Beedrill

Beedrill sits at #21 in Base Set 2, the fourth of the Wizards of the Coast print runs. Illustration by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of the Pokémon franchise itself. His TCG illustrations carry a tighter, more on-model feel because they are by the same hand that defined how the Pokémon look in the games. In the games, Beedrill evolves from Kakuna, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.

The flavor text on the card reads: "Flies at high speed and attacks using the large, venomous stingers on its forelegs and tail." Pokédex entries from this era are short and often quirky, written by the original Japanese localization team for a specific stat-block layout that no longer exists in modern cards.

The Bug-Poison final form of the Weedle line. Three drill-tipped stingers and a wasp silhouette. Notoriously strong in early tournament play before defensive Pokémon caught up. Base Set Beedrill is a rare non-holo. Jungle reprinted it. Both have steady collector demand, with the Base Set print being meaningfully scarcer in high grade.

Base Set 2 shipped in a single Unlimited print run. No 1st Edition stamp, no Shadowless treatment, no error prints of note. The Base Set 2 set symbol (a small "2" inside the Base mark) is the diagnostic. Holos from this set carry significantly lower prices than the original Base Set equivalents despite being the same card art.

For graded buyers, non-holo Rares are less punishing on surface but no easier on centering. PSA 10 populations for Wizards-era Rares are smaller than the Rare Holo populations in some cases because the cards were less protected and more frequently played. Edge whitening from sleeves is the typical grade-cap on raw copies.

For raw purchases of this card, verify centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface scratches under angled light. Non-holo Rares from the Wizards era are cheap enough that PSA 10 submissions usually do not break the math if you have a clean candidate.