Charmander - The Very First Pokemon I Ever Saw

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

When I was in sixth grade, a couple of kids in my class had brought their Game Boys to school playing a game that had just come out. One of my best friends at the time was starting a new game. He was trying to figure out what "starter" he wanted to choose. I had never heard of this Pokemon thing before and was very fascinated by it. As a gamer, I couldn't help myself.

I looked at the three different options that you could start the game with as your companion. I liked the guy with the bulb on his back, and the turtle was cute. But my favorite was the orange salamander one with the little flame on his tail.

Immediately, I thought that the game was sort of psycho, so I named the Charmander Psycho. For the longest time, Charmander was my favorite Pokemon. Strangely enough, the very first Pokemon episode I ever saw was the one where Ash Ketchum sent his Charmander after a Primeape. Upon defeating it, Charmander turned into Charmeleon. So I liked Charmeleon, too. After that, I started watching the series religiously and was so excited when Charmeleon evolved into Charizard. I didn't blame Charizard for not following Ash because he was obviously too cool for school!

To this day, the Charmander evolution line is still among my favorite Pokemon. But considering how popular they are, over time I decided I wanted something a bit more obscure to be my favorite. As it is, though, I will always depend on my fire types to get me where I need to go, all because Charmander and the fire-type was my introduction to the game in the first place!

And, pretty much every time I have a Charmander, I name him Psycho. Even if he's a girl... That's why!

Photo Credit:  bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charmander

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