Zapdos

Zapdos is card 15 of 62 in Fossil, released in October 1999, a Rare Holo. It is a Basic Lightning-type with 80 HP.

As a Basic Pokémon, Zapdos needs no prior evolution to put into play, which made it a practical card in the era's decks.

Illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita painted the Base Set Charizard and much of the early holo run, and his work has a painterly weight that set the visual tone of the Wizards era.

The card's flavor text gives Zapdos a line of lore: "A legendary thunderbird Pokémon whose anger is said to cause storms. Some say it has lived above the clouds for thousands of years."

A Legendary Electric-Flying bird. The Electric of the three Legendary birds. Both Base Set holo Zapdos and Fossil holo Zapdos exist. The Base Set print is more famous and more valuable.

Based on recent eBay sales, raw copies trade from $26 to $151 depending on the print and a PSA 10 runs from $1,500 to $4,180. The 1st Edition print is the most valuable, with a PSA 10 near $4,180. The table on this page breaks the price down by print and grade, updated 2026-06-04.

Fossil shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The Edition 1 stamp under the artwork separates the scarcer 1st Edition Zapdos from the Unlimited copy.

Zapdos lives and dies on its holo surface in grading. The lightning foil catches light at angles that hide hairlines in a flat photo, so tilt it under a lamp, then measure the borders, where Wizards-era centering is the second-most-common grade cap.

Buying Zapdos well means pricing the exact print and grade, not the card name. The 1st Edition Zapdos trades above the Unlimited copy, so confirm the stamp before you agree a number. Always see the holo surface in good light first.