Originally Nominated by: Raka_Putra
First Appeared in: Pokemon Red/Blue
1st Gen Ranking: 17/20
Fun Fact: Pikachu being the only exception, Bulbasaur was the pokemon that stayed with Ash for the longest continuous period of time
I never really liked Bulbasaur, but then again I never really liked many grass types at all, so giving starters a pass is pretty dumb. It literally never crossed my mind to use Bulbasaur over Squirtle and Charmander unless it was my third playthrough of compatible games. It's design is kind of fun since, to my knowledge, it's not really based off anything which, if we're being honest is rare in a pokemon. Looking back I kind of wish I had said to nominate families or something because I find it really hard to cut my opinion of a pokemon completely away from the rest of it's evolutionary line. That being said, I was quite surprised to see that Ivysaur was more fun to play as in Brawl than Charizard or Squirtle. Bullet seeding and vine whiping are really satisfying while, imo Squirtle and Zard are really bland to play as. Speaking of which, damn do starters suck in the competitive field. Venusaur and Blastoise are UU, Charizard is NU, hell giving a quick glance, only Infernape, Swampert, and Empoleon are OU out of all the starters. Looking at Gen 4's Smogon entries, Venusaur is pretty bland anyway, but you'd think they'd make some of the most iconic pokemon of every gen a little more useable.
Not that I particularly liked the Bulbasaur line anyway, but another thing that made me mad about it is that, if I recall correctly, Bulbasaur was the first pokemon of Ash's that started the trend of straight up not evolving because it "wanted to be itself." Sure, Pikachu did it, but that's different since there are distinct benefits to a stone evolution pokemon not evolving, but Bulbasaur just did it "just cause." At least Squirtle never had the opportunity to evolve (which, what the hell, couldn't make it to 16 despite battling Team Rocket every other day?). Seriously, what do the creators have against Ash having a pimping fully evolved team. At least they kind of got their act together with Torterra and Infernape, but then Gible stayed Gible. But that's beside the point. For the record, I've pretty much entered the "like overall, but can complain about them for kind of stupid crap" territory.
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"If you gave away something you wanted you have no right to call yourself 'Greed'"-Ling Yao
http://img.imgcake.com/bidoofsuicunejpgam.jpg -GFK