I wrote this back in 2022 in this thread and it still rings true. While I am a huge base set fan since that is what I started out with as a kid, I remember getting more Jungle packs and putting them into binders, and I absolutely fell for this card when I saw it. I love the Jungle card in general: a great set idea and brilliant colors and background artworks (particularly for the commons and uncommons).
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No, but I should make a friend @garzog 
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Two obvious ones for me:
I remember really loving this artwork at the time I pulled it, and of course the early 2000’s 3D art is something I love in general, for nostalgia and other purposes. My all-time favourite card is the japanese Lottery-promo version of this card.
I owned tons of copies of this card back in the day and remember the art very distinctly. It helps that it’s also probably the best Grimer art in general
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Mine would probably be either base set Machamp or Reverse Kingdra from Aquapolis.
Base set Machamp because it was such a common holo that you saw everywhere on the playground. Never had it as a kid, but I remember looking up the value of it like 10 years ago, even though I wasn’t into Pokémon cards at the time. Evidently a card that stuck with me. I have a couple of them that I got for cheap, and man is it an awesome card to look at!
I pulled a reverse Kingdra from Aquapolis back in the day. I think it may have been my first e-series booster pack. I remember that my friend picked out a Legendary Collection booster pack instead, and my first thought was ”Why is he getting an old pack when there are new packs right there?” This was at a time when LC was really unpopular, so it was probably cheaper than Aquapolis. Ridiculous to think that the two packs that we bought for the equivalent of like $8 would be worth $1500+ today.
Anyway, I still have the Kingdra, and it’s so worn that maybe 40% of the card is gone due to edge wear. Still an amazing artwork, way better than the Crystal imo. It adorned the top of my deck for a long time, and may have had a go or two in the washing machine, not sure. Hard to pick between this and the Machamp.
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+1 for the base set Machamp! That card was evvvveerrrywhere when I was a kid. Yeah sure everybody wanted the Charizard but you couldn’t throw a rock in 1999 without hitting that Machamp.
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Great pick!! The machop/machoke/machamp evolution is my favorite. That machamp art was used to showcase the game with the trainer deck cards, CD 2-player set, base set, etc. Iconic.
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Well… it all started when I was about 5 years old. My older cousin by 3 years had introduced me to Pokemon and it was all the buzz at school. Neither of us had a father in our lives, meaning statistically, we were much more poor, there was 6 of us living in a mobile home.
Eventually we moved out and I had long forgotten about some thieving Pokemon card bully’s, along the line of me giving up on collecting on Pokemon. I started hanging out with a pretty diverse group of kids when I was one. Mostly asian, pacific islander, and indian. At about age 10 I first saw this card it being my good friends prized possession. His father had recently passed away and he was really going through it but he had a very nice Pokemon collection at that age to be honest.
Anyways, I was living with their family at the time, so all together about 10 people. They would visit the Philippines often and one day he came home with this card and showed it to us all. That was my first experience with this card.
My second experience would be years later as a young man, at the age of 20. When one day I ran into my old high school buddy skateboarding down the street asking if I wanted to engage in some sea weed. If you catch my drift, anyways, we played some “smokeymon” and he busted out the Surfing Pikachu but instead an English version. Pause. Fastforward. This guy turned out to be a terrible person in my life, a horrible friend, a woman beater, and crack head essentially in the end.
Seperately, at the age of 24 I was diagnosed with a life altering disease called Schizophrenia which there is no cure for. Only daily treatment by medication.
So at the end of the day this card reminds me of something rare in my life even if the card isn’t so rare itself.
So I plan to make the card scarce by collecting of many of it as I can and killing 2 birds with 1 stone so to say. As it helps me remember simpler times, along with monopolizing to me, which is a coveted Japanese promo card.
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My advice to you is to simply enjoy collecting this card without focusing on its rarity. First, this card may have a larger distribution than you expect. Second, by making this card unavailable to others, you might be preventing someone else with similar circumstances from enjoying it. Something to think about.
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Probably Base Set Pikachu, I guess the reason is that I only knew Pikachu when I got the Zap theme deck and then I had four of them. And also a Holo Mewtwo, but hey, the Pikachu´s stood out more.
It is also, still, the most nostalgic product for me.
Edit; I just realized that I double answered this. Well, then let´s just call this my most nostalgic product.
And, to be even more complete, let’s also include this card. I lost sight of the hobby almost completely between 2002 and 2015. This card quickly became a big chase.
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Meganium 9/115 
(Unseen Forces) [Reverse Holo] …
This Meganium has a personal story behind …
Basically this card survived in a card shop for almost a year …
Bonus points for:
- Being the only Spanish Unseen Forces Reverse Holo card in my collection
- Poké Ball Pattern being eye-catching
- Being rare to find
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Any of these three cards for me:
Good Rod would probably be a more objective answer as that’s where my whole Pokémon journey started when another student in elementary school gifted me and some friends a card each. I first thought that this was some kind of spaceship and looked cool which let to me getting my first own cards, then subscribing to the Pokémon magazine and becoming a Pokémon fan myself, so thank you Simon!
Cherubi and Lucario are my more personal answers though as I still remember they were both in the first pack I ever opened, making these the cards I feel the most nostalgic for (especially Lucario).
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