@garyis2000 Wow that does seem pretty conclusive then. Any idea if the holos would have been produced in 1995 as well or if they were produced later? I still find it so weird that their mass release was held off for 1.5 years after their production, but I guess it really did go down that way.
In light of that information, I’m also going to assume that the Bandai cards were produced in 1995. Like the non-holo Topsun cards, they also have a 1995 copyright date on them (and only 1995), as opposed to the Media Factory cards which have a 1996 date on them (and only 1996).
So, in terms of production date it seems like we can say:
1995: Topsun (possibly no-numbers first)
1995: Bandai (unclear if before or after the Topsun cards although Gary did speak to a MF rep claiming Topsun was first)
1996: Media Factory (no rarity first)
(1995-1997: Topsun holos)?
And in terms of official release date:
October 20 1996: Media Factory (No rarity first)
XX 1996: Bandai (unclear if before or after the Media Factory cards)
1997: Topsun (no-numbers first, followed by blue back, followed by green. Some may have been floating around well before their official release date.)
So confusing haha.
FWIW, I think release date takes preference over production date when it comes to figuring out the “rookie cards.” But if there were a decent number of Topsun cards floating around before anything else, that makes the rookie card situation very fuzzy. Even if we don’t accept Topsun as the rookie cards, we still don’t know whether Bandai or Media Factory was released first!
@garyis2000 The reasons I suspect the Topsun holos may have been printed later are:
1 - They don’t have a copyright date on them (unlike all of the non-holos which have a 1995 copyright date on them)
2 - Their distribution began several months after the non-holos were first distributed
So, I suspect what may have happened is that Topsun saw how popular holo cards were in other series (Media Factory and Bandai) and decided to add some holos to their series as well. This would also explain why they made a complete set of 150 Pokemon in the non-holo form (as opposed to the standard practice of designating some Pokemon species as holos and others as non-holos), and it would also explain why the holo cards are so distinct from all the other cards in the set (especially the backs of the cards). Gary, you specifically mentioned that the blue/green back Topsun cards were the first to be produced, according to your source, but of course the holos are not blue/green back cards.
Now, I could play devil’s advocate with my own points…
1 - There’s no copyright at all on them, so there’s nothing that specifically indicates they *weren’t* produced in 1995
2 - They could have produced the cards at the same time as the others, and always had the intention of releasing them later in order to rebuild hype for their set after the initial wave of interest for their cards dissipated.
It’s really impossible to say for sure without inside information, but I lean towards the holos having been produced later.
I kind of answered this on PM, but I’ll put it here. Topsun no number 1st run, topsun blue second, topsun green third. Rarity follows the same pattern.
Thanks @cullers , it’s good to at least know their release date, even if we can’t know their production date. Although, I would think the no number cards might have been produced first as well, in addition to being released fist? (I would think that numbers is the sort of thing that would be added to production, not removed)
Also, cullers - do you have an opinion on why the Topsun cards might have been produced in 1995, but not released until 1997?
Obviously I’m not referring to only TCG because otherwise this would be an easy answer!
But then again, what I’m asking is a subjective question - so who am I to argue with you guys, @gottaketchumall and @Viral ?
I suppose the question of “Which cards do you consider to be the rookie cards” is completely personal question.
Though, at least when it comes to discussing things like “which cards were made first” and “which cards were released first,” that’s an objective measurement.
With sports cards true rookies are normally the 1st set cards from a major distributor. They’re mass produced. The fringe cards like cookie box releases etc aren’t generally regarded as best rookies.
Of course there’s exceptions to every rule.
For Pokemon I would label the 1996 Japanese base set and the 1999 English 1st base set as true rookies.
Yeah, I would agree that the Japanese and English base set cards are probably the best examples of “rookie” cards for the following reasons:
1 - They’re the first set of the official trading card game
2 - They’re the consensus “first” cards (this is the most important factor by far - what really matters is what the consensus says it is)
3 - Released October 20th, 1996 in Japan, we have no earlier official release date for any set of cards being released earlier. And in English, the base set cards were unequivocally the first.
So for those reasons, I would agree.
Having said that, I’m now quite convinced that the Topsun and Bandai cards were made before Media Factory cards, and very possibly circulated prior to the release of the Media Factory cards as well (the evidence being the copyright dates of 1995 for the Topsun/Bandai cards compared to the 1996 copyright date for the Media Factory cards, as well as Gary’s info). So if you want the first Pokemon cards to ever be made and find their way into people’s hands, you’re going to need the Topsun and Bandai sets. So I still think they’re a very nice piece of Pokemon card history to collect.
By the way guys, please correct my BS when I’m clearly wrong about something!
The Bandai Carddass were clearly made in 1995, not 1996!
On the back of these cards, it has a copyright date of 1995 on the top. However, if you look at the bottom it says “BANDAI 1996 MADE IN JAPAN.”
Ockham’s razor says this: The Topsun, Bandai, and Media Factory cards were all made in 1996!
My best guess at this point is that of these three sets, the Topsun cards were made first but officially released last, while the Media factory cards were made last but officially released first.
We can also say this about the three sets individually:
Topsun: No Number → Blue Back → Green Back
Bandai Carddass Parts 1&2: Red + Green simultaneous release
Media Factory Base Set: No Rarity → Unlimited
Does that mean the No Number Topsun cards were the first to be made, and that the No Rarity base set cards were the first to be released? Were the Topsun cards really the first to be “released” because they were circulated prior to official release? Do they Bandai cards cloud the picture at all?
…I don’t know. All I know is that I got a Bulbasaur of every type, so *one* of those Bulbasaurs represents the first card ever. Muahahahaha
