Beedrill · Base Set 2, what to know.
About the Beedrill card
Beedrill is card 21 of 130 in Base Set 2, released in February 2000, a Rare. It is a Stage 2 Grass-type with 80 HP.
As a Stage 2, it evolves from Kakuna, which places Beedrill deeper in its line and means most collectors hold it alongside the cards it evolves from.
Illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of Pokémon itself, so his card art carries the tight, on-model look that defined how the creatures appear in the games.
The card's flavor text gives Beedrill a line of lore: "Flies at high speed and attacks using the large, venomous stingers on its forelegs and tail."
About Beedrill in the Pokémon world
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.
What is Beedrill worth?
Beedrill is a non-holo Rare. In Base Set 2, value concentrates in the holo rares, so a Beedrill trades modestly, though a clean, well-centered 1st Edition copy in PSA 10 is scarcer than the print run suggests and carries a real premium. Check the live price above for the figure by grade.
Print variants and how to spot them
Base Set 2 produced Unlimited prints. For Beedrill, the print variant can change the price several times over, so identify it before you buy.
Grading and condition
Non-holo Rares like Beedrill are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Beedrill survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.
If you are collecting Beedrill
For Beedrill, check centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface under angled light. Non-holo Rares from this era are cheap enough that a PSA 10 submission on a clean Beedrill can make sense.
