There was a period of time where people preferred JP 151 to EN 151, mainly because of the master ball reverses. I could still get 151 UPCs for $80 and booster bundle boxes for $300 back in Fall 2024. Costco had palettes of them that just sat around for months. It was a different environment during 151’s original release and perception of the set only started to shift around 2025, or the boom that we’re still in now.
Sometimes, it takes a while for a set to receive more attention or become desirable. Going out of print usually creates a lot of FOMO toward otherwise unremarkable sets. Remember Fusion Strike? Nobody cared about that until it stopped being easily accessible on shelves. The increased popularity of Pokémon such as Gengar and Mew probably helped too.
I do remember that. But, for the people that do not collect Japanese, English was still very sought after. I don´t know a lot about the other products, but the ETB´s were gone quickly. That is a thing to remember as well, the ETB, featuring the Snorlax, is a very popular product on it´s own.
Aside from the nostalgia, possibly not. But, nostalgia is a thing.
If Hidden Fates isn’t on people’s minds 7 year later, I honestly don’t believe any of these sets will be as popular as they are now. Maybe Tag Team? But any alt art will just be in a sea of thousands. Like tears in the rain.
Tag Team sets are the best thing after 151, I think. The problem is, most people seem to disagree (for now). I never understood why Unbroken Bonds and Unified Minds aren´t more sought after.
I actually stopped with the TCG for a while and got back because the Tag Team cards were just very good. Nothing in Sw/Sh or SV beats them in my opinion.
Hidden Fates has been powercrept so bad. Like Gen 1 Tauros getting powercrept bad.
CGI shiny palette swaps < full art SIRs
Kanto nostalgia bait < 151 (and a lot of other sets)
Memorable for the folk who opened it during its original release but people who joined post-2025 aren’t going to care for it when there’s 20+ nicer looking sets competing for their attention and wallet.
To be honest, it was always the worst Tag Team set in my opinion. Specialty sets also have a harder time in general because a boosterbox is better than an ETB.
They only have a hard time if they were not very desirable sets to begin with.
Shining Fates was also a victim of powercreep. Hidden Fates DNA but worse. Paldean Fates also received a similar reception upon release until people started drooling over Bubble Mew. Now everyone wants it.
Crown Zenith is one of the most beloved sets for both collectors and…sealed “collectors”.
151 and Prismatic need no introduction.
Ascended Heroes is looking to be one of the most desirable sets in the past two years, which is saying a lot given the above.
Definitely, but it depends on the perspective. From a ´good´ set perspective, a lot of the specialty sets are indeed very high up. But they tend to be remembered less. Shining Legends is a good example of this.
Hidden Fates too was very big, but now nobody talkes about it. They just often perform weaker than expected. Prismatic is the ´brand new´ thing now, but I doubt it will be as big as Evolving Skies.
I was literally going to put this on my original post but deleted it. No one liked Fusion Strike either and people thought the Gengar looked ridiculous.
Maybe when the boom happened, but it sat on shelves for forever. And people originally were like “why are the first gen Pokemon getting so much love?” “This is just a nostalgia bait” “when will BW get the same treatment?” “More 151? Uggghhhh” Pokemon got cool again when money got involved. And 151 was the only thing left on the shelves to grab. Then YouTubers started talking about how the set would be ending its print run and it just went wild and people started “loving” it and gasing it up.
Also the Charizard is so small lol but that’s just a personal take.
I can´t speak for the US market, so this may be a regional thing. Here, they were available longer than sets today, but they were gone a lot faster than what was the norm.
this is kinda the most correct statement, if you consider sword/shield to present. The thing with this conversation is its pretty obvious. Opinions will shift over time in ways we can’t predict, but evolving skies has done something no other set has, create a new nostalgia set. Nothing comes close. Everyone will remember it. 151 is genwunner bait done right. Its not another reprint of base, fossil and jungle. Not perfect, but nobody seems to mind. Crown Zenith is a coin toss I’d say. At the time it was the most high quality ambitious specialty set, and still has the best gold rarity cards ever. But the oneupmanship from pristmatic evolutions and BlackBolt/WhiteFlare up staged it. And now we have an era of specialty set fatigue I feel like. But at least people were able to find it in stores.
In my area of the U.S., 151 was insanely hot from the start. Lots of people were buying commons and reverses to complete a master set. Was one of the first times I’d actually traded cards and not bought (reverse for reverse).
151 all the way. I think that the Pokémoncenter ETB will be the biggest thing since 2020. After that, a long pause, and then Evolving Skies/Destined Rivals.