Charmander

* As Charmander
* Caterpie Legends
* As Gastly

### Appearances

Episodes 1-9Episode 10 (severed head worn as a hat by Leader Caterpie; flashback)

### Nicknames

Demon
Lizard-demon
Fire face
Charlie
Lizard
Pre-vo
Forest peanut

### Voiced by

Pierce Shipp

****Charmander**** was a Fire-type. He was one of the three protagonists of the *Starter Squad* series. As of *Charmander's Lament*, he is now a **Gastly**, a Ghost/Poison-type.

## History

### Professor Oak's Laboratory

*Main article: Choose A Starter*
**Charmander** was one of the starters in Professor Oak's lab, alongside Squirtle and Bulbasaur, as a 10-year-old boy named Red was deciding on which starter Pokémon to choose. Charmander boasted about his abilities, as the three Pokémon took turns trying to convince Red to pick them as a starter.

Red eventually chose Squirtle and walked away with him, leaving Charmander and Bulbasaur behind. Charmander expressed his disbelief in Red's decision. Bulbasaur asked Charmander to help him, not knowing what to do with his vines. Without saying anything, a spiteful Charmander set one of Bulbasaur's vines on fire with his tail.

### First battle

*Main article: A Wild Encounter*
Charmander and Bulbasaur eventually left the laboratory, and made their way down *Route 1*. As they walked through the tall grass, Bulbasaur tried to convince Charmander to return to the lab, but Charmander dismissed the idea, arguing that they would not evolve if they did not train. Suddenly, a wild Caterpie named Pablo appeared, picking a fight with Charmander.

Pablo made the first move, attacking Charmander using String Shot. Charmander retaliated using Scratch. However, before Pablo could attack again, Charmander tackled him to the ground, and started scratching his face repeatedly. Although Bulbasaur reminded Charmander that Pokémon were supposed to attack in turns, Charmander rejected the idea, saying that this was a fight and he wanted to win. Charmander then ordered Bulbasaur to hand him a wooden shiv on the ground nearby. Fearing for his life, Pablo begged for mercy, but Charmander decapitated him without hesitation.

After killing Pablo, Charmander told Bulbasaur that the battle was a waste of time, as he hardly gained any XP.

### Showdown in Viridian City

*Main article: Showdown at Viridian*
Charmander and Bulbasaur eventually made their way into Viridian City, where they stopped to ask May and Rosa for directions. However, both Pokémon were unable to understand the humans, hearing only gibberish. Bulbasaur then spotted Red by a nearby Mart. Charmander, still upset that Red did not pick him as his starter Pokémon, went to confront him.

Red threw out a Poké ball in an attempt to capture Charmander, but Charmander broke free with ease, claiming that Red would have to earn his ownership over Charmander this time. Red sent out Squirtle to battle with Charmander. Squirtle, confident through the knowledge of the type advantage he had over Charmander, attacked first with Bubble. Charmander however, was undaunted by this disadvantage, and dodged the slow attack with ease. Charmander retaliated by pinning Squirtle from behind, and attempting to Bite his head off.

Seeing that Squirtle had been bested in combat, Red recalled him into his Poké ball. Bulbasaur complimented Charmander on his strength, but Charmander dismissed the compliments, saying that he was not interested in talking to Bulbasaur. As Bulbasaur was distracted, Red threw a Poké ball at him, easily capturing him without any resistance.

Red then sent Bulbasaur into battle against Charmander. As Bulbasaur protested Red's decision, Charmander used Ember, setting Bulbasaur's bulb aflame from behind. Red recalled Bulbasaur into his Poké ball to save him from burning to death. Charmander taunted Red for his ineptness in combat. Red tries again to capture Charmander with a Poké ball, but Charmander easily swats it away, claiming that Red did not have enough Badges to train him, before pouncing on Red and biting his head, knocking him to the ground.

With Red killed, Charmander releases Bulbasaur and Squirtle, and proclaims himself as their new trainer. Carrying Red's bag, Charmander declared that he will become the best trainer there ever was.

### Ambushed by the Caterpie Army

*Main article: The Caterpie Ambush*
Needing food to continue with their journey, Charmander speared a wild Butterfree with a wooden shiv. Squirtle was disgusted at the thought of eating another Pokémon, claiming that it was considered as cannibalism. Charmander reminded Squirtle that they are out in the wild, and that Squirtle needed to toughen up in order to survive. Squirtle rejected the idea of eating insects, claiming he was above it, and went off to look for Berries instead.

As Charmander and Bulbasaur were distracted while cooking the Butterfree's carcass, the two were attacked and incapacitated by a group of Caterpies. After waking up, Charmander found himself, together with Bulbasaur, bound and hung from a tree. The two were then confronted by the Leader Caterpie, who swore revenge against Charmander and his friends for killing his brother Pablo in cold blood.

Charmander claimed that killing Pablo was done out of self-defense, although he was shouted down by a young Caterpie nearby for disrespecting their leader. With his mouth still free, Charmander easily killed the young Caterpie by breathing fire, before proceeding to threaten the rest of the group. However, before Charmander could finish his sentence, the group fired a volley of String Shots over his mouth, effectively gagging him.

As the Leader Caterpie continued to threaten Charmander and Bulbasaur, Squirtle returned with his Berries and noticed the commotion. Squirtle, who started to walk away started to hear Bulbasaur mention how Charmander is his trainer and how he needs to protect Charmander no matter what. Squirtle looks at the Caterpie, wondering how he can defeat all of them without getting killed. Seeing a wooden shiv on the ground nearby, he was reminded of what Charmander told him earlier about toughening up. Squirtle charged at the group with the wooden shiv in hand, but tripped on a rock, and ended up hurling towards the group in a Rapid Spin. Tucked into his shell, Squirtle's pinballed around the trees, knocking out almost all of the Caterpie, and freeing both Charmander and Bulbasaur from their bonds.

Now free, Charmander turned his attention to the Leader Caterpie, intimidating it with a Growl. With a burst of Ember, Charmander sent the remaining Caterpie into a retreat, and even managed to kill one by biting its head off. Despite all that happened, Charmander expressed excitement at the prospect of making a new enemy, reasoning that they would gain more XP from winning enemies that wanted to fight them.

Charmander went over to a still-recovering Squirtle, and complimented him on the effectiveness of his "shell move".

### Confrontation with Gaven

*Main article: Charmander Gets Punched in the Face*
In *Charmander Gets Punched in the Face*, he encounters Gaven and his Hitmonchan and was defeated by them. When Charmander wakes up, Squirtle informs him that Gaven has captured Bulbasaur. Charmander is appalled and orders Squirtle to help him get Bulbasaur back, but Squirtle stands his ground and refuses to follow Charmander’s orders. Charmander starts yelling at Squirtle, who then calls him out on his brute force methods and ineffectiveness, prompting Squirtle to leave. Charmander feels guilty and apologizes to Squirtle, which motivates Squirtle into helping Charmander to get Bulbasaur back. The two defeat the Hitmonchan by grabbing Hitmonchan's Poké Ball, recalling Hitmonchan to it, and smashing the Poké Ball. Gaven ran away and Bulbasaur was rescued.

### Charmander's Death

*Main article: The Lizard Slayer*
Charmander's reign of terror had finally came to an end, after he was eventually defeated by Squirtle and later killed by the Leader Caterpie who then wore his severed head, as later shown in *The Legend of Blue Shell Man Guy*.

### After his Death

*Main article: Charmander's Lament*
Upon his death during the end of *The Lizard Slayer*, Charmander reappeared as a ghost as of *Charmander's Lament*, but because his song was not good enough for Gengar's approval, he turned Charmander into a Gastly permanently.

## Personality and characteristics

As a Charmander, he seemed to have a narcissistic personality, motivated almost entirely by his desire to grow stronger, and to evolve. This drive led him to become the most aggressive of the three Kanto starter Pokémon.

Charmander was brave and resilient, but also reckless, brutal and impatient in attempts to get what he wanted, and was not above killing to meet these goals or just when he is ticked off. Recently, Charmander had begun to become more empathetic and was willing to try more diplomatic methods, though would resort to violence when those methods do not yield results.

Despite being brutal, reckless, and narcissistic, Charmander cared very deeply for his friends. When Bulbasaur was captured, Charmander went on a quest to save him. When Squritle was captured by the Caterpies, Charmander went on a HUGE quest, risking his life, to save him.

Charmander had a grudge against Pidgeotto for stealing his kills.

It is revealed in *Episode 8* that his greatest fear was getting captured and controlled by humans, whom he saw as incompetent and slavers.

As a Fire-type Pokémon, Charmander was naturally resistant to (and more combat effective against) Bug-type Pokémon, like Caterpies. This can be seen when Charmander easily overpowers numerous Caterpies, a recurrent foe throughout the series.

In turn, Charmander had a weakness against Rock-type and Water-type attacks. Notable examples of these weakness can be seen in the episode The Lizard Slayer, where Charmander is nearly killed by both Geodude and Squirtle.

Charmander was low level, given his starter Pokémon status, which was another disadvantage in combat. In the episode *Charmander Gets Punched in the Face*, Charmander is quickly incapacitated by a level 34 Hitmonchan, despite the former using his strongest attacks. Another example of this can be seen in Charmander's battle against Flareon in the episode *Fight Fire With Fire*, where the Charmander is unable to gain the upper hand in a fair fight.

Charmander was also susceptible to Poison-type attacks, as shown when he faints shortly after Whiskers lands a hit on him with a Poison Sting attack.

Charmander had been quite creative in a fight, often making use of nearby objects or body parts of fallen foes as weapons, typically favouring shivs or other stabbing weapons. In addition to this, he was a decent lancer and sword fighter, using wild, flailing swings to stab multiple Caterpie to death in their own nest with a Beedrill's left arm.

Charmander's casual indifference to the act of murder eventually gave way to a greater rationale when offering mercy to his enemies in exchange for his demands. While he didn’t hesitate to kill to achieve his ends, he didn’t resort to lethal force unless pushed into it by his enemies.

As a Gastly, which was shown by the end of *Charmander's Lament*, he seems to have presumably lost his ability to speak upon being permanently transformed into a Gastly, with him only saying "Bleh!".

## Trivia

* Charmander was voiced by Pierce Shipp, creator of the *Starter Squad* series
* His head was worn by Leader Caterpie to mirror how Bulbasaur wore Pablo's head as a hat.
	+ His severed head has "勝利" written on it, roughly translated, it says "Victory".
	+ Charmander knows Flamethrower, despite the fact that it can only be learned at level 24 and him needing to be level 16 to evolve into Charmeleon.
	+ It's also possible that Charmander presumably used a TM to teach himself Flamethrower at a low level.

## Gallery

As a Charmander.Reborn as a Gastly.As a Charmander, seen in the episode Showdown at Viridian.As a Charmander, startled by a Gastly, as seen in the episode Ooo Look At Me I'm A Big Scary Ghost.
## Appearances

* *Choose A Starter*
* *A Wild Encounter*
* *Showdown at Viridian*
* *The Caterpie Ambush*
* *Charmander Gets Punched in the Face*
* *The Forest King*
* *Fight Fire With Fire*
* *Ooh Look At Me I'm A Big Scary Ghost*
* *The Lizard Slayer (death)*
* *The Legend of Blue Shell Man Guy* (flashback)
* *Charmander's Lament (as a ghost; later turned into a Gastly)*