CGC did end up slabbing this as a witnessed signature, which is pretty cool.
The personalization says “To Champion” so it’s definitely resell-ready 
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It was mentioned in this thread Hawaii Pop Con Event with Mitsuhira Arita - Jan 6 & 7, 2024 - #67 by pfm but the discussion can continue here.
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It will be interesting to see if there is much of a premium for the auto on the pika trophy.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t CGC not offering Signature Series encapsulation at this event? Did they make an exception just because the cards are expensive?
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I believe that is correct. Im sure if they were offering it. They would have advertised the hell out of it and alot of collectors would have taken them up on it. 
So did Arita throw out the dedication requirements for this item or did someone legally change their name to Champion?
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Of course. I heard that others were turned away.
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It’s their card, so they can do whatever they want. But damn, it hurts my heart to see a perfectly good trophy card getting drawn on T.T
It’s one of those occasions where the auto does not enhance the card because the card is already peak.
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Such a nice label. They need to do more witnessed signature events like they do with comics.
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That is very scummy, but I suppose par for the course for CGC now.
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Whoa Whoa Whoa!!! Talk about UNFAIR! Not gonna lie, I’m pretty jealous as one of the people at CGC specifically told me that they weren’t going to do any Signature Series slabs. One of the gals didn’t even know what signature series was…Too bad I couldn’t go in with that guy or right after him and ask to have mine submitted as well 
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I’m one of the common folk they turned away 
So sad. I wish they would have just been fair and let everyone submit theirs for signature series.
But hey, for a VIP card like that, I’m sure they were happy to bend backwards to get the owner to grade with them.
If you pay the highest tier you get to personalise it to whoever. Arita makes his extra 
.
Yup @Tropicard is correct. The limited tier for $180 allowed you to write the card to anyone and in english or in katakana or kanji (with the exception of some names like Ash, trainer, Arita etc). The $35 common tier had to be in English and match your drivers license or ID. Most people did a combination option that allowed for one of each tier for $215.
Both the dates don’t match. I sense reselling gimmick!
So Pokemon should start to produce serialized cards to differentiate from mass-produced (ie; unlimited) cards?
Serialized cards like what MTG is doing now? In addition they do have unlimited or mass-produced versions of these serialised cards too.
I mean my point was to be critical of of grailification mentality, not to encourage it.
Oh I see. But it’s human nature to want better and better things, the more and more the merrier.
Not impossible for most people to be content with what they already have.
let me have my fruit rollup charmander mang.
What do you mean the dates don’t match? The CGC case and auto date says its the same. Is it because the trophy card is from 1998?