When the cosmos holo takes up the entire card, it makes the whole card look dark and less contrasty. It’s the same effect with gen 4 reverse holos. Same goes for international ancient mew. I love swirls, believe me. But the downsides of having the whole card be that reflective in that way overshadow the swirl gains.
zomus
5513
Bulk cards are so underrated. Everyone is so hyped over alternate art cards as the new shiny thing, but if you look at only the artwork, sometimes there is actually no difference between bulk and alternate art cards.
You can literally take certain bulk artwork, then:1. Make it full art so it takes up the entire card instead of just the frame
2. Slap on a cool foil pattern
3. Make it super rare
And voila, you got an alternate art card.
I do realize that most bulk cards have pretty generic or blurred backgrounds that disqualify it from being an alt art, so not all of them are candidates. And that’s not to say I don’t appreciate alt arts cuz they are really cool, but I think there is a lot of bulk artwork that is easily as good (if not better) than alt art, and it is getting overlooked because of the lack of rarity/shininess.
8 Likes
martin
5514
Absolutely agreed, I would much rather just flip through a binder of bulk than look at one slabbed alternate art card. And welcome to e4!
I understand the PSA scale is heavily weighted towards perfect condition but some of the grade names are dumb/inconsistent to the average person
PSA 6 Excellent-Mint yet PSA 7 is Near Mint: should be Excellent-Near Mint
PSA 3 Very Good: too positive a word for such a low grade
PSA 2 Good: again too positive a word for one of the lowest grades
Also why have 1.5 and 8.5 but never any other .5s? There seems to be one 7.5 on ebay which is a 1st edition Charizard
I would have
10: Perfect
9: Mint
8: Near mint+
7: Near mint-
6: Excellent
5: Very good
4: Good
3: Fair
2: Poor
1: Damaged
1 Like
@shinycards I’ve always wondered the same thing. Or how bout
PSA 1 On it’s death bed.
PSA 2 Kicked around the pavement.
PSA 3 slightly ruined
PSA 4 Childhood card that never seen a sleeve and creased from 3 ring binders
PSA 5 played
PSA 6 Light played
PSA 7 Near Mint
PSA 8 Near Mint to Mint
PSA 9 Mint
PSA 10 Gem Mint
4 Likes
You forgot PSA 8.5 Mint to Near Mint to Mint
7 Likes
tumba7
5518
True, but so rare we can let’em slide right? Haha I got my first PSA 8.5 after 500+ subs…it was so surprising.
I’m a fan of the no sub grades, it’s either a 10 or not as opposed to multiple ways a card can get gem with the sub grade companies (also besides company longevity, to me, it’s why PSA 10s carry so much more value esp higher end low pop stuff compared to 9.5s)
There’s no subgrade to save it ya know? And I send a lot to bgs too not a fan boy, I send cards that Have a little issue or two that would prevent 10 but still get 9.5. Anyway I digress. I like these new names for the grades tho 
Tag All Stars was miles better than VMAX climax.
1 Like
Charizard has had a lot of bad/underwhelming artwork.
Team Rocket? Meh.
Gym Challenge? Boring.
Shining Charizard? Bland.
Expedition? Ugly (although the alternate non-holo art which was used in the Lottery Promo is great).
Skyridge? Silly.
Yep. I said it.
3 Likes
ddk
5521
I’m genuinely curious what makes Trophy Cards so exciting to collect. Is it the fact that only a set number are out there and owning something /that/ rare becomes the ultimate collector’s goal?
For me personally, I’ve never understood the appeal as many of these cards, while limited in number, were given out as prizes for participants of tournaments or contests. To me, the thought of owning a card that was intended to be given out for competition is just…weird. It would be like wanting to own a gold medal for the men’s 200m freestyle from the 2016 Olympic games, despite the fact that you never competed as an athlete. I could see being really into collecting them if one was a TCG player but seems like there is an appeal of these cards that extends far beyond that.
Not trying to be contrarian here. I just want to understand people’s perspectives on this niche of the hobby.
7 Likes
For the same reason that people collect any other card in the hobby…they like it?
2 Likes
Don’t worry, I’m sure the pokemon company will give charizard another card soon
What makes them the most expensive? Scarcity beats popularity and it only takes a few very rich people to fight over it
It’s like an old Mercedes just broke the world record for the most expensive car selling for $142M, guaranteed most people would choose a $200K new Ferrari or Lambo over it the same way most normies find Charizord more exciting than Unikarp
1 Like
@ddk, Since people heavily associate trophy cards with me, I’ll explain my experience. I started collecting in the mid 2000s, with the english southern island binder being my first online purchase. I bought a lot of the wotc cards and promos I grew up with as a kid. For the first couple years, I didn’t buy a single trophy card. However, I completed the set goals in a couple years. The next chapter were japanese exclusive promos and then finally, trophy cards.
I think this is the natural progression for collecting in Pokemon. Rarity is the final destination. I see so many other people go the same route. The exclusive releases have more identity and history imo. I will never understand the cynical idea that since trophy cards were handed out at an event, they are somehow wrong. As if collecting set cards printed purely for money by a billion dollar company is somehow more virtuous. Its a completely arbitrary distinction and requires cognitive dissonance to do one but not the other.
5 Likes
I’m just musing here, feel free to interject. I think trophy cards are a logical pinnacle in the collecting hobby. In collecting hobbies in general, wealth will concentrate over time in the top 0.01% of items. This 0.01% is the 0.01% because of how rare they are, what stories they tell, how you had to aqcuire them, moreso than being the best looking or most popular items/cards. Because the status and wealth that are associated with these items, many collectors feel attracted to them (at least many more than can actually own these cards). They want to identify with that image, belong to the ingroup, be part of the ‘haves’ when others are the ‘havenots’. It can even be as simple as being in the know about items/being entrenched in a hobby deeply. Because the demand is in these cases far greater than the supply, they are incredibly safe from a money point of view as well. We see this trend over and over again, even in dead or dying hobbies. In the end I don’t think trophies in a hobby are a bad thing. They provide a chase for the wealthy collectors and something to climb towards for the rest, we just have to find our own healthy sweet spot, whether it is at the pinnacle or halfway there. We appreciate these cards for the feelings and connections they give us all the same.
2 Likes
I doubt I’ll ever really own a significant number of trophy cards, but for me the most interesting parts of Pokemon collecting are the art and the story. Both set cards and trophies have great art, but trophies are all about the story. It’s a piece of history in a hobby you’re emotionally invested in. A difference between gold medals and trophies is that Olympic athletes don’t get 40 copies of the gold medal. It’s like they were meant to be traded around. That’s one of the main purposes of the hobby to begin with.
That said, you can have the same emotional connection with set cards. Like for example I have the first holo I ever remember pulling over 20 years ago. It’s not a rare card. It was mass produced to be a product sold on shelves. It has almost no unique story in terms of the general public, but to me it has a story. Same logic with trophies. It’s a deeply personal thing, and if you don’t have that emotional connection to them, that’s completely fine. We all collect for our own reasons.
3 Likes
ddk
5528
Thanks for the replies, everyone! I enjoyed reading each of your perspectives and it helped me better understand some of the appeal of these trophy cards. I can certainly understand that once one has gone beyond set cards and promos, all that remains to keep the fire burning is the most exclusive cards.
I think it’s interesting that one’s emotional attachment to a card can be from the journey of obtaining it rather than the Pokemon or artwork. I am not quite sure what is meant by ‘story’ in this case, but it seems these are cards with more history behind them than I was aware of.
@smpratte, I don’t feel it’s fair to say my point of view is a form of ‘cognitive dissonance’. Knowledge of trophy cards and their appeal may be commonplace in some of these circles but to me they are completely foreign. With set cards featuring Pokemon, many people have a personal attachment to the characters from their other multimedia appearances such as the games or anime. On the other hand, a card like the Master’s Scroll requires a different type of appreciation as it is (to many) not an iconic symbol of the franchise. The more niche you get, the harder it becomes for people (such as myself) to find information about these cards and why they are so sought after. This is why I posed this question in this thread - to learn from people who have been in this hobby far longer than I have. So no, this is not ‘cognitive dissonance’ or me trying to say collecting set cards is more virtuous than trophy cards. These are my current views, influenced by what I know about the hobby, and they can certainly change over time as I continue to broaden my knowledge of Pokemon cards.
5 Likes
I was speaking more broadly, as that is the general criticism for trophies or more niche items.
1 Like
