I always question the popularity of 1st edition base as nostalgia driven because even when pokemon came out it was hard to get 1st edition packs… Most parents certainly weren’t eager to plop down extra ($6.95 per pack I believe) for their kids to have the first print of cardboard when they already thought $4 for a pack was ridiculous…
So who really wants the 1st edition for nostalgia vs. that’s where the money/hype is at?
Im surprised neo destiny doesnt have that many votes
Fair point. For me it’s the same reason Mew was one of my favorites growing up. I knew it existed out there somewhere and someone had to have it. It was a sort of adventure of it’s own.
There is definitely some truth to this. When I found my cards I had collected as a kid I had one first edition base card - a Farfetch’d. Honestly not even sure where it came from. I don’t think I or any of my friends (northeast US) had ever seen first edition packs available for sale.
When I got back into collecting a few years ago, I had initially thought I was just going to collect unlimited cards and sell the first editions. But as I started to accumulate more first editions I realized that I wanted them not because it was nostalgic but because it was something I could never have done 20 years ago - but it was an almost mythical thing. Not only had I never seen a first edition Charizard. None of my friends had. Or anyone we knew. And now I’m about 10 cards (almost all commons and uncommons) away from completing first edition base.
Frankly, even if we could have found it somewhere, my parents buying me first edition base as a kid would have been a waste of money. I wish I had known what card sleeves were 20 years ago lol.
It’s about childhood wish fulfillment.
As a kid, I had Shadowless and Unlimited Base set cards (not that I would call them by those names).
But I was very much aware of the existence of 1st edition Base Set cards (even though I had never seen one in person). I knew they were much rarer and more desirable. As a kid, I dreamed of the feeling of owning a 1st edition Base Set Charizard.
So when I was an adult, it wasn’t the Unlimited Charizard I was looking for (which I had in my childhood binder anyway). It was the 1st edition Charizard.
Its a shame i cannot for em all as i love all WOTC sets. Base set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket for nostalgia, grew up with these.
Now i even love the Neo sets and the E-Series after discovering there amazing artwork and seeing Pokemon that i use encounter in Pokemon Crystal 
I still not a big fan of the e-reader series, that series is what turned me off of the cards, I remember seeing the card format and thinking it looked ugly. Thought it has grown on me some, mostly the art work.
Agreed 100%. Used to think the borders were dumb but not, after looking more closely at the art, the cards are quite beautiful and have some of the best WOTC artworks.
I still don’t like the borders (especially how they make the real estate for the illustrations slightly smaller) but the artwork for the e-series cards is absolutely phenomenal.
Shadowless Base is a close second, but I love Neo Revelation to no end. The entire non-holo rare set, the 3 dogs, that Houndoom, and the way the uncommon and common set look so coherent in a binder. Great feels whenever I look through it!
I remember opening the most Jungle when I was a kid. As a big fan of Pokémon Snap, the artwork in Jungle captured the Pokémon in a setting I feel like I’d see in Snap. I love everything from the lush greens, the pack art, the Eeveelutions…it’s nostalgia through and through for me.
My next favorite set goes to Neo Discovery, because it captures a similar feel that Jungle had in its own rustic, ancient, and solemn way. It transports me back to playing through Gold in the Ruins of Alph when I was seven which is a feeling I don’t get with so many other sets. Of course, the set contains one of my favorite cards of all time in the Espeon #1 and a couple others I enjoy such as the Politoed and the Umbreon.
My favorite is 1st Ed. Base set. Being a newer collector it’s cool to see the origin cards of some of the most popular Pokemon to date.
Skyridge easily
Shadowless Bass Set
Expedition for me. Followed by Rocket
Voted for 1st base since it’s the original. But I would say Skyridge followed by aquapolis are my #s 2 and 3
I would have to say I’m partial to Fossil, as I was able to get in on the 1st edition print back in the day and loved it! Of course I was hunting for my beloved Dragonite and actually pulled several!
gym 2
Poor Blaine’s Moltres one of the best artworks from any of those sets and Heroes gets no love
goes to show you one card can’t save the whole set. lol. maybe except a charizard…or gold star rayquaza.