With Gold Stars booming in 2025, I thought this could be a fun poll. I believe Shining cards, especially JP, to be a great point of value currently. Personally, I prefer them.
- Shining
- Gold Star
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voters
Might be a hot take, but all cards are equal to me. So both XD
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Just basing on what I like the look of more since I have neither, but I think the shinings are nicer than gold stars as a whole.
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Not a huge fan of either categories, mostly because of the art style. However, the gold Stars that look good tickle my brain a little more than any Shining or Crystal card.
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Definitely Shinings, if for no other reason I like every single species on the shining cards. Like half of the Gold Stars I couldn’t care less about those individual Pokemon, buying them would just be to complete the set or sell later. Shining Gyarados is one of my top 10 favorite cards in the entire hobby so I’m probably biased due to that as well 
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Tricky.. I’m not personally that much into either however I do like a few of each.
For example, shining charizard has just never done it for me I dunno why but I’ve never wanted that card, but shining gyarados looks really nice and I like the Magikarp/Raichu & a few others.
Similarly gold stars, the Charizard, Pika and Mewtwo I’ve never really been a fan of but I do like the Suicune and Mudkip.
If I had to choose one I’d probably lean more towards gold star.
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Assuming i don’t have either and they are treated as a whole category i’ll always go for shining, i like every single one of them and they have the charm of being first actual secret/ultra rares. A lot of gold stars are cool too but there also are some pretty mid ones, the best ones are extremely good ones but as a whole category shinings take the cake
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I’m kind of tired of the recent Gold star craze. I’m starting to appreciate the shining cards more and more. And I usually prefer the shining when the Pokemon is in both set :
Shining celebi > GS celebi
Shining Gyarados > GS Gyarados
Shining Mewtwo > GS Mewtwo
Shining Mew> GS Mew
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Shinings (Neo CoroCoro) take the win for me. I only like the Celebi, Mew, and Karp and they are forever cards for me. The Shining Mew is my all time favorite card as well. For me, even the ones I don’t like are better drawn than the Gold Stars (except Ray) as well.
Not a fan of Fukuda and dislike most of his cards in general. Out of the Gold Stars the only one I’d really keep is the Ray because it is badass and looks really good. The Torchic and Metagross look good but I’d have no issue selling those 2, and have sold the Metagross I used to have without a second thought. The others are all meh.
Not a fan of the newer shining cards (Shining Legends) at all, other than the Ho-oh which is okay.
Neo Destiny Shinings are okay. The foiling doesn’t really do it for me. However, Neo Revelation Shinings (Shining Magikarp, Shining Gyarados) are perfection.
Crystals and Gold Stars are perfection, though some illustrations are leagues better than others.
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That’s like the lamest one
If only there was a thread discussing both we could determine which one was more popular…oh wait
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Ngl I have to say shining. Yes Rayquaza gold star is obviously goated, but overall most of the gold stars are meh. I actually really like the shining series as a whole so I would much prefer that
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I’d take either both (or neither). For both Gold Stars and Shining cards, there are a bunch of absolute bangers, a bunch of meh cards, and a lot in between, imo. 
Greetz,
Quuador
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That’s why I’ll never be a set collector : I don’t like have meh cards just to have a set complete.
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Aware of the thread. Just because one has a thread about it doesn’t mean it’s seen as the most popular – it’s just the most discussed – with the hype and prices being the driving factor in this. Broadly speaking, yes, Gold Stars are more popular. Broadly speaking, most of the market is also ignorant and follow what gets clicks. I don’t mean they’re ignorant for liking the cards, they can like what they like. Hell, I still like Gold Stars. What I mean is they’re ignorant in the sense they’ve been in the hobby for a year and follow what they hear peddled by creators. Big number go brrrrr
Generally if you’re active on Efour you at least somewhat care about things that aren’t just whatever is the latest head-lining auction sale. People gave legitimate answers as to why they might prefer one over the other, not mentioning any sale or financial points. I switch to instagram, that’s almost all I see-- screenshots of the big sales
I recognise I mentioned value in the post, but that doesn’t have to be monetary/sales related. I appreciate the fact that most Shining cards are found in one set, barring the Mew and the Karp/Gya. In a landscape where most cards now feature exaggerated artwork, eye-catching colours and are full-art, I find the Shining cards offer something that you see far less of:- subtlety. That is my perceived value here
Strictly speaking about Japanese cards, I prefer Shinings over Gold Stars.
I do like Gold Stars and I have quite a few of them, I just enjoy the Shinings more. I believe that Gold Stars are where they are simply because they stand on the shoulders of the Shinings that came before them. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that, they just paved the way forward for them to shine…
I’ll see myself out.
The Neo Shining’s made such an impact on release with such a unique and simple change. One that still echoes throughout the tcg today, Shinies. Since Shinies were introduced into generation 2 and for many it was their first introduction to a shiny Pokemon at the Lake of Rage. Having this moment came forward in the tcg as well is a brilliant idea and that person should’ve got a raise for suggesting it in the boardroom.
The cards like Magikarp, Gyarados and Mew that sparkle was unlike most cards at that time and certainly was enough to get me hooked. I still remember the day I opened my sealed CoroCoro Mew and seeing it for the first time in person, that was epic.
The gold embossed texture hits entirely different too and has a real allure about it. I can see why some might not find it nearly as exciting, especially newer collectors who are used to everything being super shiny these days. But at that moment it was truly special. Shining Charizard was one of my first larger purchases when I started delving deeper into Japanese.
Plus we got the best of both textures with Magikarp 
The Shining set having sets cards and promos to collect is a great combination and is a fantastic set to collect. Gold Stars also have sets cards and promos to collect with some cards varying. There are cards with different textures, some have multiple editions and some set cards are also promos so one collectors set could be quite different from someone else’s, which is pretty neat!
Either way, you can’t go wrong with whichever you prefer as both are awesome. Shinings in this market though I’d say can give you a lot more bang for your buck, which is an added bonus.
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If it has to be one or the other it’s shining for me. I wasn’t collecting when either came out so I have zero nostalgic feelings toward either. When I got back into collecting for some reason I instantly gravitated toward the Neo shinings. Now that I think about it they’re disproportionally represented when I reflect on my favorite cards and/or cards I’m pursing.
I will say I never really understood the hype around gold stars until I started looking at them in person. Looking at pics online doesn’t really do them justice so maybe as I get more in hand I’ll catch the itch.