Charizard

About

Charizard is a popular Pokémon from the original 151 Pokémon in Generation 1. It is the final evolution of Charmander, the fire starter of the Red, Blue, and Green games. It has had a significant presence across the series, featuring prominently in the Pokémon games, anime, trading card game, and Detective Pikachu. The omnipresence of the Pokémon has led some fans of the series to complain that it is overrepresented and overshadowing strong Pokémon from the latter generations of games.

Origin

Charizard was present in the first set of Pokémon games, released February 27th, 1996,^[1] and served as the mascot for Pokémon Red. It is a Fire/Flying type Pokémon.

History

The Pokémon also played a prominent role in the original anime series, evolving from Ash Ketchum's Charmander and becoming belligerent and disobedient for several episodes. Charizard appeared on the cover of Pokémon Stadium (shown below, left). A holographic Charizard became one of the most valuable Pokémon trading cards, and regularly sells for thousands of dollars in 2019.^[2] It is also an available fighter in the Super Smash Brothers series.

Charizard has appeared in every main game of the Pokémon series thus far. It is one of the few Pokémon to have two "Mega Evolutions" (a mechanic introduced in generation 6) and is confirmed to have a Gigamax form in the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Fandom

Due to its popularity in the series, Charizard has been the subject of much online content surrounding Pokémon, including memes, fan art and webcomics (examples shown below).

It was also one of the Pokémon featured in the Charizard and Dragonite Dance Remixes (example shown below, left). It was portrayed as a mean father in the Poképarents advice animals series.

Overrepresentation Complaints

While the Pokémon has remained popular throughout the series' run, some fans of the series have been critical of Charizard being representative of what they see of the series' continued push of the first generation of Pokémon. This was particularly evident after Charizard appeared in the Gigamax trailer for Pokémon Sword and Shield, as many photoshops in /r/pokemon focused on the ubiquity of the Pokémon. For example, user Lurinzoo^[3] posted a meme joking all the Galar starters would evolve into different-colored Charizards, gaining over 19,000 points (shown below, left). User @chriscftb97^[4] posted a Breaking News Parody about the announcement, gaining over 38,000 points (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References