What are your unpopular opinions in pokemon?

Repeat the results with a graded card.

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@ozenigma, yeah, it probably would be more difficult to show surface flaws on graded cards. But the whole point of buying a graded card is that a third party has already judged the condition. So assessing the condition of an already graded card is not nearly as important as when buying raw cards.

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Pure investors are shitting on this hobby and community. I’m not talking about the people who invest so they can add more to their collection - that stuff makes sense. I’m talking about people who simply chase money so they can sit on their cardboard interpretations of gold bricks. If you want to invest because you see dollar signs, you have every right to do so - no one’s going to stop you, but anyone fooling themselves into thinking they collect Pokemon cards is actually collecting money.

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I actually disagree.

The condition of a graded card can vary significantly the lower the grade. At that time you are paying more money for the card than you typically are raw.

A grade is an opinion. Buy the card, not the grade.

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I agree that people shouldn’t solely buy a card based on the grade. But I’d feel a lot more comfortable buying a PSA 9 slab without back pics than a raw card without back pics from some random eBay seller who says it’s ‘mint’ lol. And I suspect that you’d feel the same way. That’s what I mean when I say that assessing the condition is particularly important for raw cards.

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But on a platform like eBay that absolutely destroys sellers, it doesn’t matter because you can claim not as described.

And with a raw card, you aren’t dumping as much value into it so wasting your time doesn’t feel like a double whammy.

No one is buying a graded card without back pics so I think your comparison isn’t exactly great.

Just my opinion.

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I sort of disagree with this, the grade is based on the condition of the card. Wasn’t sure if that first sentence should have read “significantly lower the cost.”?

Typically a PSA 8/9 Should sell at a similar price to “raw”. If there’s an issue with the conditioning of the graded card, can always send it back for reslabbing at a reduced cost. Also, not sure if you’re upset that your raws aren’t selling for 8/9 prices?

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Yes, and my point is that (if there were no back pics of the card) that I would trust PSA/BGS/CGC’s judgment over that of some random seller. Ideally, you don’t have to take anyone’s word for the condition of the card, though.

PSA 8s are similar-ish to raw prices, generally (or at least used to be). But PSA 9s almost always sell at a significant premium.

What? lol

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This is aimed at last part :blush:

I’ve encountered some people recently, that will provide pictures of cards (front/back) that would likely warrant a PSA 1/2 grade.
However, the seller feels that the card still warrants prices that would reflect a 8/9 grade. I can completely understand wanting RoI in a card, however, to me at least condition is everything when discussing price.

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Yeah, I agree with you. I’ve seen sellers like that lol. I’m not sure why you thought I was one of them.

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Custom PSA labels are the ugliest, most disgusting smear of a mark ever to be seen on a card. All respect for Aoki and Logan for their resently revealed custom collection/break labels… but damn I hate them. Good thing is is that they will split up the available market somewhat. Any new cards from Logan’s boxes will remain separate with the degenerate mark. :upside_down_face:

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A new one struck me last night:

The artwork of the shinies in Shining Legends is very ‘meh’.

Just looking at the Neo bunch; how atmospheric Mewtwo is, or Kabutops’ majestic sunset silhouette…and then you’ve got SL Mew in a dull pose with some clip art in the back, or weirdly proportioned Rayquaza with another MS Paint special behind it.

Makes them all the more disappointing when you remember how epic Mewtube looks (from the same set).

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I agree - but I’ll take any of the SL shinings over the new amazing rares. The repeated rainbow background is a lazy excuse for art.

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Yeah having slight variations on the paint slat theme for all of them isn’t the most impressive thing ever, but I can’t diss AM Rayquaza. That thing’s a beauty in hand! :laughing:

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I’m not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I feel compelled to get this off my chest!

Grimer has been wrongly accused for years. Grimer really isn’t looking up her skirt. The angle is totally off… Grimer would have to be even closer to see up the skirt. To me it looks like Grimer is looking up at the girl’s face. They could be making eye contact, or Grimer simply might be curious about the first human it sees as it emerges from the sewer.

Someone at TPC had an overactive imagination when they decided to ban/modify this card.

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Hopefully doesnt get me kicked but e4 is over moderated.
:wink:

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The neo shinings are definitely better than the shining legend ones. The volcanian, celebi and rayquaza have particularly weak backgrounds but overall I think the shinings have some great art, particularly the lugia, ho oh and arceus. And I dont think the rayquaza is weirdly proportioned at all, just forced perspective. If its weirdly proportioned than so is the gold star one.

Looking back at the neo cards for destiny, its literally the same problem as far as backgrounds go. Celebi, raichu and tyranitar all have what looks like clip art background. I will admit the destiny cards are more atmospheric but its hardly the background thats the problem lol

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I think it’s the combination of boring/personality-less art and poor backgrounds that really drag the SL shinies down. At least ND Celebi et al have that “look at me” overdramatic posing going for them haha.

I agree that Shining Ho Oh, and to a lesser extent Lugia are pretty good, but they were released as promo’s (much to my disappointment at the time). They’d have been the highlight of the set for me, had they been included.

I get what they were going for with Rayquaza, but there’s absolutely no depth to the artwork, so the posing comes off as quite flat and badly proportioned. I’d say Rayquaza Gold Star is a good example of how to draw more dynamic forced perspective.

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Haha I have to say, I thought this was an upstart glance before I ever knew it was a wider held belief

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Yea, I mean you really cant beat neo’s art. 2nd gen art is pretty top tier for me and it would have been nice to have more dynamic art for shining legends, and yet shining legends art is still leagues better than any other art from the other sun and moon sets from around then which really says something about how garbage most cards/art (at least for the gx/full art cards) from sun and moon are, at least before tag teams came along.

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