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Alternative starter trios

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    • they/them
    • Seen Oct 15, 2024
    If you would put together a trio from existing pokemon (not fakemon) to be a starter trio in whichever pokemon media you prefer, games or anime or manga or other, what 3 pokemon would you pick and why?

    They don't have to be grass-fire-water type (:
     
    as "overpowered" as it may be to do so, I still think it'd be interesting to start off with three Dragon-type Pokemon. There's enough Dragon-types that you can mix things up however you like I think; Bagon can be one, Dratini can be one, Deino can be the other, etc.

    Generally speaking though, having Dragon-type starter trios would be hella interesting.
     
    I often think about this. The two I like most are Ice, Flying, Fighting and Water, Ground, Electric. For example:

    Vanillite, Vanillish, Vanilluxe
    Pikipek, Trumbeak, Toucannon
    Machop, Machoke, Machamp

    Spheal, Sealeo, Walrein
    Sandile, Krokorok, Krookodile
    Elekid, Electabuzz, Electivire
     
    Idk if, at this point, anything could be as iconic as Grass-Fire-Water, but if I had to come up with a new one maybe Rock-Fighting-Flying
     
    With the existing starters, I think Rowlet, Torchic, and Piplup would make a cute trio, since all three of them are birds.
     
    Larvitar, Bagon, Beldum Pseudo trio

    Dratini, Goomy, Deino Dragon trio

    Marill, Houndour, Electrike Water, Fire, Electric trio two staged because screw Azurill

    Teddiursa, Cubchoo, Pancham bear trio

    Dialga, Palkia, Giratina not really
     
    I would definitely pick one of three Dragon pokemon. Bagon, Gible and Deino.
     
    The valid type triangles, aside from Grass/Fire/Water, are:

    - Rock/Fighting/Flying
    - Fire/Rock/Steel
    - Grass/Poison/Ground

    The first is a bit awkward, as most low-level Flying Pokemon are Normal/Flying, which would nullify the resistance to Fighting. Still, it's the most interesting as it doesn't repeat any of the standard starter types.

    The hardest part with using existing Pokemon is balancing out the evolution requirements and such. The best trio I could come up with would be something like:

    Geodude/Machop/Pidgey
    Roggenrola/Timburr/Pidove

    etc.
     
    When thinking of starter trios, all of these would be in different spin off games/other media which would differ from the main series.

    Normal starter trio:
    Minncino, Aipom, Munchlax

    Desert Trio - for a desert region like Orre:
    Cacturn, Hippopatas and Dwebble

    Also, starter trios for Alola which aren't the ones we have already. Since my personal theory is that all of the starter trios we have are endangered/extremely rare, hence why we don't encounter them in the wild ingame (ignoring Friend Safari), what would the Kahunas usually gift to new trainers?

    Possible trios:
    Wimpod, Cubone (evolves into a fire type) and Fomantis

    Dewpider, Salandit and Morelull

    Poliwag, Fletchling and Bounsweet

    Rockruff, Crabrawler and Komala

    Grimer, Meowth and Diglett
     
    For anyone wondering, the non-starter Pokémon with similar evolution patterns to existing starter Pokémon are:
    1. Pidgey → Pidgeotto (Level 18) → Pidgeot (Level 36)
    2. Mareep → Flaaffy (Level 15) → Ampharos (Level 30)
    3. Ralts → Kirlia (Level 20) → Gardevoir (Level 30)
    4. Slakoth → Vigoroth (Level 18) → Slaking (Level 36)
    5. Starly → Staravia (Level 14) → Staraptor (Level 34)
    6. Shinx → Luxio (Level 15) → Luxray (Level 30)
    7. Lillipup → Herdier (Level 16) → Stoutland (Level 32)
    8. Fletchling → Fletchinder (Level 17) → Talonflame (Level 35)
    …So, you can't really form a trio of interlocking counters with this like you could with the official starters, but it's worth keeping in mind!

    It's also impossible to exactly replicate the dynamic between the three traditional starter types using other types, come to think of it, since you'd need to have a set of three types where each of the three types has a Resist/Resist/Weak distribution of matchups with the types in the set, with each type in the set being the weakness of exactly one of the three.
     
    Um

    Leafeon
    Flareon
    Vaporeon

    ^^?
     
    I'm going to go out on a limb and do just a little region juggling, but I've had this one "common mixer" in mind for a few years for a fanfiction I haven't yet gotten to write:
    - Houndour (Dark/Fire)
    - Shroomish (Fighting/Grass)
    - Slowpoke (Psychic/Water)

    Still covers all of your bases, and you get another round-robin of type advantages that are both traditional and invert upon evolution once shroomish evolves into belroom.
     
    After a bit of thinking I decided to look at Pokémon that had three evolutions, evolved at around the same level. One Bug, one Grass, one Rock. Venipede, Hoppip, and Larvitar being the closest.
     
    In the fan-game I'm making, I'm using Spoink, Phanpy & Teddiursa.
    All three have pretty comparable stat totals, and they are all neutral against each other. The animals they are based on all have rather keen senses, mainly their smell. So I'm using that as an additional theme for them.

    With some touch ups to their exact evolution levels, base stats, and movepool, I think these three make for interesting partner Pokemon.
     
    I'd say Staryu, Vulpix, and Sunkern. Weird trio, and they all need elemental stones to evolve.
     
    Ive always wanted to see a Fire, Ice and Water trio. Fire hurts Ice, Ice hurts Water(via Freeze dry move) and Water hurts Fire like always. For the trio, I'd do Vulpix for Fire, Alolan Vulpix for Ice(learns Freeze Dry naturally as opposed to breeding in the move) and a pure Water type like Panpour. All three starters do not evolve unless given an Evolution Stone.
     
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