I first saw a Charizard card in my 4th grade science class. The kid in front of me had scored it from one of the many booster packs purchased by his mother. We could look, but we couldnt touch. I got the sense that he enjoyed teasing the boys whod gather around his desk. This was the late 90s the all-time peak of Pokemania and while we all had our foil favorites (Chauncey, Machamp, Alakazam), Charizard reigned supreme.
Like many kids, I didnt play the Pokmon game, but I avidly stuffed my cards into three-ringed binders and showcased them proudly during lunch hour. Charizard, with his fiery tail, viridian wings, and ornery demeanor, always possessed an appeal that the rest of the pocket monsters simply couldnt muster. It became a genuine local crisis. Eventually my school banned Pokmon cards outright, because wed all rather stare at Charizard than focus on long division.
Who knows where that popularity came from. Maybe it was the heritage? Charizard evolved from Chameleon, which evolved from Charmander one of the three starting Pokmon in the original Game Boy games, and therefore he holds a special place in the hearts of many millennials.
The power level didnt hurt either. Charizard is the only card in the original Pokmon set capable of dealing 100 damage per its ability text, which was awe-inspiring to the average grade schooler. I would lay on my bedroom floor, staring up at my poster of the original 150, comparing Charizards health pool to all the other creatures in the Pokmon phylum. He was the unanimous king of the jungle. Those humble Geodudes could never hope to compete.
But honestly though? I think Charizards primary appeal came from the art on the paperboard. Here was this gigantic, impervious dragon, a stark departure from the cutesiness that defined the rest of the Pokmon bestiary, wreaking havoc on any potential rivals. I distinctly remember a cold war brewing in the classroom. Some liked their cute Pokmon like Butterfree or Poliwhirl but if you were an 11-year old boy, there was truly nothing cooler than this indomitable leviathan patrolling the skies.
Charizard was immediately enshrined as the holy grail of the trading card boom, and decades later, it remains one of the most expensive collectors items on the market. In March, a gem-mint original print Charizard sold for over $300,000.
Thats kinda ironic, because Charizard was never a prominent feature in Pokmons marketing push. Pikachu was forever the primary mascot, alongside Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and the aforementioned Charmander. When Ashs Charizard popped up in the Pokmon anime, he was often portrayed as a mercurial, unresponsive grump that the team desperately needed to win over. At one point, Charizard fell asleep instead of responding to Ashs commands, costing him a crucial gym badge a cardinal sin! (Though to be fair to the dragon, he did come up big in the clutch a few times. And the episode where they reunite is an all time classic.)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gbMkiM8NILo
Regardless, Charizards influence persisted in 2005, Yahoo compiled the top Pokmon search queries inputted into their engine. The word Charizard was near the top of the list.
Nintendo responded to that unlikely popularity. Charizard has been consecrated in three different Super Smash Bros. games, and we can frequently watch the dragon being piloted by all sorts of top players throughout the fighting game junket.
But, the biggest boon to the Charizard legacy probably occurred earlier this year, when Logan Paul wore a PSA-graded 10 original-run foil bearing the drake to the ring for his bout with Floyd Mayweather. Paul fit the bill perfectly young, geeky, and finally rich enough to chase down a card that engendered so much envy in our adolescence.
Thats the funny thing about Pokmon. Nintendo keeps cranking out new pocket monsters all equipped with their own unique quirks and rarity tiers ensuring that the Pokmon canon stays flush with new ideas. And yet, there is an intangible mystique with Charizard that can never be recaptured. He was the coolest and rarest Pokmon in a world at a time when many of todays young adults were at their most impressionable. Anyone who had him in a plastic sleeve was immediately the talk of the town. Decades later, were still at the mercy of Charizards aura, shelling out six figures to be in his presence again.
