In the main series
Major appearances
Starmie debuted in The Water Flowers of Cerulean City. Misty uses it in battle fairly often, but she prefers to use her Staryu more. In The Misty Mermaid, she left it at the Cerulean Gym for her sisters.
Other
A Starmie appeared in Bye Bye Psyduck, under the ownership of Marina. It was used to battle Misty, facing off against a Golduck that was under her command at the time. It was defeated when the force of Golduck's Hyper Beam shattered its Light Screen.
A Starmie appeared in Misty Meets her Match, under the ownership of Rudy, the Gym Leader of Trovita Island. It was used in his battle against Ash, where it battled Squirtle and was defeated by its newly-learned Hydro Pump. Starmie reappeared in a flashback in Hello, Pummelo!.
A wild Starmie appeared in Going for the Gold!, where it attacked Team Rocket's submarine with Thunderbolt.
Minor appearances
A Starmie appeared in Battle Aboard the St. Anne, where it was defeated by Ash's Raticate.
A Starmie appeared in The Battling Eevee Brothers during the evolution party in Stone Town.
A Starmie appeared in Pikachu's Vacation as one of the Pokémon seen at the Pokémon Theme Park.
A Starmie appeared in Celebi: The Voice of the Forest.
Multiple Starmie appeared in Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, where they were among the Pokémon living at Professor Oak's Laboratory. They reappeared in The Rivalry Revival.
A Trainer's Starmie appeared in The Lost Lapras, where it was among the Pokémon brought to the Pokémon Center.
A Starmie appeared in Pikachu Re-Volts, where it was among the Pokémon controlled by Cassidy and Butch at Mandarin Island North.
Multiple Starmie appeared in The Power of One, where they were among the numerous Pokémon who sensed the disturbance caused by Lawrence III.
A Starmie appeared in Flower Power as a part of Florando's annual Pokémon Exhibition.
A Starmie appeared in Tricks of the Trade as one of the Pokémon seen at the Pokémon Swap Meet in Palmpona.
A Trainer used a Starmie in Hook, Line, and Stinker to aid him in the annual Seaking Catching Competition.
A Starmie appeared in Beauty and the Breeder, under the ownership of a Pokémon Breeder participating in a Pokémon breeding competition.
Four Trainers' Starmie appeared in Ariados, Amigos as one of the Pokémon seen at the Pokémon Jujitsu Academy.
A Starmie appeared in the opening intro of Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, which was reused for Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias.
A Starmie appeared in The Joy of Water Pokémon as an inhabitant of Lake Lucid.
A Starmie appeared in Around the Whirlpool as one of the Pokémon stolen from the Pokémon Center of Blue Point Isle.
Two Starmie appeared in The Legend of Thunder!. One was swimming in a lake, while the other was swimming in the Pokémon Center's pool.
A Starmie appeared in Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, under the ownership of a competitor in the Tour de Alto Mare.
A Starmie appeared during a flashback in From Cradle to Save, where it was used by Jessie.
A Starmie appeared in the opening sequence of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
A Starmie appeared in Dawn of a Royal Day!, under the ownership of a Coordinator who was participating in the Arrowroot Contest.
Multiple Starmie appeared in Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin!.
A Starmie appeared in I Choose You!.
A wild Starmie appeared in Alola, Kanto!.
Two Starmie appeared in Legend? Go! Friends? Go!.
In Pokémon Origins
Red battled Misty's Starmie in File 2: Cubone and won off-screen.
In the Pokémon Masters Animated Trailer
Misty's Starmie appeared in the Pokémon Masters Animated Trailer. Alongside Cheren's Stoutland and Korrina's Lucario, it battled Cynthia's Garchomp, Steven's Metagross, and Lance's Dragonite. At the behest of its Trainer, Starmie used Light Screen to defend the incapacitated Stoutland and Lucario from Dragonite's Hyper Beam. Afterwards, it defended itself from Metagross's Flash Cannon with Thunderbolt.
In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
- Main article: Misty's Starmie
Like in the anime, Misty owns a Starmie in The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It had a minor appearance in Pikachu's Excellent Adventure, where it was used to rehydrate Ash after he started crying over being separated from Pikachu.
Rudy's Starmie also appears in the manga. Like in the anime, Starmie battled Ash's Squirtle, and gave the Tiny Turtle Pokémon trouble with its Thunderbolt attack.
In the Pocket Monsters manga
Two Starmie appeared in JNM01.
In the Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure manga
- Main article: Misty's Starmie
Misty's Starmie only appeared as a silhouette in JBA5 along with its Trainer and the other Kanto Gym Leaders.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
- Main article: Misty's Starmie
Misty’s Starmie first made a cameo in Gyarados Splashes In! in its Poké Ball. It, however, debuted later in Suddenly Starmie, where it defeated Red in the Cerulean Gym. It allowed her to read and pass on a Pokémon's thoughts using an ancient language that can be easily decoded.
A Starmie appeared as a silhouette when Green talks about Mew in The Jynx Jinx.
Two Starmie appeared in Some Things Are Better Left Unown, with one under the ownership of Sird and the other under the ownership of Archie.
Emerald used a Starmie caught by Crystal for his Battle Pike challenge in Moving Past Milotic.
Four Starmie belonging to Guile Hideout appeared in Standing in the Way with Starmie.
A Starmie appeared in Unleashing the Incredible Z-Move.
A Starmie appeared in A Photoshoot and the Abandoned Thrifty Megamart, where it was seen inside Aether Paradise.
In the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga
A Trainer's Starmie appeared in Let's Fight For The Future!!.
In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga
A Starmie appeared in GDZ23.
In the Pokémon Zensho manga
- Main article: Misty's Starmie
Misty sent out her Starmie for Satoshi's second Gym battle challenge in PZ03. However, it could not battle him as Satoshi had trouble dealing with water, and the battle was officially called off.
- Despite being a genderless Pokémon, Staryu and Starmie were programmed to learn Egg moves in Gold and Silver; however, due to being genderless, these were unobtainable. This was fixed in Crystal.
- In the Japanese exclusive Pokémon Stadium, Starmie seems to have originally been a lot more rubbery than it is now, as its limbs stretch when it's hit.
Origin
Starmie appears to be a stylized starfish. Given its ties to outer space, it may also be a pun on a literal star.
Starmie's gem being cut evokes the idea of some form of jewelry. Notably, the eight facets prominently witnessed upon Starmie's gemstone (adjacent to the center facet) would be called the star facets, were it a real jewel.
Starmie also bears some resemblance to the Star of Ishtar. Ishtar, also called Inanna, is known as Queen of Heaven.
Name origin
Starmie may be derived from star (referring to its shape) and mie, which may involve 珠 mi (gem or jewel), referring to its core. In English, mie may be a corruption of me (the personal pronoun), in contrast to the yu (you) in Staryu. This pun is not present in the Japanese names since Staryu's Japanese name is different from its English name.