Pokémon TBT's Favourite Starter Tourney: Blue Water Version💧

[Snek]

TBT's Favourite Starter Tourney continues!

This is the “blue” version of the final two preliminary rounds for the tournament. The Grass starter poll is now closed and Meganium is the starter who won!

Each starter of their type will compete against each other. Each vote will go to the starter's final evolution. The winners of the final two rounds will face off against Meganium in the fourth and final round of TBT's Favourite Starter next weekend!

NOTE: If you only like a pre-evolution and not any of the final evolutions, you still vote for the final evolution. For example:
Your favourite is Squirtle --> Vote for Blastoise.


FINALISTS:
Grass: Meganium
Fire: ???
Water: ???


This round is for the Water type starters.

Here are the contenders:

Blastoise

Feraligatr

Swampert

Empoleon

Samurott

Greninja

Primarina

Inteleon

Quaquaval

 

[Sheando]

I'm going to go against my usual preferences here and say that I have a soft spot for Inteleon. I loved Sobble in my Sword/Shield playthrough, and while I am very tired of the bipedal starters, I think that a lanky sniper lizard is about the best interpretation possible and doesn't cross the line into looking like, for example, a person with a cat mask on. It's kind of a goofy design but Pokemon is all about being charmed by the silliness, and Inteleon won me over.

 

[oak]

Bleh so many of the are bipedal and not my fav. Blastoise is the best one of the bunch for sure

 

[~Kilza~]

I love all the water starters, but truly Mudkip (Swampert) stands out above the rest for me! It was my first ever starter and it'll always be my favorite.

 

[Kitsuragi]

i love how the water starters get more yassified each generation

that said, i love greninja

 

[Midoriya]

Swampert, easily. I'm not a huge Water type fan, but I always loved and adored the Mudkip line. Mega Swampert is also cool.

I will always hate Greninja due to a past experience. Literally my least favorite Pokemon.

 

[VernalLapin]

Primarina is objectively the best in terms of design and coolness, not even a contest!

 

[Asarena]

I have to go with Blastoise for this one. Honorable mention to Primarina!

 

[Yoshi155]

I wonder if @/Croconaw will vote in this thread…

Anyway, I think that most of the water starters are pretty decent (except Popplio, never liked it for some reason), but Swampert will always be the best imo. I don’t know why, I just really like Mudkip and especially Swampert, and Marshtomp is pretty good too.

 

[Snek]

If I could vote in this poll I would've voted for Greninja. Since I cannot I will give my thoughts on each starter instead. Water is my favourite starter type so this will actually be hard for me.

Blastoise: My first chosen starter. I played Blue version first so I chose the starter that looked similar to the boxart. Loved Blastoise so much and was disappointed when it wasn't given Steel type. I mean just look at those cannons! They look steelish to me! Anyway, I love its designs, from Squirtle to Blastoise.

Feraligatr: I loved this line when going against the rival in Silver and wanted to get one myself in another playthrough. I love reptiles so an alligator mon was a nice gift. When I played HeartGold I chose Totodile despite having more nostalgia towards Cyndaquil. Because of the physical/special split, Feraligatr was now a solid choice to use and it was really a good partner to have throughout the game.

Swampert: Bittersweet memories for Swampert. Swampert was the only mon I had transfrerred from Emerald until Gen 7. Before SwSh I wanted to leave Pokémon, feeling it was taking a toll on me. I deleted all my mons including my Swampert. It really was my only gaming regret. I bred a lot more Relaxed nature Swamperts in honour of it. Its one of my top 5 favourite Ground type mons.

Empoleon: I love Empoleon! Its Water/Steel typing is still the only one of its kind. I did a mono Steel run in Diamond one time and Empoleon was a key team player. My love for penguins is another reason why I love it so much.

Samurott: I never played Black and White and instead waited for B2W2. Samurott was my starter of choice so I remembered the times with Oshawott-Samurott very well. I really really like its middle evo Dewott. One of the rare instances where bipedal works well for me. Its Hisuian form is even better. The design is so cool and Ceaseless Edge is such a good move. Sharpness, its HA, is also a perfect ability for it. Definitely the best of the Hisuian starters.

Greninja: My favourite Water starter. Hate it or love it, Greninja has a good inspiration. I really like ninjas so a ninja frog Pokémon instantly made me fall in love with it. For Gen 6, I wanted to use only new mons and that's how I came to love both Greninja and Aegislash. My Greninja and Aegislash team in X and Y was very successful (and ExpShare helped too lol) I really hope Greninja gets a new Mega in ZA now that Protean has been nerfed somewhat. Disliked the Ash version and I still pretend it doesnt exist.

Primarina: Used it in Sun. I used Decidueye in Ultra Sun but I have more memories of using Primarina in Sun. I think the mermaid theme is appropriate for it considering its secondary type is Fairy. I heavily dislike Brionne but I like Primarina.

Inteleon: Knowing a lot about the game beforehand, I broke Water tradition and chose Scorbunny. I was slightly disappointed when Sobble evolved into the problem evo Drizzile. I knew it would end up being pure Water but Poison could've been such a good typing for it and Inteleon. Still though, Inteleon is a good design. Its G-max is really silly looking but one of my favourites.

Quaquaval: Went back to Water tradition because Moxie is good and Aqua Step is good. Being a gay person myself I liked Quaquaval and its movements when it follows you around. Yes, I know its a dancer but its what makes me smile! I love how fabulous it is!

 

[Muna]

As final forms somehow I like most of them but Primarina wins.

 

[Dunquixote]

I like most of them; I haven’t had the chance to try a few of them though yet. I voted for Swampert since the Mudkip line has been one of my favorites. Empoleon would maybe be my second favorite. Its design isn’t a favorite but I really liked using it. Next, I’d pick maybe Blastoise since I love Gen 1 and I think the Squirtle line has solid designs. I like all three forms.

 

[Holla]

Primarina! The water type starters are my least picked for some reason and Primarina is actually the only one I’ve ever picked as my first choice in any generation.

I know most people tend to pick grass for gen 7 but just something about the Popplio line draws me in. It’s super cute and Primarina gives me mermaid sort of vibes and I was super into mermaids as a child.

 

[skarmoury]

my first love was feraligatr he has such a cool design and color scheme! i really love how he's a brighter blue compared to others.
primarina comes close second, i was so in love w its design and shiny palette that i had to hunt for a female shiny popplio even if it took me long finally did it after a week i think!! my 14th shiny popplio was a female <3

 

[Aerith]

I had a hard time deciding between Empoleon and Greninja as I'm very fond of them both, but I went with birb. They're both very cool for different reasons (Empoleon is strong and intimidating, Greninja has a top tier creative design).

 

[Lancelot]

Probably the hardest of the 3 polls for me as I usually lick the water starter. I LOVE feraligatr, swampert, empoleon and Samurott.

Empoleon and samurott were very closely tied but I went with Samurott. It might be decency bias + having 3 games I played through with Oshawott as my starter. The deciding factor was I LOVE Dewott more than Prinplup

 

[oneinamelon91]

I'm so surprised about Primarina (wich I voted xD)
Primarina is the started that got (at the moment) the most votes compared to the other type starters O_O

 

[Snek]

Be sure to read op! If you have a fav pre-evo vote for its final evo!

 

[Halloqueen]

My favorite Water-type starter is Blastoise. Maybe it's first exposure bias, but none of the other Water-type starters come close to how cool Blastoise is in the design department. It's iconic! Blastoise is actually my favorite fully-evolved starter, including both Grass and Fire as well, when it comes to design.

That said, it's not perfect for me. Its stat layout isn't the best and its Hidden Ability could be better. Its Mega Evolution fixes these issues, and I like how it looks too, but considering Mega Evolution itself is a generational gimmick that we can probably only expect to see sporadically, if ever, after Legends: Z-A with its focus on the Kalos region.

---

My thoughts on the others:

- Feraligatr: I was pretty fond of Feraligatr for a while. Crystal was my favorite game for years due to the addition of color to the series, the ability to choose a female trainer for the first time, the sprite animation upon encountering a Pokémon, and just Johto in general. I quit the series due to peer pressure and missed Generations 3 and half of 4 until a friend got me interested again by making me aware of HeartGold and SoulSilver. Anyway, Feraligatr was my starter in Crystal and it was great. As I got back into the series, Feraligatr has sort of fallen in with the pack and gotten lost a little bit. If playing a Johto game, it's usually a choice between Feraligatr and Typhlosion but I heavily favor Typhlosion now. I likes it Sheer Force Hidden Ability. Ultimately, as things stand currently, Feraligatr just feels kind of middling? I still like it, but it's easy to look past.

- Swampert: Eh. The Hoenn starters just don't appeal to me that much. I don't dislike it, but it's never going to be my first choice. Sorry Mudkip.

- Empoleon: At least in theory, I should like Empoleon more than I actually do. Penguins are my favorite animals, Empoleon's design is really neat with that trident crest on its head, and its Water/Steel dual-typing is really nice. The thing that ruins it for me, though, is its Speed. It also had Defiant as its Hidden Ability for numerous generations, which wasn't really very useful given its stat preference for Special Attacking, until Scarlet & Violet finally changed it to Competitive. That change makes me feel like it might be due another look with fresh eyes for me to judge it nowadays.

- Samurott: The samurai concept is neat, but ultimately Samurott just isn't my thing. I prefer its pre-evolutions Oshawott and Dewott and sometimes like to just keep Dewott from fully evolving. Its Hisuian Form is so similar that it almost feels pointless, though Samurott does fit the setting well anyway, so fair enough I guess.

- Greninja: Until the nerfing of the Protean ability in Scarlet/Violet, Greninja was the best Water starter to actually use and probably still is. Its ninja design and theming is pretty neat, its stats are what I'm looking for generally. I'd have to say it's solidly on the higher end of the Water-type starters for me.

- Primarina: Primarina's just an all-around solid Pokémon for me. The design is very pretty and majestic and its singer/entertainer concept is neat. The Water/Fairy dual-typing fits its concept really well. Its Special Attack and Special Defense carry it, as the rest of its stats leave a bit to be desired, especially its Speed (but that's Alolan starters for you) which is exactly just as bad as Emopleon's. Primarina makes me wish that they'd get rid of the uneven gender balance for starter Pokémon and just make them 50/50.

- Inteleon: Honestly just kind of looks like a furry art lizard character, but I like the sniper design concept and it has nice stats. The Gigantamax form with it perched high on a vantage point with the rifle is cool.

- Quaquaval: I like birds and the design isn't bad. Not too crazy about the Quaxly's evolutionary line going down a dancer route but, I mean, it could be worse. The Water/Fighting dual-typing fits its gimmick. Not bad, but a bit of an odd duck.

---

Ranked:

Blastoise > Primarina > Greninja > Empoleon > Inteleon > Feraligatr > Quaquaval > Samurott > Swampert

 

[Croconaw]

I have to go with Feraligatr, as Croconaw is my favorite Pokémon! Swampert is a close second for me, although I prefer the middle evolution, Marshstomp.