It’s interesting that this topic keeps being brought up!
As I mentioned in the other thread, each generation has its own unique set of ultra rare cards that can’t really be compared to another set. The fact that gold stars have become the standard comparison point illustrates their position relative to these newer rarities.
More interesting to me is the disparity between more serious collectors here on E4 and those on reddit, who do seem to believe that alt arts are the new gold stars. As @pfm points out, this discussion quickly moves away from the idea of making direct comparisons between the two classes of cards and into the realm of “will it go stonk.” And this is the main difference between the gold star era and today. People today are much more focused on investing/future value, grading, and catching the next boom. If demand continues to be at the sky-high levels we’re seeing now, maybe things will continue on the moon trajectory. I’m not the first to make this point, but the reality of scarcity within the gold star era is what has made these cards so popular today. In no way is that replicable now.