Aside from Evolutions, I just cannot seem to find the desire to purchase cards that are not produced by WOTC. Like, I want to, but for some reason I cannot appreciate the artwork in the same way. Obviously I love Pokemon and collecting but I haven’t touched a booster pack/box produced by Nintendo. Even the pack artwork I find to be a little too CGI based and it puts me off. So I’m genuinely interested in how others feel towards the newer cards in regard to design, style etc as I know many/all of you collect the newer sets. Am I being too nostalgic and overestimating the quality of the older cards simply because that was what I purchased as a kid? Are there any of the newer sets with similar illustration style to the older sets?
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Have you tried looking at Japanese cards? I personally don’t like any of the newer cards in English but for some reason I find Japanese copies of the same card to be actually appealing because I’m not a huge fan of the yellow borders or poor card quality which they lack. For WOTC era cards however it’s the opposite and I prefer them on English, this is mostly due to nostalgia however.
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I’m almost exclusively a WOTC collector
The change of card template and shift from hand drawn to animated artwork is what i dislike, Evolutions is actually the first new set i’ll be buying since 2005
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Fellow WOTC snob checking in.
As a kid I collected Pokemon cards from just after the craze broke out in early 1999, until sometime in 2000. When I look through my binder of cards I had as a kid, the latest cards in it go through English Team Rocket (and Japanese Neo Genesis). Actually, I have a single English Lt. Surge’s Magneton in that binder… and I remember right after I got that card (right at the beginning of the Gym Heroes release) I would decided to stop collecting Pokemon cards. That means I stopped collecting in the late summer of 2000.
Similarly, when it comes to the game boy games, I really loved the first two generations. By the time gen 3 came around, I wasn’t really a kid anymore, and Pokemon wasn’t the same to me.
Like you, I find the WOTC cards far more desirable. I’m sure the main reason is the nostalgia, which slants everything. But I also find the design of the cards far more appealing. Even things like the yellow border of the WOTC cards just looks “right” to me compared to the Nintendo-produced borders. This is why first impressions are so important. They form your idea of what something should be and our future judgments are always made relative to this standard.
Even going beyond the nostalgia, however, I simply don’t like the more computer animated style designs. What appeals to me most is the water colored painting style artwork displayed in many of the WOTC sets. Even within the WOTC sets, I’m not as big of a fan of the cards that use the more computer animated style, such as the Keiji Kibebuchi designed cards (although I still appreciate them out of pure nostalgia). Even beyond the world of Pokemon, the art form I appreciate most is impressionism, not realism.
Having said all of that - I have seen many post-WOTC cards with terrific artwork. I’m sure other people could post many great examples.
But I do find that many of the newer sets have far less visual appeal, and for me they have no nostalgic value at all because I have no real familiarity or connection to these cards. So as a WOTC snob I do find it difficult to branch out and start collecting the newer cards.
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There are some great artworks from sets past WOTC. Check out these two from Unseen Forces:
There are some great looking cards from outside of WOTC. For the most part, I agree that WOTC was all around solid. The newer sets have a lot more duds mixed in.
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If it is any consolation, I hate WOTC Era cards and was actually planning on skipping as much of Evolutions as I could.
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@gemmintpokemon Those cards don’t really do it for me. Here are a few examples of the “newer” cards I like, as I looked through some of them (hardly extensive research):
(Although the last one is Sugimori artwork from the early 2000s, so that’s kind of cheating)
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I’m actually really glad that people have different opinions on this. It would be boring if everyone had the same favorites, and I want the newer cards to thrive.
I like the Charmander, not the biggest fan of Squirtle. I’ve looked at that Alakazam numerous times to try to form an opinion. I’m partially bias as a huge Alakazam fan. I’m a big fan of the pose, but wish the floating things weren’t a plain white color. I’d hate to hijack this thread will a ton of non-WOTC cards, LOL, so I’ll make a separate thread with cards I like from other eras.
The Charmander is by far the favorite of the three I posted, but as I said, it was a 2004 Sugimori illustration, so it hardly qualifies as a newer card… just a post-WOTC card.
I always find myself favoring the older style…
I am a BIG WOTC snob too, but I appreciate two other eras,
2005- 2006 - Cards with the ‘Delta Species’ written on, holographics and none, all of these cards have real poise and action involved in the artwork, love them!
2010 - Prime cards, close ups of the pokemon we love, admittedly some better than others but a real sense of personality and extra detail!
But I have to admit, it’s hard to actually beat the WOTC era, but these cards are the originals, take a look at what I mean from my personal collection, especially taken photo for this posting 
sorry just realised all Electric types lol 
hope you agree anyways!
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You beat me to the punch haha. The early Ken Sugimori era cards are hard to beat, but I’ve found myself collecting several cards from delta species too. I sell almost anything non-WOTC in bulk, but while flipping through holos I’ve sometimes come across post-era cards that have great appeal, so I’d set those aside. I’ve nearly (unintentionally) completed the entire EX Dragon Frontiers and Legend maker holo set by doing so… HGSS and FireRed LeafGreen are good sets as well 
I really like the early ex series sets art work of because a majority of the art work was hand drawn. But I really like the WOTC neo set the most that art work seems to come alive.
The cards lost their appeal after Gym Heroes/Challenge for me. I’m a Generation I snob. 
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I agree. Pure Gen 1 snob, which ends up translating to WOTC. I don’t collect anything post Gym 2/Challenge, and haven’t played any of the main games since Yellow.
The only exception are a few of the later Japanese promos, which have amazing artwork of Gen 1. The artist and style that defined it for me was the early Mitsuhiro Arita watercolours. The simplicity and understated presentation of those cards hasn’t been matched. New cards I find far too busy and indistinct.
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It’s all a matter of taste and nostalgia standing. I land on WOTC era too but really tried to grasp the post eras. I finally gave up when the full arts came out. Sooooooo confusing. If you hold an FA out at a distance it’s simply a blur of colors, an indistinguishable mish mash. Yet hold a base Blastoise out at a distance and from a football field away Sugimori’s artwork projects.
I believe, in this case, less is more.
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Really interesting seeing everyone’s perspectives. Some of the new cards do have some nice art I will say, but as has been pointed out there’s just a lot going on in a lot of the cards. I really, really, really don’t like Break cards. Sorry if that offends anyone lol.
Likely due to our ages - I imagine you’re also around 27/28 years old? In which case, you collected them as a kid, and enjoy them due to nostalgia. That’s why I’m only into the WOTC stuff. Does that go for others here who love the early stuff?
And I’m with you 100% on these break cards. For me, that extends to EX, full arts, and all the rest of it. I just like the stuff I had/didn’t manage to get as a kid. That’s the joy of it, making up for those playground deals as an adult with cash.
Sorry to go on a tangent rant, but I always resented those rich kids at school whose dad would just buy them full sets of cards. That’s not what it was about, it was about building your collection, making trades, enjoying each and every card you had. Ironic that I’m now in a position to just buy all the cards I need. But it’s not really the same when the set isn’t printed anymore.
Memories man *tear*
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To me it’s slightly different thing. Yes I collected only WOTC things in my childhood but during few last years I’ve tried to expand my collection goals to other eras for the sake of change + I’d learn something new, worth it. Gen 4 is still only gray area.
Yeah man, it was a real joy slowly completing the set and I like many simply could not pull the Charizard. My best friend’s mom was heavily into Pokemon so she got him loads of packs and we had a little joke that she had “lucky hands” because she always seemed to pick out packs that had holos. Needles to say, one time she bought me a pack and that was the lack that gave me my Charizard haha. Good times.
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