Relaxed Geodude will always be a favourite of mine from this set.
I also love the approach to the 2 stadiums, High Pressure & Low Pressure System.
Two linked spaces with opposite weather features that affects the environment and the stadium space in very different ways. Clean designs and two defined stadium spaces.
Yikes at the 182x250 Low Pressure System image on bulbapedia
Favorite set ever. One thing I always found interesting about this set was the prerelease Gyarados card. The prices they sell for on eBay surprised me when I first found out. I had like 10 of them that I got from a prerelease event at the time. I vividly remember the card store manager at the time giving me a bunch for whatever reason as a kid. I don’t know if they are just that scarce or what, but they hold a decent price of around $60ish for a raw card.
Love the booster pack art word for this set, very nostalgic.
ex sucks dont buy it
This is a joke, right? Some of the most valuable and sought after cards come from the EX series (gold stars, Pokémon-EX), not to mention, it was the last era to look semi decent before the steaming pile of design garbage that has been everything since.
Yeah, I think it’s a weird running joke that people who collect the EX Series say whenever it’s mentioned lol. And re: your other observation – I entirely agree. EX Series cards have a very clean, understated look and the art is almost universally fantastic. Post-EX Series cards are pure sensory overload for me. And I also just don’t like most of the Pokemon after Gen 3 (with some exceptions from Gen 4).
My favorite set of all time.
EX Dragon, it was the first set players outside N-America would be able to play a prerelease.
I remember the distributor of our country came to my location to hand over the materials I ordered.
Mainly because he didn’t believe I was capable of getting so many people attending.
We ended up even sitting in the hall, so many people showed up.
Prerelease promocards were counted, 1 for each player and he didn’t left a single spare one for me as organiser.
After the prerelease we found out our boosters contained reverse TV Reporter while in N-America none was pulled.
For real. The modern cards (I.e, DP on) have so many problems with them from a design standpoint (my profession). From italic font, which makes it hard to read because of the font size (also makes the words blend together), to the full arts which blind the viewer and make any words hard to read period, to the use of curved internal holding shapes and curved lines, which blends everything together and doesn’t delineate art vs words, and other design elements - they really screwed the pooch vis a vis readability and clarity on these cards. Also, the million variations of post-ex type cards. Do you really need vx and gx and max and vmax and all of the other BS designations that just cloud the water and dilute the value of having cards that rare and powerful? The answer is no, you don’t. The Pokémon company is just milking their cash cow with endless, uncreative, iterations, and has been for a while. It’s the equivalent of having a laptop series named the SG7800, the SG7880, the SG7800XS, etc.
Some of the hits of the set from my binders. I really love the ampharos EX, and usually don’t care much for that Pokemon. I second Zorloth’s love of the Dragonite EX. This set features heavy hitter first appearances of Rayquaza, Latios and Latias. Latias EX commonly suffers from a heavy printline flaw across the entire card. The copy here in my binder, which was a PSA 9, has it. Not visible at all in this light but it’s there. Another PSA 9 that I bought also had it. I think that’s the reason for the lower pop in PSA 10. Charizard secret rare evolution line is also cool.
Great tidbits of info. shame on me for not posting some of the gorgeous reverse holos from your set that I am now caring for. I’ll rectify that soon
The difference in the quality of the art for the EXs is kind of staggering. Sorry to be negative but the ones by Hikaru Kaike just look so garish compared to the Ryo Ueda’s from the set. It’s mostly the tenebrism, looks like something out of a Baroque painting but with none of the aspects that make a Baroque painting good. Its also 3D rendered, so it doesn’t feel like there’s a good artistic reason for the drab lighting.
Compare that to Latias ex, which is just looks so much better without the heavy usage of shadow–I think thats part of the why the early era ex’s are so misaligned
While I agree that they aren’t as nice as Ueda’s, I still like the Kaike exs. I appreciate them in the same way I appreciate the art from EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua. I recognize that (for the most part) the art is suboptimal but I enjoy the retro CGI element – it’s a relic that only was really in use for a few years. It has a charm that is comparable to the D&D and 80s cliche fantasy vibe that a lot of the early MTG art had:
The art is mediocre but still has a unique, irreplicable charm to it. An example of the same thing from TMTA:
The art from early MTG, from TMTA, and from Kaike are like time capsules. None of it is objectively or even subjectively good, but there’s a certain unique element in this sort of art that I appreciate. The art in, for instance, EX Sandstorm is objectively and subjectively much better than the art in TMTA. But it’s also less unique. Same thing with early MTG art – it was largely cheesy and poorly executed but also has a unique aesthetic element that can’t be replicated, which I think is valuable in and of itself.
Hmm this Muk ex is actually one of only a handful of ex’s I kinda like. I think Muk as a Pokemon can and should be depicted bad /ugly/brutalistic. However I can see why one could be dissatisfied when the ‘tenebrism’ gets too heavy, which is a problem I also have with many ex’s. Thanks for the new word by the way, I’ll try to use it in the future sometime 
dacardworld just added an absolutely busted box for 18k after rejecting mine for 11k lol good times good times. Glad it went to a fellow member here instead where it can be appreciated more
It’s not in the absolute worst shape…but yeah, not in ‘great condition’ like they say in the description lol. Cool to see another one pop up for sale, though I doubt they’ll get anywhere close to their asking price. EX Dragon is a wildly underrated set (and a beautiful, rare box) but I can’t see how it would be worth as much as an Aquapolis box.
This set is a from a little before me registering set releases as a kid, but I think its a fantastic set that I have slowing been collecting card from for a bit now. Definitely my favorite original EX era E-reader set and it has such a fantastic looking booster box!
The Latios booster pack artwork is more nostalgic for me than any card.
Long-ish story coming
Parents would never really buy me Pokémon cards I literally remember being given a caterpie and a water energy from a friend and I was over the moon with just this- literally stared at them for hours
Couple years down the track and I was probably 11-14 years old and I started to have some pocket money, so one day I took the bus after school to the news agent. I got there and was confused as to why they were selling Pokémon cards that weren’t base set but bought these anyway because damm that latios artwork
Some of my favorite reverse holos from the set. I love the shiny holo surface from these early EX era sets. Thanks to rainbowgym, these are SUPER mint. All of these are at least PSA 9. I think two are probably lock 10s. TV Reporter isn’t one of my favorite arts, but the reverse holo wasn’t printed in the US release. So the english version could only be obtained in Europe. Given the lower print run overall of the set, it’s a scarce card in higher grade.
Probably been mentioned already, but it feels like those tournament stamped Charmander, Chameleon and Charizard cards feel super underrated at the moment. Perhaps Zard fans aren’t as much of a fan of the EX Dragon artwork?