More Starter opinions:
With the Sinnoh Starters, I feel like the majority of folks seem to feel they're perhaps the best in terms of feeling the most solid and all-around decent. I don't know too many people who consider them their favorite Starters, but I don't know a lot of people who seem to hate them either. At this point, Game Freak began to make the Starters a bit more...high concept, you could say. Before, excluding Blaziken, the Starters had pretty simple elements---an animal with a plant/fire/water element added to it, and not much beyond that. Not that that's a bad thing either way, nor are having them be a bit more interesting bad either, it comes down to personal preference. But anyway, with Sinnoh, the Starters all have sort of that extra element to them---Torterra isn't as in your face as the others, and probably is the closest to feeling like a classic Starter, but draws elements from the various World Turtle myth, Infernape of course draws from Sun Wukong, and Empoleon, perhaps two Gens too soon, is inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte as both its English and Japanese (Emperte) indicate.
Also, for the first time ever, the Starters are all Dual-types! This was very cool, and while Infernape being Fire/Fighting again sort of detracts from that, at this point it wasn't too big of an issue since it was only the second. People don't seem to give him too much shit for this, although now that he's the second in a trio of Fire/Fighting, it stands out more. The Dual-typing here is a bit odd, though, as it sort of fucks up the Starter Type Triangle, especially when it comes to Empoleon. But I guess Game Freak realized that the Starter vs. Starter fight only happens in the beginning, and by the time you've got the Final Form you have enough Pokemon to not make the rival battles Starter vs. Starter anyway.
Torterra is my favorite Starter Pokemon of the series (I especially like Grotle), and I think it has a very simple design, a mix of the Venusaur in having a large, somewhat passive appearance to it, while feeling a bit more feral and tough like Sceptile as well. Some people might be bothered by the fact it's another "turtle" Starter Pokemon but Turtwig and Squirtle are easily different enough for it not to be an issue. Torterra is the first, and only Grass/Ground Pokemon in the series, which is sort of odd...I mean, Grass/Ground seems like a very natural Type Combination it's surprising we've only had one of them throughout the whole series. Anyway, Torterra is an awesome Pokemon, very powerful looking without being too over the top.
Infernape is our second Fire/Fighting Pokemon, and the only Sinnoh Starter without a unique Type---like I said, it doesn't bother me too much. I'm not an expert on Pokemon gameplay exactly in terms of the meta-game, but I get the impression that Infernape plays similarly to Blaziken, and doesn't have enough going for it to really measure up to Blaziken who seems to be a fan-favorite overall especially with a Mega. Infernape feels like a second banana in that regard, and it's unfortunate since I think each of the Starters should have their place, but with 18 of them now, obviously some are going to get left behind. To be honest, I thought the Chimchar Arc in the Diamond and Pearl anime was one of the high-points of the entire show, and greatly endeared me to the Pokemon, but to be honest I'm not exactly a big fan of the line's appearance. Anyway, it's based on Sun Wukong/Son Goku, which is neat and thanks to Dragon Ball it's a motif that most folks will get regardless of their location, and thanks to being a monkey, they easily incorporated more humanoid elements like armor-looking features to it without feeling too humanized.
Empoleon is also a unique Type combination, never been done before, never been done since, and while Water/Steel isn't as natural of a Type Combination, it's surprising he's the only one. Being Steel/Water, he actually has no Starter Type weaknesses, but to make up for this he's weak to Ground and Fighting---the secondary Typings of the other Starters, I guess to balance him out. Empoleon like Infernape goes for a higher motif, being based on Napoleon, but like Infernape this element is nicely integrated, due to penguins being creatures that have a vaguely humanoid appearance to them that giving them more human elements is quite easy to implement. I like the Piplup line as a whole, not my favorites, but they're pretty good Pokemon with a nice motif that fits with their species nicely. A lot of people seemed sort of disappointed he didn't become the expected Water/Ice like people thought, but I think the Typing they went with was a good choice.
Now, Unova Starters---I feel like a lot of folks were, and still are, disappointed in them. The biggest issue seems to be they feel a bit lacking in terms of Typing coming off the Sinnoh Starters, two mono-types and yet another Fire/Fighting Pokemon. The leaking of them also seemed to kill the hype for some reason, with a lot of folks seemingly disappointed in their designs and not believing them to be real. Finally, with so many new Pokemon in Unova, there were plenty of alternatives to use when it came to new Pokemon that a lot of folks seemed to drop the Starters. I think though by now, folks have warmed up to them a bit more however.
According to Nintendo Dream interviews, the Unova Pokemon to represent the multiculturalism of Unova each drew from a certain culture---Western (and we had really stupid people thinking this meant cowboys), Chinese, and Japanese specifically. To an American audience, Chinese and Japanese being separate while Western is grouped together feels odd, but from a Japanese standpoint it makes more sense, and likely if Game Freak was American we'd see America as its own category and the other categories being "European" and "Asian".
Snivy was the fan favorite upon being revealed, and quickly gained memetic status---which, to me, really put me off the Pokemon since I found the memes about "Smugleaf" to be wholly annoying. Despite this, being a Grass-fan, I went with Snivy upon my first play through, and found the Pokemon wholly disappointing. Beyond that, I think its middle form, Servine, has a very weak design. But that's my opinion. Anyway, Snivy like Chikorita has sort of a feminine element to it, as the anime once again pushed, but less cute and more mature than Chikorita was, but this seemed to be something a lot of folks liked as opposed to Chikorita who I felt the cuteness was a detractor for a lot of folks, especially the boys back then. Snivy is a snake...of sorts...and goes for a more Treecko-line look compared to the usual Grass-Starter quadrupeds, which makes it stand out. It also, once more too early, uses a French element incorporating elements of the Fleur-De-Lis, and a French noble. I think the motif is actually pretty clever and well implemented, I just don't like the design. Serperior may appear to be not too impressive, but its Hidden Ability (I forgot, is this legal yet?) Contrary makes it stand-out and gives it its place in the battling scene.
With Tepig, a lot of people seemed to be pushing for it becoming a Dark-type, and looking at Emboar when it leaked with its darker elements, people seemed to have hope---of course, Emboar ended up as Fire/Fighting for the third time, and its PokeDex shows that its personality is the polar opposite of the usual Dark Pokemon. I like Emboar, though, repeating Type or not, and unlike Infernape its got a slightly different feel visually and mechanically from Blaziken going for a more bulky fighter over the previous graceful Fire/Fighting Pokemon. It's probably my favorite Fire Starter. It's got a Chinese theme, and a lot of folks say it's Zhu Bajie from Journey to the West following Infernape, but that seems doubtful as its personality doesn't really mesh with how Zhu Bajie was depicted. In fact, I believe Game Freak has said it's based on the Three Kingdoms, another Chinese epic, although the exact character he's supposed to be has never been said...my guess is perhaps Guan Yu, described as having a long beard and a red face, would fit the best. Emboar definitely has a very humanoid appearance to them, and being a Pig it's more noticeable than Infernape was since a pig doesn't have such a body shape normally, but I think its bulk balances that out from looking too..."furry"...since humanoid animals tend to have a lithe appearance, while Emboar still has a sort of animalistic quality.
Oshawott seems to have the most contention among the Unova Starters. When Oshawott was first revealed, his blank stare in the Sugimori Art made him seem dull...but opinions seemed to change when we discovered who could use his shell like a sword, and the show showed that he could be fairly animated. No surprise B2W2's art of him actually showed both these off. And everything was good for a bit, but then we got Samurott, who bugged a lot of folks due to throwing away most of the design elements of his previous forms. On his own, Samurott is easily a cool Pokemon---a giant sea lion who has a shell blade---but it's easy to see why the big change in appearance may have thrown people off. A lot of people were hoping he'd be Water/Fighting, perhaps to offset the chance of Fire/Fighting, but alas, that didn't happen---especially as people argued making a sword-wielding quadruped Pokemon Fighting would feel off. But then we actually got a Water/Fighting Pokemon in Keldeo that was just that! Having armor, they could've pulled an Empoleon and made him Water/Steel as well, but I guess Game Freak realized how infuriated fans would be and just went with mono-Water. Anyway, Oshawott is adorable as fuck, and Samurott is a cool Pokemon in its own right, but I still think people are bugged by the jump in appearance. It's probably the most radical Starter evolution. Anyway, Samurott is the Japanese-inspired Pokemon, and is obviously a samurai.
Kalos Pokemon are the newest set, and while the jury is still out on their appearance and designs, I think for one they feel very well thought-out and compliment one another and Kalos overall. First, they're all Dual-types again, and each of them have a fairly unique Dual-type as well that isn't seen too much. Furthermore, these Dual-types have a reverse relationship with one another (although slightly different from the normal Triangle due to the Dark immunity), and their Dual-typings don't effect the primary Typings whatsoever. Second, they have a neat theme in being based on traditional RPG classes (Fighter/Knight, Wizard/Mage, Thief/Ninja), and each Starter feels like they fit nicely alongside the other two, although some would argue they feel a bit distant from most of the other Starters. I think a lot of folks don't care for how humanoid they ended up being, but I don't think it can be argued Game Freak didn't put a lot of thought and care into them this time around, they feel very complete whereas sometimes the Starters could come off as "we gotta do this for tradition, so let's get it done with."
Chespin I feel was the most popular upon being revealed, I think due to how unique it looks among Grass Starters, being the first non-reptilian giving it a different feel, although there was a sense of deja vu since it does seem like it was going for fans of Oshawott, and the role of the two in the anime certainly helped push this resemblance. On the other hand, its evolutions seem to get a lot of crap for being a bit dorky looking, and in Chesnaught's case, having such a big jump in appearance, but I like them myself. It has a defensive element to it with the cool "Spiky Shield" trademark move, and I think it does a good job at feeling like a "knight" Pokemon. Although some have noticed Chesnaught feels a bit "naked" for a knight, leading to speculation a possible Mega might make it feel more armored and complete.
Fennekin's biggest claim to fame was that it broke the Fire/Fighting curse, and upon its reveal I think a lot of folks took a liking to it because they figured, no way can Game Freak make this Pokemon Fire/Fighting. Like Chikorita and Snivy, it's sort of coded as "feminine", which once more the Anime pushed this in terms of how it represented the main one. Fennekin is perhaps more explicit though, as it becomes the very Magical Girl-esque Braixen, although Delphox dials it down a bit and has a more gender-neutral wizened look. Personally...I'm not a fan of the human elements. They look a bit clunky, and I think there's a fair criticism to be made that Braixen in particular is going for the "otaku appeal" you could say, although I actually think it has a decent design. It's Delphox who I just don't care for, only in the Global Link art do I find myself satisfied with its design, its game, Sugimori, and Anime appearances just don't do it for me. Anyway, it's the mage, and feels sort of like Ninetales+, as Ninetales seems like it should've been part-Psychic as well with all the mystical elements of it. Having two fire foxes isn't an issue either for me, since one goes for a more Japanese-inspired take on them, while the other has a more Eastern feel.
Froakie was met with some resistance I think, because while it has a solid design, yet another Water-type frog didn't really excite folks. But then, in the end, Greninja easily ended up being the most popular Kalos Starter...some may argue TPC sort of pushed his popularity, but even before all the hype with Smash and the Anime, I feel people legitimately liked him the most so I think TPC just accurately predicted people would love a ninja frog. When Froakie was first revealed, a lot of people thought he was supposed to be some sort of composer or scholarly type, but then people figured out his design was supposed to resemble a classic Japanese thief, and most people accurately predicted he'd end up being Ninja-like since frogs have a connection to them and all. Personally I wondered if he was gonna be another Chinese Novel reference and end up referencing the bandits from The Water Margin! The line has a very solid design, ALTHOUGH I do agree losing the bubbles for a tongue scarf was sort of a weird choice, but most folks seem to have grown to just accept it. And now we have the mysterious Ash Greninja...
