Is this normal variance in the JP XY-P holo pattern?

Thrilled to recently acquire more Poncho Pikachu’s and I was comparing my new Mega X and Gyarados to the Mega Y and Magikarp I got from another seller and was surprised at how different the strength of the background holo is in my cards. Is this just normal variance? I was kind of surprised how stark the difference is since the Mega X/Gyarados/Mario are totally in your face and I can barely make out the pattern in the Mega Y and Magikarp I got from another seller. It’s hard to make out the difference really well in these pictures but I also added a short video. Appreciate everyone’s insight!


Comparison vid

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That’s neat!
I’ve got the nice holo pattern version


:heart_eyes:

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Oh man I am jealous!

That is interesting. My magikarp box is still sealed so i dont have a full answer but i thought theyd be the same?

Yea I thought so too and that’s why I really wanted to hear from others here. The slabs with less holo prominence look totally fine otherwise and match the images uploaded by PSA. I may be overly paranoid but I was just wondering if these cards were somehow altered since I read this thread.

The cards look legit to me. Although this is the first time I see it on XY-P promos, I’ve seen this kind of holofoil differences before on other cards.

FWIW, I’ve just checked my own Pikachu FA XY-P promos, and they’re all the same regular/‘in your face’ variant. This includes: 090/XY-P (Festa 2014); 150/XY-P (Magikarp cosplay); 151/XY-P (Gyarados cosplay); 175/XY-P (Festa 2015); PSA-10 175/XY-P with Event Organizer stamp; 207/XY-P (Mega Charizard X cosplay); 208/XY-P (Mega Charizard Y cosplay); 230/XY-P (Rayquaza cosplay); 231/XY-P (Shiny Rayquaza cosplay); 279/XY-P (Festa 2016); 294/XY-P (Mario cosplay); 296/XY-P (Luigi cosplay) - and all my SM-P promos are the same as well.

Greetz,
Quuador

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I think it really depends on how the light is reflecting off the holo because when I look at mine directly off the light, the holo pattern is very apparent. But when I angle it in specific ways, the holo pattern can no longer be seen or it is very hard to see

Edit: In your video, I see what you mean. My xy-p promo holos look very similar to your 207/xy-p mega charizard poncho. Can you see the holo pattern at all on the magikarp and charizard?

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Never saw this before, but it’s interesting to see. Maybe it’s just how the colours reflect within that lighting? Does it look or reflect differently under a lamp or other light source?

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Thanks for your insight, reassuring to see that these kind of differences have been present in the past!

@philzcardz and @jabby there are definitely angles which show the holo pattern better in the Mega X/Gyarados but there are no angles or lightning I can find that make the holo pattern pop out for the Mega Y/Magikarp, just really subtle glimpses. It wasn’t until I received the most recent cards and looked at them side by side that I was really surprised by the difference between them. I tried it with general room lightning and with a little light booth for photography like in the video I linked above.

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Went to check some of my promos.

I do notice my garp karp pair has weaker star foiling intensity compared to my mario ones.
I guess this is normal!

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