What’s the appeal of trophy cards ?

[nuttun]

@smpratte

The question might as well be, “why collect pokemon cards at all?”. What you collected as a kid had to start somewhere. That initial discovery of a charizard, caterpie, EX card, or whatever you grew up with is the exact same process with trophies. I will never forget the initial discovery of trophy cards. I dug through archived forum posts in the mid 2000’s looking for new cards to collect. Honestly one of the most memorable moments in the hobby. Genuinely felt magical.

Meanwhile I dug through the archive of efour and pestered the crap out of you
I too remember the excitement when I realized trophy cards existed… I stayed up until 6 am in the morning studying about them…

[frostyalpaca]

I agree to the points where the art of some these cards are lacking, but for some people the history of an item or scarcity is enough to bring them satisfaction. For me though art is the important part with history and scarcity following close behind. Like look at the art of Master Scroll or Master Key. Pretty boring art and don’t have much to tie into the Pokemon world other than the fact that they are on a Pokemon card yet people still spend a ton of money on them.

As they say, to each their own.

[smpratte]

People who say the art is lacking, can you be more specific? Some of the vintage trophies have two artists for their design. Also the original pika trophies have layers in the art and holo unlike any other card.

Also its a bit much to just hold every card from a category to its least popular example. How many lackluster set cards are there? Trophy cards are just another card, if anything with more poignant artwork for their event/release.

This thread reminds me of people who don’t care for Pokemon talking about how Pokemon is for kids and dumb.

[fourthstartcg]

@gottaketchumall

@fourthstartcg

Trophy cards are the pinnacle of exclusivity. We’ve got the modern trophies with only six handed out per year, …

As we’ve seen lately with cards like Ishihara GX, the “OnLy 100 pRiNtEd” art academy cards, and the Articuno phone card, many limited release cards also have limited information available about their release. Not so with trophy cards, ask the average collector how many No. 1 Trainers are distributed each year and it’s pretty likely that if they know anything about the card they’ll know the number.

SiX haNdeD oUt PeR YeaR

I don’t know why you only did it for the art academy 100.

Do we know if there have been any “extra” English FA Pikas handed out? Obviously we can never be 100% certain but I’ve never heard of one coming from a non-winner, so thats’ why it wasn’t memed lol.

[smpratte]

@guangjoe, I get that, which is why I mentioned the bit about not lumping everything together. It feels like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, like people do who don’t care for pokemon when they dismiss the entire hobby.

Basically the logic or lack thereof is:

1. Some trophy cards have lackluster art, so why collect trophy cards?

2. Some Pokemon cards (sets, promos, etc.) have lackluster art, so why collect them?

People who collect 2 but criticize 1 are hypocritical. They are all just cards at the end of the day.

[KingPokemon]

I think everybody should only collect Japanese or other foreign/non English cards of all types. Sell your English PSA 10 Charizard’s and go for them. In fact, I’ll try to help you out with your quest and purchase the Charizard’s from you;)

[gottaketchumall]

@fourthstartcg

Do we know if there have been any “extra” English FA Pikas handed out? Obviously we can never be 100% certain but I’ve never heard of one coming from a non-winner, so thats’ why it wasn’t memed lol.

I was apparently quite late to the party in hearing that more than just the Art Academy winners got some of those cards and the actual amount made was >100. Around that same time I heard things that led me to believe 6 is likely not a firm number for new trophy cards. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I’m sure others here know more about it or have heard similar things.

Obviously nobody could know firmly that they don’t exist. Then anyone potentially knowing they do exist would likely benefit from that not being known so wouldn’t be likely to share that information. It would have been cool if they engraved the winners names on the stands that the cards came in or something along those lines.

[frostyalpaca]

I was apparently quite late to the party in hearing that more than just the Art Academy winners got some of those cards and the actual amount made was >100.

Is this true/what is the context around these extra copies and where did that information come from?

[gottaketchumall]

@frostyalpaca

I was apparently quite late to the party in hearing that more than just the Art Academy winners got some of those cards and the actual amount made was >100.

Is this true/what is the context around these extra copies and where did that information come from?

Illuminati meeting.

Actually believe I heard it in discord. Supposedly the collectors cache auctions included some never before seen/sold art academy cards including one whose winner kept their 100 card brick sealed who wasn’t happy about it. Take that for what it’s worth. Unproven (afaik) speculation.

[poke-geri]

@churlocker

I think the market is pretty clear about a trophy status not being enough. There are so many 2010-on Japanese trophy cards that don’t sell or sell for relative peanuts. But I don’t know how you can hold a vintage Japanese trophy or an English Pika and not appreciate how special they are.

One of the challenges of high-end cards is conveying their brilliance through photos and scans. I have never seen a scan that comes close to offering the goosebumps-level appeal of a #1/#2 FA Pika.

I think a lot of people become substantially more interested in them after encountering them in person for the first time.

Good point. I think the modern JP trophy cards lost their appeal after 2010, sadly… let‘s hope Sword Shield brings some nice new trophies

[charizandrew]

Even if the production numbers were double for some of the rare cards, which is extremely unlikely, they are still unbelievably rare and difficult to acquire. A few extra copies won’t make much difference.

[jameskray]

@KingPokemon

I think everybody should only collect Japanese or other foreign/non English cards of all types. Sell your English PSA 10 Charizard’s and go for them. In fact, I’ll try to help you out with your quest and purchase the Charizard’s from you;)

I dont know anyone who collects foreign base set cards

[mjisaacs]

@jameskray

@KingPokemon

I think everybody should only collect Japanese or other foreign/non English cards of all types. Sell your English PSA 10 Charizard’s and go for them. In fact, I’ll try to help you out with your quest and purchase the Charizard’s from you;)

I dont know anyone who collects foreign base set cards

Don’t understand the winky face, however just thought I’d say I collect all cards in all languages and am currently working on Spanish and Portuguese for Base Set. So now you know someone

Mjisaacs

[woolsluk]

@mjisaacs

@jameskray

I dont know anyone who collects foreign base set cards

Don’t understand the winky face, however just thought I’d say I collect all cards in all languages and am currently working on Spanish and Portuguese for Base Set. So now you know someone

Mjisaacs

I think you’ll find it was sarcasm aha.

[jameskray]

@mjisaacs

@jameskray

I dont know anyone who collects foreign base set cards

Don’t understand the winky face, however just thought I’d say I collect all cards in all languages and am currently working on Spanish and Portuguese for Base Set. So now you know someone

Mjisaacs

yeah it was sarcasm i am a big foreign base set collect 88% done

[jameskray]

@woolsluk

@mjisaacs

Don’t understand the winky face, however just thought I’d say I collect all cards in all languages and am currently working on Spanish and Portuguese for Base Set. So now you know someone

Mjisaacs

I think you’ll find it was sarcasm aha

British dry wit

[noviate]

I like collecting things that are VERY difficult to attain due to limited quantity. I find it especially alluring if even people with a LOT of money have great difficulty finding the item. I think the only cards that fit in this category are trophy cards. Bottom line, if everyone has it, I don’t particularly think that it is worth putting in my collection. But that’s just me!

[149montblanc]

Here is my take on trophy cards. I instantly fell in love with the artwork on the Pikachu, TMB and SSB trophy cards, when i first laid my eyes on them when i was only about 14, whilst i was flicking through Pojo’s Pokemon magazine. Since then i made it my ultimate goal to own the full set of trophy pikachu’s, and at least one of each of the TMB & SSB trophy cards I ended up achieving my goal

[shizzlemetimbers]

I think the problem with most trophy/prize cards is the history or story behind them is not common knowledge and even for the most important cards in the hobby you really have to dig to find out information about them outside general blurb on Bulbapedia, especially the quantity of each awarded. For that reason I think a lot of people don’t see the appeal and I can understand that, for example I don’t think there is an in depth article even here on E4 that contains all the information for each trophy/prize.

[thecardguyz]

I can see the appeal of trophy cards for their extreme rarity and difficulty to obtain. That in itself is what drives most collectors to collect in the first place; we want things very few (or zero) other people have. But I do think the fact they are a “trophy” gets over analyzed. They are just an extremely short printing of a certain card with a certain artwork. There is no name printed on the card or anything to make it attached to a single person and only that person (without the case they were awarded in). The people that won them will always have that memory whether they have the card or not. Personally I’d rather have the money that they ended up getting for it than the card itself if it was me who won it… That being said - I have no interest in them at all for the reasons others have listed as well: no connection, no nostalgia, dont care for JPN cards, etc… I appreciate them for what they are but that’s all. Even if I had the funds I would not seek them out because they have gotten to the point where pretty much the only thing that gets them out of hiding is an offer higher than anyone else has offered when they are for sale; and its not about the money for me. It’s about the hunt.

Collect what you love and what makes you happy people! Whatever that may be!