Most people don’t notice the shapes of their snacks—until one Cheeto breaks all the rules. That occurred when a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto, which strongly resembled Pokémon’s Charizard, sold for an incredible $72,000 through Goldin Auctions, a leading platform for rare sports cards and pop culture memorabilia.
This special Cheeto, now known as Cheetozard, was uncovered by 1st & Goal Collectibles, a pop culture and sports shop. They somehow, between 2018 and 2022, stumbled upon the peculiarly shaped snack and were struck by just how much it looked like their favorite fire-starter Pokémon. Instead of eating it, they treated it carefully, thinking it could be amazing.
Flash forward to late 2024, and Cheetozard was a viral sensation. Pokémon fans were amazed at how similar it resembled Charizard, and what started as a viral phenomenon quickly turned into serious collector interest.
To keep Cheetozard from being damaged, the seller mounted it on a custom Pokémon card and put it in a protective case—transforming it from a chip to a serious collector’s item. The seller listed the Cheeto on Goldin Auctions, a website famous for selling rare and precious memorabilia like sports cards, comic books, and pop culture merchandise. The auction started at a humble $250 but shortly thereafter Pokémon fans sent the auction price through the roof. By the end of the auction, the bidding price was $72,000. With fees added by Goldin, the final amount was $87,840.
Netizens react with a mix of emotions to the news. Some feel adults should just “stop wasting money” on products that hold no value, while others think that if someone finds value in a rare collectible, it’s their money and they are free to spend it as their choice. This auction also caused a lot of skepticism. One netizen commented, “The seller and buyer know one another, I bet,” theorizing the sale does not have to be as random as it looks. Another commented, “What’s really funny is that it’s probably really easy to bake your own Cheeto. That could be a fake.” They question the uniqueness of Cheetozard.
While it may come as a shock a Cheeto would sell for close to $88K, it is not the first of its kind that this has happened to. In 2017, Harambe, the gorilla-shaped Cheeto, sold for $99,900. These strangely shaped food items somehow bring in so much money that it could be a serious business. So the next time you open a bag of Cheetos, take a close glance—you never know what might be worth a lot of money!
