Pretty much the title.
I’m trying to complete a Neo Block Binder and destiny seems to be the hardest to find/most expensive on average (not counting shinings). Am I crazy or did they lower the print run on destiny?
No one can say for sure, but the general consensus is that Neo Destiny had the lowest print run of the Neo sets, yes.
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All of the Neo sets had a relatively small run. We don’t know which had the smallest run but Revelation or Destiny probably hold that title. Destiny is also an extremely popular set amongst collectors which causes the cards to have relatively high prices.
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We don’t know the exact numbers but as years go by, it seems Neo Rev and Neo Destiny had the lowest print numbers. Actually, besides Neo Genesis, all the neo sets are pretty hard to come by (1st and unlimited).
I can definitely see that. A lot of the art is amazing!
It’s definitely the scarcest because of demand. Nobody knows exact numbers.
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My observations over the past 10 years tells me Neo Destiny likely had the smallest print run
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I don’t think we will ever know for sure, but observing what we know about WotC at the time and how Pokémon Fever was declining it makes sense that each Neo set was printed in lesser and lesser quantities than that which preceded it.
Neo Genesis was printed the most for obvious reasons given how much of an event it was. Then from the sales data they got from that they probably dialed back Neo Discovery and so on and so forth. With the impending relaunch of the TCG surrounding the e-Reader they had deadlines to meet and the Neo era was wrapped up in a hurry.
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Anecdotally, I collected all Neo cards at the time except Neo Destiny, which I didn’t even know existed! I would love to go back to the time between Rev and Destiny release and see what was happening at the time e.g. a new big game coming out or a film, a new craze etc… something that broke the camels back. Even as someone collecting Neo cards, it became more of a secret hobby for me due to how much everyone else had stopped caring about them. Maybe with each Neo set, sales just kept getting worse and worse (Neo genesis would have had the most hype, being the base set of gen 2, then I feel like the rest fell off a cliff). I don’t remember ever seeing Neo Destiny in shops at all.
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Interesting. Every shop counter in my hometown of Oslo was overflowing with Neo Destiny for a long time. But unlike Aquapolis, people actually bought them, which I expect is the reason why everyone was so eager to sell Expedition afterwards, unlike Skyridge, which was nowhere to be seen after the catastrophe that was Aquapolis.
I could literally walk into the same shop with one week in between, and the same Aquapolis pack would be there in the same booster box at the exact same angle. To my great shame, I hated the Aquapolis pack designs as a child, so I never bought much of it. 
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It’s crazy; I remember Expedition/Aquapolis being sold at my local toy store (northeastern U.S.) as late as 2004/05. Those things must’ve really sold poorly. It seemed like there was so much excess supply back then, like they printed too much relative to the demand. I love those sets now, but I really didn’t care for them as a kid. It was all about the exs.
Yeah, wild times. And there are so many fascinating factors rarely discussed as to why it happened.
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For one, Johto was the the new kid on the block. Everyone is so busy labeling Johto as the vintage of the vintage that they forget how it was a completely new and therefore highly scrutinized thing. Perhaps Neo having a very traditional layout was the reason it squeaked by (at least Genesis), but then came e-series with its hated borders and brought the perfect storm. I think, possibly, in my corner of the world, that was the saving grace of Expedition. Kanto starters on 3 out of 4 pack designs, and a lot of Kanto pokes inside the packs.
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Another aspect is how Skyridge is portrayed. Not well received, low print blahblah, we all know the drill. But I think what goes unmentioned is how much of the blame is on Expedition and ,more specifically, Aquapolis. I think many shops refused to take Skyridge on, due to the failings of the former sets. Not that Skyridge was unleashed upon the masses and then unanimously rejected. This probably explains why Skyridge was so widely available online for a decade after its release (and thus masking the low print run), unlike it’s e-series brethren which did not see the same trajectory, becoming scarce and expensive much earlier.
Now, to tie all this back to Neo. Although I have a library’s worth of speculation (and experience), I’m not comfortable guesstimating much about the Neo-era, partially because I have made so many conflicting observations over the last two decades. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with saying anything, really. What I do find fascinating though: I have no experience with seeing cases of Neo (and if I do I don’t remember now). I’ve seen kanto wotc cases, e-series cases, hell, I’ve even seen EX hoards, but no Neo cases whatsoever.
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Does anyone have any idea who the printers for neo genesis and neo destiny may have been?
Here is my anecdote about the popularity of Pokemon in Denmark in 2001 and early 2002. Neo Genesis was widely popular and for a little while sparkled renwed interest in Pokemon cards after it had mostly disapeared from the school yard craze during the Gym sets period. We had both 1st edition and unlimited boosters widely available at this time. Most of us played Gold/Silver, and Neo Genesis was just a very exciting set. But this “second wind” of Pokemon hype did not last that long as we moved on to other things… Note that Neo Discovery first came out half a year later, which is a very long time for kids, and it was during the summer holidays of 2001. By then me and one of my friends were the only one I knew at my school that got Neo Discovery cards. And we only had unlimited cards of this sets. In autumn 2001 when Neo Revelation came out, only a few “nerdy kids” still collected and played Pokemon at my local card shop. We also only got unlimited Neo Revelation cards. Pokemon as a fad was long dead at this time. By the time Neo Destiny came out in early 2002 I had also stopped playing and collecting the cards. In terms of print runs and the availability of cards, Neo Genesis certainly feels much more common in both 1st edition and unlimited relative to the other Neo Sets, and this makes good sense when taking the timeline into consideration.
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