Since its 1996 debut, the cultural zeitgeist of Pokémon has been unrivalled by anything else since. Holographic Charizard is a love letter to the glorious first wave of Pokémania, touching all the bases of what made Pokémon the world’s biggest media franchise.

A one man show by Thom Begg, focuses on the titular Charizard; the sixth Pokémon in numerical order (and perhaps one of the most popular). Begg’s devotion comes from a lifetime of playing the original games, collecting the trading cards; he is Charizard, and Charizard is he.

Formerly a self-described “serious music project” of Begg’s from 2012 to 2015, he revived Holographic Charizard in its current format for last year’s Fringe. The music project is still there at its core; a 14 song set-list is cut down to around 4 due to the show’s runtime. Song titles range from “Ice is Not Very Effective on Charizard”, “I Choose You Charizard” and of course, “Charizard Use Fire Breath”.

From a technical point of view, Begg’s guitar playing runs very much against the sugar rush energy of the show. He finger picks as if he’s playing classical guitar at the Festival Theatre, all the while screaming about Charizard. His guitar playing is so stylistically jarring that it leads to the crowd breaking down in fits of laughter as a result.

The songs are broken up with Begg recounting every Pokémon fan’s first steps, about making the right choices in the games – such as picking Charizard as your first Pokémon, and then beating every trainer with Charizard to prove a point. Begg’s casual and loose, like he’s the crowd’s best friend – and said crowd is sitting with him on the back of a school bus like it’s 1997 all over again.

The final half of the show sees Begg opening a pack of Pokémon cards on stage, hoping that a holographic edition Charizard card will be pulled. It’s where Begg’s encouragement of crowd participation is at its best during the show; he’s inviting audience members up on stage to help him open the card packs, and endorsing heckling and Pokémon related puns where possible. The crowd’s not just laughing at him, they’re laughing at each other as a result.

Despite the late start time of 9:45 pm, the show is family friendly – Pokémon’s reach defies age groups after all. A “youngster trainer” attended this show and they loved every minute of it, feeling just as engaged as the thirty-somethings they shared the experience with. It’s not just a reflection upon Begg as a showman, but as a person. He’s eager to share his love of Charizard – and Pokémon – with as many people as possible.

Holographic Charizard is on at the Howling Owl until March 22. Auslan interpretation is available. Tickets can be purchased from FringeTIX.

4.5 stars

Words and photo by Dan Linke