Of the first generation, they have been the only ones that did not evolve together with Pikachu.
Ash Ketchum with Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur
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Throughout more than 25 years we have been able to see how the Pokémon anime has been characterized by presenting various elements that are already a tradition in the saga, such as the fact that Pikachu resets its powers at the beginning of each season as well as that Ash, whose father we have been able to talk about recently, will always have a similar team structure in each new region he visits, being, in fact, Pokémon Journeys The Exception To This Rule in some way.
Now, those more nostalgic will know that the adventure of the Pallet Town coach began with Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtlebeing so that although the initial Fire type ended up evolving into Charizard, that does not mean that many see this quartet as one of the most iconic. In fact, in the chapter issued on February 10, 2023 on the final arc of Ash, he has shown us the reunion of this original team in the absence of Butterfree and Pidgeot.
Charizard and the drastic change in its evolution will have led to Squirtle and Bulbasaur refusing to evolve according to a theory
Now, if over the years it has been possible to see that Ash has been evolving most of his pokemonthe truth is that in this first generation we could see how of the mentioned quartet only Charmander evolved, being quite rare for many that we did not get to see either Bulbasaur or Squirtle in their next phases of their respective evolutionary chains.
Given this, it must be said that a Reddit user could have given a theory justifying the lack of evolution of these two Pokémon, while the cause for which neither of them decided to evolve would have been due to the change Charmander underwentsince this one went from being a friendly Pokémon to a grumpy one that did not obey Ash and that only thought of fighting against strong Fire-type Pokémon to prove its value, this being something that would have horrified Bulbasaur and Squirtlethus preventing them from wanting to end in the same way.
On the other hand, the comments of this theory also reflect that another cause for not evolving would be Pikachu himselfsince this was the first to refuse to evolve to prove its value and the fact that it could be strong even without being Raichu, which could have influenced that Bulbasaur and Squirtle would like to achieve the sameespecially in view of the fact that Pikachu has become Ash’s strongest pokemon.
Several chapters of the anime showed Bulbasaur and Squirtle’s rejection of their evolutions.
Bulbasaur and Squirtle Didn’t Evolve in the Pokemon Anime
Given this, it must also be said that the anime itself showed us this rejection of Squirtle and Bulbasaur to their evolutionsbeing that Bulbasaur refused to do it in Venusaur’s secret garden, showing us that he was not ready for this change yet, while, on the other hand, Squirtle has shown on several occasions his rivalry with the Wartortle squadwhile his fire team has shown on different occasions that they can be superior even without that extra force that physical change produces.
Be that as it may, and despite all the criticism that there may be for this decision that both Pokémon remain in their base form, the truth is that this mainly depends on the popularity of the pokemonthus giving rise to the fact that in any case the writers decide to evolve a Pokémon according to the appreciation that the fans have for them.
In fact, it is something that has been seen in anime in all generations, so, to mention a few examples, the reason why Totodile, Piplup, Chespin, Braixen, Rowlet y Grookey no evolucionaron it was because these phases were more popular than their final evolutions.
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