Pokemon race issues?

So I broke down and got Pokemon White.  And before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with race.  I picked White, because I was under the impression that Black was the more popular one.  I've always been playing the one that's less popular: Blue, Sapphire, and Pearl (didn't have a Game Boy colour, so I couldn't do Gold or Silver, and the updated copies of the original Blue and Red and Green didn't appeal to me, since they were for the most part the exact same). 

In all my previous Pokemon titles, I've ALWAYS gone with grass.  Not entirely sure why, I just liked that little Bulbasaur, and the theme kept with me.  This time, however, I picked Fire.  I recalled there being, more or less, a 'difficulty', that was dependent on the Pokemon you chose to begin with.  I say 'difficulty', because in the original, the first two Gym leaders were Rock/Ground and Water, respectively.  The Grass starter would have an advantage against both, the Water would have an advantage against the first, and the Fire type would have no advantage, actually being weak to both leaders.  After Brock and Misty, however, the available variety of Pokemon ensures that you won't have too much trouble with the rest of the leaders.  Heck, going into Mount Moon, I picked up a Geodude, and by the time I left the dungeon, to arrive in Vermilion City, I had a Graveler.  The Geodude/Graveler/Golem line was one of my absolute favourites to use, the Geodude in question never leaving my party after I caught him.

The Pokemon in White/Black are a little different.  They appear to resemble anime characters, actually.  Oshawott, the Water starter, is reminiscent of Doraemon.  Tepig, the Fire starter, looks like a palette-swapped Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, minus the bandanna - pig form, of course.  Snivle, the Grass starter, looks vaguely like Excalibur, the immensely annoying weapon from Soul Eater.  I went with Tepig, and immediately went on my way.

First thing I noticed about the monsters, was that the character design team is getting sloppy.  For the most part, the monster models are bland and unappealing, with some interesting designs thrown in here and there.  The naming sense of these monsters is worse, with gems like Throh (a throwing, Judo-type Pokemon), Ducklett (a blue duck), and Sandile (unsurprisingly, a sand crocodile).  Mind you, the naming sense has always been on the cheesy side, at least for the English translations.  The Japanese names sound better, or it might just be because I don't know what they mean (case in point: Totodile's Japanese name was Waninoko, or literally 'baby alligator').

It's been 15 hours since I started playing, and I have 55 Pokemon in my Pokedex, and 4 Gym badges.  Slow, yes, but I've always been one to take my time and check everything out.  I'm also obsessively leveling all six of my Pokemon (everyone is at 30, approximately, 10 levels ahead of any wild Pokemon in the area).  My party has the starting Fire Pokemon, now a pro-wrestling pig, and several second-evolution monsters, including a bird, a rock crab, a dog, electric zebra, and a toad.