LogFAQs > #879715385

Zeus posted...

First, those are all design choices. Starter Pokemon are deliberately more well-rounded and "stronger" than most other Pokemon (although the lack of specialization hurts them in the metagame). Starters, like legendaries, aren't just "any random Pokemon"

Second, more than half of all non-starter 3-form Pokemon have a special condition evolution. Gen 1 alone contained 4 families with trade evos and something like 5 or 7 with stone evos (and a LOT of Pokemon had stone evos at that time). Gen 2 added item+trade evos and happiness evos. There are a few 3-form families *without* a single level-up evolution, such as Magmar and Electabuzz.

I legitimately don't remember why evolution criteria this is relevant to the topic...

For one thing, leveling up to evolve is not unique. Just because less than half of 3-form Pokemon have other conditions to evolve, doesn't make starters unique.

Zeus posted...

Except it is the same Pokemon. All of the other values are maintained. It doesn't re-roll a single value between forms. IVs don't change. The gender check data remains the same. More importantly, a Pokemon's evolutions are AS MUCH a part of it as its move-set. You can't separate it. That'd be like ignoring typing.

Yeah, gonna end up talking in circles on this one too. I'm trying to draw you the line of what you can and can't separate. Of course you can't ignore typing. That's pertinent to that specific Pokemon. Same with movesets, EXP scale, and all that. But the line is drawn when you start looking at evolutions because you're looking at a different Pokemon. When voting for Charmander, you vote for it because it's fire type and has fire moves. Those are Charmander facts. Then, when you look at Charmeleon, you are no longer looking at Charmander.

Zeus posted...

Except no, because you start with those moves any more than you start with your charmander being charizard. You level it up, it gets moves. You level it up, it evolves. Same shit. When you pick a starter, you're picking it partly for its moves and evo. Same for picking other Pokemon. If I decide to use a Munchlax because it evolves into Snorlax, I'm doing it because Snorlax is great which overcomes Munchlax's stats. It's different from Dunsparce which sucks and doesn't evolve.

Which is a reasonable point. But this poll is about that Pokemon. As I mentioned in my last bit, when you vote for Charmander because you like Charizard, you're contaminating the poll because you aren't voting for Charmander.

I'd also like to share the early results of a poll I posted yesterday:

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/3-poll-of-the-day/75378629

In Michaelecole's poll, Charmander won 35-20. Pretty decided victory, roughly 63% to 36%. However, in my poll posted above, Pikachu won/is winning, with a score of 13-10 (results may change by the time I post this though). Granted, the poll hasn't been open for even 24 hours yet, but the percentages are nearly reversed (Pikachu 56%, Charmander 43%). I made it abundantly clear to ignore evolutions. And what happened? The poll results nearly swapped. I'm not saying it's conclusive support in my favor by any means, but it's definitely a strong point to consider. It shows that people are voting for Charizard in Michaelcole's poll.
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