Trying to understand how limited or not limited Japanese promo releases are and how do you find out how many were release or just how they were released in general. Outside of population report from graded cards of course. Cards like Mario/Luigi Pikachu, 20th Anniversary Pikachu, Red’s Pikachu, Armored Mewtwo…many others but just a few I’m personally curious about. Any info would be appreciated. Thank you
There’s rarely official numbers and therefore not really any objective way to know. For the most part the best you can do is get an impression of the relative rarity of these items based on how often they pop up and what they go for. It’s less of a science and mostly something learned through experience.
Understanding the release method can help inform the rarity. For instance the Armored Mewtwo was given out to movie goers whereas the Mario Pikachu box was a limited Pokemon Center release. That should give you a general idea of which one is probably rarer.
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Because we have no official numbers, to get the most accurate picture possible, I usually cross reference two key elements, the first being distribution method and the second market demand.
Distribution Method Considerations:
Was this card given in a specific place/event or as part od a nationwide release?
Was it distributed for free or was it included in a paid product?
Was there a limit to how many were given per person upon release?
Market Demand Considerations:
Is this card popular both in Japan and abroad?
Does it show up often in the Japanese secondary market?
Is its price being sustained by Domestic or Foreign demand? Or both?
Has it been out of print for a long time?
Obviously it is not a perfect system, but should give you a good feel for how limited certain promos are, especially the ones that are relevant to you. In the end, I tend to consider all Japanese promos as quite limited simply due to the fact that their print runs figures are probably projected with the Japanese market in mind, but foreign demand dries up the most popular ones.
Anyway, the best way to obtain information about release methods and infer scarcity from those would be to check bulbapedia if doing it retroactively or to check for updates on sites like Pokemon Center Online, Pokeguardian or Pokebeach. Alternatively, asking the community here should also get you some pretty accurate answers.
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Hi, I’m curious about your opinion on the rarity/release of the Eevee Vmax bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Eevee_VMAX_(S-P_Promo_101) considering that you had to won a rock, paper, scissor duel to get it (and there’s no info on the end of the event, only that it started on july 23)
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@andrea, the release itself shouldn’t be too limited in the sense that as far as I’m aware it included LGS’s, in which case there should be several thousands.
The issue of rarity here arises from the fact that at the time this went live, Japan was still under strict lockdown rules, so I can only assume that not many players actually went to the shops to play.
I’ve seen them pop up in bundles, so wouldn’t be surprised if shop owners who didn’t give them at the event were selling the leftovers.
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Thanks so much. This is what I believed. Glad to understand there isn’t a reference I’m missing.
This is so good. I thank you very much for sharing with me
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