E4's Favorite Bulbasaur, Charmander, & Squirtle (Closed - Results)

[inertgeometry]

It’s been a while, but we’re back!

How this works:

There will be 2 sections of Voting

Design: the concept aesthetic overall

• the “Design” poll is just to get a rough count of participants. PLEASE make sure to vote in this.

Cards: individual cards

• cards are listed in chronological order based on first release
• • unless it makes sense otherwise to group them with other cards released at a different time.
• cards within a similar release will be grouped together, followed by an option for each individually
• vote for any card that you like.

The polls will automatically close on Sunday at 12PM Pacific Time. I will edit this post and title to count down from least to most voted, and we will see which cards are E4’s Favorite.

Most of these images are pulled from quick google searches, eBay, or Bulbapedia if they had a large enough file. If you'd like me to replace an image, you're welcome to post it in the comments.

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Results

Design

80 Votes

• Bulbsaur: 8.96/10
• Charmander: 8.46/10
• Squirtle: 8.68/10

Cards

Dishonorable Mentions (0-10 Votes)

113th - 3 Votes

110-112th - 4 Votes

109th - 5 Votes

106-108th - 7 Votes

103rd-105th - 8 Votes

101st/102nd - 10 Votes

68-100th (11-20 Votes)

100th - 11 Votes

97-99th - 12 Votes

96th - 13 Votes

92nd-95th - 14 Votes

90th/91st - 15 Votes

85-89th - 16 Votes

84th - 17 Votes

79th-83rd - 18 Votes

76-78th - 19 Votes

68-75th - 20 Votes

45-67th (21-30 Votes)

66/67th - 21 Votes

62nd-65th - 22 Votes

58th-61st - 23 Votes

56/57th - 24 Votes

52nd-55th - 25 Votes

49th-51st - 28 Votes

48th - 29 Votes

45-47th - 30 Votes

23rd-44th (31-40 Votes)

40-44th - 31 Votes

38/39th - 33 Votes

37th - 34 Votes

34-36th - 35 Votes

32nd/33rd - 36 Votes

31st - 37 Votes

28-30th - 38 Votes

24-27th - 39 Votes

23rd - 40 Votes

Honorable Mentions (41-50 Votes)

22nd - 41 Votes

21st - 42 Votes

18-20th - 43 Votes

14-17th - 44 Votes

13th - 45 Votes

11/12th - 46 Votes

10th - 47 Votes

9th - 48 Votes

8th - 49 Votes

6/7th - 50 Votes

Top 5

5th - 51 Votes

4th - 53 Votes

3rd - 55 Votes

2nd - 57 Votes

Undisputed Winner

1st - 73 Votes (roughly 91% of participants)

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Exit Poll

“______ has the best cards so far”

1. Bulbasaur - 51%
2. Squirtle - 31%
3. Charmander - 18%

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Polls

Design

Voting Scale:

[ 1 The Worst ] ↔ [ 10 The Best ]

Bulbasaur

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

Charmander

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

Squirtle

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

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Cards

Original Era

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1996 Base Set

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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1997 Rocket

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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1998 Vending Series 1

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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1999 Intro Pack Decks

• Bulbasaur

• Squirtle

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1999 Snap Best Photo Contest Winners

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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Gym Series

• Erika’s Bulbasaur - Gym 1 / Challenge (Left)

• Erika’s Bulbasaur AA - CoroCoro Promo (Right)

• Blaine’s Charmander - Gym 2 / Heroes (Left)

• Blaine’s Charmander - Blaine Deck / Gym Challenge (Right)

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Neo

RIP

e-Series

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2001 Pokemon-e Starter Deck / Expedition

• Bulbasaur - 001 / 94

• Bulbasaur - 002 / 95

• Charmander - 009 / 97

• Charmander - 010 / 98

• Squirtle - 017 / 131

• Squirtle - 018 / 132

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2002 McDonald’s Pokemon-e Minimum Pack

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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ADV-PCG / EX

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• 2003 - Charmander - Gift Box Latias Half Deck / EX Dragon Secret Rare

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2004 Meiji Promos

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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2004 Flight of Legends Starter Decks / EX Fire Red Leaf Green

• Bulbasaur - 001 / 54

• Bulbasaur - 002 / 55

• Charmander - 009 / 57

• Charmander - 010 / 58

• Squirtle - 017 / 82

• Squirtle - 018 / 83

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• 2005 - Bulbasaur - Master Kit Quarter Deck / POP 2

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2005 - Ditto - Holon Research Tower Decks & Set / EX Delta Species

• Bulbasaur - HRT Set / Uncommon

• Charmander - HRT Set / Uncommon

• Squirtle - HRT Set / Uncommon

• Charmander - HRT Fire Deck / Common

• Squirtle - HRT Water Deck / Common

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• 2006 - Squirtle - McDonald’s Promo / POP 4

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2006 Miracle Crystal Decks & Set / EX Crystal Guardians

• Bulbasaur - Earth’s Groudon Deck - 001 / 45

• Charmander - Earth’s Groudon Deck - Lightning Delta

• Squirtle - Ocean’s Kyogre Deck - 003 / 63

• Bulbasaur - 001 / 46

• Charmander

• Squirtle - 018 / 64

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• 2006 - Charmander - Lightning Delta AA - Shogakukan Mag Promo / POP 5

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• 2007 - Charmander - EX Power Keepers / World Champions Pack

Dp-Pt

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2007 DP2 / Secret Wonders

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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• 2008 - Charmander - Base Set AA - Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky / Stormfront

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• 2008 - Squirtle - Pt1 / Platinum

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2008-2009 10th Anniversary Pokemon Center JP Promos

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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• 2009 - Bulbasaur - Pt3 / Supreme Victors

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• 2009 - Charmander - Pt4 / Arceus

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L / HGSS

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• 2009 - Squirtle - Battle Starter Deck / Unleashed

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BW

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• 2011 - Bulbasaur - BW4 / Dark Explorers

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• 2012 - Bulbasaur - BW-P March Gym Challenge Promo

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2012 BW6 / Boundaries Crossed

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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• 2012 - Charmander - BW6 AA - BW-P September Gym Challenge Promo

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• 2012 - Squirtle - Kyurem Black EX Deck / Plasma Storm

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• 2013 - Squirtle - Blastoise & Kyurem Black EX Deck / Plasma Blast

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• 2013 - Charmander - BW6 AA - EBB / Legendary Treasures

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XY

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• 2016 - Charmander - CP6 / Generations Radiant Collection

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• 2016 - All Three Cameo - '16 World’s Champion Festival

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• 2016 - All Three Cameo - 20th Anniversary Battle Festa Pikachu

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SM

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• 2017 - Charmander - sm3H / Burning Shadows

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• 2017 - Charmander - sm3H AA - SM-P Charmander Special Set

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• 2017 - Bulbasaur - Shining Legends

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• 2018 - Charmander - sm6a / Dragon Majesty

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• 2018 - Charmander - sm8b / Hidden Fates

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2018 sm9 / Team Up

• Charmander - 010 / 11

• Charmander - 011 / 12

• Squirtle - 020 / 22

• Squirtle - 021 / 23

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• 2019 - Squirtle - sm9b / Unbroken Bonds

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• 2019 - Charmander - smL Family Card Game / Hidden Fates

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2019 Detective Pikachu

• Bulbasaur - 001

• Bulbasaur - 002 / SM BlackStar Movie Promo

• Charmander

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SwSh

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• 2020 - Charmander - s4 / Vivid Voltage

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• 2020 - Charmander - s4 AA - S-P Gym 4 Pack / Battle Styles Blister Promo

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2022 PoGO Set & Promos

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

• Bulbasaur - Gift Promo / Pin Collection

• Charmander - Gift Promo / Pin Collection

• Squirtle - Gift Promo / Pin Collection

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• 2022 - Bulbasaur - '22 Illustration Contest 1st Runner Up (United States)

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SV

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2023 151

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

• Bulbasaur - AR / IR

• Charmander - AR / IR

• Squirtle - AR / IR

• Bulbasaur - Card File / Poster Collection

• Charmander - Card File / Poster Collection

• Squirtle - Card File / Poster Collection

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• 2023 - Charmander - sv3 / OBF

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2023 Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise Special Deck Set ex

• Bulbasaur - Stellar Crown IR (Presumably)

• Charmander - OBF ETB Promo

• Squirtle - Stellar Crown IR

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2023 My First Battle

• Bulbasaur

• Charmander

• Squirtle

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• 2023 - Charmander - sv4a / PAF

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Exit Poll

_______ has the best cards so far

• Bulbasaur
• Charmander
• Squirtle

"E4's Favorite" Polls - Archive

Overview Why I began doing these polls in December 2023 as a way to see how the community here ranks cards of various Pokemon or types of cards. Sometimes we may have an idea of what is #1, but what might round out the top 10? It’s hard to guess, and we always end up surprised in the end. It is also a great avenue to learn about new cards of Pokemon we may not have seen before. As time goes on and the quantity of these becomes overwhelming, I figured it would be beneficial to have them all g…

[Dyl]

A shocking number of illustrations use odd head proportions for Squirtle.

[c0ll3ct0r]

Base, Base and…Base.

Interesting how all the other trios have at least one really weak link, and it could be any of the three. As usual, there is a taper down with modern.

There’s a number of good Squirtles and Bulbasaurs but the real standout outside of Base for me is Charmander, interestingly enough. Ex Dragon, Crystal Guardians and Yamashita.

[inertgeometry]

[inertgeometry]

[inertgeometry]

it’s not just squirtle. charmander has a lot of unflattering illustrations as well lol

[brendantheclayboy]

Squirtle and bulbasaur have equal number down to the tee with regard to best cards so far, so i just voted for my boy squirtle since he will get squashed by bulba in that vote – which isn’t necessarily unfair. Bulbasaur’s cards are stellar as hell, not a hard debate there. But his base is the best of base, vending is tied, vhs decks are tied… and while snap bulba is supremacy, and e series is the reason they are ultimately tied with the best starter cards of all time, squirtle just dominates after that, with such cosmic arts as follows:

and THIS, arguably the greatest promo of the E series era, which is already an esteemed era

also, inb4 full arts win despite them paling in comparison to the aforementioned cards

[DarthEevee]

Look, I’m a simple eevee. I see Yuka Morii cards, I click like

[decoypalmette]

I love Kizuki so much. These were really the cards that made me buy the Intro deck when I started collecting again

[Rattlesnake]

This is Agumon from Digimon.

[BANKS]

I was shocked to see that half of the charmander cards are simply “Whoaa! My tail’s on fire!”

Would like to see more high level tailing i.e. to light a campfire or hiding under a big leaf in the rain to protect his flame

[c0ll3ct0r]

Say that to Agumon’s face and watch him digivolve to Skullgreymon through sheer indignity.

[decoypalmette]

You’re absolutely right.
I add that it would be so cool seeing Charmander doing lizard things: warming its body on a rock, stalking some prey, climbing rocks, and so on.

[rtas]

Another peaceful Sui illustration, 10/10, love her work

[Rattlesnake]

Love Sui as well. Her work is like Nishida and Sowsow got put in a blender.

[laladida]

Squirtle is my guy but I do love this card. Also wish they published more illustration contest cards. Correct me if Im wrong but once you submit the art the Pokemon Company owns it right? Give us a damn mini set of all the submissions ha!!

[joponnes]

Oh boy, the polls are back! I may be biased since it’s my favourite but bulbasaur had definitely the best cards out of three. Some nostalgy may have kicked in too but i did vote every single card until gen 3 started. Will be interesting to see how the vintage ones do compared to the latest ar trio which undeniably is breathtaking, but atm it feels like for example mcdonald’s minimum pack charmander is criminally underappreciated compared to some other cards

[tcgmaine]

These are my factories! I think both Bulbasaur and Squirtle are consistently great, but Squirtle for me has the best cards all the way through!

[Drew12]

Why didn’t they let sowsow do the charmander card!?

[attarissiya]

Was going to comment the same thing. TPC loves nothing more than a baffling 2/3 decision.