I do think the composition of both Bulbasaur are fairly similar but that’s about all I got.
It’s the composition for Squirtle that’s similar. The background - trees in the former, water/rock in the latter, comes down in a \ / shape, broken by an eager open-mouthed Squirtle on the top two thirds of the image. It helps if you interpret what the base Squirtle is standing on as bubbles, which I always have, and which lines up nicely with the splash of water on the new card. It’s only Bulbasaur which I find a bit tenuous.
Incidentally, it’s carried through to the first evolutions too (and the Bulba line is once again the furthest departure):
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i know this isn’t the unpopular opinion thread, but base set really has not aged well when compared sidebyside to reimagined artworks
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Base Set didn’t age well the second Jungle came out. Lol.
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true lol. himeno changed the game
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Honestly I would have tried a more painterly style for the starters. They feel a bit too digital to keep the original mood if you change the poses so much. Gidora Charmeleon is really neat though.
Abra and Kadabra work really well in my opinion.
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It’s now or never for Lt. Surge FA
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I know Magmar would be the most affordable card if its in this release (i hope magmar is in it 
)
It sure is 
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hehe i collected the underdog 
at least i can sleep well.
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They haven’t made a gold shiny since Fusion Arts.
It’s always the set mascot that gets gold, which is now presumably Mew ex.
I honestly just still don’t see it… 
Base Charmeleon again depicts an entirely different pose and action in an entirely different environment. If anything, 151 Charmeleon reminds me far more of Team Rocket’s Dark Charmeleon, and even then I’d hesitate to call it a direct reference.
Similarly, place the 151 Wartortle among any number of other Wartortle cards and I’d find it hard to argue it specifically is a direct reference to Base Wartortle over any other Wartortle.
But I shall rest my case - I don’t want to take over the thread with my ‘old lady yells at cloud’ routine!
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@Llyrwenne What if these stage 1 cards were never intended to reference Base Set If an artist wants to draw parallels with older era cards, we will most likely see it (like Arita’s Abra) but I don’t expect all of them to. After all, the theme is Kanto, not WOTC 151
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Seeing parallels between this set and base set is a prime example of confirmation bias. Seeing one clear similarity between base and 151 Charmander, and suddenly all the starter cards are references to base set…
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I agree with @Llyrwenne and @cdarwin7 that folks really want to believe and are strongly overstating the connections here. I agree there’s some conceptual nods in some of the cards which are certainly fun to observe but this notion that the cards are explicitly reinterpretations of the same art isn’t working for me.
I think it’s likely that given the assignment some artists took a look at the original cards and maybe considered incorporating an aspect of them for the fun of it but this is absolutely not true for every card and I think if you approach the set with this preconceived bias you’re to see what you want to see.
Wartortle on a beach is not fan service.
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-i’m not sure there was an official statement by pokemon that these arts were supposed to be any sort of recreation of the originals
-i don’t think anyone is arguing that the new arts are direct recreations of the original arts, but instead are just the pokemon either doing something similar or in a similar setting.
imo, the people arguing against the second point are wanting something akin to arita’s stormfront base charizard recreation. anything less is mere coincidence and not an intended homage.
and the people arguing that they’re homages to the original arts are wanting to acknowledge similarities. Of course they’re not going to reprint a sprite of wartortle on a shutterstock mspaint default setting background. We’re no longer in a time where pokemon has to be desperate to come up with art. However, I find it disingenuous to try and argue that wartortle on a beach is somehow not similar to wartortle on a beach.
as for the real answer, I highly doubt we’ll ever know since pokemon rarely allows the artists to talk about stuff like direction
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Confirmation biasssss whatever let us have fun discussing the set
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Japan is due its regular Shiny High Class (every three years normally) set this Christmas. If the Chansey is playable there’s a good chance it will be included 
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I didn’t know that finding similarities in art would be so contentious. 
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