Does it feel like the e-series sets are more of an extension of wotc than actual wotc cards?
They are direct copies of the Japanese counterparts. They just feel so different from the other wotc sets.
I agree, they do feel different. While e-Series WOTC doesn’t focus on Gen 2 as the Neo sets do, they technically still are part of the second generation. However in my head they occupy a weird place that’s almost feels like filler. As well because e-Series borders carried over into ex.
That said, I think they’re all good sets and overall offer the best artwork from the WOTC era.
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When I was a kid I unironically believed that they were fake. What a trauma was opening a pack and finding my beloved cards butchered of pokedex entry and poke stats, children loved this little things imho.
The original wotc layout was warm and special, but growing old I started to appreciate the different vibe that e-card give to me.
This means that I’m a bit more objective with e-card era, since there is very little nostalgic bias for me, and I matured my pokemon tastes with the nintendo ex/dp era (my favorites)
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best art, extend the borders and each holo is as good as an alt art!
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Distinct flavor, yes. Wotc logo on the sealed items is the slightly alien cherry on top.
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The eCards are ridiculously delicious. I know there’s a general consensus that the Japanese cards have better quality, but my gosh the JP base set (basic) were often off centred. It’s like the Japanese printers were manned by moronic Stormtroopers. The eCards solved that with the intentional off-border design.
I feel like they aren’t WOTC cards but were told by Nintendo: “Print and distribute these for us outside of Asia. K thanks bye.”
I associate Expedition/Aquapolis/Skyridge more with early EX than WotC, tbh. If I had it my way, the eras would be more along the lines of:
Base-Neo
Expedition-TMTA
HL-DF
The e-Card era feels really distinct to me.
I have a theory, I think a lot of people are attracted to E-series (Expedition-Skyridge) due to the mystique.
In storytelling terms that whole era is interesting, intriguing. Many people remember little about it, and many people have a newfound appreciation of it. Combine that with stellar art and comparative scarcity, it’s a powerful narrative to drive an already interesting collectible.
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Also many European countries never had the big border ex cards, so e-cards for us (at least in Italy) felt really like a weird parenthesis aesthetically speaking, and not a nice continuum or introduction to nintendo era,
I remember very few kids having them, even less than the smaller print run could justify imho: maybe people were a little tired of gen1-2 pokemon, but it did felt like one day there was neo, and the next ex-ruby. This is a pity since art direction was stellar.
To me it’s feels like it’s own thing but the art is some of the nicest. I meant I do t think there is even wizards copyright on the bottom of the cards. I believe it either says Nintendo or Pokémon
I feel the same. When I returned to the hobby, I didn’t actually know or recall that E-Reader cards were even WOTC manufactured. I remember playing MTG in the early 2000s and seeing them in stores and thinking “those are Pokemon cards?”. I definitely don’t mean any of this as a negative, but more so I just didn’t know they were still part of the WOTC distribution at that point.
Anyway, definitely a distinctive set block overall. The artwork and feel of everything is very unique.
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It’s funny, I never really notice the borders when looking at the card in person, only when someone asks a question like this.
I definitely notice them. It’s probably the first thing that sticks out. At least when I see crystals
I wish the gen 3 eseries got the same love. The holos have the same vibes as the WOTC holos. EXs do look a bit different and a good amount of them are CGI but it shouldn’t detract from the appeal of the holos which are almost entirely hand drawn arts.
I’ll plug the jirachi again, but it could go toe to toe with expedition mew and skyridge celebi any day
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I think that’s the direction wotc would have gone had they not lost their license
interesting dilemma as an english collector. from a jp collector viewpoint, e-series is the start of new back, so its not the same as oldback (base-neo 4)
Is that when they started? I didn’t know that
yeah Vs series was the first e-series set and the first set with the new back
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Expedition was released in Europe months after the USA release. This was because the ereader (for the gameboy) was NOT released in Europe.
So weeks and weeks later (when Aquapolis was almost out) Europe got a little bit Expedition (and later on Aquapolis and Skyridge) but with that yellow sticker on it.
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When I hear wotc I think of the early gen 1 sets (Base-Rocket mainly). In that regard, e series does feel sort of “alien” in a way. The designs being so different with the thicker borders is another factor. Early wotc is so iconic/nostalgic for more people and the print runs were significantly higher compared to later wotc sets.
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