How does Professor Oak obtain the starter Pokemon?

[EspurrsThoughts]

I was wondering this for a while and could never come up with a conclusion... So i figured to ask you guys :3

 

[Mega Missingno]

One of them were probably his starters, when he was a trainer, so he probably bred the pokemon he gives away through the original

 

[LoudSilence]

Probably caught them, it's how you normally get Pokemon, no? :)

On the real though, multiples of the starters are very obtainable in the real game so I don't think it'd be very complicated for a man who's been all around the world on a journey to get Pokemon which are slightly uncommon. Prof. Oak is a man who's been around!

 

[Banz]

In the anime there are breeders who breed and raise the starters to a particular level before giving them to the Professors, as shown in The Mudkip Mission.

Or maybe Professor Oak catches/breeds them himself, he does have the resources to do so.

 

[«Chuckles»]

It is said they are rare not unobtainable. So they probably searched far and wide to find them.

 

[Alesteir]

They have breeding farms probably

 

[KittenKoder]

They have breeding farms probably

That was what I was thinking. Just breeding them would give you any number you wanted.

 

[moon]

In the anime there are breeders who breed and raise the starters to a particular level before giving them to the Professors, as shown in The Mudkip Mission.

In the anime, and maybe in gen V and VI games too, this is probably the case. It seems like part of the professors' job is to hand out one of three starter pokémon to new trainers. However, I never really liked that explanation the anime gave. There are so many trainers around the world that didn't start with a "starter pokémon". Why didn't they?

I prefer to go by the games' actual explanations instead. Professor Oak in the Kanto games says he only has these three pokémon left since his time as a trainer. This might indicate that pokémon (in the gameverse at least) don't old in the same way or at the same rate as humans do, as Oak was a trainer when he was young and is now old, while Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander sure seemed pretty young and lively still at the start of the games. Or, the starter trio were actually offspring of the older pokémon he used to have, that feels more probable really. So in the games, they never say he has tons of starter pokémon to give out. He has those three and gives one each to his grandson and Red so that they can start their pokémon trainer lives with quality pokémon and probably as a thanks for doing the pokédex quest for him.

Elm specializes in pokémon breeding and evolution (at least in the original games, before professor Rowan butted in) and happens to research three very rare pokémon. He needs help to raise them and asks a local kid that he apparently trusts. This is at least the story in Crystal, I think it was somewhat worse worded in G/S :p

Birch likely happens to be studying three rare pokémon as well, since he carries them in his bag when Ruby/Sapphire has to save him at the beginning of the game. He gave one of the species to Brendan/May already and gave R/S another as a thanks. Don't think it's mentioned that he would have some kind of supply source of starter trio pokémon either.

As for Rowan, I don't really remember what his story about the trio is. Perhaps this is where the games are beginning to close in on the anime... At least in Unova and Kalos, don't they say that "these three pokémon are what new trainers can choose from in this region" just like the anime does? In that case, it makes me a bit sad, haha. I liked better when the pokémon professors weren't pokémon-spreading machines and rather had a real reason for giving out a pokémon to an aspiring trainer.

But yeah, if I would have to adopt another view, I'd probably agree that there would be breeders that specifically supply professors with starter pokémon.

 

[Shadeh]

kinda cool to actually find this all out, heh, but yes, there is one question that I want answered. Why do the professors always choose the same combo of pokemon? (Grass-Fire-Water)

 

[PkmnTrainerElio]

I never pondered this... Maybe he catches them and he lies that they aren't obtainable and are rare, or as people above me have stated, there's possible breeding farms, since Gen II there's been day cares where you can leave two Pokemon.

 

[Shadeh]

I never pondered this... Maybe he catches them and he lies that they aren't obtainable and are rare, or as people above me have stated, there's possible breeding farms, since Gen II there's been day cares where you can leave two Pokemon.

If they aren't rare, then how come when you search up their location on the poke-dex it says "UNKNOWN"? That has always struck me.

 

[Brendino]

I've always just assumed that starters were obtained through breeding, either from Pokemon that the professors own themselves, or just from specialized breeders. Though now with the introduction of the Friend Safari in X/Y, certain starter Pokemon can seemingly be caught, so it very well may be possible that there are other areas we don't know about that these Pokemon inhabit.

kinda cool to actually find this all out, heh, but yes, there is one question that I want answered. Why do the professors always choose the same combo of pokemon? (Grass-Fire-Water)

I've always just assumed that since the Grass-Fire-Water triangle makes the most sense in and out of the games, there was no point in changing it. Plus, why would they change something that's worked for the first 6 generations now?

 

[Demigod]

It is the one of the Pokemon left from his wide array of Pokemon caught that are considered on the easier side to train due to their low level and power. In the anime Pikachu was rebelious to Ash because he wasn't considered an easy one to train like a starter.

 

[TheRestlessSoul]

I've always wondered this actually, but the breeding suggestions makes a lot of sense :)

However, would they be free range pokemon or caged..?