Didn’t want to disturb the other “favorite pokemon” thread, but this question came to my mind:
What makes your favorite your favorite?
Cards? Games? Something else?
For me it’s basically the first impressions I got from the first cards I saw with that Pokemon.
Pretty sure I wouldn’t have chosen Ho-oh as my fav Gen 2 Pokemon if it wasn’t for its gorgeous Neo Rev rookie that absolutely blew me away many years ago.
My favorite character is Suicune because I played a ton of Crystal version.
Because he’s #1
3 reasons:
On that final note: my experience of Sword & Shield has involved me getting as far as that big area with all the Pokémon in and then spending hours upon hours trying to catch all the bugs. I have no idea what the story is about, I only cared about bugs - quite a few of them were only available through those big encounters.
But why do you collect Pichu, Mr. ButterfreeFan?
I stopped caring about Pokémon when I was a kid just before the Team Rocket set was released. I was one of the last of my group of friends to even still bother with them. Fast forward a few years and I’m at one of my friend’s houses and his younger sister has this weird Pokémon booster pack I’ve never seen before. She opened it whilst I was there and pulled not only the first Pichu I’d ever seen, but also the first reverse holofoil I’d ever seen - it turned out to be the Expedition Base Set #58 Pichu. How do I know it was #58 and not #22? Because I was so fascinated by it that it made me go back to my house, dig out my old Pokémon cards I hadn’t seen for a few years and head straight back to my friend’s house to trade a holofoil Jungle Clefable for it.
I still have that Pichu.
As soon as I got back into the hobby around 2010 the only thing I really wanted to do was buy myself some Pichu cards. Pichu holds a special place in my heart, but not quite as special as Butterfree does.
Gengar.
Was always my favorite in the Gameboy games. I love ghost types. And I love how mischievous he is, always having a sinister smile. And my favorite color is purple. The end.
Its a cute sheep… with electric beehives on its head. Also it evolves to Ampharos and was a top part of my team in the games. Even Ampharos is like an electric mini kangaroo, such a cute design is just fun for me.
I have a very distinct memory of falling in love with the art of the Jungle Venonat card as a kid. I can’t really explain it, but it’s a source of a ton of nostalgia now and an early point I can identify really loving the hobby.
I also think he is a perfect mix of a cute purple fluff ball and an awesome bug type. And he’s niche enough as a favorite that I know that my like must be genuine.
Great question here.
So the obvious favorite of mine is Cyndaquil/Typhlosion (add quilava too, its adorable) and it dates back to the release of Gold/Silver/Neo era of things. I grew up with base set Red/Blue like most kids out there, but in doing so I never felt like any of it I could truly adopt and love as my own. Most kids, adults, and their mothers were pokecrazy at the time, and little anxiety/depression ridden me couldnt really handle the volume of people and I just felt sort of like a follower as opposed to someone sharing in a part of something greater. This was until Gen 2 was released.
Once the second Gen hit it was where the real magic began for me. A lot of people in my school stopped caring about the cards and stuff and i pressed forward just doing my own thing while the noise finally died. Cyndaquil just spoke to me as a starter because it was so cute but then evolved into something fierce, yet also at the same time still lovable and held that great pokemon element of charm for me which Charizard just wasnt able to do. I saw it in the anime too at the time and even my gif avatar here on the forum reflects that exact falling in love moment from the very epiosde cyndaquil was introduced to the world and to me in video form.
All and all, ill always be a ride or die with my little buddies there because they hold such a special place in my heart and nothing can ever change that for me.
Three reasons why Flareon is my favorite:
I picked Bulbasaur in Yellow so my team was lacking a fire type. When I got to Celadon and picked up Eevee I decided to go with Flareon to help with Erika’s gym. He stayed on my team the rest of the game using flamethrower on anything that moved
I pulled a 1st Ed Flareon from a Jungle pack as a kid. I instantly fell in love with the colors and art style (still my favorite card to this day)
I just like the design. Flareon looks cute and fluffy.
If he’s good enough to be Sugimori’s fav, what more reason do I need
My favourite is Torchic/Blaziken because it carried my very first playthrough of a Pokemon game. I got Pokemon Emerald and a GBA for my 8th or 9th birthday. I was really impatient with everything so I just didn’t really train other Pokemon but my starter. It’s all fun and games until you meet Tate & Liza. I spent so much time leveling that it just stuck with me.
I think all of the Pokemon that are my favourites have great designs. I’m also partial to dragons so…yeah. Dragons.
Magikarp is my favorite because he’s useless but adorable 
and it’s shiny version is so amazing in all gold
Same boat, pretty much! I sort of missed out on the Gen I craze because I didn’t (read: wasn’t allowed to) own a video game system, and I think was just a little too young (born 1994). Thankfully, kids at my school were still all-in on Pokémon when Gen II came out, and I found myself able to get in on the action via the TCG.
One of the earliest piece of Pokémon media I owned was a little guidebook for all the new Gen II Pokémon, obtained at a Scholastic book fair. I don’t remember why Politoed in particular became my #1 favorite Pokémon… probably one of those things you just kind of decide as a kid. But my broader list of favorites, composed almost exclusively of Johto Pokémon, almost certainly derives from how much I loved that book.
Originally Pikachu because of Indigo League but the next top contender was Mewtwo because he/she reminds me of a DBZ character. Looks badass and is very powerful. Shooting kamehamehas lol.
Gengar is still my #1! I’ve always felt a special bond with it, and LOVE the mega. One of my first holo cards was a fossil Gengar despite not existing when fossil came out 
. Really like the card and the Pokémon. Next up is Celebi, I played through Pokémon ultra moon with one, and just made me like Celebi a lot more. And finally, deoxys is one of my favorites because of the story of how it came to be, as well as the design and formes. Plus all 3 have awesome shinies (though Gengar has to mega evolve to get one)
After seeing all the other reactions, maybe my reasoning is to simple. But being #1 is just Super Effective
My favorite Pokemon is Blastoise because when the new Gameboy Color was released, the store that we went to had only the blue version. So I decided to get Pokemon Blue to match the color of the Gameboy. Sure enough, I chose Squirtle because he was blue and with Blastoise being the final stage evolution, it grew on me.
I guess I was a particular kid and of course, Hydro Pump was just too OP!
Gengar is up there as one of my favs for sure
Squirtle because it was so easy to beat Brock at the first gym in the gameboy game. Vileplume is a new found favorite specifically for the different card arts. For some reason I really enjoy them.