A Milestone Blast Burn: Celebrating 30 Years with #006 Charizard
Happy Pokémon Day everyone!
Today, February 27th, marks a monumental milestone: the 30th Anniversary of the Pokémon franchise officially launching in Japan.
All week I have been building up to this moment, releasing the fire-starter trio day by day. While the folding technique itself—cut-and-fold with card inserts—has remained the same, each book released this week has featured a completely different artistic design style to celebrate the history of the series.
We’ve had the retro pixelated Charmander and the sleek, action-posed Charmeleon. But today is the main event. It’s time to unleash the ultimate fire-type powerhouse: #006 Charizard.
Meeting Charizard
If you are new to the world of Pokémon, you couldn’t have picked a more significant entry to start with.
Charizard is not just a fan-favourite; he is an absolute cultural icon. Sprouting massive, powerful wings from his orange back, he is the quintessential fire dragon—often playfully referred to as “the dragon that isn’t actually a dragon” due to being Fire/Flying type, despite his appearance!
According to the lore, Charizard flies high through the sky seeking powerful opponents to test his strength. His fire breath is legendary, said to generate enough heat to melt boulders, and as he gains experience, the temperature of his breath becomes even more scorching.
He is proud, incredibly strong, and the definitive partner for many trainers.
The Design: A TCG Tribute
For such an legendary Pokémon on his 30th birthday, a standard pose just wouldn’t cut it. I needed something epic.
I decided to recreate something many fans will recognise instantly: a Pokémon Trading Card Game card. Specifically, I chose the artwork from the Charizard V card from the “Brilliant Skies” expansion.
To make this distinct from the previous two days, and to make it feel a bit more sophisticated, I decided against using colour. This entire piece is a striking monochrome style. It uses black cardstock inserts to define every single line of the intricate card artwork against the cream pages of the book.
The Process: A 2-Decimal Nightmare!
I’m going to be honest with you all: this fold was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
Usually, when I create or follow patterns, measurements are to one decimal place (e.g., marking a cut at 18.5cm). I have a specific tool—an Incra ruler—that has little slots at every millimeter mark, making this process fast and accurate.
However, to capture the sheer level of detail on a TCG card, this pattern required measurements to two decimal places (e.g., marking a cut at 18.55cm).
I hated it. It rendered the handy slots on my ruler useless for half the measurements. Instead, I had to use the flat edge of the ruler and visually estimate those tiny half-millimeter marks. The cuts were incredibly close together, requiring immense concentration not to slice through the wrong bit of paper. To give you an idea of the density, I think one single page had upwards of 72 separate cuts on it!
While the process was frustrating, that extra level of precision was absolutely necessary to get the detail required.
The Result vs. Reality
Even with that extreme precision, paper has limits. A book fold can never replicate the resolution of a printer.
As I expected going in, the teeny-tiny text for the instructions for the attacks at the very bottom of the card was just too small to resolve clearly; those cuts just merged together. However, the important stuff—the artwork, the HP, and the bold names of the attacks—are all readable. Despite the lost tiny text, the overall layout is unmistakable as a TCG card, and I’m really pleased it worked.
A Marathon Fold for a Special Prize
This wasn’t a quick project. I actually started folding this book back in October! It’s been a long process of chipping away at it between other projects, finally finishing it just last week.
But where is this massive book going?
I am thrilled to say that this Charizard fold is heading off to be given away as a prize this weekend! It has been donated to the Travelling Man store in Leeds for their special Pokémon Day event on Saturday
I am incredibly happy with how this finished piece looks; it is truly a showstopper. But I am also very glad it is finally finished!
Happy 30th Anniversary Pokémon!
