this is why many including myself prefer “special art”.
alternate art is a very literal term that doesn’t always mean the same as a special art
but yeah i’d argue they really started experimenting with the concept of what we know today as special arts or “alt arts” in the BREAK era of XY with sets like CP2, CP5, and the gold cards, where it’s more than just a pokemon doing a pose with a background pattern of some sort.
even the character arts we know of today begin (imo) with the double crisis kyogre and groudon EXes
regardless, this just furthers the point i was trying to express where it is better to be holistic instead of trying to draw arbitrary hard lines based on how old a set is, where as something like BW is clearly the beginning of a new era bc that is when there was a major overhaul to set structure along with it introducing full arts (SRs) and gold cards (URs)
Definitely modern. Pokemon card collecting is undoubtedly (…hopefully) still in its infancy. With that in mind, I think it’s acceptable to consider a Pokemon card produced 15 years ago as ‘vintage’. As the hobby ages, the length of time between ‘modern’ and ‘vintage’ should likely grow as well. I certainly don’t think that in 2025 we should start considering B&W sets ‘vintage’, but perhaps the D&P era will be bumped into that category.
For me personally, I’d prefer to see past and future eras grouped solely as ‘vintage’ or ‘modern’.
Agree with this. Pokémon has really taken a flight since 2020. That´s why, even though Sun & Moon is only 5 - 7 years old, it still feels like a different era.
I do think there needs to be a delineation between modern cards that are still actively printed and modern cards that our out of print. Some people use “ultra modern” for this but I feel like this doesn’t communicate the actual tangible nuance here.
There is a difference collecting out of print sets like Sun & Moon than sets you can still buy at the store. There is a transition period where a set goes from current to out-of-rotation where the sets become something else from whatever an actively supported set is.
I do think the practical breakpoint for vintage is at the BW era, and there is a subset of “classic” within vintage that refers to the WotC era specifically. I think as time goes on we may create a “FA Modern” era that specifies when full arts became much more open and common with the species they feature and the way they’re positioned within the sets. But I also don’t think we’re there yet. Maybe in another generation.
I could get behind ultra modern meaning “in print” but the issue is that some swsh like ST and CZ are on PC.com but I’d still consider them ultra modern. I don’t think they’re printing more but they’re still available.
We can’t just base it on what PC has in stock either cause they’ll randomly restock cosmic eclipse in 2023 for a day
Probably easiest to just say SV and swsh are ultra modern and BW-SM are modern
This is what I was referring to when I mentioned there is a transition period from the in print to out of print category. I’d generally say anything you can still buy for regular retail price (or similar) would be part of the “ultra” category.
BW FAs were actually the chase so although it started the FAs and ‘modern’ trends, it’s hard to place them together with the rest.
XY FAs for some reason aren’t worth much, I didn’t follow but I think it had higher pull rates than BW so maybe that’s why.
SM had terrible pull rates and low print runs but its FAs are worth even less. Of course they also look the worst of them all. But here is where it seems rarity and price have been disconnected.
SWSH also had terrible pull rates but massive print runs far exceed the demand for FAs which have basically become bulk to the masses. I am unsure who the target for these are anymore.
SV is where they truly are bulk in every sense of the word. Raised pull rates to the highest ever, print runs didn’t come down, print quality has become terrible. They need to be put down for something new in Gen 10.
Am i the only one who likes the concept of full arts? it’s true that artwise there are prettier cards, even a lot of the bulk cards, but if you want to highlight the pokemon itself and the details of it full arts are still the best to do that regardless of their price or other factors. I hope they will continue to include them in future gens
Love them, and they’ve been a long time coming. I remember seeing people on Tumblr years and years ago who would extend the artwork on cards by painting on them directly. It took a long time for the official products to catch on
it’s true that artwise there are prettier cards, even a lot of the bulk cards, but if you want to highlight the pokemon itself and the details of it full arts are still the best to do that regardless of their price or other factors. I hope they will continue to include them in future gens