Found some perplexing price data on these two:
Ungraded NM/M: On average, Blaine’s goes for nearly twice as much as Dark
PSA 10: Dark (POP 148) goes for $300+ more than Blaine’s (POP 130)
Just to be clear, I’m comparing the 1st Edition holo versions of both.
Anyone have any thoughts/explanations for this?
SMR July
maybe artwork work or the set more people collect it?
Wow, being featured in a monthly magazine brings the up prices that high? I hope they feature gold stars and shinings next.
The Rocket set was severely underrated for awhile. The fact that a 1st edition wotc holo card psa 10 was earning $50 made no sense. This is the main reason for the percentage in growth. SMR wrote an article on 1st Edition base set a year ago, and the market effect was minimal.
I see what you mean, it would be cool if other underrated sets like some of the neo series was featured. But it’s still weird that Gym Challenge is worth less now, imo it’s a way cooler set and the PSA 10s are rarer. Hopefully that set can get more coverage too someday.
You’d be better off paying unlistedleaf $50 to talk about neo sets instead lol
I was doing some detailed analysis in March 2017 before the SMR magazine release as I had the money to buy one of the two. At the time the PSA 10 population of Blaine’s Charizard was about 110 and Dark Charizard was about 140. That on top of the recent sales prices gave me the indication Blaine’s Charizard was the way to go, if I only I knew about the upcoming SMR article…
I have been buying ungraded Dark Charizard 1st Editions a lot in the last week as there is some minty ones for $40-$80 which is a really good buy. To answer your question, Blaine’s Charizard seems to go for more ungraded as honestly it doesn’t come up quite as much for sale. (It does come up, but it seems there is always way more Dark Charizard listings consistently)
Some interesting analysis from the last 5 months:
Blaines Charizard 1st Edition PSA 10 March 2017 approx price = $240
Blaines Charizard 1st Edition PSA 10 July 2017 approx price = $450
Price increase of 87%!
Dark Charizard 1st Edition PSA 10 March 2017 approx price = $250
Dark Charizard 1st Edition PSA 10 July 2017 approx price = $650
Price increase of 160%…
Dont think those $450 sales are legit. The seller has relisted the same card twice now as it has a pretty glaring issue. I would go with the $350 sale.
Fair enough I didn’t notice that but good pick up 
It is still reasonable to say though that Blaine’s Charizard in a solid PSA 10 form would be worth over $350 or over. I think the Gym Challenge holos will start going up in value more as the Team Rocket holos become ‘pricey’.
The race is on for which card will hit $1,000 first. My call is Blaine’s Charizard. You heard it here first 
Personally, I think Gym Challenge is now the most undervalued WOTC set, though the Neo sets should be valued way more considering their lower print numbers and extremely low pop on some of the holos.
I agree Gym Challenge is undervalued, however, the big issue the set faces is the 5+ holo’s with higher pop’s on psa 10’s than psa 9’s. I don’t see any other wotc sets out there with this issue so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
My question was going to be are the dark charizard 1st ed sales legit at $600+? But I guess they are, funny I had mine listed for like $250 and no one wanted it I guess I’m glad I didn’t sell at that point
I think the Aesthetic for the Gym sets is mediocre so the sets just haven’t been that popular.
I love the old Ken Sugimori art but the way it’s imposed on the cards doesn’t look that good.
Dark > Blaine’s all day.
I have been thinking for a while why the Heroes are more exspansive than Challenge. I love the art of the Challenge set and might be one of my favorite set. Therefore I dont get why it’s not that popular.