Charizard

Charizard in the games: Kanto's Fire starter, fully evolved

Charizard is the last stage of the Charmander line: Charmander evolves into Charmeleon at level 16, and Charmeleon becomes Charizard at level 36. Its two earlier forms are pure Fire types, while Charizard adds Flying. Its standard ability, Blaze, powers up Fire-type moves when its HP runs low, and its hidden ability is Solar Power. It stands 1.7 meters tall and weighs 90.5 kilograms.

Pokémon X and Y, the games that introduced Mega Evolution, gave Charizard two Mega forms: Mega Charizard X, which becomes a Fire and Dragon type, and Mega Charizard Y, which stays Fire and Flying. Sword and Shield later added a Gigantamax Charizard. So despite its dragon-like look, Charizard itself has never been a Dragon type; only Mega Charizard X is.

Charizard in the anime: Ash's disobedient partner

In the original anime, Ash Ketchum's Charmeleon evolved into Charizard while chasing a wild Aerodactyl in "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon," and the new Charizard ignored Ash's orders for a long stretch afterward. That disobedience lost Ash his first Cinnabar Gym battle against Blaine and, most costly of all, his Indigo League match against Ritchie, when Charizard went to sleep rather than fight Ritchie's Pikachu. It only became loyal in the Orange Islands, after Ash spent a night thawing it out from a Poliwrath's Ice Beam in "Charizard Chills."

Charizard on cards: Base Set holo to Mega Hyper Rare

Charizard's first English card is Base Set #4 from January 1999, a holo rare illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita whose art returned in Base Set 2, Legendary Collection and the Celebrations Classic Collection. Our catalog tracks 111 Charizard printings across 52 sets in nine eras. Sword & Shield contributes the most (25), followed by Sun & Moon (21) and XY (17).

The mechanics it has carried trace the card game's own timeline: lowercase ex in the EX era, LV.X in Diamond & Pearl, EX and M EX in XY, GX (including Tag Team pairings with Reshiram and with Braixen) in Sun & Moon, V, VMAX, VSTAR and Radiant in Sword & Shield, ex again in Scarlet & Violet, and Mega Charizard ex in the Mega Evolution era.

The special treatments are just as broad. Team Rocket's Dark Charizard and Gym Challenge's Blaine's Charizard, both drawn by Ken Sugimori, arrived in 2000. Neo Destiny's Shining Charizard (2002) is one of that set's secret Shining Pokémon, printed in its alternate shiny coloring with a foil figure, and Dragon Frontiers' Charizard ☆ δ (2006) is its EX-era Gold Star card. Flashfire (2014) printed M Charizard EX as a Secret Rare, Hidden Fates put a shiny Charizard-GX in its Shiny Vault subset, and Scarlet & Violet produced special illustration rare Charizard ex cards in 151, Obsidian Flames and Paldean Fates. Phantasmal Flames and Ascended Heroes have since added Mega Hyper Rare printings of Mega Charizard X ex and Mega Charizard Y ex.

5ban Graphics holds the most Charizard credits in our catalog (25), followed by aky CG Works (11) and Mitsuhiro Arita (9). AKIRA EGAWA drew two of the special illustration rares, Obsidian Flames #223 and Paldean Fates #234, and Kouki Saitou has four credits, including Crown Zenith's Radiant Charizard.

Why collectors care about Charizard

Charizard was the rare holo of the first English set, and the name has come back as a headline card in era after era since: a Shining card, a Gold Star, a Shiny Vault GX, four special illustration rares and two Mega Hyper Rares. With 25 of its 111 printings being promos and printings in nine eras of our catalog, a Charizard collection can follow most of the card game's history through a single Pokémon.

Cards to know

• Charizard: Base Set #4

  Charizard's first English card, a 1999 Base Set holo rare illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita.

• Shining Charizard: Neo Destiny #107

  One of Neo Destiny's secret Shining Pokémon, showing Charizard in its alternate shiny coloring.

• M Charizard EX: Flashfire #108

  A Secret Rare M Charizard EX from Flashfire, a 2014 set from the XY era.

• Charizard-GX: Hidden Fates Shiny Vault

  A shiny Charizard-GX from the Shiny Vault subset of Hidden Fates (2019).

• Charizard ex: 151 #199

  A special illustration rare from 151, the Scarlet & Violet set built around the original Kanto Pokémon.

• Charizard ex: Obsidian Flames #223

  A special illustration rare illustrated by AKIRA EGAWA, from the 2023 Obsidian Flames set.