water Starter: Totodile
Fire Starter: Cyndaquil
Grass Starter: Bulbasaur
Overall: Bulbasaur

Favourite Mid stage...
Water Starter: Wartortle
Fire Starter: Charmeleon
Grass Starter: Ivysaur
Overall: Ivysaur

Favourite Final stage...
Water Starter: Swampert
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Venusaur
Overall: Venusaur

Overall Favourite Starter Line: Its always been the original #1, #2 and #3 for me. Their design was unique and stuck with me forever as a favourite. I found a lot of the designs from Hoenn onwards as being pretty meh (even though Hoenn/Johto were my favourite regions). I dislike pretty much the entirety of the Hoenn/Sinnoh/Unova starters asides the Treecko line, I'm a bit of a grass fanboy.

 

[Satoren]

First Stage
Water: Mudkip (*razor shell'd* Oshawott I'm so sorry D'
Fire: Tepig
Grass: Bulbasaur
Overall: Umm, this is tough </3 But mostly, it's a toss-up between Tepig or Bulbasaur

Second Stage
Water: Dewott
Fire: Monferno
Grass: Bayleef
Overall: Dewott (*Double Razor Shell'd* oh gods I'm so sorry, Oshy, he's just so much cooler than you D'

Final Stage
Water: Swampert or Blastoise
Fire: Blaziken or Typhlosion
Grass: Torterra
Overall: Ummm...I like all of them equally :<

Overall favorite line: According to the list, it'd probably be mudkip's line (blue and orange is my favorite color combo and all) but really, I don't particular love any one single line.

 

[Luckii]

FIRST STAGE

Grass: Snivy
Fire: Charmander
Water: Totodile

Overall: I'd say Charmander. It's close though. As you can see, I like my reptiles!

SECOND STAGE

Grass: Grovyle
Fire: Charmeleon
Water: Wartortle

Overall: I can't decide. They're all so BADASS D:

FINAL STAGE

Grass: Venusaur
Fire: Charizard
Water: Feraligatr

Overall: Charizard. Hands down. It's my favourite Pokemon and it always will be.

FAVOURITE OVERALL LINES

Grass: Treeko - Grovyle - Sceptile
Fire: Charmander - Charmeleon - Charizard
Water: Totodile - Croconaw - Feraligatr

Overall: Definately the Charizard line. I'm a Fire fanboy, and since Charizard is my favourite Pokemon, it's a no-brainer.

 

[Artemis]

First Stage
Water: Oshawott
Fire: Charmander
Grass: Bulbasaur
Overall: Bulbasaur

Second Stage
Water: Wartotle
Fire: Quilava
Grass: Bayleaf
Overall: Bayleaf

Final Stage
Water: Samurott
Fire: Charizard
Grass: Venusaur
Overall: Charizard

 

[TheSandman98]

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Squirtle or Totodile
Fire Starter: Charmander
Grass Starter: Treeko
Overall: Easily Charmander!

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Marshtomp, dunno why, just like it randomly
Fire Starter: Charmeleon!
Grass Starter: Grovyle (Love this fucker!)
Overall: Grovyle

Favourite final stage...
Water Starter: Swampert or Squirtle
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Meganium or Sceptile
Overall: Charizard! (Fave pokemon of all time!! )

Overall Favourite Starter Line: No doubt, Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard!

 

[RLRL]

Favourite base stage
Water: Totodile
Fire: Cyndaquil
Grass: Snivy
Overall: Snivy
I know the gen 2 theme is there for the first 2, I really struggled with water mostly because I'm not much of a fan of water starters. Came down to Squirtle vs Totodile, but I had to vote for totodile because of the anime, all I could think of as I started writing squirtle was totodiles voice.

Favourite mid stage
Water: Wartortle
Fire: Quilava
Grass: Servine
Overall: Servine
Unlike totodile vs squirtle, croconaw doesn't get a vote, it looks like a fat caveman.... Should be no shock Servine's my favourite mid-stage, I still like the japanese name more, Janovii ^_^

Favourite Final Stage
Water: Blastoise
Fire: Blaziken
Grass: Sceptile
Overall: Blaziken
It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but speed boost through the dream world just makes this guy awesome, Blaziken is just a great pokémon to use, prior to dream world I'd have probably said typhlosion for looks. Sceptile just beats Serperior on coolness, purely because of its superior offensive stats.

Overall favourite line: Snivy trio.
I wish serperior was cooler looking (a bigger servine with a leafy mohawk and razor sharp claws would have sufficed) it ruins my otherwise favourite line. But offenses aside, and dream world ability thrown into play, can't deny the unova grass starters sit firmly in my heart =)

 

[Lolpe]

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Squirtle
Fire Starter: Cyndaquil
Grass Starter: Chikorita
Overall: Squirtle

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Prinplup
Fire Starter: Combusken
Grass Starter:Bayleaf
Overall: Bayleaf
Favourite final stage...
Water Starter:Blastoise,Swampert
Fire Starter: Charizard
Grass Starter: Torterra
Overall: Blastoise

Overall Favourite Starter Line: Squirtle FTW! ~~

P.S. : I haven't bought Pokemon Black or White yet so I can't chose one of its starters!

 

[Wanderer Ike]

Favourite base stage...
Water Starter: Oshawott
Fire Starter: Charmander
Grass Starter: Treeko
Overall: Treeko

Favourite mid stage...
Water Starter: Croconaw
Fire Starter: Quilava
Grass Starter: Grotle
Overall: Grotle

Favourite final stage...
Water Starter: Blastoise
Fire Starter: Infernoape (man, this was a hard one. love almost all the fire starters last stage)
Grass Starter: Sceptile
Overall: Infernoape easily, he's my favorite of all starter pokemon.

Overall Favourite Starter Line: Gonna go with the Treeko's line.

 

[starlit-dreams]

Well...
Let's see:

Favourite base stage:
Water Starter - Mudkip
Fire Starter - Cyndaquil
Grass Starter - (ARGH. This is hard... I love them all! )Snivy
Overall - Snivy

Favourite mid-stage:
Water Starter - Dewott
Fire Starter - Combusken
Grass Starter - Ivysaur
Overall - Dewott

Favourite final stage:
Water Starter - Swampert
Fire Starter - Charizard
Grass Starter - Torterra
Overall - Swampert

Overall Favourite Starter Line: Um, I think the Mudkip line with Turtwig's at a close second.

 

[Shocari]

Favorite base stage:
Water Starter: Totodile
Fire Starter: Cyndaquil
Grass Starter: Snivy or Turtwig...they're both so cute
Overall: Totodile

Favorite mid stage:
Water Starter: Wartortle or Dewott, because all the others suck. Majorly.
Fire Starter: Quilava
Grass Starter: Servine
Overall: Servine

Favorite final stage:
Water Starter: Feraligatr
Fire Starter: Typhlosion or Infernape
Grass Starter: Serperior or Torterra
Overall: Feraligatr

Per Region:
Kanto: Charmander/Squirtle, Wartortle, Charizard/Blastoise
Johto: Totodile/Cyndaquil, Quilava, Feraligatr/Typhlosion
Hoenn: Treecko/Torchic, Sceptile/Blaziken. Can't stand the mid-forms, and hate the Mudkip line. Sorry.
Sinnoh: Turtwig/Chimchar, Torterra/Infernape. Same as Hoenn.
Unova: Snivy line all the way. And Dewott. Everything else can go die.

Overall Favorite Starter Line: Feraligatr, hands down. I may not be too fond of Croconaw, but Totodile is ridiculously adorable and Feraligatr is an absolute machine of pure destruction. And it's 7'7", which is the tallest of the starters, I believe. I like all of the Snivy line, and Serperior is just completely cool in every sense of the word. I only like Typhlosion for nostalgia nowadays, and Infernape only because he's served me immensely well competitively. Torterra is also really awesome, and I would love to ride around on one(SHADE. FREE SHADE WHILE TRAVELING. YES).

 

[turtledragon101]

Water:
1st~Squirtle
2nd~Dewott
3rd~Blastoise

Grass:
1st~Treeko
2nd~Ivysaur
3rd~Venasaur

Fire:
1st~Charmander
2nd~Quilava
3rd~Typlosion

Stage one: Squirtle
Stage 2: Ivysaur
Stage 3: Blastoise

Favorite evolutionary line: Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise

 

[The Blue Blur]

What's Your Favorite Starter Pokémon?
Mine Is Oshawott Because its a Water Type [Favorite starter type] and I wasn't a big fan of Froakie and that was the only time I didn't pick a water type and its ADORABLE and it has freckles!

 

[SkyHighFlygon]

Can you put more than one???

 

[The Blue Blur]

Yup that's ok

 

[Jilly-Bean]

My Favorite is Squirtle

 

[Midnight Ace]

My favorite starter is the first Water-type starter; Squirtle.
My least favorite starter for the fact of hating everything about it; Mudkip.

 

[Vaporeonn]

Chikorita!! But close second is Treecko. Treecko being my first starter, and Meganium is so adorable! Third is Frogadier, my favorite from Kalos ( I'm not a huge fan of Greninja..)

 

[Flygonn]

My favourite is Froakie (I don't know why, I just find Froakie Kawaii :3) My second favourite has got to be Oshawott ;D My third favourite is Mudkip because why not?

 

[Jeydis]

Swampert and Infernape have quickly grown on me and have become my favorites particularly for competitive battling. As far as aesthetics go I love Blastoise and Torterra ... I liek turtles O_O

 

[Azrakhul]

Infernape all the way, Inspired from Sun Wukong.

 

[ignitusfire12]

Well, my favourite of each gen:
Squirtle
Chikorita
Treecko
Piplup
Oshawott
Fennekin
All time now is Fennekin. I absolutely melted once I saw Delphox. I like Greninja and Chesnaught, but not as much as Delphox. Chikorita was a last minute decision between Totodile. I don't know, but I've just grown attached to Meganium over the years.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Oh lovely, another "Favorite [category] Pokémon" thread. Done to death, quite frankly. I took the liberty of biomerging this one with the last active one which is on the second page and therefore still doesn't fall under our gravedigging clause.

Unfortunately I don't think I have an answer to that question. I rarely ever have a singular 'favorite' out of ANYTHING, and starters are no exception. There are just too many awesome ones. But let's see.

The Bulbasaur line takes Generation 1 with utterly no contest. I'm more partial to Bulba and Ivy (still some of the best first and second forms out there, they are made of adorbs @_@) than I am to Venusaur in terms of design, but holy shit, Mega Venusaur is a beast. I'm generally neutral on Charmander/Squirtle and rather like Charmeleon/Wartortle in terms of concept - but I find that Charizard and Blastoise leave much to be desired appearance-ways - although Mega Charizard Y was certainly a HUGE step in the right direction. A shame it tends to be overshadowed in anime representation by its deviantART OC-looking evil twin from X. <<;

I'd say the Chikorita line takes Gen 2 for me solely for being a grass-type. I find the Cyndaquil line adorable and the Totodile line abhorrent, but that's just me.

Gen 3 is more difficult to decide on. First and second form-ways Treecko and Grovyle take the favorite spot easily (with not much competition from Cutesy Overload Chicken Torchic and Memetic Overlord Mudkip and their awkward-middle-child evolutions Combusken and Marshtomp) - but the final forms... well, this is where I run into a bit of a conundrum. Blaziken is my absolute favorite in terms of design for this gen - but Swampert is quite the beast in terms of usability and... er... Sceptile... makes a fine Christmas tree, I suppose? This has kind of been turned on its head with the introduction of their mega forms, where Mega Sceptile won itself a place in my heart on account of both looking more badass and less stoned AND getting that dragon type it seriously deserved... and Mega Swampert still makes me wonder why. Mega Blaziken remains awesome to me, but... come on. They finally gave me a fucking Grass/Dragon. ;-;

Gen 4 is one of those gens where I rather like the designs of all the starters' final forms - Torterra winning by a margin for being a freaking Grass-type island ankylotortoise with mountains and a tree on its back. First form-ways I'm rather partial to Turtwig and Chimchar and loathe Piplup with a burning passion. Mid-formways, though, the only one I actually like is Monferno. Prinplup is horrendous and Grotle is bloody awkward.

Gen 5's final form starters are the set of starters I am DYING to see mega forms for, because they all feel a touch unfinished in some way. Their first forms are adorable when drawn right (although I'm personally most drawn to Snivy for obvious grass-type reasons) and their midforms are instantaneously dominated by Dewott, which is one of the best midforms ever (Servine is kind of odd to me anatomy-ways and World's-Strongest-Circus-Midget-Pignite can go bacon itself). Final-formways, I generally dislike Emboar (SO glad that was the last Fire/Fighting starter we got >>) but am rather fond of Bunny Ears Snake and Impossible Anatomy Otter-Seal-Samurai (mostly for getting Megahorn).

Gen 6... Yeah, there's a whole thread for that so I'm not going to repeat myself here. Suffice to say all the first forms are lackluster, second form has Frogadier which is nifty, final forms-ways the only one I REALLY like is Delphox. There.

 

[Giovanni Reyes]

Gen 1 favorite is and always will be Charizard but the first 3 starters are all fantastic in their own right.

Gen 2 starters seemed a bit uncreative but the Totodile line was greatly thought out (Chikorita line was terrible, IMO)

Gen 3 a strong case can be made for each one and I cannot pick a favorite. I replayed RuSa & always rotated the starters. They were awesome.

Gen 4 introduced the best water starter combo in Empoleon. That thing was nasty in battle. Infernape showed that the creators really dug the fire-fighting combo from the previous gen, just seemed a bit repetitive.

Gen 5 contained my favorite grass type starter in Snivy, I liked the design. Tepig line was brutally repetitive at that point, type-wise.

 

[Takinas]

Wow. Having to choose just a single starter for each element from five different generations is certainly a daunting task. That said, I shall endeavor to create solid reasoning on lack of sleep at 1:18AM Central Time.

If I have naught a choice but to choose, I will do it according to how I understand the explanation given. This means I will choose 1 starter from each region and explain why it is my favorite for that region and which evolution is best. Then I will choose an overall favorite followed by a favorite evolution lineup.

For Kanto, it's all about Charmander. Early in the game it is near impossible to find a good fire type. While not ideal for either Brock or Misty, you can catch a Nidoran or Mankey to handle Brock. I like Charmander primarily for Charizard. Charizard is ideal for taking down three birds with one stone to to speak. I generally keep him with 1 flying move, 1 fire, and 1 fighting (usually Seismic toss).

Johto, unlike Kanto, owes it's choice of Totodile simply to the fact that it will eventually reach being Ferraligatr (I spelled that wrong). I choose him solely to have a powerful water type and to name it Godzilla. One has to admit he has a rather Godzilla-like build.

Hoenn is a trickier region. I wasn't exactly thrilled by any of the starters at first, but Mudkip is the one that quickly grew on me. I love that electricity has no effect on Mudkip thanks to his status as part ground type. Swampert is a splendid final stage.

Sinnoh, is another realm of starters I wasn't fond of. That said, I have to go with Turtwig. I like turtles, and Torterra is not only a powerful grass/ground type, but it's a giant turtle that can easily be named Gamera.

Finally, we reach where I regained hope for starters Pokemon. The Unova region, home to three starters (two of which are overrated to the point it annoys me). I am 100% behind Oshawatt for Unova. Oshawatt is an adorable otter type Pokemon (better than Buizel in my opinion) that becomes Samurott, possibly one of the most powerful water-type starters known with the coolest beard ever!

Now, the one I told myself I'd never do. Choose a single starter line. Charmander to Charizard, best starter transition ever. To go from a tiny little fire type into a massive dragon-like king of the skies fire/flying type, my hat collection goes off to you #004-007!

 

[SinnohChampCynthia]

Basic:
Grass-Treecko
Fire-Chimchar
Water-Piplup

Stage 1:
Grass-Grovyle
Fire-Monferno
Water-Prinplup

Stage 2:
Grass-Sceptile or Torterra
Fire-Infernape
Water-Empoleon

 

[Rinoa Heartilly]

Stage 1
Fire: Cyndaquil
Grass: Chikorita
Water: Squirtle

Stage 2
Fire: Quilava
Grass: Ivysaur
Water: Wartortle

Stage 3
Fire: Typhlosion
Grass: Meganium
Water: Blastoise

Overall Fav.
This one is actually pretty easy for me; the Chikorita line is my favourite. ♥

 

[theclownfish]

here they are

stage 1
fire: fennekin or charmander
water: totodile
grass: chikorita
overall: totodile

stage 2
fire: combusken
water: dewott
grass: grovyle or bayleef
overall: grovyle

stage 3
fire: delphox, charizard or typhlosion
water: feraligatr or blastoise
grass: torterra, sceptile or meganium
overall: typhlosion

best line
id probably say chikoritas line. out of cyndiquils i only liked typhlosion and out of totodiles i only didnt like croconaw as i like all of chikoritas line

 

[AzureEdge]

Fave fist stage
Fire- fennekins
Water- mudkipz
Grass- chickorita

Second stage
Fire- braxien
Water- crocanaw
Grass- grovyle

Favorite third stage
Fire- infernape
Water- samurott
Grass- surperior

 

[xenephos]

First Stage:
Fire: Cyndaquil by a landslide. Charmander resembles a Demon Caillou to me. e.o
Water: Totodile. Because crocs are awesome.
Grass: Bulbasaur. I love this ENTIRE lineage, which makes me doubt my decision of Cyndaquil's lineage as my overall favorite. XD

Second Stage:
Fire: Charmeleon, because he looks cooler than all the rest of them.
Water: Wartortle, and Dewott as a close second.
Grass: Ivysaur is just adorable.
(The gen 1s are just so perfect on their 2nd stages)

Final Stage:
Fire: Typhlosion, with Charizard in a VERY close second.
Water: Blastiose, even though Feraligatr is also pretty awesome.
Grass: Venusaur. They just blow the competition out of the water in my opinion. XD

Favourite Lineage:
Easy!
Cyndaquil>Quilava>Typhlosion
Though when drawn like this I have troubles. XD
Especially on those final stages, where even Meganium looks Bad-ass. Oh, wait.
And the Kalos starters are slightly disappointing, though I do like Delphox and Greninga.
Chespin and friends, on the other hand just... Nope.
Quilladin's little nut-shell-thing makes them look like a fat rodent wearing a makeshift cactus costume.
And Chesnaught... Yeah... I don't know how cactus-pinata is related to that beast. It confuses me just thinking about it.

 

[Eeveelution52]

I love Snivy! (and all it's stages) I also like Quilava.

 

[Vaporeonn]

Yeah, change of plans.

Totodile. Replayed Silver, picked Totodile, and I fell in love with it.......
I wasn't such a Croconaw/Feraligatr fan at first ( the reason I didn;t pick Totodile so often), but I grew fond of it quickly... And I like the green on Croconaw in Gen II..... So yeah, Totodile-Croconaw-Feraligatr is my favourite starter evolution line.

Next is the Froakie line, that haven't changed.....
Well bye.

 

[Green Dragon]

My turn!

1st Evolutions:
Fire: Torchic
Grass: Turtwig
Water: Totodile
Overall: Totodile

2nd Evolutions:
Fire: Combusken
Grass: Grotle
Water: Marshtomp
Overall: Combusken

3rd Evolutions:
Fire: Infernape
Grass: Sceptile
Water: Greninja
Overall: Greninja

Overall Favorite Line: The Froakie line. Not even a hard decision. I picked Froakie when I first got Y, and named it Ninja, not knowing the final evolution.

<Frogadier evolved!>

Me: *Gasp* AHFASDGKJLDGHKGDSFASDKJGLSK