IcyFlame

Hello!

Honestly, I don't think there are good or bad choices! But overall, I've heard you would have a harder time if you decided to go with almost any Grass Type starter (Snivy being the strongest of them because it can have Contrary as an ability). If you want to make your way through Reborn easily, Torchic is generally the best choice along with Froakie as the second best starter. Speed Boost combined with Protect is no joke and even more since this TM can be found quite early in the game. Charmander is also an interesting Pokemon to include in your team because Dragon Rage can allow you to overcome defensive Pokemon that can be encountered at the start of the game, especially Pulse-Mons. However, my personal preference would probably go for Mudkip, firstly because it was my first choice when I played Reborn for the first time, then because it can learn Earthquake way before the game allow you to unlock the TM, but also because it's a good asset for ignoring the Electric attacks/destroying the field effects of the first Gym Leader!

I hope this helped

Thanks a lot!!! For my final decision, I'm going to have to go with Torchic. That speed boost/protect combo is kinda scary, lol. Thank you!

TBH I think water has a harder time than grass. First two gyms are water unfriendly and early Reborn is notorious for having the player rely on poverty mons. Fire is generally the safest choice but watch out for rainy days lol, I've had playthroughs where early game was harder because it wouldn't stop raining.   Grass can also learn the nature power tm and nature power is pretty good in this game.

Don't choose totodile or piplup, they're some of the worst starters in the game. I choose tototile once and he was a disappointment, probably my worst starter pick. Piplup idk I just don't see what it has going for it. I'll go over the others I used(somewhat)

Torchic is good but TBH I think people overrate it a bit. I never used it in Reborn but I did use it in Rejuvenation and it wasn't as good as it's hyped up to be. It's very susceptible to choking due to blaze kick and HJK having less than perfect accuracy and  Blaziken not being that all fast until speed boost hits. I don't find it particularly bulky right off the gate either, it feels like you kinda have to build your team around it snowballing with speed boost/bulk ups and sweeping while praying it doesn't whiff. Plus I've found it kinda tricky to switch into at times due to the high damage from major fights as a result of field bonuses, so it's not uncommon for Blaziken to already be in yellow before it even gets to do anything.  Early game its moves aren't amazing either and I remember relying on double kick for longer than I would have liked. It's good but don't fall for the hype of it being a god that makes the game easy mode, it's not.

Infernape I found more consistent than Blaziken much of the game. Blaziken has a higher ceiling but is less consistent and takes longer to reach that ceiling IMO. Only thing is lategame I feel Infernape suffers the power creep a bit as it's just too squishy and the lategame blitzkrieg strats you encounter  really highlight how not fast enough Infernape is. But I do think it's still quite good, just beware that it can't be your crutch lategame.

Incineroar was pretty sick actually. It's slow but intimidate is ever useful and it not only hits hard, but can take  hits itself both special and physical which is very valuable especially playing on set mode where you don't get free switch ins and HAVE to eat damage sometimes. On a trick room team that low speed becomes a boon and can deal with otherwise super threats like ace's delphox and aegislash. I actually had a pretty good experience using Incineroar, cause he can be useful just weakening or softening up enemies and not just hurting things.

Charizard I used on a flying monorun, I remember it actually being very good early game due to dragon rage and pretty strong later on with sun support, just note that being flying it won't get field bonuses(or drawbacks) as much as others. Oh and rocks will ruin its day lol. Another thing is that similar to Bliazken its preferred moves aren't 100% accurate, so this can be problematic and cost you fights on occasion. 

My only semi-complete playthrough of reborn(welll didn't do postgame fully)  I used Emboar, and it wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. While I won't pretend it's a top tier mon, it's no slouch either and can actually be a pretty effective wrecking ball with proper support. I used trick room and gave it an assault vest with I think HP and attack investment and it was actually pretty killer, Emboar's speed and meh defenses are its biggest weaknesses, but its high HP means that with say screens up or some damage mitigation support  it can actually soak up enough hits and put its hard hitting flare blitzes into action. I do feel like Emboar doesn't last too long in fights though since it hurts itself with flare blitzes and wild charges, but in those times when I needed to hit something hard Emboar came through more often than not and did its job. 

Tyhplosion IMO is a railroaded Charizard, sacrificing the flying typing and some versality for raw power in eruption. Eruption is great in Reborn due to its field interaction on grassy field which combined with flash fire can turn typhlosion into a living nuke. Only thing is this makes Tpyholosion a bit predictable and limited, and before you get eruption you have to deal with a somewhat boring movepool pre-evolution . But even without eruption typhlosion can still hit reasonably hard, but eruption destruction is what makes Typhlosion memorable IMO. That said I should note that you can get a cyndaquil around mid-game and it might be preferable forgoing cyndaquil as a starter and just going for that one as it'll be easier to optimize due to having more resources to do so. 

I used delphox only once, but I enjoyed it. It's not the powerhouse to sweep you matches but it's versatile in how it can be supportive or offensive. I find it fun to use because of that.

I said water was the worst type to start off with but I feel there's two(maybe 3 including popplio) exceptions. First is mudkip because of the ground typing, and swampert just being generally good. 2nd is froakie because protean(and ONLY cause of protean) and lategame being a very useful mon as it's fast with a good tm learnset. I say tm learnset because its natural level up movepool is....ehhhhh not the best. Just not that many strong attacks and a bit gimmicky even. TBH froakie is just okay early on, as its too squishy and its moves are too low powered, but I feel once you get better tms and moves greninja becomes very good.

Decidueye I remember being pretty solid.  I would say Incineroar is better but Decide is not bad at all, however lategame matchups are very unfavorable towards it. Honchkrows just eat it for breakfast and they're all over the place lategame. Actually honchkrow might be one of the biggest menaces' in Reborn come to think of it lol.

chikorita gets a bad rep for being the worst but I don't feel it is? I think the screen support early on is helpful and it gets nature power to take advantage of fields. I used it in a grass monorun a while back and while I never finished it Chikorita was very useful during it especially early game. That said there's definitely better starters to use and lategame it's just too weak offensively and the power creep hurts it, but I don't think it's deserving of worst starter rep.

I used Venusaur and it was so long ago I don't recall much, but I remember it being solid. Could take a hit, good support moves, sludge wave compatibility for field control, chlorophyll, I think it's a fine choice. 

I've heard Primarina is good, I used her in rejuvenation  but she was great there.

I'd say go for any but for a first time player I'd avoid squirtle/chikorita/totodile/piplup/snivy.