Never thought of cards not featuring Pokémon when looking at this thread, but DCE definitely works nice choice.
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If you have HF Charizard GX and SM Lillie there, how can Pikachu & Zekrom rescue the era from obscurity?
Was Pokemon booming before the pandemic?
I think Pokemon Go came out the summer before SM released in November, did that make any difference to the TCG? Or did it only happen during the pandemic?
All the inflated modern cards now all happened during the pandemic - FA trainers, AAs etc.
- Base Set 1st Edition Charizard
- Base Set Shadowless Charizard
- Base Set Unlimited Charizard
- Base Set 2 Charizard
- Legendary Collection Holo Charizard
- Legendary Collection Reverse Holo Charizard
- XY Evolutions Holo Charizord
- XY Evolutions Reverse Holo Chorizo
- Celebrations Classic Collection Charizad
- Celebrations UPC Gold Metal Charizard
HM: Legendary Collection Non-Holo Charizard
I’m sorry
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Although it’s impossible to assign a numerical value as to which is more iconic than the other, it’s these 10 for me:
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I’m going with artworks instead of actual card variations this time:
- Base Set Charizard
- Base Set Pikachu
- Ancient Mew promo
- Base Set Machamp
- Base Set Blastoise
- Base Set Venusaur
- Neo Revelations Shining Gyarados
- Mewtwo WB promo
- Jungle Jolteon
- Base Set Pidgey
Greetz,
Quuador
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Well first, Team Up came out before Hidden Fates in English. But even in late 2019 when HF was released, it was really the only set of interest in pre-TT SM. Shining Legends was good but didn’t move the hobby like HF did. Team Up introduced the Tag Team GX cards but more importantly the special arts. Special arts have been key to the success of modern Pokemon ever since. Since we’re talking most iconic cards, I’d give it to the special art of the set mascot where they debuted. Arguably HF Charizard did much more for the modern hobby than special arts though, so that’s why it’s ranked higher.
SM Lillie was a one-off card that was important for changing the TCG market. Just having one card that does that doesn’t change the fact that before Tag Teams, SM main sets were arguably the worst collector sets Pokemon had ever produced.
Pokemon was starting to increase before the pandemic, in certain areas. Vintage especially, not so much modern, although we were getting there with Tag Teams. Pokemon Go coincided with a rise in 2016-17, although in my view that’s much more attributable to other factors. People who called it the “Pokemon Go bubble” in 2016 were probably calling 2020 the “Logan Paul bubble.”
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I guarentee most pokemon fans dont know what mega evolution is.
I suspect a majority of pokemkn fans still consider themselves fans but havent played the games in a decade
Likely true. Its more how popular that specific card was in the context of the TCG. All 3 were popular cards at release and remained popular years later. If I had to guess I’d say the Rainbow is the most popular, but who knows 
Im mostly basing “iconic” in terms of raw number of people who recognize it. People like my mom or my cousin who hasnt played in 12 years but still know enough to talk pokemon.
Admitably this makes the list a tad boring. A more fun topic would be the 10 most important pokemon cards
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That is one way to look at it. I just didn’t want to have all 10 cards be cards from the beginning of the tcg, as that is the most popular era next to SWSH. Theres a lot of unique things about the designs of cards and how these designs impacted later sets and how the designs reflect a certain era in the tcg. I want to cast a wider net, at least one that captures a majority of the generations.
I’d probably choose just the Rainbow in this case, but I could see other cards being chosen that are much less popular amongst the average person.
Id like the list to be from all eras represnting all the changes the tcg has gone through. That would be a much more interesting list. I just think we lose the term iconic if we limit the group of people who even know a card exists. Modern collectors know base (partly because the pokemon company reprints base all the time, i mean a base set reprint is arguably the grail card of the dp/platinum era and the xy era. Think about that, 2 whole distinct eras overshadowed by a base reprint set and a secret rare base gimmick) . Base collectors dont always know modern
Id say the rainbow zard is important marking the start of a resurgence in pokemon and change to sensory overload hype beast art, but in that sense is it iconic? Will it be cherished in 10 years for those reasons? I dont know
I was debating it tbh, but it’s at around place 12 or 13 on the list I had in mind.
Greetz,
Quuador
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I personally think that most of the world would not think that a japanese promo like the shiny mew would be iconic. I considered myself a higher than average collector and I had never heard of the card before like 2016. Iconic cards to me are WOTC set cards or mass released promos like ancient mew.
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Not sure if I can continue the conversation in this thread, but may I know why SM sets were the worst? I only returned last year, so have no idea about the state of the hobby and perception of sets before mid-2021.
Granted, when I look over the sets, I have no interest in collecting anything except tag team alt arts and FA trainers. But that’s because I don’t have much interest in playing nor am I wowed by CGI art - this goes way back from the beginning until now. However, it’s also not a controversial opinion anyway considering those have higher rarities and are done by actual artists, so presumably they should be more desirable because they look better.
Oh, and of course the entire set of Arita GXs + the random few from Ishikawa I think. But the normal Vs don’t look much better or worse than the EXs that came before them, plus before SM there were hardly any alt arts of that calibre anyway. Was it because that made full arts so uniform with the background all being the same colour?
And although many seem to despise rainbows now, they seem relatively valuable in the SM era compared to now so they couldn’t have been that badly received.
Iconic, most recognizable:
Base 1st Ed Blastoise
Base 1st Ed Charizard
Base 1st Ed Venusaur
Base 1st Ed Pikachu
Rocket 1st Ed Dark Raichu
Ancient Mew
Neo Gen 1st Ed Lugia
Neo Rev 1st Ed Ho-oh
Pikachu Illustrator
Pikachu No. 1 Trainer old back
Iconic, defining an era:
CoroCoro Pikachu
Ancient Mew
Base 1st Ed Charizard
Base 1st Ed Pikachu
Neo Gen 1st Ed Lugia
Neo Rev 1st Ed Shining Gyarados
Wailord ex
Rayquaza Gold Star
Zekrom BW Full Art
Pikachu No. 1 Trainer old back
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Loved Hidden Fates. One of my all time favorite sets. Looking back after we have had a year+ of alt arts, the SM sets (the early ones mainly) just feel so…boring. I love the XY full arts but SM took a step back imo until we get tagteams.
Wow honestly, never thought to put DCE on here, but when I saw it, my jaw dropped because it WAS very iconic for me. I only had one as a kid hahaha! Therefore I thought it was super rare and it became very special to me.
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