>>56460788>more hindsight rambling missing the pointYes, they eventually decided against evolving Bulbasaur. There's literally proof right there that they were originally planning to have it evolve all the way into Venusaur by the league, though, and in the first place, it not evolving doesn't mean it wasn't the starter that the creators subtly favored. Charizard was an unreliable wildcard after evolving, with the series having a tendency to demonize evolutions compared to their unevolved forms in general. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur was a trustworthy companion that would stick with him all the way until mid-Johto long after Charizard and Squirtle left, with his spirit living on all the way through Unova in how Ash would always get a grass starter during the first five generations.
And this is all putting aside the actual point being discussed, namely the pre-anime stuff like early artwork and Pokemon Special. Basically, Bulbasaur is much like Clefairy: While they ended up being organically superseded by Charizard and Pikachu respectively due to fan reception, it doesn't change the fact that they were the Pokemon that the creators originally thought of as "the default starter" (with the rival getting the imposing fire dragon) and "the mascot" (as evidenced by the Clefairy manga) respectively.
