Someone Dropped Nearly $88,000 on a Pokémon Cheeto

We wouldn’t have gone a dime over five dollars, personally, but someone out there—presumably a diehard Pokémon fan with outrageously deep pockets—just dropped $87,840 on a Cheeto that achieved viral fame thanks to being shaped like a Charizard. The resemblance is… well, if you squint, maybe?

The flaming tail is at least a spot-on detail because as you can plainly tell, the Cheetozard is formed from a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto rather than the less-scorching, lighter-colored regular variety. The lucky (?)  buyer also got a custom Pokémon card as well as a storage box, presumably more to preserve the snack food’s value rather than spare anyone who might dare to handle it the dreaded cheese-dust fingers. At three inches long, that’s over $29,000 per orange inch!

Goldin’s auction site notes “It was initially discovered and preserved sometime between 2018-2022 by 1st & Goal Collectibles. The Cheeto surged in popularity on social media platforms in late 2024.” It was featured on memorabilia site Arena Club as well as 1st and Goal Collectibles.

Is this a wise investment for the future (what is the shelf life of a single Cheeto? Is is on par with a Twinkie, for instance)? But more urgently: is this yet another illustration of how Pokémon’s secondhand market has gotten entirely out of control? Who can forget, for instance, the Van Gogh kerfulffle of fall 2023? Or the ultra-rare card that Goldin sold back in 2021 for an eye-watering $1.2 million? Don’t hold back, share your reactions below.

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