Charizard ex Ultra Rare #183

Having just released the Charizard-heavy Obsidian Flames, TPCi played things pretty cool with 151. Given this was a celebration of those original Kanto Pokémon, they surely must have been tempted to double-dip, and just plaster the thing in ‘Zards. So kudos to them for keeping calm and limiting it to just the three.

The cheapest of them is the regular Charizard ex, which is between $6 and $7, given how easy it’s proving to pull. But then things take a whopping jump up when you get to this pretty bog-standard ultra rare. It’s levelling off at around $32, having peaked at a very silly $70 on the set’s launch. (As ever, only the extremely silly buy cards in the first week of sale, while the smart sell them to them.)

No shade to the artists behind these ultra rares, but they’re clearly created to a given design—all just large, bold depictions of the Pokémon against bland backgrounds. You’re paying a hefty Charizard Tax for this one, given the next-most expensive was that 11th place Mew ex at $22.