What are your top 5 arts of your favorite pokemon?

[thsigma]

Akin to the top 5 rarest cards of your favorite Pokémon, I figured I would make a similar post asking for your personal favorites. I am curious to see if people’s favorites tend to include the rarest releases or if its more varied.

My favorite Pokemon is Rayquaza. Since it is one of the most popular Legendaries, it receives lots of love every generation it is in. Here are my top 5 arts for it, in no particular order.

1. Player’s Club Rayquaza
   I stumbled upon this art while googling Rayquaza cards. The art is amazing and one of Arita’s best. I love how menacing and scary Ray looks. The art really captures just how strong and powerful Rayquaza is. I do not own this card, but I am sure I will nab one up some day. It doesn’t appear to be super rare, but still a bit expensive. This is my favorite Rayquaza art.
   

   

2. Hidden Fates Shiny GX
   I think Hidden Fates was an absolutely phenomenal set and had some of the best set cards and promos (like this Rayquaza). Ray is a Pokémon that has both a solid normal and shiny sprite, so my favorite cards offer a mix of both. This one isnt too expensive or rare for English, so acquiring it isn’t very hard at all. Another thing that makes this card even cooler is that is has a jumbo version as well.
   

   

3. Roaring Skies Rayquaza EX
   The BW and XY full art EX cards are super cool and represent some of the best card designs in the TCG. I think they are the best textured Pokémon full arts that TPC has done, second only to alt arts. What makes this art my favorite is that the background is blue, my favorite color.
   

4. Vmax Climax Black/Gold/Green Rayquaza Vmax
   A newer Rayquaza card, this one really captured my attention when I first saw it. I love these black/gold/color cards and feel they are somewhat unappreciated. English doesn’t have this card yet, but I am sure if it doesn’t reach us I will grab the Japanese one. I think this card is so unique in its design and the green highlight really makes it pop. TPC does new things constantly which makes collecting more fresh and rewarding. When collecting across different eras, you can really see how the TCG has progressed and can compare/contrast different cards.
   

   

5. Call of Legends Shiny
   It gets pretty hard to narrow down 5 cards, but a Rayquaza list wouldn’t be complete without this imo. The gray holo border is one of my favorite features of the ex-CoL eras.
   

Honorable Mention(s).
Rayquaza ex Nintendo Promo
There are quite a few Rayquaza ex cards, but this one is my favorite of the bunch.

Rayquaza/Deoxys Legend
Maybe one day Pokémon will bring back Legend cards…

[smpratte]

Ok this is the correct thread for my post

This is a fun thread idea! I still have to do Blastoise later. Here is a nice to look at the art for a specific pokemon: mewtwo ‹ PkmnCards

Here are my Mewtwo choices:

1. 1st Ed Base - I will always love Shadowless cards. To this today I get excited seeing a shadowless card.

2. Mewtwo black star. Another Nostalgia choice. Love the original sugimori design.

3. Rocket’s Mewtwo was the first card with 3 attacks. I remember seeing that as a kid and thinking it was crazy.

4. Mewtwo EX. Original mewtwo ex card, and I believe the same design from Super Smash Bros Melee.

5. Mewtube. Absolutely brilliant design.

Honorable mention, the new pogo Mewtwo is a solid concept.

[thsigma]

that website is very useful! Didn’t know it was a thing. I was just grabbing pictures off of google…

[citriina]

Piplup has some fantastic art imo (but maybe I’m a bit biased)! Coincidentally, some of my favorite Piplup art actually has Piplup as a cameo, but I’ll still include them here.

1. Cosmic Eclipse CHR

This is hands-down my favorite Piplup card, and the one that got me back into collecting Piplups after quite a long break. Dawn is my favorite of Ash’s companions, possibly my favorite Pokémon character in general, and this card is so cheery, I love it! I love both her expression and Piplup’s, and the holo foil looks lovely with the art as well.

2. Roseanne’s Research (multiple prints)

This is my favorite Piplup cameo, and my second favorite Piplup art! A fun fact about this card: the first printing of Roseanne’s Research is the first instance of Roseanne (Lucas’ mom) having a name. In Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, she was just referred to as a researcher, while her official name appeared later in Platinum when it released. This card was released in between the two games, making it the first time Roseanne had an official name!

3. Project Pochama Promo

My favorite Pokémon drawn by my favorite artist, the Project Pochama Piplup is absolutely adorable! I have a love for stamped cards (as controversial as that opinion might be), but the stamp on this one is likely my favorite stamp design ever. Me? Biased? Maybe a bit-

4. PPP Promo (and other printings)

I absolutely love everything about this art- the pose, the dumb expression of Piplup’s face, and the holo of the PPP Promo compliments the entire design as well. This art has had multiple printings, notably in Majestic Dawn in English, but I like the promo holo version the most, I think.

5. Sapporo’s Pikachu

While this one is a very tiny Piplup cameo, I couldn’t resist adding this one to the list. His face. So precious. Piplup looks like he’s about to fall, and I absolutely love him.

Honorable Mentions

There are plenty of amazing Piplup arts that didn’t quite make the cut into my top 5, but I’m going to show them anyway because it’s Piplup and I love him.

One of my favorite things about this little penguin Pokémon is that no artist knows how to draw him and his dumb little proportions, so he always looks a little wonky, and I think that’s what made making this list so difficult. All Piplups are unique and I love all of them!

[Dyl]

My two favorite Pokemon are Dragonite and Gengar. I might have to do a separate post for Gengar, so here is my Top 5 Art List for Dragonite.

1. EX Team Rocket Returns: Dark Dragonite Reverse Foil. Dark Dragonite flying in the moonlight will always be perfect. Also, I love the blood-red stamp. Artist: Nakaoka.

Dyl Rating: 10/10

PS: This is my own copy. If you have a PSA 10 copy for sale with a swirl, let’s talk.

2. EX Dragon: Dragonite EX. An especially gorgeous card when you hold it up to the light. Artist: Ryo Ueda.

Dyl Rating: 9.5/10

3. Fossil 1st Edition: Dragonite Holo. The OG. How could anyone not love this beautiful orange boy? Artist: Kagemaru Himeno.

Dyl Rating: 9.5/10

4. Neo Destiny 1st Edition: Dragonite Holo. The holographic pattern is tough to see on this card (-1 points), but the artwork is innovative and lively. Artist: Atsuko Nishida.

Dyl Rating: 9.0/10

5. Expedition: Dragonite Holo. Bit of a goofy artwork, which is why I like it so much. One of the main reasons why I think Dragonite is ‘S Tier’ is the juxtaposition of its goofy/humble and powerful personality characteristics. Artist: Kagemaru Himeno.

Dyl Rating: 9.0/10

Honorable Mentions

The OG Dark Dragonite from Team Rocket 1st Edition. 9.0/10

Dragonite V Alternate Art from Evolving Skies. 9.0/10

Dragonite Holo from Legends Awakened. 8.5/10

Dragonite WB Black Star Promo. 8.5/10

[sherotcg]

I’ll go next, and try to use my own scans for the ones I have.

#1 - World Champions pack/ ex power keepers salamence - have always loved this Arita classic. I recently graded this.

#2 - butler’s salamence - one of the few japanese exclusive salamence card and it has wonderful Kusajima art. Got it for a great price too.

#3 - Dragon Frontiers ex - I’m drawn to this card for its unique art direction. Its almost as if it has a special aura in the artwork. This card continues to grow on me and has rightfully earned the 3rd spot on my list. Fun fact: the 1st edition japanese version of this card is a population of 1 (I don’t own it). It has to be the lowest pop ex card. Unless there is a pop zero I’m aware of.

#4 - Kawayoo’s sun and moon sm140 promo. Menacing artwork. The only non - japanese salamence. I have an Indonesian copy but still need to pick up an english one in mint condition. (not my photo)

#5: coming in at number 5 is a classic Salamence artwork - the rookie salamence by kouki saitou. There are many variations of this card - jp unlim and jp 1st from the starter decks (mine are pictured), cosmos eng, set holo eng, rev holo eng, non holo eng and winner promo in english too. Need to try and pick up all of these in psa 10. No easy task.

Honourable mentions;

• Delta species ( pictured above with the decks)
• b+w dragon vault holo and all its variants - jp, english set holo, cosmos holo, regional crosshatch variant, staff variant
• v jump magazine promo

[Tapp]

@Dyl

My two favorite Pokemon are Dragonite and Gengar. I might have to do a separate post for Gengar, so here is my Top 5 Art List for Dragonite.

1. EX Team Rocket Returns: Dark Dragonite Reverse Foil. Dark Dragonite flying in the moonlight will always be perfect. Also, I love the blood-red stamp. Artist: Nakaoka.

Dyl Rating: 10/10

PS: This is my own copy. If you have a PSA 10 copy for sale with a swirl, let’s talk.

Nice scan. Looks familiar

[jonbo]

I’ll probably do one for Sunkern and Sunflora, but here’s mine for Ampharos. I’ll just preface this by saying I think most of the Ampharos artworks are pretty great, obviously I’m biased though:

1. Expedition - God Tier artwork. Bonus points for the way the holo pattern looks in a scanner.

2. Aquapolis - Also God Tier. I am a sucker for e-reader borders as well.

3. Steam Siege - This artwork is just so good. I love the art style with the fuzzy outlines on things. I also love how much it plays into the whole “Ampharos lighthouse” thing (I kind of wish more cards did that).

4. Team Rocket Returns - I love when they do Dark Pokemon in general and I think they did a really good job with this one. The Neo Dark Ampharos is great as well but this one just really looks like it’s a Dark Pokemon to me.

5. Evolving Skies - I think this card is great. Ampharos got a pretty great lineup in Sword and Shield sets, and I think this artwork is by far the best of its gen 8 cards.

Honorable mentions go to its two VS cards, Jasmine’s Ampharos and Lance’s Ampharos. VS cards in general are just amazing and I love both of Ampharos’.

[Dyl]

Thanks for the sale and beautiful scan !

[c0ll3ct0r]

1. Luckily, my favorite Pokemon is one of the stronger Arita ex cards:

2. Harada classic, the bending pillar in the background is dope, a perfect match:

3. This is where the drop off begins, I like this but not nearly as much as the two above:

4. Decent placeholder:

5. More placeholders at shared 5th, I’m a little iffy about the Baba proportions on this one and the Kizuki, like a lot of Dusclops cards, is stretched out:

[smpratte]

Blastoise was a lot harder than Mewtwo. I didn’t realize how much of a purist I am with Blastoise. Also a lot of his recent art looks more cartoony and/or derpy. Here are my 5:

[TorterraSimp]

This was tricky, there arent many Torterra artworks I dont like. I just wish they would give him another ultra rare

1. Lv.X from DP Base
   

   

2. Stormfront
   

3. Brilliant Stars
   

4. Unleashed
   

5. Plasma Storm
   

[c0ll3ct0r]

@TorterraSimp

This was tricky, there arent many Torterra artworks I dont like.

I hear you on that, barely a single Pokemon on my top 14 have 5 cards I like at all, it’s crazy. I like your picks, I’m a big fan of the Fukuda from Stormfront.

I think the worst example on my top list is Electrode, good lord how badly they’ve treated him.

[deblasnoya]

I agree. Crystal Guardians #14 is also a really nice one in my opinion. That card just gives off sweet summer vibes. But in many more recent cards he just looks plastic-y.

[pfm]

Also testing out the gallery feature while I’m here

[jonbo]

The CD artworks for all three starters are really just top tier amazing artworks. Base will always hit me right in the nostalgia, but the CD artworks are just top tier Ken Sugimori art to me. It’s hard to put into words but those three artworks have always done a perfect job conveying the entire feel of that early Pokemon era.

[quuador]

(Note my favorite Pokémon - which is Seviper - but since I collect Pikachu I figured I’d to a top 5 for it as well.) With a total of 275 unique TCG artworks at time of writing, it was hard to pick a top 5 for Pikachu, but here they are:

1. Art Academy by Ginga [Pikachu Emotions] - unfortunately, I don’t have my favorite Pikachu artwork in my collection

2. 043/PCG-P PokéPark Pikachu promo - the combination of the playing Pikachu in the background and the photobombing Pikachu from the bush on the foreground makes for an amazing artwork.

3. Captain Pikachu Jumbo, one of the OG cosplay Pikachu

4. POP4 Pikachu - one of the non-promo Pikachu that has always been among my favorites

5. Teach Set July 2011 Pikachu - the background is pretty simply, but Pikachu just looks so happy and cute in this artwork. That, combined with it being not too well-known, puts it in my top 5 as well.

Honorable mentions:

Greetz,
Quuador

[TorterraSimp]

Yea a lot of the electrodes just include him blowing up haha. I will say there are a couple that stand out to me- I like the skyridge, roaring skies, and team up arts. They could definitely work on their approach to electrode’s art.

[TorterraSimp]

I ADORE captain pikachu, it’s got so many of the gen 4 homies

[quuador]

Torterra is my favorite Grass-Type Pokémon, but he’s so lacking in cards… At least they gave him an amazing LV.X. I agree with your top 5. Let’s hope they’ll give him some more cards in the near future.

Greetz,
Quuador