Charizard Explained: This Pokémon Fire Type Was Probably Your Gen-One Starter
Fire, flying, a bit of dragon, and a hefty price tag for any long-term collectors to boot, Charizard is an OG Pokémon who has it all.
Way back in the day when there were only 151 Pokémon, Charizard reigned supreme. Well, maybe not against any of the Legendary Pokémon, but if you had a Charizard card, you were pretty darn cool. This final evolution of the starter Pokémon, Charmander was easily one of the most popular picks among Gen-1 game players, and it’s not hard to see why.
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Charizard Basics
Charizard, also known in the Japanese version of the game as リザードン (Lizardon) is the 6th Pokémon in your pokédex. When young Pokemon trainers decide to go out into the world they are given the choice between Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur, and if you chose fire-lizard Charmander, you’d eventually end up with a fully-evolved Charizard on your team.
Charizard looks like an orange or red dragon with blue wings and an ever-burning flame on his tail. He stands at about 1.7 meters or 5’7″ tall and weighs in the area of 90.5 kg or 199.5 lbs. So if you’re picturing a gigantic fantasy-movie-style dragon, Charizard isn’t quite that big.
“I may not have a nickname, but I do have Charizard.”.
– Ash, in Mewtwo Strikes Back, right before Charizard doesn’t listen to him at all
In later versions of the game, it can be evolved into Mega Charizard X with the Charizadite X stone, Mega Charizard Y with tthe Charizardite Y stone, and Gigantamax Charizard in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
READ MORE: “What is the Conjunction of Spheres? A Witcher Explainer”
Attacks & Strategies
All Pokémon are broken down into categories based on their skills, types, and abilities. Some have two co-types. Charmander and Charmeleon are flame Pokémon, while Charizard is a flame-and-flying type Pokémon. Though he looks like a dragon and there are dragon-type Pokémon, it isn’t a dragon-type itself until its Mega Charizard X evolution.
These types guide what various Pokémon are strong and weak against in battle. So as a fire-flying combo, Charizard is weak against water, rock, and electric moves. Though it is strong against ground, bug, grass, steel, fairy, fighting, and other fire-type Pokémon. In addition, while many flying-type Pokémon are weak against ice attacks, Charizard isn’t due to its fiery characteristics.
Some of its most notable abilities and attacks include Blaze, Solar Power, Wing Attack, and Dragon Breath.
The Infamous Original Pokémon Card
For collectors of the first generation of Pokémon card games, Charizard was one of the biggest prizes to be found. In the first edition set released, only 102 cards were printed, and only 16 were the coveted holographic cards. These holographic cards were notable for their shiny and sparkly texture and look, though, in a game-play situation, the information on the cards was identical.
The cards included the Pokémon’s hit points, power type, weakness, resistance, and powers. These were usually similar to but simplified compared to the Pokémon video games and anime because only so much information can fit on a playing card.
In first-gen Charizard’s case, it had 120 hit points, two powers called Energy Burn and Fire Spin, and a fun fact stating that Charizard “Spits fire that is hot enough to melt boulders. Known to unintentionally cause forest fires.“
Okay, But What is a Charizard Card Worth?
There are quite a few factors to take into consideration when figuring out how much your card is worth. But the short answer is somewhere between $3.00 and $6,000 or even more.
As always, the card-selling market relies completely on what other collectors are willing to spend. So your lovingly preserved card from 1999 could be worth nothing tomorrow if nobody wants to buy it. But in general, the value depends on the condition of the card and the printing run. On average, Charizard cards sell for about $70.
Charizard VMAX
Pokémon VMAX cards are a type of Rule Box card for Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon. It draws inspiration from the powers found in the Sword and Shield games complete with larger-sized and power-boosted Pokémon. And similarly to the original card, Charizard’s VMAX card can be worth quite a bit. The average value is estimated at about $80, but prices range from $4 to over $300.
Shiny Charizard
Shiny Pokémon are almost exactly like regular Pokémon, but a little different looking and a little rarer. In the case of Charizard, its shiny version is a grayish purple with maroon-colored wings. This added rareness adds real value to the collectability of the cards, though. Some shiny cards can sell for $1,500 or more. But a more average amount to get is in the area of $100.
How To Draw Charizard?
I never learned to draw Charizard myself, but this guy sure did!
What was our gen-one starting Pokémon? Mine was Bulbasaur. Do you still have an original Charizard card somewhere? How many of the Pokémon games have you played? Let us know in the comments!
Gotta catch ’em all, adventurers!
