Ash's Bulbasaur
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Ash's Bulbasaur | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Ash's Bulbasaur (Japanese: サトシのフシギダネ Satoshi's Fushigidane) was the fourth Pokémon caught by Ash during his travels through Kanto, and the first of the original starter Pokémon that Ash acquired.
History
He was raised in the Hidden Village by Melanie, who cared for sick, injured, and abandoned Pokémon. Bulbasaur acted as the village's bodyguard, but after Ash helped defend the Hidden Village from an attack by Team Rocket, Melanie encouraged it to join Ash, explaining that his growth was being stunted by staying too long in the village. Although Bulbasaur initially appeared to distrust Ash, he agreed to join him. In Island of Giant Pokémon, he alone assumed that Ash had abandoned him and the others. His views on Trainers were presumably colored by all the abandoned Pokémon in the Hidden Village. Over time Bulbasaur grew to trust his new Trainer.
Bulbasaur is extremely stubborn, surly, and eager to battle. He had the opportunity to evolve after battling a powerful Rhyhorn with a very strong Take Down attack in Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden, but refused to do so despite facing a mass of Ivysaur as well as a Venusaur who were angry at him for ruining the Bulbasaur evolutionary festival. This allowed him to learn the powerful SolarBeam technique earlier than if he had evolved. He has the heart of a fighter and he never gives up in a battle. He has the determination to keep fighting even if the odds are against him, defeating such varied opponents as an Exeggutor, a Venonat, a Beedrill and a Scyther despite the type disadvantages. On one occasion Bulbasaur, along with Pikachu, was briefly lent to Misty to allow her to compete in the Princess Day Festival with a more balanced team, Bulbasaur single-handedly winning her first match by defeating a Kingler, Pinsir, Cubone and Raticate on his own. During a visit to a garden full of exotic plants run by Florinda Showers, Bulbasaur developed a certain affection for her Gloom, but nothing apparently came of it.
In Kanga Games, Bulbasaur was seen chasing after Squirtle around the room as he had stolen his biscuit and was also seen using Squirtle as a sled. Bulbasaur was seen again in Showdown at the Oak Corral, and was one of the first Pokémon to realize there was something wrong. He later defeated Butch's Hitmontop and used a SolarBeam on the whole group.
Bulbasaur is the only member of Ash's original team, save for Pikachu, to remain in his care. He stayed with him until midway in the Johto adventures, when he was sent back to Professor Oak's to keep the Pokémon there from quarreling with each other. Bulbasaur later returned in Hokey Poké Balls! to meet May's Bulbasaur, and again alongside Charizard and Squirtle to battle Brandon at the Battle Pyramid, where he defeated Brandon's Dusclops and Solrock (defeating Dusclops after its impressive defeat of Charizard, and taking Solrock down with him after a dual SolarBeam).
Bulbasaur is frequently viewed as the responsible leader of Ash's Pokémon, especially due to his actions at Professor Oak's lab. It is also a Pokémon Ash values more than most of his other Pokémon, possibly because he always wanted to catch one, as explained in Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village. It also formed a bond with Pikachu and Squirtle while they fought together while part of Ash's team.
He reappears in An Old Family Blend! at Professor Oak's Laboratory, where Heracross is sucking sap from his bulb, much to Bulbasaur's annoyance. He used Vine Whip to shove Heracross away.
Moves used
|
|||||||
| An × shows that the move cannot be legitimately known by this Pokémon in the games. | |||||||
| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||
In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Ash's Bulbasaur makes an appearance in the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It first appears in the eighth chapter, You Gotta Have Friends. Bulbasaur's capture is not depicted in the manga, it is simply stated when Bulbasaur appears out of its Poké Ball that "Ash has been busy since the last comic".
When on a walk with Pikachu in I'm Your Venusaur, Bulbasaur meets many other Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur. He learns of a local legend stating that a tree in the town was made from the guardian spirit of a 300-year-old Venusaur. Disbelieving the legend, Bulbasaur, Pikachu and a wild Ivysaur climb the tree and search for it.
In I'm Your Venusaur, when the Pokémon dialogue is translated for readers, Bulbasaur states that Ash "uses me in battle all the time".
Trivia
- His gender was confirmed in the Japanese version of Island of the Giant Pokémon. In the subtitles, he refers to himself as おれ ore, which is a male-only pronoun meaning "I", which is also used by characters such as Ash, Brock and James in the Japanese version.
- In the dub of Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village, it was implied by Ash that Bulbasaur is male. When Melanie asked Ash if Bulbasaur would make a good addition to his team, Ash said "Would he ever," implying that he is male.
- Bulbasaur is Ash's only Pokémon who refused to evolve after the process began.
- Bulbasaur was Ash's first Template:Type2 Pokémon. He was also his first Template:Type2 Pokémon.
- In Pikachu's Vacation, Bulbasaur sings a song called "Bulbasaur's Bulbabye" in order to keep Togepi happy. Dexter reports this as the first recording of the song.
- Bulbasaur, after Pikachu, is the Pokémon Ash has owned for the longest time period.
- Bulbasaur is the only one of Ash's Pokémon from Kanto and Johto (except Pikachu and Muk) to appear in Hoenn.
- This also makes him the only Pokémon Ash owns that he actually transported to Hoenn from Professor Oak's.
- Despite being part Poison-type, Bulbasaur hasn't used any Poison-type moves.
- Ash's Bulbasaur is one of his three Pokémon to use a move that it cannot learn (five if Raticate and Larvitar are counted). The other two are Charizard and Staravia who used Tackle and Gust respectively. However, Caterpie tried (and failed) to use Counter.
- Furthermore, Ash's Bulbasaur is one of only two Pokémon in the anime to use more than one move that it cannot learn, the other being a Golduck in Bye Bye Psyduck:
- Bulbasaur used Whirlwind in his debut to battle Butterfree and later in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, and has not used it since. This may have been a dubbing error as Whirlwind's Japanese name is ふきとばし Blow Away. Ash may have just told Bulbasaur to simply "blow it away" rather than commanding the actual move.
- Bulbasaur has also used Dig in Bulbasaur...the Ambassador!.
- In Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, Misty gets stuck with Psyduck in her battle with Ash. Ash doesn't battle seriously and has Bulbasaur simply lick Psyduck's head and tickle it with his vines. This is not to be confused with the actual moves Lick and Tickle, the latter of which was later introduced in Generation III. Bulbasaur still cannot learn Lick or Tickle.
- In Ditto's Mysterious Mansion, Duplica tells her Ditto to use Constrict on Ash's Bulbasaur, after transforming into it. Bulbasaur is unable learn Constrict, yet Ditto obeyed, implying that Bulbasaur may know Constrict.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Bulbasaur.
External links
- Fushigidane's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
| Ash's Pokémon | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On hand: | ||||||
| Traveling with: | ||||||
| At Oak's/In rotation: | ||||||
| With Kukui/In rotation: |
||||||
| At home: | ||||||
| In training: | ||||||
| Released: | ||||||
| Temporarily owned: | ||||||
| Traded away: | ||||||
| Given away: | ||||||
| Traveled with: | ||||||
| The Power of Us only: | ||||||
| EToP only: | ||||||
| Newspaper Strip only: | ||||||
| For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here | ||||||
| Misty's Pokémon | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In rotation: | ||||||
| At Cerulean Gym: | ||||||
| Released: | ||||||
| Other: | ||||||
| Borrowed: | ||||||
| Befriended: | ||||||
| Ride Pokémon: | ||||||
| Adventures only: | ||||||
| Electric Tale only: | ||||||
| Pocket Monsters only: | ||||||
| Newspaper Strip only: | ||||||
|
This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime. |
