Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 6 Hours Ago
Posted 7 Hours Ago
39,253 posts
16.6 Years
Are you the type to get attached to your starter? Or do you deposit them later on for 'better' Pokémon?

I like my starter but don't seem to get too attached to them tbh... whenever I finish the story I always deposit them and replace with Pokémon bred to have better IVs/EV trained etc. I'm not huge on the competitive scene but shiny/IV/egg move breeding and training is the end game for me. they will always hold a special place in my heart tho even if I stop using them!

ZeoStar

Seen 23 Minutes Ago
Posted 19 Hours Ago
11,403 posts
5.6 Years
Absolutely. I tend to get attached to anything I carry on my team for a prolonged amount of time.

Palamon

Silence is Purple.

Age 26
he/him
Snezhnaya, Teyvat.
Seen 3 Hours Ago
Posted 1 Day Ago
7,784 posts
14.3 Years
Most of the time, yes, I would say I do. But...not always. There were a few times I did box my starter. When I do egg challenges (raising Pokemon that I hatch from eggs only) that's a different story, however. Tbh, the only games I'd say I wasn't attached to my starter in were the Kalos games, and maybe the b2/w2 games. Every other time if I'm not doing my egg challenge, most of the time, I'll keep my starter around. ;;
Excluding Gen V and VIII, yes. If they're ugly and I only chose them because they were the least ugly choice, then I tend to ditch them as soon as a better opportunity presents itself. With Gens V and VIII I was basically forced to choose something I hated so I picked the least-worst option each time.

I get attached to all my team, though - I pick Pokemon I like rather than ones that are the "most useful" in terms of stats or whatever, and I don't play competitively anymore.
Age 26
Male
Seen October 19th, 2022
Posted September 18th, 2022
76 posts
3.1 Years
Always. In fact, I only played Pokémon X for the first time last year and when my Quilladin evolved into a Chesnaught my inner genwunner thought "gee, what's this weird thing? Looks more like a Digimon than a Pokémon" ; but I quickly ended up liking him. Not in my top 10, but I definitely think it's a nice pokémon.

And part of the reason why Charizard is my favorite pokémon (the other part being, of course, the anime) is because I always chose Charmander as my starter in 90% of my Kanto saves.

colours

she/her
gracidea fields
Seen December 30th, 2022
Posted December 29th, 2022
8,974 posts
18.1 Years
see, in these types of threads i'd like to say that i do, but currently i have my rillaboom sitting in my pc and i haven't bothered to do anything with it since i started shiny hunting, and eventually i just got better pokemon. :x so... i guess i get attached to my starter, but up to a certain point, i guess.

makes me feel bad saying that, but... yeah. u.u maybe i should shiny breed my starter?

Amore

Seen 23 Hours Ago
Posted 5 Days Ago
5,237 posts
13.7 Years
In general yes, I always use my starter. I have a thing about putting Pokémon into awkward matchups to make it interesting. So I'll often match my starter up against my rival's even late-game when I have a surefire counter, to see if my coverage move can beat out their super-effective STAB, or I might put out a pokémon matching my opponent's type, for example having my Gyarados Intimidate Lance's Gyarados (and vice-versa) then spam Waterfall.
Pretty much the only time I can recall benching my starter is a Meganium in HeartGold who got the chop when I headed off to Kanto with my Extremespeed Dratini in its place - an all-time favourite pokémon beating out my least favourite starter across five generations.

Brendino

The Ruins of Alph
Seen 15 Hours Ago
Posted April 6th, 2023
8,567 posts
13.4 Years
When I'm playing through the games, I always try and keep my starter on my team, but I never build my party around it. The starters are always some of the best Fire/Water/Grass Pokemon in the game, so I keep it around for better coverage while I focus on the rest of my team. Still, even when I'm not incredibly attached to some of the starters, I always feel bad about boxing them.

Lunar

Age 24
Male
England
Seen September 16th, 2020
Posted September 15th, 2020
Yeah I'd have to say I do tbf, I always use my starter on my team throughout the main story and then maybe replace it in the post-game, depending on how much I wanna change up my team.

I think the only time I've not used my starter was when I was really young I released a Charmander in FireRed cause I thought releasing meant the Pokemon would be available in the wild lmao.
Male
Tennessee
Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted 4 Weeks Ago
5,620 posts
13 Years
When I play a new generation for the first time, I try to only use new pokemon. Shield was a bit harder to do that, since the new pokemon I wanted were scattered or sucked until they evolved, so it was hard to use them.

So yeah, I will almost always keep my starter on my team. I am glad that we were able to give our starter in Shield the Max Soup so it could Gygantamax insted of needing a new starter.

Amore

Seen 23 Hours Ago
Posted 5 Days Ago
5,237 posts
13.7 Years

I think the only time I've not used my starter was when I was really young I released a Charmander in FireRed cause I thought releasing meant the Pokemon would be available in the wild lmao.
I did that with my entire fully-trained team once! I wanted to battle them all with Rayquaza - kinda the reverse of what happened to capture it in the first place. Needless to say I soon found myself starting a new save.
Age 25
Male
Rijeka, Croatia
Seen December 7th, 2022
Posted October 10th, 2022
413 posts
4.8 Years
I get absolutely attached to my starter, and would never, EVER box my starter. Sometimes I leave it in the box because I want to train some specific Pokémon or am breeding Eggs, but it always returns and is the main Pokémon on the default team.

In the old days, my default team was pretty much the starter, the flier, the surfer and the general obstacle remover. Nowadays when you don't need HM users, I found myself getting very attached to my whole team - as in, I haven't raised many other Pokémon yet, haven't rotated much. I should, I like raising different Pokémon and feeling like each one I have is an individual, with memories of fun times had with it.

DragonKing48

The King Of All Dragons.

Male
The Kingdom Of Dragons.
Seen March 28th, 2023
Posted January 17th, 2023
444 posts
3.1 Years
Only stuff I'd say I'm attached to, besides all of my Dragons, is REALLY the ones I found in my old save file from X years back. Found the game months ago and have since restarted and transferred but they're easily 5-6 years old from possibly the very first time I played X. Not really a sentimental level, I just think it's cool they're that old lol.

Fairy

she / they
in the flowers
Seen January 27th, 2023
Posted January 6th, 2023
Had to really think about this one and it’s honestly a no for me? :(

The moment I find one of the same Pokémon with better stats, better IVs, better natures, shiny, etc I instantly replace the original. But I’ll only ‘trade up’ for the same Pokémon. Gliscor is never going to usurp Sylveon on my team but you better believe I’ll still grind for the best Gliscor I can and discard the rest. And that goes for every Pokémon. So.. I still cherish and get attached to the species but not the individual until it meets my standards, does that make sense?

I also like having a living Dex and will frequently replace -insert Pokémon- for a better -insert same Pokémon- on the regular and many of them are not personal favorites so.. idk.

Edit; ahhhh that makes me sound so calloused. It’s really not 100% the truth all the time either because I’ll keep sentimental Pokémon too that are separate from my dex and teams. I have a shiny Rayquaza that TwilightBlade gave me eons ago that I will always bring with me to the next gen because it means so much to me.
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Pendraflare

Age 32
Male
Pennsylvania
Seen July 30th, 2021
Posted March 29th, 2021
6,263 posts
9.8 Years
Ah yes, all too well in my case. When it comes to Nuzlockes, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone more dedicated to keeping their starter alive than me. :'D

Even in other challenges, I try to have them on my final team if possible. It just doesn't feel right otherwise.
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May someday resurface in full. We'll see what happens down the road!

Reyzadren

Arid trainer

Male
Laverre
Seen December 3rd, 2020
Posted December 3rd, 2020
360 posts
8.9 Years
No, they are never planned to be on the team in the first place.
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