Chelsea's blog

Day 5 - Grass Pokemon; Bulbasaur

Had to be Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur evolves into Ivysaur at level 16, then into its final form, Venusaur, at level 32.

Species: Seed Pokemon
Height: 2’04” (0.7m)
Weight: 15.2lbs (6.9kg)
Gender ratio: 87.5% male; 12.5% female

Biology

Bulbasaur is a reptilian creature that somewhat resembles a toad or a young dinosaur with a spotted blue-green hide. Its eyes are a bright red, but the most notable feature of this Pokémon is the onion-like bulb on its back. This bulb has a symbiotic relationship with the Pokémon, growing from a seed planted on its back by its mother at birth. Unlike the parasitic tochukaso mushrooms growing on the back of Paras, which eventually take over its body as it evolves into Parasect, Bulbasaur’s bulb shares a symbiotic relationship beneficial for both. This allows Bulbasaur to get an enhanced boost of energy from the sun during the day and the bulb to remain growing and strong at night. The bulb also contains many seeds, from which it draws nutrients.

Though they usually walk on four legs, a Bulbasaur can rise up on its hind legs if it is young. Through evolution, it loses this ability, as the bulb grows far too heavy for it to support the weight. This, in turn, causes Bulbasaur’s later evolutions to lose speed. 

There are no differences in appearance between males and females of this species. In the anime however, May’s Bulbasaur had heart shaped spots on its forehead, which may be an anime-only indication of gender. However, all Bulbasaur may have unique spots on their bodies, regardless of gender.

 

Bulbasaur have a variety of Grass-type abilities granted to it by the bulb growing on its back. Powders, scents, petals, and seeds can come from the very tip of the bulb, and vines and leaves can come from the base. By manipulating these into moves like Leech Seed, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Petal Dance, and Sweet Scent, Bulbasaur have quite an arsenal at their disposal.

The bulb can absorb sunlight, allowing Bulbasaur to restore health with Synthesis or fire off a powerful SolarBeam.

Behaviour

Most Bulbasaur are domesticated Pokémon, raised by breeders to be distributed as starter Pokémon in the Kanto region. Due to this, they are regarded as mostly well-behaved Pokémon. Some consider them to be the easiest Pokémon to start with due to this, as well as the fact that they have a type advantage over the first two Gym Leaders in Kanto.

Bulbasaur tend to have a strong loyalty to their friends and Trainers. In The Mystery Menace, for example, a Bulbasaur was abandoned by its Trainer in the sewers of Trovitopolis and remained there for years, yet was still happy to see him when finally brought out from the sewer by Ash and his friends.

It is shown, in Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden, that once annually in Kanto, large groups of Bulbasaur gather in a hidden garden to become Ivysaur. It is unknown whether or not this is the case in other regions, as Bulbasaur are more rare there.

Bulbasaur can sometimes be found lying in the sun during the day to photosynthesize energy when food is scarce.

Habitat

Bulbasaur are scarce in the wild. Sometimes they can be found in secret places such as gardens, plains near large sources of fresh water, or hiding in the forest in hollow logs, but overall they are found far more often in the ownership of Trainers. It is native to Kanto.

Type effectiveness

Weak to: Flying; Fire; Psychic; Ice
Resistant against: Fighting; Water; Grass; Electric
Unaffected by: None
Damaged normally by: Normal; Poison; Ground; Rock; Bug; Ghost; Steel; Dragon; Dark

Trivia

• Bulbasaur’s body has been seen to be composed of different colors; with an all green body in the Generation II games and a head with a more bluish hue in later generations.
  • Also, Bulbasaur’s body is light green rather than blue-green in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.
  • In contrast, the original artwork featured a bright blue body, but the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen artwork has a more greenish hue.
• Bulbasaur’s evolution family is the only starter Pokémon evolution family to have each member appear at least once in the Super Smash Bros. series.
• Bulbasaur is the first Pokémon in the National Pokédex order. By default, this also makes it the first Grass-type, Poison-type, dual-type Pokémon, unevolved Pokémon, and starter Pokémon in National Pokédex order.
  • Since in Generation I, the Bug-type was super-effective against Poison-type Pokémon, Bulbasaur was also the first Pokémon with a double weakness (to Bug). Due to Generation II’s changes to type effectiveness, this “honor” has since been taken by Charizard, which is doubly weak to Rock-type moves.
• Bulbasaur and its evolutions share the same species name as Sunkern. They both are known as the Seed Pokémon.
• Bulbasaur’s number in the National Pokédex and the Fiore Browser is the same: 001. This makes it and its evolution family one of only five families of Pokémonto have the same numbers in more than one Pokédex-like listing.
• Bulbasaur is the only dual-typed starter Pokémon, with Grass and Poison, in its basic form.
  • By extrapolation, this also means that Bulbasaur is the only dual-typed Pokémon to begin a regional Pokédex - Chikorita, Treecko, and Turtwig are all only Grass.
  • Bulbasaur is the only Poison-type starter Pokémon.
• Though Bulbasaur have no gender differences in the games, May’s Bulbasaur has little hearts on its head while Ash’s does not, and has been confirmed female after its evolution.
  • It’s also one of the three Pokémon that appeared in the anime with a heart-shaped spot, the others being Spinda and Wooper.
• Bulbasaur is the only Pokémon that can learn Petal Dance by breeding, while its final evolution learns it by leveling up.
• In Kanto, Bulbasaur has more advantages against Gym Leaders than the other starters. Its Grass-type attacks make it effective against Pokémon in the Pewter, Cerulean, and Viridian Gyms. Its Grass and Poison types also make it resistant to the Vermilion and Celadon Gyms’ types. It only has weaknesses to the Cinnabar and Saffron Gyms.
• Bulbasaur and Pikachu were on Ash’s team in the anime for the longest continuous period of time. Their in-game cries are also variations of each other.
• In Generation IV, there exists a glitch Pokémon (Invisible shiny Bulbasaur) that has the same cry as Bulbasaur.

Origin

Bulbasaur appears to be based on some form of Dicynodont, mammal-like reptiles from the Permian period, though it also has features from toads and frogs as well as other reptiles. Its also has visible ears, which are not seen in reptiles but are in mammals. Its bulb resembles that of a lily or onion.

Name origin

Bulbasaur’s name is a combination of the words bulb and saur, which is Greek for lizard. Its Japanese name literally means it’s strange, isn’t it?, and is a pun on, 不思議種 fushigidane, strange seed.

Game sprites
Generation I

Red &Blue

Yellow

Red (Ja) & Green

Generation II

Gold

Silver

Crystal

Generation III

Ruby & Sapphire

Emerald

FireRed & LeafGreen

Generation IV

Diamond & Pearl

Platinum

HeartGold & SoulSilver