E4's Favorite Dratini & Dragonair (Polls Closed - New High Records!)

[inertgeometry]

How this works:

• the “Design” poll is just to get a rough count of participants
• cards are listed in chronological order based on first release
• each card will have a picture followed by the option to vote for it.
• vote for any card that you like.
• on Sunday at 12PM Pacific Time, the polls will automatically close. I will edit this post and title to count down from least to most voted, and we will see which cards are E4’s Favorite.

Note: Most of these images are pulled from quick google searches, eBay, or Bulbapedia if they had a large enough file. If you'd like me to replace an image, you're welcome to post it in the comments.

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Results

Design

• Dratini: 8.33/10 76 Voters)
  
  

NEW HIGH (Previous: Tyrantitar - 8.99/10)

• Dragonair: 9.08/10 (75 Voters)
  
  

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Cards

Dishonorable Mentions (0-9 Votes)

56th - 4 Votes:

53rd-55th - 5 Votes:

52nd - 7 Votes:

39th-51st (10-19 Votes)

50th/51st - 10 Votes:

49th - 11 Votes:

46-48th - 12 Votes:

44/45th - 13 Votes:

41st-43rd - 14 Votes:

40th - 16 Votes:

39th - 17 Votes:

28-38th (20-29 Votes)

36-38th - 20 Votes:

35th - 23 Votes:

34th - 26 Votes:

31st-33rd - 27 Votes:

28-30th - 28 Votes:

16-27th (30-39 Votes)

26/27th - 32 Votes:

24/25th - 33 Votes:

22nd/23rd - 34 Votes:

21st - 35 Votes:

20th - 36 Votes:

19th - 37 Votes:

17/18th - 38 Votes:

16th - 39 Votes:

10-15th (40-49 Votes)

15th - 40 Votes:

14th - 41 Votes:

12/13th - 44 Votes:

11th - 45 Votes:

10th - 47 Votes:

Honorable Mentions (50-59 Votes)

9th - 51 Votes:

8th - 55 Votes:

7th - 56 Votes:

Top 6 (60+ Votes)

6th - 60 Votes:

5th - 62 Votes:

4th - 63 Votes:

3rd - 64 Votes:

2nd - 67 Votes:

NEW RECORD - (97.3% Favorability based on Design Poll participation)
1st - 74 Votes:

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Polls

Design

Voting Scale:

[ 1 The Worst ] ↔ [ 10 The Best ]

Dratini

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

Dragonair

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

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Cards

Original Era

• 1996 - Dratini - Base Set

• 1996 - Dragonair - Base Set

• 1997 - Dratini - Rocket

• 1997 - Dark Dragonair - Rocket

• 1998 - Erika’s Dratini - CoroCoro Magazine Promo

• 1998 - Erika’s Dratini - Gym 1 / Heroes

• 1998 - Erika’s Dragonair - Gym 1 / Heroes

Neo

• 2001 - Dratini - Neo 4 / Destiny

• 2001 - Light Dragonair - Neo 4 / Destiny

VS / e Series

• 2001 - Dratini - e1 Base Expansion Pack / Expedition

• 2001 - Dragonair - e1 Base Expansion Pack / Expedition

• 2002 - Dratini - Trainer’s Magazine v19

• 2002 - Dragonair - Trainer’s Magazine v19

ADV-PCG / EX

• 2003 - Dratini - RotH / Dragon

• 2003 - Dragonair - RotH / Dragon

• 2004 - Dratini - RGSB Silver Deck 1 009 / TRR #53

• 2004 - Dratini - RGSB Silver Deck 2 008 / TRR #52

• 2004 - Dark Dragonair - RGSB Silver Deck 1 011 / TRR #31

• 2004 - Dark Dragonair - RGSB Silver Deck 2 012 / TRR #32

• 2005 - Dratini δ - HRT Lightning Quarter Deck / Delta Species #65

• 2005 - Dragonair δ - HRT Lightning Quarter Deck / Delta Species #41

• 2005 - Dratini δ - HRT / Delta Species #66

• 2005 - Dragonair δ - HRT / Delta Species #42

• 2006 - Dratini δ - O&DofFE / Dragon Frontiers

• 2006 - Dragonair δ - O&DotFE / Dragon Frontiers

DP / Pt

• 2008 - Dratini - DP5 / Legends Awakaned

• 2008 - Dragonair - DP5 / Legends Awakened

L / HGSS

• 2010 - Dratini - LL / Triumphant

• 2010 - Dragonair - LL / Triumphant

BW

• 2012 - Dratini - DS / Dragon Vault 1

• 2012 - Dratini - DS / Dragon Vault 2

• 2012 - Dragonair - DS / Dragon Vault 3

• 2012 - Dragonair - DS / Dragon Vault 4

• 2012 - Dratini - BW8 Thunder Knuckle / Plasma Force

• 2012 - Dragonair - BW8 Thunder Knuckle / Plasma Force

XY

• 2015 - Dratini - XY6 / Roaring Skies

• 2015 - Dragonair - XY6 / Roaring Skies

• 2015 - Dragonair AA - XY-P Gym Promo

SM

• 2016 - Dratini - sm1M / Sun & Moon

• 2016 - Dragonair - sm1M / Sun & Moon

• 2018 - Dratini - sm6a 025 / Dragon Majesty #34

• 2018 - Dratini - sm6a 026 / Dragon Majesty #35

2018 - Dragonair - sm6a / Dragon Majesty

• 2018 - Dragonair - sm6a / Dragon Majesty

• 2018 - Dratini - sm9 062 / Team Up #116

• 2018 - Dratini - sm9 063 / Team Up #117

• 2018 - Dragonair - sm9 / Team Up

• 2018 - Dragonair AA - SM-P Gym Promo / Unified Minds #149

• 2019 - Dratini - sm11 065 / Unified Minds #147

• 2019 - Dratini - sm11 066 / Unified minds #148

• 2019 - Dragonair - sm11 / Unified Minds #150

SwSh

• 2022 - Dratini - s12 / Silver Tempest

• 2022 - Dragonair - s12 / Silver Tempest

SV

• 2023 - Dratini - sv2a / 151

• 2023 - Dragonair - sv2a / 151

• 2023 - Dragonair AR - sv2a / 151

• 2023 - Dratini - svD Tera Dragonite ex Start Deck / Obsidian Flames

• 2023 - Dragonair - svD Tera Dragonite ex Start Deck / Obsidian Flames

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"E4's Favorite" Polls - Archive

Overview Why I began doing these polls in December 2023 as a way to see how the community here ranks cards of various Pokemon or types of cards. Sometimes we may have an idea of what is #1, but what might round out the top 10? It’s hard to guess, and we always end up surprised in the end. It is also a great avenue to learn about new cards of Pokemon we may not have seen before. As time goes on and the quantity of these becomes overwhelming, I figured it would be beneficial to have them all g…

[inertgeometry]

once again wrapping up loose ends with this one since we already did dnite.

there are a lot of good ones in the mix including the best art from base set

my favorite might be the HRT tini

[lyleberr]

Im sorry/not sorry for skewing all the results because i voted for way more than i should have. The only time they look bad is with cg. Lots are a bit generic but dratinis design is generic so I think most cards do a good job either giving it personality or showcasing the pokemon well.

[decoypalmette]

I never clicked so many options as this time. Too many good arts!

My favorites (I love when dratini is depicted on the cute/lonely side and looks at you with those eyes):

Nostalgia points to these two that I didn’t vote:

[Drew12]

Gave out way more votes than any other poll. Light Dragonair is the best

[cyberurchin]

Light and Dark Dragonair are bangers, ex Dragon one is underrated, the AR is phenomenal. Lovely pokemon overall

[Ruley711]

If I had to rate each artwork on numbered scale, I think Dragonair would have the highest average thus far in these polls.
Wow. I could have clicked on pretty much all of them.

[jawsh98]

Crazy how many wrong answers people gave

[lamplamp]

Dratini has amazing artwork for both vintage and modern. One of the few Pokémon that has consistently been getting great art from SM onwards for modern.

[rtas]

It’s fitting that Nishida does Dratini best, imo. My favorite has to be TRR Dratini, 10/10, so cute I wouldn’t evolve that lil guy into dragonair and I love dragonair!

[c0ll3ct0r]

I’m not sure which one I want to be holo more:

VS

What I do know is that this is my favorite because it’s a holo. This, Rocket’s Scyther and Ho-Oh pose Fearow is really what it’s all about in Gym Heroes:

[lyleberr]

Does dragonair fly or just swim? Because some arts having it in an odd position with a vague setting.

[rtas]

Both! Dragonair can fly in the anime:

[c0ll3ct0r]

Both are acceptable answers, but I think flying is what’s happening in the Gym Heroes card.

[lyleberr]

Ok, i can absolutely see it in the pokemons design but that anime image is a wtf moment. It looks like shaymin!

[rtas]

Well chubby dragonite can also fly with baby wings, makes perfect sense

[lyleberr]

Excuse me. @rtas. Have you looked at the photo?! This isnt it defying gravity like the wicked witch of the west, this is its cute fairy ear floofs grew to a 10ft wingspan and became full manueverable to be capable of aerial maneuvering! This is an evolved or localized form of dragonair that has converging traits with milotic. Dragonite can at least be handwaved by saying it has hollow bones like a bird but with specific high durability skeletal structures to give it strength during attacks… or just pokemon magic.

[rtas]

Well ackShually… I got nothing lol

Back to the topic, can’t believe nobody likes dark dragonair from TRR. In reverse holo, they are absolute goodness.

[Taigataipan]

Base set Dratini is one of the most confusing cards I’ve seen in my life.

Seriously for many years I admired the background which represents beach, wall of wave breaker,sea and sunset, makes sense since Dratini lives in water right? In 2021 huge amount of stock photos surfaced and turns out all this time it has been sitting in the middle of snowy field accompanied with a line of trees.

Early Sets - From Stock Image to Pokemon Card Background

I’ve been going through Base Set and I’ve so far matched up all but 5 of Ken Sugimori’s 32 Base Set artworks with stock images: 17/102 Beedrill (Ken Sugimori) - www.sozaijiten.com/cdrom/imagedetail.asp?pid=7&fid=99006003&i=2 20/102 Electabuzz (Ken Sugimori) - www.sozaijiten.com/cdrom/imagedetail.asp?pid=8&fid=99007088&i=87 22/102 Pidgeotto (Ken Sugimori) - www.sozaijiten.com/cdrom/imagedetail.asp?pid=7&fid=99006031&i=30 23/102 Arcanine (Ken Sugimori) - www.sozaijiten.com/cdrom/imagedetail.a…

One of the worst betrayals I’ve experienced in this hobby.

[xileets]

The Rocket Returns / Rocket Gang Strikes Back Imakuni Dragonair really nails the theme, but also makes the mon look sick!

@inertgeometry

19r RGSB 2