And thus we are introduced to the absolute first Pokemon, and the absolute first starter Pokemon

The Literal Number 1 guy, Bulbasaur, What can I say about it? Well It's just an all around neat guy. Even though it has "saur" in It's name theres nothing particularly reptillian about it. It's been comfirmed to based on a frog (and onions, I guess), but it's mannerisms in game or in the anime don't particularly lean in on that fact.

Still, It has a pretty basic design, which sets the standard of absolutely every starter Pokemon being a relatively basic animal.

Bulbasaur also allows you to understand the basic type of Grass, and generally, the basic Grass/Fire/Water type dynamic with starter Pokemon. It's also a poison type, but nothing particularly screams "Poison" about Bulbasaur, as fans have been saying for years.

Bulbasaur has always been a perfectly palatable guy to me, cute, small, and basic, Befitting of Pokemon #0001. I don't have much personal memories with Bulbasaur, but that's ok, It does It's job.

Now for #2 with Ivysaur, A bigger Bulbasaur, darker green, the Bulb on it's back has bloomed into a flower, and it's got fangs, it does a good job conveying a "teenage" Bulbasaur, and middle stage starters in general just being a slightly bigger and "teenage" version of the first stage. Still not exactly frog like.

More notably though is that Ivysaur has vines it whips around for attacks and such, I mean, Bulbasaur had those too, but I think alot more people associate the Vine appendages with Ivysaur cause of Smash Bros.

While I can probably say the same to Ivysaur as I did to Bulbasaur, I can atleast give it props for making sense that It's Poison now, yknow, cause Poison Ivy.

You know it's the real deal cause It actually looks like a frog now.

Behold, Venusaur, the final evolution of Bulbasaur, being in it's "adult" stage. It's big, menacing, and a little gross looking, befitting of a giant frog-esque creature.

The most striking thing about Venusaur to me atleast is the flower on it's back now being a Tree. A lil weird hybrid between a Palm Tree and a Rafflesia flower. Also Notable is that starting from Gen 3, Venusaur actually has a Gender difference, a female Venusaur has a Bulb on top of the tree for whatever reason..

Oh yeah, given that it's a fully evolved Pokemon, you can actually use it like, good.

Blurb about competitive history ahead

Although It's stats are far from stellar, It's always historically been a solid sun sweeper in whatever tier it's been in, Chlorophyll doubles it's speed stat which makes it outrun most of a tier, and Grass/Poison is a solid defensive typing while also being solid STAB(Same Type Attack Bonus, Moves that correspond to the Pokemons typing are boosted by 1.5x) combination. With coverage in Earth Power and Weather Ball, it can demolish treams that are I'll prepared.

Also, good as time as ever to mention that, in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Venusaur actually got a different model this time around, very good change, this is a dank, almost malicious looking Venusaur. I approve.

The Bulbasaur line is pefrfectly fine, their ultimately good mons, even if not spectcular. At the very least, these demonstrate what a starter is in their purest form.

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With the introduction of Mega Evolutions in Generation 6, many fan favorites and some underdogs got new, more powerful forms. Design wise not much has changed with Venusaur after it's undergone Mega Evolution, mainly just the tree and leaves becoming bigger, with a funny flower on it's forehead to boot. However it gained 100 points to it's base stat total and an incredible ability in Thick Fat. It's role becomes more defensive, being a solid hit taker and use of status moves while still being able to dish out the hurt if it so pleases.

I'd probably still rank It about the same as normal Venusaur, though.

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