Which Pokemon introduced you to the franchise?

[Luftwaffles]

I know that most people know the franchise because of Pikachu, and that the very first Pokémon we ever saw while watching the anime for the first time were Mew and Mewtwo... but which Pokémon made you go "yeah, I wanna watch/play this"?

For me, that Pokémon was... Omanyte.

That's kinda random, isn't it? You can't even get Omanyte until very late into the games (and I didn't even make it that far when I played those for the first time), and it wouldn't debut on the anime itself until more than half-way through the first season, so how come could it be the one to do it for me? That's because my friend collected Pokémon cards early on and he had a spare Omanyte lying around, so he gave it to me as a token of appreciation... and just like that, it was hooked.

I swear, I must have stared at that card for days, always keeping it close while I saved enough money to buy the card set myself (I came within two cards of owning the whole thing, shortly before they stopped printing it altogether). And I even got a surge of happiness whenever he got mentioned on the Pokerap... but the irony is that I don't even use Omanyte in the games, and he's never part of any of my teams even thought he's always available on Stadium and a couple of other games. But I haven't forgotten it entirely, and I always pick its fossil whenever I'm replaying a Gen 1 game. It's the least I could do.

Which Pokémon did the trick for you? Was it even in Gen 1? A lot of you are younger than that, after all... tell us!

[HeadInAnotherGalaxy]

Ach, Ah dinnae remember vhich exact Pokémon introduced me tae ze franchize, but Ah've been a big fan zince early on. Ah dae remember zat me firzt Pokémon card vaz a Mew. Me firzt game vaz actually Pokémon Zapphire, alzough Ah 'ad avready been a fan fer quoite zome toime by zen.