Which Starters are Canon (Kanto)?

[Pokeplayer150]

This is something I've pondered about ever since I first played Pokemon. And, interestingly enough, I wasn't the only one who had written about this, albeit not on Bulbagarden. And now I want to hear what the rest of the community thinks about it. So here's my first poll on the subject and I'll make more asap. Before I leave off, here are my personal thoughts:

Red: Charmander

Blue: Squirtle

Leaf: Bulbasaur

I picked this arrangement not only because it goes well with their FRLG designs (the games that feature all of them) but also because it "coincidently" fits with their names (which, oddly enough, set somewhat of a roleplaying standard for me). The former will be used a lot in my later reasonings so to prevent myself from sounding redundant I'll try to refrain from doing that. That being said, see ya!

 

[Muur]

Isn't there a picture in the RB manual that shows that?

Red started with Pikachu anyway, since yellow is canon from GSCHGSS.

 

[BlackButterfree]

Isn't there a picture in the RB manual that shows that?

Red started with Pikachu anyway, since yellow is canon from GSCHGSS.

If we consider Origins as canon, then he caught every Pokémon so whichever one is his starter in the Kanto games is indiscernible since in the original Johto games he had all five starters (he had an Espeon, which is an evolution of Eevee, which was Gary/Blue/Green's starter in Yellow, and it was replaced in HG/SS by Lapras)

Also, artwork of Leaf's proto-design shows her with Blastoise. And in Pokémon Adventures (which came much later) she also has Blastoise.

So Red started with Venusaur (easy mode!) then Blue started with Charizard (hard mode!) and Leaf had Blastoise (normal mode!) I have no idea if this is for sure canon, but since official game artwork exists of these partnerships, then that's what I'll think.

 

[Pokeplayer150]

Isn't there a picture in the RB manual that shows that?

Red started with Pikachu anyway, since yellow is canon from GSCHGSS.

I don't think yellow is canon considering it's based off the anime.

 

[Muur]

Isn't there a picture in the RB manual that shows that?

Red started with Pikachu anyway, since yellow is canon from GSCHGSS.

I don't think yellow is canon considering it's based off the anime.

Red's team is based from yellow, like;

Pikachu starter
Gets the three starters
Eevee
Snorlax
and even Lapras

Isn't there a picture in the RB manual that shows that?

Red started with Pikachu anyway, since yellow is canon from GSCHGSS.

If we consider Origins as canon, then he caught every Pokémon so whichever one is his starter in the Kanto games is indiscernible since in the original Johto games he had all five starters (he had an Espeon, which is an evolution of Eevee, which was Gary/Blue/Green's starter in Yellow, and it was replaced in HG/SS by Lapras)

Also, artwork of Leaf's proto-design shows her with Blastoise. And in Pokémon Adventures (which came much later) she also has Blastoise.

So Red started with Venusaur (easy mode!) then Blue started with Charizard (hard mode!) and Leaf had Blastoise (normal mode!) I have no idea if this is for sure canon, but since official game artwork exists of these partnerships, then that's what I'll think.

that's the pic I was referring to

 

[BlackButterfree]

Red's team is based from yellow, like;

Pikachu starter
Gets the three starters
Eevee
Snorlax
and even Lapras

His Johto team only references the in-game event Pokémon (the four chooseable starters, Celadon City's Eevee, Silph Co.'s Lapras and Route 12/16's Snorlax) from Red/Green/Blue/Yellow. It doesn't confirm or deny any starter choice.

 

[Champion Red]

IMO, if people are trying to use the manga as proof of Red with Bulbasaur, Origins is the most recent retelling of R/B/Y so I think Red with Charizard is canon. And on the subject of HG/SS, in my opinion he borrowed Blue and Leaf's starters (Blastoise and Venusaur) in order to complete the Pokedex, and borrowed them again for training on Mt. Silver.
EDIT: Also I doubt Yellow is canon, in Origins it shows Red catching his Pikachu, and its common knowledge that Yellow was created for the anime

 

[Oshakpop]

Even with the old artwork, I believe Origins was supposed to kind of "retcon" them, so that Red had Charizard, Blue had Squirtle and Leaf would of had Bulbasaur.

 

[Jukain]

The canon is inconclusive in the games. Red has all three starters AND Pikachu. Note that Blue has none of them, nor does he have an eeveelution. The other sources have practically arranged them in all possible combinations.

 

[Enzap]

Keep in mind that Blue was originally Green in Japan. That being said, I still like Red with Charizard, Green/Blue/Gary with Blastoise, and Blue/Leaf with Venusaur.

 

[BettyN]

I picked the second option, because that was what the early beta art depicted them with, but this is my real answer (which wasn't an option):

Red's starter was Pikachu, no getting around it. It's what GSC and HGSS depict as his main ace, and those are the only depictions that matter as far as game canon is concerned. I know a lot of people don't think Yellow is canon, and don't think Pikachu is as "cool" or as "worthy" of Red as a "badass" Charizard, but it is what it is. Why would Red have an overleveled unevolved Pikachu as his ace if it wasn't his starter and was just some random Pokémon he caught in Viridian Forest? Besides, it's not like his canon team still doesn't have a Charizard.

As for Blue, if Red got Pikachu, then Blue's starter was Eevee and it's probably sitting somewhere in a PC box right now. Based on GSC, Blue's canon team would be a mix of Yellow and Red/Blue with the starter from Yellow and the rest of his team coming from Red/Blue, and since RB demonstrated via a certain infamous Raticate that Blue was willing to box former team members, him eventually boxing his Eevee wouldn't be too out of the question (especially, if he evolved it into Flareon), hence the reason why he doesn't have an Eeveelution in GSC. This is all an educated guess, of course.

As for Leaf? Well, based on her non-appearance in HGSS, she doesn't exist in the same universe as Red, so her canon starter is just whatever his canon starter was. If she was a separate character though, I'd probably give her Clefairy, based on it being the franchise's original planned mascot and a sort-of "feminine" counterpart to Pikachu (both stone evos, both rare in the wild, both got babies in Gen 2).

 

[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.

Obviously, we have the beta art that shows Red with Bulbasaur, pre-Leaf with Squirtle and Blue with Charmander. That to me is the canon, Pikachu be damned Of course, I'm kidding about the Pikachu comment. I love the little guy. But yeah, the only art I could find of any of those three with a starter was that image. And since it was drawn by Sugimori himself, I'll take it as canon.

 

[Destructive Idiot]

Determined by the player. Game Freak wants you to choose which one you prefer, although I like to think that Red chose Charmander (unless the storyline follows Yellow Version; I heavily doubt it, given that Blue never uses any of his Pokémon that were exclusive to it ever again). The Pokémon Adventures manga depicts Red as having chosen Bulbasaur, although it's a very different course of action that led to him receiving it from what you do in the games. Pokémon Origins shows Red selecting Charmander.

 

[Saucedo]

I believe Pokemon Origins over rides HGSS. HGSS red just uses a fully evolved version of Ash's Orange Islands team. (The Pikachu even has the same moveset as anime pikachu when HGSS came out)

Pokemon Origins is the most recent depiction of Red and it clearly shows him picking Charmander and catching Pikachu at a later date.

 

[jayrachi]

If we're going to delve into multiple universes here then I assume Origins Red and HG/SS Red are two separate versions of the same character, one for the "Megaverse" and one for the Not-Megaverse(?)

I assumed FR/LG overrides Yellow's canon but I guess that can be debated. Seeing as Red can catch every Pokemon I don't think it would be impossible for him to have traded his way to attaining all three starter Pokemon, and just happened to become close friends with a Pikachu, but I guess it being the team from Yellow could also make perfect sense too.

 

[Sakuraa]

I go by Pokemon Adventures and the early character/starter artwork for this one.

Red: Bulbasaur
Blue: Charmander
Leaf/Green: Squirtle

 

[Boshi234]

Is this ''Leaf'' character canon?
I do not know for sure but I know that the kid from the Kanto games has all the starters if HGSS is in the same continuity as Red/Blue & Yellow.

 

[Destructive Idiot]

I'd always thought that the remakes discount Yellow entirely. I'd like to think that at least one of the FireRed and LeafGreen games are canon. If only one is, I imagine Red as having selected Charmander and trading (not necessarily getting a Blastoise from Blue, whose name is Green in Japanese; additionally, it's clearly portrayed in Pokémon Origins that Green selected Squirtle partly because he didn't want his name to define him as a person) to receive the others. If both occurred, I sometimes imagined it would've been awesome for Red to have defeated Blue in FireRed before being defeated by Leaf in LeafGreen, trading Pokémon with both of them, then going to Mt. Silver to train. The starter Pokémon would either be Leaf's Venusaur, Red's Charizard, and Blue's Blastoise, or depend on whatever you as a Trainer chose. Part of the reason I feel an association between Blue and Blastoise is that not only is Gyarados (the Pokémon he wouldn't have on his team if he chose Squirtle) his lowest-leveled Pokémon in HeartGold and SoulSilver; if you have a rematch with him, he never uses it again.

 

[Zierin705]

According to Bulbapedia, in Pokémon Red, Green, & Blue, if the player were to leave Pallet Town without taking a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak's Lab (which is impossible during normal gameplay for reasons that should be painfully obvious to any sensible person), the game, instead of breaking down, acts as if the player had taken a Bulbasaur. The rival would, therefore, have a Charmander as their starter.
Furthermore, as mentioned by @BlackButterfree, Ken Sugimori, the art director and primary character designer for the Pokémon franchise, drew a picture of Red, Blue (known as Green in Japan), and an early version of Leaf facing off against each other, with Red commanding a Bulbasaur, Blue owning a Charmander, and Leaf having a Squirtle.
With all of this in mind, I'd consider Bulbasaur to be the "default" starter for Red. From there, I'd conclude that Blue would pick a Charmander just to spite Red, while the Squirtle would go to either Professor Oak or Leaf, depending on whether or not Leaf exists (if she does, Squirtle leaves (heh) with Leaf; otherwise, Squirtle remains with Professor Oak).

 

[SushiBurrito]

Well, I think everyone can agree it's not Squirtle.

Assuming Pikachu was his starter because its his first Pokemon out in the Johto games and at the highest level is misguided thinking. It's at the highest level in order to A. Acknowledge Pikachu is the series mascot and B. It needs to be at a higher level because its so much weaker than his other Pokemon. In-universe there's no reason Red couldn't have caught Pikachu in Viridian Forest and favored it to the point of it being a higher level

Yellow is not the canon game. Blue has his Red/Blue team not his Yellow team and Red's Pikachu stays inside its pokeball.

Early on I think Bulbasaur was supposed to be his canon starter as seen in Pokemon Adventures and early Sugimoro artwork but as Charizard became the breakout mon of the Kanto starters its all been implied Charmander is his canon starter. Not only is it the one Pokemon Origins gives him but its the only starter Ash got that fully evolved and we found out in the Silver Conference that Gary picked Squirtle in reference to the "Rival picks starter based On what has the advantage over the hero's starter"

Either way it was never Squirtle.