Charmander

Charmander in the anime: abandoned on a rock, then Ash's

In the original series episode "Charmander, The Stray Pokémon," Ash finds a Charmander left on a rocky outcrop by its trainer, Damian, who had grown tired of it being weak and told it he would come back. Ash, Brock and Misty rescue it from the rain and carry it to a Pokémon Center. When Damian later shows up and threatens it, Charmander drives him off with a Flamethrower alongside Pikachu's Thunder Shock, then joins Ash's team instead.

Charmander became one of Ash's main Pokémon right away. It evolved into Charmeleon in "The March of the Exeggutor Squad," just after its Flamethrower helped stop a stampeding herd of Exeggutor, and the newly evolved Charmeleon promptly scorched Ash's face, an early sign of the disobedience that followed.

Charmander on cards: Base Set, three secret rares and a Delta Species oddity

Charmander's first card is Base Set #46 from January 1999, a Common illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita, who holds the most Charmander credits in our catalog (8). It has also been a secret rare three times, each numbered above its set's total: EX Dragon #98 (2003) and Stormfront #101 (2008), both by Arita, and EX FireRed & LeafGreen #113 (2004) by Ken Sugimori. POP Series 5 (2007) printed Charmander δ, a Delta Species card that makes it a Lightning type.

Later printings brought shiny and illustration treatments: Hidden Fates put a shiny Charmander in its Shiny Vault subset in 2019, 151 gave it an Illustration rare by miki kudo in 2023, and Paldean Fates added another shiny rare in 2024.

Why collectors care about Charmander

Charmander is one of the three original Kanto starters and the first step toward Charizard, so its cards sit naturally beside Charizard's in many collections. With 47 printings across 38 sets in nine eras, from WOTC to the Mega Evolution era, a Charmander run mixes cheap Commons with a handful of genuine chase pieces: three secret rares, two shiny rares and the 151 Illustration rare.

Cards to know

• Charmander (Base Set #46)

  Charmander's first card, a 1999 common illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita.

• Charmander (FireRed & LeafGreen #113)

  A 2004 secret rare by Ken Sugimori, numbered above the set's 112-card total.

• Charmander (Stormfront #101)

  A 2008 secret rare by Mitsuhiro Arita, numbered above Stormfront's 100-card total.

• Charmander δ (POP Series 5 #10)

  A 2007 Delta Species card that prints Charmander as a Lightning type.

• Charmander (Hidden Fates Shiny Vault #SV6)

  A shiny rare from the Shiny Vault bonus subset of Hidden Fates, 2019.

• Charmander (151 #168)

  An illustration rare from 151, the 2023 Scarlet & Violet set built around the original Kanto Pokémon.