So the release of Shinning Legends made me revisit the OG shiny/crystal Pokemons from the Golden era (WOTC-ex era) and I realized that almost every Pokemon collection has the OG Shinings, Crystals and/or Gold Stars.
Personally I prefer the 1st Edition Neo Destiny Shining set over the other sets because of various reasons.
They are a relatively small set of 8 which means its better for the wallet.
They represent every Pokemon type except Water which was released in Neo Rev which when all set up, shows a vibrancy of color.
They have the coveted 1st edition stamp which was also the last of its kind after the Neo Destiny set.
They also have the super classy(back then) textured foiling which makes the holo pop and also they have the triple-star rarity* which no other sets have featured.
Compared to the colorless set of Crystals and the 27-card set of the Gold Stars, the Neo Shinings are my favorite.
Which set do you like better and why?
*The triple-star rarity was used to mimic the Gen2 Pokemon game in which Shiny Pokemons have this symbol, , which is close enough.
Neo destiny shinings first and crystals at a close second. Gold stars are kinda meh except for charizard. Also unpopular opinion but charizard is the worst looking shining card. :\
Itās tricky man. Iām a huge fan of the Neo shinings, but some of those gold starsā¦in Japaneseā¦ damn. Too close to call. Plus Iāve not even seen a crystal in person before.
Iām not saying the others are inferior, but thereās something magical about the artwork and foil treatment of the OG shining cards: Magikarp and Gyarados
The Shining cards are at the top of the list for me. They have great artwork from the man Sugimori as well as one of my favorites, H.Yoshida. The shiny finish on them makes them very unique as well.
The Crystals are good for the most part. Thereās certainly no mistaking that they are from the e-reader era.
The Gold Stars are cool but they are essentially just holo cards. The artwork isnāt my favorite either (no offence to Fukuda). Some of the Pokemon seem to be in unnatural poses to me.
I wanna throw this out there tooā¦ the japanese shining gyarados/magikarp and the japanese crystals put their english counterparts to shame. That glitter holo on top of the regular holo makes the card look so much more special.
Always considered all three of them about equal, but if I really had to choose: Neo Destiny Shinings. Mainly due to the nostalgia because I really wanted a Triple Star as a kid. The other two Iāll order in Crystals ā Gold Stars. I like the artworks of the Gold Stars more, but I never had any Gold Stars as a kid and only learned about them when I came back collecting. The Crystal Kingdra I pulled myself still holds a special place however, especially because I always used to sort my collection by type, and this was the only Crystal type card I had.
So mainly due to nostalgic reasons I order them by Triple-Star Shinings > Crystals > Gold Stars. But in my current time of life I actually like all three of them equally. They are all three definitely above the new Shinings of the Sun & Moon Shining Legends set, though. Although I like that theyāve made the new rarity symbol with the Silver Star.
Hands down for me is Neo. Particularly Neo Revelations shining Gyarados and shining magikarp. The artwork on both are fantastic and truly show off what makes collection pokemon cards so awesome. Neo Destiny is decent as well, but honestly Iām not a true fan of the art work, its a bit to simplistic for my taste. What makes it a likeable set though is the the shining cards, I do enjoy seeing them utilized in shining legends on some of my favorite pokemon.
Wow, so there is no fan favorite even though i thought that the Neo Shinings would hands down be the best set to collect for collectors. Goes to show that there is no one set that is above everything else.
I think there is a consensus that the Neo Shinings are the favorite for the people who posted so far. They are also my favorite, that Mewtwo and Celebi are just awesome (Crystal Celebi is a personal favorite though, just looks stunning). I had no emotional connection with the Gold Stars but they have really grown on me this past year.
Itās a real tough one tbh but I think Iām gonna have to go with the gold stars as I have more of those in my collection than either of the other two.
I returned to collecting at the start of 2012 by buying a Supreme Victors/Holon Phantoms 3-pack blister and pulled a GS Pika, so Iām obligated to go with dat gold. Having a single artist illustrate the set makes them that more appealing, and their sheer number makes for a greater long-term challenge.
Though the artworks are cropped from the original Japanese versions, Shinings are my 2nd favorite. The poses, background, and texture on those are really something else, especially Tyranitar.
I love the artwork on the Crystals (Kingdra could be better), but the whole gimmick confuses me. The Pokemon arenāt shiny, but some sort of incomplete Delta Species?
I personally love the colouring effect on the crystal cards with the colours incorporated into the background of the text. The shiningās introduced a really nice effect on the pokemon. But my favourite are the goldstars as it was the first time they ābroke out of the frame.ā Gold stars ā Shinings ā Crystals would be my order.
I would have to go with the crystals, some really good artwork. I prefer japanese version because of the extra holofoil effect on top of the pokemon, idk why they didnāt do it for the english ones
, which is close enough.
