What would you rather have? PSA 10 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard Vs. Illustrator Pikachu PSA 7

[trophycollector24]

Good Morning Guys,

Wanted to see which one you would rather have in your collection and reasons why?

Also let’s discuss price comparison between the two.

1st Edition Shadowless PSA 10 Charizard VS PSA 7 Illustrator Pikachu

[c0ll3ct0r]

[RabidSquirtle]

Depends on how old the Pokemon illustrator cert is, akabane has made me mistrust anything new but in general I’d choose neither, I’d choose a house

[Frosty.Puppy]

Absolute rarity > Conditional rarity

[trophycollector24]

Totally agree!!

[pfm]

I’ll take a PSA 6 of both

[Vertemes]

Pikachu Illustrator every day of the week. Better Art, Better history, looks cool

[Will]

While generally absolute rarity>conditional rarity, I think I’d go choziro if I had to choose. Something about the Illustrator doesn’t do it for me. Maybe an automatic LP association?

[decoypalmette]

I’d take the illustrator

[pikachutcg]

I’d go for the Illustrator over the zard, i’d even go for lower than a PSA 6

In my opinion, it doesn’t even come close, and I really do love Base Set.

[banks]

Would you rather:

• Illustrator
• 1st ed base Charizard

[wisewailmer]

as someone who dislikes conditional rarity and PSA a fair bit, charizord no question

[banks]

Me I would get the illustrator and then go buy a random Japanese zard with the licorice money my mom gave me

[kpod]

I feel like Akabane has tainted the Illustrator so much for me, that I’d have to go with the 10 Zord. Has to be a thicc stamp though

[rtas]

the japanese base set no rarity are the tru 1st edition

therefore, illustrator

[c0ll3ct0r]

I’d take a BGS 7.5 shadowless ruby over a garden variety PSA 10 1st ed all day, but I’d take both over any Illustrator. Unless I get the money, then I want the Loganstrator.

[MidEraCollector]

while the illustrator is overall more rare, ill take the charizard. It’s the zard that carried so many memories, the thrill of chasing it as children, that brought back so many to the hobby in the first place. When we speak on the earliest days of vintage it really is all about the fire lizard

In fact, take a look at what pikachu is illustrating… a Charmander. Because the OG base charizard was released all the back in 1996 (japanese) and Pokemon owes a lot of it’s breakout success to charizard that even the illustrator is essentially highlighting it

[thsigma]

Illustrator but only if Akabane kissed it

[camrok37]

Illustrator every time. I understand the appeal of a PSA 10 1st Edition Charizard, but for what it is I would just end up liquidating it to fund something like an illustrator anyway.

[bule]

I’ll take the Charizard 1st Shadowless 10. Around 1999 -2000, it was the king of the playground card in my school and I’m sure it does too in many other people’s. The art is also very iconic.

For me the circumstances that makes Illustrator Pikachu the ‘holy grail’ of the hobby feels so coincidental and random. The card is obscure enough due to the way it is distributed, but somehow gained notoriety along the way. Looking at the Best of the Best winners of the first contest (1997 Pokémon Card Game Illust Artist Contest: Poliwrath, Snorlax, Mr. Mime), I also somehow got the feeling that the competition level of the contest was not of the highest. It almost feels hard to actually convince a new collector why this particular card is the numero uno most special card in Pokemon hobby, if showing price tag/sales history/paid receipt are not allowed.