My thoughts, opinions and speculation of the Legend ZA Starters (Warning: Very long)

As I'm sure you know, one of the most anticipated aspects of Legends ZA is who will the fabled starters be.

Unfortunately we have only gotten 1 trailer for it all the way back in February (that long…damn) to the point we have absolutely no info on it other than it will take place entirely in Lumiose City…that's it. No info on if it takes place in the past, present, or future.

There are some that believe because it's called Legends it takes place in the past which is valid, but it did show futuristic elements in the trailer as well, causing a lot of speculation and second guessing.

When it comes to who the starters will be, in my mind there are two different scenarios to go over which I'll discuss individually.

The first scenario is if this game will follow the steps of the previous legends game, where all the starters are from different regions.

Before I pick out the starters in question, what most people do is rule out some of the other starter groups that have reasons to not be included. One the reasons for excluding certain starters is the fact that mega evolution is set to make a return, ruling out both Gen 1 and Gen 3 starters since they already have megas.

Tangent: Some people have a belief that because Torchic/Blaziken is a Rooster which is the national animal of France and it was shown in the Indigo Disk starter video with Cyndaquill (the fire starter of Legends Arceus) that it would be the fire starter.
Four flaws with this theory. 1: Blaziken already has a Mega, what will it do, get another one like Charizard? Is this a fire starter thing? 2: Roosters may be the emblem of France but what's the emblem of Japan? A green pheasant and that's not a starter in Legends Arceus (Rowlets an owl that doesn't count) 3: Blaziken is actually based on the Japanese Shamo Chicken as well as the basan, a legendary fire-breathing chicken of Japanese Folklore. 4: If say Piplup was the water starter which most people seem to believe, then that would mean 2 birds as starters, it's my belief they try to have 3 different animals as starters for variety. Tangent over.

Most people also rule out the Legends Arceus starters of Rowlet, Cyndaquill and Oshawott which does make sense since it wouldn't make sense to use them again.

Gen 9 starters also get ruled out due to being too recent which also makes sense. Because this is a Legends game the Gen 6 starters also tend to get ruled out since it's the belief they will either be found in the wild or will get a little nod to X and Y for being secondary starters like the Gen 1 starters were in those games.

But there's the Gen 4 starters which is kind of split in the middle. For there are two sides in regards of how likely one of them will get in. One side says they are still likely (but only for one particular starter I will talk about) but the other side tends to cut them as well similar to the Gen 9 starters for being (somewhat) already having a focus on their region in BDSP and Legends Arceus which is valid in its own way. But again we just don't know.

Out of all the Gen 4 starters the only one that gets even a semblance of chance to get into Legends ZA is none other than Piplup, and that's mostly thanks to its final evolution being Empoleon which just happens to have the name (and height) of the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte…and that's it.
The thing is Empoleon is a part of the Gen 4 starters who all seem to be based on different myths with Torterra being the world turtle, Infernape being Sun Wukong/Sun Goku which was a Chinese novel, and Empoleon being Poseidon of Greek mythology (thanks to his trident like beak and crown). I believe this is actually one of the few things that is holding Empoleon back a bit from being a starter in Legends ZA, thanks to its starter brethren being also based on mythos of sorts, and something tells me they wouldn't change that. I can't imagine how you could make Empoleon even more French than the name alone but I will get back to that for a particular starter later.

So with that said it's now time for me to actually tell you who I believe the starters will be. When I list them I will mention why the other starters were ruled out from the choosing.

Now as for the starters I have a belief if this is theoretically how the starter will be in Legend ZA, they will be:

Snivy

Scorbunny

Popplio

Are you surprised, angry, confused?
I know right, why no Gen 2 starters at all? These starter picks are based of if they will get regional forms or megas so why not Chikorita or Totodile?
Unfortunately both suffer for the same reason: the other picks are far more likely. For Chikorita it has some pretty fierce competition with Snivy as the likely grass starter for reasons I'll get into soon, and as Totodile, Popplio also has some links to France that I will get into as well.

Tangent: As much as I would love to have Totodile as the water starter the only French thing it has going for it is the Nile crocodile named Eleonore found in the sewers below the Pont Neuf bridge in March 1984. While a nice little nod, I feel like crocs in the sewers is more of a American thing, much less France…Tangent over.

As for Tepig, Litten, Grookey and Sobble? Well the first two were ruled out and that just left Scorbunny left so…yeah.

So now here are my reasoning for Snivy Scorbunny and Popplio for being the starters (Disclaimer: I won't discuss if they will get a regional form or mega for not only lack of info but also for the other theory later)

Snivy: Other than Piplup, most people see that Snivy has one of if not the highest possible chance of being the grass starter of Legends ZA but also just as a starter in general, and that's thanks to its inspiration already. As most of you are aware the Gen 5 starters are based of different worldly cultures, Serperior being based of Western culture, Emboar on Chinese culture and Samurott being based on Japanese culture which by the way thanks to its buddy Samurott already being based on Japanese culture and sticking with the theme even further in Legends Arceus it significantly boosts Seperior getting the same treatment in Legends ZA. (It's also what's stopping Emboar from being a starter for Legends ZA thanks to its Chinese culture clashing with Serperior) More specifically, Serperior did have some bits taken from the character Lady Oscar from the manga The Rose of Versailles, not to mention with its Pokedex entires talking about amplifying sunlight in its body which could be a nod to King Louis XIV of France who famously referred to himself as the "Sun King" (which kinda hurts Empoleon in a way with the whole king/emperor thing) not to mention the chest looking like the fleur-de-lis, a French insignia…I mean… does anymore need to be said?
Between Snivy and Piplup its clear Snivy is the greater French mon here, also in Legends Arceus while one mon (Oshawott) already had a lot of Japanese stuff going for it, the other starters got Japanese stuff added to them with their regional forms so I could see them doing the same, with having an already French starter and giving the other two more French inspirations. So they have every opportunity to bring more older French stuff for Serperior if given a regional form or a mega.

Scorbunny: Out of the 3 this one definitely has the most awkward connection to France as most people just say that Football is popular in France…Well just like I mentioned with Snivy above they could give Cinderace more French origins with a regional form or mega or even something Kalos related too. One popular theory I see is giving Cinderace a mega that makes him Fire/Electric and having like roller skates under his feet, this would be super dope as it would be our first real Fire/Electric thats not Rotom Heat and it would be a nice call back to roller skates in X and Y like Cinderace was the one who inspired the invention of roller skates (Fun fact: roller skates were invented in 1760 by Belgian, Joseph Merlin, having a nice history inspiration there). I also have another idea for Cinderace for either a regional form or mega, and that's the idea that Cinderace being based on parkour, since its a French invention in 1980 by David Belle, not to mention Raboot even though it looks like a football player it could also pass off as someone who does parkour, and since it's a rabbit it would have no problems running around on Luimose rooftops and jumping all over the place.

Popplio: I think many people tend to sleep on Popplio and Primarina as the water starter thanks to Piplup, but did you know that Primerina also has some connections to France in some areas? It could also get the Cinderace treatment in getting more French connections. First of Primerina has connections with a Pierrot character which has origins in France. But one of the many links that Primerina could get (that I sometimes see brought up) as a regional form or mega would be none other than one of the most famous plays in theatre being the Phantom of the Opera which was actually a novel made by French author Gaston Leroux, so perhaps a Water/Ghost type?

Another reason I see these three working is the fact they are all different animals for the sake of variety of choice, a snake, a rabbit and a sea lion. (And before you start saying Gen 1 has two reptiles, first that's Gen 1 where it all started so therefore not important for the start of their franchise) and its likely these 3 could get regional forms or megas.

However that leads to the second theory of mine that directly clashes with the first theory above.
Which is: What if the starters are just the Kalos Starters?

I know what your thinking, your probably wondering, how would this be possible? Allow me to explain.

Let's start with point number 1: The Kalos starters haven't had another chance to be treated like starters or another starter choice after the first starter choice since their debut, other regions minus Galar and Paldea have had their starters been choices at least more than once.

2: Most people believe that the other theory of starters will get regional forms in the new game…but there's the main problem…regional forms, how? Let me explain.

Why would Game Freak be making regional forms in Legends ZA…when they are most likely making new mega forms?
Kalos as a region didn't have regional forms when it debuted, why would they get them now? What would they call them, Kalosian forms? Which is pretty silly since this game is only in Lumiose City and not all of Kalos. Okay what about Lumiosian forms?…that's…just a stupid reach at this point…Why introduce regional forms in a region that's already established. And before you start saying Hisuian forms counteract the argument it doesn't, Hisuian forms work because it was still the whole region of old Sinnoh not just a small part of it, also Hisui is based on what Hokkaido (Sinnoh) was back then which was under a different name being Ezo. Plus Hisuian forms are also treated like ancient extinct forms so they get a pass) I know France was originally under the name of Gaul back then and that could be a reason for regional forms in Kalos but it obviously change to France back in ancient times back then too, and if this does take place during a historical moment of France then that idea falls apart.

I believe regional forms take just as much time to development as mega forms do, and something tells me they will be focusing more on mega forms than regional forms, not to mention the amount of regional forms we got back in Paldea were very small with only two, and the DLC had none.

It's why if there won't be any regional forms then the starters listed would probably get megas instead, but Iets be real, it's much better if one set of starters gets megas than just one mons from each starter group getting a mega and that's the end of it, which is why I think the Kalos starters are not out of the running for being Legends ZA's starters.

Now mind you these two theories are just my speculative theory's and opinions, and I could be entirely wrong when we finally get some news on the game, it's just from the fact we have little information all we can really do is speculate. And speculation is fun.

I hope you enjoyed reading this ridiculously long post and let me know what you think and believe.