There’s also Hi-Res’s scan of the Official Fanbook (May 1997) which looks bit closer to the betas than the corrected version, in terms of saturation.
I’m also unsure about the timing of the betas but we’re sort of at a dead end here, for now at least. 
When i did the magic and wizards tests last year it was a test i excluded but discussed in the methodology section. Worth considering if its hollistic or affects 100% of forgeries.
Oh thanks for sharing. Yeah these look closer to the saturated versions for sure. Perhaps this book was scanned even further for the Nintendo Power Guidebook 
A topic for another thread though lol
I just hope that the news spreads fast enough that nobody else buys any of these without knowing the chances of them being fake
At this point any active auctions are/will be taken down. Only place to get burned is buy it now listings.
Hey pfm, I would just like to chip in with some assumptions on the beta and delta variants. Given that there are no conclusive evidence backing up the existence of such variants, as well as no documented copies of such variants printed in 1996, as well as the some sharp eyes spotting that there were no trainer for such variants, my inference is that there could also be a possibility that these variants did not actually exist as part of the playtesting/prototype process and simply created in 2024 with malicious intent.
Going by this theory, it would make sense that there were no trainers for beta and delta variant, as Pokemon would simply fetch higher amounts for sales purpose, and the time taken to complete these 2 sets are faster as time is required to manually make modifications from the source for these variants to look different. In the process of modifying the data to look different from the alpha variants, there could have been changes made to the original playtesting variants that does not make any sense, and perhaps also typo errors. Otherwise, it is tough to see trainer cards completely omitted as it was a pivotal part to the card game.
Think it’s time the feds take it over. Someone was saying that they bought cut cards. And sheets of promos are fake so uh.
Betas were probably created to polish the layout and represent the whole 151 Pokémon, not happened with the alpha.
Game testing wise they probably used alpha trainers in game.
If we consider this path we have to consider also akabane part of the scammers.
Also, corocoro was used to advertise the Pokémon cards, I dont think showing Pokémon with no background would have been a good advertising, infact we can see just the presentation variants.
In case even alpha playtest would be fake because of them being assent on corocoro, which is false as those cards have been proven legit
what about the boomer houses have they gotten the memo yet
I definitely think someone should bring all this to the feds asap for multiple reasons, get the guys behind this and try and get justice/compensation for victims and ensure that this never happens again.
It’s hard to see, but the Pikachu cards look like they’re autographs are cut off. Similiar to what we’ve seen previously with the fake Beta’s that were signed.
Question:
CGC certs # 1401036913001 to #1401036913082 are HQ betas, which is only 82 Pokemon. Does anyone know of any outside this cert range?
this is why i collect lower grades 
cheaper & whos gonna sell a fake scratched up version of smtg
Sadly these are both LQ 
This is mine, i believe its a hq. I couldnt find the dots on front but i found some yellow dots on back and other pattern dots on back.
Def HQ, also different cert from others, nice
8 posts were split to a new topic: Pikachu Illustrator printed “test sheet” appears to have been printed in 2024
The backside has the alpha pattern, presumably because the backside of HQ betas is a scan/copy of the alpha back and it picked up some of the dots during scanning.
I have experience with marketing and pr. Some tips for CGC to consider:
Release a statement as soon as you can. It’s been 2 days already. This allows you to control the narrative, demonstrates accountability, and maintains trust with your customers.
If it’s not your fault, then you need to get to the bottom of this. The Pokemon community will not let this one go. If you have to burn bridges with your “friends” then so be it. But, be very transparent. If we find out the truth from anyone else other than you… then you’ve lost our trust.
Make strong offers to your customers. This will make or break your customer base for the long run. You may have to recoup monies from those responsible of deceiving you.
This one’s for the community - it doesn’t matter if you own one of these cards or not, be respectful. We need to be a strong community and get through this together. If you’ve been in the game long enough then you’ve probably gotten scammed before.
I will make sure the CEO sees your suggestions personally.
