Pokemon Prism Stars - a 2025 perspective

[mystixdarsh]

Hi Everyone!

This is my first post so I apologize in advance if it comes off as lackluster or low effort.

• Do you find Prism Star cards visually appealing
• Yes
• No

The Analysis:

Prism Star cards have trended up 300-500% in the last 12 months on Tcgplayer recently. Additionally, they seem to have a high volume considering they are a more nicher subset (500 sold a year on average).

**Cards such as the Giratina Prism Star from Ultra Prism and the Ditto prism star from Lost Thunder have ebay PSA 10 sold data in the $600-$700 range.

A Surprise

There seems to be a big difference between the price of near mint copies of these cards and what the PSA 10 versions are worth. Their Pops seem to have a spread of 25% PSA 10’s to 75% PSA 9’s, so in my opinion they don’t seem particularly too hard to grade either.

Low POP

Some prism star cards like the Latias and Latios only have 46 PSA 10s.

My Opinion

These cards released in 2017-2018 which seems like yesterday but is in reality 8 years ago now, yikes! Based off sentiment I could find for them when they released, they received mixed opinions and weren’t particularly loved. According to pull rate data from burpies, they seem to only be 1 in every 12 packs. So while they weren’t necessarily hard to pull, since the masses weren’t opening tons of Ultra prism packs and Celestial storm packs and so forth, there aren’t too many out there.

Footnote - I didn’t start collecting until 2019, so these for the most part went under my radar.

Takeaway

*I’d have to look at them side by side, but the particular holofoil shiny black border that prism stars have feels very eye catching and elusive, moreso than the regular glossy matte finish that say a V card has.

**I would love to see what other people think when it comes to opinions and sentiment towards cards always changing because I feel that this happens a lot. Most notably, when the Latios Latias GX alt art was going for maybe only $20 near mint on tcgplayer, and now not so much.

***I think there is an interesting discussion to be had over what a chase card really is and how card opinions can be different over time.

[wooltchi]

Theyre alright I guess, but theres cooler half art cards earlier in sun and moon with the shinings and then way cooler cards later with tag teams. They needed something a bit more to stand out like the amazing rares with their cool texture and design.

The ditto prism is a great card but that’s mostly because of the artwork

[mystixdarsh]

I think the black quartz border around the ditto art is a nice touch as well. I also like the fact that almost all of the defining features of the card are holographic! I wish way more cards had this aesthetic. It resonates the same way that crystal type pokemon cards do. I can only dream that for the future Celebrations 2.0 set or anniversary set, they do a stamped Charizard Prism Star card because I would lose my marbles XD

[shoops]

I think some of them look nice. The Darkrai in particular is my favorite.

[wisewailmer]

Why does everything read like ai now lol

[mthursty]

I like prism stars. They were playable when I was playing the TCG locally.
The pokemon cards look great while the trainer cards are lackluster.
I have a bunch (≈40) of these and none of them would be a PSA 10 candidate so the high price for a 10 is justified. Not sure if the exact price is justified though.

[fourthstartcg]

Not directed at this particular post, however:

“According to the researchers, most people weren’t even aware they were doing it since they were unable to see the larger patterns and vocabulary use. The researchers also suspect that AI is nudging us toward a more emotionally neutral manner of speaking, turning so much of the way people online speak into a deeply uninteresting beige wall of text that lacks the telltale markers of human passion.”

AI Is Changing the Way Humans Speak to Each Other

[c0ll3ct0r]

They have the worst foil ever put on any regular card and many of the illustrations have the dull babyish uniformity like the modern so-called shiny rares. The layout isn’t bad but they never really stood a chance. If they had been released two generations earlier, some of them would’ve probably been quite decent. Like Darkrai, Giratina, Cyrus and Volcanion.

[wisewailmer]

I know that’s not ai

[decoypalmette]

They’re not too bad I guess, but can’t say I’m interested in collecting them. Artworks seem a bit stale/repetitive, while overall they feel like a weird one-off gimmick.
I prefer these over amazing rares, and I kinda like the prism ornament behind the text, but I would never pay such prices.

[Dyl]

They’re okay.

[Parallax]

I really like them, and am surprised they have been largely ignored. Some popular names like Giratina, Darkrai etc, plus a unique holofoil pattern. I bought a full Japanese NM set for like 30 bucks once I found out they existed a couple of years ago. Love how they look in the binder!

[koala]

What sets them back are that the Prism Star rulebox significantly narrows the art window which is the primary appeal for Pokémon cards; and its sheen holo resembles regular set holos in Sun & Moon. Otherwise, they’re in the same “upgraded main set card” category as Amazing Rares /Radiant Pokémon / ACE Spec and its uniform flare aesthetic looks great together

[thsigma]

Cool cards, but I probably wont care about them until they get too expensive. Tale as old as time

[ddk]

I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t know this subset existed until I saw this thread.

[tstark20]

I appreciate them solely for the fact that they are a unique attempt at redesigning the general card layout. There just isn’t as much unique variance in the general card layout design as there used to be.

[Silphnaut]

The art on these cards and the prism design does nothing for me personally.