Let's Talk About Pokemon - The Bulbasaur Family

001 - Bulbasaur

If we Gotta Review 'Em All, we gotta start with number 1! The first starter of choice in the first game is none other than the iconic and ultra-popular Bulbasaur. Like it's so popular it's practically a cliche. Like Game Freak just can't stop giving new forms to this line, ridiculous! It's even got the quintessential Pokemon wiki named after it! Unlike the sad, way less popular Charizard.

What was I talking about? Oh right, something about a "Pik min".

In all seriousness, it probably goes without saying that Bulbasaur's always been my starter of choice when it comes to Kanto. Like most starters, it's an overall simple design philosophy, which makes sense given the Starters are A) your introduction to the game, and B) the one Pokemon that's outright mandatory to take, and thus most tend to find success when going for a "beloved partner animal" type of energy to them, where they combine mass-appeal cute or coolness with a touch of personality that makes them feel a bit more personable than your Rattatas or Pidgeys.

As such, Bulbasaur here is a little toad-like creature with a big, wide smile, and its elemental signifier being a big bulb on its back. And I think that wide face is what carries a lot of the Bulbasaur line's charm, overall. It having a little toad face means its mouth is about as wide as its head, and its eyes just a little bit too far apart in a way that makes it look cuter and more appealing. Add on the little asymmetric spots like they're sprinkles and you're golden.

And this is going to be a recurring compliment with Gen 1 Pokemon, but what I also really enjoy is how, as much as Bulbasaur uses a toad as a base, it's still distinct enough to be its own type of creature, really. Sure, it's a toad first and foremost, but it has clawed digits and fangs that give it a bit of saurian energy, which is probably why its English-localized name picks up the "saur" part of "Bulbasaur."

002 - Ivysaur

Ivysaur contrasts Bulby in a lot of ways by looking a little more "normal." Not entirely, but its face did get notably more narrow, it's standing more upright and less squat like its linemates, and it just overall has a "cooler" demeanor to it. Though the mammalian ears is a funny addition.

Its primary differentiator, though is that the bulb on its back has grown! Fanning out into a few tropical leaves and the bud of a flower. Told ya we were talking about a Pikmin. The pinkish red of the flower does add a nice splash of visual variety to the line, Bulbasaur being pretty green-centric. And naturally, it's set up for the final-evolution payoff.

003 - Venusaur

Ivysaur may have gotten away from the toady features, but Venusaur dials them up all the way, with an entirely squat body, an even wider face than before, and now with little warts on its body! The lumpy shape of its head is funny, and I do like the idea of a plant-based toad that carries its own foliage cover with it!

But easily the biggest star, the eye-catcher of this evolution is the huge flower that has now fully sprouted on its back. Many have compared it to the giant flower that wreaks of corpse, the rafflesia. It's certainly seeable, though given the Pokedex has no mention of stench, it probably is meant to just be an abnormally large flower that happens to be red.

To me it looks a bit more like it was design with a lily in mind, given the pink color, yellow crown-like stigma, and leaves that overall look a bit like lily pads, very obviously in reference to how frogs are commonly seen chilling on lily pads. But Venusaur is like, a reversed frog! It's a lily that sits ON the frog! The only feature I feel like it's missing are the spots Bulba and Ivy had, as they gave the main body a bit of color variety. But perhaps they thought Venusaur's design was getting cluttered enough, the detail seeing a hike thanks to its lumpy anatomy and all the flowery details. Either way, Venusaur stands out quite a bit, even to this day among fully-evolved starters, with how many angles it leans into traditionally "ugly" features from, but all without looking unappealing. It's neat!

The Bulbasaur line has a lot of charm to it that I'd say only really dips with Ivysaur, but brings it back around to be cooler than ever with Venusaur. And of course, I have a lot of nostalgic affection for it. As far as starter Pokemon go, we're starting out really strong!

Personal Score: 8.5/10

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