So I’m a pretty big fan of Pokémon. Iv played all of the mainline games and most of the spin-offs to some capacity, mostly to completion and then some. So I though I’d share which starter I pick for each game.
Gen 1
Alright gen one, now I’ve not spent the greatest amount of time with the original red and blue but I have played through the remakes Fire red and Leaf green, and while its not my favorite Pokémon game, it is definitely a classic. Anyway, my pick of the original trio of starters of Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle (and I guess Pikachu technically), is the ever so popular Charmander. While he isn’t the best pick for a easy early game I’m quite partial to the fire type as you will soon see and Charzard is definitely the coolest fully evolved gen one starter, in my opinion at least. Also considering that Charzard got two mega evolutions compared to Venusaur and Blastoises one, It seems I’m not alone in my choice. While the designs of these starters are pretty simple when compered to future generations, I feel that express the characteristics of each starter excellently.
Gen 2
Moving on, Generation two is probably the one I’ve spent the most time with mainly with Heart Gold and Soul Silver but iv also spent my fair share of time with crystal and the fan remake Pokémon 3D (which i urge you to check out). Out of every play through I have always chosen to go with Totodile, every, single, time. I’m a huge fan of big crocky boy and can’t possibly imagine journeying around Johto without him. I do love the inspiration behind Cyndaquil’s volcanoish neck and while that makes it a solid second, Chikorita is just aggressively “meh” in my opinion, sorry to anyone who picks Chikorita. I just don’t find the style to be appealing, and overall I’d say I’m not a huge fan of grass type Pokémon.
Gen 3
Generation 3 is a funny one for me, I have played through it a few time but rather than sticking with one starter every time, I have varied it up a few times. Usually switching between Torchic and Treecko, While Blaziken is super kick-ass, I always thought the Treecko line was super cool looking, even when I was stupid kid who didn’t even know what Pokémon was. Mudkip is pretty cute for it first stage, however I once again find myself severely apathetic to Swapert. I don’t know why but its final stage just doesn’t really draw any interest for me and I just find myself gravitating towards speed build Pokémon. Although I must say that if Swampert looked more like its Mega evolution i might be singing a different tune. He got some beef in those arms. So yeh, Treecko get the vote for me.
Gen 4
Alright, halfway there with the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum games, This was the first generation of games that I played myself and so I have some pretty strong nostalgia for these guys. Now i have had a similar experience with generation 4 as I did in gen 3, regularly swapping between both Piplup and Chimchar, However there is no competition for me here, Chimchar wins by a landslide. A fire monkey is just a awesome idea and I absolutely love the design, Infernape is just crazy cool looking and well like I said, I have a affinity for fire types. This generation dud for me is Turtwig, however this time its not for its looks. I think Torterra has a absolutely bad ass design, for me the main detractor again is its speed, it just doesn’t work for my main tactic, although I would consider using Torterra for a wall in doubles match, especially for its HP gain moves. However Infernape’s speed is what gives it the edge for me.
Gen 5
On to the notoriously disliked generation 5. Now I can definitely understand where people are coming from when they say generation five is bad, but I also do like and appreciate what gamefreak were going for with there urban inspired designs. In fact there are quite a few gen 5 Pokémon that I would say are some of my favorite (Hydreigon, Zoroark and Cofagrigus to name a few). However where my interest fails is with the starters. I’m not a huge fan of them, I just don’t think they are really all that interesting and while I somewhat like the designs I just don’t find them all too inspired. However given the choice I have always gone with Oshawott, its the only starter that has any meaningful change in its forms, where as the other two starters, Tepig and Snivy just sorta get bigger, Although shiny Emboar is pretty cool. Overall Gen 5 does have my least favorite starters but don’t let that stand reflective of my overall feelings of the generation as a whole.
Gen 6
So generation 6 is my least favorite generation, X and Y are the games I’ve spent the least amount of time with, while I liked the change in art style and the shift to 3D models, I really couldn’t get into the games to any great extent. Now I know I said that generation 5 had my least favorite starters but Generation 6 doesn’t fair much better, in fact generation 6’s Pokémon have as much substance as air to me, for the most part. Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie all just seem very weak in design and, with the exception of Greninja, that stays true for all stages. As such Froakie is my pick for starter in this generation but only because I like Greninja. I’m not sure why, but very few of the Pokémon in generation 6 Pokémon actually feel like Pokémon to me, with the rest feeling more like fan game level Pokémon rather than what I would expect from a Pokémon game.
Gen 7
Generation 7 is a great return to form for me, all three of the starters are great, I love the designs of all three. On top of that we finally get some interesting type pairs in the final stages, these type combination are fantastic and are actually a pretty big pull for me, in particular Decidueye’s grass and ghost and Incineroar’s fire and dark. While not unique combination its different from what starters usually are, so big thumbs up there. So out of the trio of Rowlet, Litten and Popplio, I have to give my vote to Litten, the fake wrestler motif it brilliant and really stands out from the other fire starters. I have to give Rowlet a strong second place however, Decidueye looks fantastic. Popplio is also pretty well designed and I definitively know why people like it, but it just doesn’t appeal to me, I’m just not a fan of ruffles.
Gen 8
Finally we reach the current generation, for me Generation 8 abit different, while I feel that the designs are similar to generation 6, that being uninteresting to me, I think that the animals that the starters are based on are unique enough to be interesting, for the most part. Grookey is pretty interesting at first glance and probably has my favorite evolution design out of the trio, however my vote goes to Scorbunny as he fit in with my general preferences for play style and type. However I do think that his final form is rather lackluster. Unfortunately for Sobble, I lose all interest in its evolution chain once it reaches its second form. becoming pretty uninteresting. However generation 8 hasn’t been around for all to long so my opinion might change given time.
And that’s it for starter. So let me know, do you agree or not, let me know what your favorite Pokémon starters are. Also let me know if you would be interested in me reviewing the Pokémon games or maybe each generation as a whole.
H
All picture were taken from https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokedex/
We didn’t actually get to see a great deal of the “actual” Horus stand but we got to see it in action a fair bit. Horus takes the shape of a big icy bird-like skeleton which looks pretty cool. I think the main reason I like Horus so much probably comes down to how badass Pet Shop is in his fight against Iggy, I mean sure he dies but for the majority of the fight Pet Shop was pretty unstoppable and he pulled some pretty sweet moves.
For how lame Hanged Man’s user J. Geil is, the Hanged Man has some seriously sweet moves. I thought it was pretty awesome how he could just jump from reflection to reflection, being invincible whilst in the reflection world. And with Hanged Man only having one short period of vulnerability, he really is pretty awesome. It’s not till he starts jumping into peoples eyes when you really realise the gravity of his power, ultimately though, that’s also his downfall. As a side note to those who know, I wonder if Hanged Man would appear in the same dimension as “Man in the Mirror” from part 5? I’m assuming so.
Death Thirteen is one of those stands who, with the right user, could have very easily defeated the Stardust Crusaders. It just comes down to the fact that Mannish Boy, the user, happens to be a baby is the reason why he was defeated. Well, that and that if he hadn’t spent a great deal of time mocking Kakyoin he could have easily killed both him and Polnareff. Death Thirteens ability to trap people in a dream world makes it ideal for assassinating targets, with 13’s ability to control every aspect of the dream world means that its impossible for the target to fight back. And on top of that, if the target wakes up they won’t remember anything besides the fact that they had a bad dream. There’s no doubt that Death Thirteen is a pretty awesome stand.
I wanted to include at least one hero character’s stand on this list and when I was thinking about which one of the stands I like most I came to the conclusion that while Star Platinum is the usual fan favourite, being that he is super OP and could win almost any battle, It just seems too convenient. So I came to the conclusion that Hierophant Green was a better choice. The awesome utility of it being able to unravel itself, possess people and even its staple “Emerald Splash” attack is one of the few ranged abilities of the crusaders, Hierophant green is just super cool. I also really like the toxic waste hazmat style its got going, It just really “stands” out (pun intended) from the other stands in this part. I do want to mention how it is a little irritation how his abilities seem to change throughout the course of the series but that sort of thing isn’t anything new to Jojo. Kakyoin is also just such a cool character and it really kinda sucked how we barely got to see him in any of the second half of the series.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is the follow-up season to the original Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Releasing in April of 2014, Stardust Crusaders introduces Joutarou Kuujou, who is NOT your everyday typical Japanese high schooler; in fact, he may be the furthest thing from it. He begins his story locked up in a jail cell demanding not to be set free, the reason being is that he believes he has been possessed by a spirit, and not the friendly variety.
It is soon after this encounter that Holly begins to manifest her own stand, however, her peaceful nature prevents her from being able to control it and as such she falls terminally ill with little more than 50 days to survive. And so Joutarou, Joseph, and their new companions set out to save Holly, to do so the group must track down and defeat the believed dead Lord Dio Brando, an immortal vampire with terrifying power. The band must travel half the world across to the city of Cairo in Egypt. However, it will not be smooth sailing as Dio has employed the aid of many other villainous Stand users who are set on preventing the group from reaching Dio.
As I previously stated Stardust Crusaders introduces the concept of “Stands”, deciding to chuck Harmon out the window altogether (pretty much). Stands are described as the physical embodiment of one fighting spirit and can take many different forms such as a giant fire chicken, zombie fog, and even just a gun, however, most people think of Jotarou’s iconic Star Platinum, the purple punching ghost. It is really these stands that make JJBA so Bizarre in the first place. The abilities (while nowhere near as outlandish as later parts) are very unusual.
Much like the previous season of JJBA, we see the continuation of the resplendent art style which I thought was used to even greater extent than before, really changing bringing deeper contrast to the events and never failing to capture my interest.
First airing in October of 2012, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure tells the story of two intertwined fates. The first of Dio Brando a young boy who – through the passing of his father- becomes the benefactor of the Joestar house. Unsatisfied with the hand he was dealt in life, Dio sets about attaining all the power he can, seeing the benevolent Joestar household as his first stepping stone. Meanwhile, with Dio’s arrival, Jonathan Joestar (the titular Jojo) soon finds that his life of youth and chivalry is about to be flipped upside down. Dio will take everything from Jojo, even turning his own father against him. When Dio gets his hands on a mysterious stone mask with the power to resurrect the dead, Jonathan will have to learn the power of hamon to defeat his adopted brother. Their differences will result in the beginning of a never ending war between the immortal Dio Brando and the proud Joestar family.
The story of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is full of many ridiculous twists and turn with a comedic absurdity, but also full of really emotionally powerful moments that really tug on the heart strings. I really liked how the series was also split into two separate, yet interconnected character arcs, on for Jonathan and another for his grandson Joseph Joestar.
As I previously mention, the art style of the show is incredibly unique. You’ve all probably seen the impossibly defined muscles and jaws so chiselled you could use them to draw straight lines, but this is only the very surface of the art style. There are always strong shading lines giving the show a very comic bookie vibe, the other thing that makes the are stand out so much is the colour change I mention earlier. At particular moments during the show, all or most of the colours make a dramatic shift to a different colour, yellow will become green and red will become blue. These changes always coincide with a tonal sift, like a new danger appearing or when someone is suddenly murdered. Its really cool stuff and I love it.
The Anime Accord 