Which Starters are Canon (Hoenn)

[Pokeplayer150]

This is probably the most controversial post I've made yet (heck, I have another on the way). I understand Wally never gets a starter but just having two characters in this poll while all others have three just seems too unbalanced, so that's why I'm adding him. Anyway, here's what I think:

Wally: Treecko

May: Torchic

Brendan: Mudkip

See ya!

 

[Enzap]

May almost always has Torchic in any media she appears. I would say Treecko is the most canon for Brendan, but that might just be because I'm used to May being my rival in Ruby so she always has the advantage. So I guess that would leave Mudkip for Wally if we're assuming he gets one too. Which works because he already has a Roselia but lacks a Water type.

 

[Sakuraa]

May-Torchic
Brendan-Either Treecko or Mudkip. I picture him more often with Mudkip, probably because of Ruby (Adventures).

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Yeah, I play as Brendan in the games, and for some reason the Grass-type starter going to the "main" character, should it be canon, just feels right to me. That would leave Torchic for May (going off of your rival picking the stronger Pokémon) and Mudkip for Wally. I think it fits.

 

[Pokeplayer150]

Yeah, I play as Brendan in the games, and for some reason the Grass-type starter going to the "main" character, should it be canon, just feels right to me. That would leave Torchic for May (going off of your rival picking the stronger Pokémon) and Mudkip for Wally. I think it fits.

I think this is another reason why I thought this poll would be controversial, since you're gender determines your rival. Though you're free to play the game the way you want, here's why I organized the poll the way I did. You see, the original trio in Kanto were all named after the different starter types: Leaf, Red, and Blue, and this ultimately corresponded to what starters seemed to be theirs canonically (check out my poll on Kanto for further info). This also seemed to set quite a few trends concerning roleplaying in the games. Namely, it set up who had the type advantage against whom (Rival is strong against Male player, Male player is strong against Female player, and Female Player is strong against rival. Because of this, whenever the opposite player character pose as the main rival, it only seems appropriate that the Female player is seen as the hero. But like I said, you're free to play the game however you like. But on a side note, I should have added options in the case of players who like to play as Brendan, sorry about that.

 

[Muur]

May Torchic
Brenden Mudkip
Wally Ralts

 

[drbasat]

Brendan has Mudkip all in is anime appereances. Ruby also uses Mudkip, so I guess Mudkip would be the canon starter of Brendan. May has Torchic for obvious reasons and Wally's starter is Ralts.

 

[Osprey]

Well, since there's a multiverse, you could say that any combo is canon...

May gets a Torchic, Brendan gets a Mudkip, and Treecko is left to an ambiguous fate.

 

[Envoy]

Far as I'm concerned, May's canon Starter is Torchic, Brendan's is Treecko, and Wally's is Ralts.

 

[aliveatnight]

I'd have to say Torchic for May, Mudkip for Brendan, Treeko for Wally.

This is all based off the fact that I used to always play as May and use a Torchic, so naturally Brendan would have Mudkip.
And now I just realized that in Omega Ruby I played as Brendan and choose Mudkip...

 

[BlackButterfree]

I actually started really thinking about this for all the generations after seeing framed Sugimori art of Yveltal with Serena, and Xerneas with Calem for sale on the pokemoncenter.com shop like an hour ago. So I decided to scour Bulbapedia and the official game sites for artwork that would definitively answer this.

My option isn't on here:

May: Mudkip
Brendan: Torchic
(And by default, Wally would have Treecko? LOL)

May is shown in artwork with both Mudkip (Wailmer Pail) and Torchic (Jirachi). But Brendan is shown with Torchic in Ruby/Sapphire artwork, and with Combusken in Emerald artwork, showing a closer link. So May gets Mudkip (which makes sense, since in OR/AS promotion, she seems to be the canon choice for the Aquatic Alpha Sapphire) and Brendan gets Torchic (which also makes sense, since he seems to be the canon choice for Omega Ruby). And Wally still gets to keep his all green team.

 

[Steffie]

Thanks to what starters I chose, I see May with Mudkip and Brendan with Treecko. As for Wally, I prefer him with Kirlia.

 

[Nick102]

Since May's anime counterpart started with Torchic, I can only assume it would be canon in the games for her game counterpart to have the same starter. Of course, it didn't stop me from making her choose Treecko when I first played Ruby.

 

[Destructive Idiot]

May would have to have been Torchic, based off of her incarnations from Pokémon Adventures and the anime.

Wally's canon in-game starter should be Ralts, although the idea of him getting Treecko as a rival who shares one of the region's starters would've also been awesome 'cause manga.

Why would you only include the options that resulted from one of the player character's genders for Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh? The hell's up with that?