Poll Results + Another Poll! (Patreon)

Alright, everyone! The Poll regarding 2B's starter Pokémon got literally the single largest amount of discussion of any post I've ever made here :-p. Frankly, I loved all the discussion! Anyone that followed the poll already knows it had a bit of an overwhelming victor. But there were also a couple of points that came up repeatedly in the discussion I want to go over real quick.

1) I tried to be clear about this, but apparently wasn't clear enough. Only 2B's starter was limited to Kanto (or variants of Kanto Pokémon). This was due to me ruling that the Kanto League would prefer starters for Kanto trainers to be Kanto Pokémon. She will encounter, and possibly recruit/catch/rescue/buy/trade/etc Pokémon from other regions. Johto Pokémon will be something she may find in the wilds of western Kanto, simply because of its proximity. Others will be far harder to come by. Eventually, she'll also be moving on to other regions.

2) Just because a Pokémon lost out in the poll, doesn't mean she might not get one of that type eventually, anyway ;-). I did pay attention to both which others got significant numbers of votes...and ideas that came up repeatedly in the discussions. Don't despair if the one you voted for didn't win!

Now, with those two points out of the way! The obvious winner is Vulpix, having taken 51% of the total vote. Dratini came in second with a solid 17%, then Sycher and Abra followed at 9% and 7% respectively. Expect to see at least one or two of those runners up make appearances sooner or later! For now, however, we have a winner to discuss!

Why do we need to discuss it? Why, because this adorable ball of fluffy awesome has an Alolan Variant! Let's take a look!

Now, personally? I love them both. Vulpix/Ninetails has been one of my favorite Pokémon all the way from Gen 1. Which...well...lets just say I'm old enough to have played Gen 1 when it first came out and leave it at that before I date myself too much :-p. I was personally delighted to see it get a variant in Sun/Moon and love it just as much as the original.

Given that 2B is getting her starter from Professor Oak's Lab/Ranch, which is one of the new places in Kanto it makes 3000% sense would have exotic regional variants available for various Pokémon, I'm entirely onboard with either option. Several people even pointed out that the Alolan Ninetails variant is a Fairy Type, which 2B already has shown at least some affinity for. Though I'm not intending to make her a type specialist.

All of which leads into our little follow-up poll here! Which variant would you all prefer to see as 2B's starter? I'll let this poll run for a week or so, after which I'll close it down so I can hopefully sneak in another modest chapter sometime in November;-).