Bulbasaur
Quick take
- Illustration Rare slot for the original Kanto Grass starter
- Calm windowsill nap scene by Orca, atmosphere over action
- Required card for a Stellar Crown master set
- Mid-tier value, not a top-end chase
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Stellar Crown
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 143/142 · $94.34 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyA cozy Bulbasaur IR that fits any Kanto binder
Bulbasaur 143 is the Illustration Rare slot for the original Grass starter in Stellar Crown. The card leans into atmosphere over action. Bulbasaur is asleep on a windowsill in a plant-filled room, sun coming through the glass, a Pidgey watching from the sill. It is the kind of art people stop on when flipping through a binder.
“Illustration Rare slot for the original Kanto Grass starter”
For master set builders, this is a required pull. Stellar Crown's Illustration Rare subset is a checklist of its own, and the Kanto starters carry extra weight because of name recognition. Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle all turn up in the IR tier across recent sets, and the calmer slice-of-life ones like this have held collector interest well.
It is not a top-end chase like a Special Illustration Rare or Hyper Rare. It sits in the mid tier of the set. Easy enough to pull over a box or two, popular enough that singles move steadily.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Sits in the mid range of Stellar Crown singles. Well below the set's Special Illustration Rares and gold cards, but a clear step above the bulk commons and Double Rares. One of the more reliably traded Illustration Rares in the set thanks to the Bulbasaur name.
Held a steady floor since the September 2024 release. No spike, no collapse. The kind of card that drifts rather than swings, with raw copies plentiful and graded gems carrying the premium.
Treat it as a collector card, not a flip. Upside is modest and gradual. The realistic play is a clean copy for the binder, or a high-grade slab if you like the art enough to chase a 10. Supply is healthy, so patience pays more than urgency.
Raw copies are common, so the value concentrates in top grades. A PSA 10 or equivalent commands a meaningful premium over a raw near-mint, while a PSA 8 or 9 narrows that gap quickly. Centering and surface are the usual gating factors on the IR texture.
In Scarlet & Violet sets, any Illustration Rare lands at roughly 1 in 12 packs. For comparison, any Double Rare is about 1 in 5, any Ultra Rare about 1 in 15, any Special Illustration Rare around 1 in 90, and any Hyper Rare anywhere from 1 in 300 to 1 in 700. Those figures cover the whole rarity group. Pulling this specific Bulbasaur runs much longer, since Stellar Crown spreads its odds across many Illustration Rares, so plan on opening well beyond a single box if you are hunting this exact card rather than buying the single.
Common enough that you will see Illustration Rares across a box or two of openings, but this is one of several IRs in the set, so the specific-card odds are far longer than the group rate. For master set builders, buying the single is usually faster and cheaper than chasing it in packs.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Orca is one of the illustrators in the modern Pokemon TCG rotation, credited on Scarlet & Violet era cards including Snom in Temporal Forces and Volbeat and Illumise in Twilight Masquerade. Their work tends toward soft, story-driven scenes rather than battle poses, which suits the Illustration Rare format where the art is the whole point.
Bulbasaur is curled up asleep on a windowsill in a bright, plant-filled room. Sunlight comes through the window and falls across potted plants on pastel walls. A Pidgey sits nearby on the sill, watching the scene. The palette is warm and gentle, mostly greens, yellows, and soft blues, with quiet shading that keeps the whole thing calm.
Standard Scarlet & Violet Illustration Rare treatment: full-art borderless layout with the textured holo finish applied across the card face. The flat, even composition shows fingerprints and surface scuffs readily, so condition matters for grading.
Plenty of starter IRs put the Pokemon front and center doing something. This one is pure mood. The napping pose, the houseplants, the Pidgey at the window. It is a card that rewards a closer look, which is exactly what collectors want from the IR tier.
BackgroundAbout Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur is #001 in the National Pokedex and one of the three original Kanto starters from Red and Green. Decades of games, anime, and merchandise have kept it among the most recognized Pokemon ever made. That history is why a Bulbasaur card with good art rarely sits unsold.
- ›First entry in the National Pokedex and an original Kanto starter
- ›Strong nostalgia pull for collectors who started with Gen 1
- ›Ash's Bulbasaur was a fan-favorite in the early anime
- ›Grass-type starter fans gravitate to it specifically
- ›Frequent star of slice-of-life and atmospheric card art
- ›Original Kanto starter trio in Pokemon Red and Green (1996)
- ›Ash's Bulbasaur, a recurring companion in the early anime series
- ›Returning starter option in Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee
Own it wellCollector guide
The flat, light art and textured holo surface make whitening on edges and corners easy to spot, and the open background shows print lines and scuffs. Inspect centering front and back before buying. Borderless IRs can look off-center even when they are technically fine.
Only worth grading if you have a clean, well-centered copy aiming for a 10. The premium lives at the top grade. A raw near-mint copy is the sensible buy for a binder, since grading costs can exceed the card's mid-grade value. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve and toploader at minimum, or a one-touch for display copies. Keep it out of direct sunlight to protect the holo, and store upright to avoid bowing. The textured finish attracts fingerprints, so handle by the edges. See the storage guide →
Buy the single rather than ripping packs for it. Supply is healthy, so be picky on centering and surface for the price. If you want a slab, buy an already-graded 10 from a trusted seller instead of gambling on a raw submission. See the singles buying guide →
Modern SV-era cards are faked far less than vintage, but still check the textured holo pattern, the borderless layout, and the back print quality. Compare against a known-genuine Stellar Crown card if anything looks off on color or gloss.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors received this one warmly as a calm, easy-to-like card. It gets grouped with the gentler slice-of-life Illustration Rares people single out from Stellar Crown rather than the flashy chase cards.
Described in set roundups as a serene card that reads like a summer afternoon nap. Kanto starter IRs in idyllic settings are often flagged as the type that gains collector value as a set ages, though that is community expectation, not a guarantee.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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