Articuno’s my overall favourite of the 3, but Zapdos has a special place in my heart after pulling the base set holo (THREE times!) as a kid as well as Zap Ex from FRLG.
2002 Red Deck Zapdos and 151 Zapdos SAR are hands down the Zapdos best arts, no question. Shame Galarian Zapdos Ostrich looking crap is an abomination.
couldn’t agree more. There was something special about that Fossil Articuno holo. I saved up £15 in pocket money and dragged my dad into town to buy a copy off the back wall where it was displayed in Forbidden Planet. I stupidly left it on the carpet in my living room that same evening, where my little sister decided to draw a line on it along the top border in silver gel pen. Sadly no idea what happened to that card. Could well be in someone else’s collection! Or in the bin… omg, 200000 to 1 chance, but if anyone has ever come across a fossil holo articuno (I think it was unlimited) with a small silver line drawn on the top left border, please let me know!
Articuno has always been my favourite of the three too. I think it’s that the design looks the most like a plausible (and majestic) bird that could actually exist, while the other two were a bit too “out there” in design for my childhood brain to be drawn to.
Fossil Articuno was also the second ever holo I pulled from a pack, since Base & Jungle hated me. I still have that same copy as part of my Fossil master set now.
what i’m gathering is if people have a strong connection to kanto zapdos, they seem to feel strongly against the galarian form.
it’s also interesting to me that people in general (excusing those who generally dislike the pokemon design) aren’t a fan of the V SA. maybe it’s just because i have such vivid memories of watching looney tunes as a kid, but that card is just pitch perfect road runner vibes.
maybe the reason so many people feel negatively about it is because it doesn’t look/seem as “legendary” as the kanto form.
I think this is pretty much it. There’s just something a bit goofy and unmajestic about the Galarian form. Saying that, it’s no bad thing to enjoy one more Pokémon, I’d rather like it than not.
I’m volunteering for liking both 
Personally I love the idea of Zapdos as a Paleognath, the problem is the execution. Still, better than Scott Summers Articuno…
Galarian Moltres is fine. Superfluous, but fine. The Inteleon-guy did a great job with this one:
I actually like Galarian Zapdos a tiny bit more than the Kantonian variant.
If you look at G. Zapdos with terrorbird vibes, rather than being a chocobo/roadrunner, then it starts to feel a lot more legendary (and dangerous):
That’s really cool. I would’ve never thought putting them like that
Unlike many Articuno is not my favorite. I am partial to Zapdos with Moltres taking a distant third. In terms of regional adaptions I am really drawn to Galarian Zapdos. I think it is subliminal and has to do with all those years of watching roadrunner.
There were a ton of high quality cards early on for sure! Zapdos definitely comes at the top of my list, with Articuno then Moltres trailing. That said, I will give Moltres some appreciation in that I feel like it lends itself very well to some awesome, majestic poses. Several of my favorite Moltres cards are favorites because I can really sense its regality in the art and that makes it pop!
While I do like all three a lot, Zapdos overall is the best bird and Rocket’s Zapdos is one of my favorite cards of all time. This card was crazy good in the TCG when released. Did any of the newer birds ever have a significant impact on the TCG meta?
My favorite trio of cards may be from the Japanese Web series. These are e-series holo variants of the English black stars promos. I am also very fond of the fossil trio.
I wish that we saw more of the fossils of these and other pokemon. The museum exhibit a few years ago was an amazing display but it would have been great to have the zapdos skeleton from this box displayed.
mostly the two galarian moltres (both V, and non) largely thanks to the darkness type hitting mew vmax for weakness and being synergistic with dark patch
if you mean all newer cards, then there are a couple others worth mentioning.
this articuno has been used in some decks as a strategy to run the opponent out of resources by perpetual paralysis. It won at least one regional (in australia) iirc
this zapdos is used in Miraidon ex decks as a damage modifier and a one prize attacker
also the ex did see some play initially as a free retreater in miraidon, but has fallen out of favor
Lots of Moltres hate!
Hate is such a strong word. 
The fire chicken has always been the runt of the litter
I think part of the the general meh-ness folks have is that it’s a Firebird. It’s a literal Phoenix, but it’s design feels so uninspired half the time (especially when you compare it to the other two and its equivalent Phoenix inspiration - Ho-oh).
Zapdos looks like electricity incarnate. Articuno looks like wind and ice. And Moltres looks like someone stuck fire-streamers on a plucked chicken. I wish something emphasized it’s flames more - especially when you consider some fan arts like this:
I just think they just missed the mark that would have made for a better design.
That being said, some folks did kill it with their depictions - but its because they emphasized the flames aspect of its design:
I think another thing Moltres has against it is its typing. Considering how popular Charizard is, I think many people would avoid using Moltres in favor of Charizard. Agree with the above points, its design is not the best imo
