Y'all want a thread about how great Venusaur is? Because here's a thread about how great Venusaur is: https://twitter.com/dandock/status/1305852022554611713

So, I hesitate to call Venusaur the "mysterious" final form of the Gen 1 starter trio, but it kind of was, despite how often strategy guides pressed you to pick Bulbasaur if you want to breeze through the early gyms.

Most notably, it wasn't on the cover of Red or Blue, meaning that it immediately took a backseat to Charizard and Blastoise in terms of American branding.

Even in the Japanese releases, Charizard and Blastoise get these dynamic poses while Venusaur just kinda sits there.

In the anime opening, Charizard spits fire, Blastoise shoots water, and Venusaur...just kinda sits there.

In the "Island of Giant Pokemon" episode, the Charizard and Blastoise robots immediately attack the group of Pokemon.

Venusaur...walks by.

In "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak" episode, Gastly partly transforms into a Venusaur, who is finally given the chance to...Fusion Dance with Blastoise.

(Not knocking this scene, though. It's awesome.)

Now, these all seem like small bits, but it adds up. So while Charizard and Blastoise are action figure ready, what Venusaur can do is left up to the player's imagination.

So in a way, the Venusaur is one of the purest expressions of the original games - The 8 bit Game Boy Pokemon world was full of fascinating things, but due to limitations, so much of the enjoyment came from how YOU interpreted it.

The games were out for a year and a half before Japanese fans got to see what Venusaur looked like in grand anime action. American fans had to wait seven months. So for a long time, Venusaur's powers were whatever you imagined they'd be.

Anyway, Venusaur is great, and I hope you've enjoyed this thread about why Venusaur is great.