I stayed away from any card I didn’t know about. Sure there can be a “hidden gem” but not in large amounts like these.
After following this topic I can only say there are way to many of these prototypes.
I also know that owning something like this is a kind of natural behaviour. First people only wanted first editions, than they wanted PSA 10’s, than all Goldstars, than Worlds competitor card, than winner cards. And while the pool got smaller the pattern was an open door for extreme things.
The first thing was all those people claiming/collecting misprints, while it was sometimes only a spark of ink. Is that a misprint. No it’s not but people want to obtain something “more special” as another.
Perhaps it’s time to get used to the idea " there is a limit in specials and we might have reached it" .
It’s difficult to remember every detail throughout this thread, so I created an infographic to clarify what has and has not been discovered so we can unite and continue to crowdsource scans of interest.
I think regarding the print date of the HQ Beta fronts at the moment we can only say that they are printed before April 2024 because this is when Sean bought his first batch and we know that cards from this batch contained the HQ Betas (as far as I understand Sean bought on two different occasions which still needs to be confirmed. I’ll reach out to him to confirm this. One time in April 24 and then again in Aug 24 through RIME. The cards from the second purchase contained no HQs as far as I see).
They’re implying a review needs to happen, i.e. send our cards to them to then be held hostage to whatever their determination is after their own incompetence having lead to this in the first place?
They ask to send an email as the owner for this copy paste response they’ve been using as a response to any comments or messages on social media?
They’ve already acknowledged fraud has occurred by the above email being: “reportfraud”@collectiblesgroup.com
“Customer service” dealing with this email and seeming so removed from what’s happening to not even realise what’s even been put on their own website is beyond shocking.
I got the same exact email as the one you posted here. Absolutely agree. The fact that the email itself is reportfraud@collectiblesgroup.com is a clear admission that fraud has taken place. And for their customer service to act so oblivious—like they have no idea what’s even on their own website—is beyond unacceptable. It’s shocking, to say the least.
What I am about to post is not meant to convince anyone of anything. It is additional information that I bring to the table and you can do with it what you like.
One thing I think is important that no one has noticed is the corners of the cards.
The entirety (as far as I have seen so far) of the cards printed in 2024 tend to have irregular and rather bombastic angles that differ from the actual cards that we have been able to decode and those that we have not yet been able to decode.
I would have liked to make a comparison between the 2 marker-marked cards examined by PFM, but unfortunately I could not find good images.
I have tried to make a diagram with the few resources I could find. If anyone has better quality files I would invite them to try this test again. In fact, I invite anyone who is willing or sceptical to try this comparison.
Comparing the white cardstock could be useful for sure, in case they used unoriginal white cardstock for the copies it will likely have different characteristics.
Thinking about it, perhaps under a microscope we might be able to see differences in the surface of the white cardstock.
This whole ordeal has really shown the true colours of some of the most well known names in Pokemon. Both good and bad. We are seeing the best and worst of the community all at once.
On one hand we have the selfless exposing of the fakes, even at ones own financial loss.
On the other we have blatant denial and/or attempts to decieve and manipulate.
Social media is a shit storm right now!
Anyone who used or continues to use this situation to their own benefit should be shunned from the community.
I know the situation is really bad for a lot of people who bought some of these cards, myself included, but let’s take a breather. The drama and shunning is going to flourish on social media. Let’s keep it there and not E4
Zack being interviewed about these prototype cards. 7 minute mark and 9 minute mark aged like milk. Basically, Akabane’s “trust me bro” came back to bite everyone in the butt.
Can someone help me?
Does anyone know if the 151 beta playtest cards first introduced here were printed in 2024?
I own one of these cards and I’m at a loss.
If they were indeed produced in 2024, does that mean that authentication was already being conducted based on these fakes at the time this CGC article was published?
I agree drama isn’t ideal and it’s going to take a long time to find out exactly what happened here, kneejerk reactions in the heat of the moment aren’t helping anyone.
That said I stand by my comment about anyone who used the situation (knowingly) to their advantage should no longer be welcome in this community.
It’s safe to assume they were all printed in 2024 aside from the 8(?) cards that are in blue labels that surfaced in 2022/2023. CGC’s “authentication” was not thorough enough. Unfortunately your card is almost certainly fake/printed in 2024.
