If it weren’t for the early efforts of people like smpratte’s YT videos consistently educating the market and platforms like EliteFourum archiving all the trophy lore, would these cards have stayed obscure?
Smpratte along with the community at large here helped frame trophy cards as “the pinnacle of collecting.” The consistent messaging over a decade about rarity, history, and cultural importance gave trophy cards narrative value and market legitimacy.
These weren’t in booster packs, weren’t easily accessible, and for a long time had no clear price history. Without that visibility and narrative-building, I wonder if they would’ve remained a niche corner of the Japanese collector scene—admired by a few but mostly unknown.
Would they still be considered the pinnacle of collecting today without that push? Or would something like PSA 10 Base Zards or Gold Stars have taken that mantle by default?
Feels like this is one potential reason why Trophy cards (value wise) have been losing steam and new money doesn’t seem as interested in them today.
Hard to say as it probably would’ve happened eventually no matter what…but the achievement of acquiring the 9 trophy’s and Illustrator being accomplished by a single occidental dude who is public about it definitely helps
Yes, trophy cards would still be relevant without the contributions of smpratte and e4.
A good case-study of this exact question is Yu-Gi-Oh! trophy cards. They still remain collectible and coveted, but YGO doesn’t have nearly as large of a social media collector forum presence as Pokemon. Why do they remain collectible? Because they are rare, and rarity offers a financial incentive for folks to invest their time and money in. Without a place like e4, YGO trophies, DBZ trophies, etc. primarily receive additional attention and buyer education from auction houses (in addition to conventional social media platforms like IG, Reddit, YouTube, etc.).
Now if the question was, “Would trophy cards still be relevant today without the invention of social media?” I would answer differently.
While I appreciate the adoration, trophy cards were already the pinnacle before me and probably will be after. One of the first known public illustrator sales was around the year 2000 for about 22k, well before I was active. That price was head and shoulders above everything. There was also a pika set that sold for around the same price. Keep in mind a psa 10 1st Ed charizard was $700-$1,000 in 2008.
Could my passion for the trophy cards have further established them, sure. But get ready for a hot take, maybe the rarest cards might have earned the highest prices on their own.
yeah, it’ll be relevant still, but there would probably be way less information and documentation, which may lead to less interest/trust in these trophies.
Yes, I remember seeing articles about cards like the illustrator and the pika trophies in 99 and 2000. People were definitely interested in them well before smpratte and will be after. But that said, smpratte has to be one of the biggest ambassadors of that side of the hobby now. E4 feels like the most likely way new people will learn about them, and of course that’s by design with all the great info and articles people here have put together.
The impact in “the hobby” of research and info compilation done on the TCG by a small fraction of members here on E4 vastly outweighs the impact of Scott or high-end collectors posts and videos about Trophy Cards. While I appreciate Scott’s dedication and passion toward making information more accessible publicly to the layman, Trophy Cards were never all that difficult to read up on and find their history. They’ve always had allure to diehard collectors, many of which would do their research on their own.
I think an even better question is “How has a public forum like E4 and databases like Bulbapedia and Pokumon affected the market interest and general knowledge of the TCG to the average person buying Pokemon Cards?”
Easily accessible archives or articles written on specific sets, promos, or individual cards in my opinion have a bigger impact on people’s ability to judge scarcity, value and potential profit more than anything else in this community/hobby. There are an incredible number of unsung heroes on E4 who have had more impact than they will ever truly know.
