Kanto Starters: Then and Now

[DrampardonMe]

Felt oddly nostalgic for them, mere moments before life priorities, so I'll ask real quick: Who did you pick between Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, back in the day? Who would you pick now? Do you like all the stages of these starters, or is there room for improvement? Mind you, I'm not too picky about which game was "back in the day" for you, so long as the choice is there. For example, Red/Blue, FireRed/LeafGreen, and X/Y are permissible, but Yellow and Scarlet/Violet are not.

I tend to go for the Water-type starter in most games, because my fondness for Water as an element predates the Pokemon series, so naturally I went with Squirtle in my Blue version! The exception would have been when I played Y; because I had already picked Froakie, I thought picking Squirtle would have been redundant, so I went with Bulbasaur. No regrets, though-- Mega Venusaur was pretty fun, from what I remember! But yeah, in case it wasn't obvious: under normal circumstances, I would pick Squirtle out of the three, even now.

Also:

Squirtle = Wartortle = Blastoise. I like them all! Mega Blastoise is cool, too.
Indifferent to Charmander, but Charmeleon is neat. Never cared for Charizard much; I guess I like Mega Charizard X over Y, but not so much for either of their designs as much as the novelty of it being part Dragon and also a physical attacker.
I don't dislike any of the Bulbasaur line, but Venusaur has my favorite Mega of the three. I miss when Ivysaur was allowed hind-leg-walking action, though...

Anyway, this took longer to type than I thought. Discuss your Kanto opinions below, if you want! Might add a poll later.

EDIT: Poll added. I voted Squirtle, of course!