The glossy version from 1996 (CoroCoro Comic version) has the incorrect illustrator Ken Sugimori, and the non-glossy version from 1996 (How to Play Pokémon Cards magazine version) has the correct illustrator Keiji Kinebuchi. (Although there is also another glossy version with correct Keiji Kinebuchi illustrator from a CoroCoro Comic of 1998, which I’m still missing in my personal Pikachu collection unfortunately.)
Greetz,
Quuador
Prices have gone up quite a bit and I still think there is a lack of understanding/knowledge about these cards existing. Slowly more are learning about topsun, carddass, bandai, meiji etc and I think demand should continue to grow.
The nostalgia factory just isn’t there.
For the grand majority of the world, people didn’t grow up with Japanese products unless you were one of the lucky people who had a comic/card store who enjoyed imported goods. Over time, especially within the last 5+ years, serious collectors or people looking for more variety seemed to take more interest in non-TCG items.
As it is right now, the move in interest for non-TCG items is starting to come in small waves. This includes items outside of cards and stickers. Soon we’re going to see more things many of us didn’t even know existed. Pokemon hype is starting to really cross over into Japanese territory. But take this with a grain of salt. It’s just a passive observation by someone whose been interested in non-TCG stuff for the last 20 years.
That’s really helpful. Given your timeline then I can certainly see why there aren’t much of a relative demand
They are not visually appealing. If I had to buy a non-tcg cards, I would go with the Bandai cardass set
Agreed. I’ve sold tons and still have tons, somewhere. I’d say enjoy them but just don’t expect a lot out of them.
I mean I’m looking to buy full sets of top sun and cardass but they’re really hard to find if you just use Ebay and most sellers seem to be drop shipping and/or are unwilling to obtain better pictures of the cards. I’ve been having trouble finding a good set so I don’t think they’re exactly easy to find in my experience.
Topsun are ugly cards
I mean, how expensive do you want them to be? There’s clearly demand regardless of these goofy comments about “no nostalgia”
PSA 10 topsun holofoil went for $37,600 in on pwcc
Another for $18,600
PSA 10 topsun blueback zard sold for $20,100
PSA 9 topsun blueback no number zard sold for over $15,000
PSA 10 topsun greenback sold for $7,100
PSA 9 topsun (normal) blueback sold for $4,150
PSA8 prism topsun zard sold for $2300
They aren’t TCG.
My comments had nothing to do with today’s prices. Base Charizards in PSA 9 2 months ago we’re bringing in 5k. Now 1500 is about right, Today’s prices are a whole different story.
I’m talking about long term and only recommended not to be surprised when they suddenly are flooded and prices tank. It’ll all come down to nostalgia, like always, and these cool cards and stickers fall short in that department,
they remind me of my younger days in japan, collecting stickers and cards from bubble gum vendors 
They are Japanese.
They are not TCG.
They look kinda shitty.
–>> low demand
Random post: it would be interesting to see the age range of the people that like the topsun cards vs those that don’t
What is your hypothesis? Do you think older people appreciate them more?
Mmmh maybe, I’m mostly thinking about what I like and then I try to generalise.
For example I like the old school artwork from sugimori, I like the first generations of Pokemon and I don’t follow the new pokemons, I grew up playing 8bit videogames, I like to collect old Japanese items related to pokemon, and so on… Maybe taking into consideration all the these possible variables might explain a possible age gap regarding the attractiveness of the topsun cards
Or something like that, I don’t know if I was able to properly express myself 
@andrea that’s certainly a possibility. On the other hand, even the older collectors on e4 didn’t grow up with Topsun cards themselves. But I can see how they appreciate the oldschool Sugimori style in general. Maybe it also has to do with how long they are in the hobby. I assume that the longer you are a collector, the more knowledge you have and the more likely it is that you find appreciation for these rather niche cards.
My main gripe with Topsun cards is that people build them up to be the “original” cards Pokemon cards even though there’s a lack of evidence for this and in fact there is more evidence to the contrary.
So it rubs me the wrong way when Topsun people say “This card is legendary because it’s the first Pikachu/Charizard/etc. ever” yada yada. No, it’s not.
Unfortunately, from what I have seen, I believe a lot of the hype for Topsun is *because* of PSA mis-labeling them as 1995, which has caused some people to believe they are the first Pokemon cards. I have a hard time buying into something that other people (perhaps not all, but many of them) are buying into as a result of their mistaken beliefs.
Other downsides for the cards…
Now let’s talk about the positives…
Mint topsun no numbers and holos are in short supply. These don’t need much demand to drive up prices. But there is demand despite generally averse opinions to the set. I understand these opinions aren’t necessarily gatekeeping and are merely personal opinion about the quality/collectability of the set. But people want to bring up “non-tcg” as if people don’t collect pokemon items outside of tcg. As if the hobby isn’t popular enough to do that sort of thing. Might as well throw away all your plushies, limited release sleeves, etc, they just aren’t collectable.
Another explanation for lack of demand has been lack of nostalgia. Ah yes nostalgia the main driving force for value behind trophy cards the most expensive cards in the hobby. Obviously nostalgia is one of if not the biggest factor of why people re-enter the hobby and why people continue to collect, as well as being a huge market motivator especially in a time like 2020. But lack of nostalgia will not stop people from a desire to collect. Historical significance in the context of a hobby is perhaps even more important; and these cards have a degree of historical significance simply due to their date of existence being 1997. Now I do think the significance has been overestimated by many people due to the '95 copywrite and PWCC listing these first in their blocks as a result. But regardless they are significant, and the significance is always just going to be of a subjective varying opinion among collectors. Personally I would say they are certainly significant enough to warrant a desire to collect. Everyone has different collection goals and those evolve over time. Everyone has different motivations for collecting as well; for instance I enjoyed collecting topsun because of the extreme variability of rarity between normal blues/greens and no numbers/holos; and the chase of finding raw no numbers/holos when you could pick them up raw for cheap has been very fun personally. (though prices now make that chase less realistic nowadays price wise) These aren’t my favorite cards by any means. I’m not saying they are underpriced or underrated. I just don’t think they are going anywhere in terms of demand like some people might seem to suggest. Some people collect rarity; be it for the chase or the speculation of value that comes with rarity.
Older, minter, rarer. You can definitely hit on those points with topsun. But “better” is the big factor subject to opinion here. This is where “non-tcg” and “no nostalgia” does in fact matter, I just wanted to point out these aren’t end all be all reasons not to collect them. Personally I like the way they look. Now if we’re talking the 1998 top cards by the same renamed company; now that is hot garbage imo. But if someone else disagrees and wants to collect them I say more power to them. Perhaps those cards are a good example of truly niche from here on out. I think a lot of what was considered niche at the beginning of 2020 is not truly niche anymore. No stone will go unturned in a hobby as great as this.
This hobby is like a natural dam of rocks built up accross a river with a single opening in the middle. All the water is focused in the middle until it (demand/people) overflows the middle (wotc) and continues to overflow outward, even toppling rocks over on the way. A lot of that overflow from the hype flood hasn’t seen its long term outward effect yet. I think demand for the fringes is only on an upward trajectory for the next year or so. Just like practically everything else outside of wotc.