I am looking for information on the prism differences for 1998 Japanese Meiji Promos. Some of the prisms have a “cracked ice” look, while others have a “prism square” look. Does anyone know which prism type is rarer and/or why the prism differences exist at all?
Please see below for examples. None of these are my cards. Thanks so much for your help!
Bulbapedia Article: 1998 Meiji set - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia
I don’t think anyone knows the history around the variants, at least from what I have seen.
The variants themselves have been known for a long time. Someone posted about noticing them, on here in the past few years too, I can’t remember who though, maybe PichuFan (no longer participating here), or Quuador?
I’ve previously tried reaching out to @LatchSketch (although via instagram) for an answer to this question along with a few others I had. I didn’t get a response though. My message probably went to spam. 
This is interesting, thanks @rainbow! I’ve also noticed that some copies have a white border while others do not.
Left Side with White Border, Right Side Without
At first, I thought this was due to differences in the holofoil pattern. But then I saw that each pattern can have a white border or no white border, as demonstrated below.
Left Side Without, Right Side Without
I found one of the discussions.
It’s not quite on point though.
But variants/multiple cards of the same character were featured throughout the Meiji sets to varying degrees.
For example, with the 1997 pikachu cards above (top row).
The first one came in the first box. The second one came out in the 3rd box. But these were counted as seperate and distinct cards.
But I haven’t seen the 1998 box. I can’t imagine the variants, being so similar, would count towards the total set count listed on the box.
48 cards (without counting variants) in the set seems to indicate one box release - that is if the 1997 cards set a precedent, as parts 2, 3, and 4 contained 48 cards (unlike what was recently reported in this embarrassing guide on PWCC, which contains a lot of misinformation and unfounded claims. But this isn’t the time or place to rant.).
All that to say, I imagine the spinning prisms and cracked holos were released at the same time and not in succession. I would love to see how it was presented on the box, and It would just be great to have some more reliable information.
If it is helpful at all I have complete sets of all of these. I have pictures on my Instagram @cardstockpile but can import them over if need be. One lingering question I have relating to the 1998 Meiji set is part 1 cards seem to have both square cut and rounded corner cards. No idea why this is.
As far as those pikachus go the first is part of the main set while the second is considered a “secret rare” variant. There are many “secret rare” variants along with exclusive secret rares in the set.
Wasn’t me. I’ve actually been watching the Ancient Mew on PSA for a while since I’ve been doubting about buying one, and hadn’t even realized there are multiple versions before this thread. 
Greetz,
Quuador
I have them in storage. But I know my 1998 cards don’t take into consideration the possible holo variants (if they are genuine). I have no adequate evidence to add any real input yet.
When I mentioned their total count above as being helpful to verify from a box, I had momentarily forgotten that the set is numbered - my bad. A box, or any other supporting material for the set would still be great to find as you would think that if there were multiple variants of holos available, they would be marketed.
One lingering question I have relating to the 1998 Meiji set is part 1 cards seem to have both square cut and rounded corner cards. No idea why this is
1997* (not to correct you as a pedant, just to make it clear for those unfamiliar) Yeah, they exist but it’s not something I’ve investigated. I have some idea of why they could exist, and you also likely do on thinking about it, having owned so many. Basically the quality control on the set was atrocious at the cutting stage. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if large swathes of sheets made it through without being rounded. Most of the cards went through poor quality control, and as a result there are off center cards, which are so frequent its painful. But the priority for production value wasn’t required to be as high as of the TCG, as the TCG is the actual product. whereas here the cards are secondary in nature (and of course it was still something found in TCG production).
I’m familiar with the narrative of secret rares. ebirdman had it on his ebay listing for his set, and this guide mentions special gold cards and anime characters.
It’s not in my best interest to question the narrative, but since we are here: I haven’t come across any evidence to support the cards being classified as secret rares. If anyone else has, please share it with me.
It is implied they are chase cards in that they contain desirable characters. But I haven’t seen any indicators that there is a particular rarity assignment to any of them.
The following facts make me question the secret rare designation:
- 明治チョコスナック Choco Snack
- (準)チョコレート Semi Chocolate
- ゲットカード Get card
- 入り contained
- 全部で28種類！！ 28 types in total!!
The back and sides say the same.
The same follows for the other boxes. Except they have an additional phrase above the cards on the back.
新カード登場！！ Introducing new cards!!
The anime character cards were only in the 4th release (at least from what i’ve been told, and the packaging seems to corroborate). Remembering these boxes were not all released at the same time.
So we are talking 16 cards from that box alone (if the rocket pokemon cards are included), are being claimed as secret rares. It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me. They don’t seem to be secret. I think they are just desirable chases. Much like Charizard was for the first box. Mew and Mewtwo (silver versions) for the second, and gold versions for the 3rd.
But again, I’m going off what i’ve heard (parts of which can be confirmed via packaging) - which is not a solid position to deliver from.
It is clearly implied that some are more desirable to chase than others.
But again, if anyone knows any more information, please reach out.
Now let’s change the topic to another question - the set total count.
We can see the set claims to have 28 + 48 + 48 +48 = 172 cards
I looked at your set and I counted 170.
I don’t notice any obvious cards missing - it looks the same as mine.
I archived a copy of the listing ebirdman sold a while back and checked against it. It also contained 170.
So it seems that either we are all missing two cards, or there were two cards released in multiple boxes, or there was a typo.
Now that’s an Interesting question.
Another question remaining, at least as far as I’m aware, is we still don’t know the release dates, which is also a large burning question.
I’ve found a minor lead though, which I will investigate soon. It’s just finding time which is hard.
Just a quick update before I go to bed - I found the box. I don’t have a translation for it yet (yandex and google failed me 
).
While I was looking for it, I also came across the case for the first release from 1997.
I also found a Meiji product list from Autumn of 1997. Which seems to be when the first series of snacks containing the pokemon cards launched.
Red writing:
新製品 New product
Writing down the side:
部地区発売 For sale is some regions
So it seems the series started around September 1997, otherwise it wouldn’t likely have been listed as a new product, nor feature the first box of the series. Admittedly, It’s not a release date - but it’s something.
For those of you committed enough to still be reading this, you might find the savoury biscuit snack on the back interesting also.
I had this conversation with a friend not too long ago regarding these supposed secret rares. I think we can all agree they are cool and they are special in the sense that they are not part of the “main 151” Pokémon cards in the set. However, I would agree that if they were all released in one part it would not make sense that they were chase pulls. They may be harder to find in the wild than the main set due to the fact that they look cool.
Wanted to further document the white border differences. Across my 5 copies (3 “cracked ice” holo, 2 “prim square” holo), I have 4 white borders. So far, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for these differences, and I am still unsure whether one variant is more rare than the other.
Cracked Ice + White Border
Prism Square + White Border
Cracked Ice + White Border
Prism Square + No White Border
Cracked Ice + White Border
