If charizard wasn’t THE card what do you reckon would follow suit? Blastoise venusaur or imagine everyone chasing copies of alakazam 
The hierachy goes Charizard > Blastoise > Venusaur. If Mewtwo wasn’t a deck holo it’d go between Charizard and Blastoise.
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I have noticed a big fanbase around Blastoise, both back then as well as right now.
Besides, when the games came out in the states there were two choices, you either got ‘Charizard’ Red or ‘Blastoise’ Blue. Besides, Blastoise was very playable in first generation TCG decks. I’ve played against so many Rain Dance decks.
So my money would be on Blastoise.
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I don’t know what the collectors would be after, but they SHOULD be after Nidoking.
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For me It would be dragonite 
but that’s just cos he’s my favourite 
I dunno, Base Set Mewtwo is kinda ugly.
Don´t deny the indescribable power of allmighty venusaur!!! venusaur>base set
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Imagine that Psa 10 venusaur 1st ed $30k 
zard just a meer $3k haha
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I mean who tf wants to have a boring lizard when you can have a solarbleam blasting jungle dinosaur with a micro jungle on his back, right? 
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Biased me thinks Mew should be THE CARD to want from the sets over the years.
Constantly good artworks for Mew, don’t sleep on Pokéjesus!
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Hell yeah Venusaur #1 starter
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You’re right; Mew is, in my opinion, one of the most consistent Pokémon when it comes to great artwork throughout every set. Also, its shiny version isn’t an eyesore like some other Pokémon tend to be.
But back in the day, I think everybody already assigned themselves their favorite Pokémon out of the original 150, before Mew was readily available (in the game, English promo card, etc.), so I’m still sticking with Blastoise. 
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This reminds me to get my shadowless Blastoise holo graded…
Pikachu.
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Haha imagine that a psa 10 1st Ed fetching $20+ k
I would argue it would have to be another masculine type of Pokemon. Remember this is the late 90s in many successful toys before were very muscular and out of this world strong. Boys were not coming over onto the girl’s side, but girls were venturing more into the boys section. Without picking the obvious Blastoise or Venusaur, I would say the answer is Machamp. It’s a very relatable Pokemon with wrestling and physical type moves. What other Pokemon has four arms and looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger? It would be the human in a world of animals fighting to be the best. A close second would be Nidoking
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There’s a reason Machamp got the premiere theme deck right? Most printed Holo… it’s starting to make more sense the more I think about it.
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@gemmintpokemon has some good insight there, taking into account personal bias and the culture surrounding Pokemon in the 90’s.
Its hard to say objectively, a lot of Charizard’s popularity stems from its role in the anime, it was a cool Dragon (Don’t @ me with that fire/flying type I know but come on) Pokemon that didn’t play by the rules but would often rise up when the occasion demanded (apart from the League battle, talk about a denial of catharsis!), the perfect edgy 90’s role model for angsty kids!
So if Charizard didn’t exist, something else would have to take that role and the show runners would have to make that decision, I’d personally rule out Blastoise and Venusaur, I love them both but they’re both round blobs and don’t have the same cool factor (IMO).
Machamp is a good choice, totally encapsulates that 90’s hyper-masculine aesthetic (although wasn’t that more 80’s? Fist of the North Star comes to mind), Ash/Satoshi could have caught a Machop that levelled up way too quickly and evolved and became disobedient.
Or maybe even Raichu as the sort of edgy teenage type in contrast to the cute Pikachu (who I feel could never fill that role even though I’m a massive fan). Dragonite could fill the role too although its pseudo-legendary identity would maybe be a little OP for the rookie Ash.
At the very least I think it would have to be something that had an evolutionary line, especially a 3 stage line, just my thoughts on the topic, fun question @jakew1992
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Only reason it wouldn’t be Pikachu is because it is far too often a common. I think Mew, Dragonite, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Legendary Dogs, and Mewtwo are very iconic.
It’s hard to take your personal feelings out of it, so I won’t.
I’ll get my tack together and climb aboard the Venusaur train.
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