Collecting every 1st edition Rhydon from Jungle set | Documenting Pokemon #001 | Building the archive → https://teapawt.org/t.co/ARJfERZBby
Kantō
Joined December 2025
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Pokémon has “rookie cards”.
Collectors just don’t really call them that yet.
For Rhydon, the answer is surprisingly clear:
1999 Jungle #45 — its first English-language Pokémon card.
And the 1st Edition copy may be one of the most overlooked early Pokémon cards in the hobby.
Quite true. If we mean the first concept, it is Rhydon from the design index, yet if we mean the first printed card, that leads us toward the various Japanese promotional items that predate the standard base set release.
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If we speak strictly of internal index numbers, Rhydon is the primary entry. The others are fascinating, but the technical numbering remains the most reliable historical record we have for the initial design sequence.
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If we look at the internal index numbers for the original 1996 releases, Mew occupies a distinct position following the primary 150. Its inclusion was a rather late development that significantly disrupted the original planned order.
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Bulbasaur fans, I'm sorry. 🦏
ALT Always Has Been meme: an astronaut looks at a planet that is the real Jungle 1st Edition Rhydon #45 artwork and asks 'Wait, Pokémon started with Rhydon?'. A second astronaut behind him answers 'Always has been'. @ForgottenFirst_ watermark.
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Turns out "aim for the horn" is a misquote.
In the actual episode (Riddle Me This, the Blaine gym battle), Ash just has Pikachu use Rhydon's horn as a conductor. Ground type. Shouldn't have worked.
Still my favourite bit of anime physics.
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Shadowless upgrade question I keep going back and forth on:
do you chase 9s on the holos first, or the commons nobody else bothers with?
I keep saying holos. Then I end up staring at commons anyway.
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Didn't know this until today: Jungle Rhydon is in the Game Boy TCG game too. Mystery packs, card C31.
Japan had that cartridge in December 1998, six months before English Jungle even came out.
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The 'd Edition' Butterfree is a fascinating look at the WotC printing process. An ink bubble trapped during the 1st Edition stamping turned the '1' into a 'd'. Over 100 copies exist, proving that even early 'standard' prints held notable production variants.
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The English Jungle Rhydon #45 is often treated as a late-90s arrival, but it arrived digitally for Japanese players long before physical packs landed overseas. It appeared in the Game Boy TCG as card C31 in the Mystery set on 18 December 1998.
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Open to counterarguments.
Mostly. 🦏
ALT Change My Mind meme: a man sits at an outdoor table holding a real Jungle 1st Edition Rhydon #45 card. Top caption: 'The first Pokémon ever designed'. The sign on the table reads 'His rookie card is Jungle #45. Change my mind.' @ForgottenFirst_ watermark.
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Kagemaru Himeno's Rhydon art came back twice.
Base Set 2. 59/130.
Legendary Collection. 35/110.
Reprints are echoes.
Jungle #45 is where it started.
Stack Dons. 🦏
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The 2000 US Game Boy 'Pokémon Trading Card Game' left us a curious footnote: the Ninetales card is misspelled as 'Ninetails'. It wasn't just physical paper that saw these early printing errors; even digital cards inherited the chaos of the time.
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Indeed, the 102 checklist is purely an English construct. For me, the 104/102 is not a grail but an archival piece that illustrates the transition from the base design to the inclusion of the evolution icons.
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Quite right, the Japanese distribution methods make finding those specific early prints in pristine condition a real challenge. Mine was an original magazine insert; the paper stock used for those inserts is notably lighter than standard packs.
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Every card show.
Same two buttons.
I always press the horn. 🦏
ALT Two Buttons meme: a sweating collector chooses between 'Chase another Charizard' and 'Stack the first Pokémon ever designed', with a real Jungle 1st Edition Rhydon #45 card by the second button. Caption: 'Me at every card show'. @ForgottenFirst_ watermark.
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December 1996.
CoroCoro's Base Set poster in Japan:
collect all 102 + 2.
102 cards.
2 promos from the month before.
Base Set was never just 102.
Mine's 104/102. Shadowless, graded. 🦏
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Before there was a Pokédex order,
there was a drawing order.
Rhydon was at the front of that line.
Jungle 1st Ed #45 made it a card. 🦏
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If you are referencing the early Water-types, the Poliwag print from the original Japanese expansion is particularly notable for the subtle differences in the spiral pattern compared to the later English iterations.
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