Halloqueen
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While its Speed stat leaves a bit to be desired, I feel like I want to say Decidueye. It's an owl that is an archer and that's so awesome. Birds are my favorite types of animals in the world and owls are pretty neat. It's also the fully evolved form of my favorite first-form starter, Rowlet. Both standard Decidueye and Hisuian Decidueye are cool in their own ways and I'm glad that Decidueye got the opportunity to have a regional form.
Close runners-up are Torterra and Serperior. Torterra's design and its Grass/Ground dual-typing are both nice, and when I'm playing a Sinnoh game, it's usually a toss-up between Turtwig and Chimchar (and I prefer Infernape to have its Iron Fist Hidden Ability, which isn't there in the older games, so Torterra has the advantage by default). As for Serperior, its design is really sleek and neat and its Hidden Ability of Contrary makes it pretty fun. Serperior was also the first starter I really got into after coming back from my break from the series that spanned from Gen 3 until coming back with HeartGold/SoulSilver. Serperior was definitely my favorite of the Gen 5 starters.
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My thoughts on the others:
- Venusaur: Gotta love the classic. I'm pretty sure Bulbasaur was my first starter ever back in the Red/Blue days, the whole evolutionary line looks cool and I like the Grass/Poison dual-typing.
- Meganium: While its design is very nice, it's never really been my thing due to it being so defense-oriented in its stats. Defensive Pokémon are certainly important to use and they have their place on a team, but it has admittedly never been my preference.
- Sceptile: While its stats are nice, I never really liked it that much until it got its Mega Evolution. It's not bad, but I honestly prefer its pre-evolutions Treecko and Grovyle. None of the Hoenn starters are really among my favorites though.
- Chesnaught: I love knight aesthetics, so I think Chesnaught is pretty neat and I really like its Hidden Ability of Bulletproof. The Kalos starters are all solid with their D&D/RPG archetype designs.
- Rillaboom: I honestly haven't used it on a team yet, but I plan to in the future. It has a neat design and concept.
- Meowscarada: While I sympathize, and agree to a limited extent, with the people who were disappointed that Sprigatito's evolutionary line didn't remain quadrupedal, I honestly really like both Floragato and Meowscarada. The masquerade-inspired design, Flower Trick, its Speed; it's so good! I was unsure whether to put Meowscarada up there in third place instead of Serperior since Meowscarada's stats are more my thing, but Serperior's design and Contrary gave it the edge.
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If I were to rank them all:
Decidueye > Torterra > Serperior > Meowscarada > Venusaur > Chesnaught > Rillaboom (currently) > Sceptile > Meganium
Close runners-up are Torterra and Serperior. Torterra's design and its Grass/Ground dual-typing are both nice, and when I'm playing a Sinnoh game, it's usually a toss-up between Turtwig and Chimchar (and I prefer Infernape to have its Iron Fist Hidden Ability, which isn't there in the older games, so Torterra has the advantage by default). As for Serperior, its design is really sleek and neat and its Hidden Ability of Contrary makes it pretty fun. Serperior was also the first starter I really got into after coming back from my break from the series that spanned from Gen 3 until coming back with HeartGold/SoulSilver. Serperior was definitely my favorite of the Gen 5 starters.
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My thoughts on the others:
- Venusaur: Gotta love the classic. I'm pretty sure Bulbasaur was my first starter ever back in the Red/Blue days, the whole evolutionary line looks cool and I like the Grass/Poison dual-typing.
- Meganium: While its design is very nice, it's never really been my thing due to it being so defense-oriented in its stats. Defensive Pokémon are certainly important to use and they have their place on a team, but it has admittedly never been my preference.
- Sceptile: While its stats are nice, I never really liked it that much until it got its Mega Evolution. It's not bad, but I honestly prefer its pre-evolutions Treecko and Grovyle. None of the Hoenn starters are really among my favorites though.
- Chesnaught: I love knight aesthetics, so I think Chesnaught is pretty neat and I really like its Hidden Ability of Bulletproof. The Kalos starters are all solid with their D&D/RPG archetype designs.
- Rillaboom: I honestly haven't used it on a team yet, but I plan to in the future. It has a neat design and concept.
- Meowscarada: While I sympathize, and agree to a limited extent, with the people who were disappointed that Sprigatito's evolutionary line didn't remain quadrupedal, I honestly really like both Floragato and Meowscarada. The masquerade-inspired design, Flower Trick, its Speed; it's so good! I was unsure whether to put Meowscarada up there in third place instead of Serperior since Meowscarada's stats are more my thing, but Serperior's design and Contrary gave it the edge.
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If I were to rank them all:
Decidueye > Torterra > Serperior > Meowscarada > Venusaur > Chesnaught > Rillaboom (currently) > Sceptile > Meganium