Tell me something I don’t know about Base Set and early WotC

[pokehubtw]

@assassin5757

Not a secret but foreign cards get overlooked eventhough they’re still under wizards copyright. They all had 1ed and unl base set versions and the Spanish sets had some copyright date changes due to being released in Spain and Latin America at different times.
The Korean and Chinese sets had the wizards copyright too despite being geographically near Japan. I assume that means wizards still printed them but I’m not sure how distribution worked.

For the Chinese set, Hong Kong and Taiwan Hasbro agents were used to sell locally in Taiwan and Hong Kong after they were printed by WoTC.

[basesetwill]

@pokehubtw

@assassin5757

Not a secret but foreign cards get overlooked eventhough they’re still under wizards copyright. They all had 1ed and unl base set versions and the Spanish sets had some copyright date changes due to being released in Spain and Latin America at different times.
The Korean and Chinese sets had the wizards copyright too despite being geographically near Japan. I assume that means wizards still printed them but I’m not sure how distribution worked.

For the Chinese set, Hong Kong and Taiwan Hasbro agents were used to sell locally in Taiwan and Hong Kong after they were printed by WoTC.

That’s interesting. Until I started this thread, I didn’t realise that WotC even printed Korean cards. All of my research so far has been on US and U.K. cards. I probably won’t write too much about other languages as the scope of the book then becomes insane. But I will definitely mention briefly about this in there somewhere

[assassin5757]

@basesetwill

@pokehubtw

For the Chinese set, Hong Kong and Taiwan Hasbro agents were used to sell locally in Taiwan and Hong Kong after they were printed by WoTC.

That’s interesting. Until I started this thread, I didn’t realise that WotC even printed Korean cards. All of my research so far has been on US and U.K. cards. I probably won’t write too much about other languages as the scope of the book then becomes insane. But I will definitely mention briefly about this in there somewhere

That would be great. I agree it would add a lot of work and research but at least a nod to spread awareness “Hey you can collect wotc base set cards in these languages” and perhaps some pictures.

Since you didn’t know about the Korean cards I’ll list the languages wotc made a base set for.

English
German
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Dutch
Korean
Chinese

[jakecollectskorean]

@assassin5757

Not a secret but foreign cards get overlooked eventhough they’re still under wizards copyright. They all had 1ed and unl base set versions and the Spanish sets had some copyright date changes due to being released in Spain and Latin America at different times.
The Korean and Chinese sets had the wizards copyright too despite being geographically near Japan. I assume that means wizards still printed them but I’m not sure how distribution worked.

Korean and Chinese base follow the WOTC styling (back design, copyright, etc.) Because they were printed in Australia and then flown over to be distributed by local companies. This is why, on the packaging at least, they also have the red Pokemon logo same as AUS.

[basesetwill]

If anyone has a super accurate timeline of when Pokemon products were released that would be very useful. It’s a lot easier to find this info for the States but much harder to find out and verify for the U.K.

My current understanding is that the demo packs came out December 1998 and then the full launch came in January of 1999 for America. For the U.K., they never saw the release of first edition or shadowless cards, and instead the TCG launched there several months later. I’m not sure on the dates however

[assassin5757]

@basesetwill

If anyone has a super accurate timeline of when Pokemon products were released that would be very useful. It’s a lot easier to find this info for the States but much harder to find out and verify for the U.K.

My current understanding is that the demo packs came out December 1998 and then the full launch came in January of 1999 for America. For the U.K., they never saw the release of first edition or shadowless cards, and instead the TCG launched there several months later. I’m not sure on the dates however

I would spend some time in the article and guides section. As for searching specific information I find using google then adding efour to the end of the query as my go to. “UK release efour”.

www.elitefourum.com/t/base-set-2000-a-guide-to-the-last-print-of-base-set/22312/1
www.elitefourum.com/t/wotc-chat-logs-from-feb-2000-to-nov-2000-q-a-w-employees/16872/1
www.elitefourum.com/t/identifying-shadowless-unlimited-base-set-boxes-packs/16993/1
www.elitefourum.com/t/shadowless-vs-first-edition-base/19077/1
www.elitefourum.com/t/base-pikachu-artwork-card-variations/15059/1
www.elitefourum.com/t/an-elaborate-attempt-at-print-run-estimation-wip-5-8-18/20273/1

@odds

It would probably be much more helpful to you and this thread if you produced a list of your known facts. This would allow verification of those facts & to produce new facts that you don’t already have.

Odds makes a good point. You don’t need to tell us every little detail of your book but provide a background of your knowledge or a table of contents or something so we are not shooting in the dark.

I assume if you are interviewing wotc employees you are serious about this.

Who is the intended audience? Serious collectors, casual collectors, or general pokemon fans?

What is considered early Pokemon cards? Base, Base to Fossil, Base to Rocket/Gym, Base to Neo, or all of wotc?

What do you mean by most comprehensive? All the cards to collect? There are a ton of errors in base set but it would just be easier to talk about high profile errors, or general error categories. Some errors were never corrected. Many errors are unique to a single card. Some errors are shared across many cards. There are also sample cards and prototypes.

Outside of the actual cards there are many things you can talk about too such as packs, decks, booster boxes, and uncut sheets. Then you have tcg-related items like counters, deck boxes, and coins.

What is your book concept? Is it similar to a catalog? Will I see a picture of every base card from Alakazam to the water energy? Or are you focusing around interesting informational tidbits and stories?

I highly recommend you look at the silver bible. While it’s a Japanese collectors book it is praised by collectors and fortunately for you there is a free pdf scan. It could give you some ideas when making your own book. And it’s not even the cards that make the silver bible great. It’s everything else that went into it.

www.elitefourum.com/t/japanese-document-archives-trainer-mags-silver-bible-pdfs/33002/1

Browsing efour might even dissuade you (in a good way) because of all the information already contained here. It’s easier to direct people here than write a book for them.

[aspeaks]

Errors errors errors. That’s all I’ll say lol

[pokemon_matt]

Prerelease Raichu

[kingboo64]

@pokemon_matt

Prerelease Raichu

Was not an error and caused by wotc employees doing random shit with the printer

[pokemon_matt]

@kingboo64

@pokemon_matt

Prerelease Raichu

Was not an error and caused by wotc employees doing random shit with the printer

Yeah I wasn’t saying it was an error, just that it’s worth considering including as part of the book

[gengaranimal]

Wizards of the Coast was originally named Tim the Enchanter before they changed it.

Made ya look!

[charizardespana]

Shadowless variant is potentially rarer than 1st edition…hmmm!

[papafrankgod]

It’s better and cheaper than modern

[kingboo64]

@papafrankgod

It’s better than modern

Debatable

[papafrankgod]

@kingboo64

@papafrankgod

It’s better than modern

Debatable

Knife edge Death Match