001. Bulbasaur

So I'm going to preface this by saying that, as best as I can remember, my first Pokémon was Squirtle. Although I've been trying to retroactively change that to Bulbasaur. There's just something about a dinosaur-thing with a plant growing on his back. Whenever I've played a 1st Gen game recently, Bulbasaur was my choice.

As a whole, it's a pretty good set and a nice one to start off one. Nothing in particular grabs me and says "This is the best" but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's a lot that I really like.

Mitsuhiro Arita's Bulbasaur from the base set is classic in that it was the first Bulbasaur card and that it's pose is really lively. Just by going off his illustrations for Bulbasaur here (Base Set, Intro Pack, Dark Explorers) it really shows his ability to give them energy and character.

There's some nice alternative art for Bulbasaur. Sachi Matoba's Expedition Base Set card really showcases some nice color and texture. Tomokazu Komiya's card is a fun look into Bulbasaur gathering sunlight. The vibrant orange sun contrasting with Bulbasaur's blue-green skin, not to mention that goofy, angry expression. Sumiyoshi Kizuki's EX Crystal Guardians card is a little too plain for me and I don't really like the outline texture used there.

All in all, I'm surprised there's only three cards utilizing Bulbasaur's vines. There's tons of opportunities to use those to help a composition and get some easy movement in the piece. But, hey, as the first pokemon, Bulbasaur's cards do a great job of showing the adventure that is yet to come.

I think this image sums up a lot about the magic of Pokémon. A strange creature with strange abilities, utilizing them for energetic combat. The slanted horizon line brings a lot of energy to the piece and the Bulbasaur moving with one foot on the ground only adds to that. I wish Naoyo Kimura would have utilized the vines a little more in the composition, breaking into those mountains, going out of the frame, etc., but in the end other than the space up top and the left vine/mountain almost making a tangent it works well. 

I kept going back to this card art but I just couldn't put it as the winner. The overhead perspective adds a great layer of actually looking down on one of these crazy creatures and the Bulbasaur looking ahead with that smirk puts it into a context that the viewer isn't fully aware of but the Bulbasaur looks content in what it's doing. Whether it's traversing the river on the adventure or gearing up for a battle, like with the previous card art, it shows a lot of the magic of Pokémon.

There were a few cards that battle for this spot. I'm not a huge fan of photo cards, either from the Pokémon Snap contest or just of statuettes (DPt-P Promotional cards). I'm also not a big fan of artwork just edited into a photo of flowers or the like (EX Team Magma vs. Team Aqua). Ken Sugimori's got some great Pokémon art, and he should considering he's the character designer and art director for the franchise, but this card just doesn't do it. A blown up image of one of his Bulbasaur drawings jammed into the frame and that weird movement(?) blur coming from it? It just looks stiff regardless.

Discuss your favorites, least favorites, and anything in between in the comments.