Bulbasaur / Ivysaur / Venusaur : Although they reminded me of frogs and toads (I am irrationally, deathly afraid of amphibians), I liked this starter line. I'm attributing my like of it towards the blooming flower carried on each stage's back. and While the looks creeped me out a bit as a child, I have to say that I did think that they looked pretty cool overall.
Charmander / Charmeleon / Charizard : Charmander was my first ever Pokémon. I simply love this line. The slow progression from Charmander to Charizard was a beauty. From huggable, thick Charmander to the single-horned, thinned down Charmeleon, to the double-horned and winged Charizard, this line was ingeniously planned. Charmeleon is also on of the two middle evolutions that I'd actually be content with not evolving, the other being Quilava.
Squirtle / Wartortle / Blastoise : Squirtle is adorable. Wartortle looked weird to me as a kid, and although not so much anymore, it's still weird. Blastoise just looks like a bada-..butt. The cannons on its back, no matter how much it defies logic, simply shouts power.
Chikorita / Bayleef / Meganium : Although much better than the Saur-line, I still wouldn't pick this grass family. That said, I do love their designs. From the cute Chikorita to the beautiful Meganium, every stage of this evolutionary line holds a very elegant look.
Cyndaquil / Quilava / Typhlosion : Cyndaquil is just plain adorable. Quilava is an amazing evolution as while it retains some of Cyndaquil's cute traits, it also shows off aspects of growing up, evident in its tougher and "cooler" looks. Same thing I said about Blastoise, I'll say about Typlohsion. It looks BA. Along with the Char-line, I really liked this line of fire starters as each evolution made sense, compared to the previous.
Totodile / Croconaw / Feraligatr : Totodile looked so cool to me as a child haha. and It still does. But wtf is Croconaw? It's so ****ing ugly. and Feraligtr? Meh. I guess it's better than Croconaw, but it still looks awkward.
Treeko / Grovyle / Sceptile : This whole family just creeped me out. Wasn't a fan of them when I first saw'em, not a fan of them now. Probably will never be a fan of them.
Torchic / Combusken / Blaziken : Torchic looks like a failed attempt at trying to make a Pokémon cute, but I like its design nevertheless. Combusken looks awkward. It's passable but I'm not fond of it. Blaziken shares the same description as Typlosion and Blastoise (I guess I'll include Charizard, too, just in case anyone decides to argue with me that Charizard looks BA too). With Dream World granting it Speed Boost, my fire starter is finally shining.
Mudkip / Marshtomp / Swampert : Ew. Like, wtf was Gamefreak thinking when they created this line? Ugly. For the Mudkip fans, I don't find it cute in the slightest bit.
Turtwig / Grotle / Torterra : I love, love, love this line. 4th Gen marked the first time I didn't pick a fire-starter and it was all because of this family. How, if anyone, thinks Turtwig is not an adorable starter is beyond me. BRB, I'm gonna go buy a real pet turtle.. Anyways, Grotle continues in the tradition of middle-evolutions looking awkward, but it's a nice transition between Turtwig and Torterra. Speaking of Torterra, guess what I'm going to say about it? Yep, BA. While it looks slow and bulky, it looks mean as hell. If I saw a Torterra in real life, my first thoughts would be, "I do not want to piss that thing off." In addition, getting STAB for Earthquake, one of the best offensive moves in the game? Yes, please.
Chimchar / Monferno / Infernape : Chimchar is so cute. Monferno.. Not so much. Again, awkward second evolutionary stage, but this one isn't as bad as the others. Infernape.. Interesting. I'm pretty neutral about this one. While it does look cool, it screamed Blaziken wannabe to me. Other than that, I have no qualms about this line.
Piplup / Prinplup / Empoleon : I'm just going to say this up front; Prinplup is hiddeous. It looks so stupid.. Otherwise, Piplup is pretty cute and Empoleon looks pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. That and a unique Water/Steel typing? This stage completed what was a pretty solid starter pool in 4th gen, for me.
Snivy / Servine / Serperior : I love their arrogant appearance. While not as amazing as last gen's grass starter, Serperior holds its own. Snivy and Servine both have that "You can't beat me," look, and can I just say it does look good on them. While I found it odd that Snivy's legs and arms developed when it evolved into Servine, but then disappeared when it evolved again into Serperior, its not big enough a problem to bother me.
Tepig / Pignite / Emboar : Ugh. Seriously? Another Fire/Fighting starter family? That in itself was enough to have me dislike this line. Tepig is cute, I guess, but Pignite and Emboar look dumb. I'll hand it to Emboar, though, its shiny-form looks pretty cool. Other than that, the only reason I'd like this line is because they're self-cooking bacon.
Oshawott / Dewott / Samurott : Oshawott. Ew. Ugly. It, like Torchic, looks like a failed attempt at looking cute. Dewott is like Combusken, too, that really awkward middle stage. I gotta say Dewott does have a better design that Combusken, though. Samurott, again, is like Blaziken, in an awesome looking final evolution. Except that the fire-chicken line makes a bit of sense, while the Dewott to Samurott evolution makes no sense, whatsover. So while Torchic's questionable attempt to look cute is saved by Blaziken, Oshawott cannot make the same argument as Samurott doesn't even resemble it in any way, shape, or form.
There, you have it, my 2¢ :P
