Let's Talk About Pokemon - The Bulbasaur Family

001: Bulbasaur

Naturally, we're starting right off with Bulbasaur, the very first Pokemon. Both for the Pokedex, and for me. The very first Pokemon I've ever seen was Bulbasaur, what from I sadly can't remember. It might've been the anime but don't quote me on that. Was it the reason I started to grow to like Pokemon? Possibly. Was it love at first sight? Maybe. It's been a couple decades, and I was like, 6. But I can lend to it that it's started my long-running love for Grass starters, and Grass types in general.

All three of the starters are fairly basic creatures. And I argue that's the way a starter should be, something that can appeal to as many people as possible, since they're one of, if not, the very first Pokemon you see in the game. I go by the train of thought that Bulbasaur is number 1 in the Pokedex for a reason, I like the line that much. Bulbasaur is a tubby little cutie that looks really huggable. Charmander and Squirtle looked a little "normal" for my tastes, and Bulbasaur stood out to me way more. (Granting, all three are mostly the same thing but with varying bits to correspond with their typing.) Bulbasaur is easily one of the best starter designs out there because it's still very distinct, while being very mass-appeal!

As a kid, I just accepted that it was part poison, but I now wonder what's necessarily so poisonous about it. It EVENTUALLY evolves into a plant that smells of rotting flesh, so it makes sense for its LATER evolutions to be Poison, but Bulbasaur is still just a little bud buddy! Nothing in the lore even really refers to it being poisonous. Ah whatever, some frogs are poisonous, sure.

The "saur" in its name is also funny. It's been confirmed that Bulbasaur moreso takes inspiration from a toad, but apparently us westerners saw its ever so somewhat saurian features and decided it gets to be a dinosaur now. That may or may not have landed the Grass type starters with an overall prehistoric theme, despite it being an inaccurate name. Whoops! What a happy little accident.

002: Ivysaur

Ivysaur is about what you'd expect from a starter's middle-stage. It's more or less a more mature Bulbasaur, sprouting a flower bud on its back. It's at least laying the seeds (Hah) of the things I like about Venusaur. Thanks to its similarities, Ivysaur basically has the same pros and cons Bulbasaur does. If nothing else, I like the extra splash of color thanks to the bud. The only thing keeping me from liking it AS much as Bulba is that usual starter-middle-stage issue where it has a bit of a Puberty Problem: caught having to bridge the gap between adorable little Bulbasaur and the big, cool, warty Venusaur.

Though I guess I will take the opportunity to say this: despite verbally being stated to resemble a toad, Ivysaur here has a lot of non-toad features. Especially noticable with the clawed feet and mammalian ears. As well as visibly protruding fangs when normal frogs have comparably miniscule teeth. This is a repeating trend for Gen 1 Pokemon, in that they have a very obvious animal of origin, but will still look very much like their own whole creature. Good! While Gen 1 isn't my favorite Generation, I do definitely miss this mode of Pokemon design when there was a bit more effort on inventing creatures rather than extremely heavily basing them on real life ones to the point where it's very hard to call Shaymin anything other than a hedgehog. There's room for both, of course, but I do notice Ivysaur's sort of brand of "make up a critter" has become less of a priority over the years.

Personal Score: 7.5/10

003: Venusaur

Come to think of it, Venusaur is possibly why I wanted to play Pokemon in the first place, it being the very second Pokemon I saw right after Bulbasaur. It looks so stout and strong, and the massive flower on its back gives it a demanding presence. Its warts make it look more toad-like than ever, but I would've loved if it kept the spots from Bulbasaur and Ivysaur. That aside, I love Venusaur the most of the original starters, if I didn't already imply that enough. I'm getting all sappy in this first review, but it's just that we're already at a Pokemon that has some sentimental value to me. This giant flower-dinosaur-thing is partly responsible for getting me into a series of video games that remains my absolute favorite 25 years later, the majority of my dang life.

As a kid, I was so offended that Charizard and Blastoise had their Red and Blue versions respectively, and later on, Pikachu got its own Yellow version, but then nothing came for a Green version with Venusaur on the cover. Like what the hell?! I didn't know any better, and it turned out Green version was just something that sadly never came to the US. By the time Leafgreen came out, I still didn't know about Green version, so I had always thought "Finally! Venusaur gets its time to shine!"

The flower on its back seems to be Rafflesia-inspired. I say inspired because it doesn't resemble a Rafflesia too much to me, other than just being a large, red, spotted flower with general tropical vibes to it. The flower on Vileplume's head is a lot more like what an actual Rafflesia looks like!

An amusing thing to witness over the past few years is how many people are only just now noticing Venusaur's more toad-like qualities. Between its running animation in the games that look more like a frog's hops, and it once again showing off its jumping prowess in footage of the new Pokemon Snap game.

Personal Score: 8.5/10

Mega Venusaur

We're also going to have quick little segments about the Mega Pokemon that were introduced in Gen 6. I got a few mixed feelings about Mega Venusaur. It looks cool and all but things like the more controlled patterns, especially on the flower, and a big, plain flower on its forehead feel like they meddle with the unkept jungle aesthetic of not just the original Venusaur but also itself. The flower on its forehead also looks a little tacky to me. I do however like how they've reinforced Venusaur's "jungle monster" atmosphere. The bigger leaves on those branches with the vines and stumpier stems are really nice touches. And they brought back at least SOME of the markings leftover from Bulbasaur and Ivysaur, even if I'm not quite on board with how they're drawn.

If I had a say in it, I would've had Mega Venusaur canonize that silly backsprite from the original games where the flower is facing forward for some reason. Could give Mega Venusaur something unique that sets it apart from its normal self, as well as be a neat callback to the original game's off-model shenanigans. Not to mention a jungle flower radar-dish death beam would've been sick too!!

It's definitely not the worst of the Megas, but like a lot of Megas, I don't like it as much as the original.

Personal Score: 8/10

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