History Main / SignatureMon

** Protagonists don't officially have canon starters, and in fact Red was given [[TakeTheThirdOption all three]] Kanto starters specifically to avoid canonizing one, however official artwork often depicts a protagonist with one starter more than the others. In the first generation, Red was associated with Bulbasaur, but come the third generation remakes and he is now associated with Charmander. Green/Leaf is associated with Squirtle, Ethan with Cyndaquil, Lyra with Chikorita, Brendan with either Torchic (''RSE'') or Treecko (''ORAS''), May with Torchic, Lucas and Dawn with Piplup (sometimes the latter has Chimchar), Hilda with Tepig, Nate with Tepig, Rosa with Snivy, Calem with Froakie, Serena with Fennekin, and Selene with Rowlet. Red is also associated with Pikachu due to the fact he is his highest leveled Pokemon.

** Protagonists don't officially have canon starters, and in fact Red was given [[TakeTheThirdOption all three]] Kanto starters specifically to avoid canonizing one, however official artwork often depicts a protagonist with one starter more than the others. In the first generation, Red was associated with Bulbasaur, but come the third generation remakes and he is now associated with Charmander. Leaf is associated with Squirtle, Ethan with Cyndaquil, Brendan with either Torchic (''RSE'') or Treecko (''ORAS''), May with Torchic, Lucas with Piplup, Dawn with Chimchar, Hilda with Tepig, Nate with Tepig, Rosa with Snivy, Calem with Froakie, Serena with Fennekin, and Selene with Rowlet. Red is also associated with Pikachu due to the fact he is his highest leveled Pokemon.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' might be the TropeCodifier of this trope. Despite there are over ''800 Pokémon'' and there will be even more in the future, basically every trainer has only one Pokemon that is most iconic to them.

[[caption-width-right:308:Be lucky if you're not Pikachu, but still in his party. If not, [[PutOnTheBus you're probably in the laboratory]].]]

[[/folder]]

** In ''Webcomic/PokemonFestivalOfTheChampions'', certain characters are associated with certain Pokémon. For example, Karen's main Pokémon is the Houndoom she met as a child.

*** Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker plays around with his trope, because just like Yusei his first ace was Decode Talker which has 2300 ATK just like Yusei's Junk Warrior. It was later stated that Firewall Dragon is his ace since it has 2500 ATK just like the other ace monsters of the previous protagonists, but he rarely uses Firewall Dragon and it was only used a total of three times in season 1 while Decode Talker was used a lot more if not in nearly every duel in that season. Season 2 plays around with his trope even more especially because Yusaku stopped using Decode Talker till the point Firewall Dragon even appeared earlier than it. He also starts using the summoning methods of previous seasons (which currently include Ritual, Fusion and Synchro) and all of those monsters have 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF just like the ace monsters of the previous protagonists, making it really hard to say which monster is his true signature mon.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'', each character is associated with a Signature Mon either taken from their game team or from official art. Barry is associated with Chimchar, Kris with Totodile, Hilda with Tepig, Skyla with Swanna, Marley with Arcanine, etc.

** Misty started out with a Water-type team that was balanced in exposure, then got a SpotlightStealingSquad in Psyduck before Togepi finally settled in as her Signature Pokemon. Togepi's introduction also marked a shift in Misty's characterization, [[{{Chickification}} in which she became less of a tomboy and more of a mother to Togepi]]. Because of this, Togepi has a [[BaseBreakingCharacter mixed reception]] from the fanbase. After Togetic's departure, Misty has now an Azurill as a Togepi replacement, Psyduck still sticks around, and she gets a Gyarados as her powerhouse.

** James' Signature Mon started as Victreebel. Since then it has been every Grass-type Pokemon he's had so far, except in the Sinnoh series, with his signature being Mime Jr.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The trainers in the anime tend to have two Pokemon as their signatures; a tiny adorable companion that do cute/comical things and easily drawn travelling with their trainers, and a badass powerhouse. Sometimes the tiny companions do participate in battles as well.

** Misty started out with a Water-type team that was balanced in exposure, then got a SpotlightStealingSquad in Psyduck before Togepi finally settled in as her Signature Pokemon. Togepi's introduction also marked a shift in Misty's characterization, [[{{Chickification}} in which she became less of a tomboy and more of a mother to Togepi]]. Because of this, Togepi has a [[BaseBreakingCharacter mixed reception]] from the fanbase. After Togetic's departure, Misty has now an Azurill (and in ''Sun and Moon'', Psyduck returns as well) as a replacement and Gyarados as her powerhouse.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

** However, once per series, Ash often has another Signature Mon who is acting as a powerhouse and is a SpotlightStealingSquad. In the original series, it's Charizard, which is especially seen during the battle against Gary in the Johto League, where Pikachu is absent from the battle. In ''Advanced Generation'', Sceptile becomes this more or less after his final evolution, but he doesn't get overexposed with this trope. In ''Diamond & Pearl'', Infernape is this, especially due to its relationship with its previous trainer Paul who is Ash's rival. In ''XY&Z'', Greninja has become this after his final evolution; his bond with Ash has given him access to a unique and exclusive SuperMode, to the point that their relationship even overshadows Ash's with Pikachu.
** Misty started out with a Water-type team that was balanced in exposure, then got a SpotlightStealingSquad in Psyduck before Togepi finally settled in as her Signature Pokemon. Togepi's introduction also marked a shift in Misty's characterization, [[{{Chickification}} in which she became less of a tomboy and more of a mother to Togepi]]. Because of this, Togepi has a [[BaseBreakingCharacter mixed reception]] from the fanbase. After Togetic's departure, Misty has now an Azurill as a replacement and Gyarados as her powerhouse.
** Brock's Signature Mon was initially Onix, but after travelling through other regions and leaving most of his Pokemon in his home, his Croagunk is Signature Mon for two series. In ''Sun & Moon'', Brock goes back to his original Signature Mon, Steelix (Onix evolved during ''Advanced Generation'' off-screen)

** James' Signature Mon started as Victreebell. Since then it has been every Grass-type Pokemon he's had so far, except in the Sinnoh series, with his signature being Mime Jr.

* Series/KamenRiderRyuki and its american adaption Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight both have their Kamen Riders contracted to monsters, but this trope gets played with especially since only two Riders have more than one monster.
* Series/KamenRiderDenO also has monsters contracted to the Rider. However, the interesting part is that while the first one Momotaros is the most recognizable, the other three monsters he's contracted with are also very well-known and take just as much screentime as him.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': Chaldea's summoning system allows Ritsuka Fujimaru, the Master, to summon multiple Servants that serve and fight for them. Fujimaru is almost always accompanied with Demi-Servant Mash Kyrielight, the Shielder, who is also Fujimaru's first Servant and the game's SeriesMascot. In Singularities and a couple of events and interludes, she's usually the only Servant (aside from the Servant whose interlude you're playing) to stand beside her Master. Guest Servants aren't Servants you own, so they don't count as your Mons. Mash is unique in that her Ascensions, Rank-Ups and the increase of her Bond Level and Noble Phantasm Level are story-locked, she is the only Servant who changes her rarity throughout the game, and she cannot be consumed by other Servants or burned, so you can never get rid of her. Mash also serves as Fujimaru's main LoveInterest and compared to other Servants, she has the largest character arc. And unlike other Servants, you cannot obtain multiple Saint Graphs of her.

** Arata's Signature Mon is the Keramon line. It is notable the only Partner Digimon of a main character that can be seen from its Child stage all the way up to its Ultimate stage, Diablomon, unlike the others who are usually seen to be skipping several stages or is already in a high stage to begin with. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that Arata met his partner as a Kuramon eight years ago.]]

** The protagonists of ''VideoGame/Persona3'', ''VideoGame/Persona4'' and ''VideoGame/Persona5'' are usually associated with their initial Personas, but the ''[=P3=]'' one is also ascosiated with Thanatos.
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', if you keep the Pixie that you started the game with all the way until the end (this includes Pixie being fused into another demon), you will be rewarded with an absurdly powerful "[[FanNickname Uber-Pixie]]" which has several valuable late-game skills.

** [[TheAce Franklin]] has the tanuki-like Ara-o as his traveling companion. Also a legendary Sushi Sprite, Ara-o is a PowerNullifier, reflecting Franklin's MartialPacifist approach to sushi-striking.

** Archie is a NonActionGuy but stumbles onto Kyatten. They partner up to open a sushi stand to bring diverse people together.
** Celia is the only character to pledge with [[KillerRabbit Pyonten]], at least until she retires and lets Musashi pledge with him.

** Each of the Empire's Generals have a signature Sushi Sprite as well: Kodiak, a man who cares very much about looking manly, has Wani-o, which lets him rapidly scarf down sushi; Ausprey, the land's biggest fan of wasabi, has Kama-o, who can replace sushi with heaps of wasabi; Purrsilla, who [[spoiler:had a romantic breakup with a man who loved salmon and tuna sushi, has Plasm-o, who allows Purrsilla to NoSell any attacks that involve salmon or tuna; and Tiburon, the commanding General, has Jinrai's EvilCounterpart Gourai, whose Lightningzap increases his attack power and pairs well with his ruling with an iron fist [[spoiler: until Emperor Octavius takes over and seizes control of Gourai from Tiburon]].
** Masa, leader of the Sushi Liberation Front, is associated with Crowkan. Crowkan's ability, Blackout, obscures information for the target, [[spoiler:reflecting his role as a VillainWithGoodPublicity]].

** ''Anime/CardfightVanguardG'' brings this to far less realistic levels by making every single character have a SignatureMon regardless of their importance. Only the returning characters that didn't have such a card retain their old status.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': The Persona users are generally associated with their initial Personas rather than their later ones. TheProtagonist of ''VideoGame/Persona3'', however, is not only commonly associated with just Orpheus, but also with Thanatos.
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiLiberationDx2'', each of your party members is associated with a specific demon. They join you with that demon and has a trial fight against you with that demon as a boss. Later, in the [[FightingYourFriend protagonist's Dx2 Quest]], they will fight you again with much buffed versions of those demons.
** Templar Dragon has Nekomata.
** Megakin has the SeriesMascot Jack Frost as his signature. This may play into the fact that he's a famous figure and is somewhat like a mascot himself.
** Chalk Eater has Forneus. Forneus is one of the earliest demons with multiple elements, and when Awakened he loses his elemental weakness. Fittingly, Chalk Eater's skillset is based around exploiting elemental weaknesses.
** Eileen has Mermaid, who has a lot of random target attacks. Eileen herself has a skillset based on casting random attacks.
** Kangaroo Boxer has Ammut. Ammut is fast and has Rebellion, a skill that guarantees a critical hit for the next turn. Similarly, Kangaroo Boxer's skillset focuses on going first and scoring critical hits.
** Shionyan's signature is Isis, who can inflict Mute. This plays well with Shionyan's skills to strengthen status ailments.
** Meat Balloon's signature is Horkos, a tanky demon who can counter attacks and has Endure, a skill that lets it survive its first death. Meat Balloon's skillset is based on staying alive and countering attacks.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''

** What the comment above said about ''VideoGame/Persona3'', ''VideoGame/Persona4'' and ''VideoGame/Persona5''.
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', if you keep the Pixie that you started the game with all the way until the end (this includes Pixie being fused into another demon), you will be rewarded with an absurdly powerful "Uber-Pixie" which has several valuable late-game skills.

* Hareta from ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'' has his starter, Piplup.
* Red from ''Manga/PocketMonsters'' has two, his Clefairy and his Pikachu.

** Nate is associated with Jibanyan, the CuteKitten SeriesMascot. He also has Whisper, his yo-kai butler.
** Zig-zagged with Katie. Official artwork depicts Komasan as this to her, however in-game she's actually more associated with Jibanyan due to the fact both protagonists' stories are more-or-less identical. Katie as the protagonist is also associated with Whisper.
** Hailey Anne has Usapyon, an astronaut-themed rabbit [[spoiler:(actually otter)]] yo-kai.

*** Judai uses an Elemental HERO deck, but his signature card throughout the series is his Winged Kuriboh, a monster spirit (not to be confused with the "spirit monster" type) who is gifted to him during the first episode by Yugi. He oftens acts as something of a FairyCompanion, coming out of the card to morally support him.

* [[TheBeastmaster Rexxar]] from the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series has many animal companions to fight at his side, but his most prominent one is [[BearsAreBadNews Misha the Bear]]. Notably in ''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'', Misha is the one animal companion who has no set duration when summoned unlike [[SummonMagic the other beasts that Rexxar is can summon]].

* [[TheBeastmaster Rexxar]] from the ''VideoGame/Warcraft'' series has many animal companions to fight at his side, but his most prominent one is [[BearsAreBadNews Misha the Bear]]. Notably in ''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'', Misha is the one animal companion who has no set duration when summoned unlike [[SummonMagic the other beasts that Rexxar is can summon]].

** Lutecia has a lot of insect creatures as her summon beasts. Her most loyal one is Garyu who is acting as her bodyguard and BattleButler and is shown to have a stronger will than his breathen.

*** Yugi's and especially Atem's Signature Card is Dark Magician. Unlike other protagonist, Yugi/Atem doesn't spam his favorite monster in most duels and his deck is not exclusively based around Dark Magician. Dark Magician's evolutions are usually only one-time-transformations and don't appear again. Dark Magician even gets an origin story in the final arc.

*** Yuya's Odd-Eyes Dragon was something of a LivingEmotionalCrutch. After becoming permantly Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Yuya doesn't need to worry about his favorite monster that much [[DeathIsCheap because it can easily come back]].

** TheProtagonist Aiba has three starter mons to choose from: Terriermon, Palmon and Hagurumon. However, the player is able to capture any Digimon they want and can evolve their Digimon into ''anything'' they want. Their starter might not even be included in the final battle. Moreoever, their starter can actually be consumed by another Digimon or deleted by the player. Yet, the Master Cup features a MirrorMatch with Aiba. The opposing Aiba, however, uses straight-forward final evolutions of all three starters: [=SaintGalgomon=], Rosemon and [=HiAndromon=]. Basically, Aiba's canon Signature Mons are basically ''all three'' starters.

** Protagonists don't officially have canon starters, and in fact Red was given [[TakeTheThirdOption all three]] Kanto starters specifically to avoid canonizing one, however official artwork often depicts a protagonist with one starter more than the others. In the first generation, Red was associated with Bulbasaur, but come the third generation remakes and he is now associated with Charmander. Leaf is associated with Squirtle, Ethan with Cyndaquil, Brendan with either Torchic (''RSE'') or Treeko (''ORAS''), May with Torchic, Lucas with Piplup, Dawn with Chimchar, Hilda with Tepig, Nate with Tepig, Rosa with Snivy, Calem with Froakie, Serena with Fennekin, and Selene with Rowlet. Red is also associated with Pikachu due to the fact he is his highest leveled Pokemon.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona1'', the protagonist is mostly ascosiated with Vishnu, in spite of not actually being a unique Persona. This stems from Vishnu being the strongest Persona of the Emperor Arcana, and it is featured in both the original American release's box art and the popular manga adaptation.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona2'', all the characters are ascosiated with their Ultimate Personas (as they can all use multiple), though with the ''Eternal Punishment'' cast their initial Personas are considered to be just as iconic.

*** Nene's partner is a bit hard to say since she kept being partnered to Darknightmon in this continuity [[spoiler:and manipulated him instead of the other way around]], but it could also be said that her partner is Shademon [[spoiler:and later on Lumiamon after its purification]] since she fused with it.

** ''Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters'' has the humans collect other mons like ''Franchise/Pokemon'' and follows the same formula as ''Xros Wars'' with their main partner being the core of the fusion, but without the evolution part they had in the second half. The partners are as follows:

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' might be the TropeCodifier of this trope. Despite there are over 720 ''Pokemon'' and there will be even more in the future, basically every trainer has only one Pokemon that is most iconic to them.

** Zig-zagged with Katie. Official artwork depicts Komasan as this to her, however in-game she's actually more associated with Jibanyan due to the fact both protagonist's stories are more-or-less identical. Katie as the protagonist is also associated with Whisper.