I agree with this. The alt arts don’t have a cohesive identity. There is actually a Reddit post about how to identify an alt art because it’s not always clear. I don’t think alt art in SWSH is an official term and is just made up by collectors.
I personally think they won’t survive the test of time, with a few exceptions. Each gen has new cards that are hyped, but it doesn’t always stick.
I’m with @pfm on this one, each generation has its own unique card or class of cards that people want to compare to other sets, but the cards are unique in their own right and can’t really be compared. If you’re looking for a mechanic that’s similar to the gold stars, the Platinum shinies and BW UR cards are much closer than alt arts in my view.
I love alt arts, they are incredibly unique and represent the final evolution in Pokemon finally tapping the collector market for the modern TCG. But I’ve stated my opinion in many other places that the prices for alt art cards do not really make sense to me. I actually think the high prices for these alt art cards will hurt them in the long run if there is not some kind of correction. Many people believe prices can only go up, but alt arts from the past year are astronomically expensive when you compare them to cards with (as @zorloth points out) much lower production, higher conditional rarity, and older age.
I find my posts are often misread. I’m not sure why.
My original point was that it depends on the longevity of the new collector as the chase for the SWSH alts is equated to the veteran’s chase for Gold Stars. If they drop off, then the supply will exceed demand. If Pokemon continues to grow, then there might be a case which is something that seems logical enough for everyone to agree with.
History already shows that most people return to what they had experience with or are nostalgic for. The conversion to even older cards or other niches does not follow the same ratio as interest in the general hobby. So, if this is the era of the most cards being bought, then future returning collectors or financially mature youths would most likely be chasing the cards they never got.
It doesn’t matter that alt arts in quantity terms are many times, maybe hundreds of times larger. That goes for full arts, rainbows, gold cards - almost every modern rarity is larger by overall quantity but at the same time they are all much harder to pull. It doesn’t make sense that many cards are worth so much, but how much do you need to spend to actually pull it? Once again, you were almost guaranteed a Base Charizard with 2 boxes. Even if you didn’t get it, you’d have all the other holos and most likely the whole set.
If you don’t pull an alt art, or a rainbow or gold (neither guaranteed) what will you be getting? You get at most 2 full arts. Even if I compare that to Gold Stars, which were 1 in 2 boxes, you have a lot higher chance of pulling them all than finishing a master set of any modern set with dozens of cards rarer than Gold Stars. People focus on alt arts, but they are just as rare as full arts and more common than rainbows and gold cards.
I’m not saying that they are investable and I detest hype beasts who don’t understand pull rates. All I was drawing was that whenever this topic comes about, there is an undercurrent of criticism of modern/new collectors whether or not they are actually ignorant. There are a lot of YouTube clowns and their followers, but are the majority of new collectors like that or is that just a subset? Until the future reveals it, we won’t know so the gatekeeping is just off-putting.
This is the most interesting point in this thread.
This has been the most appealing card art format. If it continues, then it will definitely water down demand. You could argue it already has since V alt arts, VMAX alt arts, CSR and the upcoming SAR cards are all basically the same.
You could also argue that alt arts are of an equivalent rarity to full arts and most full arts are worthless so it makes less sense to argue as a bloc than as each card’s individual merits. Even within alt arts you have Sandaconda worth 50x less than the most expensive V alt art.
Will the same Pokemon always be as popular? Will newer Pokemon reach or surpass older ones?
“So, if this is the era of the most cards being bought, then future returning collectors or financially mature youths would most likely be chasing the cards they never got.”
I think this point is interesting. As time passes I would imagine younger collectors today will more likely chase after alt arts today compared to older chase cards as they have a connection to it. This is a huge assumption of course.
Very interested to see how alt art fares over the next 2 decades, and whether demand for older cards like gold stars will die down.