>>37839760Fifth Gen starters are the wildcards and honestly I had trouble placing them. I think they're fantastic as a group - they complement each other well visually, offer something vastly different and have enough personality to bounce off each other without being restrictive. However their problems come with the fact that each line changes body types at some point and pretty piss-poor handling of viability. It's incredibly easy to be put off by any of them and I think they would be a lot better off as non-starter lines as you never really want to hear that somebody was disappointed with their first Pokemon of the region.
Sixth and Seventh gen take a very similar approach with their starters becoming more 'personalised' to certain niches with appealing to a certain demographic and having a more anthropomorphic basis. While this can be off-putting, I find this method is what offers the strongest "this is my starter" feeling. They're special, and that's what a starter should be to me. Something that stands out amongst the rest and something you want to root for. Your partner Pokemon.
