Greetings, dear pokecharmers. So if you're reading this, I'm guessing that you have recently made an original character, and you're wondering what pokemon they should have. You probably wanna give them your favourites, right? Charizard, lucario, whichever eeveelution's winning this week, a cool-looking dragon type... Well, stop right there. Your character's team should not reflect your preference in pokemon, unless your character is MEANT to be you. Here's how to create unique pokemon teams, which reflect your character's personality, goals, interests, and the message you want to send with your fanfiction and/or RP.
First, let's talk about plot. What is your character's story about? What are their goals? Their interests? Their passions? What are they hoping to acheive by the end of the story? If your character is a trainer, aiming to become the champion, then you ought to choose solid pokemon, which can hit hard in battle. If your character is a performer or coordinator, then you ought to choose prettier pokemon, and it doesn't really matter if they can hold their own in battle or not. For example, it would be fine to give a coordinator or performer a flareon, because it is very objectively cute, and can do some cool-looking tricks with fire, but if your character is a trainer, then flareon would not be a good choice, because it typically cannot hold its own in battle, and there are many, far better fire types out there. That being said, if you give your character pokemon which you know are weak, and/or unsuited for their goals, then you can tie that nicely into the message of your story.
Now, we'll move onto the message of your story. What are you trying to say through your RP or fanfiction? If your story is about triumphing over weakness, and becoming powerful, then magikarp or feebas would be perfect choices for your character's team. If your story is about loving yourself and accepting imperfections, then an objectively ugly pokemon, like pignite or koffing would be a good choice for your character's team, and so on.
Next, what about your character? What pokemon do they want, and how far are they willing to go to get them? Do they catch whatever they run into along the way? Do they spend weeks and months just searching for the one that they want? Do they catch filler pokemon until they get the ones that they want? Do they care if the pokemon that they want to catch want to be with them? Do they buy their pokemon? Does your character care about individual pokemon, or just their species? For example, if your character finds and looks after a random pokemon egg, and they have no idea what will hatch from it, then that shows that they care about individual pokemon, and aren't too picky about what ends up on their team. But if your character actively chooses and/or buys an egg for a specific pokemon, then that shows that they only care about the species, not the individual. Be sure to choose pokemon that reflect who your character is, too. For instance, I gave my OC, Kemen, two vulpixes, one regular, and one Alolan, because he is a performer, and he loves to create dramatic effects in his freestyle performances. (And what's more dramatic than throwing a fire stone and an ice stone at your pokemon, causing them to evolve mid-performance?)
Finally, who gets to decide which pokemon your character is allowed to have? If your character is a minor, it's probably going to be their parents. Do they let them get a starter from professor-insert-tree-here? Or, if your character doesn't live near a professor, do their parents catch a starter for them? Do your character's parents get a gym leader or trial captain to catch a starter for your character? Do their parents support their career path, and as such, give them a well-suited pokemon, or do they deliberately give them a bad pokemon, so that they will come home and choose a more realistic goal?
Now, I'm going to tell you why I picked the pokemon that I did for my OC, Daniel:
Serperior: As a starter pokemon, Serperior is very solid, plus, it is objectively pretty, slender, and can learn cool-looking moves for Daniel's contests. It also reflects where Daniel is from (Unova).
Mightyena: Mightyena objectively cool-looking, but it is the worst of its type in battle, but Daniel doesn't mind, because he's not a trainer, and battling's not important to him. Mightyena is more of a first-round appeal pokemon, or pet to Daniel, seeing as she can look cool, but because of her species, she cannot battle.
Shiny Honchkrow: Being in a wheelchair, Daniel gets a lot of negative attention during his contests. He feels that his performances and talents are often ignored, and he is often hailed as an 'inspiration', which he hates, and knows that he's only called that because he's disabled. When he uses his shiny honchkrow, the fact that he's in a wheelchair is ignored, most of the time, seeing as the crowd are often distracted by the fact that he owns a shiny. Having a shiny allows to stand out in a good way.
Plusle: This pokemon was hatched from a random egg that Daniel found, showing that he cares about individual over species. That, and it serves as a counterpart to his rival's minun.
(Another note on this: I am aware that virtually any opposite pokemon species could have worked for this, but I chose plusle and minun because of their abilities, plus, and minus. This means that when Daniel and Sophie battle with their plusle and minun, the pokemon gain temporary stat boosts)
Lopunny: Chosen as Daniel's service pokemon, on account of the fact that it is just tall enough to push his wheelchair, and not strong enough to accidently hurt him when it is trying to help him. It also has posable fingers behind its fluff, which help when popping his joints back into place.
Machoke: This pokemon can be used to create unique appeals, which match Daniel's performance style. Since he likes to show off the natural qualities of his pokemon, machoke's strength is often the centre of his appeals in contests.
Let me know if this guide has helped you, and be sure to let me know in the comments which pokemon you picked for your character, and why!
First, let's talk about plot. What is your character's story about? What are their goals? Their interests? Their passions? What are they hoping to acheive by the end of the story? If your character is a trainer, aiming to become the champion, then you ought to choose solid pokemon, which can hit hard in battle. If your character is a performer or coordinator, then you ought to choose prettier pokemon, and it doesn't really matter if they can hold their own in battle or not. For example, it would be fine to give a coordinator or performer a flareon, because it is very objectively cute, and can do some cool-looking tricks with fire, but if your character is a trainer, then flareon would not be a good choice, because it typically cannot hold its own in battle, and there are many, far better fire types out there. That being said, if you give your character pokemon which you know are weak, and/or unsuited for their goals, then you can tie that nicely into the message of your story.
Now, we'll move onto the message of your story. What are you trying to say through your RP or fanfiction? If your story is about triumphing over weakness, and becoming powerful, then magikarp or feebas would be perfect choices for your character's team. If your story is about loving yourself and accepting imperfections, then an objectively ugly pokemon, like pignite or koffing would be a good choice for your character's team, and so on.
Next, what about your character? What pokemon do they want, and how far are they willing to go to get them? Do they catch whatever they run into along the way? Do they spend weeks and months just searching for the one that they want? Do they catch filler pokemon until they get the ones that they want? Do they care if the pokemon that they want to catch want to be with them? Do they buy their pokemon? Does your character care about individual pokemon, or just their species? For example, if your character finds and looks after a random pokemon egg, and they have no idea what will hatch from it, then that shows that they care about individual pokemon, and aren't too picky about what ends up on their team. But if your character actively chooses and/or buys an egg for a specific pokemon, then that shows that they only care about the species, not the individual. Be sure to choose pokemon that reflect who your character is, too. For instance, I gave my OC, Kemen, two vulpixes, one regular, and one Alolan, because he is a performer, and he loves to create dramatic effects in his freestyle performances. (And what's more dramatic than throwing a fire stone and an ice stone at your pokemon, causing them to evolve mid-performance?)
Finally, who gets to decide which pokemon your character is allowed to have? If your character is a minor, it's probably going to be their parents. Do they let them get a starter from professor-insert-tree-here? Or, if your character doesn't live near a professor, do their parents catch a starter for them? Do your character's parents get a gym leader or trial captain to catch a starter for your character? Do their parents support their career path, and as such, give them a well-suited pokemon, or do they deliberately give them a bad pokemon, so that they will come home and choose a more realistic goal?
Now, I'm going to tell you why I picked the pokemon that I did for my OC, Daniel:
Serperior: As a starter pokemon, Serperior is very solid, plus, it is objectively pretty, slender, and can learn cool-looking moves for Daniel's contests. It also reflects where Daniel is from (Unova).
Mightyena: Mightyena objectively cool-looking, but it is the worst of its type in battle, but Daniel doesn't mind, because he's not a trainer, and battling's not important to him. Mightyena is more of a first-round appeal pokemon, or pet to Daniel, seeing as she can look cool, but because of her species, she cannot battle.
Shiny Honchkrow: Being in a wheelchair, Daniel gets a lot of negative attention during his contests. He feels that his performances and talents are often ignored, and he is often hailed as an 'inspiration', which he hates, and knows that he's only called that because he's disabled. When he uses his shiny honchkrow, the fact that he's in a wheelchair is ignored, most of the time, seeing as the crowd are often distracted by the fact that he owns a shiny. Having a shiny allows to stand out in a good way.
Plusle: This pokemon was hatched from a random egg that Daniel found, showing that he cares about individual over species. That, and it serves as a counterpart to his rival's minun.
(Another note on this: I am aware that virtually any opposite pokemon species could have worked for this, but I chose plusle and minun because of their abilities, plus, and minus. This means that when Daniel and Sophie battle with their plusle and minun, the pokemon gain temporary stat boosts)
Lopunny: Chosen as Daniel's service pokemon, on account of the fact that it is just tall enough to push his wheelchair, and not strong enough to accidently hurt him when it is trying to help him. It also has posable fingers behind its fluff, which help when popping his joints back into place.
Machoke: This pokemon can be used to create unique appeals, which match Daniel's performance style. Since he likes to show off the natural qualities of his pokemon, machoke's strength is often the centre of his appeals in contests.
Let me know if this guide has helped you, and be sure to let me know in the comments which pokemon you picked for your character, and why!
