Prerelease Raichu

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMMc7_vyqmE

Discuss.

7:15

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The myths and legends of Prerelease Raichu has been put to restā€¦Pre-release Raichu is officially dead!

I never got the hype about this card

May have to sell the 5 I have :joy:

I donā€™t like this conversation because itā€™s boring talking to people who are stubborn and thereā€™s nothing that can be said to change people views regarding this card. With that said two things:

@smpratte quote from the beginning of the video. ā€œAnd for the believers They just look right past that fact that, ā€˜Why is a raichu sitting next to a clefable. Why is that happeningā€™.ā€

However, the orgin story isnā€™t completely accurate. The story came from Mike Boozer who wasnā€™t involved with any of the production. According to the Rustyā€™s manager contact, it was a full sheet of Raichuā€™s that were accidentally sent over. Thatā€™s why thereā€™s no such thing as a PR Hitmonchan, like there would be if the above sheet was used.

Also, you can authenticate the one documented one outside of word of mouth through the holo pattern/centering/edgeware. Itā€™s pretty much how authenticators document famous items that thereā€™s millions to differenciate it from. Itā€™s not 100% but itā€™s good enough for professionals to put there certification on it.

Other than that, Iā€™d agree with the points in the video. Iā€™ve never had interest in the card anyway, but the ammount of scams involved with the card makes it like the 1st ed base box for me. I donā€™t touch them no matter how sure I am that theyā€™re real.

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@cullers I was going to link to that sheet as well. Here is the video. @thecharizardauthorty made it and details some more of the PREraichu story. So the sheet did exist whereby a raichu was next to a clefable. I may have misunderstood, but it did sound like @smpratte was saying that this sheet wouldnā€™t make sense to have existed.

Note I am posting this just to call attention to a bit of an error in the OP video. Not saying anything about the story of it or my thoughts on that.

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@gottaketchumall. Haha, I was actually looking for that video. I knew that Rusty and I talked over Pokegym messages, thatā€™s where I first learned about the entire sheet, but I knew he also posted the info on a video. I just took the image from a google search without realizing where the source was from. 1:50 mark in the video link above for people that want to skip to it.

I love my Raichu Prelease coasters!

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mindustrial?

Cullersā€™s got the points!

In my opinion, Scottā€™s conclusions are a bit quick.

Itā€™s also not clear (to me at least) what the main conclusion is: Are interested, well financed collectors obligated (?) to pass the opportunity even to buy the card Scott examined and pictured (an excellent candidate for a legit PR if any actually exist)? Or maybe the video is just a warning that fakes exists or that PSA is unlikely to authenticate?

The purpose of the video was to state that no matter what you believe the end result is the same, itā€™s a dead card.

If you believe itā€™s real, the card cannot be authenticated.

If you donā€™t believe itā€™s real, the card cannot be authenticated.

If you donā€™t care, the card cannot be authenticated.

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So the only cards that matter are ones that can be authenticated?

ps. congrats on 6k posts

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cards being traded for 90% of someoneā€™s collection have to be authenticated at this point, so matters for the sake of trade.

I think the conclusion was that because the card canā€™t be authenticated itā€™s a hard sell as itā€™s provenance basically comes down to word of mouth (I got it from this guy, who got it from this guy, who got it from this guy) ā€¦ which can be faked easily.

Also just raising general awareness on fakes which I think is a good idea, especially if nintendo employees actually end up stamping raichus. As then you have the issue of a prerelease raichu coming from a nintendo employee, which would seem legit when in fact itā€™s not. I think it should be reason enough for anyone to stay away from the card even if theyā€™re offered the documented copy, as the card is always going to be met with heavy skepticism regardless of your provenance.

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Exactly this!

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Well thatā€™s up to how much risk every individual is willing to take. Certainly it would be foolish though.

Actually I should clarify something. I first understood smpratteā€™s use of the word ā€œauthenticatedā€ to mean 3rd party authentication. If by ā€œauthenticateā€ he means that there was no way to objectively differentiate a ā€œfakeā€ PR stamp from a WOTC factory stamp then I might be inclined to believe the premise that this is a dead collectable.

Theres a way to tell the difference from an after market stamp and a factory stamp. However, if itā€™s done by the same process Wizards used thereā€™s no way to tell the difference between the two. I have yet to see a scammer use the proper method mainly because they donā€™t have the original machine.

I believe Gary was mentioning that PSA has ways of identifying the pressure used so thereā€™s even more steps that authenticaters have that The public would have no clue.

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It is up to how much risk someone is willing to take, but those people taking those risks are often good, honest people who want that card and take that risk and then are devastated.

If two seasoned collectors feel confident in their personal authentication methods and feel that a legitimate copy is being exchanged, then more power to them.

What I took from the video and particularly from the implication that only authenticatable cards matter is that you canā€™t confidently support the notion that itā€™s a good idea as a casual buyer to try to obtain a PRR. you canā€™t authenticate it thereby you have to expect that itā€™s fake, especially because weā€™ve seen fakes and weā€™ve seen people burned by fakes. If youā€™re a forensic scientist by day and pokemon wizard by night and go visit a seller in person and deem it authentic, that possibility is still open I think.

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